From the Regional Director of Oceania
I have been thinking that to be human means to be missionary. What do we think our lives are about? What does it mean to be human? What is my identity?
Take discipleship. What do disciples do? They follow Jesus. Sometimes they sit down and eat and talk with him, but you need to follow to be a disciple. You need to move with Jesus as the focus. We, as individual Catholics, as disciples of Jesus, follow him. Yes, follow his teaching and follow him as he eats, sleeps, and prays to know him. We become like him. In this way, we get to know the best way to be human.
In the Acts of the Apostles, we find the Christians being called followers of “the way”. Again, another movement word. Do we think of ourselves as being on a way? When we say we do things the Christian way, does this sit comfortably with us? What does it mean to say we do things the Christian way? I suppose it means we try to live as Jesus told us. Some of his teachings about what it means to be human are quite difficult to take on board. “Love your enemies” is the Christian way, but this is not so easy.
The final movement metaphor is synodal. I did not imagine that my life could be described as synodal, but it seems to me that this is what Pope Francis is proposing. His talk about synodality is not just about how we do church “stuff”. He is saying this is the way that all humans can live together and move forward together. Again, notice the movement words. Life is about moving, like a missionary.
Our Christian tradition says that life is about moving by following Jesus and developing a way of living with people who go forward through synodal decision making. Where are we moving to? God! God started us on the way. God is always with us, and God is where we finally come to. Amen
Fr Trevor Trotter
Regional Director of Oceania
rdoceania@columban.org.au
Related links
- Read more from the current Columban eBulletin
