The Mission of God
October 8, 2020Towards an Ongoing Understanding of Mission.
Introduction
And Jesus came and said to them, “… Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”. (Matt 28:18-19) Matthew’s Gospel places these words in the mouth of the resurrected Jesus. We embrace this call to participate in the Mission of God in Baptism. Christians are to “witness to and preach the gospel not only because of Christ’s command, but especially because (we) Christians are caught up in that overflowing fountain of the triune God’s love and mercy toward the world.” [1] This article is a theological reflection on mission and its current understanding as the Mission of God – Missio Dei.
Throughout Christian history mission has been understood and practiced in different ways – influenced by the Gospel, the signs of the times, historical and cultural studies, the experience of mission, and the current theology. Our secular, postmodern culture “opens up rather than shuts down the possibility of faith and of a new and exciting understanding of Christian mission.” [2]
Mission of God – Missio Dei
At the 1932 Brandenburg Mission Conference Karl Barth [3] presented a paper stating that mission was not primarily a human activity of witness and service, the work of the church. He insisted “it was primarily God who engages in mission by sending God’s self in the mission of the Son and the Spirit.” [4]
This led to the understanding of mission as the Mission of God – Missio Dei. [5] Missio Dei is “God’s dynamic process” in which we as church are invited to participate rather than seeing the church and ourselves as having a mission.[6] This paradigm is a new framework in which to rethink our former understanding of mission. David Bosch writes, “Our mission has no life of its own: only in the hands of the sending God can it truly be called mission, not least since missionary initiative comes from God alone.” [7] Newer understandings of the Trinity emerged in the latter part of the 20th century, coming from a concern to relate the Trinity to the life of the church and the world. In the Catholic tradition the “general renewal in Trinitarian theology can be traced back to Karl Rahner’s 1967 essay on the Trinity.” [8]
As the Trinity is central to our Christian faith, these newer understandings have the potential to transform our own relationships and those of the Church with the world and the whole of creation. Catherine LaCugna writes, “Living Trinitarian faith means living God’s life: living from and for God, from and for others… Living Trinitarian faith means living together in harmony and communion with every other creature in the common household of God, ‘doing all things to the praise and glory of God’.” [9]
LaCugna writes further, “The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that the ‘essence’ of God is relational, other-ward, that God exists as diverse persons united in a communion of freedom, love and knowledge.” [10] Given that God is a God of mutual and equal relations then the fundamental nature of all reality is relational. [11]
Pauline Wicks rsj
Footnotes:
[1] Stephen B Bevans, “Revisiting Mission at Vatican II: Theory and Practice for Today’s Missionary Church” in David G. Schultenover, ed., 50 Years On: Probing the Riches of Vatican II (Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2015), 206.
[2] John C. Sivalon, God’s Mission and Postmodern Culture: The Gift of Uncertainty (New York: Orbis Books, 2012), 32. Sivalon is a Maryknoll priest. He served as a missioner in Tanzania and now lectures in the USA.
[3] Karl Barth (1886-1968) was a theologian in the Swiss Reformed Church tradition.
[4] Bevans, Stephen and Roger P Schroeder, Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today (New York: Orbis Books, 2004), 290. Bevans and Schroeder are American born SVD priests.
[5] Steven Bevans, “Partnering with God: Reimagining Mission for Today”, www.mohmv.com.au/Resources/Stephen Bevans, downloaded March 2020. Missio Dei, or the Mission of God “has a long history in Christian theology, with roots in the Scriptures, in writings of earliest theologians of the church through the Middle Ages, and appearing also in the seventeenth century in the Trinitarian theology of the French School.” 5.
[6] Sivalon, God’s Mission and Postmodern Culture: The Gift of Uncertainty, 35.
[7] David Bosch. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991), 390. Bosch (1929-1992) was a theologian and missiologist. He ministered in South Africa and was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church.
[8] Bevans and Schroeder, Constants in Context, 291.
[9] Catherine Mowry LaCugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (New York: Harper Collins, 1991), 400, 401. LaCugna (1952-1997) was an American Catholic theologian.
[10] LaCugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life, 243.
[11] Denis Edwards, The God of Evolution: A Trinitarian Theology (New York: Paulist Press, 1999), eBook, Chapter 2.
Image: Woman Mood Cross by Free-Photos. Obtained from Pixabay. Used with permission.
