Ghinnir – On the occasion of the 100th World Mission Day, missionaries from the Villaregia Missionary Community, who are serving in a new mission in Ghinnir, in the East Bale area of the Apostolic Prefecture of Robe , have shared a reflection on Pope Leo XIV’s message, “One in Christ, United in Mission”.
Their reflection draws on their own experience of moving from Robe to Ghinnir, in East Bale, a new frontier for their missionary presence in Ethiopia.
“The Pope’s words challenge us on two fundamental points: unity among the disciples and the need to proclaim Jesus Christ explicitly. But how can we live out this mission when direct proclamation is not possible, or perhaps the time has not yet come?
“Reading again Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi and the document Dialogue and Proclamation, an official text of the Catholic Church published on 19 May 1991 by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, we discover that mission also takes place through listening, encounter, collaboration and the building of relationships of trust.
“Sharing tea on a mat, getting to know local communities, working together to uphold human dignity and promote the common good: these are simple gestures that do not replace the proclamation of the Gospel, but can help create the conditions in which Christian witness becomes credible. Dialogue is not the opposite of proclamation. It is the way in which proclamation can become an encounter.”
Watch the video below.
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