LIFE OF THE CONGREGATION
The General Meeting of Formation Directors was held in Rome from May 10 to 21, 1999. About forty of our brethren, responsible in various ways for formation in the Congregation, took part.
Since the general objective of the meeting was to reaffirm the priority of formation in the entire Congregation, the following requests were made: 1) that the "Ratio Formationes Generalis" (RFG) should be completed with elements concerning formation for community life and for internationality; 2) that a program should be set up for postulants; 3) that a plan of formation should be prepared for young religious who are preparing for their perpetual vows; 4) that an instructional "Dehonian" itinerary should be drafted to be used in our work in the youth ministry.
The central point of the meeting was the discourse given by Fr. Cencini on "The Mediation of the Formation Director".
Fr. Cencini declared that there are four fundamental elements on the strength of which we can say that we are providing formation. It is not possible, in fact, that it is simply the organizational structures which form the young people. In order for there to be a true formation the following four elements must be present together:
1) There must be a theoretical-practical frame of reference, namely, a model within which objectives and methods are established. One must pay attention to the practical aspect concerning this. Today there are, in fact, many good rules of life in religious Institutes, but far fewer good ratio formationis. And yet it is important that the program of formation be well established and must not be simply theoretical.
2) There must be a network of pedagogical mediators: the formation director who is the mediator princeps, the educational community, the environment, the historical- cultural context.
3) There must be a converging plurality of dimensions and levels. Formation is, in fact, a complex reality made up of various levels which must be present (a life of faith, charism, integration between the charismatic dimension and that of belief, the human dimension, and the theology which is called upon to become formative mediation. There is, in fact, a very large gap between the theology which is currently being offered in our theological studies, and that which actually becomes formative mediation).
4) There must be three pedagogic motivations:
a) to educate;
b) to form;
c) to accompany.
Formation is achieved only if the above four elements are brought into play.
The Mediation of the Formation Director
That which is provided by the formation director is only a mediation, since the only authentic formation director is the Holy Trinity of the Father, who called the cosmos of creation forth from the void of chaos; of the Son, who molds His own feelings in the believer; and of the Holy Spirit, who accompanies the believer in his progress through formation.
If the formation director is to be a mediator he must acquire awareness of the fact that in his service he is called to act as mediator to the only authentic formation director: the Holy Trinity. When this is clearly understood no individual will be able to consider himself truly capable of being the real formation director. In fact, the formation director is always a useless and limited instrument, since these limitations are inherent in the very concept of mediation. The concept of perfection in the role of formation director is quite simply dangerous.
If the formation director is mediator of the singular, divine Formation Director, formation, seen from the point of view of those he has been called to form, means entrusting oneself to the hands of another in order to undertake a gradual journey which is headed towards God.
It is very important that the formation director should make his role clear with the candidate as soon as possible so that, in clarity and transparency, the formation process can proceed on a fruitful plane.
The formation director/mediator is not a theoretician who works in the interior court, that is the field of the spiritual director. In the logic of the religious tradition the formation director is a "the tenant farmer", the peasant who works the soil. He is called to present himself to the candidate with a presence which acts in these three categories:
a) to educate;
b) to form;
c) to accompany.
All of this, always in the awareness that he is a mediator of the sole divine Formation Director: the Trinity.
The Three Energizing Actions of Formation
a) To Educate - from Sincerity to Truth
Educe, the root of the word educate, means to draw out, to evoke, to make the truth come out of the ego of the subject. Without drawing out the truth of the candidate formation cannot be given. In the sphere of formation one must help the candidate to draw the truth out of himself, one must help him to penetrate into himself until he reaches his roots.
The pattern or icon of this energizing action is the Father who evokes (e-vocare: calls forth) the cosmos of creation from the void of chaos. The candidate, accordingly, must be helped to come out of his confusion. Only in that moment will he begin to exist. He must be helped to understand the deep reasons for certain emotions that he has, for certain ways that he feels about things, etc. Otherwise the person remains distant from himself.
