Missionaries ‘Ad Gentes’

By: Fr. Antonio Barriatos, SVD

Fr. Tony Barriatos a Filipinos priest in Latin America

We are missionaries Ad Gentes

Sent to all parts of the world

Animated by the vision of our missionary vacation:

To bring all men to affirm the person of Christ,

To proclaim the gospel and announce salvation to all creation,

To educate and offer service to the poor.

Leave your place and go

Implant the Church among the peoples of the world

So that there may be peace on earth.

The whole Church is missionary

In its essence and nature

You and I called to bear witness to Christ

Here in Latin America,

In Europe,

In Asia,

In Africa,

In Oceana.

All countries- mission territories!

All situation closed to the gospel or

Where the Word is unheard of and totally unknown.

Mission before was different

From 1530 to 1950

To evangelize was to baptize;

To baptize means equally to colonize

And to colonized was to be slaves of the whites

Indians and Negroes paid dearly

When the cross and the sword were joined

Today, to evangelize is our mission.

We learn and we discover how to proclaim Christ

Knowing that the kingdom of God is already present 

in every country

in every culture

in all the peoples.

The reign of god:

A kingdom of justice and peace;

Fraternity and freedom;

Human dignity for all;

Good news, above all, to the poor.

How, if not through missions

Could we reach the poorest of the poor?

The factory workers?

The Indians fighting for their survival and tribal identity?

The farmer struggling to own a piece of land?

The multitude of youth scattered,

The children in the streets, victims of war and unjust structures?

Wake up, Latin America, wake up

You have a missionary vocation.

We have so many challenges before us to confront:

How can we open Latin America to the rest of the world?

How can we evangelize fully our continent?

How can we share poverty with other continents?

How can we form our local churches according to the demands of time?

And how can we celebrate life with our incarnate liturgy?

We are missionaries ad gentes

Called to share our experience of faith,

Open always to leave and to go difficult places and transform our communities to become more human and Christian.

Conscious to respond to their realities,

And also continuous of our commitment to our prophetic mission to announce and denounce.

We are missionaries ad gentes

Help us Lord.