Last October our diocese celebrated our Third Diocesan Pastoral Assembly (DPA3) which was a singular experience of synodality. As one diocese, we gathered together – bishop, priests, religious, and lay faithful (representatives from all our parishes and chaplaincies) – to draw up our diocesan pastoral plan.
The diocese holds a pastoral assembly every five years. Preceded by months of preparation and consultation at the parish level, the diocesan pastoral assembly assesses the previous 5-year pastoral plan, revisits its vision-mission statement, formulates its priority objectives, etc.
But unlike any ordinary corporate strategic planning, our diocesan assembly’s primary task is one of discernment. More than creating our plan for our diocese, we seek to discover God’s own plan for our diocese. Our assembly last October proved to be more focused and operative than our past assemblies, thanks the Conversation in the Spirit which we used as our primary tool for discernment.
Personally, I never felt the presence and action of the Holy Spirit so profoundly and palpably as during those days.
Among the more significant fruits of our DPA3 is our new awareness and understanding of ourselves as Church and as diocese. The constant reminder of Pope Francis about our being a missionary Church has gradually sunk in our minds and hearts. “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples.
All the baptized, whatever their position in the Church or their level of instruction in the faith, are agents of evangelization… We no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and ‘missionaries’, but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’”. (EG, 120)
As a result, we have reformulated our vision statement into “a listening Church, journeying together on mission towards holiness” and adopted New Evangelization as the overarching thrust of our pastoral programs.
We have chosen New Evangelization as our overall theme for the Aguinaldo Masses in the hope of educating our people on this new paradigm. That the Church is missionary and so is every one of us, its members. That through baptism, we are incorporated into the Body of Christ, and so we share not only his life but also his mission.
Today’s gospel recounts the meeting of two expectant mothers and of their two unborn children. Upon hearing Mary’s greetings, Elizabeth is overjoyed and cries out in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Likewise, the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy. In truth, the joy that Mary brings to Elizabeth and her child is Jesus, the true “joy of man’s desiring.”
Commenting on the story of the visitation, Rowan Willams, the former head of the Anglican Church, refers to Mary as “the first missionary of the gospel.” She is the first person to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to others. This she does not so much by proclaiming the word of God as by bringing the incarnate Word to Elizabeth and her child, thereby evoking a response of recognition and joy. Returning to the quote from Rowan Williams, “Mary’s mission is not about the communication of rational information from one speaker to another; it is rather a primitive current of spiritual electricity running from the unborn Christ to the unborn Baptist”.
To be a missionary means to bring Christ to others which necessitates that we carry Christ in our heart. It is the Christ within us and his presence that bring light and joy to those we encounter. The more we are likened to Christ, the more Christ is present in us. This what discipleship is about – to follow Christ and live his life. Then and only then can we be missionaries. St. Francis of Assisi rightly exhorts, “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” Our first proclamation is the witness of our own life, which makes our spoken proclamation credible and effective.
We pray that Mary, the first missionary disciple, may form Jesus in our heart as she formed Jesus in her womb, so that we may be able to bring him to all those we wish peace and joy this Christmas.*