Pope Francis declared 2024 as the “Year of Prayer” to prepare the Church for the celebration of the Jubilee Year 2025. The Pope chooses “Spes non Confundit” (Hope does not Disappoint) which comes from the Letter of Paul to the Romans 5:5 as the theme for the Jubilee Year. He reminds us all that we are all “pilgrims of hope.” He added that prayer is described as a clear sign of hope as well as the most important way of preparing for the great event. As believers of Christ, we pray as pin our hopes in Him. He is our hope and we know that every human heart thirsts for God. The Pope remarks that “in the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring.” Thus, the grace of the Jubilee Year may only be wholistically received if this great event be well prepared by the life of prayer.

As hope is expressed in prayer and as prayer brings us hope, the Church has the undying mission of living a life of prayer to further fan the flame of hope in the world. Thus, the Church has to be a witness of the closeness and inseparability between prayer and mission if it has to be a sign of hope in the world. We may enumerate 7 signs of the importance of prayer in the mission of the Church.

1. Prayer is needed for Missionary Vocations

The relationship between prayer and mission has to be traced from the words of Christ. We recall when Christ saw the vast crowd following Him, He commented that they were like sheep without a shepherd. He felt the compassion for the crowd as they were “confused and helpless” (Mt 9:36). So, He said to His disciples “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, so pray to the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers for the harvest.” (Mt. 9:37-38). It was Jesus who laid the foundation of the relationship between prayer and mission. This is illustrated in the relationship between Jesus and the Father especially in the Gospels when Jesus prays to the Father before He begins His ministry. John Paul II says “the entire missionary sense of John’s Gospel is expressed in the “priestly prayer:” “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3). (RM 23).

2. Prayer guides the Church’s mission.

At the heart of mission is the Holy Eucharist because the Church stands in continuity of the mission of Christ. It is the Holy Eucharist that guides the Church powerfully the mission it receives from Christ. John Paul II says “from the perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross and her communion with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, the Church draws the spiritual power needed to carry out her mission. The Eucharist thus appears as both the source and the summit of all evangelization, since its goal is the communion of mankind with Christ and in him with the Father and the Holy Spirit.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 22). In the Sacred Scriptures, we witness Christ entering into prayer in the desert at the outset of His mission. (Mt 4:1-11) Peter also was guided by prayer before he could bring the message to the Gentiles and dispense them from Jewish dietary laws. (Acts 10:3) St. Paul was also guided by prayer when he had a vision of a man of Macedonia begging him saying: “come to Macedonia and help us.” That vision directed him to change course and to proceed to Macedonia instead of Bithynia (Acts 16:9-10)

3. Prayer is indispensable to Missionary Holiness

The holiness of the missionary is of paramount importance in every missionary work. Holiness of life is possible through prayer. The holiness of the missionary as well as the people depends on the power of prayer. Pope Francis says that “one form of prayer moves us particularly to take up the task of evangelization and to seek the good of others: it is the prayer of intercession.” (EG 281) The prayer of intercession becomes essential in the missionary life of the Church because every missionary activity seeks the spiritual growth of the community and its intimate communion with God. Holiness is the fruit of prayer. John Paul II says that “through holiness of life every Christian can become a fruitful part of the Church’s mission.” (RM 77) In fact, Pope Francis added saying, “when evangelizers rise from prayer, their hearts are more open; freed of self-absorption, they are desirous of doing good and sharing their lives with others.” (EG 282)

4. Prayer is the Church’s participation in Mission.

In 1919, Benedict XV said that prayer is the first way to participate in the mission of the Church and it is something that is within everyone’s capacity. (cf. Maximum Illud 32) This makes prayer directly related with mission. The Apostleship of Prayer was purposedly established to encourage the faithful to pray for missionaries and for the mission of the Church. The Pope said: “we pray that they will all want to participate in the mission effort, and if they cannot assist in the field, they will, nevertheless, be willing to contribute their zeal and their devotion.” (Maximum Illud 33). In the same way, John Paul II made a point that prayer is a form of spiritual cooperation in which every faithful could give and do for the mission of the Church. He encourages us that we must pray for the entire missionary activity of the Church because “prayer should accompany the journey of missionaries so that the proclamation of the word will be effective through God’s grace.” (RM 78)

5. Prayer is a form of Service for the Kingdom. (RM 20)

Mission is always at the service of the Kingdom of God because mission can never be separated from the Church which has the duty of proclaiming the Gospel to all peoples. Jesus is the Kingdom of God. To proclaim Him, to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, to build the Church, and to form missionaries after the heart of Jesus is doing service for the Kingdom. John Paul II says: “it is true that the inchoate reality of the kingdom can also be found beyond the confines of the Church among peoples everywhere, to the extent that they live “Gospel values” and are open to the working of the Spirit who breathes when and where he wills (cf. Jn 3:8) (RM 20). Aside from being a promoter of the values of the Kingdom, the Church has the vocation to pray for the coming of the Kingdom. Thus, the mission of the Church is to teach the faithful to pray for that realization of the Kingdom in every one’s life. “The Church serves the kingdom by her intercession, since the kingdom by its very nature is God’s gift and work, as we are reminded by the gospel parables and by the prayer which Jesus taught us. We must ask for the kingdom, welcome it and make it grow within us…” (RM 20)

6. Prayer is at the Root of Every Missionary Activity (EG 259)

Every missionary knows that the Holy Spirit is the principal agent of mission. Mission begins with the prompting of the Holy Spirit. John Paul II reminds us that the action of the Holy Spirit is preeminent in the mission ad gentes because the Holy Spirit is indeed the primary motivator in the whole Church’s mission. (cf. RM 21) No mission of the Church can be fully achieved without the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus, mission should be rooted in prayer and every missionary act should be “firmly rooted in prayer, for without prayer all our activity risks being fruitless and our message empty. Jesus wants evangelizers who proclaim the good news not only with words, but above all by a life transfigured by God’s presence.” (EG 259).

7. Prayer is a Requirement for Missionary Formation (AG 25)

The missionary should be a man of prayer (cf. AG 25). This disposition is achieved through a formation that is girded towards an effective and relevant missionary spirituality. A missionary is a lover of prayer. Prayer has to be imbued in the missionary even at the outset of his formation because “for such an exalted task, the future missionary is to be prepared by a special spiritual and moral training. For he must have the spirit of initiative in beginning, as well as that of constancy in carrying through what he has begun; he must be persevering in difficulties, patient and strong of heart in bearing with solitude, fatigue, and fruitless labor.” (AG 25) The missionary has to learn to live a life of prayer, to love the Church, to have a heart for mission, and a preferential evangelizing desire for culture and people. “These habits of mind should be earnestly exercised already in his time of training; they should be cultivated, and should be uplifted and nourished by the spiritual life.” (AG 25)