Apostolate January 20
(The Crosier) commits himself to the work of the inculturation of the Gospel and Crosier life in Africa, proclaiming the Gospel in the values of the culture and setting aside all cultural elements which do not build up the human person in the image of God (Profile of the Congolese Crosier).
That Christ should become African in the Africans is the dream of inculturation. It was already the plan of God that Christ should assume the identity of every human person and so come to his full cosmic stature. That is the reason why Christians are sent to make disciples of all nations. In some sense, Christ is already “pre-announced” in a culture to which missionary Christians go because Christ’s spirit was poured out on the whole world. Thus, the words and signs of Christ revealed in the Bible can find authentic cultural expression in the believing Christians there. The emergence of the image of Christ in a culture requires a dialogue between the members of that young Church and the universal Church. In such a dialogue, new Christians affirm the values of their culture that are consonant with the Gospel and promote the dignity and vocation of humanity. They are critical, as well, of the values of their culture that contradict the Gospel, dehumanizing people. Little by little, the Spirit of Christ works toward the transformation of the whole culture into the Body of Christ. And that is to be a new epiphany. That is why you, the African, must express yourself!
You don’t dress a woman: she dresses herself. (Burundi)
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