"One for all, all for Him".

On January 15 we will celebrate Missionary Childhood Day and this year we want to highlight something that is fundamental in the life of Christians: we cannot be isolated Christians!

January 15, 2023-Reading time: 2 minutes
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This sentence is inspired by a well-known saying from the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas The three musketeersOne for all, all for Him".

On January 15, we will celebrate the Missionary Childhood Day This year, we want to emphasize something that is fundamental in the life of Christians: we cannot be isolated Christians! Faith is lived in community and shared with our brothers and sisters.

As indicated by Benedict XVI on his last trip to Spain: "To follow Jesus in faith is to walk with Him in the communion of the Church. It is not possible to follow him alone. Whoever gives in to the temptation to go 'on his own' or to live the faith according to the individualistic mentality, which predominates in society, runs the risk of not meeting Him or of ending up following a false image of Him." (WYD 2011 Closing Mass).

And this is what we wanted to highlight with the chosen slogan: One for all, all for Him. What joy the children of the world feel when they know they are loved, welcomed and protected by the Church!

How beautiful it is to make the children of the world see that the Church is a big family in which everyone is important. Children have the right not to be alone!

The missionaries are, in many parts of the world, the family of the little ones... the place where they know that they will not be judged, doubted or ignored.

Missionaries are, also for the Christian families with whom they work pastorally, the instrument that God has to help the faithful to feel they are Church, to know they are Church... united to all the baptized of the world, wherever they are, and united to Christ, who is the head of that Church.

"It would be illusory to pretend to love one's neighbor without loving God; and it would also be illusory to pretend to love God without loving one's neighbor. The two dimensions of love, love of God and love of neighbor, in their unity, characterize the disciple of Christ." (Francis, 4-11-18).

The authorJosé María Calderón

Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Spain.

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