Rome
Feast of the Sacred Heart
Prot. N. 125/98
Dear Confreres,
The feast of the Sacred Heart always brings us back to the one who is the source, the center, and the goal of "We, the Congregation". It reawakens in us that first sensing of our vocation and mission. It allows us to reconvene our "family" to look at what we have accomplished and failed to accomplish, at what faces us and what we have to look forward to.
At this moment I would like once again to propose a topic which first appeared at the last General Chapter (motion 3) the meaning of which was not defined nor explored but which reappeared in the planning letter "We, the Congregation" (nn. 14 and 15). I am referring to the establishment of "prophetic communities" as one fruit of international collaboration.
With "fear and trembling" I set about to deal with this topic which I believe lies beyond my powers. Rather than give you some thoughts linked together, I propose that you ask yourselves the same questions I asked of myself. The answers will turn out to be the result of developing together. Some of the questions have their origin in an approach to the topic taken by the General Council. Other questions have their origin in my own personal reflections.
The Prophetic Nature of Consecrated Life
The prophetic nature of consecrated life should be seen in light of the participation that all baptized persons have in Christ, prophet (cf. Lumen Gentium 12 and 31). Yet the prophetic nature of the consecrated life first got recognition in postconciliar theological and spiritual thinking and in the current practice of religious life.
The document Vita Consecrata 84 explains this prophetic nature as a "sign function" to express "the witness given to the primacy of God and gospel values..., and as a consequence nothing can come before a personal love for Christ and for the poor in whom He lives".
"True prophecy is born of God, in friendship with him, from an attentive ear tuned to his word found in the different circumstances of histor... requires a constant and passionate search to do the will of God..., ecclesial communion, the exercise of spiritual discernment, a love for truth... expresses itself through indictment and through looking for new ways to actualize the Gospel in history with the Kingdom of God always in view (n. 84).
In actuality, with its many models of prophet the Bible highlights the characteristic notes of a prophet. A prophetic vocation has its origins in a profound experience of God; it is tied to the history of the People of God; it entails the denunciation of sin in the people and its leaders (injustice, idolatry, false religious worship); it entails the proclamation of God's plans for mankind and its history; it transforms the prophet into a witness for the truth he proclaims with the frequent result that he is subject to conflicts, persecutions, and martyrdom. A prophet is a man seduced by God (Jer. 20:7), whom He has drawn to his compassionate Self (Jer. 31:3).
Briefly, one can say that the prophetic function has three dimensions all working at the same time.
One is the critical dimension insofar as it renders judgment on what is taking place and on history. It undertakes a discernment and ultimately a condemnation of sinful acts, structures, and undertakings.
One is the visionary or utopian dimension insofar as it reveals God's plans for mankind and history, his loving intentions, the offer of salvation in Christ, the work of the Spirit. This dimension constitutes a true message of joy and hope for humanity. It discloses the ways of God and his preferences. It allows an insight into the utopia promised by the Kingdom.
And finally, there is the witnessing dimension: by means of the consistent and dedicated life he leads, with pregnant speech, with concrete choices and actions, the prophet denounces and announces the primacy of God -- the only absolute --; he witnesses God's involvement and special concern for the people and particularly for the weak, the oppressed, the poor, and the least.
All three dimensions are united and support each other in turn because they are the result of a single faith experience. To franchise one over the others ends up in an imbalance that generates contradictory and impaired experiences.
Chapter Insights
More than once the General Chapter had some "flashes" and inklings both felicitous and profound that led to developments. The three dimensions of the prophetic function were visibly expressed in the "place" chosen.
A realistic view of the present world helped us identify and judge various phenomena which today are structurally powerful; examples are the processes of globalization and secularization. This is the world in which both the Church and the Congregation are experiencing its effects, oftentimes unwary. This is the world which calls for judgment to discern whether the seeds of the Kingdom and the anti-Kingdom are present in it.
Seeds of the anti-Kingdom are: divisions, disintegration, isolation, individualism, exclusion, alienation, polarization, depersonalization, oppression, egoism...in the human being in its essential relationships to itself, to others, to creation, and with God.
