Disciples and missionaries

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The theme for 2019-2020 pastoral year of the diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe is about proclaiming the Gospel everywhere, all together, as disciples and missionaries. Our Bishop, Mgr Christian Rodembourg, m.s.a, is calling us to do our best in October, missionary month, to fulfill our mission (1).

Yesterday, October 1st, it was the feast of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, patroness of the missions. In her honor, I wrote this text asking for help so that we can find the great faith following her Little Way, and to engage us in response to the diocesan appeals. Paganism and rejection of the church, at least here, are so present that the testimony of faith, even without leaving home, without going to distant pagan lands, has already become a heroic missionary act. I think that's why the diocese proposes missionary attitudes in the very environment of everyone's life.

Here is the translation of the message, on the parish paper, of f. Dominique M. Quirion, osm, explaining very well the pastoral proposal for this year (2):

"Disciples-missionaries together ... announcing the Gospel everywhere

Here is the theme for 2019-2020 pastoral year of the diocese of Saint-Hyacinthe, which was unveiled at the launch of the pastoral year that took place in the orchards of the Notre-Dame de Nazareth abbey in Rougemont, on August 22. As you can see, it is the extension of the theme from the two previous years, with this topic added: announcing the Gospel everywhere.

Yes, in the context of our current Western society where everything concerning the religious domain is ignored, sometimes scorned, and criticisms of the religious phenomenon are sometimes harsh, it is good to remember, as Christians, baptized and confirmed, that the Gospel remains at the heart of our life and of our pastoral care, that we must hear it and allow ourselves to be transformed by the Word of God, and that we also have a duty to announce it in season and out of season.
         By proclaiming the Gospel everywhere, we make ourselves missionaries in our living environments. At the same time, it is together, as a Church, as the People of God along the way, in a pilgrimage of faith, that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. This vocation leads us to constantly question ourselves about the call Lord Jesus addresses to us, on the one hand individually and, on the other hand, collectively, in the Church. Because the Church is us, the baptized!

The Church does not want to be a consumer of spiritual services, but it engages us to form a solidarity of missionaries taking part in the paths of the Gospel... to testify our faith, while ensuring that our faith can change something profound and positive in our everyday life and in the lives of people we meet, in a movement of perpetual conversion!

I invite you to meditate on this theme throughout this pastoral year, wishing to be filled with light of the Living God! Happy pastoral year!

F. Dominique M. Quirion, OSM, your pastor.” 

~~~~~

Related links :

(1) Octobre 2019 – Diocèse de Saint-Hyacinthe  (in French)  

(2) Feuillet Paroissial  (in French)