II^ NEWS LETTER – GENERAL CHAPTER
ROOTED IN THE CHARISM
Considerations on the Guanellian Charism
Our identity has its foundations upon the charism we have received…
The charism, on which our identity is built, is nothing else than the gift given to Father Guanella by the Holy Spirit who “called the Founder, made ardent in charity, sent him to relieve human miseries and to reveal to the world that God provides for his children (C 1).”
This same gift is passed on us: “On us also the Spirit bestows the grace and the evangelical inspiration of the Founder to carry on his ministry of charity in the Church (C2).”
This gift constitutes our own name; it defines the goal we have to reach, and embraces every aspect of our life.
It is a gift we have to live and share with those who carry the same Guanellian name. It establishes bonds stronger that the bonds of flesh and blood. It has to be embraced for our neighbor not because it is related to our own sanctification or to the sanctification of the Congregation, but because it has been given to Father Guanella for the benefit of the universal Church and for the world (1Cor 1:7).
Together with the charism we have received, the Guanellian religious underlines a particular aspect of the divine reality, the Paternity of God. Helped by this personal relationship with God we find the true reason and strength to go to our neighbor and bring them this image of God.
Practical application:
- The charism is the name by which God has called us to life. It is also the journey - given to us - to carry out in the world our joy and vocation.
§§§ How strong is this identity in us?...
§§§ In our Communities, which are the signs of weakness in carry out our charismatic identity and sense of belonging?
§§§ What do you propose to strengthen the charismatic identity in our Congregation? - The charism, before being the gift that qualifies us for a specific ministry, is an inner experience that grows through a personal and communal prayer so that we may transform ourselves more and more into children of the Father, in Christ Jesus.
§§§ By what forms does our prayer express our charismatic identity?
§§§ Can you give some suggestions to the Congregation to emphasize more and more in our spiritual life the gift of the charism? (The numbers 29-37 of our Constitutions show some priorities we should give to our spirituality so that it may correspond better to the charism we have received). - The charism entrusts us a clear apostolic ministry, fruit of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration that “shares with us Jesus’ commission received from the Father: to announce the good news of salvation to the poor (Cost. n. 61).”… In a particular way “the Lord sends us to those fragile and abandoned brothers who, like the paralytic in the Gospel, come crying out, ‘Lord, I have no one!’ (Cost. n. 64).
In the following numbers, the Constitutions give some more specifications regarding the privileged recipients of our charism.
Our Guanellian ministry becomes central in evaluating our fidelity to the original inspiration of the charism. At this point, our reflection should take into consideration our Houses and the Activities that exemplify the charism. They are subject to change as society changes. They have to be updated constantly and with creativity according to the culture into which they are located, and yet be all the time faithful to the original charism.
§§§ Looking into your local Community and Province (or Delegation), can you offer some suggestions on how we can make the charism more relevant in our charitable apostolate?
§§§ Are we sufficiently satisfied on the way our Parishes and Houses transmit the charism? Giving sufficient “Bread and Lord?” Respecting the religious choices of our recipients?
§§§ Are the lay people working with us receiving sufficient help in carrying out their work as a mission and according to the Guanellian spirit? Can you describe the best instances of your experience?
§§§ Traditional ministry and new poverties... Do you have any suggestions? Which new needs should we promote? - The Guanellian charism inspires the form of our relationships among confreres, the recipients of our mission, and – at large – with the people with whom we carry out our mission. Family spirit and preventive method are part of our charismatic patrimony. “The character, the distinguishing mark of the Servants of Charity in the spiritual and religious field should be a spirit of great tolerance, of being broad-minded, and leaning toward mercy rather than justice.”
§§§ Some suggestions for a better family spirit within our communities, our Guanellian Family, and our recipients. - The charism even in the economy
The number 144 of our Constitutions - introducing the short chapter on the administration of temporal goods - summarizes the most important charismatic values of our charism in regard of the economy as a necessary means to “do a little good.”
I suggest the message that Pope Francis sent to the Symposium organized by the Congregation for Religious on the Economy.
§§§ You should read some paragraphs and underline a few points that you find more in keeping with your situation, so that we may live economy according to our Guanellian spirit. (Enclosed n.2) - Possibly, please, give some time to view the new numbers added to our Regulations on the subject “Charism” (Enclosed n. 1)
NB. On our web-site, look at the Rubrica dedicated to the XX General Chapter. There is a summary of the reflections made by some Communities on the First NEW LETTER of the XX GC. We are waiting for more contributions.
ENCLOSED N. 1
Le Proposte di integrazione ai nostri Regolamenti, sul tema del CARISMA.
