Bag-ohon ang panglantaw sa misyon (Part 4)

(Excerpt of the talk during the on line and on air recollection of Most Rev. Julius S. Tonel, D.D., bishop of Ipil through DXGN 89.9 Spirit FM-Davao, March 8, 2021.)

4. From only evangelizing to also being evangelized

A fourth conversion is from only evangelizing to also being evangelized. In the past, mission was thought of as a one-directional activity. The missionary was the evangelizer, the people the evangelized. The missionary was the subject (hilisgotan), the people the object (hitungdan); Siya preacher who proclaimed the truth, the people the ones who needed conversion.

Seeing mission as Missio Dei which entails dialogue/ changes our view of mission. Dialogue underlines the fact that the Spirit is at work in the people being evangelized as well as in the evangelizers, and that mission is a two-way exchange of gifts between missionaries and the people with whom they work.

Consequently, missionaries must be ready to give and receive, to evangelize and be evangelized, to speak and to listen. Dili lang moagda sa pagbag-o sa uban, kun dili andam pod mausab. We need to be open to being evangelized. We need to abandon the idea that mission entails only the task of evangelizing the people. The theme as look forward for the next 500 years: Becoming Missionary Disciples: Missio Ad Gentes is most appropriate. We can expect the people to be converted to the Gospel and become disciples of Jesus only if we ourselves are ready to be converted and become truly one with the people.

5. From Burden to Privilege (Palas-anon – tinugahan)

A fifth conversion is from undertaking mission as a sacrifice or a burden to experiencing it as a privilege and a gift. Mission was largely seen as a burden and a sacrifice – the heroic giving up so much and the willingness to face so much hardship in order to fulfil the Lord’s command to preach the Gospel. Obedience to the command “Go, teach and baptized to all the world” entailed sacrifice – particularly, the giving up one’s home and country in order to go to faraway lands, the giving up of a life of comfort and their readiness of live a life of deprivation and hardship in conditions of life which are often “primitive”. We give thanks to the many generation of missionaries who have similar stories of the difficulties and hardships.

However, seeing mission as Missio Dei makes us realize that mission is not just a burden and a sacrifice but a privilege and a gift. Mission is God’s mission, and our call to mission is really a call to participate in God’s mission. And participation in God’s mission cannot just be a burden and a sacrifice. It must be, above all, a gift and a privilege.

Pope Francis says in Evangelii Gaudium (cf. 1-13), that every genuine encounter with Jesus is an experience of joy. The Gospel therefore is an invitation to joy. Thus, proclaiming the Gospel must also be an experience of joy. It cannot just be a sacrifice and a burden, but a privilege and gift. In mission, the Pope says, “God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us”. (EG 12)

Conclusion

Kita nga local Churches/dioceses bunga sa missio ad gentes. Salamat sa mga Religious congregations ug mga Pontifical Mission Societies ug sa ilang maayong panig-ingan ug panglantaw. Ang vision ni Benedict XV mahitungod sa mission mao ang pagmugna ug mga bokasyon nga mga lumad (indigenous) kay alang kaniya mas nahibalo sila sa ilang katawhan hangtod nga kini molambo nga katiligban.(MI 22,23). Human sa 100 years, milambo ang local clergy ug mga Obispo nga lumad sa Mindanao.

This Jubilee Year proclaims this great and overflowing love and mercy of God for us. Kita ang manunuod niini bulahaton sa missionaries ahead of us. Kinahanglan kita ug mga pari, mga madre, mga layko nga maayo magtudlo, kugihan makiglambit sa GKK, mobarog sa kamatuoran ug hustisya, andam mosugal ngadto sa pakighimamat sa mga wala pa kaila kang Kristo ug kaha Katoliko sa ngalan lamang, ug pag-agda ug daghan pang missionary nga pari ug layko alang sa local ug universal panginahanglan.

21st century continues to be exciting time for mission. Pope Francis dreams of a missionary Church not as a bureaucratic institution but as a “field hospital”, where the wounds of humanity may be bandaged, cured and healed. He say: “all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel” (EG 20).

We relive the challenge of Pope John Paul II during his 1981 visit to our Church: “I wish to tell you of my special desire: that the Filipinos will become the foremost missionaries of the Church in Asia.” “Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary vigor” and enthusiasm (EG 80-109).We ask our missionary martyrs Lorenzo Ruiz and Pedro Calungsod to intercede for us and bless our many missionary endeavours as we look forward to the next 500 years!

Unsa pay mahimo? We are gifted to give challenged to be and “Become Jesus’ Missionary Disciples.. Pray for our missionaries. Pray for more holy and good priests. Support your diocese; support our seminarians; support the Pontifical mission Societies under the Holy Father, support our Missionary Society of the Philippines who go to land far away. The invitation, then, is for us to participate in Missio Dei, God’s Mission, by embarking on an adventure of joy, the “Joy of the Gospel”.

(References: Antonio M. Pernia, SVD, Mission Today and the Conversion it Requires July 30 – July 3, 2014, CBCP Retreat; Evangelii Gaudium “Joy of the Gospel”; “Notable Aspects of the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud”, Congregation for the Evangelization of People Pontifical Mission Societies , October 2019; Nostrae Aetate.)