By Florence Wesley
The Catholic Church of Malawi on 23rd October, 2022 celebrated the world Mission Sunday and four missionary jubilees. This event took place at St. Mofolo Parish in the diocese of Mangochi. The celebration started with rosary prayers followed by the Eucharistic celebration whose main celebrant was Rt. Rev. Montfort Stima, the bishop of the diocese of Mangochi. The theme of the Mission Month of this year was “You shall be my witnesses to the ends of the world” (Acts 1:8) as given by Pope Francis. In his message, the Pope said that the Church is missionary by nature and all Christians are called to bear witness to Christ who was the first missionary of His Father. He said that the testimony of an authentic Christian life is fundamental for the transmission of the faith.
With the same line of thought, bishop Stima said that in the mission month, the lay faithful are reminded of their responsibility of preaching the gospel which goes together with prayers. With their togetherness, these Christians can preach the gospel through their financial contribution to the missionary activities because that money helps the ministers in their work of preaching the gospel by building churches, hospitals, school blocks and also finding proper means of transport. However, for the Christians to contribute, firstly they have to know the aim of the money which they are contributing.
Bishop Stima also thanked the civil servants for taking part in the running of the country. He encouraged them to be working in their different fields while being guided by Jesus since by doing so, they also preach by following the truth of the gospel. The youth are therefore called to get inspired by those civil servants. They should know that it is possible to be a Christian and at the same time a civil servant while preaching the gospel.
Fr. Vincent Mwakhwawa who is a Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) National Director encouraged parents to help their children to fulfill their dreams. He also said that it was a journey of four months of preparation and the Christians of Mofolo Woyera parish have understood the lessons given through different groups of the church during that period. Another indication was the offering which was brought to the church on this day for Missionary activities. In 2023, the same celebration of Mission Sunday will take place in the diocese of Chikwawa.
This year, there were also four missionary jubilees as follows: 400 years of the establishment of Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples founded by Pope Gregory XV in 1622; 200 years Missionary Society for the Propagation of Faith by Pauline Marie Jaricot in 1822; 100 years of Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) by Pope Pius XI in 1922 and 150 years of Fr. Paulo Manna who was born in 1872 and founded the Pontifical Missionary Union (PMU). The closing ceremony for the Mission month is scheduled on 31st October 2022.