Another icon of this energizing action is again that of the Father who educates His people: bringing them out of the slavery of Egypt and into the desert, then revealing to them the truth of themselves ("So I will allure her, I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart" Hos 2:16).
Educational mediation involves a series of dynamics:
- The educator must know himself in order to be able to help others. He must have already found the truth of himself and have passed from the phase of sincerity (which is subjective and is the phase in which one expresses what one feels), to the phase of truth (which is objective and which involves the knowledge of the deep reason for certain reactions and feelings). Above all, he must know all of the areas of his own personality which are the least strong and the least free.
- The educator must be capable of discerning the presence of conflict and immaturity in the other. He cannot be satisfied with observing outward behavior. Education, in the sense of having knowledge of the other, must pass through 5 steps:
1) observable, outward behaviors;
2) attitudes (styles of action, predispositions to respond in a certain way);
3) feelings, interior vibrations which lead a person to act (in fact, the purpose of the religious life is that of forming the feelings of the Son in ourselves);
4) motivations, the deep seated reasons which lead us to act in a certain way;
5) basic interior imbalance, the pagan component that risks contaminating the objective of actions and the basic vocational choice. In wanting to become a religious, in fact, one must truly wish to follow Christ as closely as possible. However, without being aware of it, one may, at the same time, be seeking an ideal of life which will lead one to consider oneself superior to others. In simple words, one may seek the Kingdom of God and, at the same time, the kingdom of oneself. There is not the slightest malice or pathology in this. If, however, this dynamic is not recognized it creates trouble and becomes overbearing in us. We cannot control that which we do not know about and consequently it will become increasingly more demanding and overbearing in us. The educator must be close to the candidate so that this does not happen.
Education is typical of the postulate. An educator is not only the person who knows how to apply a method but also the person who knows how to place the candidate in the condition of being able to do things by himself, of being able to realize every day just how much his basic imbalance is driving him to act in certain ways. It is necessary for the educator to be able to give the candidate a formative methodology.
The educator, therefore, is required to be a person who is capable of placing the candidate in the condition wherein he has the knowledge to solve his own difficulties and has a free and adult attitude towards them, one which is less dependant on his immaturity. This must be a progressive journey, one in which the candidate will learn to pray and to live in society.
b) To Form - from Truth to Freedom
Formation means proposing a form, in the fullest and philosophical meaning of the word: a form, as an ideal "I". This ideal "I", for a religious institute, is nothing other than its charism. The form which it is aimed to propose is contained in the charism which embraces the whole of its life. This is the form which the candidate is progressively called to take on.
Educating is not enough. What must be proposed is the ideal objective truth identified in the charism. This is the form which becomes the rule.
In education one works on the actual "I", in formation one works on the ideal "I": on that which the person is called to become. The charism is the form which I must take on, it is the name which God has given me and it must extend over all my humanity. The candidate must be helped to understand then that he owes obedience to this form, for this concerns the plan which God has for him.
If education is e-vocation, formation is a pro-vocation: it is calling someone to go beyond himself. A genuine formative journey, therefore, cannot fail to be a laborious journey of cross and of conversion. Formation, in fact, means placing something before the candidate which goes beyond his capacities, something which he would never have spontaneously chosen. A change must then take place in him and this will be painful. This aspect of the path is not mentioned very much today and, generally, the difficulty of it is mitigated.
In the formative process one is called to interiorize the charism, but this cannot happen if one is not prepared to let a part of oneself die. Therefore the candidate is asked to make renunciations, but since these are always motivated this allows him to discern the space of freedom to which they open him.
