AMERICA/ARGENTINA - During Lent let us assess our spirit of mission: message from Archbishop Arancedo

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Santa Fe (Agenzia Fides) – “The spirit of mission is not evading my duties or my personal relations, instead it is generous concrete witness of my faith in my daily life”: writes Argentinean Archbishop José María Arancedo, of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, in his Lenten message this year with the title “Conversion and Mission”.
In his letter, sent also to Fides, the Archbishop affirms “the central theme of a Christian life is that of conversion, which the Church brings to our attention especially in Lent”. In our human condition conversion is never achieved once and for all, instead we must live in a permanent state of conversion, “the depth of Christian life depends on its spirit of conversion”.

“Present day culture tends to close us in individualism” the Archbishop underlines, and in this way “the presence of the Church in the world is weakened”, because we privatise our faith. Holiness demands personal conversion, which is the source of a Church which is " outgoing", missionary.
“Being an active and committed member of the Church, is a sign of conversion and maturity in the faith,– the message continues -. Faith has an essential dimension which is mission. Faith is not a gift to preserve, it is a grace to live and to communicate”.
Mgr Arancedo continues underlining three aspects characteristic of a life lived in a missionary key: joy, ecclesial communion and charity. A spirit of mission “does not exclude joy of life, family, friendship; on the contrary, faith gives new meaning to everything we do because at the centre there is Jesus Christ” “A lack of missionary spirit can be due to a lack of communion based on faith – the Archbishop observes -. This missionary dimension should be present in our Lenten reflection, when I examine myself as a member of my concrete community”. Lastly he recalls “charity as an expression of God, is a sign of a Church in a missionary key” since “charity gives power, fecundity and credibility to the missionary spirit of the Church”. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 17/02/2015)


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