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Arnold: A Parable of Jesus

Hymn

A parable is story that comes from heart and speaks to heart. It is like a sacrament. It invites us to search and to live. We don’t need great intellectual capacity to decode the hidden truth of a parable but only an open heart and willingness to feel with the spontaneous happening of everyday life. Hence Jesus always spoke in parables to reveal the face of God and the mysteries of the Kingdom. In this sense St. Arnold Janssen can also be called a parable of Jesus. His life was a parable, a sacrament that tells us who God is and who we are in front of God. That is the reason that Pope John Paul II canonized Arnold and proposed this priest, religious and missionary as a model of following Jesus.

Arnold: A Parable of Faith

One thing that comes out very distinctively from the life of Arnold is that he was a man of tremendous faith. A man who could spend hours kneeling before God searching for the will of God. Once he was convinced that something was right in the sight of God he would stand with firmness against all odds and all those who oppose it. Therefore it is rightly said, “One who can kneel before God can stand before anything or anybody”. It is in his kneeling before God that he decided to found a congregation out of nothing. And when everything went against him and faced failures in the initial days it is his unshakable faith that made him feel that after all he was doing God’s will. No wonder that one of his most used phrases was, “May God’s will be done”.

Prayer: Lord we pray for our Catholic Church, for our Pope, Bishops, priests, religious and all the people of God that faith may flourish among us and that we may grow in the love of God. In this new millennium as we face degradation of faith and morals may the faith and life of very catholic inspire others to grow in their faith. That we may all stand firm in doing the will of God against all temptations, struggles and odds. Father hear our prayer through the intercession of St. Arnold.

Res: Lord Hear our prayer

Arnold: A Parable of Dedication

Arnold was not just a man of prayer who spent his days on his knees looking for God’s will passively. He was also a man of dedication and hard work. He put all he was worth at the service of discovering and implementing God’s will. He gave his all – to God, to the mission, to the missionary congregations that he founded. Every waking hour was spent for God, the cause of the mission, the good of the Society. He gave all, keeping nothing for himself. He gave all, even at the expense of his health and well-being.

 

Prayer: Lord, we pray for all the missionaries working around the world, especially for the members of the three missionary congregations founded by St. Arnold that we may all continue to work with the spirit of our founder who said, “Generous dedication to God is the distinctive mark of a missionary and the basic requirement for really effective apostolic activity”. Lord, help us and inspire us with the example of St. Arnold Janssen to offer all that we have and we are at the disposal of the Church and the mission. May our dedication grow stronger and greater as we gather every time as sons and daughters of St. Arnold. May his spirit enkindle our spirit. Father hear our prayer through the intercession of St. Arnold.

Res: Lord Hear our prayer

Arnold: A Parable of Mission

St. Arnold never went to any remote mission territory that his missionaries went. He never travelled outside of Europe. The longest distance he might have travelled would be to Rome. He spent most of his time at his desk studying, doing other administrative work and especially writing letters to his beloved missionaries. If St. Francis Xavier is a missionary on foot and St. Theresa of Child Jesus a missionary on knees, St. Arnold could be called a missionary at desk. He is also a pioneer of mission animation. At a time when mission was understood in territorial sense, he brought in a new understanding and new ways of doing mission like, creating missionary conscience among Catholics, promoting dialogue and ecumenism. Indeed Arnold was a parable of mission who spent all his life for the cause of the mission.

Prayer: Lord, we pray for all the missionary activities carried out in our Province/ EUROPE/ PANAM/ASPAC/AFRAM Zone. We as disciples of Christ engage ourselves in pastoral, administrative, formation, health, dialogue, communication, research, and spiritual life of your Church. We pray that we all may be united in one spirit though we may do various activities. That we may together strive to promote your kingdom in our Zone.  Father hear our prayer through the intercession of St. Arnold.

Res: Lord Hear our prayer

Arnold: A Parable of Humility

A parable is like a lamp that serves to search a precious stone. What is more important is the stone and not the lamp. This character of parable comes out very clearly in Arnold. He spent all his time, energy and life for the sake of mission and the congregations he founded. When his efforts brought success, when the congregations were growing in number and doing great job he considered himself as only a “poor instrument of grace’, like lamp in the hand of the woman searching the coin. Often he would say, “It was not I but the Lord”.

He was also humble in the sense of accepting his weakness. When he was pointed out about his weakness, he being the founder and superior general would ask pardon in the community and ask prayers from them that he could be a better human person.

Prayer: Lord we pray for the world leaders. Today as humility and simplicity begin to characterize the leadership in the Church and in our country, we pray that all our leaders may imbibe the spirit of humility and work for the betterment of people. That they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks and establish peace. Father hear our prayer through the intercession of St. Arnold.

Res: Lord Hear our prayer

Final Prayer: Jesus told the story of God’s kingdom in parables. What is remarkable about the parable of Jesus is that they are all simple stories about everyday experience: a sower going out to sow, a fisherman throwing the net, a shepherded searching for the lost sheep etc. But the ending of these parables, however, surprise us with something extraordinary: a tiny seed becomes big tree, the seed in the good soil brings a hundredfold harvest, there is greater joy in finding that small coin etc. The Kingdom of God is like that… The ability to see something extraordinary in ordinary things. Lord, we thank you for St. Arnold Janssen who did ordinary things for an extraordinary cause and looked always for the kingdom of God. May we too become lamp to search and live extraordinary life in our everyday life. This prayer we make though Christ our Lord.

EN

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