"Know who you are"
Nigeria is one of the Catholic “hot spots” in the world today — the Church is flourishing with a faithful that is strong in their Catholic life, and with many vocations. In a book given to me as a Christmas present, Cardinal Francis Arinze sheds some light on gaining vocations.
Cardinal Arinze, as you likely know, is one of Africa’s newer native bishops in the modern era, and came from a village that practiced the African Traditional Religion before being evangelized by Irish missionaries. He, like many others from the area, are firm and knowledgeable in their Catholic faith.
In the book, “God’s Invisible Hand, the Life and Work of Francis Cardinal Arinze,” published in 2006 (pg. 102), he says, “There is nothing like a group that knows who they are, knows where they are going, and are at peace about it.” I can vouch for that. When I meet a religious, and they clearly explain to me what their order is about, and do so with a firm conviction, I get this feeling that they know who they are as a community, and the purpose of their community. Have you ever had this experience?
In the business world, people are encouraged to explain what their business is about in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Can you pass the 30-second elevator test? Do you and your community members clearly know what they are about? Can they explain the charism of your community in one sentence? Do they do so with conviction? With joy?
Cardinal Arinze goes on to say, “Indeed, this shows the reason why many religious congregations or dioceses are not getting new vocations. It is not the only reason, because the lack of children in the family is also a major reason.” The cardinal then suggests that perhaps the communities themselves are contributing to the problem. “What young person wants to join a group of people who do not seem to be happy, who do not seem to know who they are, a group of people who look agitated, a group who are not at peace, a group of people who are criticizing their superiors from morning till evening?
Mother Teresa, on the other hand, have trained her Missionaries of Charity well, he says. “Nobody can join them and say, ‘We do not know where we are going.’ Oh, they do!”
