Puebla – The true missionary shares “faith as one shares bread.” Christ Himself draws him close and calls him to “get his hands dirty with the dough of history,” so that faith, like leaven, may work “in the history and culture of the people, so as to transform them from within.” Pope Leo XIV recalled this today in his heartfelt message addressed to bishops, priests, men and women religious, and laypeople gathered in Puebla de los Ángeles for the XVII National Missionary Congress of Mexico .
At the beginning of his message, the Pope said “your abundant presence at this important event gives me great joy. But I am even more moved,” he added, “to recognize in you the generosity with which you support the missionary work of the Church through persistent prayer, sacrifices and the spiritual and material support you offer.”
To suggest the unique and incomparable dynamics that characterize the missionary work of the Church, Pope Leo drew inspiration from the domestic image used by Jesus in the parable of the leaven in the Gospel according to Matthew, where the Son of God says that “the kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened” .
The yeast Jesus refers to, said the Bishop of Rome, “was different from the dry or industrial yeasts used in baking today. At that time, small pieces of dough from previous days, already fermented, were kept and, when mixed with new flour and water, caused the whole mixture to ferment.”
Saint Jerome, the Pontiff continued, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, “identified the woman of the parable with the Church herself, who, with patience, is capable of integrating faith in the history and culture of the people, so as to transform them from within.” St John Chrysostom comments that “yeast, when buried, is not destroyed, but changes everything to its own condition.”
Even in Mexico, the Successor of Peter reminded his Mexican interlocutors, the salvation brought by Jesus reached individuals, groups and peoples according to the dynamics suggested by Christ himself in his parables. Thus, “the leaven of the Gospel arrived in the hands of a few missionaries. They were the hands of the Church, who began to knead the leaven they had brought with them – the repository of faith – with the new flour of a continent that did not yet know Christ’s name.”
Thus “the slow and admirable process of fermentation began. The Gospel did not erase what it found, but transformed it. All the incredible richness of the inhabitants of those lands — languages, symbols, customs and hopes — was kneaded with faith, until the Gospel took root in their hearts and blossomed into works of unique holiness and beauty.”
The Augustinian Pope recalled that even in Mexico, “the first evangelizers – diocesan, Franciscan, Dominican, Augustine and Jesuit – faithfully assumed the task of doing what Christ commanded. Where they preached, faith flourished, and with it, culture, education and charity. Thus, little by little, the dough continued to ferment and the Gospel became bread capable of feeding the deepest hunger of the people.”
Addressing the participants of the Congress underway in Puebla, the Pontiff wished to recall in particular “the figure of Blessed Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, a pastor and missionary who understood his ministry as service and leaven, is prominent. I remember well,” he added, “when I visited Puebla as Prior General of the Augustinians, how the figure of the Blessed One remained alive in the memory of the people of Puebla.” And his story continues to challenge “today’s pastors, for he teaches that to govern is to serve,” and that “all authority, when exercised according to Christ’s criteria, becomes a source of communion and hope.”
“The true missionary,” Pope Leo insisted, referring to the writings of the Mexican Blessed, “does not dominate, but loves; does not impose, but serves; and does not exploit faith for personal gain — whether material, power or prestige — but distributes faith like bread.”
Our time, Pope Prevost continued, presents itself to us as a millstone “in which the pains of poverty, social divisions, the challenges of new technologies and sincere desires for peace continue to be ground into new flour that risks being fermented with bad yeast.” For this reason, he added, the Lord Jesus still calls missionaries today “to be the hands of the Church that place the leaven of the Risen One in the dough of history, so that hope may rise again.”
It is not enough to say “Lord, Lord,” clarified the Pontiff, quoting other words from the Gospel according to Matthew. Instead we must “be willing to plunge our hands into the dough of the world”. It is not enough to talk “about flour without getting our hands dirty”; rather, it is necessary to “touch it,” as Chrysostom said, “mix with it, let the Gospel merge with our lives until it transforms them from within. Thus, the Kingdom will grow, not by force or by numbers, but by the patience of those who, with faith and love, continue to knead together with God.”
At the end of his message, Leo XIV imparted his blessing to the participants in the National Missionary Congress, assuring them of “my prayers and closeness,” and asking everyone to continue “to work faithfully, until ‘all the dough is leavened’”.
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