Some people do not commit themselves to mission because they think that nothing will change and that it is useless to make the effort… This attitude makes it impossible to be a missionary…  It is a self-destructive attitude, for “man cannot live without hope: life would become meaningless and unbearable.”

If we think that things are not going to change, we need to recall that Jesus Christ has triumphed over sin and death and is now almighty. Jesus Christ truly lives. Put another way, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain.”

The gospel tells us that when the first disciples went forth to preach, “the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message.”

The same thing happens today. We are invited to discover this, to experience it. Christ, risen and glorified, is the wellspring of our hope, and he will not deprive us of the help we need to carry out the mission which he has entrusted to us.