The joy of our mission is to tell others about Jesus and minister to people in need, to collectively or as individual members of the Church take the love of Jesus Christ to others, either inside or outside the Church. The excuses of old age or tradition are no better than the excuses of being too small or too new, especially when we realise that mission involves prayer. The mission requires a commitment to pray for people, for workers and for God to prepare the hearts of the people to receive the Truth of the Gospel.

The joy of mission only requires one person to feed a homeless person and to tell him/her about the hope in Jesus Christ. It requires just one student to tell a classmate that Jesus loves him/her. Pope Francis reminds us, “…The first thing for a disciple is to be with the Master, to listen and learn from Him.” The Pope adds: “Jesus is waiting for us in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, in their wounded bodies, in their hardships, in their lack of faith.”

Being involved in mission is the greatest call of the Church and springs from vocation.

The literal meaning of the word “vocation” is “a call” – but a vocation is much more than an ordinary ‘call’.   A vocation is a call from God – what God calls you to do with your life!  In the one life God gave you to live, you have one overriding purpose: to fulfil the will of God and to do it with joy, because this is the key to your true destiny of eternal happiness. God gives each one of us a particular mission in life and as we grow and life progresses, he makes it known to us, usually in direct ways.  So discovering your vocation gives the greatest joy, glory and praise to God. It is what we were meant to do and one way in which our call can be lived out is through catechesis, which is the teaching of the Gospel.

Catechesis comes from a Greek word meaning “to echo the teaching”, meaning that catechesis – the teaching of the faith – is an interactive joyful process in which the word of God resounds. Catechesis is a lifelong process of initial conversion, formation, education and on-going conversion, which is done through the word of God, worship, service and community. It seeks to lead all God’s people to an ever deepening relationship with God.

Catechesis takes many forms and includes initiation of adults, youth and children – which enables all to grow in faith and discipleship.

The joy of catechesis is to capture the broader mission of the Church, to proclaim the Gospel to ALL in order to “put people in communion with Jesus Christ”.

In our joy, we hear Jesus saying, “Go, for I am with you…”   What more do we need?

“The joy of the Lord with us is our strength!”

 – Gemma Farrow, Catechist, Our Lady of Perpetual Help