St Irenaeus of Lyons: On Collaboration

T

o Be Sent to Collaborate In and For Mission: In the heart of Christian revelation lies a profound truth: God is communion. From all eternity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist not in isolation but in perfect unity—a dynamic relationship of love and shared mission. St Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in the second century, captured this beautifully when he referred to the Son and the Spirit as the “two hands” of the Father:

“For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things”— Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies), Book 4, Chapter 20.

Here, Irenaeus affirms not only the co-eternity of the Son and Spirit with the Father but also their active collaboration in creation and redemption. The Father does not act alone; the Son and the Spirit are co-workers in every divine work. The Trinity is not a hierarchy of tasks that seeks prominence ("buscar protagonismo") but a unity of love in mission. In the Contemplatio ad Amorem of St Ignatius of Loyola he writes:

[L]ove consists in a mutual sharing of goods, for example, the lover gives and shares with the beloved what he possesses, or something of that which he has or is able to give; and vice versa, the beloved shares with the lover. Hence, if one has knowledge, he shares it with the one who does not possess it; and so also if one has honours, or riches. Thus, one always gives to the other (Spiritual Exercises 231).

Their collaboration is not additive—it is integral, relational, and fruitful. Collaboration, then, is not merely a human strategy for productivity and efficiency. It is an interior reality. To collaborate is to enter into the very rhythm of divine life. It is to participate in the communion from which all creation springs and to which all history is directed.

True collaboration is more than cooperation. It is a partnership grounded in mutual trust, shared vision, and openness to the other. It is not the sum of different efforts, nor a mere distribution of roles. Rather, collaboration is fruitfulness—a generative space, a fertile ground or good soil where something new can be born that could not have emerged in isolation.

Whether among friends in the Lord or strangers, among laypeople, religious, or clergy, collaboration forms a "mycorrhizal network" that integrates plants and trees together—becoming more than the work of individuals, more than the output of isolated silos. It is a witness to the Church as communion.

If synodality is the style of the Church—its way of walking together, discerning, and dialoguing in the Spirit—then collaboration is its praxis: the concrete, lived manifestation of communion in and for mission.

It makes synodality visible and incarnated, where the Church is not only praying and discerning together, but being and laboring together, so that the world may believe.

To say that collaboration is the praxis of being Church is to affirm that the Church is not merely a hierarchical institution or a collection of individual vocations, but a "communion-in-action," a people sent by God and sustained by mutual co-responsibility. Collaboration is not a supplement to the Church’s life; it is intrinsic to it.

As Pope Francis reminds us, “the Church is a symphony of charisms,” and each of us plays a part, not as soloists, but as members of an orchestra that must learn to listen, respond, and harmonize.

To be sent on mission, then, is to be sent in collaboration—not only with others, but with the Spirit and the Son who were sent by the Father. We, too, are caught up in this divine movement: sent to collaborate in and for the mission of God. Fr JM Manzano SJ