Fourth Sunday of Advent Is 7:10-14; Rom 1:1-7; Mt 1:18-24 Belonging to the Lord

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Is 7:10-14; Rom 1:1-7;  Mt 1:18-24

Belonging to the Lord

 

“I Belong to Jesus” reads the t-shirt that world famous  Brazilian foot ball player Ricky Kaká  wears under his jersey. As is the custom in soccer, he rips off his jersey when he scores a goal — and there, he testifies his faith in Jesus to the whole world.  Not only Kaká but we too are called to proclaim that we belong to the Lord. We are a few days away from celebrating Christmas wherein we celebrate our belongingness to the Lord. In Christmas, Jesus comes to take possession of us and Jesus wants to be the in-charge of our lives. The Christian needs to understand that he or she is a person belonging to the Lord. Christmas is God with us and a joyful proclamation, “I belong to the Lord”.  We need to examine ourselves to see how we live this belongingness to God in our daily lives. 

We read in the Gospel the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus. Joseph had just decided to divorce Mary in accordance with the Law on account of her unexpected pregnancy, but upon the Angel’s reassurance he takes Mary as his wife. We admire the total obedience of Joseph and his submission God’s will. Mary was asked to take up a burden of tremendous responsibility, to be the Mother of God. Joseph and Mary underwent difficult moments but they remained obedient to the voice of God. Where did Mary get the courage to accept the call to be the Mother of God? How could Joseph listen to the Angel and took Mary as wife despite she was found to be with a child? It is their sense of belongingness to the Lord and that God is with them that brought them together and to give themselves fully for the plan of God. Mary and Joseph through their choices to be the mother and foster father of Jesus proclaimed the fact they indeed belonged to God. Paul in the second reading describes himself as a slave of Christ Jesus and as one called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God. Paul in other words says that He belongs to Jesus!

Belonging to the Lord means we are God’s own special people. We are so special to God that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to be with us. This is what we hear in the Gospel, “and they shall name him Emmanuel which means, God is with us.”  When we belong to Jesus, we come to accept ourselves as a child of Jesus, a friend of Jesus and a lover of Jesus. Joseph and Mary accepted themselves as a couple specially chosen by God and they were least concerned about what the society would think of them. We are always special in the eyes of God and no one can change the fact that we always belong to Jesus. Sometimes we don’t realize that we  belong to God.  We may not live our lives and treat others as if we belong to God.  But God has created us as His children.  He has breathed into us life and  has given us everything we need.  In the sacrament of  Baptism we allowed God to lay his claim to us.  We are marked with the sign of the cross.  It’s  a statement that the whole of our lives belong to God.  So, if we really want to reach our full potential and discover who we are we would do well to look to God.  It’s to him that we belong!

 

Belonging to the Lord means giving totally to Him. While it is a privillege that we belong to the lord, it is also task to live as one. It requires an unimaginable generosity. Like Joseph and Mary we too are called to give ourselves generously to God. They withheld nothing when it came to giving to God. Paul addresses himself as a slave. He gave up everything for the sake of Jesus. Belonging to Jesus can never be a half-hearted thing. Nor can we expect such belonging to be convenient. Wholeheartedness and only wholeheartedness in following Jesus will confirm our belongingness to the Lord. In Christmas we see God’s generosity in action in His coming to be with us. We need to be generous in our response to God with a total belonging to Him. Can I say that I belong to Jesus always?

 

Belonging to the Lord means listening to God. Mary and Joseph listened to God and became the earthly parents of the Messiah, the Saviour of the World. Listening to God requires a right attitude in our hearts. In order to listen to God and receive His instruction we must want to do His will like Mary and Joseph. The only way we can grow in our belongingness to the Lord is through listening to God’s voice. God speaks to us in various ways today. We need to be attuned to His voice and be willing to carry it out in our lives. We show that we belong to the Lord by our regular participation in the Eucharist,  reading the Word of God and seeking God in prayer. Yes. God chose to be born as one of us to be with us. Do we belong to the Lord? How do we live our belongingness to the Lord.

