Mission and work

One of the things that Fr Ivo, during the meeting in Rome, repeated more than a couple of times was the distinction between mission and work.  He categorically denied that both are the same.  He would say that our mission is not to be equated to work or the activities that we carry out in our communities as individuals or as a group.

Our mission is to be signs and bearers of God's love. What we do, through our activities is give expression to this.  But to say that our activities is the mission is being naive.  Hence even a confrere who is aged or ailing, can still be actively engaged in the mission of being a sign and bearer of God's love, wherever or however bad a physical situation he may be in.

I found this distinction interesting and insightful.  Coming from a background where ceaseless activities characterises any given day and presently in a context where am not engaged in such a 'torrential' active work, it makes sense to discover what it means to be a consecrated person with a mission. To be patient and consistent with the discovery of who one is rather than a frenzied round of activity, and always joyful and never giving in to discouragement mode, is perhaps one of the characteristic of religious life.