An eighty-year-old Maltese priest who during his entire lifetime never travelled abroad, and founder of a Society which, for about fifty years, remained insulated in its country of origin, can hardly be labelled a mission promotor or a far-reaching visionary. And yet, from the outset, Fr George Preca envisaged a Society whose Members would be ready to venture beyond the Islands' shores and carry out a missionary vocation.

A MISSIONARY CHURCH
   Every missionary vocation has to stem from within the Church and every missiological discourse has to function in a broader ecclesiological context, since missionary work derives from the very nature of the Church and can be solely understood within the framework of one's notion of the Church. Therefore, to appreciate better Fr George's missionary vision, it's important to grasp his personal concept of the Church. Judging from his writings on the Church, particularly his Responsary and Catechism of the Elects, it is quite obvious that Fr Preca follows faithfuly the traditional stances found in catechisms and theological manuals of his time which he himself had studied. In these writings there is a clear distinction between the ecclesia docens (the teaching Church) and the ecclesia discens (the learning Church). This hierarchical model of the Church barely leaves space for lay participation.

   This theoretical framework, evident in Fr Preca's doctrinal writings, corresponded neither to the needs of the Church of his time, nor to the practices he adopted within the same Church. It is clear that he lacked the proper theological tools to construct a theoretical structure to what he believed in and to what he was actually doing. In the absence of such theoretical discourse, he resorted to narrative and to a stupendous vision of a Church which he told and retold throughout his entire life.

   On the basis of the vision of the Marsa Cross, Fr George Preca constructed a Church model whose prophetic role engaged all its members. Emphasising the phrase: "You were there beside me," he responsabilised and empowered the laity within the Church and asked them to participate in Christ's prophetic mission. He believed that the laity, like and together with the clergy, had to participate in the apostolate and push Christ's pastoral barrow.

   He also alluded repeatedly to the vision he had of St Vincent Ferrer in a small chapel on the outskirts of his hometown. Motivated by the saint's words: "The Lord will be your guide, he will guard your step so that you won't stumble," Fr Preca resumed his apostolate and insisted on calling the Society's Members, both male and female, "apostles", "latter-day apostles" and even " true apostles." The actual, fantastic vision that Fr Preca had was not that of a twelve-year-old boy pulling a barrow, or that of a bearded friar with his cowl on, but the vision of the Church, a vineyard, in which the laity had as much share and merit as the clergy.

   Embracing this rather innovative outlook on the nature of the Church, formulated through these supernatural visions, the Founder justified his own missionary vocation. When he used to narrate these visions he always concluded by saying: "In times of trouble I always retain my peace of mind." He even employed these visions to defend the Society's Members during the Church Inquiry and confessed to the authorities, "I asked them to give me a helping hand."

   He would have been closer to the truth had he claimed that they shared his evangelical zeal; in effect he had called upon his followers to help him realize his dream: that of spreading the Gospel throughout the whole world. This was his sole desire: Magister utinam sequatur evangelium universus mundus. This deep desire surfaced whenever he prayed for the Church. In a small prayer book, he pleads: "Oh Lord, Oh Holy Father, look upon the vineyard your Son planted with his own blood, and water it with the dew of   your grace, so that it would multiply in number as much as in the endearment of learning, peace and love." The 11.15 a.m. item in the first version of The Watch comprises this plea: "Heavenly Father, prompt many faithful labourers within your Church, the bride of your Son, Jesus Christ, so they can preach the way of truth and justice, with word and example, as well as fostering their neighbours' holiness." Fr Preca transformed this prayer into an  Offering of the Divine Wounds after reading, in 1929, the life of Sister Maria Marta Chambon: "God the Father, I offer you the divine wounds of Christ, your Son, for our Church that you may increase the number of the faithful and of labourers, and that you may continually refresh her with the spirit of charity, humility and meekness."

   In prayer, Fr George Preca used to express all that he felt, believed and desired. While, in his doctrinal writings, he repeatedly referred to the Church as "a column and a firmament"  or a  "perfect society",  he used the biblical metaphors of  "vineyard" and "bride" in his prayers. These prayers show that Fr Preca's own model of the Church was not that of a fortified bastion, but of a humble Church, subservient to the Word, committed to human promotion through learning, and of a prophetic Church, open to the world, seeking to diffuse peace, truth and justice. Had he lived longer, Fr Preca would have been exhilarated by the Council Decree Ad Gentes that maintained that the true mission of the Church is missionary and that evangelisation is the fundamental duty of God's people.

   From where did Fr Preca derive his overwhelming desire to preach the gospel? As his life project the Founder sought to imbue himself, as much as possible, with Christ's spirit and sentiments. In his Scrutiny of Jesus Christ and The Sanctuary of Christ's Spirit, he tried to personalise Christ's own vision. He empathised with Christ's own missionary zeal. Fr George used to quote repeatedly the Gospels: "The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers to his harvest" (Mt 9,37). In Matthew's  Gospel, Jesus utters these words exactly before delivering a  missionary sermon (Mt 10) and after he was moved by compassion towards the uneducated people who were like sheep without a shepherd. The Greek word for compassion is splanchnizein, derived from splanchna, which refers to man's bowels. The evangelist wished to convey the idea that Jesus was moved by a deep, gut desire to teach the crowds. His prayer to God, the Lord of the harvest, was provoked by his grief as much as by his emotional urge. Whoever heard Fr George repeating this appeal can testify that his particular tone and sigh proved that he shared Christ's own sentiments of compassion and empathy, described by the Gospel as splanchnizein.

   The same feeling appears in a letter he wrote to Rakela Camilleri in June 1934, in which he implores her to share Christ's sentiments in his endeavor to spread the Kingdom: "As this month is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I'll take the opportunity to entreat you to look upon His heart that only sought the salvation of souls. Let's imitate His heart, Rakela, by fulfilling, as best we can, the mission our Lord has assigned us - that of teaching the others. One can only wonder how much effort is needed to fulfill this mission. Learning is lacking and catechists are really scarce as only a few cherish the spiritual life! ...What a distressful world! Therefore we have to do our utmost, and above all, pray the harvest Master to attract promising youths to our fold."

     (Part Two of this article will be featured in the July Issue, God willing)