Religious Life in need of urgent change

The religious life is in need of a radical renewal today. We acknowledge with great esteem the way the religious live their mission and charism in India but at the same time there is an urgency to restore the credibility of our religious life. The church worldwide finds itself in the crisis in various areas. This is however is not a new situation. Church has survived for the last two thousand years and has overcome all the crises she had faced. The crises have been overcome for the larger part by the dedication and commitment of those who responded to the crises with a new way of life. The religious congregations have been founded in those crisis situations to address the issues. Over the period of time however the religious congregations have lost the original intention and the radicalism of the founders and the religious congregations today have become merely institutions!
Pope Francis said that church cannot become an NGO and that the priests are not functionaries. In this light, it may be good to look into what we are doing as religious in the name of mission. Our missionary endeavours need to reflect the spirit of Gospel and the evangelical vows. The provincial chapters and the various meetings organised at the congregational level, provincial level and national level often raise an alarm over our convenient life style and the need for prophetic and missionary presence in the world. Somehow it is not realized in actuality! The religious life is infected with craving for power, money, fame and popularity. We go to any length to see that our institutions become the number one! We see that we make good profit from the institutions! In some places we end up serving the wealthy who actually do need us to run an institution because with the money that the rich have they will get such service even if we do not provide. There is another quite a big society who cannot afford even an ordinary life who in fact need our service.
I read in an article on the religious life the following. “Excessive institutionalisation has sucked the spirit and vitality of religious life today. Increasingly, security of the institution has removed the basic insecurity demanded by the Gospel. Though religious life is of its essence prophetic, prophecy has become easily institutionalised by achievement. Religious are no longer seen as the people on the cutting edge, but rather are viewed as people intimately connected with maintaining the institutions of society.” I am not cynical about and disillusioned with the religious life. I believe in the innate power of religious life. I deeply believe that the religious can today make strong impact in the world and I only feel that it is time that we take our presence seriously and do justice to what we have professed to live by. Do we dare to come out of the existential and established and institutionalised life style to become gospel witnesses in its truest sense? When we engage ourselves in institutionalised ministries which sometimes end up serving the rich and creates possibilities for financial gain, we are influenced by the mentality of this competitive and business world. This has a great bearing on our presence as religious and to those who come to join us. Such works carried out in the name of mission and service fail to inspire the young and they fail to be witnesses of Gospel values. They become the opposite – counter cultural witnesses to Gospel itself.
The formation of those who come to embrace the religious life is very crucial. The young cannot afford to see the complacency that is widely present in the religious life. We cannot present to the young false ideals and visions. We cannot ask the young to profess the evangelical vows without ensuring that we create all possibilities and environments to live the vows. A young religious does not come to us to be a teacher and a nurse and a social worker if these works are not carried out in accordance with the Gospel values. Our vocation promotion brochures often highlight the number of institutions that we proudly run. Vocation promotion sometimes ends up being a programme of recruiting personnel to run the institutions. There is still fire among the religious. There are a large number of religious who dare to live their commitment truly and authentically. Let us not find a reprieve in those who are true and committed and who have even laid down their lives serving the needy! They are just a few! The mind-set that influences the decision making must change! A courageous and daring initiative to move out of cozy-institutionalised-comfort zones to be among the needy and poor is the need of time. Can the Leadership who are responsible to lead the respective congregations in the footsteps of the founders embark on a change that is so urgent today? Failing to change, we will be consciously pushing our religious life into irrelevance and destruction!

Views on Franciscan Formation

Views on Franciscan Formation

May the Lord give you Peace!

1. I am here to expound on my views on Formation I am aware that the thoughts contained herein may appear as the perspective of a single friar. Yet, I request you to accept my observations on formation as a collective view of the students in formation. I can assure you that they do share with the concerns raised here.

2. At the outset let me strike the chord of gratitude to the Provincial Administration, Secretariat for Formation and Studies, Guardians and all the formators for their hard work and contribution towards the formation in the Province. It is because of the formators, that we the young nurture our vocation and mature in our Franciscan calling. We thank you dear formators for your service towards us, the young.

