Are you aware that, as a Christian, you are supposed to be a missionary? How can you fulfill this task more effectively? - Daily Reflections January 15,2014

SAINT OR FOOL?

 

St. Arnold Janssen is the founder of the Society of Divine Word (SVD), the congregation I belong to, and whose feast day the Church celebrates today. Nobody who knew Fr. Janssen would have thought he would become the founder of three worldwide missionary congregations: the SVD, the Holy Spirit Sisters, and the Pink Sisters.

       He was a dry teacher of mathematics and did not impress those who met him. When he told a bishop about his plan to open a seminary for missionaries, the bishop told his secretary, “He is either a saint or a fool.”

       But he was a man of prayer and, like the four brothers in yesterday’s Gospel, he heard the call of God while teaching science. He realized that the Word of God, not science, would transform the world into a better place. Against all odds he started his work. In his native Germany, he was not allowed to establish a mission house because of the political situation. So, he crossed the border into Holland, where he acquired an abandoned pub and transformed it into his first mission house. The first few followers were not always happy with his strict style and some soon left him.

       Rome was also not happy because of the strange name he chose for his community: Society of the Divine Word. But he was convinced that it was God’s will to name his missionary society after the Divine Word. After all, their main task was to spread the Word of God throughout the world.

       To become a missionary, one does not have to leave home and go to faraway countries. The Pink Sisters stay behind the walls of their convents, but they are very effective missionaries by praying for the Church, day and night, before the Blessed Sacrament. May this feast of St. Arnold Janssen inspire you to join the missionary work of the Church through your prayer and support of missionaries. One of the last statements of Jesus was, “Go into the whole world and spread the Good News.” He wanted His Church to be a missionary Church — and you are a part of it! Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you aware that, as a Christian, you are supposed to be a missionary? How can you fulfill this task more effectively?

 

Lord, You chose an unassuming mathematics teacher to become the founder of three missionary congregations. May his example inspire us to become missionaries for the Church.