Full Parish Report & World Mission Sunday
Dear Epiphany Family,
This Sunday, October 23rd, is World Mission Sunday. This year’s theme is taken from Acts 1:8 – “You shall be my witnesses” (“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth”). Pope Francis reminds us that the Church is missionary by nature. Every Christian, because we belong to Christ and are members of Him, is called to be a missionary and witness to Christ. We are called to witness to Him in words and deeds, proclaiming the Good News of His salvation. Jesus died for us to rescue us from the slavery of sin and has been raised to bring us all to new life and hope in Him. The example of our lives speaks loudly first, but also how Jesus has worked in our lives gives a powerful testimony. Each of us individually and we together as a parish family are called to witness to Jesus in our own corner of the world, wherever we find ourselves. We are always called to go out and share Jesus with others.
On World Mission Sunday we are given the opportunity to support not only missionaries throughout the world with our prayers, but also with a financial gift to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. We join the global effort of the entire Church to provide for the building up of over one thousand local churches in Asia and Africa, the Pacific Islands, and parts of Latin America and Europe. Our brothers and sisters elsewhere are not as blessed as we are materially and we can help uplift them and be in solidarity with them in sharing Christ. You will find the yellow envelopes to help you make your gift. I make a monthly gift online through missio.org.
You will also find a QR code and link to the full presentation given at our parish meeting regarding our facilities and mission on September 18th. Please review and continue to pray the Holy Spirit guides our parish to be fruitful missionaries for East Toledo and beyond.
In Christ,
Father Eric