“I belong neither here nor there,
but wherever God wants me to be.”
St Vincent de Paul
To all the Confreres of the Congregation of the Mission
Dear Confreres,
May the grace and peace of Jesus be always with us!
With deep thankfulness to Jesus, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, the Saints, Blessed, and Servants of God of the Vincentian Family, we look back to the year 2017 when we celebrated the 400thAnniversary of the Vincentian Charism, as well as the beginning of our “Little Company,” as Saint Vincent liked to called it.
Calling the Congregation of the Mission the “Little Company,” expresses Saint Vincent’s total conviction that whatever we are and whatever we do from beginning to end depends on Jesus, on His Providence. The name, “Little Company,” also expresses Vincent’s great humility in relation to other Congregations existing in the Church, to whom he looked up, highlighting their capabilities, knowledge, and talents.
Saint Vincent had a deep conviction of the mission Jesus entrusted to him and to all who belong to the Little Company. It is a call and a lifelong mission that begins at the time of entrance into consecrated life in the footsteps of Saint Vincent and ends on earth with our passage from this life to the next. It then continues in heaven as we will, God willing, join our confreres, as well as other members of the Vincentian Family, to continue our mission from above for all eternity. This deep conviction also is expressed so clearly in Saint Vincent’s desire to add the fourth vow, the vow of “perseverance to the end.”
The year 2018 is the beginning of the fifth century of the Vincentian Charism.
In the “Little Company’s” extraordinary history it achieved many wonderful things when its members put all their trust in Providence, acting with humility, recognizing that all is grace and comes from Jesus’s initiative, accompaniment, and vision. Therefore, we look forward with total trust, convinced that, if we keep walking along the same path, we will bring into the fifth century the mission that Jesus entrusted to Saint Vincent 400 years ago, keeping it going with the heartfelt desire to reach the farthest corners of the world.
As every year in the month of October, the Superior General writes a letter to all the confreres around the world with a specific focus, the missions “ad Gentes.” Our “Little Company” officially is called the “Congregation of the Mission.” The mission “ad Gentes” is part of our DNA. One of our five virtues is “zeal for souls” to help bring all peoples to salvation, redemption, heaven.
Pope Francis’s letter for World Mission Sunday 2018 is entitled, “Together with young people, let us bring the Gospel to all.” Pope Francis has announced that for next year, 2019, the month of October will be an “Extraordinary Missionary Month” on the 100thanniversary of the Apostolic Letter “Maximum illud” of Pope Benedict XV, to reignite our ardor and passion for the mission of Jesus Christ. The theme for October 2019 is “Baptized and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission in the World.”
The invitation and challenge of Pope Francis is directed also to all members of the “Little Company,” the “Congregation of the Mission.” The positive response to this call depends on a positive response from each of us, each member of the Congregation. The positive response to go on mission “ad Gentes” depends on the readiness of a particular confrere who feels the call, as well as on the openness of the province or vice-province to which the confrere belongs to send him to a mission “ad Gentes.”
It is clear that it is definitely easier for provinces and vice-provinces with a significant number of confreres to send some to a mission “ad Gentes.” However, it is likewise true that even where the numbers are smaller or with many commitments, ministries, and works in place, sending a missionary or missionaries to a mission “ad Gentes” becomes a source of tremendous grace for the mission where the confrere is sent, as well as for the province or vice-province which sends him. It brings renewed energy, fire, motivation to all, as we get directly or indirectly involved with the new mission. This also becomes a wonderful opportunity to renew the Culture of Vocations.
We have had extraordinary examples of confreres throughout the history of the “Little Company,” who went to the missions “ad Gentes,” and even became martyrs and saints. Likewise, today there are confreres in the missions “ad Gentes” and there are provinces and vice-provinces opento sending confreres to the missions “ad Gentes.” Reflecting on these gives as much hope that we will be able to reinforce already existing missions and open new missions in countries where we are not yet present.
In last year’s Mission Appeal Letter, I had invited all the confreres around the world to get involved in the initiative:
“To send1% of the members of the Congregation of the Mission to the missions ad Gentes.” The 1% of 
our overall membership of around 3000 confreres comes to 30 confreres, who would go as new missionaries to the missions “ad Gentes.”
The concrete invitation and challenge for the worldwide Congregation in the next year or so, in response to the invitation of Pope Francis for the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019, is to be able to present Pope Francis the following message in writing:
Holy Father, the Congregation of the Mission after praying, reflecting, and discussing the different possibilities within the Congregation, based on your invitation to the Universal Church, is delighted and overwhelmed with joy for God’s mercy toward us. We are announcing, Your Holiness, in this month of October 2019, that our “Little Company” is sending 1% of its membership, that is, 30 confreres, as new missionaries to the missions “ad Gentes.”
The invitation is to make the commitment in the next year, which includes time for preparation and for concluding present ministry or work in which one is involved. The sendoff for some may happen after, perhaps, two years, but the commitment will be made between now and October 2019.
Your brother in Saint Vincent,
Tomaž Mavrič, CM
Superior General
Download the complete letter