3. The documents of the Order have been constantly reiterating that we are a fraternity-in mission. In order to realize this ideal we need to see ourselves and especially a house of formation as a fraternity-in-formation. It is a fraternity where the formator and formee together realize the responsibility towards one’s own formation, where the service of formation is ministered and received with joy, love, understanding, generosity, availability, freedom and fidelity, where the Franciscan vocation and mission is presented in all their beauty, radicalism and with all their demands and where there exists a true bond of brotherhood enjoying the diversity of everyone.

4. Establishing fraternity-in-formation has a lot to do with the discernment of the candidates to be formators and the suitable formation of those called to give the service of the formators. The ministry of formation invites the formators to manifest their solid conviction of their vocational option and their great sense of belonging to the Province and the Order, to show the students in formation the beauty of Franciscan vocation not only in words but more eloquently in deeds. The formators need to assume the ministry of formation with eagerness and willingness. If a friar explicitly expresses his displeasure and disapproval to be a formator, it is better to exempt him from the ministry of formation. Going ahead with him will surely have a negative impact on formation.

5. The students in formation will receive an immense good in Franciscan formation only if the formators consider the ministry of formation a full-time responsibility and deliberately refuse to take up any other work that come in the way of formation. Sometimes it happens that the formators are given other jobs or they themselves find other responsibilities that prevent them from carrying out their full service and with necessary serenity.

6. The concept of Personal Accompaniment needs to be given a serious consideration in our formation programme. The Formators need to sketch out their own ways of accompanying the students through regular one-to-one meetings at least once a month – preferably more and through their involvement in the community activities like prayer, faith sharing, games, work, and recreation and also through other suitable means. Personal accompaniment by the formators or formation team as a whole in formation-related activities during the initial formation is indispensable. It is highly desired that the formators be always available to the students and actively accompany them all through their formation. Each formator needs to be demanding in the formation of the young, to assure the friars in initial formation and in the early years after solemn profession of suitable personalized accompaniment. There needs to be a system to ensure this.

7. The area of discernment must be given its due importance too. Attentive discernment can take place only through a dialogue between the formators and the students in formation on a regular basis and suitable duration. Contact between the formee and the formators needs to be personal, deep and sacred and not formal, peripheral and shallow. The climax of the process of discernment that takes place every year in the formation house is the annual evaluation. With regard to the evaluation procedures, I propose that the student who is evaluated upon is also present during the time of evaluation before the formation team. The motive behind the evaluation is to get a better insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates in order to guide the latter in their progress and in making decision about their vocation. If so, let there be mutual trust, genuine and effective dialogue between the formators and the students. The presence of the student friar at the time of evaluation will not hinder but enhance the goal of the evaluation.

8. We are a fraternity and we go on mission as a fraternity. So it is absolutely essential to guarantee to the students in formation a proper initiation into the fraternal living. It is of the highest importance to initiate, to direct, to show the students in formation the manner in which the fraternal living is done. The stages of formation succeeding the novitiate must ensure the appropriate ways and means to live out the Profession and grow in the Franciscan vocation. Hence in these years, formation needs to be convincing of Franciscan forma vitae. Living together in fraternity implies interacting with persons of various backgrounds, temperaments, cultures and practices. It is not an automatic process. One needs to be initiated into, taught by word and example the dynamics involved in such a life in common. In this regard, faith sharing, group prayer, group discussions on life-related issues, group therapy, social gathering and psychological aids will be very much helpful.

9. It is fundamentally the work and expertise of the formation faculty to asses the formee’s aptitude for ministry and his ability to live the Franciscan Charism. The responsibility to discern the formee’s capacity for future ministry is important too. The key however is the initiative of the formees to begin to express in words and deeds what they are and what they are not. Otherwise the formators will have no clue to recognize and promote a person’s talents and goodness. Once talents and interests of people are recognized and verified through a process of accompaniment, the best way to acknowledge and encourage them is by initiating them to contribute to the world, the Church and Order with what they have.

