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We are all called to be preachers today
by Sr. Janet Schaeffler special to The Michigan Catholic
Published June 12, 2009
A few weeks ago we celebrated the great feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost. Lent prepared us for Easter: We sought deeper conversion during Lent so that we might come to new life at Easter. Easter prepared us for Pentecost: The new life of the risen Christ sends us out to preach and live the Good News, making this world a new creation, the kingdom of peace and justice.
Imagine the scene on Ascension Day. Jesus has assembled His disciples. He recounts and summarizes for them some of His key teachings, reminding them that He has called them, that they are made in the image and likeness of God, that they now are summoned to continue his work. Jesus says, "Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on Earth; go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world" (Matthew 28: 18-20).
The disciples look at Him with a little fear and trepidation (Pentecost had not yet happened); one timidly asks, "What are your alternative plans?"
Jesus replies, "I have no other plans."
This Ascension story didn't happen just 2,000 years ago. Each and every one of us is called to be a prophetic witness, a preacher. I think of that often because of the privilege, the call of being a Dominican, the Order of Preachers.
A few months ago, one of our remarkable women died suddenly. Marge had a stroke in 1991 (while she was in elected leadership within the congregation) which left her with aphasia, the loss of the ability to fully communicate. Marge understood everything, but just didn't have the full ability to verbalize what she knew.
During the wake service one of the things that was said was how hard it must have been for a Dominican preacher to lose her voice. Thinking of it one way, that's true. Yet, especially if you knew Sr. Marge Naber, she proved by her life of the last 18 years that there are many ways to preach. Words are certainly one way, a crucial way. But, there's a message attributed to St. Dominic's good friend, St. Francis of Assisi, "Preach always, if necessary, use words." Marge continually preached through:
- her constant presence and participation at all community gatherings;
- her active involvement in boards and support groups for developmentally disabled adults and stroke survivors;
- her compassion and concern for others that reached out through her joy and interest when you were in her presence, endless cards, computer notes to so many and hundreds of phone calls with short happy, positive messages;
- and her poetry, which spoke to others of the deep realities of everyday life, of the journey we all share together.
- By our baptism we all are called to be preachers; there are many ways to preach. The Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe said, "Being a preacher means that every one of us is sent by God to those whom we meet. A wife is sent to her husband, a husband to his wife. Each is a word of God to each other. ... To affirm others with a word or a smile is to preach. To be present to those who mourn is to preach. In some situations the most effective word may be silence! What you are, is a preaching!"
How are we called to preach? How are our lives preaching?
We are preachers of God's Word, preachers of our all-loving Jesus Christ:
- not only in our spoken words, but through so many mediums, through our various gifts: through art, writing, drama, music, poetry, journalism, etc.;
- in the ways we respond to the everyday people in our lives, especially the nameless people, e.g. the clerk in the store, the waiter in the restaurant, the kind person who holds open the door, etc.;
- in the times we write letters on behalf of issues of justice;
- each time we are grateful for the people closest to us (and take time to say it), write letters about all the good things that are happening in our local community, in our parish, etc.;
- all of the intentional times we live life with a joyful optimistic attitude, with hope-filled trust when we are surrounded by a society that only sees the negative;
- when we respect the dignity and care for all - the unborn, the suffering, the poor, our elders, immigrants, the physically and emotionally challenged, the victims of war, violence, unjust systems and human trafficking, the imprisoned, those whom society rejects, those caught in the web of addictions;
- in family life, as we create homes of love and peace, where each person is nurtured and cared for, surrounded by acceptance and forgiveness, called to be the best person God has created them to be;
- in the ways we care for creation, are responsible for the world God has given us;
- and when we challenge others by the simplicity of our lifestyle, by the courage of our convictions, by the daring of our dreams, by our commitment to the coming of Jesus' Kingdom.
We are called to be preachers. Our call is to discern how we do that, because it is different for each of us. As part of our morning prayer each day, do we ask: How can I spread the Word of God, the person of Jesus, today?
Sr. Janet Schaeffler, OP, is the archdiocesan associate director for adult faith formation for the Office for Faith Formation/Catechetics.
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