MISSIONARY PRAYER INTENTION - The Pope’s Missionary Intention for August 2008: “That the answer of the entire people of God to the common calling to holiness and mission may be promoted and fostered by means of careful discernment of charisma and constant commitment to spiritual and cultural formation.” Commentary.

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Second Vatican Council was an effort to help the every member of the Church realize his vocation to holiness. The fifth chapter of the Constitution Lumen Gentium is dedicated to the universal call to holiness: “all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (LG, 40).
This call to holiness is fruit of God’s plan: “This is the will of God: your holiness” (1 Thess 4:3). In His merciful love, God has wished to make us participants in His grace, in His life, in His same holiness. By definition, the Church is Holy, because Christ loved her and gave Himself up for her as a victim, to sanctify her (cf. Eph 5:25-26). The Church receives her holiness from the fullness of life and holiness in Jesus Christ.
There are no “second-rate” Christians. All members of the Church have a vocation to fullness, to communion of life with and in Christ, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Likewise, the Church is missionary in her very essence. She has been entrusted with continuing the Son’s mission, sent into the world to proclaim the love of God to all mankind. “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection” (Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi, 14).
In order to participate in this common mission of the entire Church, God instills a diversity of gifts in each member, to the benefit of the entire ecclesial Body. Thus, an attentive discernment should be made, enabling personal and community charisms to be discovered for the good of all. The Constitution Lumen Gentium comments: “It is not only through the sacraments and the ministries of the Church that the Holy Spirit sanctifies and leads the people of God and enriches it with virtues, but, ‘allotting his gifts to everyone according as He wills’ (1 Cor. 12:11), He distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church, according to the words of the Apostle: ‘The manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone for profit’ (1 Cor. 12:7)” (LG, 12).
In addressing the ecclesial movements on Pentecost, Benedict XVI mentioned that the gifts and charisms that the Spirit inspires are geared towards the Church’s unity, not its dispersion: “Jesus said to Nicodemus, who came to him with his questions by night: ‘The wind blows where it wills’ (Jn 3:8). But the Spirit's will is not arbitrary. It is the will of truth and goodness. Therefore, he does not blow from anywhere, now from one place and then from another; his breath is not wasted but brings us together because the truth unites and love unites.” (Benedict XVI, Homily for the Celebration of First Vespers of Pentecost, June 3, 2006)
This call to holiness and to the mission demands an effort on our part. The grace of being evangelizers is also a task that requires a spiritual and cultural preparation. Without a doubt, union with Christ is the golden rule for every evangelizer: “Without me, you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). Yet, at the same time, there should be a constant training in carrying out the mission. All missionaries – laity, consecrated, or priests – should renew and deepen their faith through study and reflection in order to become increasingly more credible heralds of the truth. Along with the witness of one’s own life, which is absolutely necessary, there should also be an intellectual training to become able preachers of the Word. This need is evident today, especially in the face of our modern cultural challenges that surround us. The Church should be prepared to dialogue with other religions and cultures, while maintaining the integrity of the faith received. We would not be heralds if we betray the Gospel message for a false peace.
Only the truth can set us free. We cannot proclaim freedom in Christ if we are not faithful to His message, to the faith that the Church has received and that she safeguards, so as to proclaim it in its entirety. (Agenzia Fides 29/7/2008)