Such evidence indicates that the world is in crisis, almost in eclipse, with so many obscure and opposing forces engaged either in a carefully planned or in a reflex struggle for power.
The promise of the Kingdom is something else entirely. It is the return to unity, to communion, to solidarity, to collaboration, to sharing one's material and spiritual goods. It means respect for the values, the rights and the gifts of each person, each people, each nation and culture which lead to the experience of family, fraternity, and community organized in love.
It means reconciliation of enemies, destruction of the walls that separate and discriminate, calling to serve others. It means commitment to justice, peace-making, the triumph of forgiveness and compassion. It means sharing the good news with the poor for whom Christ is the comfort and liberator (cf. Lk. 4:18-19) and to whom the Father reveals his most intimate thoughts (cf. Mt. 11:25)
All this is not a pious dream; it is already in act even though things have not yet reached their complete fullness. From the moment when Christ was raised up on the cross and his heart was pierced, he overcame the world and gave it new life, joy, and hope; he drew all things unto himself (Jo. 12:32) and brought back the scattered children of God to unity (cf. Jo. 11:52).
Our SCJ vocation and mission calls for us to enter into the dynamics of the Heart of Christ, to associate ourselves with him in order to become "prophets of love and servants of reconciliation in the world for Christ" (Cst. 7). This means that we have an authentic experience of Communion in Christ (cf. Jo. 15:4) so that in turn we can be ministers of that same communion among men, living the "Sint Unum" ourselves in order that the world may believe (cf. Jo. 17:21-23).
The "We, the Congregation..." is nothing other than the way of making our mission received from the Church come to pass and of becoming prophetically involved in our world right now.
Seen in this light, we are not talking about a plan that is an option but rather of a grace and occasion given us for the present moment. Its recompense, its reward will take the form of salvation for the world and of greater vitality for the Congregation.
International Prophetic Communities
To render concrete the prophetic nature of Dehonian consecrated life, the Chapter called for the establishment of "new prophetic communities, open to international collaboration, both in secularized countries as well as in areas of the missio ad gentes" (cf. Informationum Nuntius 2/97, pg. 28).
And as one of the choices to be made during their term of office, the General Administration elected to "erect a prophetic community, international in character, in every geographic zone. It wants our presence at La Capelle to be its first effort (cf. "We, the Congregation" 15)
I ask myself the same questions. Beginning with the second one I am truly afraid that everything is just pious talk and that our planning will grind to a halt from the reduplication of modes of being that already exist, modes of being that say little to the Church or to the World because, in fact, they are weary, given over to comfort and ease, worldly, and have far too little involvement in evangelization and spiritual life.
It has been said, and I am convinced, that religious life enters a critical period and dies when it is no longer open to far away missions and missions ad gentes, when it is not found in the desert, on the outskirts, on the fringes of the human race.
To rouse the Congregation to undertake responsibilities in such areas, at least with a reasonable percentage of men, is one of the most important yet risky services that I feel as Superior General.
This is not a matter of "looking for adventure" but the establishment of a way of talking (from the very start), a style of life, and a style of government that are consistent, in full harmony with our charism. This is a matter of giving our people the encouragement received from our Founder to go to the people, to leave the sacristies behind, to take on the most difficult and desert-like postings, to go where others have no desire to go and where gratification is minimal. We need to prepare our young religious for such choices. We need our superiors to have the courage to propose such commitments.
Fr. Dehon was consistent in his adherence to these principles because in them he saw the concrete realization of our oblative and reparational spirituality.
The Chapter did not define these, nor do we find explicit definitions in Church documents or in our Constitutions. The latter, however, (Part II, B. nn. 59, 60, 63, 65) give us some insight into the prophetic implications of a fraternal community life. Vita Consecrata 85 states that the same fraternal life is prophecy in act to the degree that it proposes a fraternity that has no limits.
The question is open, therefore. Its our task to provide an answer now, all together, not for the sake of establishing new foundations but to characterize all the communities of the Congregation; such communities in their human weakness are built up under the action of the Spirit in the light of Sint Unum.
