On this day, as we celebrate the feast of Fr. Arnold Janssen, we turn our gaze to his life and legacy, drawing inspiration from the words of Sister Ortrud Stegmaier, SSpS. In the her book Memories of the Beginnings of the Congregation of the Sisters, she writes:

“Arnold Janssen, founder of the missionary work in Steyl, naturally felt more admiration for the slow growth of the oak tree than for the rapid emergence of the mushroom.”

How can we understand this image, rooted in the historical and cultural context of Father Arnold’s life, in a way that continues to inspire us today?

To answer this question, it is helpful to reflect first on what the oak tree symbolizes. Across cultures, the oak has long represented:

Strength: its capacity to withstand adversity makes it a symbol of perseverance and inner fortitude;

• Wisdom: living for centuries, it embodies maturity, stability, and accumulated experience;
• Legacy: offering shelter and nourishment, it symbolizes continuity and the transmission of life across generations;
• Authority: it conveys dignity, rootedness, and moral credibility;
• Justice: traditionally, the oak has been a place where communities gathered to affirm shared values and commitments.
  
  

How can we associate Fr. Arnold with the symbolism of an oak tree?

When we contemplate the life of Father Arnold Janssen, aware both of his virtues and his human limitations, we can recognize in him many of the qualities symbolized by the oak tree. His fidelity to God’s call and the way he carried out the mission entrusted to him led to the birth of a missionary family whose fruits continue to nourish the Church and the world.

One of his most remarkable qualities was steadfast perseverance. Father Arnold’s enthusiasm for the missions was shared by only a few. While some acknowledged that the idea of founding a German seminary for foreign missions was valuable, many doubted that he himself was capable of realizing it. Yet he did not allow discouragement or a lack of confidence from others to deter him. With patience and hope, he continued to promote the project, trusting in God’s timing rather than immediate success.

Another defining aspect of his character was wisdom in discernment. He knew when to act and when to wait. When John Baptist Anzer, already in China, urged him to secure a mission territory, suggesting that the Lazarists might be willing to transfer a vicariate, Father Arnold responded with characteristic prudence: “We are still too young for this… first we must persevere with patience… we must both be content with what divine Providence sends us… all good things grow slowly.”

The authority Fr. Arnold exercised as Rector and Founder did not stem from power or ambition, but from his constant search for God’s will and his total commitment to fulfilling it. He was gifted in communication and relationship-building. He knew how to consult, listen, and collaborate. He sought the counsel of bishops from various countries and engaged in dialogue with experienced missionary congregations such as the Franciscans, Lazarists, and Comboni Missionaries. As the missionary work took shape, he guided with clarity and determination the official recognition and expansion of the Steyl Mission House beyond national borders. He travelled widely, met the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, journeyed to Rome, and sought audiences with Pope Leo XIII. Through these efforts, he gained both ecclesial and social recognition, enabling him to continue his the missionary work.

How are we to interpret this profile of Father Arnold Janssen in a culture marked by speed, immediacy, and technological transience? Are we, his sons and daughters, called today to renounce our “admiration for the slow and patient growth of the oak tree”?

While working on the Constitutions of the Society of the Divine Word, Father Arnold was once asked, “What do we want to be?” He replied: “We want our corporation to be as perfect as possible, and as suitable as possible, to produce many fruits of salvation in the world…”He envisioned an international religious community, structured yet dynamic, united by strong bonds of communion and oriented entirely toward mission.

Despite many difficulties, the Missionary Seminary gradually gained supporters. By the end of his life, the Steyl mission house counted more than a thousand priests and brothers of the Divine Word and over four hundred and ninety Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit. At the time of his canonization in 2003, his missionary family numbered around 10,000 members worldwide.

In his spiritual testament, Father Arnold expressed the enduring missionary meaning of the work he initiated: all members are called to spread the faith, each according to their own vocation and gifts, since there are different gifts, but everything is accomplished by the same Spirit.

How, then, can we be a true “sign of the times” today, faithful to the spiritual heritage and missionary charism we have inherited?

We are called to continue the mission of Jesus within the context of our missionary family. We are a gift of internationality, interculturality, and communion in diversity within the Church and in the midst of the different societies where we live and work. We are challenged, from our identity, by the words of Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’: to be promoters and participants in a new “universal solidarity,” where we can all collaborate as instruments of God in the care of creation and the world, each from our own culture, experience, initiatives, and abilities (cf. No. 14). If we believe that this is possible, it is because we have understood that all beings in the universe are united by invisible bonds (cf. No. 90).

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation.” (Is 52:7)

We were founded to be fruitful, in our lives and missionary service, to be the life-giving power of the Gospel (cf. Evangelii Gaudium 10), rooted in the ever-new presence of Jesus Christ. He reveals God’s compassionate love for creation and makes the Christian message permanently relevant. As our Founder reminded us: “This must be our firm conviction: the foundation, consolidation and expansion of our Congregation have no other author than He who dwells in heaven and directs and governs all things on earth.” (A. Janssen, Report to the Missionaries in China, 1886).

The joy of the Gospel fills, first and foremost, the lives of disciples who go out to meet people everywhere, without fear or delay (cf. Fratelli Tutti 23). From this conviction flows the truth that “the proclamation of the Gospel becomes the first and most sublime work of love for one’s neighbor” (A. Janssen).

When our pastoral vision and missionary style embrace everyone without exclusion, the proclamation of the Gospel focuses on what is essential, most beautiful, and most necessary (cf. Fratelli Tutti 35): the vision of Fr. Arnold: that all may know, love, and praise the Triune God, the omnipotence of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit gets realized.