n
elementary school student said, when asked about the difference between
geography and history, "Well, geography tells me where I am, and
history tells me how I got there." These two points of
reference, in fact, are uppermost in the minds of the Xaverian
Missionaries, as they enter into their 14th General Chapter, in
Guadalajara, Mexico, beginning on June 20th. They are grounded in
a 106-year history - their shared experience of the ministry of Jesus -
but they are not stuck there. Geography tells them where they
should be; they remember Jesus' commissioning of them to "go out
and teach all nations."
The preparations for the Chapter have been going on for the past three years. This is to be the Chapter that ushers the charism and vitality of the Xaverian Missionary Society into the new Millennium: "Where should they be?"
Foremost in the chapter's agenda will be an examination of the missionary commitment and plan of the Xaverian Congregation and its various provinces; its international reality and formation; lay participation in the same charism; and finally, the election of a new General Direction. Basically this means that 43 chosen members will have the "luxury" of setting aside four weeks to reflect on who we are and where we are going in our lives, to think about our mission, our sources of inspiration, our living together and our collaborative ministry as missionaries, for life, to foreign lands, and to non-Christians.
We dare to claim that we are the friends and collaborators of Jesus - that we do and teach in his name. But really the ministry belongs to him, we share in it, and must invite others to join in the same labors. There are more and more seekers for new visions, for new hope. We live in a time of crisis, which invites us - in dialogue and cooperation with other faiths, and all concerned people - "to proclaim a radical, passionate and living vision of hope that sounds the strongest call for justice, peace, and integrity of creation that has ever been heard."
It is important for us to reflect where our passing-on the message has erred; to review the problems surrounding the cultural background of the agents of evangelization; to revisit the intimidations of a stranger/missionary by host who determine if and what aspects of life of their people are to be evangelized; to critique the situation of members and their numbers; the preoccupation with statistics and the emphasis on the signs of successful evangelization; to face the uncomfortable reality of the power which money gives and the intimidation which poverty brings to those who come from poorer countries to participate in the work of evangelization.
The major concern of Jesus' mission is to salvage humanity by putting an end to all aspects of inhumanity and divisions, and to form a kind of community where frontiers between persons and groups are overcome - "to make of the world one family," Blessed Guido Conforti would say, - where the warmth and friendship of family life dominate; where the rejected and excluded, the sinners and those on the garbage heap of life may recover a taste for humanity. These are people who have lost faith in fellow humans. Jesus' mission - and ours - is to give them back that taste.
General and Provincial Chapters and other types of assemblies are taking place at specified intervals, because we believe that the power of the Spirit of Jesus directs our life and work and makes us resilient, open to live in a state of openness to the Spirit calling us to tasks and decisions which times and places may not enable us to foresee. This Spirit ensures our youthfulness. Our God is a God of the future, "I will be their God and they will be my people," a God who, in hope, projects us to what can be and to what we can be.
Xaverians the world over have been praying for the General Chapter: "May the Spirit of Jesus enlighten our minds and purify our hearts that we may find together the best response to the challenges of the mission" that awaits us and will be. As Xaverian missionaries, our history lesson tells us how we got here, but our geography lesson is more challenging and open-ended. It tells us that we must go wherever the message of Jesus needs to be heard.
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)