Dispatches from Fr. Charitas

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Some are called to Apologetics, the defense of the Faith. I am not. I am called to Missions, the expansion of the Faith. Apologetics, in my view, defend the fortress of former understandings; Missions, in my view, venture beyond the frontiers to greater understandings. I am not defensive of the Faith, but rather expressive of the Faith; I am not confined to the past, but rather set free into the future.

I have come to believe that the work of a Jesuit missionary, possibly all missionaries, is to learn about both Creation and the Emerging Realms in places not yet explored. In one sense, we are on a teaching mission, but in another sense, we are on a learning mission.

Christ Himself grew frustrated with the scribes and teachers of the Law. They would NOT open their minds to the new possibilities for the Faith. They were defending what they had known and cared little about what they had not yet come to know. They refused to consider this missionary from the Father, a soul who was trailblazing God’s course for God’s people.

I have experienced the resistance of the Apologists. They are quick to “correct”. They are quick to shout, “Heresy”. They are determined to silence the frontier-voices. And like the religious-political powers of first century Jerusalem … their massive walls eventually turn to ruins that gather the dust of the passing of Time.

Everywhere I go in these distant realms, I find the Lord already at work. And when I am wise I learn so much about the ways and wishes of the Lord, ways and wishes I had not known before. 

I make camp each night at the frontier of tomorrow … and with the dawn I venture on.

In His Service always,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz

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