On January 6, the Church celebrates Missionary Day for Children (GMR), formerly known as World Missionary Childhood Day, as an opportunity to rediscover, through the Magi, our own journey toward Christ and our commitment to the Mission. 
It is a very important day for missionary children, and celebrating it means fully putting into practice the commitments they embrace: prayer and solidarity with children throughout the world. Pope Francis described the day as «a celebration of children who, with their prayers and sacrifices, help their most needy peers, becoming missionaries and witnesses of fraternity and sharing». Children are called to give concrete expression to this invitation by becoming protagonists in the Church’s missionary work, supporting their peers spiritually and through sharing in distant lands who still do not know Jesus or who live in poverty, war, violence, or are deprived of their fundamental rights. Like every baptized person, they too are entrusted with the task of taking the Good News beyond every “border”! Father Valerio Bersano, National Secretary of Missio Ragazzi, writes in the introduction to the document for GMR 2021: «The missionary day celebrated throughout the world represents a valuable opportunity for human and Christian growth. Every year we seek to explore a theme that helps us live out God’s call. We are all sent by God into the world (this was the theme of the extraordinary mission month in 2019); now, also because of the difficult experience caused by the “coronavirus” pandemic, we are more aware that today’s challenge is precisely to overcome isolation and selfishness, the “virus” that makes us believe we live well when we are alone (well-being does not mean living in isolation…). Courageously experiencing fraternity in the environment in which we live and dedicating ourselves to others helps us understand that the Gospel is lived when we become “weavers of fraternity”. Missionary children turn the expression “Weavers of fraternity” into “LET’S ORCHESTRATE fraternity”, that is, we tune our lives to the lives of our brothers and friends, thus creating the melody of a world where men and women care for one another!»

Following in the footsteps of the Magi
It is no coincidence that GMR falls on the solemnity of the Epiphany. The Gospel reading presents us with the figures of the Magi, mysterious characters who are difficult to identify: they are “travelers” following a star, seekers who have come from afar to find the Messiah. They are men who stop their journey and kneel in adoration before Jesus, moved by profound questions and by a hope that beats in their hearts. They have seen a sign, a star: they have set out and begun their search. They found him!
Many people in today’s world live with searching and waiting! It is the Church’s task to be a sign, to “be a star”, leading every brother and sister to Christ! This is why, on the feast of the Epiphany, Missionary Children from the five continents celebrate their commitment to the Mission.

GMR 2021: “Let’s Orchestrate Fraternity”
The 2021 edition of Missionary Day for Children is titled “Weavers of Fraternity”, a theme developed through various activities and forms of expression suited to the different age groups addressed by missionary animation.
Based on the chosen theme, the GMR 2021 poster was created, offering an opportunity to visualize the content proposed in the educational program for children and preteens.
Saverio Penati, illustrator for Missio Ragazzi, explains the meaning of the poster as follows: «For children and preteens, we focused on a concrete image that could best convey the concept of fraternity: a small orchestra conducted by a special maestro, Jesus.
Music has always been considered a universal language that allows us to communicate emotions, bring together many differences, and be understood by everyone; in orchestras, many musical instruments, often with very different sounds, create a single harmony. And, above all, in every orchestra, everyone must play their part, their instrument, to bring the work to life. This is the idea behind the poster’s illustrations: the continents come alive and become musical instruments in the hands of children and young people of different nationalities, who together perform a single melody from a single score, conducted by one great Maestro. Thus was born the slogan for Missionary Day for Children 2021: Let’s orchestrate fraternity; an invitation not to be solitary players but promoters of acts of solidarity, closeness, and fraternity, following the guidance of Jesus, friend and teacher». This year we have experienced disorientation and isolation, and the theme of the day, “Let’s orchestrate fraternity”, reminds us that each person can, together with their brothers and sisters, be a unique instrument capable of creating an authentic melody and, together with the other instruments, the harmony of all humanity renewed in God.

Finally, we offer everyone the prayer for GMR 2021 prepared by the first-year catechism children of the San Lino Papa parish in Rome.

GMR 2021 Prayer
Dear Jesus,
you were the first to teach us that God is our Father and that we are all brothers and sisters.
So we pray to you fervently,
help us live this brotherhood
with all children, near and far.
Let us get to know, listen to, and understand one another.
Let there always be in our hearts the desire and the prayer
that all the children of the world may be happy and free from suffering.
Help us understand that being different from one another
is a richness and not a reason for us to disagree.
Jesus, help me put myself in the other person’s shoes
to truly understand what they need
so that I can help them.
Thank you, Jesus, because it is truly beautiful when we are together as brothers and sisters.
Amen.

Happy Epiphany and have a blessed journey!