Mission unites us in Christ

Feb 15, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Following the recent Clergy Pastoral Assembly (CAPA) that focused on Mission, Fr V A Michael of the newly minted Archdiocesan New Evangelisation Commission (ANEC), together with its Chairman Alex Choong, Fr Edwin Peter of Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) and Msgr Mitchel Anthony of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute (API), met with a few Ecclesial Assistants and lay leaders to discuss the promotion of, and team spirit for, the Extraordinary Missionary Year (EMY).

The concept of mission is not new to the local Church as the various sections of the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese are already engaging in mission work. It was thus decided that all would continue their effort while networking with one another. Flowing from the idea of the Epiphany Missionary Stars which were distributed for the launch of the EMY, this might mean sprinkling the Five-Year Pastoral Plan of the Archdiocese with “Missionary Stardust” for an increase of missionary ardour and passion.

While the Church as a body is engaged in mission work, the EMY particularly calls for each individual Catholic to grow in awareness of baptismal responsibility for the church’s mission. Thus, the theme Baptised and Sent. Each Catholic is a missionary ad gentes by virtue of his or her baptism. The Missionary Stars that were distributed on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord were meant to be a conscious reminder of this baptismal responsibility. Consequently, each individual Catholic is called to participate in the four dimensions that Pope Francis highlighted, namely

a) To have a Personal Encounter with Jesus – to experience and relate with Jesus
b) To Rediscover the Testimony of Missionaries - both canonised or otherwise
c) To Deepen his or her Missionary Formation
d) To Practise Missionary Charity.

Many of these efforts are left to the individual parishioner’s and parish’s initiative.

In order to give support to these initiatives, it was suggested that

1) The Holy Hour for Mission be held on the following First Fridays of the Month: March 1, just before the start of Lent; July 5, during Bible Awareness Month and October 4, at the start of the Extraordinary Mission Month
2) Parishes and BECs pray the Rosary before Saturday Masses and during the monthly BEC gatherings respectively for the same intentions above, as Our Blessed Mother is the Star of New Evangelisation
3) The PMS would promote the “twinkle twinkle little stars” prayer cards as prayer-mission of “Children Helping Children”.
4) The ANEC would team up with the Institute of New Evangalisation (INE) to make available formations reminding that each Catholic is a missionary Catholic.

Archbishop Julian Leow has named the Church of St Theresa of the Child Jesus, Nilai as the designated pilgrim shrine in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur for the EMY. There pilgrims can discover the riches of not only the Little Flower, but also of other missionary saints and witnesses, and be enlightened by the history of our local mission and missionaries.

Throughout the year, Catholics are requested to journey through the monthly BEC reflection papers produced by the Peninsular Malaysia Pastoral Team (PMPT) that highlight the Baptismal character of every baptised Catholic — namely, Priest, Prophet and King or, more aptly, Pastor and that of their baptismal mission. In January, for instance, the priestly character was emphasised in the Prayer for Christian Unity. All these serve as preparations for the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019, details of which will be forthcoming.