Toward Mission - With Faith

Jesus speaks clearly to his disciples, "Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine... Without me you can do nothing. As the Father sent me, so I send you." Mission means to set off, to study strategies, to renew one's methodologies... but above all, Mission is to believe.

* To believe in God who chooses his apostles: "You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures" (Jn. 15:16).

* To believe in our vocation: God had granted us the privilege of a missionary vocation. We have, then, to believe in a God who believes in us!  A God, who, with divine humility, has made evident that he needs us to carry on his work in the world.

* To believe in the Mission: That service required from us, in the task entrusted to us. Mission is a service of love: "The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them" (Jn. 15:13).

Mission is carried on by acts of faith. If one does not live by faith, he cannot become part of the missionary project.

The strength of mission lies not in our abilities, but in our abiding—for it is in remaining connected to the Vine that we bear fruit that lasts, and in believing that we have already been chosen that we find the courage to go forth.