“Let us set out with burning hearts, open eyes, and feet on the march in order to make other hearts burn with the word of God, and open other eyes to Jesus the Eucharist, and we invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God granted to humanity through Jesus Christ,” this is what Pope Francis wrote in his message on the occasion of the day. Ninety-seventh World Missionary
Under the title “Hearts in Fire and Feet on the Walk”, Pope Francis’ message was published this afternoon on the occasion of the 97th World Mission Day, which is celebrated on the 22nd of October 2023. In it, the Holy Father wrote for this year’s World Mission Day, I chose a topic inspired by the story of the two disciples of Emmaus In the Gospel of Luke: “Hearts in fire, feet in walking.” These two disciples were confused and disappointed, but the encounter with Christ in the Word and in the broken bread ignited in them the enthusiasm to set off again on a journey towards Jerusalem and proclaim that the Lord has truly risen. In the Gospel account, we perceive the transformation of the two disciples from some suggestive images: the burning hearts when Jesus was explaining the books to them, the eyes that opened when they recognized him, and as a climax the feet that set out on a journey. By reflecting on these three aspects, which define the path of missionary disciples, we can renew our zeal to evangelize in today’s world.
On the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Pope Francis continued, the hearts of the two disciples were sad – as was evident from their faces – because of the death of Jesus, in whom they believed. In the face of the failure of the crucified teacher, they were disappointed that he was the Christ. “While they were talking and arguing, behold, Jesus himself approached them and walked with them.” And as at the beginning of calling the disciples, now also at the moment of their being lost, the Lord initiates and approaches His disciples and walks with them. In his great mercy, he never tires of staying with us, despite our shortcomings, our doubts, our weaknesses, despite the sadness and pessimism that lead us to become “of little understanding and slow of heart,” people of little faith. Today, as at that time, the Risen Lord is close to His missionary disciples and walks beside them, especially when they feel lost, frustrated and afraid of the mystery of the evil that surrounds them and wants to strangle them. Therefore, let us not allow anyone to rob us of hope! The Lord is greater than our problems, especially when we confront them in proclaiming the gospel to the world, because, after all, this message is his and we are simply his humble helpers, “worthless servants.” I express my closeness in Christ to all missionaries and missionaries in the world, especially those who are in difficult times: the Risen Lord, dear friends, is always with you and sees your generosity and your sacrifices for the mission of evangelization in faraway places. The days of life are not all full of sunshine, but let us always remember the words of the Lord Jesus to His friends before the Passion: “You suffer adversity in the world, but trust that I have conquered the world.”
The Holy Father added, saying, after listening to the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus, Jesus, risen from the dead from Moses and all the prophets, began to explain to them all the books concerning Him. The hearts of the two disciples became inflamed, as one of them said to the other at the end: “Wasn’t our heart burning in our chest when he was talking to us on the road and explaining the books to us?” Jesus, in fact, is the living Word, who alone can make the heart kindle, enlighten and transform. Thus, we better understand St. Jerome’s assertion: “To ignore the Bible is to ignore Christ.” Without the Lord who enters us, it is impossible to deeply understand the Bible, but the opposite is also true: without the Bible the events of Jesus and His Church’s mission in the world remain incomprehensible. Therefore, knowledge of the Bible is important for the life of a Christian, and even more so for the proclamation of Christ and his gospel. Otherwise, we will only pass on our own ideas and projects to others, because a cold heart will never be able to make other people’s hearts burn. Let us always allow ourselves to be accompanied by the Risen Lord, who explains to us the meaning of the Bible. Let us allow Him to kindle our hearts, enlighten us, and transform us so that we may reveal to the world the secret of His salvation with the power and wisdom that come from His Spirit.
The Supreme Pontiff continued, saying that the two hearts burning with the word of God prompted the two disciples of Emmaus to ask that mysterious traveler to stay with them, as the evening had come and the day had passed. And about the table their eyes were opened, and they recognized him when he broke the bread. The decisive element that opened the eyes of the two disciples was the sequence of actions that Jesus performed: he took the bread, blessed, then broke it and gave it to them. These are normal behaviors for the head of a Jewish family, but when Jesus Christ performed them with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the sign of multiplying loaves of bread was renewed for the two sitting at the table, especially the sign of the Eucharist, the mystery of the sacrifice of the cross. But the moment they recognized Jesus in the one who broke the bread, they “missed them.” This fact makes us understand a fundamental truth of our faith: Christ who breaks the bread now becomes the broken bread, which he shared with the disciples and thus the bread they ate. He became invisible, because he had now entered the hearts of the two disciples, in order to make them burn even more, and to push them to resume their journey in haste, in order to convey to all the unique experience of encountering the Risen One. Thus, the risen Christ is the one who breaks the bread and at the same time it is the bread that is broken for us. Therefore, every missionary disciple is called to become, following and in Jesus, by the action of the Holy Spirit, the one who breaks the bread and who is the bread that is broken for the world.
