CLARETIAN MISSION DAY 2009

MESSAGE FROM FR. GENERAL
Rome, July 27, 2009

Dear friends:

Once more, as we celebrate the Universal Claretian Mission Day, we are setting our eyes and our hearts in the reality of the Claretian missions and the missionaries who work in them. It is a new opportunity to live in real Catholic key our membership to the Church and to seek ways to express it specifically through prayer and solidarity.

This year we have chosen the theme "Called to evangelize", which is going to be at the center of our reflection during the General Assembly of the Claretian Missionaries, to be held in Rome starting on August 11. The Claretian missions are the concrete answer to this call that comes from the Lord, who always demands generosity from those who have been called.  

Evangelizing, Paul VI told us, is to transform reality through the power of the Gospel. Only those who have discovered and experienced this strength in their own lives and in their communities are prepared for this mission. The Day of the Universal Claretian Mission gives us a new opportunity to deepen our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus and to strengthen the desire that the Gospel be proclaimed throughout the world. Our missionary celebration is thus a big help. Not all of us can move to other places. But we can all support with our prayers, our friendship and our donations, those who have been sent to fulfill this mission, also "on our behalf."

Pope Benedict XVI has been explaining through his letters, the true meaning of "charity”, the love of God that has been poured into our hearts. Recently, with the encyclical Caritas in Veritate, he has invited us to take a renewed awareness of the social dimension of this love. Our faith is a source of universal brotherhood, which is expressed through the commitment to justice, peace and solidarity with those who need our help.

The Universal Claretian Mission Day is an opportunity to thank the Lord for the work of all Claretians who spend their life in favor of those who, in different parts of the world, suffer the consequences of war, injustice and poverty as a result of the many imbalances that still exist in our world.

May God abundantly bless you and may your generosity broaden the horizon of your vision of the world and of the Church.

Fraternally in Christ,

Fr. Josep Maria Abella, cmf
General Superior