10. The students in formation should have powerful and prolonged experiences of concrete social problems in the areas of justice and peace by ways of ministries and with the preparation and accompaniment by the formators. It is these experiences which go a long way in forming the essential values of minority, poverty and solidarity. It is necessary that the intellectual formation needs to coexist with the practical formation. Formation that is merely conceptual may cultivate the intelligence but it will hardly affect one’s heart, sentiments and will have a little influence on everyday life. A divorce between the class rooms and the society is not healthy for Franciscan formation. The subjects taught need to have practical implications for our life and future as Franciscans.

11. We are in a changing world. We recognize that the formation service given to the students in this complex world is in a process of rapid change. Hence our plan for formation in the province stands in need of a revision and reformulation. It is a pressing need to draw up a new plan of formation for our province so as to re-situate our formation in the changing context of our country. The plan of formation containing guiding principles and concrete methods for accompaniment and discernment will assure an effective formation. It is of great importance to form a committee of friars soon involving even the students in formation for the purpose of drawing up of a new plan of formation.

12. We Franciscans have a glorious past, thanks to our ancestors because of whom we boast of a glorious past. We Franciscans have a promising future, thanks to the manifold young who show sincerity and openness to embrace our forma vitae. That we Franciscans have a dynamic present depends on you and me, on our efforts to close the gap – perhaps it is narrowing – between the ideals we profess as friars and our actual life we live as friars. The damage that this gap is causing is grave among the younger friars. How can we close the gap? The Rule, GGCC, PS and documents of the Order should serve us to this end. It is with ease that we forget or read in a static and superficial way, these vital documents of the Order. These documents help us discern and renew our life options and the bridge the gap. Hence these documents deserve the prime importance in formation so as to show the students in formation the beauty, radicalism and relevance of Franciscan vocation.

13. As a formee, I have tried to be objective and realistic in my presentation. My presentation is based on the insights drawn from Ratio Formationis Franciscanae. Faithful adherence to its guidance will pave a way for a formation experience that is joyful to minister and to receive. Thank you for this opportunity to share my views on formation. Thank you to one and all for your service as formators. In 2006, Bro. M.G told us the friars in India, “looking at such a youthful gathering and seeing so many young brothers how can we not dream of a different future?” To make sure that our future will be different and not merely remain a dream depends on our steps to provide an appropriate formation to the young.

PAASAM at Dindigul – A Franciscan Evangelization – Ministry toward HIV/AIDS infected brothers and sisters in India

PAASAM at Dindigul – A Franciscan Evangelization

 At the centre of Franciscan life is found the experience of faith in God in the personal encounter with Jesus Christ in the abandoned brothers and sisters of the present day world. 

Moved by the love above the ordinary, stirred by the desire above the ordinary, pressed by the emotion above the ordinary, St. Francis of Assisi ran forth, put his hands around, embraced and kissed the foul-smelling leper. This unique and distinctive action signalled a new forma-vitae and a new message in the world. It is now eight centuries since St Francis first gave his way of life to the world. Yet no one can doubt its relevance or its power to attract even in our times. The witness given by Francis goes far beyond the limits of his own day and culture

Led by love, desire, and emotion above the ordinary and remaining faithful to the charism of Francis, the members of the Franciscan Brotherhood at PAASAM (Plan of Action for AIDS victims and Social Action Movement) have embraced the present day lepers, the people infected by HIV, with the intention of accepting them and treating them as their brothers and sisters. PAASAM in Tamil means ‘motherly affection’, and for her members, PAASAM is a home where they get care, support, love, affection and dignity.  Friar Arulsamy, the Director and Friar Joseph, the Assistant Director and the staff of PAASAM give themselves in total commitment to serve the HIV-affected brothers and sisters.  PAASAM indeed is a Franciscan Evangelization!

As part of my summer ministry I had a meaningful, enriching and strengthening experience at PAASAM. This was my first experience with the HIV victims. As I had never related to them before, I had developed several false ideas about them. When I reached PAASAM and began to share my life with these brothers and sisters, my false ideas and thoughts disappeared. I met a number of HIV-infected brothers and sisters who are dying everyday. They wept as they narrated their agonizing experiences of life. I found myself with no words to console them. All that I could do was to listen to their life stories attentively.

