29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

To The Epiphany Community 

Mission is the Outward Journey of Grace: Sustained by the Inward Ascent of Prayer 

(29 Week in Ordinary Time, Luke 18:1-8, 19 October 2025) 

The World Missionary Day, which is celebrated today, is a good opportunity for every baptized person to become more aware of the need to cooperate in the proclamation of the Word, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God with a renewed commitment. To live the mission in the full there is an indispensable condition: prayer, a fervent and incessant prayer, according to the teaching of Jesus also proclaimed in the Gospel of today, in which He tells a parable on the need to pray always, never getting tired (Luke 18:1). Prayer is the first power of proclamation. Missionaries are above all men and women of prayer, who nourish faith in a constant bond with the Lord in order to overcome the difficulties that evangelization entails. And I pray for those who are far away. Let us think of those who are witness to these things with affection and gratitude for their difficult task of announcing and giving the light and grace of the gospel to those who have not yet received it. It is also a good opportunity today to ask ourselves: do I pray for the missionaries? Do I pray for those who go far to bring the Word of God with testimony? (Pope Francis, Angelus, 2019) 

Dearly Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, Today the Church celebrates World Missionary Day, a day not merely to honor missionaries, but to rediscover our own missionary identity as baptized disciples of Christ. The call to mission is not the privilege of a few, but the vocation of all who have encountered the living Word. Every baptized person is sent — missus (Latin) — to make visible the Kingdom of God in word, action, and presence. Yet the Gospel reminds us today that before mission comes prayer. In Luke 18:1, Jesus tells his disciples a parable on the need to pray always and not lose heart. Why? Because prayer is the lifeblood of mission. Without prayer, mission becomes activism; without contemplation, proclamation becomes noise. The true missionary does not first speak about Christ — he listens to Christ, dwells with Christ, and only then carries Christ into the world. Prayer is the interior movement of the soul toward Being itself, the openness of the finite to the Infinite. It is the act by which the human person acknowledges dependence on the Absolute, the Source of all meaning. The missionary spirit, then, arises not from human initiative but from the overflowing generosity of divine Being shared with creatures. To pray is to allow God’s love to mission through us; it is to participate in the eternal self-giving of the Trinity — the Father sending the Son, the Son breathing forth the Spirit, and the Spirit animating the Church to go forth. Theologically, mission without prayer risks becoming a project of conquest rather than communion. Prayer converts the missionary first. It configures the heart to Christ’s own compassion — the Christ who wept over Jerusalem, who withdrew to the mountain to pray before choosing his apostles, who prayed even from the Cross. Every authentic proclamation of the Gospel is born from this Eucharistic heart, where intercession and self-gift become one. 

Today, Pope Francis reminds us that missionaries are: men and women of prayer, who nourish faith in a constant bond with the Lord. They are not superheroes or strategists, but humble witnesses who, through prayer, remain rooted in grace amid the deserts of difficulty and misunderstanding. Their strength lies not in eloquence or efficiency, but in union with the Crucified and Risen Lord. Let us, then, turn our gaze outward and inward. Outward — to those who go far, who bring the Word of God to the margins of the world; and inward — to our own hearts, to ask: Do I pray for the missionaries? Do I pray that the Word of God may find a home in hearts not yet awakened to its light? To live the mission fully, we must live prayer deeply. For mission begins on our knees — in the silence where the voice of God ignites the will to serve, to love, to proclaim. Prayer is not only preparation for mission; it is the mission’s heart. When we pray, the Gospel crosses boundaries unseen. When we intercede, the Spirit moves where our feet cannot go. 

A Portrait of a Missionary-The Missionary as Homo Viator — the Pilgrim of Meaning 

The missionary embodies the human condition as homo viator, the one who journeys toward meaning beyond himself. Every human being, consciously or not, seeks the transcendent — a truth, a goodness, a beauty that does not fade. The missionary lives this metaphysical pilgrimage explicitly: he travels outward into the world because he has first journeyed inward into the mystery of Being. His movement is not driven by conquest but by communion, not by ideology but by love that seeks the other. In this sense, the missionary is a phenomenon of transcendence — one whose life testifies that being finds its fulfillment not in possession, but in donation. 

