Prayer
“Prayer gives us strength for great ideals, for keeping up our faith, charity, purity, generosity. Prayer gives us light by which to see and to judge from God’s perspective and from eternity.” – Saint John Paul II
“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” – Mark 1:35
Our missionary vocation is a call from God. This vocation emerges from our relationship with God, a relationship rooted in constant prayer and praise. We are devoted to personal and community prayer as families, and in every work of mission. We imitate Christ in all things, including His devotion to prayer.
“The missionary must be a Saint.” – Mission of the Redeemer
Prayer draws us closer to Jesus, Who calls us to lives of ongoing conversion, free from serious sin. We live in virtue and the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, purity, modesty, chastity, and generosity.
God’s Word
“Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path.” -Psalm 119:105
“They are centered on the Word of God and at the same time are justified and sustained by it.” -Pope Benedict XVI
We love the Word of God, it is always on our lips and in our hearts, it is the Truth that we proclaim. We spend time in reading, reflecting on, and studying the Bible and the teachings of the Church – Lectio Divina.
Sacraments
“To celebrate the Eucharist, ‘to eat His flesh and drink His blood,’ means to accept the wisdom of the Cross and the path of service. It means that we signal our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for others, as Christ has done.” – Saint John Paul II
We live fully the Sacraments that we have received. As missionaries we strive to fulfill our Baptismal calling as Priest, Prophet and King. Those of us who are married live our vocation of this sacrament in holiness. We live lives of repentance and sacramental grace. We frequently receive communion and the sacrament of reconciliation, although at times, with those whom we serve, we suffer the poverty of infrequent reception of the sacraments.
Community
“All those who believed were together and had all things in common; they sold their property and possessions and shared them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they took their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God.” -Acts 2:44-47
“That they may be one even as we are one.”-John 17:22
We take to heart Jesus’ prayer that we be “one,” and do nothing to compromise our unity. Yet we rejoice in our diversity – families and singles, young and old, men and women find their place in FMC. We treat one another with respect and understanding, we deal directly with one another, speaking truth in love and receiving correction with humility and openness.
Service
“Do the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as unto the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord.” – Ephesians 6:6-8
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” -Mark 10:45
Our lives are poured out in service to one another and the people to whom God sends us. We have servants’ hearts and are proactive in our willingness to work and take initiative in seeking work for the Kingdom of Heaven. We are observant of the needs of others and willing to assume the service of leadership.
Catholic
“Take care, then, to be firmly grounded in the teachings of the Lord and his apostles so that you may prosper in all your doings both in body and in soul, in faith and in love, in the Son, and in the Father and in the Spirit, in the beginning and in the end.” – Ignatius of Antioch
We are Roman Catholic and we love the Catholic Church, and are formed and inspired by her teaching. We are universal in our scope of evangelization. Sent by our Bishop, and received by Bishops wherever we go, we always work with the blessing of the Pastors where we minister. We contribute to the needs of the Church where we work as missionaries, while not undermining local ministry. We seek to love our Protestant brothers and sisters, and are ecumenical in our attitude. At the same time, our love of the Church manifests itself in our devotion to the intercession of Saints, love for our Blessed Mother, and a reliance upon the Eucharist.
Evangelistic
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to all creation.” – Mark 16:15
“Not to preach the Gospel would be my undoing, for Christ himself sent me as his apostle and witness.” – Pope Paul VI
As missionaries we bear a twofold witness to the Gospel – through commitment to holiness of life and prayer, and through our verbal witness: preaching, teaching, and testifying. We evangelize with parresia (boldness & outspokenness). Sensitive to the most effective methods for speaking the truth in love, we enculturate the Gospel as we seek to draw all creation into a loving relationship with Jesus.
Obedient
“The world calls for and expects from us obedience and humility. Without this mark of holiness, our word will have difficulty in touching the heart of modern man.” – Pope Paul VI
We are obedient to authority – to Christ, to the Church, to our Bishops, to the leadership of FMC, and to the leaders of our families and teams. We give our joyful obedience as a service to God and to one another. We never misuse authority, but use it to serve one another.
Embracing Gospel Poverty
“We are to be head over heels in love for God. We are to be so in love that we sing to him in our hearts, always and everywhere. Every fiber of our being, heart, soul, and mind is to become wholly love. People in love are not much concerned with things. They are person oriented, not thing centered. A consumerist is not in love.” – Fr. Thomas Dubay
We are beggars for the Gospel. We detach ourselves from our possessions and live on the providence of others in order to serve the poor and live in solidarity with the poor. Though poor ourselves, we live lives of generosity to the poor, showing a preferential option for the poor, as the Church teaches.
Spirit Led & Open to the Charisms
“For the Spirit moves where it will.” -John 3:8
We follow the movement and guidance of the Holy Spirit wherever and however He leads. We live lives of praise, openness to the spiritual gifts, spiritual warfare, and discernment of the Spirit’s guidance. We depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. Following the Spirit, our missionary lives are lives of great flexibility and itinerancy.
Family
“Family ‘is a community of faith, hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament'”– Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2204
We live our lives in FMC more as a family than as an organization. We are brothers and sisters in Christ; our missionary communities are like “families” of missionaries. We are laity, open to families and children as part of our lives, part of our prayer in community, and a vital part of our ministry to the world. We are pro-life, pro-child, pro-marriage. We believe, as the Church teaches, that family, the domestic church, is the basic unit of the universal Church, and that witness of families in mission is essential and effective.
Sacrificial
“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” -John 15:13
The call to missions is a call to sacrifice. We lay down our lives, our homes, our cultures, our language, and even our families and friends, to follow Jesus to the very ends of the earth. Inspired by the supreme sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, which we proclaim, we die to ourselves so that the world may know Him. As missionary families and teams, we sacrifice for one another in love, allowing the witness of our unity to draw others into the fullness of the Christian life.