Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984)
Issue 43.1 of the Review for Religious, January/February 1984.
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Online |
| Language: | eng |
| Created: |
Saint Louis University Libraries Digitization Center
1984
|
| Online Access: | http://cdm17321.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rfr/id/271 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| id |
sluoai_rfr-271 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
ojs |
| institution |
Saint Louis University |
| collection |
OJS |
| language |
eng |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus |
| spellingShingle |
Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984) |
| author_facet |
Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus |
| author_sort |
Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus |
| title |
Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984) |
| title_short |
Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984) |
| title_full |
Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984) |
| title_fullStr |
Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984) |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984) |
| title_sort |
review for religious - issue 43.1 (january/february 1984) |
| description |
Issue 43.1 of the Review for Religious, January/February 1984. |
| publisher |
Saint Louis University Libraries Digitization Center |
| publishDate |
1984 |
| url |
http://cdm17321.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rfr/id/271 |
| _version_ |
1797134486182297600 |
| spelling |
sluoai_rfr-271 Review for Religious - Issue 43.1 (January/February 1984) Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus Jesuits -- Periodicals; Monasticism and religious orders -- Periodicals. Aschenbrenner ; Gallen Issue 43.1 of the Review for Religious, January/February 1984. 1984-01 2012-05 PDF RfR.43.1.1984.pdf rfr-1980 BX2400 .R4 Copyright U.S. Central and Southern Province, Society of Jesus. Permission is hereby granted to copy and distribute individual articles for personal, classroom, or workshop use. Please credit Review for Religious and reference the volume, issue, and page number and cite Saint Louis University Libraries as the host of the digital collection. Saint Louis University Libraries Digitization Center text eng Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus Ri~,.,~v.’ t:oR Rt~.~(;~o~]s (ISSN 0034-639X). published every two months, is edited in collaboration with the faculty members of the Department of Theological Studies of St. Louis University. The editorial offices are located at Room 428:3601 Lindcll Blvd.: St. Louis, MO 63108. Rt~v~Ew ~:oR REI.IGIOU.":, is owned by the Missouri Province Educational Institute of the Society of Jesus. St. Louis, MO. © 1984 by REviEw FOR REI.IC,~Ot~.s. Composed, printed and manufactured in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at St. I,ouis, MO, Single copies: $2.50. Subscription U.S.A. $10.00 a year: $19.00 for two years. Other countries: add $2.00 per year (postage). For subscription orders or change of address, write FOr R~:t,lcao~s: P.O. Box 6070; Duluth, MN 55806. Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Dolores Greeley, R.S.M. Iris Ann Ledden, S.S.N.D. Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Jean Read Editor Associate Editor Review Editor Questions and Answers Editor Assistant Editor Jan./Feb., 1984 Volume 43 Number 1 Manuscripts, books for review and correspondence with the editor should be senl Io REVIEW REIAGIOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; SI. Louis, MO 63108. Questions for answering should be sent to Joseph F. Gallen, S.J.; Jesuit Community; St. Joseph’s University; City Avenue at 54th St,; Philadelphia, PA 19131. Back issues and reprints should be ordered from Rr:v~Ew FOr rEi,IGIOUS; Room 428; 3601 Lindell Blvd.; St. Louis, MO 63108. "Oul of print" issues and articles not published as reprints are available from University Microfilms Inlernational; 300 N. Zeeb Rd.; Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Review for Religious Volume 43, 1984 Editorial Offices 3601 Lindell Boulevard, Room 428 Saint Louis, Missouri 63108 Daniel F. X. Meenan, S.J. Dolores Greeley, R.S.M. Iri~ Ann Ledden, S.S.N.D. Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. Miss Jean Read Editor Associate Editor Review Editor Questions and Answers Editor Assistant Editor REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is published in January, March, May, .July, Sep-tember, and November on the twentieth of the month. It is indexed in the Catholic Periodical and Literature Index and in Book Review Index. A microfilm edition of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is available from University Microfilms International; Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. Copyright © 1984 by REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. Theological Reflections on Apostolic Religious Life Mary Paul Ewen, S.S.C.J., Silvia l/’allejo, O.D.N., and Paul MolinarL S.J. This" document on the foundations and distingt~ishing features of apostolic religious life is the fruit of the work of a theological study group composed of