March 31,  2025

To all Holy Week missionaries:
 
Lent is a time when we unite ourselves more intensely with Christ in his journey through the desert to prepare ourselves to proclaim the Good News of his Resurrection with renewed ardor. At this time, we want to reach out to you and encourage you in your mission to be apostles of hope.
 
Our world today needs witnesses who proclaim with their lives that Christ has suffered, died, and risen—transforming reality and the hearts of those they encounter. In this Jubilee of Hope, our mission is not only to bring a message, but to be a living presence of God’s love, called to go out to meet others and to shine with the light of the Gospel. We are called to form communities of apostles who go out into our world to reflect the mercy and closeness of the Good Shepherd (see Communique of the Regnum Christi General Convention).
 
Being missionaries of hope implies making several commitments:
 
1. To bring hope where it is needed most.
 
Through Mission Youth & Family, we seek to respond to Christ’s command: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). We are not just visitors; we seek to be a bridge between God and those who seek him most, perhaps without knowing it. Every encounter, every conversation and every gesture of service is an opportunity for hope to be reborn in those who have lost their faith or feel alienated from the Church.
 
We want to build communities of apostles where faith is lived and shared, living as a reflection of Christ’s love in the midst of loneliness, suffering, or need.
 
2. To renew our hope.
 
Being a missionary means not only giving but also receiving. In the simplicity and faith of those we meet in the mission, we discover a hope that evangelizes us. We realize that God is already at work in every community, and we are sent to help make his love visible.
 
Missions challenge and transform us. They help us to see the world and others with Christ’s eyes, not with pessimism or indifference, but with the certainty that his Kingdom continues to grow, even in the midst of difficulties. As Pope Francis reminds us: “Hope does not disappoint, it is always there: silent, humble but strong.”
 
3. To be witnesses of hope in the world.
 
The mission doesn’t end when we return home. Being missionaries of hope is a daily commitment, a lifestyle, a call that invites us to bring the light of Christ to our family, to our work, and to our community. We want to share the Heart of the Good Shepherd, which “ more than leaving the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one, brings and works with the one to go search for the ninety-nine together with him; to go out to meet those who are away and distant at the crossroads. “ (General Convention Communiqué 21)
 
Thus, this Lent we take up the challenge of being apostles who form apostles, building living, committed, and outward facing communities, capable of spreading the joy of the Gospel and transforming reality with the love of Christ.
 
Dear missionaries, the Lord is counting on you. Go out with confidence, with your eyes fixed on Christ and your heart ready to serve. Wherever you go, He already waits for you and walks with you.
 
With gratitude and in the mission,

The General Directive College of Regnum Christi