«For us too, this October will be something extraordinary and an important opportunity to renew our missionary spirit as a Church in Bolivia. But it is important not only to think about October but to live this year with the desire for a profound missionary renewal.» This is what Archbishop Eugenio Scarpellini of El Alto, Bolivia, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) wrote, presenting the material for missionary animation of the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019, reported Fides News Agency July 1, 2019.
«We are one year away from the celebration of the fifth American Missionary Congress (CAM V) where, in Bolivia and in the continent, we perceived the importance of being announcers and witnesses of the Good News of Jesus, of how precious and joyful the presence and testimony of each one of us is,» said Archbishop Scarpellini. He urged Bolivians «not to lose the enthusiasm» experienced in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in CAM V. «At that moment our hearts burned in the joy of the Gospel that can change the lives of many of our brothers. We also discovered that, through us, this joy can infect and transform the whole world, society, our families and parish communities, groups and movements.»
The path of CAM V was accompanied by the figure and teachings of Saint Nazaria Ignacia, «a woman who gave herself with her life to the needy and the poor, who nourished herself with the Word of the Lord». In Bolivia 2019 is the «Year of Prayer dedicated to Saint Nazaria Ignacia».
The National Director of the PMS therefore invites to spread and share the missionary animation material, drawn up in the light of the «Guide to the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019», in which the examples and testimonies of missionaries from all over the world are proposed, reflections to deepen the Word of God of the liturgy of every day and transform it into missionary action, the document of Pope Francis who announced the Extraordinary Missionary Month.
«I would like to remind you – concludes Archbishop Scarpellini – of one last important element: the last Sunday of October will be World Mission Day (DOMUND), it is the Sunday on which we are called to live more intensely prayer for missions and for missionaries, and to carry out a generous collection in favor of all the churches of the world that live in poverty and hardship and that want to reach their brothers with the good news.»
The material created, which can be downloaded from the PMS website, includes a series of aids dedicated to different themes: general information on the Extraordinary Missionary Month; prayer, force of the mission; the mission ad gentes, our challenge today; holiness, the most beautiful face of the Church; the missionary life of the first Christian communities; catechesis on baptism; missionary celebration in the family; missionary charity and communion among the churches; animation of the celebration of World Mission Sunday; the missionary rosary; the Pope’s message for Mission Day.
