Apostles for Today
June 2017
Prayer and Reflection
DIALOGUE IN MISSION
In order to speak of dialogue in mission, it
is necessary to consider several aspects of the missionary process. The first
is dialogue with ourselves and with God: the two being inseparable. The second,
connected with the first, is dialogue with culture, with the people who live
that same culture and its implications. The third is the aspect of
interreligious dialogue; consequently some writings of Pallotti and of Pope
Francis on charity in the process of dialogue itself.
Every mission is born of a passion for Jesus
which is translated into a desire to serve Him in serving others. Mission,
above all, is being where God wants
us and doing what he asks of us. In
this sense we can say that mission is a long journey towards the heart of God
who takes full care of our life and leads us in his ways.
Mission is to set off, to journey, to leave
everything, to go out of ourselves, to open ourselves and allow ourselves to be
led, to allow the Heart of God to lead us to greater service. This requires of
the missionary maturity, constant dialogue with oneself, in order to understand
the process. It demands an intense review of oneself in a new reality, in order
to discover the new Creator God and grow in the spiritual life.
The true missionary walks with the Lord,
speaks with Him, works with Him, perceives Him independently of his or her own
activity.
Being a missionary means allowing “the life
of our Lord Jesus Christ to be my life”. It means opening myself without fear
to the action of the Spirit and my very life becoming a living proclamation of
transfiguration in Christ, alive and risen. The human being is essentially
“sent”, that is, someone who has received a mission. Transformation in Jesus
Christ leads necessarily to participation in his redemptive mission.
A second aspect of fundamental importance is
knowing that the missionary is a guest, a stranger who makes his or her
dwelling in another’s home. This requires the capacity to constantly give and
receive. One moves as a pilgrim and lives permanently as a stranger, bearing
witness to impermanence and to the continual search for an abiding dwelling
place. The missionary is invited to carry only one tunic, that is, to be
clothed in Christ. He or she is someone who seeks a treasure hidden among
peoples and cultures, who at the same time bears the treasure of God’s
compassion, in a process of mutual help and of seeking the Absolute.
Being a guest means living a situation of
dependence; one’s home is that of another, it is a sacred home, holy ground on
which it is necessary to “remove one’s sandals” in order to enter into a new
culture. And in this situation, new relationships are established and spaces
made available are occupied.
Mission moves us, disturbs us, takes away our
structures and pushes us to go beyond where we are and who we are. It allows us
to overcome the habit which leads us to close ourselves within our own identity
and prevents us from recognising the gift of otherness. Faith in the Trinity and living mission as a fundamental
attitude, manifests the joy of knowing ourselves to be in communion with God
and with others, allowing us to celebrate the feast of love with others,
especially with the poor and the excluded (cf. Paleari, Giorgio, Espiritualidade e
Missão (Spirituality and Mission), pp. 61-62. Paulinas, 2005).
The first attitude which accompanies the
missionary is silence and listening in the face of mystery, because that land
is sacred. It is the land of the revelation of God which at the same time gives
rise to both anxiety and joy over what is new. One seeks to know the people,
their customs, their histories and their difficulties. Mission is the place of revelation of one’s identity.
Dialogue and contact with people deepens the
possibility of plumbing the most intimate depths of one’s being, of uncovering
the roots, of living a profound experience of God. The missionary is always a
disciple in search of the treasure and of the face of God.
The missionary is one who is always learning
with the Other and with others and, at the same time, the teacher who shares
the gift received from God. Teaching and learning at the same time. Advising
and receiving advice. Sharing what he or she knows and sharing the other’s
knowledge. Recognising that every person is worthy of his or her commitment
(cf. EG 274).
Learning from each other consists in
gathering the gifts which the Spirit has given through them. Dialogue implies
giving and receiving, speaking and listening, teaching and learning. It is the
word in the gestation phase, the word which becomes flesh in the dwelling of
the life of every person. Sharing what overflows from the heart, of the
experience of God. Discovering the seed of the Word: “to embrace the mysterious
wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them” (EG. 198).
Dialogue with culture implies hearing the
cry, paying attention to the fragilities, recognising the suffering Christ and
caring for the dignity of the person. It is taking upon oneself human
sufferings, anxieties and limitations. It is being in solidarity with the poor
and excluded and at the same time committing ourselves to their cause, becoming
a prophetic voice when necessary.
The missionary is one who is profoundly
committed against injustice and contributes to the development of projects for
redeeming human lives. Who lives out the ideal of the Kingdom in closeness and
solidarity, with a personal, silent compassion, in hope that the world will be
transformed and become more fraternal, always pointing towards a kingdom of
justice and fraternity for all.
