Don Bosco India -

SPEAK UP Guwahati Province (ING)

Joseph PUTHENPURAKAL, Guwahati says,

FAMILIARITY WITH THE WORD OF GOD
By jputhen@gmail.com

360° VIEW

Guwahati, Apr. 4. Following up the report on Fr. Frank Moloney`s Good Night to the members of GC26

FAMILIARITY WITH THE WORD OF GOD

``... in a church and congregation where enthusiasm for the Word of God was slowing down significantly.``

The above line is from a report on Fr. Frank Moloney`s good night talk to the Chapter Members as reported by www.donboscoindia.com today (April 04-2008). I would like to link the above-mentioned quote to a discussion we had just this morning [even before I had read the report in donboscoindia. Let me give a title to our discussion in the form of a question:
`` How`s that so many are no more missionary minded?``

The first disciples of Jesus and those who followed them could not but share with others their experience of Him. In the strength of that experience and the personal attachment to Jesus Christ, Christians have succeeded in overcoming their difficulties and be of service to their people, the best service being to share their faith in their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Today we too are called to share our faith in the Lord in the midst of difficulties. John Paul II speaks of some of these difficulties both within the Church and outside her (cf. Redemptoris Missio 36). However, all of them have something to do with a diminishing missionary spirit.

The desire to spread the faith which characterized the early Christians was put on the back-burner for the vast majority of ``Christians`` by the time it reached the Second Vatican Council. In fact, the concept of ``missionary`` shrunk so badly that only some bishops were called ``missionary`` bishops, and a few priests were ``missionary`` priests, the vast majority of ``Christians`` helping them with their ``prayers`` and financial support! All were ``busy``, of course! Most of the bishops and priests being ``busy`` with their ``pastoral`` duties. The Council woke up to this undesirable dichotomy and said in no uncertain terms that the Church is missionary by nature (cf. AG 2), a theologically revolutionary insight that should have made all theology ``missionary`` theology, and all ``pastoral`` work turning out enthusiastic missionary-minded laity to serve the spread of the faith. But that is still on the way to happen. Many are busy with their ``specialization`` unable to see its relevance for the spread of the faith and the growth of the Church. ``Yes, indirectly we too are at the service of the Church, some may retort!`` But our missionary obligation cannot be direct or indirect. It is always our very ``nature``. It may explicit or implicit, depending on the circumstance. One may not be able to share the faith ``explicitly`` in Afghanistan, but may be able to do so in Northeast India. But all of us are ``missionaries`` - doing one`s best to share the Good News in whatever circumstances or specializations we are in.

This will be more possible when we are able to reverse the process hinted at by Fr. Frank Molony, `` ... enthusiasm for the Word of God was slowing down significantly ...`` Familiarity with the Word of God is bound to ensure our missionary spirit at all levels.
(J. Puthenpurakal SDB)
[IND-ING]

Comments

Post a Comment

More Speak Up in RELIGION

THE CONFUSION CALLED CONVERSION

THINKING OUT OF THE BOX WITH POPE FRANCIS

SPIRITUAL WORLDLINESS

THE ENGLISH FIRST PERSON SINGULAR

12 TIPS FOR SERENE LIVING

Rate this

Current Rating

3.0

Article written by
Joseph PUTHENPURAKAL(Guwahati) jputhen@gmail.com, dbcicshillong@gmail.com

This Member's Latest Article

Missionary Spirit

CONGRATULATIONS

Contact via Email

BIS is the information service of the Salesians of Don Bosco in South Asia.
The information available on the site is posted by the online registered Salesians in the South Asia Region and are approved by their respective Province BIS Coordinators.

This site is best viewed with Mozilla Firefox and/or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 + at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768