Sisters Mary Abbott; S.S.N.D. (American),~ Jeanne-Francoise De Jaeger, c.r. (Belgian), Mary Paul Ewen, S.S.C.J. (English), Mary Margaret Johanning, S.S.N.D. (American), Silvia Vallejo, O.D.N. (Colombian), and Fathers Joseph Aubry, S.D.B. (Swiss), Peter Gumpel, S.J. (German), Paul Molinari, S.J. (Italian), and Egidio Vigano, S.D.B. (Italian). The paper was prepared for the UISG (International Union of Superiors General) and intended as a basic document for further reflection, study and discussion by the membership of that union. The content and purpose of the document seems to make it especially pertinent for American religious at this juncture of their history. Accordingly it is presented here with the k,ind permission of its original source, the USIG Bulletin; Piazza di Ponte S. Angelo, 28; 00186 Roma, Italy. ~n recent years many efforts have been made to respond to the Church’s recommendation that all religious families return to the authentic sources from which their life derives, the spirit which animates it and the mission which is typically theirs. Hence we ha.ve witnessed a movement of intense research, of renewal and adaptation. Consequently, a growing need has been felt for certain basic clarifications: what are the proper characteristics and the distinctive qualities of that form of religious life which is apostolic religious life, and what is its spirituality? While this process of research and clarification continues, much has already been achieved at the practical level, often as a result of response to new demands; these are gradually perceived as being genuine expressions of the deepest nature of apostolic religiou~s life, which has, in turn, been grasped with even greater clarity. In this way a number of authentic develoPments have taken place of which Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 we mention only a few. We think, for example, of a keener awareness of being in the Church and of the consequent new forms of relationship and coopera-tion with bishops, priests and lay people; of increased contact and collabora-tion with other Christian denominations; of openness to the values of non-Christian religions and of the deeply felt need for inculturation and pluri-formity; of the acute perception that the promotion of justice is an integral part of the mission of the Church and of her authentic apostolic task. This more vivid understanding of certain demands of the Gospel has prompted many to set out generously on new roads and to take seriously the appeals which come from a world and a society thirsting after peace, justice and goodness but beset with many moral and material miseries which are to a large extent the result of injustice and of the oppression deriving from it. It is true that~due to human frailty there has been the occasional excessive, and therefore misleading, emphasis placed on one oranother aspect, largely because of a failure to integrate these with essential values, or to base them on adequate theological foundations. But by far the major thrust has been one of genuine, healthy development which has greatly enriched the mission of the Church in the world. Bearing these developments in mind and in the hope of furthering and strengthening them, we feel the need of basing our reflections about apostolic religious life and its distinctive qualities on the deepest foundations, situating it clearly in the context of the life and mission of Christ and of his Church; of seeing it likewise as one of the many complementary vocations within the "Body of Christ. We then hope to highlight its originality and specificity and to indicate how its constitutive elements affect the lives of those who are called to this form of life. Chapter I The Life and Mission of Christ Which Continue in the Church as One and Diversified Apostolic religious life, as the terminology itself indicates, can be truly understood only in the context of salvation history, for it is intimately and ifiseparably related to Jesus Christ and to his Church, and to each of these precisely in their relation to humanity for whose salvation they are sent into the world. We must then consider apostolic religious life: "’ a) in relation to, and in direct dependence upon Christ, the Apostle of the Father, sent by the Father to save and redeem mankind, leading it back to ¯ ~-God and gathering it together as the "family of God"; b). in relation to this same family of God, the Church, which he unites to himself as his~own Body : ," - in which he finds completion - through which heintends to continue, complete and extend his mission - on which he bestows the gift of his revealing and animating Spirit. Theological Reflections Christ Sent by the Father to Save the Whole Human Person and All Mankind Believers and non-believers alike are in agreement that e~,erything which exists "on eartl~ should be related to man as their center and crown" (Gaudium 7et Spes 12). "What is man that you would think .of him?... You have crowned him with honor and glory" (Ps 8:4-5). The coming of the Incarnate Word into history is indeed the advent of a new world, of a new creation in which all may live with the freedom of the children of God. Jesus himself in speaking of his mission speaks in terms of life. He is "the Life," and comes that others "may have it in all its fullness"; indeed, to those "who did receive him.., he gave power to become children of God... the offspring of God’himself’’ (cf Jn 14:6; 10:10; 1’1:25; 1:12-! 