EVANGELISATION AS THE JOYFUL EPIPHANY OF CHRISTIAN LIFE
Keywords:
ChristiansAbstract
As the Syro-Malabar Church of the Saint Thomas Christians of India
celebrates the Mission Year marking the golden jubilee of the Chanda
mission, it is appropriate to review, revive, and renew the missionary
vocation of the Church. The Church, “the universal sacrament of
salvation (LG 48), is missionary by her very nature” (AG 2). It is to be
recalled that “missionary activity is nothing else and nothing less
than a manifestation or epiphany of God’s will and fulfilment of that
will in the world and history” (AG 9; MP 1.5). The Church is a
covenant community, an ecclesial community, the Mystical Body of
Christ. The Church is a communion of persons in Christ through the
Spirit oriented towards the glory of God and the flourishing of people
on earth. It is a communion of the members of the Mystical Body of
Christ. So whatever one does is done in the name of all others. The
Church “exists in order to evangelise” (EN 14). “Evangelisation is not
an individual act; it is one that is deeply ecclesial” (EN 60). It is a
great joy and a responsibility that the members undertake in the
name of the Church. “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor
9:16). As a member of the Church, I, too, share the Good News of the
Lord in order that my joy may be in others and their joy may be
complete.
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