Be like Jesus and live like Jesus
Today we celebrate the feast of St John de Britto who was martyred in 1693 and was canonized in 1947. He is the Province Patron Saint. We also remember the 275th anniversary of Constantine Beschi, popularly known as Veeramamunivar, who died on this day in 1747. These two stalwarts and pioneers have inspired many and today we are taking up this mission of vocation promotion in the Province.
Shusaku Endo, a Japanese novelist, would have as his running theme in his novels, like in Silence, or Deep River, that the Portuguese missionaries took along the sapling of faith from Portuguese to Japan but they did not study whether that sapling would take root in the marshy soil of Japan. That is why Christianity did not survive and flourish in Japan. But in the case of John de Britto and Joseph Beschi, they immersed themselves in the language, culture, and custom of the people and that is why they have been so successful as missionaries.
Even there we see a difference: John de Britto preached faith as received (from above) – He said, like to Thadiadevan, this is the Catholic faith and you have to follow it. But Beschi’s approach was from below. His preaching emerged from baptizing the customs of the people. He is the one who introduced in festival celebrations saparam (procession of car), mulaipari (the new shoots of the seed), thumpa (to carry honourably the dead body in funeral), vasagapa (Pasqual play), kumpidusevai etc.[1] His epic on St Joseph, Thembavani, is unique in Tamil.
Both of them were inspired by great Jesuits, their vocation promotors, so to say. When John de Britto was gravely ill, her mother prayed to St Francis Xavier and even prayed that she would dress him like the saint. Perhaps that might be the spark of his vocation, and today John de Britto is known as the ‘Portuguese Francis Xavier’. And Beschi was inspired by Matteo Ricci who was known for his inculturation in China. And today we are striving to promoting vocations to religious life. Vocation promotion is to be enhanced by our life – not by mere words and deeds but how we impress and inspire people who come in contact with us. Maya Angelou, the popular Afro-American poet and writer, said: “… people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. Yes, vocation promotion is to make one cherish how we feel about him/her and how God feels about him/her. And that would bring them to the feet of the Lord to take His place today of proclaiming the Good News to the poor and the marginalized.
As we celebrate this Eucharist let us also remember that the altar is the meeting point of God and us. In the book, Urali – Pazhankudiyinar Vazhvial, the author Philip Kumar, says about the religious celebration of the Urali people that they believe when the nature/God and humans come together maha sakthi (great power) emerges since they believe that God’s full potential is manifest when our part also is played.[2] This is, then, our role in vocation promotion.
Let us pray in this Mass, as we thank the Lord for the gift of John de Britto who was bold in proclaiming the faith and for Beschi who was ready to immerse himself into the culture of people, we also ask the Lord to choose and send out people to harvest the benefits of His grace and blessings. Religious vocation is primarily finding meaning in one’s life; and then seeking success in the given ministry. So, our life itself should become Vocation Promotion. This demands on our part to be like Jesus and to live like Jesus. Otherwise all our efforts, as Paul would say, would be just ‘a resounding gong and a clanging cymbal’ (1 Cor 13:1).
Francis P Xavier SJ
[1] Susaimani, A. (2021). Beschi’s Mariology. Sivakasi: James Arts Crafts, p.276.
[2] Uralan (Kumar, P.). (2021). Urali – Pazhankudiyinar Vazhvial. Chennai: ThamizhMann Pub., p. 157 and 160.