The Missionary as Imago Trinitatis — Image of the Sending God 

Theologically, mission has its origin not in human enthusiasm, but in the Trinitarian dynamism of God Himself. The Father sends the Son; the Son sends the Spirit; the Spirit sends the Church. Thus, the missionary is not primarily a worker for God, but a participant in the eternal sending (mission) of God’s love. He mirrors the Son who said: as the Father has sent me, so I send you (John 20:21). To be missionary is therefore to be drawn into divine communion, to become a living icon of the God who goes forth — not to dominate, but to redeem; not to impose, but to propose love. Missionary identity is thus not a task added to faith, but the very expression of faith’s inner nature: faith tends toward communication, just as light tends to radiate. 

The Missionary as Contemplative in Action — Prayer as Ontological Ground 

Action without contemplation disintegrates into restlessness. The missionary, aware of this, roots every movement in silence. Prayer is not his ornament but his ontological axis — it orders his being toward the Absolute. Theologically, prayer is participation in the dialogue of the Trinity. The missionary’s word becomes credible only when it is first born in listening. He does not bring God to others; he reveals the God already at work in the hidden recesses of every culture and conscience. In the missionary, contemplation and action are no longer opposites but aspects of one existence transfigured by grace — the union of Martha and Mary, of service and adoration. 

The Missionary as Witness of Kenosis — The Logic of the Cross 

The missionary embodies the paradox of power in weakness. In him, freedom manifests not as self-assertion but as self-giving — a kenotic anthropology that mirrors divine humility. Theologically, this is the mystery of the Cross: He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:7). The missionary, conformed to Christ, does not proclaim a doctrine detached from life but a Person crucified and risen. His authority comes from vulnerability; his strength from surrender. He preaches not by domination of reason, but by the radiance of love that embraces suffering for others. Thus, he becomes a living sacrament of divine mercy, a continuation of the Incarnation in time and space. 

The Missionary as Eschatological Sign — The Anticipation of the Kingdom 

The missionary points humanity beyond immanence — to the horizon of fulfillment where time touches eternity. He is a herald of the “not yet”, reminding the world that history is not closed within itself. Theologically, he is a witness of the Kingdom, a prophetic sign that God’s reign is already at work. His presence among the poor, the forgotten, and the unbelieving is a sacrament of hope, a visible anticipation of the reconciliation that creation awaits. He lives between memory and promise — remembering the saving acts of God and announcing their consummation. 

The Missionary as Theological Existential — Being for Others 

Ultimately, the missionary’s life is a theology in motion. His existence proclaims a truth: that to be is to be for. He fulfills the relational nature of being; in theological terms, he imitates the Christ who came not to be served but to serve. Every encounter, every dialogue, every act of charity is an epiphany of divine self-communication. He is thus not simply a teacher of faith but a sign of God’s nearness, a human transparency through which the divine gaze meets the world. 

Concluding Summary 

The missionary is at once philosopher and mystic, servant and prophet — a living synthesis of contemplation and communication. He stands at the threshold between heaven and earth, speaking the language of both. In his prayer, he touches eternity; in his mission, he redeems time. Through him, the world encounters not merely a messenger, but the message made flesh: Christ, the Missionary of the Father. 

Dear Epiphany, let us then renew today our missionary vocation by rekindling the flame of prayer. May our hearts, like Mary’s, be open to receive the Word and to give Him to the world. And may our constant prayer sustain those who, at great cost and greater love, bring the light of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Prayer is the first power of mission—where words cannot reach, prayer carries the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

Fraternally, Fr. John Peter Lazaar SAC, Pastor