At the Angelus on Sunday, Holy Father Pope Francis focused once again on the idea of missionary discipleship, taking the day’s Gospel as his starting point. In the Gospel reading, Jesus, after calling the disciples individually by name, goes on to send them out ahead of Him “two-by-two.” This, the Pontiff said, “is a kind of ‘internship’” in anticipation of their mission following the Resurrection.
As reported by Vatican Radio, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “Missionary discipleship, the missionary style, can be summarized in two points: mission has a centre; and it has a face. The first point recalls that the centre of mission is the Person of Jesus Himself. When Jesus sends the Apostles on mission, they are not going forth to spread their own message, or to demonstrate their own abilities. Rather, like rays emanating from a centre, the disciples proclaim the message of Jesus, and to bring His presence and His work into the world. They are called to speak and act as His messengers.” Further, His Holiness added, “The second characteristic of the missionary style is that the mission has a face, an aspect that it presents to the world. This face consists in poverty of means. The disciples were ordered to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick.”
The Pontiff concluded his remarks by reminding that “Jesus wants His disciples to be free, depending only on the love of Him who sends them, strengthened only by His Word which they proclaim. Missionary disciples are not all-powerful managers, or irreplaceable functionaries, or divas on tour.”
