Day of Reflection stresses need for hope and mission
Sara Garcia, Deacon Michael Mocek, Annette Snodgrass, Philomena Ikowe, Mike Wuller, and Fr. Brijil Lawrence pose during a Day of Reflection about missions at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, Saturday, September 20, 2025. (NTC/Rodger Mallison)
FORT WORTH — This year's Day of Reflection called upon Catholics to become “Missionaries of hope among all peoples.”
About 45 parishioners from the Diocese of Fort Worth marked the Day of Reflection on Sept. 20 at Fort Worth's St. Bartholomew Church. Monsignor Roger J. Landry, who serves as the national director of Pontifical Mission Societies USA, spoke on hope and mission.
Hope is needed now more than ever in our increasingly secularized and divided world, Msgr. Landry said.
“The Church must become living signs, witnesses, and missionaries of hope inviting others to join us,” Msgr. Landry said. “Because we cannot live without hope for long.”
Recent studies paint a bleak picture.
According to statistics, 42 percent of high school students persistently feel sad or hopeless while 22 percent have considered suicide and 10 percent have attempted such.
Among high school girls, those numbers increase to 57 percent feeling sad and hopeless with 30 percent having considered suicide. Such numbers overall represent a steep increase over a similar study conducted in 2011.
Multiple reasons account for the loss of hope, Msgr. Landry said. While factors such as drug abuse, bullying, and sexual promiscuity remained constant or decreased, others increased, such as social media addiction, isolation, individualism, and loneliness. As have too the rise of the nones, those claiming no religious affiliation and/or beliefs.
Mission of hope
The current situation, while disheartening, also brings opportunities for steps toward positive change, Msgr. Landry said.
“The Church's mission began with Jesus' mission,” Msgr. Landry said. “Sent to revive a world of dark shadows, Jesus restored and became the first great missionary of hope. Then, the Holy Spirit's mission is to help us grow in that hope.”
We too, through baptism, are called to mission, evangelization, and to spreading hope, Msgr. Landry added.
Mission can entail travels to faraway lands or be as close as one's backyard, he said.
“Mission is not just something we do,” Msgr. Landry said. “It's supposed to be part of our identity. Once we start that identity it becomes a lifelong thing. We are called to be harbingers of hope in a world distracted. But, to be missionaries of hope, we need to be renewed in hope.”
Such renewal begins with prayer, Msgr. Landry said.
It involves also living in but not of the world.
“We see that today in the ways we're asked to compromise our faith,” Msgr. Landry said. “To conform to the spirit of the age and water down and deny the radical truths of the Church. To deny ourselves the opportunity to pick up our cross and follow Jesus.”
Msgr. Landry quoted Pope Benedict in saying that those who have hope must live different lives.
“We Catholics are supposed to live different than the rest,” Msgr. Landry said. “One of the problems where we lost our salt is that Catholics from previous generations just wanted to fit in. They lost their light hidden under a bushel basket, ashamed to share the Gospel rather than proud. Assimilation isn't the goal; conversion and sanctification are the goals.”
Pope Leo said as much on the night of his election.
“Together we must look for ways to be a missionary Church,” Pope Leo said.
Pope Leo, during a May 22 meeting with the Pontifical Mission Societies directors, challenged them to become “pilgrims of hope” in line with the theme of the current Jubilee year.
Such duties extend to all Catholics, Msgr. Landry added.
“Our talents have been given to us so that we can live as faithful Christians and help others,” Msgr. Landry said. “Think of your struggles right now. Hope is our choice, a choice to trust in God and rely on Him. The choice of relying not on ourselves or the things of this world but upon the grace of the Holy Spirit.”
Choosing such a choice, as Pope Francis said, provides stability, security, and an anchor in the “troubled waters of life.”
People of hope
Americans, Msgr. Landry said, have a special mission of hope.
“Pope Benedict, when meeting President Bush, said Americans have always been a people of hope. That's why immigrants want to come here, they look to us as a beacon of hope.”
Msgr. Landry detailed ways to grow in hope including prayer, gratitude, seeking out sound teaching, participation in the sacraments, patience, just actions, meditation on the last things, and devotion to Mary and the saints as they too were filled with great hope.
Conversely, hope can be lost through self-reliance, Msgr. Landry said.
“Trust in ourselves rather than God,” Msgr. Landry said. “One of the great dangers of modern life.”
Falling into materialism, presumption, despair, and sin also lead to loss of hope, he said.
Msgr. Landry spoke of the good work and importance of the Pontifical Mission Societies in spreading hope and help and the functions of that entity's four groups .
Msgr. Landry spoke too of the example of the Korean martyrs in continuing to inspire present-day Catholics to spread hope and participate in mission work.
Nearly 10,000 Koreans, mostly lay people, gave their lives for Christ during waves of religious persecution stretching from 1791 to 1966. Korea is unique, Msgr. Landry said, in that the Church entered the country mainly through the work of lay people rather than missionaries or priests. By the time a Chinese Catholic priest secretly entered the country in 1789, more than 4,000 Korean citizens had already been baptized.
Arlington's Most Blessed Sacrament Church parishioner Andrew Hoetger commended Msgr. Landry's message and said he felt inspired by the Pontifical Mission Societies' role both in the Day of Reflection and the upcoming World Mission Sunday on Oct. 19.
“I really like that there's four different groups focusing on different missions,” Hoetger said. “Anybody should be able to find something there that applies to their needs and interests in serving God.”