MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI  

FOR THE 2008 WORLD MISSION DAY 19^th OCTOBER 2008 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

On the occasion of the World Mission Day, I would like to invite you to reflect on the continuing urgency to proclaim the Gospel also in our times.  The missionary mandate continues to be an absolute priority for all baptized persons who are called to be “servants and apostles of Christ Jesus” at the beginning of this millennium. The Servant of God Paul VI, already stated in Evangelii Nuntiandi: “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity”. As a model of this apostolic commitment, I would like to point to Saint Paul in particular, the Apostle of the nations, because this year we are celebrating a special jubilee dedicated to him.  It is the Pauline Year which offers us the opportunity to become familiar with this famous Apostle who received the vocation to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles, according to what the Lord had announced to him: “Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21).  How can we not take the opportunity that this special jubilee offers to the local Churches, the Christian communities and the individual faithful to propagate the proclamation of the Gospel to the ends of the world, the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes