VATICAN CITY--In his message for World Mission Sunday, Pope John Paul II aligned the Church's missionary commitment to the Eucharist, according to Zenit.org.
"Gathered around the altar, the Church understands better her origin and her missionary mandate," the pope's message said.
The theme of this year's World Mission Sunday, which will be held Oct. 24, is "Eucharist and Mission." Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, presented the papal message in the Vatican press office.
"The Church's missionary activity is an urgency also at the beginning of the third millennium, as I have often said," Pope Paul's message stated. "Social and religious challenges facing humanity in our day call believers to renew their missionary fervor.
"Yes! It is necessary to relaunch the mission 'ad gentes' with courage, starting with the proclamation of Christ, Redeemer of every human person," he stated.
"I hope that the happy coinciding of the International Eucharistic Congress with the 150th anniversary of the definition of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, may offer the faithful, parishes, and missionary institutes an opportunity to strengthen their missionary zeal so that in every community there may always be 'a genuine hunger for the Eucharist,'" he concluded.
