APOSTOLATE AT THE HEART OF FORMATION

Apostolic living denotes witness to the mission handed over to the church through the apostles. We are heirs of the teaching tradition of the church; otherwise we would have been heirs of something not known if nothing is handed by Christ to the apostles who finally handed to us. And in vain shall we proclaim, praise and serve the word of God and our Lord Jesus Christ who laid the foundation for many and many brothers and sisters. They preached, we are now preaching and we shall preach his words of eternal life. What we preach is what we learnt and lived by our lives. Aware of the globalization era, apostolate has become a two way path in which; first, we are too taught by the world on how to live the good news and secondly how we are to witness effectively the gospel in the global village. Most often I see three things as the manifold of apostolate at the heart of formation;

Being a philosopher at the heart of apostolate

By being so does mean being a humble and inquisitive learner among the learned and the learner and if possible you become a ‘learnee’. Apostolate indeed inspires a lot of people and it’s where one discover real mission of his call. What I always put in mind is that, I first be like a blank slate (the tabularaza) notion, which I mean encountering apostolate without preconceptions and biases. This most often makes people during apostolic allocation very hyper alert; even others decline appointment because of such biases and preconceptions. Allowing one-self as empty as a blank slate would help one learn and be formed. This is because to learn means to leave the negative traditional and cultural beliefs, ideologies, practices and norms that one had imprinted in his/her own mind, but embracing the new ones. Doing so would help us to embrace inter-culturation and we can inspire the people in the way we pass the gospel by their own culture and our own lives. They learn from us as we learn from them too. However, imposition of philosophical theories and ideas would mean assimilating the people into our own selves, ideas, and opinions which I think leave defect rather than good. Above all, Apostolate is love and ‘sequela Christi’.

Being a family member in apostolate

Much as we may perceive it to be nearness to the families, nevertheless does it reflect being like a family member. Though you may ask how about interreligious apostolate, all the same becoming human to all and “nothing inhuman is foreign to me” (Charles Lavigerie). Which I think does not apply only to particular situation but to all situations, where no apostolate is smaller or greater than the other. Live in as family member in all and never subtract any of the family responsibilities of whether being a parent, or a child. My question is, have you become a visitor at the apostolate place or a son, daughter, mother and father?

On my own awareness this is how I felt like one of the family members at apostolate; As a son, parishioners supported me spiritually through living examples of being committed Christians, gave me necessary advice, showed me a sense of direction, gave me courage educated me through earning the way of life of the people around and even fed me well.  

As a brother, we shared common advice, ideas, corrections and listeners to one another. As a parent, being available to the Christians, being listened to, implementing ‘domestic’ roles in the apostolate, giving sense of direction and advice. As a pastoral agent, delivering the word of God and bringing the body of Christ closer to them. The vital aspect is living the identity of each family member without assuming the other’s duty, which I mean maintaining pastoral territorials to avoid confusion. Indeed, apostolate is a manifestation of Trinitarian family love.

The fact of challenge at apostolate

Pastoral challenges are indeed inevitable of every pastoral agent. Some of the short comings are already before one’s arrival to the place and others are encountered at the time of carrying out responsibilities.  For example, too much exaltation.  My corporate identity as a seminarian made many Christians to elevate me high in matters of advice and faith, some even went ahead to demand that I put on cassock whenever I’m going to the chapel. Anyhow, such exaltations are good and inspiring to one’s discernment process, a source of faith to the Christians and dignity to the Eucharist. The risks of pastoral gap might be high. Negligence of pastoral identity which might lead to violation of duties should be avoided because pastoral agents proclaim the word of God holistically by their way of life. The fact of challenge should be meant for self-realization, where one’s sense of belonging is reached i.e. vocation.

To be concise enough, a life of “supererogative” (doing extra good) be avoided otherwise we shall leave people in the world of utopianism. However, it is our duty and responsibility to raise people high spiritually and where possible materially. It becomes un easy when one becomes a donor to the Christians because it makes them weak enough to support themselves in developmental initiatives. It reminds me of my spiritual inspirator who said that, the white man handed to us Jesus on the crucifix, Mary in the rosary and the saints in the devotions. So to meet our personal, community and church demands, we should not wait to contribute generously for ourselves and for the church when in need. The riches are actually hidden in these great men and women. We shouldn’t be challenged by the theory of supererogative to incapacitate us to fulfill our moral obligations and duties in  the apostolate. Challenges shape, prune and form us only if we do not allow them to woe us.     

BY MUKULIA JOHN BOSCO