Ad Gentes is something difficult to conduct at a time like this. We, Christians, are called to spread The Word among the nations and the peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ. For us Xaverians, this is the only purpose, to spread the Gospel among those who do not yet believe in Him. However, in a difficult time as it is now, many of us are forced to stay at home. Many kinds of activity can’t be held. Missionaries, who are supposed to go abroad on their missions or studies, won’t be able to go. A priest can’t gather his sheep for the Eucharist. Religious sisters and brothers can’t do any close-range apostolic work. It makes us think: what are we supposed to do? What can we do?
His holiness Pope Francis, for the World Mission Sunday 2020 message, wrote: ‘In this year marked by the suffering and challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the missionary journey of the whole Church continues in light of the words found in the account of the calling of the prophet Isaiah: “Here am I, send me” (6:8).’ This is an invitation to keep the mission going on. Pope Francis also said this: “Understanding what God is saying to us at this time of pandemic also represents a challenge for the Church’s mission. Illness, suffering, fear and isolation challenge us. The poverty of those who die alone, the abandoned, those who have lost their jobs and income, the homeless and those who lack food challenge us. Being forced to observe social distancing and to stay at home invites us to rediscover that we need social relationships as well as our communal relationship with God. Far from increasing mistrust and indifference, this situation should make us even more attentive to our way of relating to others. And prayer, in which God touches and moves our hearts, should make us ever more open to the need of our brothers and sisters for dignity and freedom, as well as our responsibility to care for all creation. The impossibility of gathering as a Church to celebrate the Eucharist has led us to share the experience of the many Christian communities that cannot celebrate Mass every Sunday”.
This year, I am lucky to be able to run an apostolic work as a teacher of 5th grade elementary school students. I teach religion with two others of my religious brothers. Unfortunately, as stated before, this pandemic situation is making me have to teach online. From the very beginning, I couldn’t meet my pupils. So, for me who have just started, I don’t even know them. Teaching online makes it difficult for me to tell if the children listen to my explanation or not. I can’t tell if the children do their homework or exam by themselves or not. Most likely they do it with their parents.
This situation pushes me to be more creative. I’ve been trying many teaching methods. On the first meeting, I was creating my own ten minutes video using slides. I found out then it’s too boring and several of my students told me they were being confused. I changed my method by giving them videos of a bible story or a good film from Youtube, and giving some questions about it to be answered. In the 5th meeting, I also tried teaching on Whatsapp group chat, through some questions, and offered an additional score. This method allowed me to reach them personally, although not all of them.
So, creativity in this difficult situation is something very much needed. This creativity shows how much effort we need to push on our commitments and apostolic activities. We can’t let Covid-19 stop our work: to spread Jesus’ love. On the contrary, we should drive our “ambition” and energy with creativity and to the limit. It’s the same situation for everyone. We are in the same boat facing a storm. We can see that people push their inspiration to survive the storm. Many people in spite of their inability to work, make money from any possible side job. Therefore, spreading the Good news just needs the same effort, the same creativity. We can do a lot, in these days, with modern technology.
So, what about Ad Gentes? We can’t go abroad as we said before. Well, it’s true but with the technologies we have, we shall be able to meet people around the world no matter the distance. Covid-19 has been breaking through the borders of countries, so do we and our love. We can spread God’s love and our love beyond all boundaries. Therefore, we should stop thinking of the limitations and start to think about the possibilities. We, the children of God, are able to do the impossible because for God nothing is impossible. Let us ask for the Holy Spirit to help us, to inspire us about what we have to do, for we can do nothing without Him.
