Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) – For the first time ever, this year the Pontifical Mission Societies will join in participating in the important initiative promoted by the PMS Youth Movement in Italy: the Day of Prayer and Fasting for Missionary Martyrs. In a statement they especially ask each diocese, parish, family, consecrated person, young person, sick, elderly, etc. to join in this day of prayer and fasting for missionary martyrs and to pray especially for all the missionaries throughout the world.
They remind all people that prayer and fasting, in the Christian tradition, are acts of love in communion with God and with the Church; living them on the Day of Prayer and Fasting for Missionary Martyrs means praying to God that He sustains missionaries and Christian communities that continue to live today amidst discrimination and persecution.
In the statement, they invite parishes and religious houses, seminaries and novitiates to carry out initiatives like vigils, Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic Adoration, ecumenical services, all prepared for this occasion, not only on March 24, but on the days preceding and following it. There are also ideas like set apart a corner of the Church for Martyrs, ing the bells at 3:00pm on March 24, inviting the people to meditate on Christ’s sacrifice and on the many men and women who have offered their lives for the Gospel. Families can place lit red candles in their windows or place a red cloth on display, as a visible sign of the commemoration; offer a donation from fasting. The sick are encouraged to offer their suffering in memory of the missionary martyrs and for the spread of the Gospel, and to sustain missionaries and to ask the Lord for the gift of new holy missionary vocations. The young people are encouraged to give blood and visit those in the hospital, those who are alone, in prison, the elderly alone in their homes, etc. and to offer their own lives for love of Christ and the Gospel, even if this implies discrimination or persecution. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 24/3/2009)
