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ARLINGTON -- The universality of the Catholic Church was on full display on Oct. 20, as ethnic communities from throughout the Archdiocese of Boston gathered for a World Mission Sunday Mass at St. Agnes Parish in Arlington.
Since it was established by Pope Pius XI in 1926, World Mission Sunday, marked on the last Sunday of October, has been celebrated in parishes around the world as a day of prayer, solidarity, and support for the church's mission efforts.
The Mass at St. Agnes was celebrated by Bishop Jeevanandam Amalanathan of Kumbakonam, India.
"The whole universal church is present here during this celebration," Bishop Amalanathan said in his homily. "We really feel what it means to be a church. People from different continents are present here, so it's a wonderful, nice experience."
The Mass began with a procession of flags representing the various nationalities that make up the archdiocese. Music was provided by the archdiocese's Vietnamese and Tamil choirs. The first reading was proclaimed in Tamil, the responsorial psalm was sung in Vietnamese, and the second reading was proclaimed in Swahili. Prayers for the faithful were offered in Vietnamese, Russian, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Swahili, Tamil, and Cameroonian.
The women of Boston's Cameroonian community did a traditional liturgical dance during the procession that brought the Book of the Gospels to the altar. The Gospel was carried by one woman on her back, shrouded in a cloak bearing an image of the Virgin Mary. The women around her, wearing traditional dress, sang and swished brooms, referencing a Cameroonian tradition of sweeping away insects and dust to make way for royalty. When the Book of the Gospels made it to the altar, all cheered.
Theme designated by Pope Francis for this year's celebration was "Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet."
In his homily, Bishop Amalanathan said that every Catholic is called to witness to the values of the Gospel.
"As the pope says, we have to listen to the Holy Spirit," he said, "which invites us to share the life of the church, and to go out and preach the good news to people."
Being a missionary does not require proselytizing, he explained. In fact, it doesn't require saying anything. He quoted a saying traditionally attributed to St. Francis: "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words."
"Every word that we say, every act we do, should proclaim the love of Jesus, should demonstrate the love of Jesus," he said.
Bishop Amalanathan's grandfather was Hindu, but he became Catholic when French missionaries brought the faith to him. The Amalanathan family has remained Catholic ever since.
"A Christian cannot fail to be a missionary," the bishop said, "because he knows that Jesus walks with him, speaks with him."
He encouraged the assembly to support the church's ongoing mission in Africa and Asia.
"In those countries, the church is thriving," he said. "This is because of the works of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith."
If it wasn't for that missionary effort, he said, he would not be celebrating Mass in Arlington.
Everyone who attended the Mass received a World Mission Rosary, which Bishop Amalanathan blessed. The World Mission Rosary was inaugurated by Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in 1951. Each decade of the rosary has a different color to represent a part of the world: green for the verdant scenery of Africa; blue for the Pacific Ocean; white representing the robes worn by the pope in Europe; red for "the fire of faith that brought missionaries to the Americas;" and yellow for the eastern sunrise over Asia.
Maureen Heil, director of programs and development for the Pontifical Mission Societies of Boston, explained the meaning of the rosary and its colors. In her remarks after Mass, she asked everyone in the assembly who was a missionary to raise their hands. Only a few did. She then asked everyone who was baptized to raise their hands, and everyone did. She explained that it was a trick question.
"If you are baptized, you are no less called to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the Earth than someone who does travel far away," she said. "And you kids, this means you, too."
She pointed to the example of Blessed Pauline Jaricot, who was 18 years old when she founded the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Blessed Pauline organized poor silk factory workers in her native France to pray and contribute to missions. From there, the society helped bring the Catholic faith to North America.
"We exist thanks to the generosity of Catholics in France and Western Europe, and now it is our turn," Heil said.
The U.S. is the largest donor to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, responsible for 40 percent of contributions. Heil said that in a country where so many people do not donate or attend Mass, there is a chance for so much more to be done to "bring the good news to people who either have not yet heard it or who have heard it and have yet to embrace it as we have."