ClaretPath.com – CLARET MISSIONARY TO THE PERIPHERIES
Peripheries: Claret’s Concern
Claret was really a missionary to the peripheries. A desire to go to the peripheries had been one of his missionary concerns. This missionary concern first came to his mind when he was at the age of five.
It was an idea of eternal suffering that had made him to start thinking of going towards the peripheries. And this idea had also made him to work, and continued working as long as he lived, in converting sinners, in hearing confessions, in writing books, in distributing holy cards and pamphlets, and etc. (Cf. Aut. 8-9). But, it is good to keep in mind that his concern is not merely his own initiative, rather it comes from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through reading the Holy Bible and prayer.
Claret’s concern for peripheries did not remain in his thought only. Rather, it continued throughout his life. After his ordination to the priesthood, Claret was continuously thinking about how to go to the peripheries. Whenever he was reading Holy Bible and praying, he felt like God calling him to go forth and preach.
It is said that after having inspired by God’s message, he decided to present himself to the congregation for the propagation of faith, so that they could send him anywhere in the world (Cf Aut. 120). This shows that Claret was very much eager to help the poor and the needy; those were not be able to have necessary things for their lives. Claret’s concern should be also our concern as well.
There were many events that indirectly speak about Claret’s concern for the marginalized. One of them was during the time when he became a confessor to the Queen Isabel. He made use of many chances to preach a number of sermons whenever the Queen travelled for various purposes.
What a missionary zeal Claret had. Therefore, recalling the passion for mission that Claret had is a strength for us to move forward towards the peripheries.
Going to the Peripheries: An Endless Invitation
We have seen how Claret had been a missionary to the peripheries. It is also really necessary to see and know that a call to go towards the peripheries is actually a continuous invitation. It has been there from the time of Jesus and even from the time of the prophets.
In the Old Testament, God called the prophets to go to the peripheries. One of the calls was a call experienced by Prophet Jeremiah.
When Jeremiah said that he was too young for doing the mission that was entrusted to him, God says, “Do not say I am too young, for now you will go whatever be the mission I am entrusting to you, and you will speak of whatever I command you to say.” (Jer. 1:7). God invited Jeremiah to reach out the peripheries and Jeremiah responded to God’s invitation.
This invitation is also found in the New Testament. God sent Jesus to the world, and Jesus in turn called his disciples and sent them to the peripheries. As he told them, “go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to the whole creation” (Mark 16,15). Here, Jesus invited his disciples to go to the peripheries where people are in need of God’s Word.
Once again, this invitation does not end there. Father Claret who was a missionary to the peripheries also invites us to do what he had done. He indirectly calls us to go to the peripheries as God had asked him to go. In everything that he did was the result of his response to God’s invitation.
In today’s world, we have Pope Francis who often invites all pastoral agents not to stay locked up but to reach out to the peripheries where no one goes. He would say, “come out of the caves, leave the sacristies.”
The Pope invites us, to come out from our comfort zone and to be close to all as Jesus did, spending time with the blind man on the road, the leper, the sinful woman. This invitation becomes clearer when he speaks about “A Church that goes forth” (Evangelli Gaudium, no. 20). Therefore, a concern for going to the peripheries has been actually an endless invitation for us.
ClaretPath.Com adalah ruang pengembangan bakat menulis dan media kerasulan, terinspirasi dari Santo Antonius Maria Claret, Pelindung Pers Katolik.
