Once more SATMI joins Mission Paglaum in its third wave of relief, psycho-social first aid intervention, and medical mission. Mission Paglaum is the abbreviated title we give to our missionary engagement with the religious and laypeople of Mindanao. We coined this from the theme agreed upon during the First Wave of our collaboration: Misyon: Duyog-ambit Padulong sa Paglaum (Mission as Pilgrimage toward a Shared Hope). At the heart of Mission Paglaum is our solidaristic commitment to work together for the people living in earthquake devasted areas. While disasters terrify us, there is something we missionaries must always learn and put to heart…We don’t have to be afraid precisely because when we ground our engagement in union with one another when we root our conviction to the Wisdom beyond us when we believe we are gifted and graced…we know we can weather any storm, any difficulty, any challenge.
Every time we engage in a Mission of Hope, there are three movements we must go through: preparation before the mission; actual mission engagement, and reconstitution of the self after the mission. We can summarize these movements into three missionary postures: standing up, speaking up, and shutting up! These postures are premised on the understanding of Mission Paglaum as a pilgrimage. We already learned during the First Wave of Mission Paglaum that a pilgrimage consciousness brings to the fore this reality: In mission, we are not to bring God to the people in the devastated areas. Instead, it is God who will meet us in those areas. He has been there even before we arrived, already working daily through his Spirit among the suffering people.
Likewise, a pilgrimage consciousness is a reminder to temper our tendency to be triumphalistic in our mission engagement. If God is already at work even before our arrival, then we can never claim any honor for ourselves, except the humility that we have been privileged to experience his presence among the lost, the least, and the last that he loves. Pilgrimage reminds us that our journey is never to be smooth. In the past, there were accompanying difficulties and dangers involved when people would go for a pilgrimage – the distance to negotiate, the unsure terrains to trod, the possible threats from fellow humans or wild beasts, and the uncertainty of nature, be that rains or other natural factors. Vulnerability to those elements frequently characterized all pilgrimages in the past. Today, with the significant development of transportation and communications, these dangers may no longer be present. However, there is something in the spirit of pilgrimage that matters a lot in keeping the posture of vulnerability. We continue to depend on the Wisdom above; we continue to admit that we cannot rely on our power, our wisdom, or the strength of our own will. We ought to tap on the Transcendent power. This is what prayer can do.
In mission as a pilgrimage toward a shared hope, it is inevitable to be aware to stand in awe and wonder before the grim situations confronting the communities we go to. Moreover, in our mission engagement, we have to commit ourselves that amid the stark sufferings and helplessness of the people, we need to speak up, proclaim there is still the Good News of God’s love and liberation. Lastly, having accomplished our missionary work, we have to mum ourselves, we keep silent, knowing that everything we have gone through goes back to its source – God. In the pilgrimage-mission that we shall engage in the future, let these be our missionary disposition.
Stand up amid the challenges that come our way, not cowering to the allurements of escapism that sneak through life of comfort and security. Remember God continuously seeks for us, firing our zeal, making promises that he will fulfill in spite of our unworthiness as missionaries. Speak up to proclaim the good news of liberation, of God’s reign, yet a speaking that knows who the person you are talking to, a speaking that recognizes that the ground our feet are standing on with the other is holy, claimed by God for himself. Shut up when we are talking too much, shut up that we may learn we are nothing without God working through us, shut up and learn to bend our knees in humility, prayer, and surrender. Yes, as pilgrims-missionaries sent to mission among the lost, the least, and the last, God continues to mold us so that in all the things that we would do, it is God who works, who controls, who directs, who loves, and leads the way.
Standing up, speaking up, shutting up – these too will be the movements for the next waves of mission our group will engage in the future. Stand up in awe as the mystery of God unfolds in the dialogues of life and reflections we are engaged and privileged to see beauty and hope in the pains and struggles of the people. Speak up with boldness and humility, seeing that we are not only learners but teachers as well, recognizing that we are partners and pilgrims in a common journey responding to the missio Dei. Shut up, yes, shut up…be silent that the Spirit in his gentleness may mold us, inspire us, push us, humble us, embrace us…Yes, Mission Paglaum has been blessed by God because we can have the legacy of being his partners with conviction, the facility for communication, and disciples of contemplation.
As we stand up, speak up, and shut up, we too must likewise learn these movements, creatively seeing that we are all moving to one call – self-giving, self-emptying, and self-surrendering…the nature of the God of Mission.
PC: Bro. Roel Gutierrez, C.Ss.R