Last year Fr Raymond Rossignol, former Superior General of the Paris Foreign Mission Society, who spent more than 30 years in Bangalore, India published a short article with the title “The Five Keys of Mission.” Shortly after reading Pere Rossignol’s short but profound article, I was asked to reflect on my own years in Japan for the readers of The Far East. I have decided to use the five ‘keys’ to unlock my own experience of 17 years on mission in Japan.

Of course, it is humbling to start learning a new language and new customs as an adult. There is no other way to do it, you must learn A, E, I, O, U just as the Japanese kindergarteners do. Not to be able to do the simplest thing, like buy things in a shop or find your way around is humbling. I tend to be impatient and in a new culture it is better to be patient.

But at a deeper level, what teaches humility is to realise that as a missionary you probably are not particularly wanted by the vast majority of the population. Someone summed it up in this way: ‘a missionary is some- one who goes where he is needed but not wanted and stays till he is wanted but not needed.’

A heart open to the Holy Spirit

The Second Vatican Council encouraged us to discover what is true and what is holy in other religions. Being open minded and open hearted allows a missionary to get to know and understand the culture and the religion of the people to whom he is sent. Such openness allows the missionary to avoid being a prisoner of his own critical judgments and allows one to find Christ present in unexpected places.

The village of Buddhist temples at Mt Koya became one of my favorite places in Japan. The setting, on a cool mountaintop among majestic trees was ideal. Thinking of the place calls to mind a tour there with a Buddhist priest one bitterly cold day; but his welcome was warm. In fact the most enthusiastic Buddhist I met in my time in Japan was an elderly grandmother who proudly showed me her large and elaborate home altar. She was a member of Sokkagakkai, a lay organization known as aggressive promoters of a special version of the Nichiren sect of Japanese Buddhism. I would have been more critical of the “gakkai” had I not met this woman who clearly found something in it that nourished her spirit.

Respect for the freedom of the other

To respect the freedom of others even when their customs cause me to be shocked is to give them the freedom God gives us. The late Holy Father, John Paul II, wrote that, “The Church proposes, she does not impose.” The Church and her missionaries respect persons, cultures, and she comes to a halt before the altar of conscience.

How often during my time in Japan would I meet people who would quote to me the Japanese saying, considered a truism, “There are many paths to the top of Mt Fuji.” What they mean is that when it comes to different religions, it does not make much difference which you choose. Obviously not something I would agree with, but not something I would always feel a need to attack either. Better to try to find common ground and plant a little seed of trust.

A quality of being

No one can be a missionary without a spirit of good will, really paying attention to others. Again to quote Pope John Paul II, “One is a missionary because of what one is rather than what one says or does.” There is always a danger that one can focus completely on material development or charitable projects or some other thing, and forget what is most basic.

Of course, I did not manage this adept listening 100% of the time. Like anyone, I have my tired, cranky moments, times when some important task would keep me from paying due attention to the feelings of the person in front of me. Despite cross-cultural difficulties, I did genuinely like Japanese people and grew in my appreciation of their ways of looking at life. I am not sure when I came to this realization. But if this attraction had not been present, there would not have been much point in spending 17 years there over the past 26 years.

The Relationship with the Resurrected Lord

One of the ways that being on mission in Japan became a grace for me was that in order to preach the Gospel or teach the catechism, I had to learn to speak about these in new and simpler words. I could not just repeat the formulas I had learned in a lifetime of Masses, classes and devotions. At the beginning, this was a chore, but as the years passed, I started to think of it as a gift that pushed me to deeper understanding.

To nourish a relationship with Jesus Christ by regularly dedicating some time to prayer and meditation on the Scriptures is another ‘key to mission. “Apart from me you can do nothing”, we are told in John 15.5. It is in this way that little by little I try to learn to see people more as God sees them and to love and respect them. And so mission can happen.

Fr John Burger served as a missionary in Japan for seventeen years. Afterwards he served as editor of Columban Mission magazine and Director of the US Region.  He is presently a member of the Superior General’s Council in Hong Kong.