Formation seems to be the principal activity of the Son. This is because the purpose of the consecrated life is to have, within oneself, the feelings of the Son. The formation director is therefore called to be the mediator of the divine Formation Director, which is Christ Jesus. The action of the human formation director must be able to make the candidate follow this double progression:
a) Objective-i-zation: the formation director proposes the charism as a form for the candidate, to the extent that he is capable of presenting the truth and the beauty of the ideal object, one which is given by the form of the charism and which is hidden in the sentiments of Christ. The formation director must be capable of presenting this ideal not only in an objective way but also in a way which reflects all of its beauty. He must know how to reveal his own intense love for Jesus Christ. If he is to propose something which will give satisfaction he cannot pretend regarding this, he must really be in love. One who nurtures, even secretly, alternative proposals to those which he presents, cannot be a formation director. A person who is incapable of sharing the joy of belonging to God cannot be a formation director either, nor can a person who is resistant to joy, however pius and ascetic he may be.
b) Subjective-i-zation, that is, contamination in action. This kind of contamination only happens when one succeeds in transmitting the ideal in such a way that it can strike the heart, the mind and the will of the candidate.
Formation can take place only if one is able to transmit the truth of the ideal which one wishes to propose, in such a way that it strikes the mind of the candidate; the beauty in such a way that it strikes the heart of the candidate; the goodness in such a way that it strikes the will of the candidate. But it is only by presenting the objective totality that one can actually move the subjective totality and not simply a part of it. And it is only a subject ready to accept risking the totality of his subjective dimensions who can discover the total reality of the ideal object.
When a good correspondence between truth and intellect is created one can reach contemplation; between beauty and heart one can reach intense adoration, which is the highest degree of the heart's activity; between goodness and will one can arrive as far as martyrdom, the extremity of an active desire to share in Christ's passion. However, in order for that to actually happen, a constant presence of all the elements concerned is necessary, since, for example, falling in love cannot only be the fruit of the heart's activity, disconnected from all the rest of the person.
It is important that on the formative journey one does not aim to multiply experiences, but rather to create the interior dispositions so that the kinds of formative dynamics just described may graft themselves into it. The intention of formation is to allow the subject to pass from the truth of himself and the reality which surrounds him, to liberty and to freedom. This phase of formation may be typical of the period of the novitiate.
c) To Accompany
The formation director is an elder brother in the faith and in the world of the pupil. He is the one who takes his place beside the person being formed, as if he were beside a younger brother, to share a part of his road with him so that he may discover the design which God Himself has traced for him and may follow it in full freedom and responsibility. Thus the formation director is not necessarily a friend, he is a companion who has been called to share with his brother the essential nutritive element of their journey in common: the bread of the faith, of the reality of God, of the religious charism.
The conditions necessary so that this may happen are:
1) the real and physical sharing of life (the formation director is the one who lives with the one being formed, because living side by side gives one access to the best source of information available, information which will lead to better knowing the other individual);
2) understanding the capacities which the formation director must have in order to carry out his role as mediator;
3) having the capacity to share.
Accompanying is the essence of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the sweet co-dweller of the soul.
Accompanying may be typical of the formation phase of the post-novitiate.
* * * * *
This report provided a broad stimulus for discussion. At the end a group of priests, led by Fr. Wilson Jönck, was able to draft some programs for the various formation phases. These were then discussed in the assembly hall and deserve further study and definition. Internationality and communion in formation were viewed positively by all present.
At the end of the discussions the Fr. General expressed satisfaction for the way in which the meeting had been carried out. He affirmed that a process had been set in motion which could not be measured and evaluated simply by how much had been produced. The process which had been set in motion will bear its fruits only in the future.
During the meeting great importance was given to the postulate, for the general administration is convinced that the postulate plays an important and fundamental role in the sphere of formation. Since the person arrives in the postulate full of ideals and motivations, it is in this stage that almost 50% of a successful formation depends. It is during formation that we have the most suitable moment to reach the heart of this person. When certain problems are not faced and solved in the postulate they drag on and will be felt for the rest of one's life.
Lastly, the Fr. General thanked all the formation directors present and reminded them that they carry out the most important role in the Congregation. He hoped that international meetings between formation directors might be increasingly frequent, at least those among formation directors belonging to the same geographic area.