Like Pallotti we can say that: “We are all called to observe the precept of
charity since all are, according to the reality of creation, true images of
love in essence. This is why God has ordained that all be concerned for their
neighbour, just as God himself is (cf. OOCC IV, 132, 310, 451).
Before being an activity, dialogue is an
encounter and a Christian imperative. It is profoundly rooted in the
Trinitarian mystery, in a God who is love and communion. As St. Augustine said:
His mission has its origin in love, is sustained by love and communicates love,
thereby creating communion.
Love of God becomes love of neighbour.
“Caritas Christi urget nos” – is the soul of our apostolate. Love must be lived
in such a way that it fulfils the mandate of Christ when he invites us to love
as He has loved (cf. OOCC I, 8).
In addition to a dialogue with him- or
herself, with God and with the culture encountered as a stranger and pilgrim,
the missionary comes into contact with peoples of other confessions; this requires
a clear religious identity, and a firm conviction that God desires the
salvation of all (cf. I Tm 2:4); that His grace goes beyond the visible limits
of the Church; and that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of all humanity, the
Church being the place in which are found the fulness of the means of
salvation. Dialogue is always associated with the proclamation; both are
connected by the desire to clearly know who we are encountering.
The missionary is a person of compassion, of
solidarity, capable of seeing what is different not as a threat but with
respect. Salvation is always a great gift of God, offered to all, according to
the Lord’s own criteria and methods. Therefore, openness to other religions and
the respect which ought to accompany our drawing closer, requires a constant
openness to the action of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rm 8:29).
In religious experience, dialogue is achieved
when people of different confessions communicate their own path towards God;
when peace is sought in a common effort to build unity and overcome conflicts;
when there are theological exchanges, in which the adherents of the various
religions reflect and compare the data of their own faiths. The experience of
listening to and communicating with the other can be said to transform the
missionary, because from this is born the deep desire to search for unity in
God and to respect diversity profoundly.
Interreligious dialogue is sustained and
enlivened through a spirituality based on a living faith in a creator God who
is Father of all humanity; in a convinced and open hope that does not look for
immediate results and in an effective and dialoguing love as a free gift of
God.
The missionary both lives on and goes beyond
frontiers, with a spirituality rooted in universality which finds its space in
an openness beyond frontiers. The principal objective of missionary action is
to arrive at a communion of persons with God and with one another.
The dynamism of a communion of life leads to
charity, to solidarity, to encountering and listening to the other, to
missionary cooperation, to ecumenical, interreligious and social dialogue, to
working on what unites us, in this way promoting reconciliation and universal
communion. “Let there be unity in what is necessary; freedom in what is unsettled,
and charity in any case” (GS, 92).
Communion is one of the most important
objectives of mission; and at the same time one of the most effective means of
witnessing for evangelisation: "so that they may all be one. As you,
Father, are in me and I am in you, let them also be one, so that the world may
believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21). The Church in communion
(Koinonia) becomes a sign and an instrument of union with God and of the unity
of the whole human race (cf. GS 92).
“Our commitment does not consist exclusively
in activities or programmes of promotion and assistance; what the Holy Spirit
mobilizes is not an unruly activism, but above all an attentiveness which
considers the other “in a certain sense as one with ourselves”. This loving
attentiveness is the beginning of a true concern for their person which
inspires me effectively to seek their good. This entails appreciating the poor
in their goodness, in their experience of life, in their culture, and in their
ways of living the faith. True love is always contemplative, and permits us to
serve the other not out of necessity or vanity, but rather because he or she is
beautiful above and beyond mere appearances” (EG 199).
Love for our brothers and sisters is authentic, it commits us to act in
order that Jesus be loved and “known” (cfr. OOCC I).
Foreign missions were always a concern for
Saint Vincent Pallotti; it could be said that it was the beginning of the UAC,
its reason for existing and its goal.
- What do I do individually and as in
community in order to help overseas (“ad gentes”) missionary activity?
- We find ourselves in a constantly
changing culture. What do I do to promote dialogue in the concrete
reality, with the many challenges of means of communication which lead to
a cultural, religious, social and individualistic indifference?
- In what way, as UAC, can we collaborate
for peace, in a world which continually promotes violence?
Suor
Maria Neide Sibim, CSAC
Bolivia.
____________________________________________________
Segretariato Generale,
Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204,
00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org
No comments:
Post a Comment