14.11.2008 @ 19:45

Homily: Conclusion of the Meeting of Visitators 2008

The sending of Br. Yustinus Damai Wasono, OFM, and of Br. Rufin Yurii Razovskyi, OFM, on Mission.
The Conclusion of the Meeting of Visitators 2008
(General Curia OFM, Rome, 14th November 2008)

Br. José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM - Minister General
2Tim 1, 13-14; 2,1-3; Mt. 28, 28, 28-30

Dear Brothers, May the Lord give you peace.
Three events come together in this Eucharistic celebration, which does not fail to give it a particular significance: the conclusion of the Meeting of the Minister and Definitory General with the Visitators appointed this year; the sending of two Friars, Yustinus Damai and Rufin Yurii, on the “ad gentes” mission; and the participation in this celebration of our Conventual and Capuchin brothers who have concluded the year of missionary formation in Brussels. All this occurs close to the celebration of our General Chapter 2009, which, as you well know, has the evangelising mission as its theme.

The Word of God which we have heard in the Gospel, illustrates these events. “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you” (Mt 28, 19-20). Paul VI, in EN, rightly said that “Evangelising is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity” (n. 14). From the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus “summoned those He wanted; they were to be His companions and to be sent out to preach” (Mk 3, 13-14). The Church was born for the evangelising mission. It forms part of the very nature of the Church.

The Church recognises the paradigm of all evangelisation and mission in Jesus and, therefore, makes the planning discourse of Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth its own (cf. Lk 4, 18-19), and, accepting the direction which Jesus Himself pointed out and in obedience to the mandate of its founder, it assumes opening up to the whole of humanity as its internal logic: “And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice and there will be only one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10,16). The Church “exists in order to evangelise, that is to say, in order to preach and teach” (EN 14), not only to those who already know Christ, but also beyond the frontiers of the faith: “to extend to all regions of the earth” (LG 9).

Faithful to the will of Jesus, the Church cannot ignore the mandate of Jesus to the Twelve: “Give them something to eat yourselves” (Mk 6, 37), which has, as we well know, a much broader meaning than just giving material bread to the hungry multitudes. The evangelising mission is not a facultative matter for the Church, “It is the duty incumbent on her by the command of the Lord Jesus, so that people can believe and be saved” (EN 5). To deny the mission would be to deny the very nature of being Christian: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1Cor 9, 16). “Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves” (NMI 40). The Church cannot close in on itself, it has to give itself to all: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you, and then you will be my witnesses… to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1, 8).

Neither is the evangelising mission of the Order in general, or the “ad gentes” mission in particular, facultative. We were called to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world (cf. LtOrd 9). All of us, without any distinction between clerical and lay, form part of a Fraternity of itinerant preachers, of a Fraternity-in-mission among peoples (cf. Rb 3, 10-11). Some from this Fraternity, moved by divine inspiration, are called to the ad gentes mission, “among the Saracens and other non-believers” (cf. Rb 12, 1-2). Inter gentes and ad gentes missionary activity has characterised our Fraternity since its origins. To go out to meet others and to announce Jesus Christ to them throughout the world “by word and deed” (LtOrd 9) is an integrating part of our vocation, a requirement of our charism. Neither the insecurity of numbers or the high average age of which many of our Entities suffer, or the many works we have to carry out in our Entities of origin, can dispense us from this mandate of Jesus or from the desire of Francis. Our weakness does not lie in being few and evermore aged, but rather, while being able, we do not have a missionary imagination.

Casaldaliga defined the mission as follows: Mission is to set out, to leave everything, to go out of self, to break the crust of egotism which locks us into ourselves. It is to stop going in circles around ourselves, as if we were the centre of the world and of life. It is not to allow ourselves to be impeded by the problems of our small world: humanity is greater. Mission is always to set out, but not to eat up the miles. Its is, above all, to open up to others as brothers, to discover them and meet them. And, if necessary, to cross seas and fly through the heavens to meet and love them; mission, then, is to set out for the ends of the earth.

When will we understand this? When will we stop going in circles around ourselves? When will we understand that it is necessary to go out of self, to break the crust of the egotism which closes us in on ourselves and on the small world of our Entities? When will we understand that mission is to set out, to cross the seas, to fly through the skies and to reach the ends of the earth?

I repeat to you, dear Visitators, what I said during these days: Awaken the missionary ardour in the Entities you are going to visit. The greatest gift you could make to a Province or Custody is that of asking for at least one Friar for the ad gentes mission. Remember that there is greater joy in giving than in receiving, and that it is in giving that one receives. Greet all the Friars you meet and ask them to go out of self, to set out, to assume the mission as a question of life or death for our Entities.

My very best wishes to you, dear Yustinus Damai Wasono and Rufin Yurii Razovskyi, together with all the Friars who completed their missionary formation in Brussels. Do not be afraid. Go in the name of the Lord and with the blessing of our Seraphic Father, St. Francis. The Lord has called you, dear Yustinus Damai Wasono and Rufin Yurii Razovskyi, and is sending you to Kenya and Thailand. The Lord has called you, my dear Conventual and Capuchin Brothers, and is sending you to other regions which are different to your countries of origin. Go, disposed to give, or better still, to give yourselves totally and gratuitously, without sparing time or energy; you no longer belong to yourselves. But remember also, that you must go with the heart of poor men, disposed to receive from the people whom you wish to accompany in the growth of their faith. Go, disposed to learn and to allow yourselves be evangelised by the men and women of good will you will meet on your journey. Learn the language of the peoples which will receive you. Be sensitive at all times to their culture, evangelising it when necessary. Love the people as you love yourselves and those peoples as you love your own. Inculturate the form of franciscan life into the different cultures you come across. The mission is not easy; there will be moments in which you will feel tiredness and the burden of work in the vineyard of the Lord. Draw your strength from the grace and word of Jesus, as we heard in the first reading, without ever forgetting that you are Friars Minor, called to live the spirit of prayer and devotion as your first priority in fraternity and minority. Go, and always remember that, as we heard in the Gospel, the Lord will be with you always and at every moment. Go, bring peace and good to all you meet on your journey.