SPIRITUALITY, MISSION, MINISTRY
Repeat the vision to yourself! “Write the vision down, ____ on tablets to be easily read.” (Habakkuk 2:2).
A vision, once identified and articulated, needs to be repeated to one’s self if it is to become part of the person. Our MAGPAS vision because it is based on human experience and rooted on the word of God, has given us a direction and a reason for living. Like a prayer, the vision has to be revisited, alone or with others, in order to allow it the welcome of an reverend pilgrim.
"We are people, called by the Father, in order to image God to others, that we may become a community of persons with fullness of life, witnessing to the goodness of God, by living the Paschal Mystery, in the Power of the Holy Spirit with Mary as our Companion.”
Made to God’s image and likeness, we are a God-People. We are not destined to battle against or compete with one another, but to repeat the holiness, the goodness and love of God among ourselves. Our aspiration is to return to God who gave us life. We go back to Him by way of a human life we live that has met its fullness on earth through the love and guidance of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit with Mary as Model and Companion.
Today, we begin the second round of conferences on the MAGPAS vision. This time we are not just taking a second look, but we want to dig deeper, as it were, trying to bring to light the wealth hidden in the phrases of our vision.
Vision’s three Basics.
We immediately identified three (3) basics in our vision.
SPIRITUALITY, MISSION AND MINISTRY
Spirituality, mission and ministry do not mutually exclude each other. Nor are they chronologically arranged, but they are presented here in this talk in a logical order to help us reflect on the need to be better understanding ___appreciate the vision as worthy of our cooperation.
It has been observed by educators that students with lack of____do not complete a course, finish a degree or do not fare well in the professional or work practice. Nothing lasting motives these people; nothing seems to inspire them. Something must keep us going, if we are part of a pilgrimage. It is true that the lack of nothing essential to our being human and the freedom from anything that restricts our humanity - - - like the fullness of life we mention as also the will of Jesus Christ for us (John 10:10) - - - will be enough motivation for any one to strive attaining the end. Still we need an assurance more than just “a drive” that what we are trying to attain is within our reach, and well within the Will of God. Unity and Peace are within our grasp.
When we are looking for “a spirituality”, we want determination (drive), inspiration and an assurance. The person living a vision, driven by a spirituality, is guided by the Holy Spirit. St. Paul addressing the Galatians has something to tell and assure us when he wrote: “Since we are living by the Spirit, let our behavior be guided by Spirit and let us not be conceited or provocative and envious of one another.” (Galatians 5:25-26)
What am I looking for in the Spirituality of the Vision?
First the spirituality we look for is one that gives us determination. I am uncompromising to reach the goal, my end, my destiny - - - fullness of life, the way god wants me to be freed from any form of enslavement, last of all sin, the radical cause of human suffering and enslavement.
No one can reach his/her destiny, as assured by the vision pursuing it half-heartedly, hesitating on the way, complaining and infuriating others. Part of the vision’s spirituality is the spirit of humility. The person who lives by a vision is a simple and humble Christian and citizen.
Secondly, the inspiration we long for is assured by the spirituality of the vision. Although inspiration means the “breath that is the Spirit,” it can mean (a) the very life, energy and soul of the living organism like what the Book of Genesis said of God, “Yahweh God shaped man from the soil of the ground and blew the breath of life into his nostrils, and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). It can also mean (b) that God is inspiring the person His breath and with His own divine thoughts. Towards the end of David’s life he said these words, “The spirit of Yahweh speaks through me, his word is in my tongue, the God of Jacob has spoken, the Rock of Israel has said to me.” (IISamuel 23:2-3).
Mission follows Spirituality like a homework comes after understanding a lecture.
The Vision, as pursued with a spirituality that empowers theperson’s approach to his/her destiny, is naturally followed by the statement of the mission. Our mission indicates the immediate objectives that we must undertake or pursue in order to bring us nearer to the achievement of the vision. Mission serves as a too that brings us closer to the reality of what we want to attain or what we wish to be as humans, and to become communities with fullness of life. These are intermediate steps that we assign ourselves in order to attain what we wish to be.
On the practical side, when we accept the proposal of the Vision that we live a life with its fullness, subject to no oppression and free of sin that chains us to its enslavement, we may propose to follow the statement like, “I commit myself to do the following ….. in orger to followe our collegial or personal aspiration.”
No desire leading to the realization of what we anticipate will be spared. In this sense the visin is a prediction of what a person or one nation is ultimately going to become. But we, the people of a vision, must make a habit (a virtue) of pursuing those small steps – those "little missions”—that we assign ourselves in order to become a community of men and women whose lives are lacking in nothing of what humans are intended to be. Those little steps in goodness, kindness and compassion slowly make up the values upon which the lives of the principled men and women are deeply rooted.
But be constant! We are not picking up little stones. We are building the living edifice of a Cathedral of People who are especially called to image God and His Goodness before one another. But how do values become “the stones” with which the living cathedral is built?
Who do we think we are? What can make humans bad, when from the very beginning they were made good and pure as “the image and likeness of God?” Our Lord Jesus Christ told us how humans can go wrong. “From the heart come evil intentions: murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, slander. These are what make a person unclean.” (Matthew 15:19-20). It will all, therefore, depend on how the individual person will nourish the heart with clean, compassionate and forgiving thoughts. Here is where the mission begins: where the little tasks touch the heart is where all of us embark on the journey to our destiny.
[Recall the story from the Cherokee Indian Wisdom: the two fighting wolves inside everyone: the evil wolf and the good wolf. The evil wolf thrives on anger, jealousy, pride, unforgiving righteousness and selfishness. The good wolf survives on kindness, love, forgiveness and humility. Which wolf is going to win? Depends on which one you feed!]
Giving yourself a task in the pursuit of “fullness of life” in the only possible way – the Paschal Crossing Over – etched out for you by Jesus Himself is the mission you embark on when you accept the vision.
Ministry as humble Service.
Third basic element in our vision is Ministry. Ministry is service. Service is called to embrace humility in order to dispose one’s self in the assistance and advantage of another. Its literal sense is to descend and go down three times lower (minus “ter”) than another that he may the better help others. Service in the sense of ministry is to reach out to help others and to bring self to the lower level of the humble Christ in helping others.
At this point of our reflection it may appear that mission is directed more to the self; and our first little task is to align self along the path that Jesus wants us to tread on the way to fullness of life as we witness to the goodness of God, our Father. Mission is not exclusively directed to one’s self in the initial pursuit of the vision, the right emphasis in our mission is naturally the one that begins with self, for how can he or she convince another if he himself is not pursuing the fullness of life indicated by the salvation wrought by the Lord?
However, when ministry is put under the service of the vision we cannot but reach out to others. Our vision is not private and limited. Fullness of life is for everyone.
When our pursuit is rooted on what God has revealed to us ____ and when our brokenness and disappointment make us brothers and sisters in our common frail humanity, then the MAGPAS VISION can and should be extendedly offered to others who also seek a life that is not wanting in humanity, grace, hope, development and redemption. We become ministering brethren to one another in the end.
+GBR
January 2008
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