While we know that God’s love is quietly at work in hidden ways, it remains part of the divine plan that this love be expressed and articulated in tangible and visible ways within the world. Those who have encountered the love of God in the person of Christ under the influence of the Holy Spirit are impelled and obliged to share this with others, in whatever ways they can. This may be in the silent, attentive and patient presence of a chaplain or carer sitting by the bedside of a seriously ill patient, just as much as in the sermon of an eloquent preacher at the lecturn. For those that are formed in the faith and practice of the life of discipleship, there is an urgency and an imperative to give expression to this in their lives. The missionary impulse is part of the baptized condition because the gifts of faith and grace received in baptism are meant to be shared and used in building up the missionary community of disciples.

Excerpted from Chaplains: Ministers of Hope, edited by Alan Hilliard, foreword by Bishop Éamonn Walsh. (p. 31)