Our Inspirational Saint Mary of the Cross
This month we pay a special tribute to Saint Mary MacKillop as we celebrate ten years since her canonisation in Rome by Pope Benedict XVI.
As Australia’s first Saint we reflect anew on this woman close to our hearts who demonstrated a passion for justice, a respect for human dignity, the courage of her convictions and feminist leadership is our own Mary MacKillop. She set hearts of the young women who flocked to join her on fire; she was true to her values and unwaveringly acted accordingly. She knew hardship, illness and concerns about the congregation and her family. Her life was anchored in the love of the God she trusted and in in providential care she placed her life. As her followers we applaud her place in society, and in the church. We appreciate the example that she has given us to live by. May this coming celebration of the ten years since canonisation grant us a deeper understanding of her greatness and holiness and inspire us by her courage and faithfulness.
Our down to earth Mary is a Saint many can relate to, being both feisty and fearless yet human and ordinary. We recognize her saintliness which is an inspiration which offers a vibrancy and active presence for Australians today.
Each of us will have our own jubilant recall of this great event in our lives and in the life of the Church. Let us all look forward to the celebration with triumphant joy!
Let us take time to ponder the part that St Mary MacKillop plays in our lives by her example of life and her faith in God.
- Can you recall where you were ten years ago when Mary’s sainthood was proclaimed? Did you watch the event in Rome, or locally? Perhaps you caught a glimpse on the nightly news.
- Is Mary’s influence on your life from her from the love of the people in need, her determination in life’s events or devotion to her family?
Let us celebrate this wonderful woman and ask God’s blessings that we have the strength and inspiration to live the best life we possibly can.
Michele Shipperley rsj
Josephites Got Talent 2020
October 7, 2020And the Winners Are…
Josephite talent was brought into our living rooms thanks to our creative team comprising our Yr 11 JAG (Josephite Action Group) volunteer Violet Cabral and our dedicated producer Dominique Farah (Mount St Joseph, Milperra teacher).
When COVID hit, instead of postponing until 2021 and hoping things will be back to normal, Dominique announced that we needed to be creative and so Josephites Got Talent (virtual episode) was born.
This year we had entrants from seven Josephite Schools including:
- Mount St. Joseph Girls’ College, Altona VIC
- Holy Spirit College, Bellambi NSW
- St Joseph’s Catholic College, East Gosford NSW
- Penola Catholic College, Emu Plains NSW
- Mount St Joseph, Milperra NSW
- Mary MacKillop College, Nundah QLD
- Mary MacKillop Catholic College, Wakeley NSW
Violet worked tirelessly to compile an episode of acts including dancing, singing, drama, musicianship and bands. The talent was outstanding! Teachers commented that such an event was so needed lifting our students’ spirits as a healthy school competition evolved.
The Sisters of Saint Joseph were asked to view and vote for the winner and we also included a people’s choice award voted by school staff and students.
The Social Justice awards are an integral part of this celebration of talent. In defiance of COVID, students in our schools continue to work tirelessly to promote justice and raise awareness around important social inequalities.
Take a look at some of the outstanding achievements of our young Josephite leaders here.
The dedication of the teachers at our Josephite schools continues to astound me. They have worked tirelessly this year learning how to deliver remote quality education to our students during lockdowns and restrictions. The schools of the Sisters are in safe and caring hands.
The event was a success. It has demonstrated to us all that the Spirit of Mary MacKillop lives on in our schools as staff and students sought to make the best of a confining and frustrating situation. We look forward to the performances next year.
Congratulations to all and a special thank you to Violet and Dominique for this innovative, entertaining, community-building presentation.
Karen Oxley
Julian Tenison Woods: A Life – Chapters 19th & 20th
Chapters 19th and 20th
On Friday, 4th December, the Bishop arrived from Europe, bringing some priests and a community of Dominican Nuns, who would take up the higher education.
The Inspector intended the new Institute of St Joseph for parochial schools, and schools for the children of the poorer classes who were often neglected in small country places…[i]
When the priest arrived in these far-off places, his time was generally limited: he could not wait to instruct the young …[ii]
Death of Father Julian Tenison Woods
His name will be held in affectionate remembrance [i].
Mary MacKillop records the death of Fr Julian Tenison Woods.
