Proclamation

National Director’s Message – Incarnation Means Mission

Although this was ideally meant to be a Christmas edition, the celebrations for EMM that were extended in many dioceses as part of their missionary contribution, motivated us to include a round-up of New Evangelization themes bringing the faithful together in a continuation of their missionary zeal and contagious enthusiasm.

In his message our National Director reviewed the different dimensions of mission taking into account the time of November and December, both signifying incarnation in specific ways. Remembering the deceased who were ‘baptised and sent’ into the world and after completion of their mission either by sacrificing their lives as martyrs or by leading a good witnessing life and breathing their last, he emphasised the importance we give to their missionary zeal and their works while recalling their memory in fondness and love. ‘Everyone who dies does not cease to exist but is born into a new life’ he said while explaining how we affirm our hope in the resurrection every time we pray for the dead.

Explaining the difference when we celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus as it instructs us about the value of holy life on earth, he highlighted the strong message of incarnation of The Lord whereby God Himself values life on earth and that life is not to be considered as worthless or meaningless, especially in the rush of our existence today.The value of life is accentuated by our mission and the exaltation we give it by its fulfilment. He wished all the faithful for Christmas and invited them to become messengers of peace in our families, communities, villages, cities and our nation, igniting the missionary zeal of peace.

We shared our Holy Father’s complete homily from his inaugural Holy Mass of the EMM under the title ‘Bearing witness by our lives,’ along with his message to audience participants in the International meeting for Academic Centres titled ‘Ways for a New Evangelization,’ as also his homily during the inaugural Holy Mass on the occasion of the opening of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazonian Region titled ‘Rekindling the gift of God’ and his video message to the participants of the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019 titled ‘Honesty, Courage, Responsibility’ along with his originally prepared discourse for the members of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication titled ‘Communication must be Christian.’

A write-up taken from a website titled ‘Maximum Illud – an extraordinary document’ and another titled ‘Praying for the dead’ were included in this edition. A continuation of the explanation of the Sacrament of Holy Orders with a Part II of its Biblical Background was written for us by Fr Dr S Joseph Lionel.

St Catherine of Alexandria and St Dominic of Silos provided inspiration for our children through their lives in short summaries while we had also the Bible Quiz and short story ‘The Holy Spirit’ by Selma Lagerlof included. Other NEWS features and a gist of Holy Father’s Prayer intentions were also continued.