“Going on mission means going out of oneself to give the best of oneself and the best that God gives, and this is something very beautiful“.

Over the course of a week, as has been the case for the past three years, thirty people, including young people and adults, took part in the mission, on the theme taken from the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, “Dreams are built together”, organised by the people of Salta, Victoria Este and the diocese of Oran by Father Mariano Cordeiro.

The mission took place in one of the poorest places in the country, afflicted by malnutrition, lack of drinking water, and lack of medical and health care: among the Wichi indigenous community, in the mountains on the border with Bolivia and Paraguay. ‘We visited them,’ Father Mariano recounts, ‘celebrating baptisms, Masses, feasts, accompanying families, playing with children, bringing the Word of God, sharing life and faith, enriching ourselves with the culture of our native brothers, going out to meet the poorest of the poor. We were able to touch the flesh of Jesus in these people.

Text Videomessage of the Holy Father

I wish to greet the group of missionaries, young people and adults in total, who went on missions among the indigenous peoples of Salta, Victoria Este, in the diocese of Orán. And the motto of the mission is “Dreams are built together”. Thank you for what you have done, thank you for this work. Keep going.  Because “to mission” is to go out of yourselves to give the best of yourselves and the best of what God gives, and this is a very beautiful thing. Greetings to Father Mariano, who is accompanying you in this.  And pray for me, I will pray for you to. So, go back to your missionary work. God bless you.