In this regard, the Holy Father added, we must remember that breaking simple physical bread with the hungry in the name of Christ is a Christian missionary act. Thus, breaking the Eucharistic bread, which is Christ Himself, is the missionary work par excellence, because the Eucharist is the source and peak of the life and mission of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI recalled this: “We cannot keep to ourselves the love that we celebrate in the Eucharist. Because by its very nature it demands that it be communicated to all. What the world needs is the love of God, the encounter with Christ and faith in Him. That is why the Eucharist is not only a resource It is the pinnacle of the life of the Church, but also the source and pinnacle of the life of her mission: “The Eucharistic Church is truly an apostolic Church.” In order to bear fruit, we must abide in the Lord, and this constancy is achieved through daily prayer, especially in worship, and silent presence in the presence of the Lord who remains with us. In the Eucharist. By cultivating this communion with Christ in love, the missionary disciple can become a mystic in action. May our hearts always yearn for the company of Jesus, and may the request of the two Emmaus disciples sigh especially when evening comes: “Abide with us, Lord!”
The Supreme Pontiff continued, saying, after the two disciples opened their eyes and recognized Jesus in the “breaking of bread”, “they arose at that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.” Their quick departure, in order to share with others the joy of meeting the Lord, shows that the joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of those who meet Jesus. Those who allow Him to save them are freed from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Jesus Christ, joy is always born and renewed. We cannot truly meet the Risen Jesus without a burning desire to tell everyone about it. Therefore, the first and main source of the message are those who have come to know the risen Christ, in the Holy Scriptures and in the Eucharist, and those who carry his fire in their hearts and his light in their eyes. These people can testify to a life that never dies, even in the most difficult situations and darkest moments. The image of “feet in march” reminds us once again of the perpetual validity of the mission ad gentes, the message that the Risen Lord gave the Church to proclaim to every person and every people to the ends of the earth. Humanity, which has been wounded by many injustices, divisions and wars, today more than ever needs the good news of peace and salvation in Christ. So I take this opportunity to reaffirm that everyone is entitled to receive the gospel. It is the duty of Christians to proclaim it without excluding anyone, not as one who imposes a new commitment, but rather as one who shares in joy, points to a beautiful horizon, and presents an enticing banquet. Apostolic conversion remains the primary goal that we have to propose to ourselves as individuals and as a group, because the apostolic work is a model for every work of the Church.
The Holy Father added, saying, as the Apostle Paul confirms, that the love of Christ takes hold of our hearts and drives us. It is a double love: the love of Christ for us who invites and inspires us and arouses our love for Him. It is this love that makes ever young that Church that goes out and sets forth, with all its members in a mission, to proclaim the Gospel, convinced that Christ died “for all of them, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them.” Anyone can contribute to this missionary movement: by prayer and work, by offering money and suffering, and by his own witness. The Pontifical Mission Societies are the privileged instrument for the promotion of this missionary cooperation on both the spiritual and material levels. For this reason, the collection of donations on World Mission Day is dedicated to apostolic works to spread the faith. The urgency of the Church’s apostolic work naturally necessitates closer apostolic co-operation of all its members at all levels. It is an essential goal of the synodal journey that the Church undertakes with the basic words of communion, participation and mission. This process is certainly not the Church closing in on herself, nor is it a process of popular referendum to decide, as in Parliament, what we should or should not believe and practice according to our human preferences. No, rather it is the beginning of a journey following the example of the two disciples of Emmaus, in listening to the Risen Lord who always comes among us to explain to us the meaning of the Holy Scriptures and to break bread for us, so that we can continue her mission with the power of the Holy Spirit in the world.
Pope Francis concluded his message on the occasion of World Mission Day 2023 by saying, “Just as these two disciples told others what happened along the way, so our announcement will be a joyful account of Christ the Lord, his life, his sufferings, his death and his resurrection, and the greats that his love has accomplished in our lives.” So let us set out again, enlightened by the encounter with the Risen One and moved by His Spirit. Let us set forth with blazing hearts, open eyes, and feet on the march in order to make other hearts ignite with the word of God, and open other eyes to Jesus the Eucharist, and we invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God granted to humanity through Jesus Christ. O Saint Mary, Our Lady of the Way, Mother of the Missionary Disciples of Christ and Queen of the Missions, pray for us!