Il capitolo generale sarà chiamato anche a approvare le modifiche che la Commissione, costituita per questo scopo, ha preparato. Generalmente si tratta di testi che sono stati ripresi dagli ultimi Capitoli generali sotto forma di mozioni, che la Commissione ha ritenuto conveniente inserire nei nostri Regolamenti.
Può servire, nella riflessione sul tema del Carisma, tener presente queste proposte, in modo da avere già un quadro in cui inserire altre riflessioni che faremo in preparazione al prossimo Capitolo.
NB Il testo in rosso corrisponde alle integrazioni da inserire nel Regolamento
Il testo normale in nero corrisponde al testo già presente negli attuali Regolamenti
Approfondimento e formazione al carisma
6.1 E’ compito specifico del governo generale incoraggiare un continuo approfondimento del carisma guanelliano promuovendo ricerche anche con la partecipazione di esperti. Si arricchisca questo studio attraverso la partecipazione di tutta la famiglia guanelliana.
Le province, in collaborazione con il centro studi diffondano documentazioni e studi sul Fondatore con traduzioni nelle lingue interessate.
Il superiori locali curino che vengano conservate nel proprio archivio e inviino alla segreteria generale e al centro studi ogni pubblicazione e documentazione inerente la casa e raccolgano studi e contributi delle varie aree culturali in cui operiamo.
I confratelli si impegnino in prima persona ad esprimere l'unica missione guanelliana in modo leggibile dalla società e cultura cui appartengono.
6.2 Il consiglio generale, promuova con apposite iniziative lo studio sistematico del carisma guanelliano, in collaborazione con le Figlie di S. Maria della Provvidenza e con i Guanelliani Cooperatori
I superiori di provincia, vice provincia e delegazione curino:
a. di potenziare o creare centri studi provinciali o di delegazione per promuovere l’inculturazione del carisma.
b. la traduzione nella lingua locale dei testi più importanti del Fondatore e dei documenti di congregazione sostenendone la divulgazione e l’approfondimento;
c. di sostenere i Guanelliani cooperatori e il movimento laicale guanelliano nella presa di coscienza del carisma ricevuto;
d. di individuare e preparare animatori laici per la formazione al carisma.
Dimensione profetica del carisma
6,3. Le comunità locali, con la testimonianza del loro servizio, l’animazione della carità nel territorio e la loro partecipazione attiva agli organismi di comunione della Chiesa locale, suscitino l’apprezzamento per il valore profetico della nostra missione come provocazione all’impegno dell’intera società nel servizio dei fratelli bisognosi.
36. Il Consiglio generale, in collaborazione con le Figlie di Santa Maria della Provvidenza e i Guanelliani Cooperatori, promuova lo studio degli elementi fondamentali della spiritualità apostolica guanelliana e le componenti tipiche della preghiera guanelliana e offra ai confratelli e ai laici guanelliani degli itinerari specifici per formarsi a viverla.
Secondo l’opportunità si attinga alle preghiere proprie della tradizione guanelliana come la Via Crucis, la coroncina della Provvidenza, la preghiera a S. Giuseppe per i morenti e per le vocazioni.
Si dia particolare rilievo alla preghiera a San Luigi Guanella
43.1 Ogni comunità verifichi la rilevanza profetica ed evangelizzatrice della propria consacrazione e le modalità concrete di esprimere il proprio vissuto dei voti.
Promuova, in dialogo con i superiori maggiori, significative espressioni di radicalità evangelica (poveri con i poveri) là dove è più forte il grido degli ultimi e dove la nostra risposta di solidarietà può manifestarsi con più generosità, coraggio e incisività.
43.2 La risposta coerente e fedele alla propria vocazione di consacrati guanelliani è responsabilità primaria di ogni confratello.
I superiori ai vari livelli aiutino a rendere visibile la testimonianza personale e comunitaria additando l’esemplarità di vita dei nostri santi e dei confratelli più generosi della nostra famiglia religiosa e, se necessario, intervengano con chiarezza e determinazione:
- nel correggere gli abusi circa l’uso dei mezzi di comunicazione sociale e degli automezzi;
- nel prevenire o modificare tendenze a frequenti assenze dalla comunità e dalle proprie responsabilità apostoliche per rispondere a bisogni di famiglia o a scelte personali;
- nell’impedire atteggiamenti e stili di vita chiaramente in contraddizione con la nostra identità pubblica di uomini di Dio e servi dei poveri.
