“We too must also become signs of hope for the fruitfulness of God’s saving mission of love” (Pixabay)
Jim was a seminarian studying for his own diocese at the Irish College in Rome. But the bishop of a diocese in the Solomon Islands happened to visit. Remembering his two years teaching in the Solomons before starting on the road to priesthood, Jim decided to switch to that diocese. After ordination he left family, friends and country and went as a missionary to an island in the South Pacific on the other side of the world. He learnt pidgin English and preached the gospel in four or five of the many local languages.
During the last 45 years he worked in numerous parishes and then became a teacher of catechists and seminarians. He lives very simply. He has no car, computer, or mobile phone. He worships no modern idols. However, many children in different places are named Jim Nolan. He has had a regular procession of these and other people calling on him for help over the years. He is a pilgrim of hope who took on white martyrdom like the Irish monks of the Middle Ages. They, and he, searched for God by detaching themselves from worldly securities and leaving the comforts of home to witness to the love of Jesus Christ and the precious hope it offers.
Before the Second Vatican Council, many shops in Ireland had collection boxes with pictures of African babies. People would put money in these boxes to help missionaries save the souls of pagan Africans by baptizing them. After the Council the theology of mission became more nuanced and the Kingdom of God, wider than the Christian Church, became the focus. Work for justice and peace, human development and dialogue with people of other religions were understood to be constituent elements of the Kingdom.
But missionaries are not members of Non-Governmental Organizations working for a better social situation. Their motivation is spiritual. They believe that they are sent out by a loving God to announce the fullness of life to people here and hereafter. The witness of their actions is meant to give hope, not just for this life but also for life after death. To be authentic witnesses, they need to practice prayer and meditation for conversion from selfishness to a more human way of living lightly on the earth and in community with all.
It was sometimes said in the past that those who championed social justice were too busy to pray and those who practiced a life of prayer were often unaware of the scandal of injustice. A missionary needs a balance of both prayer and action for justice and charity. He or she needs to be a contemplative in action.
When Jim went on vacation to his home in Ireland a few years ago, he was shocked by how the search for worldly goods had displaced Christian faith in the lives of many. He was dismayed to hear a middle-aged acquaintance say that she was depressed by the certainty of death because she no longer believed in the resurrection. In his message for Mission Sunday 2025, Pope Francis urged the re-evangelization of traditional Catholic countries by missionaries of hope. “Our fundamental vocation is to be, in the footsteps of Christ, messengers and builders of hope,” he wrote.
In a world which is increasingly pagan, individualistic and selfish we need the counter cultural witness of synodal communities, and their outreach of community, participation and mission. Synodality is a word that can remain esoteric or can be debased as merely meaning a decision on action after listening to everyone. A simple way for Christians to understand and participate in synodality is through gospel sharing in Small Christian Communities. Here the group listens attentively to the gospel and to the Holy Spirit touching their hearts. They share in a personal way and listen carefully to the movements of the hearts of others in the group. Then they discuss what God is asking them to do in the particular circumstances of their lives and act on this during the following week. This is an exercise of real communion, participation and mission.
Mission is God’s work of love for humans. It began with the incarnation – God the Son taking on our humanity in order to be in total solidarity with us in our joys and sorrow, our griefs and hopes. Jesus preached and lived God’s Kingdom and gained victory over opposition, sin and death through his rising from the dead. He sent his disciples, guided by the Holy Spirit, to witness to God’s love in the Kingdom he inaugurated. The Church does not have a mission, rather mission has a Church. We Christians are called to participate in the liberating mission of Jesus. We hope in a future Reign of God that our present experience seems to belie. We live the conviction that the good news of God’s love in Christ is destined to overcome sin, hatred, violence and death. The Church is a sign of mission.
Jim Nolan’s life too is a sign. It is one of the many signs that God gives us of the ultimate value of our hope-filled mission. We too must also become signs of hope for the fruitfulness of God’s saving mission of love.
Columban Fr Frank Hoare lives and works in Fiji.
