“It was not me but the Lord.”
"Missionaries are ambassadors of divine love."
- St. Arnold Janssen
From
《The founder of the religious congregations of Steyl
– Arnold Janssen - Serving the Universal Church》
“This vineyard, beloved confreres, is our Society with all the fields of ministry entrusted to it. The hand of the Lord planted and cared for this vineyard; sunlight, rain and growth were given to it by the Lord. I cannot credit myself with anything in it except my poor collaboration, and even that was not my own merit. The idea did not come from me, not did the perseverance to hold on to it amidst great difficulties, the powerful help in carrying it our and the support amidst general mistrust. It was not me but the Lord who awoke the vocations and enabled the individuals to remain faithful to their resolution. And if it had not been for the Lord, who would have sent the necessary financial support, and that amidst needs that grew greater from day to day! Truly, it must be the firm conviction of each one of us; the foundation, preservation and further development of our Society has no other author than He who dwells in heaven and directs and guides all things on earth.”
( Arnold Janssen in a report to SVD Missionaries in China in 1886.)
What, we may ask, distinguishes this rather plain and at times awkward character, Arnold Janssen, as a saint? The surprising but pertinent answer of Cardinal Rossi, official postulator for Arnold Janssen’s beatification in 1975, was: “He did ordinary things in an extraordinary manner.”
In that way the not particularly charismatic high school teacher, Arnold Janssen, Became the founder of a religious family that today numbers 10,000 women and men from every continent and many cultures.
In the life and work of Saint Arnold, God reveals himself as the God of life for all, as God who is “Good News” for all people. To live that message and pass it on in word and deed was Saint Arnold’s passionate desire and enduring legacy.
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