To be a missionary: My Personal Reflections
As I read some of the history of the spread of Christianity in the soil of Tamilnadu in the 19th
centuries, I am really grateful to the missionaries who slogged and even gave their lives
and 20th
to spread the good news in a land rich in culture but divided in many ways. One thing which
struck me was: To be missionary is to be the Gospel itself. The early missionaries have been
so much exemplary and witnessing and took tremendous effort in interpreting the gospel to our
context. As I understand the context plays a vital role in our works. Our faith and work has to
take into account the context in which one is planted. Enthusiasm, pioneering spirit, learning
and enriching and promoting the local language, far sightedness, adaptability, courage, zeal and
hard work are the qualities of our missionaries which still inspire us when we see their works
still alive even today- even after many centuries, amidst us in the form of structures, stories and
sources. The sincere availability and simple approach to the people makes us to marvel.
As locals we carry the batten which they have handed over to us: not only faith but also the
responsibility to continue their mission which is entrusted to us and to be missionaries to the
nations which once upon a time had sent us missionaries. We find a depletion of that missionary
spirit in us in the works we do even in our own land. Missionaries came and inspired us and bore
much fruit even in times with very minimum resources and much primitive devices like snail
mail or the super slow postal service, bullock carts and horse backs as the means of transport,
extreme unfamiliar weather, distasteful and alien food items, lack of medical care, insecurities
arising out of sociopolitical instabilities and much risky sea journeys and a total cut off from
the families. All these didn’t discourage the missionaries who came with a zeal and goal with
a motivation to serve Christ totally. Today we have sophisticated means and ways to commute
and to communicate, much improved infrastructural facilities and modern means to solve our
difficulties and make our lives easy. With all this additions we are not able to rise up to the
mark of those missionaries who slogged in our land with much vigor and conviction. We are in
awe when we look back the wonderful work which our predecessors have done. This awe has
to inspire and induce in us the spirit of generosity to serve God in our familiar and unfamiliar
frontiers in this modern world with complex conflicts within and outside the Church. Past is the
foundation of the present and the future. Studying the history recapitulates in us the sense of
reminiscence which also makes us to question ourselves about the present and the future.
1
Pope Paul VI asked the then Superior General of the Society of Jesus Fr.Perdo Arrupe SJ these
three famous questions in the context of breach of obedience with regard to the discussion on
fourth vow to be extended to all its members: My dear men; Who are you? What are you doing?
Where are you going? These questions are relevant to us who are in the stagnation phase and
not moving forward geographically and attitudinally. Our growth in terms of institutions and
number is one dimension; at the same time we need to have the missionary spirit. We can be a
missionary in 2 ways: 1. in our own land in venturing into new areas of life which invites us to
be alive in the spirit and promptly respond to the signs of the times and 2. To be ready to be sent
anywhere in the world as global citizens. Both involve commitment, courage and clarity. With
the study of our own context and the way the missionaries responded is definitely a help and eye
opener for us to regain the mission commandment of our Lord and to fulfill them by going out
to the whole world and proclaiming the good news
As I read some of the history of the spread of Christianity in the soil of Tamilnadu in the 19th
centuries, I am really grateful to the missionaries who slogged and even gave their lives
and 20th
to spread the good news in a land rich in culture but divided in many ways. One thing which
struck me was: To be missionary is to be the Gospel itself. The early missionaries have been
so much exemplary and witnessing and took tremendous effort in interpreting the gospel to our
context. As I understand the context plays a vital role in our works. Our faith and work has to
take into account the context in which one is planted. Enthusiasm, pioneering spirit, learning
and enriching and promoting the local language, far sightedness, adaptability, courage, zeal and
hard work are the qualities of our missionaries which still inspire us when we see their works
still alive even today- even after many centuries, amidst us in the form of structures, stories and
sources. The sincere availability and simple approach to the people makes us to marvel.
As locals we carry the batten which they have handed over to us: not only faith but also the
responsibility to continue their mission which is entrusted to us and to be missionaries to the
nations which once upon a time had sent us missionaries. We find a depletion of that missionary
spirit in us in the works we do even in our own land. Missionaries came and inspired us and bore
much fruit even in times with very minimum resources and much primitive devices like snail
mail or the super slow postal service, bullock carts and horse backs as the means of transport,
extreme unfamiliar weather, distasteful and alien food items, lack of medical care, insecurities
arising out of sociopolitical instabilities and much risky sea journeys and a total cut off from
the families. All these didn’t discourage the missionaries who came with a zeal and goal with
a motivation to serve Christ totally. Today we have sophisticated means and ways to commute
and to communicate, much improved infrastructural facilities and modern means to solve our
difficulties and make our lives easy. With all this additions we are not able to rise up to the
mark of those missionaries who slogged in our land with much vigor and conviction. We are in
awe when we look back the wonderful work which our predecessors have done. This awe has
to inspire and induce in us the spirit of generosity to serve God in our familiar and unfamiliar
frontiers in this modern world with complex conflicts within and outside the Church. Past is the
foundation of the present and the future. Studying the history recapitulates in us the sense of
reminiscence which also makes us to question ourselves about the present and the future.
1
Pope Paul VI asked the then Superior General of the Society of Jesus Fr.Perdo Arrupe SJ these
three famous questions in the context of breach of obedience with regard to the discussion on
fourth vow to be extended to all its members: My dear men; Who are you? What are you doing?
Where are you going? These questions are relevant to us who are in the stagnation phase and
not moving forward geographically and attitudinally. Our growth in terms of institutions and
number is one dimension; at the same time we need to have the missionary spirit. We can be a
missionary in 2 ways: 1. in our own land in venturing into new areas of life which invites us to
be alive in the spirit and promptly respond to the signs of the times and 2. To be ready to be sent
anywhere in the world as global citizens. Both involve commitment, courage and clarity. With
the study of our own context and the way the missionaries responded is definitely a help and eye
opener for us to regain the mission commandment of our Lord and to fulfill them by going out
to the whole world and proclaiming the good news
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