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.