57. In consonanza con il nostro caratteristico spirito di famiglia, i Servi della Carità si prestino con generosità a quei lavori e servizi della casa, secondo le proprie possibilità e secondo le doti e abilità personali che procureranno di sviluppare soprattutto nel periodo della formazione iniziale. Nei raduni di comunità si verifichi periodicamente la povertà vissuta e la gestione economica della comunità.
84.1 Il Servo della Carità viva tra i poveri come uomo di Dio, che agisce in nome della Chiesa con le caratteristiche evangeliche della semplicità e dell’umiltà del servo e del fratello che, mentre dona, sa di ricevere con riconoscenza.
Ognuno, con la testimonianza della sua scelta vocazionale, motivi e orienti allo spirito guanelliano coloro con cui opera e li sostenga moralmente in modo da rendere visibile la qualità guanelliana del servizio svolto.
84.5. Come prima forma di solidarietà con i poveri le nostre comunità assumano uno stile di vita sobrio e austero.
Curino di formare le coscienze all'amore evangelico verso tutti e specialmente verso i poveri, alla condivisione dei loro problemi e all'impegno generoso per la loro promozione.
Non temano di denunciare le situazioni di emarginazione, di illuminare le persone sui meccanismi che generano povertà e morte, e di scuoterle perché, abbandonando atteggiamenti di passività e di indifferenza, prendano a cuore la causa dei poveri.
Parrocchia samaritana
91.1 La parrocchia guanelliana assuma lo stile del Buon Samaritano con queste caratteristiche:
a) accentui nell'impostazione di tutta la pastorale la dimensione della carità che dovrà permeare ogni espressione liturgica, catechetica e operativa;
b) studi e attui programmi pastorali che mettano al centro i
poveri. Susciti e sostenga gruppi, movimenti e associazioni
che si pongano al loro servizio, invitandoli a farlo con spirito
guanelliano;
c) curi specialmente la difesa della vita e la solidarietà, in
connessione con la Chiesa locale e favorendo esperienze e
micro-servizi verso le nuove povertà.
d) nel rispetto della libertà e dei doni di ciascuno, trasmetta
lo spirito e il carisma guanelliani ai propri fedeli.
Progetto educativo
96,1 In ogni nostro centro o parrocchia si abbia un progetto pastorale attingendo al nostro particolare carisma, così da favorire nei destinatari della nostra azione educativa il rapporto filiale con Dio, l’amore misericordioso e operoso verso il prossimo e l’attenzione, accoglienza e serivzio dei più poveri (DBPEG nn.92-95).
La comunità religiosa ‘nucleo animatore’
107.2 Ogni comunità religiosa e ciascun confratello, secondo il proprio ruolo e le proprie funzioni, assumano l’impegno di animazione come compito primario e loro diretta responsabilità e lo svolgano soprattutto procurando di:
a. testimoniare e garantire lo spirito guanelliano con una presenza significativa in mezzo ai poveri;
b. animare la fede e la vita spirituale della comunità educativo-pastorale;
c. garantire una gestione secondo il carisma e lo stile guanelliano;
d. favorire l’unità e un ambiente di comunione;
e. formare al carisma, alla missione e allo stile guanelliano di servizio.
f. assicurare una presenza significativa nel territorio e nella Chiesa locale.
Attività e opere
108.1 Dove esistono necessità urgenti si abbia il coraggio di allargare la tenda della carità con nuove forme di risposte ai bisogni dei poveri, con semplicità e snellezza. Si favoriscano strutture agili, adeguate ai tempi in modo che sia più trasparente la carità di persona, meglio espresso lo stile di famiglia e meglio favorito il coinvolgimento dei laici.
Dove esistono strutture già consolidate, la comunità religiosa sia aperta anche ad offrire qualche servizio di emergenza, realizzando quello che don Guanella chiamava “alla carità”.
Nell'impossibilità di dare risposte dirette, si stimoli e si sostenga l'iniziativa dei laici. C 72
153.2 Si abbia una attenzione particolare nell’offrire ai formatori che vivono nelle realtà lontane dai luoghi di origine della congregazione la possibilità dell’approfondimento sul carisma e sulla spiritualità guanelliana, anche favorendo esperienze sui luoghi guanelliani.
306. Il Centro studi guanelliani ha lo scopo di promuovere gli studi sulla vita, scritti ed opere del Fondatore e sulla tradizione guanelliana. Si propone inoltre di approfondire la conoscenza dello spirito e del carisma di don Guanella, a garanzia di una sempre fedele conservazione della nostra identità religiosa nella missione universale della Chiesa.
E’ sotto la responsabilità congiunta dei Consigli generali delle due Congregazioni religiose, secondo le norme del proprio Statuto.