 

The district of Dindigul stands fourth in the list of the number of HIV-infected persons in the state of Tamilnadu. Hence there is immense need for care and support for the HIV victims in this district. From the time of its birth PAASAM has undertaken various activities with an objective of spreading awareness as well as giving medical, nutritional and counseling support for the people living with HIV.

Most of the members of PAASAM are widows who were brought to their unfortunate situation because of their husbands. There are a few HIV-infected children as members of PAASAM. A widow, while sharing her life story, said, “The only property that my husband has left behind for my children and me is HIV.” The women and children endure this agonizing condition for no fault of their own. This is what really makes me ponder!

HIV-infected people face discrimination and isolation from the society. Even their near and dear ones abandon them. Besides the health related problems, the stigma and disgrace that the HIV-infected brothers and sisters suffer make their life all the more miserable. Unable to cope with their depressing and hopeless situation, a few women have attempted suicide. It takes great courage for a HIV-infected person to accept his/her distressing condition and to carry on living. It is here that we have a role to play. PAASAM is involved in making these struggling people strong in their resolve to live a meaningful life. PAASAM conducts several meetings regularly to instill hope in them and to tell them that they deserve to live.

We have five women staff who are also HIV-infected. Their main work is to visit the members of PAASAM in their houses to see how they are in their health and other areas of life and to report the visit later at the office. I accompanied them on a few occasions. It was indeed touching to see these brothers and sisters living in extreme poverty. These visits make them happy and they feel affirmed that there is someone to care for them.

Once I visited a HIV-infected man who was helpless as his health was worsening day by day because of Tuberculosis. He had a large tumour on his neck and was coughing frequently. His wife committed suicide a year ago once she came to know that her husband was infected with HIV. His only son was taken by his wife’s family members. He was living with his aged mother who herself was sick.  He had no proper food, medicine and money to travel to the government hospital. His situation was really pathetic. When I spoke to him in his house, he said that he was contemplating suicide for sometime and that if we had not gone to his house, he would have died. When we brought his case to the PAASAM office, they were quick to make arrangements for his treatment and other things.

 

The HIV-infected brothers and sisters frequent the PAASAM office because they feel at home there. There are many who come to the office seeking medical assistance. They are treated immediately and given medicine free of cost. There are others who come for counselling; they are listened to and given advice and support. Then there are those who come to the PAASAM office just to be there and they are given a smiling welcome.  Nutritional care is given once a month to those who live in extreme poverty. More than the material assistance, it is the love, care, concern, support and affection received by the HIV-infected brothers and sisters from PAASAM that keep them going in life.

As Franciscans we are all called to proclaim the Kingdom of God in and through our life and mission. This will be a visible reality when we strive to live our experience of faith in the midst of Human community, when we create a fraternity of love and service open to all, when we live in simplicity and work and when we participate in the pain, suffering and hopes of the marginalized, discriminated, sick, needy and poor. I find this vision of Franciscan life taking a concrete form and shape in PAASAM where we friars are a leaven of the gospel, sharing our life with the poor and the abandoned of our times – the people with HIV. However, this is a formidable task which requires courage, audacity and commitment.

 

Free the Religious life from Institutions

Free the Religious life from Institutions

I wish to expound in this article on how a certain type of institutions run by the religious affects the face of the religious. At the outset, I wish to thank those institutions which are established with a primary motive to serve the poor, marginalised and deprived. My opinion is directed to those institutions run by the religious with a profit motive. The religious life which is born out of an original inspiration of a founder, goes through a gradual process of growth. It is a response to the times and growing number of vocations. In such a process which is long, tedious and needful, various developments within the religious life take place. It is important that every religious form of life must respond to the needs of the time but at the same time should not compromise that original inspiration of the founder. Such responses however involve big decisions. It is indispensable now to look into various decisions that we have made over a period of many years in our efforts to make our life relevant to the signs of the times. The big question however is whether our decisions have compromised the original inspiration of the founder.

