A TRAVELLER SAW YOU ON YOUR DONKEYS

I have received your two letters, my dear Fr. Semeria, I would not say merely with great pleasure, but with a transport of joy. I was counting the days and the hours, and continually asking whether the boat had yet arrived, when at last your delightful letter was brought to me. Thank you, my dear son, first for having given me your news and that of your dear travelling-companions, and also for having gone into all the details of which your letter informs me. This is how things should always be done…

I had some news of you in the desert. A traveller who passed through here on the diligence saw you on your donkeys and told me that you were near Suez when he met you. We laughed a good deal about your mode of travel, but he assured us that it was excellent.

Letter to Fr Etienne Semeria in Ceylon, 25 January 1848, EO IV (Ceylon) n 2

REFLECTION

We smile at donkeys! Yet, it is amazing to pause and reflect on the means of travel used by missionaries since Gospel times: on foot, horseback, canoes and boats, sailing ships and steam ships… Paul describes his Gospel adventures:

“Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.” (2 Corinthians 11:25-27)

and

“I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)