Bishop Piotrowski: The missionary is a person on their way

The missionary vocation, which some people in the Church live, is a special type of vocation that allows the Church to send the gift of the Gospel to the proverbial ends of the earth, said Bishop Jan Piotrowski, Chairman of the Mission Commission of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, on the occasion of the Day of Prayer and Aid to Missions celebrated on 6^thJanuary under the motto „From the Last Supper to the Ends of the World”.

On this day, the faithful unite in common prayer for 1,800 Polish missionaries, including consecrated persons, religious sisters and brothers, diocesan priests called fidei donum, who work in 99 countries around the world. „They are a gift of faith grown on the soil of the Church in Poland, in dioceses, in religious orders, but above all in Polish families,” said Bishop Piotrowski.

Referring to the words of St. John Paul II, who said that ” by virtue of their Baptism, all Christians share responsibility for missionary activity”, Bishop Piotrowski emphasized that” the missionary vocation is realized in various ways – through prayer, suffering, toil. This is the reality we live in every day, when we are in our churches, when we pray the rosary, when we offer our diseases and sufferings for the mission, linking them with the suffering of Jesus Christ. ”

The chairman of the Missions Committee wished that the Epiphany would be an opportunity to set out in faith „because the missionary is a person on their way and let us pray for that”.

Translation: A.Z. Warchoł / Office for Foreign Communication of the Polish Bishops’ Conference