His work was nearly over now. Partial paralysis of the hands and legs had been slowly creeping onward . . . The remarkable fortitude with which he bore his sufferings, and the resignation with which he accepted his lot – so different to what he had wished and hoped for – edified those who were privileged to witness them . . . he had to endure nearly three years of slow torture, with no hope of sufficient recovery to complete his unfinished work, or to arrange the abundant material gathered with unsparing labour and energy during his travels – sufficient for several volumes . . .
Every week, Father Woods was visited by Father Ambrosoli, Chaplain of St Vincent’s Hospital… Other priests gave many a friendly call, the Sisters visited him, but by degrees the sufferer was unable to see anyone except his immediate attendants . . . [ii]
On the 6th of September, the doctor pronounced the case hopeless . . . He still lingered a short time, feeling sure that, as he had written long ago ‘The evening draweth nigh, and should not our faces shine as they are turned towards the sunset.’ On Rosary Sunday, 6th of October, he received the Last Sacraments. Early next morning, the long looked for end had come, Father Marcellus being with him at the last . . .
The Freeman’s Journal says,
Yes, about thirty – all who could possibly attend. But in many a little convent that day, the Sisters of St Joseph, scattered across Australia, united with their Sydney Sisters in supplication for their Father Founder, though feeling that one who had suffered so long and so patiently scarcely needed prayers.
The funeral took place at 2 o’clock . . .
After some time, his fellow scientists and admirers had a beautiful monument erected over his remains. It is a block of granite, grey and sparkling, such as the geologist had often admired. On one side of the polished panels is the following inscription –
On each corner of the block is a pillar; these support curves which join in a cross, looking something like the Benediction throne over a tabernacle. In the space between the pillars is a white marble statue of the Mater Dolorosa, about three feet high.
The monument rises from a marble floor, surrounded by iron railings. Standing on this floor, in front of the monument, is a stone missal (open on its stand), bearing the words – ‘Thy will be done.’
How appropriate is the last resting place of the gentle learned priest and naturalist! Crowned with the cross, beneath the statue of the ‘Sweet Mother’ whom he had so tenderly loved – a little child in the next grave, ‘Australia’s gifted son’ Deniehy [iii] at his feet, the ‘Silver-tongued’ Dalley [iv] close by – typifying all that during life had most delighted him – Devotion, Innocence, and Intellect!
There, on the hillside, overlooking the Pacific which washes far below the rocky cemetery, and murmurs a perpetual requiem in its own soul-stirring music, the mortal remains of Father J .E. Tenison Woods await the resurrection.
May he rest in peace. Amen. [v]”
Carmel Jones rsj
Sources:
[i] Page 237 of Julian Tenison Woods: A Life by Mother Mary of the Cross MacKillop . This article comprises quotations from the above book, used with the kind permission of the publishers, St Paul’s Publications. © Trustees of the Sisters of Saint Joseph 1997
[ii] Chapter 35th, p. 235
[iii] Daniel Deniehy (1825-1865), son of Irish convict parents, writer, lawyer, politician.
[iv] William Bede Dalley (1831-1888), also son of convict parents, lawyer, politician, friend of both Polding and Deniehy, Attorney General and advocate of social justice.
[v] Chapter 35th, p. 238
World Teachers’ Day
October 5, 2020World Teachers’ Day 2020.
World Teachers’ Day is held internationally on 5 October. However, in Australia it is held on the last Friday of October. Its purpose is to recognise and give thanks to teachers for the work they do in educating children. Ekner Amberger writes:
At the school in which I work, teachers believe that they do more than teach content and skills. They are concerned for the wellbeing of the whole child. World Teachers’ Day, as Elma Amberger says, ‘celebrates teaching to the emotional, intellectual and spiritual requirements of the child.’
They see teaching as a calling. Sharon Wharton says it is a ‘calling to work with the young of today to make them inspirational ambassadors for tomorrow.’
World Teachers’ Day is an opportunity for the world, the community and the child to thank teachers. It can be a learning experience for children as parents take up this opportunity to thank teachers and encourage their children to do the same. As Elmer Amberger writes:
I love the excitement that the children bring to this special day as they come with home-made cards written neatly with messages of thanks and expressions of kindness.
Some children also come with presents. Sharon Wharton says: I’t is not the chocolates, wine or flowers we need but we really appreciate a well-considered, thank-you.’
