A Novel Apostolic Experience

I had the good fortune of exercising my Salesian apostolate in an ashramshala that houses only girls. This might sound odd considering that Salesians direct their apostolate to boys. But this is the only apostolate of its kind that we, students of Philosophy at Divyadaan engage in. Our task over there is to teach English to the 9^th standard girls and entertain the 8^th standard girls with activities and games. The shala is run by Sisters belonging to the Assumption Congregation. At their request, two brothers travel every Sunday to their shala in Tilloli some 80 kilometers from Nashik. This particular Sunday, I was standing in for a brother who was not keeping well.

This wasn’t my first time there as I had gone before to help the brothers organize a Christmas party for the girls. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a nun and served breakfast. As I partook of the simple breakfast consisting of chana and chappati topped up with a cup of coffee, I was struck by the lifestyle of the sisters. There are six of them, only one of whom is a Maharashtrian; yet all of them speak Marathi so fluently and well. The missionary vocation and zeal of the sisters immediately struck me. Their immersion in the culture and adoptions of the local language and lifestyle ignited the flame of missionary zeal within me. The simplicity with which they lived, inspired wonderment in me. They live in the interior of a village, secluded in a real sense. The shala is surrounded by green fields, without a house in sight for at least a mile. The wonderful work they do is a testament to their intrepid character and breaks away from stereotypes attached to women.

I gauged that my presence and teaching was successful from the response I received. Language was a barrier for me but I tried my best to get my message across through my broken Marathi, but more effectively through my actions. The girls were amused at the spectacle of a teacher using comedy as a method for teaching. I hope that my antics don’t go in vain and that the lesson remains in their minds for some time to come.

I have come away from this experience enriched and encouraged. I realize that the need to adapt to the situation is crucial for an effective apostolate. Simplicity of lifestyle characterizes missionary life and complements witnessing to Christ, who made Himself poor.  

Cl. Ian Pinto sdb

A MISSIONARY FLOWER BY THE ROADSIDE

Once a tiny flower seed from gardener’s bag fell among the weeds by the roadside. Gradually the seed found enough space among the weeds and began to share their soil. The seed soon sprouted and began to grow like any other weeds. However, it felt strange among the weeds to find that it was totally different from others. Nevertheless, the seed maintained its difference and grew to be a lovely plant and began to bloom. The charm of the flower simply fascinated million passersby and its ceaseless spreading of perfume refreshed their lives with renewed energy and zest. All types of people passed by that road. Some noticed at the flower and marveled at the beauty it adds to their life and others just passed by without even noticing for they were too occupied with their pity activities. However, the flower never grumbled or criticized anybody for not appreciating its beauty or for ignoring its perfume. It was just there by the roadside, blooming to the full and everlastingly pouring out its perfume to all the passersby without considering who or what type of people they were. It was a flower that stood upright, lived to the full, brought joy to millions and one day withered away leaving sweet memories for million passersby to cherish.

The flower is a beautiful imagery of our life and it can be better suited for a missionary who is called to bloom among the people he never knows. He is totally different, unique and yet finds his place among the people he is called to share his with. He never tries to dominate or control them rather shares in their culture and tradition. He becomes one among them yet maintains his unique identity. Just like the flower he is called to bloom in the place where he is planted or placed. Just like the fascinating flower by the roadside even his blooming in love, wisdom, peace, joy, patience, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, righteousness, humility, etc. is easily noticed by million passersby or people with whom he shares his life with. Again, just like the flower he pours out ceaselessly his perfume of charming qualities on the people he comes in contact with. He never forces or expects anyone to be like him. However, his very cheerful-fascinating presence attracts millions to re-tune their life to the light of true joy and wisdom. 

Viewing the life of a missionary many marvel and appreciate him for the beauty he adds to their life but invariably there will be some who will never bother him just as we saw in the case of a flower. However, a true missionary never criticize or grumble at anybody for not paying heed to his way of life rather he continues to carry on his life with same energy and zest. The missionary is very much aware that living a life of light inevitably dispels the dark; yes even the hardest of mind gets illumined.  Hence, he is just there amidst them like the roadside flower blooming to the full and everlastingly pouring out his perfume of qualities without considering who or what type of people come to nourish their life through him. He pours out himself unconditionally to all the people in need.  He is a man who stands upright, lives to the full, brings joy to millions and one day he will pass away leaving behind sweet memories for millions to cherish and at the same time his well lived life will continue to ripple in the their hearts and mind to change for better.

Romanius Barwa

BEAUTY IN UNEXPECTED AND STRANGE SEED OF LIFE

          Life is strange. It is a stranger as well. It is a stranger much more than any foreigner. Yes, it is a stranger beyond the grasp of any human mind. In life we expect things to happen the way want it to happen. We set criteria for things to emerge according to our own convenience and taste. Of course if we are fortunate things might turn out to be the way we expect. But in reality it may not be. It is ever possible that our life may turn out to be something totally strange, unexpected and unimaginable.  Moreover, the beauty of life lies in that strangeness. It is the strangeness of life that opens up million possibilities for us to explore something that is new, unexpected and unimaginable.

           For instance, we might have our vision for life and we would want it to be achieved by all costs. But the fact is that we do not have control over our life. For this reason we need to be open to the callings of Life. However, life’s callings are not explicit so how are we to discern to the subtle callings of Life? Nevertheless they beckon us through the concrete life experiences we face in a strange fashion. I believe all of us, sometimes or the other might have come in contact with an incident or reality in life that appeared to be strange and disturbing. It is often in such awkward situations that the unexpected seed of Life’s calling is planted. I would narrate a short incident that might in some way throw some light into the whole process of discerning the life’s calling.

