MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY
A WAY OF LIFE AND WITNESS AND
SERVICE IN COMMUNITY
MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY: A
WAY OF LIFE
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Mission spirituality is a way of life in
Christ through the Spirit.
It is supported by the community of faith
and the spiritual disciplines that
animates our whole life and our witness
and service.
It is not simply about praying for certain
outreach or service projects. It is also
about a prayer-filled life.
Since it is a way of life in Christ – a
cruciform life – it is not limited to some
years of special missionary activity.
The whole of life is to be in the service of
Christ and needs to be animated by the
sustaining Spirit.
MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY IS MORE
THAN HARD WORK AND SELF EFFORT
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Since a missionary spirituality is through the Spirit, it is more
than hard work and self effort.
Mission and service is not a solo effort. It is life and witness
and service in community. It is joining hands with God and with
others in the service of the neighbor.
Missionary spirituality is a communal spirituality sustaining
and fructifying acts of solidarity in the service of the poor.
MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY
EMBRACES A DISCIPLINED LIFE
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Missionary spirituality is a way of
life and service that embraces a
disciplined life and the practice of
the spiritual disciplines such as
prayer, meditation, fasting,
contemplation and service.
Prayer and fasting are not simply
a means to service but a way to
God. And service is also a way to
grow in God and not simply the
outworking one’s relationship
with God.
Both prayer and service are ways
to deepen one’s relationship with
God and ways to express love to
the neighbor.
MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY IS THE
MOVEMENT OF TRANSCENDENCE AND
IMMANENCE
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In the movement of transcendence we are invited to the contemplation of God
face to face in the practices of biblical reflection, prayer, the practice of silence
and the gift of revelation.
In the movement of immanence we are invited to contemplate the hidden face
of Christ in the faith community, the neighbor, the stranger, the enemy and the
poor in the gift of service.
In the movement of transcendence we meet with the God who nudges us to
serve the neighbor.
In serving the neighbor we are drawn to be with God in prayer and renewal.
PRAYER AND SERVICE BELONG
INTIMATELY TOGETHER
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The spiritual disciplines and
the work of justice are
connected. Both are forms
of worship and both are
expressions of service.
In the words of B.P. Holt this
is “integrating one’s life in
the world with one’s
relationship to God” (Holt
1993, 3).
MODERN EXAMPLES OF MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY:
MOTHER TERESA & DOROTHY DAY
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Mother Theresa of Calcutta participated is an
example of a Christian Spirituality that can
claim authenticity. To touch the untouchables
was, for her and her sisters, to touch the
Body of Christ. To love in her utterly
unselfish way was, for her, to pray. She did
not stop praying to serve, nor did she stop
serving to pray. Authentic Spirituality is all
embracing.
Dorothy Day’s “sacramental view of life,” her
refusal to see merely a bum while looking at
a bum, is the unifying principle of her
thought: Incarnational Personalism. Cardinal
O’Connor noted that, Dorothy Day, through
her writing and work, is constantly saying to
each of us, “Are you not aware that every
single person is a temple of God, sacred,
made in the image and likeness of God?” We
are sharers in the life of God, the Community
of the Trinity, insofar as we are members of
the Body of Christ. Our one flesh union in
Christ is contingent on our loving as God
loves; a love that enables us to “see people
as they really are, as God sees them.”
PRACTICAL MISSIONARY
SPIRITUALITY: HOW I RELATE
WITH GOD AND NEIGHBOR
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What is the difference between a personal
spirituality and an engaged spirituality?
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How do I manifest my spirituality?