To be Alive and Alert, and Aligning
Chapter Meetings:
In Ignatian perspective of coming together is a time of God’s visitation and moment of divine grace enlightening us either confirming in our ministry or showing us a new direction for His greater glory in the service of His people. This sacred event has the following components:
- 1. Discernment: Where did we set out to go and where have we now landed? – Do we need course correction?
- 2. Review: With our cumulative expertise and experience in the past, we revisit the present, especially relevant and meaningful ministries; and we think of revision for the future. So we deliberate on: what we do and how we do (‘what’ refers to ministries, and ‘how’ implies who would carry out these ministries).
- 3. Revitalizing: Taking inspiration from our past (ie. charism, vision of founders and foundresses, pioneers, inspiring models) we become reenergized to continue with renewed vigor and vision.
- 4. Reliving: We explore the roots of Charism and experience the fruits of our labour and admire the wings of benefits in uplifting the people. Roots are our past glory; fruits are our present reality; and the wings are the future dreams according to the signs and needs of our time.
- 5. Deliberations: With openness to the Spirit of Jesus to lead us, we move from mastering of mission to mastering of our mind (ie. commitment). It is a move from competency to compassion; and it is a changeover from comparison to completeness – It is just seeing everything new.
Tradition of Chapters:
Chapters are significant mile stones in a Congregation with the following expectations:
- To review the implementation of enactments (or action taken) from the previous Chapter.
- To discern the state of the Community and mission at this particular time in the history of the world and the Church.
- To ensure and protect the patrimony of the Community (that is, mission, spirit, charism as well as stewardship of temporal goods) – Review of these would lead to desirable renewal.
- To review and establish general policies for the Province and to determine priorities for apostolic works in the future.
- To review life and mission in the Province (challenges and successes) and to review formation (both formal and on-going) and finance.
- As a result we become renewed in spirit and we march together with the people at the margins who are the people of Yahweh and the people of Jesus.
(Cf. https://scsharchives.wordpress.com/2019/07/25/what-is-a-chapter-in-the-story-of-women-religious/)
Specific theme and purpose:
The theme of the Chapter, namely, Synodal Solidarity Towards Universal Fraternity, implies growing together towards fullness (Jn 17:21: All may be one as the Father and Jesus are ONE). It is reflected in our life and mission as:
- Walking together; listening to each other; and getting inspired by others as we are companions in the religious journey.
- Not top-down direction-giving but bottom-up listening (especially to the cry of the needy) as i. Abel’s blood crying for justice (Gen 4:10); and ii. God telling Moses: I have heard the cry of my people (Ex 3:7).
- Seeing God in the other and seeking the other in God, since each one is created in the ‘image and likeness of God’ (Gen 1:27).
- Communication leading to Communion, culminating in union of hearts and minds.
- The result is the focus or convergence on the needy, the marginalized, the exploited, and the neglected for total and integral human liberation and fullness of life in God.
- Needed: cura personalis, cura apostolica, cura communitatis
Life and Mission: Past, Present, Future – Incarnational (ie. Relational and relativizing)
Let us have a bird’s eye-view of the ministries we are engaged in so that we could review and revitalize them through discernment in common. Our ministries are incarnational which means relational.
Cura personalis: Growing in knowledge and wisdom as Jesus did (Lk 2:52)
- Formation: Each one is a sign and light/beacon of vocation promotion. Our conviction of our Call and our daily response becomes vocation promotion as well as sustaining the vocation received (through accompaniment). This is ensured through formation of formators as most important of all formations and ongoing formation as important as formal formation (especially mid-life crisis through constant updating of skills).
- Spirituality: Charism of the Congregation is the Principle and Foundation of our Life and Mission. Revisiting the mind of the founder/foundress in today’s context is to enliven and enrich us with ascending awareness and descending grace. The two vibrating aspects are: i. seeing everything new; and ii. seeing God in everything and seeking everything in God – ie. Seeing God working for ‘me’ in created beings (SpEx 233) and my continuing His work as Paul says, to “fulfill what is to be completed in Christ’s redemption” (Col 1:24). This boils down in concrete as faith that does Justice; and faith and reconciliation (Triple reconciliation: with God, others, and Nature). In concrete, this would imply protecting the vulnerable and defending the overlooked and the exploited – the crucified people.
Finding God in all things is practical, sensible, and user-friendly spirituality. Spirituality is just searching for God. Our search for God is often like that of Naaman’s (2 Kg 5:10) looking for cure from leprosy. We’re searching for something spectacular to convince us of God’s presence. Yet it is the simple things, common events and common interventions, where God may be found.
It is again, our searching for God and God reaching out to us: It is ascribed to the revelation of God to Prophet Muhammed: If [my servant] draws nearer to me by a hands-breadth, I draw nearer to him by an arms-length; and if he draws nearer to me by an arms-length, I draw nearer to him by a fathom; and if he comes to me walking, I come to him running. Prayer is “a long, loving look at the real” [Cf. J. Martin, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, 2021]. Prayer is a two-way street: ascending awareness and descending grace. And prayer, in the words of the author of The Cloud of the Unknowing, is blind intent stretching to God.
Cura communitatis: Enriching and enlivening community life
- Community and Leadership: Formation for mission has become formation in mission. And now community itself is our mission. Community is the nursery of our mission field; preparing us for intra, inter, and trans relationships (that is, with oneself, with others in the Community, and with God and people). Rooted in Christ, integrated formation as per Congregation charism, becomes sublimation in our mission for the target people. This needs inspiring each other and our engagement in collaboration. It should not be: coming together without invitation/expectation; working together without knowing each other; and departing without regret.
