Witnessing to the Light: From Everywhere for Everyone—Mission Perspective
Witnessing to the Light: From Everywhere for Everyone—Mission Perspective
SVD Mission in Contexts: Creative Responses in a Wounded World
Lazar T. Stanislaus, SVD
Paul VI wrote, “the first means of evangelization is witness of an authentically Christian life” (EN 41). His often-quoted sentence is, contemporary men and women listen more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if they listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses (see EN 41). The underlining aspect is the authenticity of Christian life. To continue God’s mission both witness and proclamation are significant; mission is carried out by word and deed. There is no witness without proclamation. There should be no proclamation without
witness, otherwise it will be an empty noise. Pope Francis said that witness is leaven in the church today.[1] Witnessing by our life and presence itself proclaims. It reminds us of the famous words of Francis of Assisi, “Preach always and if necessary, use words.”
The term “witness” means testimony; hence a person who has seen, heard, or touched a reality gives a testimony. For a Christian, giving witness to the Trinitarian God through his/her life is the first step of evangelization. The Bible is a story of witness.[2] The different models in the Bible inspire us to bear witness to the Trinitarian God.[3] Jesus’ bearing witness to God is the culmination of witness. Jesus says, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (Jn 18:37). Through his life, death, and resurrection, he reveals the love of God to the world, hence the truth is God’s love to the world. Throughout his life we see that Jesus bore witness to God’s love, concern, and justice for the people. Our mission is “to be the witnesses of the primacy of God’s love.”[4]
The Society of the Divine Word celebrates its 150 years of its foundation, the theme of the celebration is “Witnessing to Light: From Everywhere for Everyone.” In this article, I try to explore the missiological perspective of this theme not only for the Society, but for the whole church.
[1] Pope Francis’ homily during the Vespers of Presentation of the Lord on 1 February 2025.
[2] Sinto Jose Porathur, “Witness in the Bible,” Vidyajothi 86, no.9 (2022): 681.
[3] Porathur, “Witness in the Bible,” 281-297.
[4] Superior General of the Daughters of the Church on 4 February 2025, Vatican News, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2025-02/prayer-consecrated-life-daughters-church-interview.html