          It all happened in a particular Sunday afternoon when the sky above the head was blue and the ground below the feet was thirsting for rain, an expected missionary seed of love and care was planted in a heart that never expected. The brother in his busyness happened to visit the Church but behold he noticed a youngster happened to be Hindu crying and sobbing unceasingly. Looking at the strange pouring of tears the brother felt deep within himself a kind of irresistible call to attend to the needs of that guy. Due to language barrier, the brother hesitatingly approached the guy and inquired for the cause of his grief. The guy in tears and deep sorrow narrated that he was in love with a girl and that they had mutually agreed to marry. However, girl’s parents were not happy with his status and so they were putting many obstructions to their marriage. To cut the story short, finally the guy made the brother sing for him thrice the song “We Shall Over Come,” and also requested for the prayer to be made for him. In all humility and patience the brother sung the song and invited him to pray together. At the end the guy felt strange serene deep within that he passionately embraced the brother and thanked for being there for him when he felt that his world was shattering into pieces. The youngster made frequent visits after that and finally one day came with his fiancé carrying in his face such a broad smile that words cannot describe.

          The above incident tell us that often in life we come in contact with an unexpected experience which invariable changes our entire vision of life. The incident also recommends that we can be missionaries anywhere for we will always find people in need of missionary act. Just as the brother performed the missionary act so also each one of us can do the missionary act by being available to people in need, not only during our convenient time but all the time. Saving someone’s life is much worth and it demands of us to go beyond rules.  So, let us live a missionary’s life wherever we are.

                                                Romanius Barwa

Tossing Ships and an Unperturbed Harbour

The current of the river at the surface looks pretty calm and serene. But if we happen to delve deep into the heart of the river we will realize that what appears to be at the surface is not the case at the deeper level. Beneath the surface flows a strong current which at times could be very rough and violent, yet it will never show its roughness on the surface. Similarly, as we journey through life what appears to be calm and serene may not always be the case deep within. As consecrated men and women we are called by the lord to be His chosen instruments to calm the sea and protect the ships entrusted to us from sinking. Unfortunately many of us are blinded and we never notice the tossing ships by the turbulent waves generated by the changing attitudes. We view at the far away ships in the river from the harbour (Church gates, convents, offices, etc.), which from our standpoint look very tiny and seem to navigate peacefully in its journey of life. Thus we conclude that they are sailing smoothly. 

However, how often do we not complain when ships fail to report at the harbor? We get upset, irritated, and even become violent when we don’t find people coming for Church services, parish gatherings, meetings, youth programs and things alike. We tend to think of them as irreligious, illiterate, arrogant, irresponsible, and often consider them as someone lacking moral maturity. The fact is that we make judgments but we dare not to delve into the lives of people. We are satisfied looking at the surface of their lives and making a judgment about them. It is like a frog in the well passing the judgment about the world.

 As God’s chosen instruments, how many of us do we really visit the houses of the sheep entrusted to our care. We claim to be their shepherds but how unfortunate that we do not know them, their currents of life. We blow our trumpet and expect them to dance on our tunes. Very often even our preaching goes to deaf ears not because we do not know how to preach. It is because we have become blind to their needs and all that we preach does not connect to their life.  Moreover, we dare not to step into their lives to experience and understand their under currents of life. 

A few individuals who regularly visit the families would realize that there is an unquenchable thirst in the hearts of faithful for the visit of consecrated men and women. We could easily justify our arrogance here saying if the faithful thirst for us then why they don’t come to us. This is the biggest problem that has crept into our hearts and minds. We proclaim ourselves to be persons placed at their disposal but how often do we not set conditions in approaching us. There is a huge price tag in meeting us to which poor and innocent faithful can’t afford.

 However, for the faithful the longing for the visit of the consecrated men and women still remains as a burning desire. I personally have heard many people from different parishes say that the visit of a consecrated heart invariable creates an atmosphere wherein they tangibly experience the presence of divine and even feel inexplicable joy and happiness in their heart. If people could experience the love and mercy of Jesus so concretely in the visit of a consecrated person than it is a dire need to rejuvenate the dying missionary visits. Let us not imprison Jesus in the harbor far away from the currents of life, rather build a harbor amidst the turbulent river so that ships could find a refuge and also that Jesus could command at the storms “Be Calm.”

                                                                                                                        Romanius Barwa

A Visit that Matters

One of the fundamental characteristics of any missionary should be his simple zeal to visit his/her flock. I would like to illustrate this assertion through my own experience with the people in various parishes and mission centres. Let me confess that as missionaries we may not be able to alleviate all the sufferings and pains of our people, but we can definitely share in their sorrows and joys. A simple gesture of visiting a family can bring its members closer to God. 

Now the question may arise in our minds, how can we bring people to God by just making an empty visit to their families? I believe that we can bring joy to people’s life through simple gestures. During our visits what we need to do is to sit with the family members, share their joys and sorrows, listen to them, pray with them, talk to the young ones, give them some advice and so on. During my apostolate in some parishes I have realised that people need our effective presence and our time. 

In one of my visits to a family an old lady told me something which I can never forget in my life. She said to me, brother when we were young, priests and religious had no convenient transport system. They had no bikes or vehicles. The missionaries came to visit us either on foot or on cycles. But in this present time the priests and religious have all the means of transport, but they rarely make a visit to our families. She added we do not want the priests to bring us money or food but to come and share our joys and sorrows. As missionaries we need to ask, is it not a contradiction? We have busied ourselves in administration and sophisticated constructions that we have little or no time for the ones for whom we have offered our lives.  Jesus is a true model of visiting missionaries. He visited Zacheus and Mathew and brought change in their lives. He visited Lazarus and the daughter of Zerus and brought them back to life. Let us reawaken in us the spirit of visiting Jesus and be effective labourers in the kingdom of Jesus.

By Pawanjit Singh SDB

Mph 2^nd year