Traditional Catholic Theology employs the Latin expression “ad extra” (towards the outside) to describe particularly the Mission of God the Son and of God the Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son and the Spirit on a Mission outside the inner life of the Trinity, into the world. The three divine persons have their innermost life. The Father lives in the Son, the Son and the Spirit live in the Father. This is called in traditional Catholic theology the life “ad intra” (towards the inside) of the Blessed Trinity. The Missions ad extra of the Son and the Spirit reveal to us the innermost life of the Trinity (life ad intra).
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| Jesus entrusts His apostles with the same mandate that He received from the Father in the Spirit, and sends his own into the world, just as the Father had sent him, and to this end he gives them the Spirit.
“Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’.” (John 20:21-22)
The Gospel of John relates that this sending of the apostles took place on the Sunday of His resurrection.
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| The Mission ad extra that Jesus received from the Father is prolonged in the Church until He comes again. The Holy Spirit, who also received a Mission ad extra (outside the innermost Trinitarian life) is the primary agent of Jesus’ Mission on earth.
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| The expression “Mission ad extra” is at times used to describe the Mission of the Church “ad gentes” (to the nations) and “Mission ad intra” to describe the Church’s Mission within its own boundaries.
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| The missionary vocation is often described by three “ad”: “ad extra’ or “ad exteros” (outside the missionary’s own culture); “ad gentes’ (the Latin “gentes” may mean both the “Gentiles”, as the Jews called the non-Jewish people, or it may mean the “gentes”, the non-Christian “nations”; “ad vitam” (for life), to distinguish it from the temporary missionary service.
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