There is much for which teachers can be thanked as Sharon Wharton writes: ‘Thank you for working many hours outside of school time to ensure the child get the education and support they need to learn in a functional, positive and interactive classroom environment. Thank you for being there every day to counsel and direct the child on a positive and spiritual life’s journey. Thank you for being there to answer their questions and send them in search for answers. Thank you for teaching them to be resilient, so they can handle life’s challenges. Thank you for loving them for who they are and teaching them right from wrong.’
And yet, Teachers also believe that World Teachers’ Day has lost its meaning and it has become just another day with a few people remembering to say “thank-you.”
In today’s world, a lot is expected of teachers and more than ever, teachers should be recognised as professionals who truly have the best interests of their students at heart. What can we do to make world teachers’ day more significant in the lives of teachers?
How can we express our gratitude to the people we entrust our children to them for 27 hours a week? Can we train our children to be grateful students? Let’s make World Teachers’ Day 2020 a significant day for teachers as their students say, “thank-you”.
Kathleen Mooney rsj
World Day of Migrants and Refugees
September 27, 2020Goodness in Dark Places.
Today (27 September) is the 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Because of what I have seen and lived, I know that the journey of refuge or migration is a dark, difficult place. Yet there is always goodness to be seen.
Let me take you there.
A refugee camp on the Thai Cambodia border. Almost two hundred thousand people are crammed into a small space sheltering under bamboo and blue plastic tarps. No running water. No electricity. Not enough food. Brutal guards. There is no ‘safe haven’ here. A woman who has just stumbled through a hole in the fence and into the camp clings to me, convulsed in sobs. A wide-eyed toddler clasps at her sarong and looks up. His mother is gasping for breath and blurting her sorrow. Government forces suspected her husband of ‘something’. They killed him in front of her despite her screams. They snatched the baby from her arms and swung him against a tree. The little boy looking up has seen it too. He makes no sound. My tee shirt is soaked with tears. Close beside me are other Cambodian refugees. She belongs in their arms, not mine. This community that knows how to love and to heal. They will take her, hear her, show her how to stay safe, protect her. There is goodness here.
A western suburb of Melbourne. A strongly built, gentle, South Sudanese man sits at the kitchen table, stirring sugar into his mug of tea. I have known his family during the time that the youngest three of his six children were born. Usually we talk of day-to-day things. Today he is thoughtful. He glances at the crucifix on the wall. ‘I was about 9 when my eldest sister was tortured all day by the invading Sudan soldiers … she died, and we cared for her little, little baby … then our family separated in danger … I ran north … sheltered for a while by the Salesians’. We sit silently drinking our tea. ‘Grew older … thought I was safe … dared to attend a Catholic wedding further outside the Salesian walls … imprisoned without trial … accused of being Christian…stripped and publicly whipped.’ He stands, boils the kettle again. There is nothing I can say. ‘Like Jesus’ he says. He fled to Egypt, was recognised as a refugee and now is a poorly paid security guard in outer western Melbourne, a place that our media describes as very dangerous. ‘I think this is what God wants in my life. Of course.’ he says. ’I can keep young South Sudan kids out of trouble there and protect people from racist attacks’. Again, I sense the goodness that enlarges in terrible times.
I have heard such stories time and again in the public housing towers in Melbourne where new arrivals living in poverty congregate.
By the grace of God, I do believe, an experience that tests a person to the limits can be a seedbed of human goodness.
William Butler Yeats in his poem ‘Easter 1916’ reflected on the transformation that can arise in times of suffering and sacrifice.
Image Source: Human Poverty Humanitarian Children obtained from Max Pixel. Used with permission.
Take Fresh Courage
September 16, 2020Share the Hope.
In 1902, at the age of 60, Mary MacKillop suffered a stroke. Her mind was unaffected and her speech intelligible, but, with her right side paralysed, she had to make major adaptations to her life. She now walked with a stick and, towards the end of her life, was eventually confined to a wheelchair. She dictated letters, but also learnt to write with her left hand and took up typing – the typewriter being at the time quite a new invention. She continued to govern the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph as Mother General and, over the next seven years, visited Sisters all over the country, opening up new works and responding to needs wherever she found them.
Certainly, we notice deterioration in significant aspects of Mary’s life as a result of the stroke. But we also notice enrichment. Having to depend more on others, she seems to speak and write words of encouragement more often. Her letters repeat what is at the core of faith and spirituality. She was in constant pain – she described it as being like a giant toothache all through her body – but she found deeper meaning in suffering as displaying in her own body the cross of Christ for our time (cf. Colossians 1: 24).