Go and invite everyone to the banquetGonzalo Echanove: "Missionary is the one who lets himself be loved by Christ".Many activities to which we are invited say "free admission until full capacity is reached". And the fact is that space is a determining factor when it comes to calculating the entrance fee... but this is not the case for the Sky... not even on earth when we speak of the Church.
In the Church, as in Heaven, there is room for everyone. There is no limit to space. We can all enter if we are prepared and want to participate with sincerity and simplicity of heart. There are no restrictions or limits, and, in fact, the Lord wants to invite us all. "Our Savior wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4).
The Pope has chosen as the motto for the DOMUND of this year, the words of the Lord as recorded by Matthew: "Go now to the crossroads, and as many as you meet, call to the marriage feast" (22:9). This command of Christ is born of his desire that salvation may reach all men, so that all may discover the mercy of the Father, who wants to share with them, with us, with everyone, his love and his life.
The Lord invites us, already here on earth, to the banquet of the Eucharist, in which he himself gives us his body, his blood, his soul and his divinity, and then to the wedding feast in Heaven... And so that the hall of diners may be filled, we need missionaries who go out to the roads of this earth to invite men and women of good will to enter into this marvelous feast that the Lord has prepared for us.
This month of October, let us not forget that, with our prayer for missionaries, for vocations to the mission and for those who are beginning to know Christ, with our small or big sacrifice offered for these intentions and with our donation... we are being missionaries and making it possible for the Gospel to be preached in so many places in the world. It also depends on us that many may enter into the banquet of the Lord.
