Mission is Built on the Word

The true missionary is the one who throughout life tells of the encounter he has had with God. The missionary is the one who makes himself available to God's initiative, who gives time and space to God speaking to him. It is not easy to let God do the talking and to listen. When God speaks, he requires a lengthy silence and also time for Him to be understood. This is because, when God speaks, he does not carry on with our own train of thought, but changes it both in its contents and in its essential priorities.  

Nowadays, the first great effort for having an experience of God is to listen to the One who speaks. There are so many ways of substituting his Word with our words that we do not give Him time to speak or wait for Him to speak. We do not have the humble patience that makes us wait and listen to what He wants to tell us. Actually, God is not slow to speak ~ rather, we are slow to understand and to enter into His line of thought.

The mission starts when God begins to speak and we place ourselves in an attitude of listening and understanding in faith what He wants, so to enter into his mentality. From the Rule of Life of the Comboni Missionaries: "The missionary reads the Word of God in the light of the Spirit. He applies it to his life in meditation and he allows himself to be judged by it and to be converted to God's way of thinking and acting" (47.1).

When a person does not listen or silences God, they take the initiative away from God and mission becomes a human adventure ~ destined to failure.

Mission without silence is merely movement; mission with listening becomes transformation.