Cura la collaborazione con i Centri di studi guanelliani delle Province, favorendo la diffusione, l’approfondimento e l’inculturazione del carisma nelle Nazioni in cui siamo presenti.
ENCLOSED N. 2
Message of Pope Francis to the Second International Symposium on the Economy
Rome, 26 November 2016
To Rethink the Economy in Fidelity to the Charism
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I thank you for your willingness to come together to reflect and pray on such a vital topic for consecrated life as is the economic management of your goods. I thank the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for the preparation of this second symposium and, in addressing you, I am guided by the words that make up the title of your meeting: charism, fidelity, to rethink the economy.
Charism
The charisms in the Church are not something static and rigid, they are not “museum pieces.” Rather, they are rivers of living water (cf. John 7:37-39), which flow in the terrain of history to irrigate it and to have seeds of Goodness sprout. In certain moments, a certain sterile nostalgia being an accomplice, we can be tempted to undertake “charismatic archaeology.” Let it not be that we yield to this temptation! The charism is always a living reality and, precisely because of this, is called to fructify, as the parable of the gold coins indicates, which the king consigned to his servants (cf. Luke 19:11-26), to be developed in creative fidelity, as the Church reminds us continually (cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on Consecrated Life, 37).
By its nature, consecrated life is a sign and prophecy of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, its twofold characteristic cannot be lacking in any of its forms, provided that we, the consecrated, remain vigilant and attentive in scrutinizing the horizons of our life and of the present moment. This attitude is such as to see that the charisms, given by the Lord to His Church through our men and women Founders, are maintained vital and can respond to the concrete situations of places and times in which we are called to share and witness the beauty of the sequela Christi.
To speak of a charism means to speak of a gift, of gratuitousness and of grace; it means to move in an area of significance illuminated by the root charis. I know well that for many work in the economic field seems like irrelevant words, to be relegated to the private and religious sphere. Instead, it is well known, even among economists as well, that a society without charis cannot function well and ends up dehumanized. The economy and its management are never ethically and anthropologically neutral: either they concur to build relations of justice and solidarity or they generate situations of exclusion and rejection.
As consecrated <individuals>, we are called to become prophecy beginning with our life animated by the charis, by the logic of gift, of gratuitousness; we are called to create fraternity, communion, solidarity with the poorest and the neediest. As Pope Benedict XVI well recalled, if we want to be authentically human, we must “make room for the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity” (Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, 34).
However, the evangelical logic of gift calls to support oneself with an interior attitude of openness to the reality and of listening to God who speaks to us in it. We must ask ourselves if we are willing to “soil our hands,” working in today’s history; if our eyes are able to scrutinize the signs of the Kingdom of God in the unfolding of events, which are certainly complex and conflicting, but which God wants to bless and save; if we are truly companions on the way of the men and women of our time, particularly of the many that lie wounded along our streets, so that we can share with them the expectations, the fears, the hopes and also what we have received, which belongs to all; if we are able to overcome the diabolic logic of earning (the devil often enters by the wallet or the credit card); if we defend ourselves by fleeing from what we do not understand, or are able to stay within in virtue of the Lord’s promise, with His look of benevolence and His depths of mercy, <then we> become Good Samaritans for the poor and the excluded.
To read the questions in order to respond, to listen to the cry in order to console, to recognize injustices and also share our economy, to discern insecurities in order to offer peace, to look at fears in order to reassure: these are different facets of the multi-faceted treasure which is consecrated life. Accepting that we do not have all the answers and, sometimes, by remaining silent, perhaps we are also uncertain, but never, never without hope.
Fidelity
To be faithful means to ask oneself what the Lord asks us to be and to do today, in this situation. To be faithful commits us to an assiduous work of discernment, so that the works, consistent with the charisms, continue to be effective instruments to have God’s tenderness reach many.
The goods themselves, with which this Symposium is concerned, are not only a means to ensure the sustainability of one’s Institute, but they belong to the fecundity of the charism. This implies asking ourselves if our works do or do not manifest the charism that we professed, if they do or do not respond to the mission entrusted to us by the Church. The main criterion for the evaluation of the works is not their profitability, but their correspondence to the charism and to the mission that the Institute is called to carry out.
An act of courage is often required to be faithful to the charism: it is not about selling everything or of <cancelling> all the goods, but of undertaking a serious discernment, having one’s gaze well turned to Christ, one’s ears attentive to His Word and to the voice of the poor. In this way our works can be, at the same time, fecund for the Institute’s journey and express God’s predilection for the poor.