We are responsible for our choices and decisions to go for big buildings and institutional structures when poverty is still a serious problem among the people. We are answerable to serious questions about why we went for an upper middleclass life style as religious when we professed to live by poverty. We are called to look deeply into our urges to have our religious houses around the developed areas when people in the remotest and underdeveloped villages wait for some saviours. How can we justify our efforts to build high standard schools, colleges, institutes and universities where poor have no possibility to get in? We are accountable to the fact that we fail to compromise on the success rate of our educational institutions when we ignored to give the same qualitative education for the children living in the villages and slums. We are guilty if we run an institution with a profit motive even that is only a little.

Can we really consider it a success when we admit only the excellent students with the distinction and then we pull off a hundred percent pass and even some rank holders? Will it not be a true happiness if we admit those students who are just average or below average in their performance and help them to score good marks or even pass in all subjects? While private enterprises can today run educational or health institutions to a great standard by offering expensive services, is it not right to ask as to why we should not leave serving the rich and privileged to such private sectors and move deep into villages who are cut off from the big cities where we have been running our projects? The worth of a religious sometimes is sadly dependent on the buildings one puts up or the money one gathers for the Parish or the Congregation. The value of a religious however must be on the work one does to uplift the poor and marginalised and the deprived ones the society and how truthful one remains to one’s call.

I know I sound crazy with all these aforementioned accusations. The rebuttal for such controversial allegations could be a reference to a number of charitable ministries, free educational institutes and health care projects run by the religious today in various parts of our country. I admit with great appreciation and respect that we have done enormous good to the society through our various charitable projects. This however is no excuse to question the underlying reasons for running big institutions where only the rich and creamy layer of the society could find a place in. While there are still poor and deprived scattered throughout the country who are not able to find a reasonable and decent life why are we obsessed with our big and so called standard institutes? I will be foolish to out rightly deny the need for institutions but at the same time it will be gravely fatal if we do not admit the fact that we need to reconsider some of our decisions to set up big institutions which stand as the visible denial of our option for poor.

Returning to the founder’s charism is a bold act and such act threatens our institutionalised life style. There is so much talk nowadays about updating and changing and adapting, and becoming modern in religious life. It takes real strength to remain faithful to the founder’s charism, come what may. Religious must trust that the Holy Spirit speaking through the Church will indeed bring special graces to religious today who honestly strive to recover the spirit of their founder. Church in India needs a revolution oriented towards reviving and restoring the true identity of Church. This revolution can be made possible only when we as religious journey back to the origins of our religious life and the original inspiration of the founder. This however is not easy, it involves a great discernment to know where we are and a great audacity to put ourselves in an exodus from where we are to where we should be. In order that this revolution may work, it entails an undertaking of downsizing of our structures and activities and prioritizing the indispensable dimensions of our religious charism and thus being a prophetic presence in the society today. This takes much courage born of conviction based on faith.

What an evangelical witness it would be if we give up our big structures and institutions and opt to live for poor and underprivileged by a life style that identifies with the poor of today. My arguments can be completely ruled out as irrational an impractical because they sound so. It is a wish: “How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!” If you rule out this wish as impossible then you are questioning the very wish of Pope Francis. Pope Francis with his new and innovative gestures of renouncing rich entitlements shows us clearly that what once considered as irrational can well be made reasonable. He opted to wear an ordinary cross around his neck in place of a gold one. He preferred same seat arrangement with the guests in place of a traditional throne-chair. He opted to wash the feet of inmates of juvenile home on Holy Thursday. Even before he became a Pope, he was a visible evangelization. As the Cardinal in Buenos Aires, he gave the cardinal’s palace to a missionary order with no money. He chose to live in an apartment, cooked his own food and rode the bus. A cardinal doing that! No sooner he became a pope, he picked up his own luggage, paid his own hotel bill, shunned security, refused a limousine and got on a minibus with the Cardinals. I drag Pope Francis into discussion only to reveal how he made the “impossible and unreasonable” into actualities. Pope Francis explicates that he will not compromise what Petrine ministry is originally intended for. Is it not right to follow his example to journey back to the origins of religious life and what it was actually intended for so as to make our present life current and contagious?