I believe that the characteristics of a prophetic community are the following: joy, dialog, a big dose of hope and optimism, love for life and love for the poor, commitment to the point of sacrifice, the immediate visibility of our theological faith; these are characteristics that are evident both inside and outside the community.
I would dare say, in this regard, that daily life, lived with consistency, depth, simplicity, and joyous fidelity is greatly prophetic today, always with the proviso that religious know how to make the reasons for their hope explicit to others (cf. 1 Pt. 3:15).
It is in this sense that all communities, even those consisting mostly of the elderly and the sickly, can and should develop their prophetic character. There are different occasions and styles of prophecy according to the various concrete situations, ages, and contexts in which people live and work.
Jesus himself went through different prophetic modes, beginning with his hidden life at Nazareth, through the years of his public apostolic ministry, to the decisive moment of his Pasch.
All this gives new meaning to the many possibilities arising from our charism and spirituality: e.g., the attitudes found in the Ecce Venio, the Sint Unum, and the Adveniat Regnum Tuum.
The choice made at the Chapter does not disqualify the communities already existing in the Congregation; indeed, these too are called to lived their own prophetic nature by remembering that the "prophecy of love and the service of reconciliation" are a task and a ministry for each SCJ.
We cannot deny that the present situation makes self sufficiency of provinces barely tenable; but the basic reason is totally other.
From our origins a tradition of internationality exists in the Congregation; today it continues to exist in various initiatives. This tradition has never been broken in the Congo; it is also present in various other missions, foundations, and works.
As a result of his open-mindedness and his large outlook, Fr. Dehon is the very soul of this format. So much so is this true that when the Congregation needed to reorganize into provinces and regions as a result of its speedy growth, Fr. Dehon hesitated.
Noting the advantages of autonomy (more local responsibility, greater creativity, greater opportunity for expressing cultural variety, etc.) he would have preferred to reaffirm the principles of unity and communion together with our foundational values.
Today we have no intentions of stepping backwards but rather of responding to the challenges of the "world community" to serve the Church and our mission to the world in a better way.
We do this based on the cornerstones of our Dehonian spirituality: Sint Unum, bringing into daylight the gospel values of unity, communion, sharing, and solidarity.
Precisely through the international character of our communities, amid all the tensions of the world, we want to proclaim the Gospel of personal liberty and fraternal community (cf. Fraternal Life in Community 42). We commit ourselves in this fashion to creatively face the challenges of inculturation and we denounce the idols of nationalism, tribalism, and hegemonious systems (cf. Vita Consecrata 51).
The fact is that to start up true international fraternities is not easy. The usual path is always the way of the cross. However, my own experience tells me that the most serious community problems are not found in international communities, they are not born of differences of country, culture, or race. The most serious problems are found in national communities and have their roots in personal problems, often serious, in individualistic attititudes, and in a certain harshness in treatment and lack of cordiality which are certainly not Dehonian.
At the same time I do not deny that certain forms of sharing faith are found more frequently in communities whose members have a certain affinity of sensibility, and these are more than likely to be national communities.
Internationality, therefore, understood as an expression of our communion in Christ already is a prophetic call and is Good News to men and women of our times. The international dimension of our outlook, of our hearts and our tasks, constitutes a essential characteristic that allows us to feel and to say: "We, the Congregation".
Beneath the Cross
Prophecy and Communon, on this feast of the Sacred Heart, take us back to Calvary beneath the cross. Here, with Fr. Dehon, we want to have the prophetic experiences "of living in faith in the Son of God who loved (us) and gave himself up for us (Gal. 8:20).
Starting beneath the cross and contemplating the pierced heart of the Savior, our intention is to receive and experience the gift and responsibility of Communion and Reconciliation.
Christ is our peace. By destroying the walls that separate he has united us into one body and has reconciled us to God by the power of the cross (cf. Eph. 2:14-16).
Through our prophetically committed communities under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may we make Christ the heart of the world.
This is the wish that we have for one another on the Feast of the Sacred Heart this year.