Life and Mission liken a ship. A ship needs delicate balance between the gravitational pull of the sea and the buoyancy push of the waves of water. The Leader of the Community is the captain who steers life and mission with a delicate balance between fullness of mission and wellness of life. She should be able to surf through crisis to catastrophe. And when needed she needs to send in ‘Mayday’ message (from French: Venez m’aider – meaning: come and help me), a SOS/distress signal sent out when the ship is sinking, to others for timely help.
Community life is to “connect and correct.” You are invited into a community to connect with one another as per a tradition (namely, charism and tradition of the Congregation). At the same time, you are corrected when you need to be. And you may be called to correct your own community through a special kind of discernment in common and with humility. We also let our partners in mission to correct us in the process of getting connected with them.
- Health Care: Primary health center is the need of the hour (100,000 children die every year in India due to poor sanitation and hygiene). Hygiene awareness and practice; protection of children and vulnerable young adults; addressing human trafficking; alternate medical system (home herbal garden) etc are new vistas that could be explored.
Cura apostolica: ‘The world is charged with the grandeur of God’ (Gerard Manley Hopkins) and ‘the Glory of God is human beings fully alive’ (Irenaeus).
- Education: Education is initiated with intellectual information; evolves into holistic formation; and culminates as social transformation. To start with, the outcome of education aims at critical thinking, imbibing ethical values, conviction of justice and fairness, formation of leaders and entrepreneurs with social responsibility. Today’s youth lack self-awareness, self-esteem and self-confidence; and they are drawn into substance abuse (especially alcohol and drugs). They need mentoring and counselling. Our educational pedagogy should become key to liberation and empowerment. Further, research is as integral part of education to find out the root causes of poverty as well as viable solution (Pope Francis).
- Evangelization: We are contemplatives in action. Jesus was active during day time (He did not have time to even eat and rest – Mk 6:31) but at night time He spent time in prayer (re-charging His battery of healing power). We need to do the same in order to deepen and rekindle faith among the people we serve. Ours is a universal mission. That is, there are sheep not belonging to our fold (Jn 10:16) and we need to look for new vistas and should be ready to take roads less travelled.
- Social Apostolate: Faith and justice are the two sides of religious life, especially option for the neglected and the ignored (such as the transgender etc) with the need for rural informal and non-formal education in human rights, hygiene, public health etc. They need political awareness and empowerment in local administration. Special care for child protection (as over 90% of children experience some form of abuse before the age of 18; and 1 in 10 child labourers are from India, that is, 3.9% child labourers in the world) and vulnerable adults. Our mission is based on justice to people and justice to the nature (environmental protection) based on ethics in all walks of life especially in business and industry.
- Finance and Property: What we ‘own’ is not ours; but we are only stewards of money and property to be used for the wellness of people entrusted to us. Hence, clarity with regard to temporal administration would be needed. Financial administration would need transparency and accountability (account vs accountability – account: numbers to tally but accountability: transparency). So policy with regard to money and ministry need to be drawn carefully and clearly (Money is means and ministry is the end).
Dynamics of Mission: Formation, Research, Service
The propelling dynamism of religious life is ‘translating’ the incarnational/relational God to the human beings; and ‘transforming’ the human into the divine. And with regard to our mission we are always on the move, en route to some new mission with open mind for the service of the needy. It means that we are always on the road to God, and the more we come to understand the destination, the more we feel at home on the road, since God is our destination (The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything, p. 394). In all our ministries we mean only God; but meet Him in His people. We could start with focus on formation for all ministries especially second rank leaders; and research with regard to ground reality, needs, and opportunities from the perspective of the people at the margins as well as planning (long and short-term) for their liberation and empowerment.
Quo vadis?: Synodality – top-down or bottom-up + Networking
Jesus said: I am the light of the world (Jn 8:12) –
He also said: You are the light of the world (Mt 5:14).
And our work is the imitation, continuation, and echo of His work
Who went about doing good –
Proclaiming liberty to the captives (Lk 4:18) and healing the sick (Mt 4:23).
In the Spiritual Exercises Ignatius asks us to imagine ourselves “labouring” with God and God “labouring” on our behalf in created beings (SpEx 233). So we set out to work with God to build a better world. And God sees the fruit of our labour, even if others do not or cannot.
Our Call and Response: to be alive, to be alert, and to align
- To be alive to oneself: We are contemplatives in action. That is, listening to God in prayer, keeping in touch with the still small voice within, and finding God in the people (the echo of God’s voice is the cry of the poor); and seeing the world in an incarnational way, God becoming diffused and mingled in the world we see, work, and live.
- To be alert to the needs of the people: God telling Moses, ‘let my people go’ (Ex 5:1) in liberty and dignity. We see the world with the eyes of the poor; and we listen to their cry with the ear’s God and act individually and collectively.
- To align our works with the work of God: We do, not what we want to do, but what is needed to be done, with a spirit of detachment (indifference) and freedom from personal likes and dislikes. And that way, completing what is lacking (or what needs to be completed) in Christ’s redemptive work (Col 1:24). It is aligning the call of God with the need of His people.
We have been called and we are here and let us listen again to the call of God as well as to the cry of the people. Let us start here and now:
Desire changes nothing,
Decision changes something,
But
Determination changes everything.
Francis P Xavier SJ
07Aug2023