Are you tired of all the haunted houses, zombie races and mystery machines? Do you consider that October has become superficial, materilistic and one of the best months for the marketing industries? Well, this article may help you find something more rewarding to do this month. Besides being the scary month of Halloween, October is the Month of the Missions.
What does the month of the missions mean?According to the article, “Octubre, mes de las misiones” (2015), “during this month, called “Month of the Missions”, the missionary liveliness gets intensified, uniting us all in prayer, sacrifice and economic contribution in favor of the missions, with the purpose that the Gospel is proclaimed to all men”.
Is it necessary to be catholic to proclaim this “mission” sense? “The mission is a passion for Jesus, but at the same time, it is a passion for the country”, said Pope Francis during a press release. His message shows his vision to unify the nation and praises people that defend their own roots and help the helpless, offer water to the thirsty, provide acceptance to the ones that feel rejected, renounce to material goods by vows of poverty and are willing to collaborate, provide health services, address the vast crowd of evangelists, and promote peace between the nations.
Where you can do “missions”?Missions can be done at school, like sharing a pencil with a friend; at work, giving good customer service, and at home, trying to avoid misunderstandings and fights between the members of the family. It’s also great when people help economically the ones that live in poverty such as the Haitian people or the Chilean people who got their home destroyed because of the latest tsunami. Pope Francisco said that it is not necessary to be catholic to help others, so everybody can do it. Even when your neighbor doesn’t have salt for his food and you share a bit of yours with him counts as a mission. Being a helpful person isn’t just done on religious spaces.
How can you develop the “missionary sense?”It is recommended to first find a community of preference and then join their missionary group. There are different kinds of missionary groups, it will depend on your physical age and your religious experiences. There’s the Infant, Adolescent, Family and the Sick & Old missionary communities. The last group just pray for the ones that are on a mission, but their task is also a mission. In most cases, these people are blind, deaf or suffer from degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and it is admirable to see how they, apart from their disease, worry about soldiers, single moms or what’s happening in the social context.
People that commence to participate in missions should also be a part of different orientations about the psychological and physical aspects of a mission and the gradual exposure of a big mission such as the Krakow 2016 World Youth Day.
*References
1. Pope Francisco. (2015). “Octubre, mes de las misiones”. Octubre 10, 2015, de Vaticano website: http://www.oblatos.com/dematovelle/index.php?option=com_content&id=1149:octubre-mes-de-las-misiones&Itemid=114
2. Lopez, Miguel. (2015). “Quiero ser misionero: Qué tengo que hacer?”. Octubre 10, 2015, de Portal Misionero website: http://www.portalmisionero.com/quieroser.htm
*Images from Pinterest