Words of Wisdom from an Old Missioner

One of our Maryknoll Missioners, Fr. Clarence J. Witte, who worked in Japan for many years and was also Society Superior for Japan and Korea before the title was retired wrote a book ,"What It's All About." It was a reflection on his life as a missioner. "His life was often interrupted by war and other calamities, has paralleled the history of Maryknoll, which was founded one year after he was born. This parallel gave him an unusual perspective in making worthwhile observations on missionary work." He died in 2001.

" What was it that got Maryknoll off to such a good start? It was what our Founders put into us. He did not know Fr. Price but his influence was still with us in the early days; his principal legacy was a life of prayer----a lived conviction that our life must be an uninterrupted prayer, a life of absolute dependence on God and of uninterrupted communion with Him. Bishop James Anthony Walsh had that also, but he was at the same time a very practical man. And he taught us a lot of things---- mostly by example, but also by word and precept. The list runs the gamut of the virtues, but we can emphasize a few of them:

Honesty------ admit when you are wrong.


Humility------ when you get put down stay there.

Generosity------ do more than anyone expects you to do.

Dedication------do the dirty work and shut up about it.

Patience------accept the short end of the stick with a smile.

Poverty of Spirit------give away your last dollar with the assurance that you won't starve to death.

Confidence in God------ don't allow yourself to be frustrated, or even discombobulated by the Sisyphean character of your work, because, for those who love God, all things do, indeed work together for good.


And to sum it all up------ don't ever stop laughing at yourself.