Feast of Saint Arnold Janssen

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, 

As you can understand, Fr John has asked me to preach the Feast Day Homily of our Founder, St Arnold Janssen. It is an honour to be asked; so thank you, Fr. John.

Father Arnold, that’s how we know him, was a man of vision, dedication and stubborn commitment. He was born nearly 200 hundred years ago on the border of Germany and Holland. He became a priest, a teacher, publisher, and a man fired with a desire for the Germans to do something for the foreign missions. Till then there was no German foreign mission foundation.

He founded three communities dedicated to the Missions, even at a time when the Church was suffering persecution. He simply crossed the river Maas into Holland and there we founded his three congregations. The Holy Spirit Sisters, who are enclosed order and live a life of prayer for the missions. The Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, as you know them, and the male order of Brothers and priests, known as the Society of the Divine Word.

The strange thing I want to do this morning is to share with you a feast-day homily I preached to my Sydney SVD community some fifteen years ago.

I know you are not SVDs nor Holy Spirit Sisters; and please, let me make it very clear at the outset that I honour you as who you are – simply and profoundly; but there are commonalities we do share and I do want to note them at the end of my original homily.

My homily of 2002 preached to my fellow SVD Brothers.

This morning I wish to honour our Founder, Saint Arnold, by honouring the community of SVDs gathered here in the chapel before me. After all, we embody his dream, far beyond what he could have hoped for or imagined. I speak to the young, to the old, and to the middle-aged. You can figure out which group you belong to.

Some of our young SVDs are preparing for their First Vows commitment; others are preparing for a life commitment; and others are here for one reason or another - passing through or having a break. They come from Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Australia, Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, Poland. I apologise if I have missed any one of your nation of origin?

Doesn't that in itself speak of something quite unique and wonderful - - a world, almost, gathered as one?

What is the price of such a gathering -- leaving home, being uprooted, trusting in others for nourishment and sustenance? How did it come about? How was it sown in human effort and in the heart’s imagination? What is its price in terms of love, service, risk, and courage? What is its capacity and destiny? "Old men shall dream dreams and young men shall see visions."

Just think of it for, a moment!

What is the hope of this young world? What is its frailty and vulnerability? Will they be able to carry the dream forward? How can we honour the gift of these young lives and help them fulfil their destiny?
This is the question and commitment of the older generation? Can we listen to them? Can they learn from us? What do we have to give them that will nourish their dream and release their energies for the Kingdom? The Spirit breathes where it will. It breathes in the young. How can we facilitate that breathing?

And the young!

What is the vision within the charism of the SVD of Father Arnold, that attracts you? What is it that activates your manly aspirations that is worthy of your Life’s dedication? Do you know what it is? I think it is important to name it, so it can sustain you and you can be faithful to it.

What is the relationship of love and the intimacy of friendship and fidelity that will sustain you in this dedication? It is not good for man to be alone! Even the opening pages of the Bible tell us that. What do you understand by community, how important is it for you?

What are your fears? Are you willing to name them and face them? Love, we are told, casts out fear!
Are you ready to honour humbly and respectfully the nobility of your own young hearts?

God wants that!

Jesus wants that!

Remember how Jesus looked with love upon the young man who came to him with a generous question about his life? Have you allowed Jesus to look on you with love? Have you let him ask you his challenging question?

And to the older members, our aged and middle-aged: What has sustained us through all these years?

What has sustained us?

What a story we could tell! To whom and to what do we owe our gratitude . . . to others, Yes! . . . and even to ourselves?

It is okay to have a debt of gratitude. How and to whom do we try to repay it?

There is such a richness of living within each one of us -- of serving, and of being served by the very people we came to serve: a richness of life-giving memories in our lives as SVDs!

How could we possibly count them or tell them?

*****

As well, we don't get this far in life without being wounded. Do we know our wounds? Do we know them without being ashamed of them, without the need to carry them as a badge of honour, like soldiers carry their medals in an Anzac Day parade?

What is the source of their healing? What understanding and compassion do they bring to our lives?

Understanding without judgment! What are the needs and weaknesses within our wounds that link us unmistakably with the common man and woman? Because of our wounds, can we experience a sense of solidarity with our brothers and sisters, and a sense of shared compassion for all the ‘slings and arrows of misfortune’ that we are all subject to?

What story can we tell of God's faithfulness and compassion? Is this the ultimate source of our hope and healing? A reason to give thanks and to celebrate!

Conclusion:

My intention in sharing this reflection with you is to honour the memory of Father Arnold (that is the title we love to address him by); a simple man, a man of heart and imagination. In God's plan of Providence, he started a song that is now sung in many lands and languages. We are witnesses to that right here. In his letters to his missionaries, he showed a compassionate care and counselled patience in difficult situations.

I wish to honour both aspects in what I have shared. May we be able to mirror them in our own lives and be faithful to his dream . . . and not only to his dream, but also to God's dream, for the Holy spirit has allowed it to grow and flourish in a breathtaking way.

The Addenda:

And the addenda that I promised for you!

What I have shared is the story of the Divine Word Missionary. It embodies the dream of Fr Arnold.
But does it strike a chord in your own hearts of a dream that carries the uniqueness of your family story that perhaps bridges many lands and many languages; some leaving their homes to cross vast oceans, never to return to their homeland again – such bravery! (My grandma!)

Have we ever allowed ourselves to remember and to treasure both the joy and the pain inherent in their unique story that lives on today in each of us?

As elders of our society, what hopes and dreams do we carry for the youth of our own society? It is a very different world to one we grew up in; it encompasses both hopes and many possible pitfalls.

Saint Arnold Janssen’s vision is alive and well today in the hearts of many young people in so many different lands and cultures.

Surely this gives us hope too for the future of our own young people.

Let us honour the young by the trust and belief we give them, so that in turn they can believe deeply in themselves.

That really is a legacy of Fr Arnold Janssen.

Frank Gerry SVD 15 January, 2O17