Dear Confreres, Sisters, benefactors, mission partners, alumnae, former students and friends,
On January 19, 1909, four days after the death of St Arnold Janssen, his successor, Fr Nicholas Blum, wrote a letter to all the congregations founded by St Arnold with this request: to keep Arnold Janssen’s memory alive, to continue and expand his work in his spirit.
His life-force, his spirit, is well-formulated in the prayer he passed on to us as his legacy: “May the holy triune God live in our hearts and in the hearts of all people”.
The triune God is a God of communion, unity in diversity, mutual giving and receiving. May the triune God live, shape and transform us, along with the people we serve or who cooperate with us. The purpose is that we may be transformed, to be people of communion, able and willing to offer our hearts, to accept, respect and promote others. That we may become people who are not only concerned about our own wellbeing, but live in solidarity with others, realising that we are all in the same boat, journeying together in this world and history.
This prayer was a source of inspiration, strength and perseverance for St Arnold to start out and lead his missionary work amidst many challenges. We remember his famous words: “We live in a time when much is collapsing, and new things must be established in their place”.
We can also say the same about our current time in history. So much is collapsing, on what was once firm and formidable. The COVID-19 pandemic only reveals the crisis that has been existing in the world for decades. It demonstrates the brokenness and fragility of the economic, political and healthcare systems. It also reveals and uncovers the ecological crisis. Amid these challenges we are asked and empowered to be signs of hope.
In the memory of St Arnold Janssen and keeping his spirit, I want to point at one very urgent and vital issue – ecology. Of course, Arnold Janssen is not a figure with such a radical approach to nature as St Francis of Assisi and yet, he enjoys being in nature and in it, he discovers the presence of God. Six months before his death he was in … Austria, where he wrote: “Here, surrounded by the beauty of nature, I am moved to write some verses in honour of the three divine persons”.
The 18th SVD General Chapter states clearly: “Creation is a sign of God’s love for us. Therefore, care for the environment is not only part of our mission, it is also part of our heritage. St Arnold Janssen believed that nature is the temple of God, into which God placed us so that it would proclaim to us God’s existence. As transforming missionary disciples, stewardship of Creation is our responsibility in expressing God’s love. This can be manifested in diverse ways – care for Creation, sustainable development, eco-justice and so-forth”.
On October 4, 2021, we launched the Society’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform. We proactively joined this whole-Church initiative in implementing the seven goals of Laudato Si’, the ecological encyclical of Pope Francis. It is encouraging to see that we, the Arnoldus family, have taken concrete steps to realise our concern, our care for nature. But much more can and shall be done.
Our proactive stance is urgent and necessary. It is an insistent call to our communities, to parishes administered by our members, the educational institutions, the health care centres, the NGOs, to take this appeal seriously and be part of this ecological conversion. The earth is our common home, the only one we share with others that we inherit, and we pass on. Its sustainability depends on every one of us.
Therefore, let us make our concrete contribution as daughters and sons of St Arnold’s. Let us open ourselves to embrace the triune God who forms and transforms us and all people into persons who listen to the cry of the earth and respond to the cry of the poor.
Fr Paul Budi Kleden SVD
Superior General, Society of the Divine Word
YouTube Message for the Feast of St Arnold Janssen 2022.
