A LIVING REMINDER

Henri Nouwen presents in his book "The Living Reminder" a vital source of a minister and his ministry's vitality. This source is the dynamism between spirituality and ministry. Ministry is defined as the service in the name of the Lord. Spirituality is attention to the life of the spirit in us. These two aspects of a minister's life go hand in hand. There is no dichotomy between ministry and spirituality. They form a single being. That is the minister! Thus, praying is as essential as preaching and doing apostolate. One cannot claim that he is a preacher at one moment, and on moment a pray-er alone. One prays as he preaches, and he preaches as he prays. These two cannot be separated.

 Both ministry and spirituality stand proximately on the minister himself. They are palpable to us through the personhood of the minister. Thus a minister brings the gospel to the forefront, through himself, as he preaches and prays. He incarnates in himself the Good News. He becomes a fifth gospel. Faith, hope, love, etc. are understood not in the abstract but through the concrete life-events of the minister. The love of God is recognized through the minister's love for his flock. As Paul VI said "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 41)" The affectivity of one's ministry relies a lot on the status of a minister's spirituality. One affectively preaches from his own experience; from his encounter with God. One cannot preach about love without experiencing and be living love. Else, the minister will be preaching with no conviction. His way of life, his life itself, his spirituality, matters in his ministry. A minister cannot live a double life.

Nouwen describes the minister as a healing reminder, sustaining reminder, and a guiding reminder. The task of healing, sustaining and guiding others in his ministry prospers if the minister himself is healed, sustained, and guided (or even if he is in the process of). For one cannot impart that which he does not have, or never experience. It is essential, therefore, that he is healed from his wounds; he is sustained by God and the richness of their encounters, and he is guided by the lessons he learned in his life. We are not aspiring for a perfect minister here on earth. After all, as the cliché goes, we are but wounded healers. And if I may add, we have sustained sustainers and guided guides. We are on the road to perfection, but that road begins in our admission of our very own imperfections. Our open declaration of our brokenness and fragility set us towards wholeness and holiness. The first step is the admission (for one's need of healing, sustenance, and guidance). Through acceptance, one comes a long way towards becoming God’s living reminder.