The first thing the message proposes is a "theological look" at this reality, so bitter and marked by so much injustice and poverty. This is followed by some "power ideas" or "directives", which should be kept in mind when formulating "options, proposals and priorities". Only in this way will it become possible for all to collaborate together, in an effective way, in the coming of the Kingdom of the justice and peace of the Heart of Jesus.

N.B. - We reproduce here in full the three central paragraphs of the "Message", and, in an abbreviated form, the final part.

1. A Theological Overview

God creates to give life

The economy depends upon the vision of humankind, or anthropology, which a society holds. In biblical anthropology, God takes the initiative. God is the first principle; but a very different one. God creates to give life; not to gain, but to give.

One could say that creation is the first phase of God's self-giving. God is a Father who visits and is affected by his creation. From the beginning God wishes to establish his Reign, a self-giving Reign.

The Son, a man for others

This self-giving of God becomes definitive in the incarnation of the Son (Jn 13,16). The incarnation is the second phase of the self-emptying of God (Phil 2,6-11). In this aspect, it is the Son who gives up his divinity and becomes one of us.

The history of Jesus of Nazareth is the concrete living out of the Reign of God. Jesus proclaimed the Reign at the very beginning: "The Reign of God is near. Change your lives and believe in the Good News" (Mk 1,15). This reign is good news for the poor and oppressed (Lk 4,18). Jesus, the true image of God (Eph 1,3-14; Col 1,15) is a man for others. His life is a life handed over (1 Jn 3,16) so we may have life in abundance (Jn 7,37-38; Lk 22,19-20).

The Holy Spirit, life for others

This life in us is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus' gift of self (Jn 10,11; 15,12-13) is the gift of the Spirit poured out on all flesh ((Ez 36,24-28). This is the third phase of God's self-giving. The Spirit dwells in a human to bring him to fullness in God (Jn 14,15-28). This Spirit makes us feel children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ (Col 3, 12-17; Eph 1,5; 5,1; Gal 4,4-7) and awakens in us love of God and neighbor (Mt 10,41-45), solidarity (Mt 25,31-36), compassion (Lk 6,36), generosity (Lk 6,38) and radical conversion (Lk 5,36).

The Reign of God

God is love, and the Reign of God is God's love in action. Human beings, made in the image of God (Gen 1,26) also participate in this love. The law of the Reign is the law of love: "Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15,12). This love is gift and service (Jn 13). This is the proof that we obey and love God. Love is how the Reign comes into being (1Jn 3,13-18).

But we know that the Reign grows along with the weeds. Sin entered into the world when human beings failed to follow the plan of God. This sin affects all of our reality, personal and social (Rom 5,11-19). We have been redeemed by Jesus Christ from sin and death. Through Christ we can live in a sinful world and overcome the personal and social cost of sin.

The economy of the Reign of God is not ruled by the law of self-interest. This is anti-Reign. The economy of the Reign of God has but one law - the law of love, which means justice, sharing, self-giving, service.

The Reign of God is a reality which goes beyond earthly history (Mt 25,34) but intersects our history, gives it meaning, transforms it, and brings it to fulfillment. The Reign is not foreign to our history, but opens up history to a hope that it will be transformed on the Day of the Lord.

The breaking of bread (Acts 2,42), memorial of Christ's self-giving (1Cor 11,24-26), is the Sacrament of the Reign. In the Eucharist we already experience the fulfillment of the Reign and the joy of communion and solidarity. The breaking of the eucharistic bread inspires us to share our earthly bread and worldly goods (Acts 4,32). The nature of the Reign is communion of human beings with each other and with God.

2. Fr. Dehon and the Reign of God

Fr. Dehon was open to the Reign of God due to his foundational experience of the love of God revealed in the Heart of Jesus: a love which gives of itself completely. He sacrificed his life so we might have life in abundance. The Eucharist was for Fr. Dehon the fullness of faith and the font of his apostolic zeal. "The Reign of the Heart of Jesus must be established in souls and in societies." His deepest desire was the "Adveniat Regnum Tuum" of Jesus.

To pray for the coming of God's Reign is both to hope for its coming and to know that it is already present, but not completely. To hope for God's reign is to act: "Let us get to work!" To go to work for the benefit of the poor is a sign of the love of God. "How can we love God, whom we do not see, if we do not love the neighbor whom we do see?" (1Jn 4,20). Saint Augustine comments on the words of St. John when he says love of God is first in principle, but love of neighbor is first in order of testimony.

Thus does Fr. Dehon see the intrinsic union between spirituality and social commitment: "It is necessary that the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, begun in the mystical life of the soul, penetrate the social life of people. He will provide the best remedy for the cruel sicknesses of our moral world… Only He will reconquer the hearts of the masses, the hearts of workers, the hearts of the youth" (Le Règne, n. 2, fev. 1889).

Fr. Dehon invites us to establish this Reign; we can say that for this he lived and for this he died.

The Constitutions and the reign of God

Our Constitutions recall to us the foundational experience of our religious life: the free and primary love of God (N. 2)

We need to respond generously to this initiative of love (N. 21). We do this by being prophets of love and servants of reconciliation. (N. 7), establishing the Reign of justice and charity in our world (N. 32) giving testimony to the love of Christ in a world which seeks a unity difficult to achieve, and searching for new relationships between persons and groups (N. 43).

Our life ought to be an effective sign that the reign is a reality that has already begun (N. 38-39). Our preference is to be with the poor so as to struggle with them against all injustices (N. 51).