Institutions are needful and important but not at the cost of compromising the origins of religious life. We have often heard about the need for “Renewal” in our religious life and that begins from freeing religious life from institutions. This is a prophetic and challenging task which involves a great discernment, bold decision-making and lucidity to make our religious life a true evangelical witness.

In the words of the Minister General…

In the words of the Minister General…
(Formation, Formators, Our Charism and Challenge today)
This article contains the exact answers given by the Minister General to the questions posted in the website of the Order of Friars Minor. The questions are posted by the friars worldwide. You can find these questions and answers in a section called Dialogue with the MG and in the following link: http://www.ofm.org/ofm/?page_id=3345&lang=en.

Sent by friar John Sekar
The most pressing urgency in the area of initial formation
The challenges of formation are numerous, but perhaps the most urgent is the preparation / formation of formators – as it is obvious from the survey conducted in the Order by the Commission on the interdisciplinary study of the situation of the Order proposed by the General Chapter of 2009 (cf. mandate 14) and approved by the General Definitory. When asked about the choices to be made in the next six years, 53.6 percent of respondents (a total of 1408) say that the most important option is preparing formators. Moreover, when asked about the main weakness in initial formation 54.7 percent stated that it lies with the lack of formation of formators.
In my visits to the Provinces, I find that most formators take their task with responsibility and competence. There are very good formators. I extend my esteem and fraternal appreciation to all of them. At the same time, it is not hard to find formators who are forced to do so, who do not have any specific formation, and who share this “ministry” with many other ministries. Not lacking are those who leave the Order while they are formators. In all these cases, formation suffers much because there is hardly the necessary accompaniment.
Provinces are urged to take very seriously the formation of formators. The Order is in need of qualified formators who are prepared. Today more than ever the “ministry” of formation cannot be improvised. It is not enough to be a good brother to put him in front of formation. Besides that, we need to give them the necessary tools to accomplish their mission. The “masters degree” of formation for formators – which for some years have been conducted at the Pontifical Antonianum University – is a good formation structure for such a delicate ministry.
Furthermore, it is urgent that formators should be freed up from other services that seriously compromise their work in formation, such as being guardians, pastors, teachers “full time”. It is also necessary to live passionately this ministry as a priority. Both Provincial Ministers and formators themselves, as indicating in our RFF (cf. ns. 135-157), must be reminded that a formator must be “a person skilled in the ways that lead to God, in order to be well able to accompany others on this journey “. Furthermore, his main mission is to show “the beauty of following Christ” and love for own charism (cf. VC 66) (cf. MG).
Hindrances in the work of a Formator
There are many elements that may hinder the work of formation, but among them, I would single out the “double teachings”. When I speak of “double teachings” I mean what the members of a formative fraternity or not directly formative “say” or “intend”, by their words or example, so that their is a “collision” between what they “say” and what they “intend” directly. In such cases our brothers in initial formation will easily stay with what suits them most and often it is those who talk who are not directly in front of the various formative stages.
This possibility highlights, first of all, the need to care for what makes up a formative fraternity. All solemnly professed brothers, and not just the formators, are called to this task and help our brothers in initial formation “to grow in their Franciscan vocation” (Ratio Formationis Franciscanae (= RF 125), knowing that this comes about through “daily participation in the life of a particular fraternity” (RFF 126). Therefore, in Formation fraternities special care must be that taken that the “quality of community life and prayer” is preserved by having “a fraternal life project that is the fruit of a communal discernment”, where all show the “will to confront conflicts and solve them”. It should be done in a way that all are willing to “grow together and assume a formative relationship with the brothers and candidates in formation” (cf. RFF 127).
A formative fraternity has to foster confidence, dialogue, and courtesy. At the same time, it has to create an environment that encourages personal and community prayer, study, and work (cf. RFF 129ss).
