Bishop encourages children to become 'little missionaries'

Madrid, Spain, Jan 19, 2012 / 16:04 pm

Bishop Gerardo Melgar of Osma-Soria, Spain sent a letter to children reminding them that Jesus is counting on them to be “little missionaries.”

“Jesus is counting on you as his disciples, that is, as persons who encounter him and strive to follow him,” Bishop Melgar told them in his letter marking the Day of Missionary Children.

The day will be celebrated Sunday, Jan. 22.

The Lord “counts on you also as his missionaries, that is, as believers who not only live your faith, but also try to communicate it to others by speaking of him, praying together and helping them discover how important God is to you.”

Bishop Melgar invited the children to spend the day with their families. “Let us pray together to the Lord that the Gospel will reach everyone, beginning with our families,” he said.

In a section aimed at adults, he underscored that everyone is called to be a missionary. “It is us who have to show children by our own lives that Christ is truly important to us and that we are truly interested in making him the center of our existence,” the bishop said.

In this sense, he noted, the faith is not something that should be hidden. “We cannot hide it for ourselves, but rather we must spread it to others so they may know the Lord and his Gospel, be converted and saved,” he said.

Bishop Melgar concluded his letter by urging Catholics “to help children become ‘little missionaries’ to their families and their friends; and together let us be leaven and light amid a society filled with loneliness and emptied of God.”