To mark the 100 years of Pope Benedict XV’s Encyclical Maximum Illud, the Vatican has decided to observe October 2019 as the Extraordinary Month of Mission, worldwide. Pope Francis has chosen “Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World”, as the theme of this Missionary month.
As per the observation regulations, the catholic church intends to fulfill four major goals during this month long endeavor:
- A personal encounter with Jesus Christ alive in His Church through the Eucharist, the Word of God, personal and communal prayer.
- Testimony: missionary saints, martyrs and confessors of the faith, as an expression of the Church scattered throughout the world.
- Missionary formation: biblical, catechetical, spiritual and theological.
- Missionary charity.
Following an official letter from the Diocese of Kalyan, the Syro Malabar Synod of August 2019 had proposed multiple activities for efficient observance of the missionary month. The letter further continued, “ Let us implement them according to our particular circumstances. This October will remind us that evangelization, being the very nature and duty of the Church, every Christian is bound by the duty to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the world.”
