Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I have just returned from the Congo. Among these valorous peoples I have lived an experience that I want to share with you, which also serves as the starting point for this year's Dehonian Vocation Day.

At Kinshasa a young teacher-married and the father of two children-told me enthusiastically how much Fr. Dehon meant for him as model of Christian life and as an inspiration for entrance into communion with Christ, for passage into the mystery of God, and for commitment for one's brothers in this world. I told him that all this is not due to Fr. Dehon but to the Holy Spirit as source of Christian life. However, he insisted on saying that, for him, all these things were inspired by the example of Fr. Dehon once he became familiar with his life and his spirituality.

This is not merely an isolated incident but rather another witness to the growing meaning that our Founder has in the Church today.

Over the past two years at three distinct moments the Church recognized the heroic virtues of our Founder. It did so through an intensive study by eight theologian consultors belonging to the Congregation of the Causes of Saints and with their unanimous approval at the meeting of 30 January 1996; it did so at the Plenary Session of Cardinals and Bishops belonging to the same Congregation held on 3 February 1997; and it did so, finally, with the publication of the Decree from the hand of the Holy Father on 8 April of the same year. Each of these occasions is tied to a series of reasons which lay out the meaning, the characteristics, and the significance of Fr. Dehon's holiness of life. The authoritative statement of the Holy Father forcefully acquaints us with how much Dehon's spirit belongs to the Church today as a reminder of the gospel at the center of the world.

I am feeling great joy at being able to reproduce for you some of the statements contained in these documents, statements very richly inspirational.

The holiness of Fr. Dehon “was not apparent in brassy display or activity but in the extraordinary greatness of virtue in his daily life. (He) appeared as a very humane and 'imitable' saint" (Vote I, p.28).

“His virtues are well documented and particularly his love for God and neighbor, his love for the Eucharist, the spirit of reparation, the social and missionary apostolate" (Report and Vote, p.6).

“ A Man of God, strong in his great love for the Church and the Pope, very aware of social problems, is a model for a life that others can imitate and can serve the Church in its plans for new evangelization" (Vote III, p. 49).

“There are few Causes which appear so current as this one does, whether for the shining example of very contemporary virtues or for the response that the Servant of God and generally the religious family founded by him continue to give as solutions to today's problems.

“He gives witness of a tender love for God and is an apostle who evangelizes chiefly by his reparatory offering of self together with the Crucified...he is a pioneer of mission to the new disbelieving masses “ (Vote V, pp. 60-61).

“Each new day reveals him as one of the charismatic personalities who have 'created' the history of the Church over the last one hundred years" (Vote VI, p. 61).

In its turn the Decree, in addition to calling Fr. Dehon “humanely enriched and fitted for relationships of friendship"-which characteristics he derived from his family-focused on highlighting the central place that the Heart of Jesus held in his life “and which he ardently desired would also be the heart of his Dehonian Family, the Church, and the world." Devotion to the Heart of Christ explains the union between his interior equanimity and his goodness, his apostolic zeal and the many creative undertakings he made in the spiritual, cultural, social, and missionary areas.

Taken together, these statements which constitute a small part of what was said and officially written by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, along with the living voices of so many religious and lay witnesses who have been attracted to the spirituality and example of Fr. Dehon, led us to believe that we are presently at a time of grace, a time for bringing for the fruits that the Spirit wants the Church to possess.

In seeking to live this moment of grace in docility to the Spirit, I am proposing three objectives for the imminent celebration of 14 March, day of prayer and effort for Dehonian vocations.
 

1. To Make Our Own the Call to Holiness

This invitation has been made to all Christians as we know from the Council when it affirms the universal call to holiness according to one's state in life (Cf. Lumen Gentium, 39-43).

Again, the promotion of holiness is, in fact, the objective of the Grand Jubilee Year 2000 as John Paul II in Tertio millenio adveniente pointed out; “it is aimed at an increased sensitivity to all that the Sprit is saying to the Church and to the Churches (cf. Rev 2:7 ff), as well as to individuals through charisms meant to serve the whole community" (23). The primary objective of the Jubilee is “the strengthening of faith and of the witness of Christians. It is therefore necessary to inspire in all the faithful a true longing for holiness, a deep desire for conversion and personal renewal in a context of ever more intense prayer and of solidarity with one's neighbor, especially the most needy" (42).

Holiness is at once a call and a need, as the Extraordinary Synod of 1985 stated: “today we have a tremendous need for saints for which we should ask God most assiduously."

This is a call which comes from our Founder. He loved to repeat: “We must become saints....We received the Holy Spirit at baptism and at confirmation in order to live under its guidance and become holy...We need to want to be hidden saints, known only to God alone and without extraordinary manifestations; saints in any case, true saints. This should be our deeply rooted desire, our dominating thought, our constant and unchanging resolution. We are found on earth for this reason only: we ought to become saints" (Spiritual Directory, 256).

These might appear to be exaggerations or even statements that appear invalid because of the perception one has of a saint: an exceptional figure, more or less spiritualistic and given over entirely to perfection. But a saint is not a superman, rather a true and normal man or woman who is totally immersed in real history and daily living, one who is moved by grace to identify totally with Jesus and his cause so as to achieve full communion with God and complete self-giving to one's brothers and sisters. One becomes a saint under the banner of charity, the practice of the beatitudes. Such persons become, as a result, visible signs of the presence of the kingdom of God amongst us.

Furthermore, holiness is a fruit of the Church and always maintains this ecclesial dimension. Indeed, the function of the Church is to raise up saints; in turn holiness has for its function to build up the Church, historic sign of the Kingdom in the world.