To avoid “double teaching”, it is also important that all the brothers of the Province should assume joyfully his responsibility in the formation of our younger brothers and candidates. It is clear that in a Province, relative to formation, there are only two kinds of brothers: Formators or deformers. There is no other possibility. We must choose. In this sense, we must assume that formation is the only “humus” which can guarantee true initial formation (cf. RFF 107ss) (MG).
Can we live today the Franciscan charism as our father Francis lived and proposed it?
Dear Brother, as you confess yourself in the letter where you ask this question, many people will tell you to stop dreaming; that you have to be realístic; that times have changed … I see all these answers as excuses in favor of mediocrity and life choices that have nothing to do with what we have professed, i.e., taking the Gospel as a rule and life, to “follow Christ more closely.” Everything can be justified, but certainly not from the Gospel and from the way of life we have embraced. Our goal is not mediocrity, but a life in accordance with Christ, so as to be “living Gospels” as Brother Francis was. Based on your letter, I think you are in Initial formation. Both Initial and ongoing formation aims at being transformed in Christ (cf. VC 65) and being an “alter Christus”. Certainly, that is a lofty goal, so high that we can never say that we have achieved it. But precisely because of that, formation never ends. As our Ratio states, the first call will conclude with a visit by “sister bodily death” (cf. RFF, 1), and that “the formation never ends” (VC 65).
I often tell young people like you to trust everyone … but be wary of those who are not demanding with you because it is clear they do not want the best for you. Beware of them and do not listen to them. God forbid they should ever be your formators.
In your letter you also refer to situations happening in your entity which make you feel the temptation to discouragement. Dear brother, do not let the fallen tree, because of human frailty or an a-critical adaptation to the negative values of our world, blind you from ever seeing the forest for the many brothers who are still standing, even amid great difficulties sustained by the grace of God and their determination to remain faithful. Fly high and do not let anyone, for the sake of suffocating realism, cut the wings.
And if you had the misfortune of falling, then get up and walk back in the hands of the One who does not leave you in the depths of the pit. Making my own the words of Saint Francis, I say, “Trust in the Lord and he will take care of you.” Do not linger in the mud of mediocrity, as Sister Clare asked us; rather “with swift pace, nible step, and feet that do not stumble” (2LtCl 12), you can follow the One whose love enamors (4LtCl 11) and who, as St. Francis confessed, is everything (cf. PrGod 4). Always remember the beginning of your discipleship, which, as I can tell from your letter, there has been much ardor and passion (cf. 2LtCl 11); and that no one and nothing should dissuade you from your purpose to follow Christ radically (cf. 2LtCl 14). “And the work that you began well, finish” (5CtaCl 14). Great is, dear brother, what we have promised, but even greater, is what has been promised to us. GO FORWARD! ALWAYS AHEAD!” as our brother, Blessed Juniper Serra said, the third anniversary of whose birth we celebrate this year.
The challenge today
Our Order has many challenges, but “the biggest challenge” for us as it is for many other Institutes of Consecrated and Religious Life, is that of making our life and mission significant.
This entails, firstly, refocusing on our identity. This re-focus must be made in light of the requirements of our evangelical and charismatic way of life. At the same time, we have to be sensitive to the calls that come through the Church and the signs of the times, sparks of the Spirit that illuminate our path of creative fidelity to what we have promised. Responding to all this involves a great discernment, a great lucidity to know where we are, and great boldness to place ourselves in a stance of evangelical exodus, so that we can move from good to better. Only in this way will our way of life stay young, current and contagious. Making it significant will entail often carrying out the necessary downsizing of structures and activities, prioritizing the indispensable elements of our charism, i.e., the spirit of prayer and devotion, fraternal life in community, minority-poverty-solidarity, a Franciscan evangelization and initial and ongoing formation, so as to remain a prophetic presence in the Church and the world.
In this context, I think that the significance of our life and mission is urgent – as I repeated during the celebrations of the eighth centenary of the founding of our Order. We need to focus on the one thing necessary; we need to concentrate on the essential elements of our charism, and take the focus from ourselves and be, instead, evangelizers in the heart of the world. With clarity and boldness, let us respond to the great challenges that the Church and the world places before us! (M.G.).