Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am so pleased at being able to send you my personal greetings and that of the entire General Administration as Christmas approaches as well as the last New Year's Day of this millennium.
Two stark contrasts portray this period of year's end. So many situations of violence and distress that afflict mankind are at odds with our universal brotherhood on the one hand, while on the other an awareness and vivid experience of God's Kingdom is growing and making progress despite human obstacles, weaknesses, and sins.
Keeping within situations close to our own people, think of what is going on in the Congo. It remains a constant source of suffering and preoccupation for us. Whether we fast or pray or look for news or attend peace initiatives, we maintain our solidarity with this martyred people, with this church which we helped bring to life in faith, and with all the members of our religious family who work in that country.
We are conscious, too, of the people of Ecuador and the Christian communities led by them which have several times been afflicted by natural disasters (floods, landslides, earthquakes, etc.) all of which have resulted in deaths, injuries, material losses, and problems that will last for years. The Chaco region of Argentina has also been severely flooded.
Another worry is the financial, social, and political instability of Indonesia, an instability aggravated by a frustration of the masses and by the presence of divisive agencies that has been the source of much disorder.
Let us catalog, too, the many reasons for joy and gratitude to the Lord. Among them, we recall the rich experience of the meeting between the General Administration and the SCJ Major Superiors who came to Rome this past November. The purpose of the meeting was to arrive at greater specification of the general six-year plan (Plan 1997-2003). The rhythm with which we worked was intense but peaceful; we were able to sense a growing awareness of We, the Congregation day by day in light of our mission, a mission which draws its limits and strength from the charism and spirituality we inherited from Fr. Dehon.
There was an in-depth sharing of topics and problems that affect our very existence as well as our service to the church and to the world in which we live. The pathway of communion to fulfill our mission better is a reality which we now believe has been confirmed.
The overriding symbol for this meeting was derived from the liturgy: the Congregation is being sent out on the streets and byways of the world to invite all humanity, especially the poor, to the banquet prepared by the Father (cf. Lk. 14:15-24).
All that is happening, good and bad, have been ordered by our Lord for our well-being, if in our hearts we have love (cf. Rom. 8:28).
The year 1999, the last stage of preparation for the Great Jubilee Year 2000, has been pastorally defined as the great pilgrimage towards the Father. This means we need to seek his face and return to his house. This means an authentic conversion of life through penitence and the exercise of charity. This means we must renew our preferential option for the poor and the outcasts. This means commitment to justice and peace. This means an examination of conscience and getting involved in the challenges we now face: facing up to secularism, the establishment of a civilization of love, ecumenical dialog, the rediscovery of our dignity as children of God based upon the figure of Christ and the example of Mary (see Tertio Millennio Advenienti, 49-54).
When we look at "The Year of the Father" Christmas takes on certain special meanings for us Dehonians, individually, collectively, institutionally, that demand certain special responses.
*Christmas is the dawning upon the world of the kindness and generosity of God (Tit. 3:4). Through the person of Jesus, the Father gives himself to us entirely and shows how much he loves the world (cf. Jn. 3:16), thus coming so very close to us. Jesus, the only begotten Son of God and true man of history, becomes the perfect and definitive personal revelation of the God on earth. The cause of man, his dignity and salvation, become the very cause of God. That which defines God is not his power, his intelligence, his judgment; it is his goodness which Jesus experienced as the tenderness of the Father and to which he gave witness in every aspect of his life: his prayer, his words, his life choices and his ministry. It was in this concrete fashion that he showed who the Father was and gave us a notion of the Father unknown till that time.
If only, as Fr. Dehon teaches us, we Dehonians could abandon ourselves into the Father's hands in trust without conditions, just like God's children, in the same way Jesus did (cf. Sp. Direct. VI, 19), we would be able to have a profound experience of the love of the Father. Such trust is not merely psychological assurance, it is a theological disposition. Love is the power that changes everything and makes it possible for us to give our lives totally to the Father and to others.
*Jesus came to seek out what was lost. It is through him that the Father encounters humanity which has lost its way, a humanity that he embraces and restores to its original dignity (cf. Lk. 15:20-22). Rediscovering the Father who loves us should make us want to find in him the fullness of life and to seek him out if this life is lacking in us.
Within the Jubilee context, the Pope invites the entire church to acknowledge its limitations and the sins which have, throughout its history, made the image of God, which it should be communicating, difficult to see. Several times, the Holy Father has sought pardon for the mistakes and actions of Christians who offended the dignity of man the rights of God on history.
Don't we Dehonians have need to make an "institutional" confession of our mistakes and sins? Wouldn't this be a great opportunity to be reconciled with those brethren who broke off relations with us or whom we alienated from God by our fault? Several SCJ provinces are already doing something like this; perhaps this is something for all of us.
"At his coming into the world Christ said: …Here am I…I have come to do thy will" (Heb. 10:5-7). Together with his total trust in the Father, Jesus lived a filial obedience without conditions. His basic, central attitude in life was an active availability to the Father's will, a radical centering on the Father. The Father's desires were his own even to the degree that they became his lifelong program up through the total offering of himself on the cross.
The SCJ Congregation is getting reading for its General Conference which will take place in Brazil in the year 2000 and treat the topic "The Economy and the Kingdom of God". To prevent a mere exchange of theoretical notions, we are being asked from this moment on to grow in an availability that is totally responsive in concrete action to what the Lord may ask and expect of us.
By incarnating himself in human poverty and weakness (Phil. 2:6-11), Jesus thus conveys the solidarity of God with the human condition. And we, too, are called to the same solidarity which renders God's presence in history and the preferential option for the poor, to which the Church is called, truly visible and believable.
If we have one only Father, the entire human race must be understand as a single family. From such an understanding arises our common duty to transform situations that are unjust and inhumane into a world order based on fostering life, respect for personal and people's rights, peace and universal brotherhood.
Accept my best wishes for a Holy Christmas and for the year 1999. May it be a year filled with life, joy, faith, hope! Savoring the tenderness of the Father, may our attachment to God and our collaboration in the fundamental liberation of human beings reach its full power.