To Rethink the Economy
All this implies rethinking the economy, through an attentive reading of the Word of God and of history. To listen to God’s whisper and the cry of the poor, of the everlasting poor and of the new poor; to understand what the Lord asks today and, after having understood Him, to act with that courageous trust in the Father’s providence (cf. Matthew 6:19ff), which our men and women Founders had. In certain cases, discernment might suggest to keep alive a work that causes losses – being well aware that these are not generated by incapacity or unskillfulness – but give back dignity to weak and fragile persons, victims of rejection: the unborn, the poorest, the elderly sick and the gravely disabled. It is true that there are problems stemming from the advanced age of many consecrated <persons> and of the complexity of the management of some works, but openness to God will make us find solutions.
It can happen that discernment suggests rethinking a work, which perhaps has become too great and complex, but then we can find ways of collaboration with other Institutes or perhaps transform the work itself so that it continues, even if in other ways, as work of the Church. Also because of this, communication and collaboration within the Institutes, with other Institutes and with the local Church is important. The different provinces within the Institute cannot conceive themselves in a self-referential way, as if each one lived for itself, nor can the general governments ignore the different peculiarities.
The logic of individualism can also cut into our communities. The tension between the local and general reality, which exists at the level of inculturation of the charism, exists also at the economic level, but it must not cause fear, it must be lived and addressed. Communion must be made to grow between the different Institutes; and the legislative, juridical and economic instruments must also be known well, which today make possible the creation of networks, to identify new answers, to bring together the strengths, the professionalisms and the capacities of the Institutes at the service of the Kingdom and of humanity. It is also very important to dialogue with the local Church so that, in so far as possible, the ecclesiastical goods remain goods of the Church.
To rethink the economy means to express the discernment that, in this context, looks at the direction, the purposes, the meaning and the social and ecclesial implications of the economic choices of the Institutes of Consecrated Life. A discernment that begins from the evaluation of the economic possibilities derived from financial and personal resources; which makes use of the work of specialists for the use of instruments that make possible a prudent management and control of the management that is not improvised, which operates in respect of the laws and is placed at the service of an integral ecology. A discernment that, above all, goes against the current because it makes use of money and does not serve money for any reason, not even that which is more just and holy. In this case, it would be the devil’s dung, as the Holy Fathers said.
To rethink the economy requires specific competencies and capacities, but it is a dynamic that concerns the life of each and all. It is not a task that can be delegated to someone, but entails the responsibility of every person. Here too we are faced with an educational challenge, which cannot leave the consecrated outside; a challenge that certainly touches economists in the first place and those that are involved personally in the Institute’s choices. Of them is required the capacity to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (cf. Matthew 10:16). And Christian wisdom enables one to distinguish between a wolf and a sheep, because there are so many wolves dressed up as sheep, especially when money is at stake!
It is not necessary, then, to be silent <about the fact that> the Institutes of Consecrated Life themselves are not exempt from some risks pointed out in the Encyclical Laudato Si’: “the principle of the maximization of profit, which tends to isolate itself from any other consideration, is a distortion of the economy” (n. 195). How many consecrated <persons> continue yet today to think that the laws of the economy are independent of every ethical consideration? How many times the evaluation of the transformation of a work or the sale of a property is seen only on the basis of a cost-profit analysis and market value? God deliver us from the spirit of functionalism and from falling into the snare of avarice! Moreover, we must be educated to a responsible austerity. It is not enough to have made our religious profession to be poor. It is not enough for me to entrench myself behind the affirmation that I do not posses anything because I am a man or woman Religious, if my Institute allows me to manage and enjoy all the goods I desire, and to control the civil Foundations erected to support my works, thus avoiding the controls of the Church. The hypocrisy of the consecrated that live as rich <persons> wounds the conscience of the faithful and damages the Church.
It is necessary to begin with little daily choices. Everyone is called to do his part, to use the goods to make solidaristic choices, to look after Creation, to measure oneself against the poverty of families that no doubt live next to us. It is about acquiring a habitus, a style in the sign of justice and of sharing, making an effort – because the contrary would often be more comfortable – to make honest choices, knowing that it is simply what we should do (cf. Luke 17:10).
Brothers and sisters, two biblical texts come to mind, which I would like to leave with you for your reflection. In his First Letter, John writes: “But if any one has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth” (3:17-18). The other text is well known. I am referring to Matthew 25:31-46: “as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. […] as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.” Rethink your economy in fidelity to the charism.
I thank you. Do not forget to pray for me. May the Lord bless you and the Holy Virgin look after you.
From the Vatican, November 25, 2016 FRANCIS