Day 5 – To be a Spiritan is to be Sent

Word of God: Jn 20:19–22

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again, Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Insight from the Founders

Across generations, a deep conviction has shaped our way of being: the Spiritan is one who is sent. This insight is woven into the very history of our origins. It is part of our spiritual DNA.

As early as 1703, Poullart des Places understood that God was calling him to prepare “good and faithful” priests to be sent where the Church most lacked workers. In his letter to Grignion de Montfort, he reveals this inner certainty: “It seems to me that this is what God is asking of me… If God grants me the grace to succeed, you can count on missionaries. I will prepare them for you and you will put them to work.” In founding the Seminary, he was not seeking to realize a personal project: he placed himself at the service of a mission. He wished to form men capable of carrying the Father’s love to the human and spiritual peripheries.

A century later, Libermann took up this founding intuition and expressed it with great clarity. From the opening lines of the Instructions to the Missionaries (1851), he affirms that our vocation “places us in the ranks of the Apostles of Jesus Christ.” Now, the apostle is, by definition, one who is sent. For him, mission is never defined by our own criteria: it is received. “Our mission is his,” he writes, enlightened by the words of Jesus: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21).

Reflection

Every authentic mission springs from Christ, sent by the Father. Jesus carries out his work in the deep awareness of being sent; this relationship gives unity, strength, and truth to his action. It is within this movement that the Spiritan vocation is situated: we never “set out” from ourselves, but as those who are sent. Our mission is not our own; it is a participation in the mission of Christ, which remains the only true mission.

If the mission comes from Christ, it must also take shape in him. Jesus fulfils his work in total fidelity to the Father’s sending, and it is this way of being sent that becomes the measure of our service. The Spiritan therefore does not rely on his own abilities: he seeks to make present the One who sends him. This transparency is possible only if he remains grafted onto Christ. Such union is not a spiritual extra, but the very condition of mission: it is by remaining in Christ that our apostolic life becomes a true participation in his mission and that our action allows God’s action to shine through.

Without this inner union, the sending loses its substance; it becomes the pursuit of our own plans, our ambitions, ourselves.

Before being an activity or a departure, mission is an inner state: that of readiness. The Spiritan stands before God in a humble and confident “Here I am,” from which springs the disciple’s response: “Send me.” To allow oneself to be sent by God is to accept being displaced, unsettled, led to places one would not have chosen. This openness is far more than human flexibility: it is a profound consent to God’s initiative. The missionary enters into a work that surpasses him; he receives a mission that does not belong to him. Mission begins where one makes oneself available so that God may reach the most vulnerable.

Finally, mission is received within the community: discerning with one’s brothers, welcoming the guidance of superiors as a mediation of the Spirit, and allowing oneself to be led where God is calling today. Thus, the sending becomes a shared act, received in faith and lived in trust.

Questions for reflection

Does my “Here I am – send me” truly engage my whole life, or do certain inner resistances still keep me from letting the Spirit move me, surprise me, and lead me to places I would never have chosen on my own?
Does my way of being a missionary genuinely reflect the manner in which Jesus was sent by the Father, and where is the Spirit inviting me today to grow in that union which makes his presence visible?