One becomes saintly then in the Church and for the Church. Within the Church one is introduced to the Gospel, one enters to partake of the life of Jesus; under the power of the Spirit one becomes a member of the People of God and co-responsible for its mission of salvation; one learns to practice the beatitudes and to be leaven in a new world built in justice and fraternity.

To love the Church and to express one's love for the Church is an ideal that Fr. Dehon lived and proposed when he stated: “the Church is at one and the same time spouse and mystical body of Jesus Christ...Those who are consecrated to love are like its very heart" (Vie Interieure - cf. Oeuvres Spirituels, vol. 5, p. 203). Perhaps it is for this reason that his figure has become so meaningful and inviting to the Church today.

If it is perceived in this manner, holiness presumes an adult faith which requires human maturity. It is not, simply, the result of any human effort to overcome oneself but rather it is, radically, a gift from God who uplifts the human person to the point of introducing him or her to a life incapable of being reached by one's own efforts and enables active participation in the People of God at the service of others.

While modern thought may not favor such an ideal of holiness, the world greatly needs saints, waits for the Church to give it viable models of sanctity. From us as well the world awaits the response of mature individuals who, as a consequence of their close contact with God, can be signs of his presence and his activity in the world.

Holiness is a life ideal that Fr. Dehon proposed, not just to his own sons, but to all. Greatly expressive is his statement made to workers on 8 July, 1888: “the greatest in the Church of God is the one who comes closest to Jesus Christ". It was thus in the life of Fr. Dehon himself: he is great in the Church because he was an ardent friend of Jesus.
 

2. To Rediscover our Spirituality as the Path to Holiness

Now that the Church has officially recognized the heroic virtues of the Founder, Fr. Dehon has greater claim upon us as our father and real model of holiness.

Fr. Dehon is now being proposed as a model for holiness to the entire People of God, but particularly so to us members of the Dehonian Family who take inspiration from his charism and spirituality.

To take him on as our master and to discover his relatedness to the present times, we need to imitate the witness that his life gave and not merely read his writings.

It is in this fashion that we have the proof that dehonian spirituality does not consist in a simple enunciation of abstract principle but in an authentic path to holiness, the fruits of which are now recognized by the Church. More than a doctrine we must learn, we have a real man from whom to take inspiration to live the Gospel according to a particular insight, that of reparatory oblation in union with Christ and in apostolic and compassionate self-giving to others.

We make reference to particularly contemporary values that make up the way a christian must walk at the heart of the world and its history, immersed in the most trying of human problems. Because the dehonian is one with Christ, the dehonian is necessarily one with the whole of mankind, in particular its lowest and least. Such a dehonian tends toward a charity of commitment which is not satisfied with personal “perfection" but rather seeks a manner of life and action aimed at the causes of injustice, war, discrimination, and evil in any form; a charity aimed at transforming persons and society.

A spirituality which does not raise up saints fully immersed in their surroundings and history is a spirituality which has not been adequately appreciated nor lived according to its constitutive gospel elements.

Dehonian spirituality does not grow outdated; it belongs to every age; it can inspire a variety of vocations. For this we have proof in the lives of so many SCJ brothers whose causes have been introduced, including Fr. Andrew Prévot and the other Servants of God. If we are truly generous, history will not delay in revealing the saintly figures of still other consecrated persons and laity who are all members of the Dehonian Family.

We believe that the faith experience of Fr. Dehon is the work of the Spirit which even today enriches us with a path to spiritual life, that is to say, life in the Spirit. The Church itself has praised its authenticity.

Let us have the courage to deepen our dehonian spirituality understood along the lines of the mystical and practical reality of the beatitudes! Let us really walk down that road!
 

3. To Make the Faithful Aware of the Life, Personality, and Message of Fr. Dehon

The Church has just recognized in Fr. Dehon a meaningful model for our times, placing him before the People of God for veneration, intercession, and imitation. Now it becomes our task, as members of the Dehonian Family, to spread his message and make his life and personality known so that Fr. Dehon be more known, called upon, and serve as stimulus by those who admire him.

Many faithful who maintain relationships with our communities tell us how the person of Fr. Dehon serves as inspiration for their christian lives, consider him their protector in times of difficulty in the family or at work, and call upon him to intercede for them before God.

Fr. Dehon, however, is not just a model to admire, venerate, or call upon; above all else he is a witness who should encourage each person along the path to holiness and commitment to work on behalf of the Church. It is our task, now, to see to it that the figure of Fr. Dehon becomes received as truly significant by the People of God. This will happen if we give our Venerable Founder sufficient occasions to carry on his beneficent action in the church and his intercession before God on behalf of the weak.

Let us continue to be interested and to interest others in the “cause" of Fr. Dehon. The Decreee on the heroic nature of his virtues constitutes only one stage, an important one surely, but not the final one. We must continue praying and seeking prayers that the Lord may grant the grace of beatification, so that Fr. Dehon's holiness may be more resplendent throughout the Church and that we ourselves may be more commited to being saints, saints who radiate the same spirituality of the Founder.

Brothers and sisters, the holiness which we have here reflected on greatly influences vocational ministry. While it may begin in prayer, it finds its greatest and most convincing support in life witness. Today we need witnesses more than we need preachers; even preachers will be heard out to the degree they are authentic witnesses (cf. Evangelii nuntiandi, 41). Now you know why I wanted to share this message on the need and urgency of holiness, basing myself on the most felicitous of events in the Cause of our Founder.

May this special day stimulate us to be faithful witnesses of the gift that we have received and which we should pass on to others. The Heart of Jesus will do the rest.
 
 

In the Heart of Jesus,

P. Virginio Bressanelli, scj

Superior General