This month, we have joined Divine Word Missionaries across the world in celebrating the 140th anniversary of the Society’s foundation.
Anniversaries such as this remind us that as missionaries in consecrated life, we have both a rich heritage and a shared future. Engaged in Christ’s mission together, we are part of something much greater than ourselves.
It is useful to look back at how we started out because it connects us again with the spirit of our founder, St Arnold Janssen (pictured below), and the charism of the Society he established.
Fr Arnold was a diocesan priest from Germany, a teacher, who gradually began to expand his interest beyond his own diocese to the spiritual needs of people spread across the world. But these were difficult times for the Catholic Church in Germany after Bismark unleashed the ‘Kulturkampf’ with a series of anti-Catholic laws, which led to the expulsion of priests and religious and the imprisonment of many bishops.
In this chaotic situation, Arnold Janssen proposed that some of the expelled priests could go to the foreign missions, or at least help in the preparation of missionaries. Slowly, but surely, Arnold discovered that God was calling him to undertake this difficult task. Many people said that he was not the right man for the job, or that the times were not right for such a project. Arnold’s answer was: “The Lord challenges our faith to do something new, precisely when so many things are collapsing in the Church”.
With the support of a number of bishops, Arnold inaugurated the mission house on September 8, 1875 in Steyl, Holland, and thus began the Divine Word Missionaries. He began with just a few missionaries. Today, there are more than 6,000 SVDs present in over 70 countries, on every continent on earth.
When I look back on these events, I am inspired by St Arnold’s persistence. And I ask myself, would I have the courage to do something so bold and so new while under pressure from all sides?
God is always challenging us to do something new, to step out in faith, into the unknown, trusting in God and seeking to respond to the new and emerging needs of the times we live in.
St Arnold wanted to reach out and touch hearts beyond his comfortable borders. He wanted his Society to seek out the stranger, to live with them, to be with them, to learn from them and to share Christ’s love with them.
We give thanks for St Arnold and his bold vision and pray for God’s blessing on the work that Divine Word Missionaries are engaged in all around the world and especially here in the AUS Province. May we never be afraid to step out in faith when the Lord challenges us to do something new.
