From the Director - We don’t have to save the world
I have some good news for you. You don’t have to save the world.
God will save the world. The central insight of the Second Vatican’s document on mission was that the Trinity was the principal agent of mission. Until then, the Church had the mission and was responsible for the salvation of souls. This placed a heavy burden on some of us. But the Council believed that God, who loves the world, has a liberating plan for the cosmos. The three persons of the Trinity take responsibility for saving the world. They love it much more than we do. They are constantly creating, healing, reconciling, transforming and uniting the world.
This is good news for missionaries who tend to have a touch of the messiah about them and are prone to take too much responsibility for the world.
Taking responsibility can be a hard habit to shake but we have to, if we are to be true to God’s mission. We need to believe that the Trinity is saving the world despite appearances. Our role is to play our part along with every man and woman of good will. Taking too much responsibility is unconvincing and reveals a lack of faith. If anything, we should give witness to the world’s need to live without messiahs.
Another major insight of Vatican II’s document Church in the Modern World was that we are "fellow travellers" with all people of good will. We are involved in the world, not running on a parallel path. We share their hopes, joys and struggles. We are a Church that is "still on the way", searching with others for solutions to the world’s problems.
We will be good Christians and effective missionaries if our neighbours can look at us and take hope for the future. Take hope, because our communities of ordinary men and women are able to maintain their compassion, intelligence, broadmindedness and involvement, without having all the answers and without taking more than our share of responsibility for building the Kingdom of God.
Fr Noel Connolly
director@columban.org.au
