I believe World Mission Sunday is an opportunity to spread a message of love to a world that is in need of desperate help and rebuilding. When I look at what makes up our society, there is so much violence and war. It seems that every time I turn on the news, read the newspaper or check my social media, the bodies of innocent victims keep piling up.
World Mission Sunday is a time to plant a seed of hope and love. How can we go on living our lives pretending that our brothers and sisters are not being massacred one by one. This day gives us an opportunity that we cannot take for granted. We have to teach one another to reach out and embrace our differences instead of tearing the world down.
God made life sacred and as Catholics we should be missioning to all those affected by violence, especially those who have lost hope and feel that they are too broken to get up again.
Pope Francis released a message for this year’s World Mission Sunday, stating, “All of us are invited to go out as missionary disciples, each generously offering their talents, creativity, wisdom and experience in order to bring the message of God’s tenderness and compassion to the entire human family.”
Hearing these words makes me realize that through the gifts God gives us, whether it’s the gift of art, humour, love, empathy or kindness, we are given them by God to use as tools to honour Him, to make sure that everyone will experience the Lord’s love.
As youth, we are still learning to grow and understand our own identities. We are searching for the gifts that God has provided us and in our hands, something powerful can happen. We are the perfect power source to express the love that comes from our faith.
God is entrusting us to show His neverending love that we experience every day to others around us, not only for the month of October, but for as long as we can, in every aspect of our lives. We are the future of the Catholic Church and we will also have to deal with the future of the world around us.
God died on the cross for us because He loved and continues to love us. It’s a great and powerful love that is too big to be expressed into words, which is why it’s a challenge for all of us.
This World Mission Sunday, I for one, am willing to accept the challenge that God presents to us to not only teach others about God’s love, but allow others to experience it.
(Azevedo, 17, is a Grade 12 student at Holy Name of Mary College School in Mississauga, Ont.)