Our Christian and religious life has its source and summit in the Eucharist (N. 80) The Eucharist sums up all that we are, converting our lives into an offering to the Father (N. 81). By the Eucharist we are called to the service of God's covenant with his people, and to work for the unity and peace among all people (N. 84).

General Conference at Brusque

The General conference at Brusque showed us that our charism of reparation should animate everything we are and do. The preferential option for the poor, our commitment to social justice, our work in favor of the poor, the sick, and the elderly are a clear expression of our reparatory vocation (Brusque 22; Cst. N. 25).

3. General Guidelines

For reasons of brevity (Editor's Note) these have been summed up in the following aphorisms:

- Goods are for people: remembering the social doctrine of the Church on the "universal destination" of goods.

- The poor and our vow of poverty: by which we are committed to live with what is necessary and sufficient, placing everything we have at the service of the common benefit.

- Solidarity in the Congregation: within the Congregation we are invited to share on every level; but we are also committed to sharing also on the outside, through the interchange of people, means and information.

- A spirituality in action: even in the social field; our activities have their origin in our spirituality, founded on the theology of the Heart of Jesus and on the charisma of Fr. Dehon. Our activities in favor of the poor are "the practical interpretation of certain aspects of our spirituality", at times accentuating mercy, at other times justice of reconciliation or solidarity.

- Going to the causes: today's social problems are structural and worldwide. A simple giving of alms, which leaves the poor in their poverty, is no longer sufficient. One must go to the cause of the evil and put pressure on the centers of power in order to obtain radical changes.

Four Priority Options

From the beginning the conference had manifested the determination not to limit itself to producing a theoretical text but to reach concrete proposals which could serve to point out the direction towards which the Congregation intended to proceed, "making visible its spirituality and its daily commitment to the service of the Kingdom".

We can summarize these proposals (paraphrasing the text once more) into four "options": bearing witness to poverty; being involved in formation and information in the social field; giving support to ministerial and social movements and organisms (among which is the optimizing of the laity's participation); and, fourth, establishing an economic management of the Institute, one which is animated by a genuine evangelical spirit.

The following proposals should be pointed out:

1. Regarding bearing witness to poverty:

- That each community should have a communal cash depository and that the balance of all income and outlay should be presented every month.

- That all salaries, pensions and other income should be put into a community pool.

- That the religious brethren should endeavor to support themselves with their own work.

- That every community should fix a reasonable limit on its accumulative capital, and that anything beyond this figure should be dedicated to charitable works.

- That an effective solidarity with the poor should be promoted.

2. Regarding formation and information:

- That all the Provinces should include, in their own Ratio formationis, the times and the methods to be used in a theoretical and practical formation concerning the social apostolate.

- That on both the general and the provincial level discussion meetings with experts, to examine themes such as justice, peace, and the safeguarding of the created world, should be placed on the schedule.

- That specialization of the religious, also in social sciences, should be encouraged.

3. Regarding ministerial and social movements and organisms:

- That projects should be prepared for the recovery of the dignity of the human person.

- That in every Province or Region at least one social work should be created that favors the poor or marginalized.

- That the dignity and the culture of the indigenous population should be promoted.

- That the dignity of woman in society and in the Church should be promoted.

- That direct participation in the movements and organisms of solidarity should be encouraged.

- That there should be an effective contribution to the formation and maximization of the laity, in line with the thought and action of Fr. Dehon, etc. etc.

4. Lastly, regarding economic management:

- That possible investments should be made preferably in "ethical banks"; understanding that, whatever the situation, the type of investment should be verified, "avoiding those which are immoral or speculative. We must also participate in the meetings of shareholders in order to exert influence on political choices"; and that in every case care should be taken to insure transparency, prudence, responsibility and competence.

Conclusions and Final Evaluation

Everyone in the Congregation expected the General Conference to produce not a simple "document" but a renewed S.C.J. social commitment. And this "not only on the part of the individual members but also with regard to the structures of the Congregation, going to the causes and the roots of social problems and seeking the solution to them in the principles by which we live: the example and the message of Jesus, the social doctrine of the Church, and the charism of Fr. Dehon".

"All this", specifies the message, "is rooted in the conviction that social commitment is the essential dimension of Dehonian charism and of our S.C.J. mission in the Church and in society. And the strength of our commitment will increase in relation to the force of the impulse of the spirituality which sustains it and animates it. This is demonstrated by the example of our Father Founder and of our many truly committed brethren".

This was the path of Christ, a path which He took in order to accomplish the salvation and the full liberation of the whole of humanity... "Consequently our path cannot be different. We are at the service of mankind. Our horizon is mankind in the world: their pains and their hopes must also be our pains and our hopes, always attentive and close to each particular person, without ever forgetting the universal".

"We should like to say to the Dehonian Family and to all its components", concludes the text, "that with this message we make them part of our S.C.J. spirit".

That which is proposed is a spirit of service, of giving and of sharing. A spirit which can be lived in communion and can taken on by all, particularly by those who live the spirituality of the Heart of Jesus.

And then "May the Sacred Heart always be the foundation, the origin and the objective of our life", and may it make us authentic witnesses to the love of the Father, without ever tiring of "being for others", "servants and apostles of justice and of peace".

"The General Conference, therefore, is not finished; it has not yet exhausted all its objectives". On the contrary, it is precisely now that it is beginning in the various Provinces, in the individual Communities, and in the heart of every Religious, because for every one of us, young or no longer young, the "journey" is still long.