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Spiritan Missionary News
Led by the Spirit
A characteristic experience of our Founders was their faith in Providence acting through events - what would be called today an "openness to the signs of the times."
They had no five or ten-year plans. They listened to the Spirit in the calls of the Church and the world of their time. Neither Poullart des Places' Seminary of the Holy Spirit nor Francis Libermann's Work for the Blacks was born from a premeditated plan. It was step by step, in the concrete circumstances of their time, that God led them along his path.
From the outset, to be a Spiritan meant to be at the disposal of the Holy Spirit, without knowing where that would lead one. This approach anticipated what Vatican II would proclaim as an act of faith: "The people of God believes it is being led by the Holy Spirit who fills the whole creation." Francis Libermann multiplied images in order to express this availability: be like a child who expects everything from its mother, be clay in the hands of the potter, a statue in the hands of its sculptor, an anvil before the blacksmith, a light feather at the whim of the wind.
Today, the Spirit would appear to be leading both the Church as a whole and the Spiritans through a time of exodus, giving up a security and a position of esteem to which they had become accustomed, favouring lighter structures not linked to the power and glory of the past. Not for the first time, we are called to be pilgrims. Ours is a spirituality that does not depend on immediate results, a spirituality of hope.
Spiritans do not pray 'Come Holy Spirit' as to an absent Spirit. If the Spirit of the Lord fills the whole creation, the missionary believes that Spirit is present long before his or her arrival in a place. "Certainly the missionary is the herald of the Good News, but the people he meets, in their turn, reveal to him aspects of the Gospel he carries that he had not fully appreciated before" (General Chapter 1992).
I was wrong in my expectation that God would reveal himself like he did to Paul on the road to Damascus. God was revealing himself all the time - only I wasn't seeing it. I'm seeing it now, looking back. God has been at work in my life - very often through my stupidity and foolishness. As I look back, I sense within me the confidence of God's goodness right now and for the future. I recall what Moses said to his people shortly before he died: "Be strong, stand firm, do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is going with you; he will not fail you or forsake you."
Sean Byron CSSp
TorontoUnion with God in prayer leads us to be of service to others. The work we do is, in its turn, a deepening of our union with him. Spiritan Rule of Life
The Spirit meets people where they are - at work, at home, in churches and synagogues and temples and mosques, as teenagers, as adults, as senior citizens. As a result, our daily activities, all the things that happen to us become important. The everyday contains God's hide-and-seek approach to us É Pray your experiences, get in touch with God in your life and in the life of the world around you. God is to be found in what takes place.
Maurice Gobeil CSSp
QuebecIn preparation for Pentecost the disciples, together with Mary, prayed. What do I pray for? Easy success? A comfortable life? A challenge? A dream? If I haven't got a dream, how can I have a dream come true?
Sean Kealy CSSp
Duquesne University, PittsburghIn order to think of God we don't have to distance ourselves from any detail of our life.
Blessed Daniel Brottier CSSp
FranceI have eight children who are all grown up and pursuing their own lives and careers in five cities in three countries. When I reflect on those hectic years when I was a full-time Mom, I think of the Holy Spirit as background music - always there, always comforting - a constant but unobtrusive reminder that I was not alone with the task. As you can imagine I was frequently too busy or too tired to do much in the way of structured meditation in those days, but prayer was a constant undercurrent of all that I did. "God, keep David safe on this school trip." "God, thank you for getting Hugh into Notre Dame." "God, I don't like the look of this one, please go with Mairi on her date tonight!" Sometimes I am embarrassed to think of how much I have asked of the Holy Spirit over the years, and I am amazed at how infinitely willing the Spirit is to respond to the needs of one frantic Mom.
Rose Anne Hart
Laval House, Toronto
I hope that when I understand what my next step is, I can say 'Yes' like Mary the young woman of Nazareth and Mary the older woman of Calvary: pondering much, living into the uncertainty of her answer and remaining faithful, hopeful, compassionate and welcoming, whatever the circumstances.
Deirdre McLoughlin
Sioux Lookout, Ontario
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The
Maasai people straddle the border between Kenya and Tanzania. Ned
Marchessault CSSp has spent thirty years among them. Hammer in hand
he rhythmically strikes a wheel rim to call the people to worship.
From nearby bomas the Christians of the area converge - the elders
with staffs, the warriors with spears, the older women with watchful
eyes, the teenage mothers with babies on their backs, the children in
tittering groups. This is their weekly Wednesday Mass - in Maasailand
the Lord's day is movable. Around a portable altar with black altar
cloths, led by their priest in black vestments - black, their colour
of joy - they get ready for Eucharist. "As we celebrate the
Eucharist and receive the Body of Christ, we find light and strength
to tell the world of the death and resurrection of the Lord. The
Eucharist commits us to a genuine solidarity with the poor"
(Spiritan Rule of Life).
