Send the people you really need
Francis Xavier and Ignatius were friends. They were very direct with each other.
'Don't send anyone who will not be missed at home. Send people whom you really need', wrote Francis to Ignatius, seeking new recruits for the Jesuit mission in Asia.
He was only asking Ignatius to practise what he had already preached. Even though Francis himself was urgently needed in Europe, Ignatius had sent him to Asia. And that was in 1540, the very same year the Society was founded.
Francis Xavier arrived in India in May 1542. His passion and energy were contagious. In many places where he landed, he attracted people to work with him, made firm friends and built enduring local church communities.
By the time he travelled to Japan in 1549, he was one of very few Europeans to enter many Asian cultures. In 1552 he died on a small island off the coast of China, unable to live his dream of entering the lives of people whose culture he already respected.
Francis lives on in the Jesuit calling. In a recent letter to all Jesuits, Fr Adolfo Nicolás encouraged us all to be available for universal mission, 'even if the cost to the sending Province is great'.
In East Asia and Oceania, where Francis Xavier wandered, 1,800 Jesuits now live and serve. Ours is one of the most culturally diverse regions of the world. This is reflected in Jesuit life. Indonesian, Korean and Vietnamese Jesuits and companions have made Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and East Timor their home. Many Jesuits who work in their own lands have also studied abroad.
When we work today, our goal is the same as in St Ignatius' day. It is to form firm friendships, to strengthen local communities, to build up the local Church, and to forge international links.
The great challenge for us now is to work cooperatively where the need is greatest. Many of the challenges humanity faces – cruel injustices and conflicts, environmental damage, mass poverty and inequity, natural disasters and the forced displacement of people – do not respect borders. Our responses to these challenges – education for the poor, shelter for the homeless, building communities of faith and of dialogue – are also helped when we can work together across borders.
Some Jesuits and some of our companions live for a long time outside our original countries, cultures and climates, at least for some part of our lives. Rich and rewarding as it is, intercultural living is not for everyone. Accommodation to languages and societies other than our own can take hard and long work.
But for all Jesuits short periods outside our culture are valuable. They help us to be aware of values, assumptions and perceptions instilled early in life that shape the ways we behave and interact with one another. Until it finds itself out of the water, a fish does not think about the water it swims in.
International experience can help us cooperate across boundaries, and to develop two attitudes that might seem contradictory. On the one hand, we wish to engage deeply in the local culture and life experiences of the people among whom we live. On the other hand we want to be open to diverse cultures, civilizations and mentalities.
These two attitudes can make us a bridge between cultures. Bridges are built from solid foundations on the banks, not from the middle in the air. To dialogue with people of other cultures and faiths, we must be grounded in our own culture and in our faith in Jesus. We do this by studying theology and deepening ourselves through prayer. But it is also normal for us Jesuits to learn a useful language other than our own, have experience in international gatherings, and acquire skills that will benefit people of another society.
Throughout Asia and the Pacific our communities of Jesuits and companions seek to be at once deeply local and to have an eye to the horizon. Our teams are both international and committed to the local people and culture. For missions like these, we seek to be the people whom Francis Xavier wanted, the people 'who will be really missed at home'.
Mark Raper SJ
This article was first published in the July 2009 edition of JCEAO News.
