On World Mission Sunday, this year October 18th, we celebrate our baptismal call to mission as we gather at the Table of the Lord. Catholics around the world will do the same, praying that the Holy Spirit will give us the grace to evangelize. We pray that through our prayers and charitable giving, our faith may be shared with all people, wherever God has placed them.

In the Amazon Region of Peru, where some people fear hunger more than COVID-19, the faithful still contribute what little they have so that The Propagation of the Faith can serve those who hunger for Jesus.

Catholics in Kenya continue to dig deep on World Mission Sunday so that young people across their own continent, at risk of being recruited to violence by local militias, can instead be educated by missionaries with support from The Propagation of the Faith.

In Thailand, where missionaries collaborate to serve children with disabilities, the minority faithful gather aid so that little ones who find themselves marginalized worldwide, due to their physical or mental challenges, receive lifesaving help from missionaries.

Your donations to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith, join you with Catholics worldwide who support these efforts and more in the missions of our world. You reach the poorest communities with a message of hope and healing, mercy and peace.

This year brings new challenges, as many of us will be watching World Mission Sunday Mass from our homes. We invite you to make a gift to the missions that you would normally offer in your parish. If you are attending church, can you give a bit extra to ensure that others around the world have the same privilege? Mail a check to 66 Brooks Drive, Braintree, MA 02184 or donate at our website: www.propfaithboston.org.

Our treasured baptism gives us all the responsibility to ensure that missionaries carry out their work. We invite you to celebrate World Mission Sunday by re-committing yourself to the missions!

Pope Francis writes, "The celebration of World Mission Sunday is an occasion for reaffirming how prayer and the material help of your offerings are opportunities to participate actively in the mission of Jesus. The charity expressed is aimed at supporting missionary work carried out in my name by The Propagation of the Faith, to meet the spiritual and material needs of people, for the salvation of all."

Join us, on World Mission Sunday -- and every day -- as we work to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth!

God Love You!

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.