3). Life, "eternal life," lies at the heart of Jesus’ mission, and sums up the fruits of salvatioh. To bring this life, the Word who "liv~is" and is one with the Father from all eternity, is sent into the world. Become flesh, o’ne’ of us, he is like us in all things but sin; truly the Emmanuel, truly Jesus-the- Savior, he associates himself with us in every way, living in ordinary circum-stances, sharing the joys, sorrows and aspirations of those he meets, living with them so as to bring them life. Prompted by an efficacious love for the afflicted and sick, for the abandoned and marginated, he gales from village to villa’ge doing good and curing all kinds of diseases (cf Mt’9:35). He is merciful aid given to those oppressed by sin and its consequences. At the heart of this being with and for others,.he remains one with the Father. He lives of the Father and for the Father. Receiving, all from him, doing only what he gives him to do, Jesus goes about doing good. He is.truly "the light" shining in the darkness, enlightening whoever comes into the world, anal his shining,goodness reflects the tenderness and pro~,iden~e of the Fffther. He is the faithful witness: "He who sees me sees the Father"(Jn 14:9; cf Rv i:5). The many manifestations of his active compassion and: his self-giving love aim at the salvation of the whole person’--body and soul, present and future~- in the resurre’ction; they have as their ultimate object that those who come to believe in Jesus may believe also in the One who sent him, and so have life (cf Jn 17:3). This is the object of his prayer as his longed-for hour approaches (cf Jn 17: I-9); he lays down his own life that others may receive and be animated by his own Spirit. Thus he will himself live in’them: they will truly be members of his Body. In the laying down of his life, he brings this Church to life, the new People of God.~ But this is not accomplished without a struggle against evil and victory over sin--the work of redemption. Indeed, to say that Christ was sent to Save and redeem presupposes that humanity was~as it still is~in a state of need where misery and anguish prevail, and its very existence is threatened by the oppressive forces of evil, of sin. Awareness of this sinful condition, with its ensuin~ disorder and powerlessness, pervades the pages of the Old Testament, finding poignant expression in the cry: "O that the heavens would open and a Savior be given to $ / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 us!" (Is 45:8), cry which is echoed also in,the writings of Paul (cf Rm 7:24). It is this earthly ~world of "darkness," death and sin which is also the setting of John’s Gospel (cf ,in 3:19-21, 31; 21:46), where humanity, being "from below" has no access to that heaven for which it longs, and which is spirit, light and life (cf Jn 1:51; 3: ! 3,27,31; 6:~ 1-56, etc.). It takes the One who is "from above" (,in 3:31; 8:23) to free it from the all-pe.rvading power of evil and lead it in the path of life. But this very world, the work of God’s hands (cfJn 1:2-14; 9:5), is so loved by him that he sends his o~nly Son to save it, to bring light t0 d~arkness even in the knowledge that the "darkness" would resist rather than receive him (Jn 3:16-21; 1:15). Jesus comes into the world as the Lamb who takes upon himself the burden of sin, the Savior who liberates from that sin which enslaves and rilienates the sinner from God as well as from others, engendering hatred and oppression. Jesus’ mission then, consists in overcoming the darkness of sin and its consequent disorder. And since at its heart lies the haughty refusal of God and his sovereignty, ,iesus, far from clinging to "equality with God" (cf Ph 2:6) accomplishes his mission by living in a spirit of total and loving dependence on the Father, even to its ultimate expression: the cross. Yielding up his Spirit into the Father’s hands, he triumphs over "the prince of this world" (Jn 12:31). No longer does the force of evil dominate in order to oppress; but love, in frde submission, gives all in the emptying of death, thus triumphing over dearth arid over sin (of Ph 2:6-11). The Church, Body of Chri~st, Through Which He Intends to Continue His Mission by B~stowing the Gift of His Spirit , Thus Christ is the "first-born of many brothers" (Rm 8:29) whom he has ransomed by his love, the’ Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep gathering them into the one fold and kingdom of the Father (cf .In 10).-Of this fold he is "in all things supreme" since "God chose to reconcile the whole universe to himself through him [Christ] alone" (cf Col 1:15-20). Once returned to the Father, in keeping with his promise he sends the Spirit upon the disciples gathered together in prayer wi.th Mary, Mother of the Word Incarnate, so identified with him in his mission that she is rightly called the Mother of the Church (cf Ac 1:14). ,iesus had promised, "The Holy Spirit will teach you everyt, hing, and will call to mind all that I have told you" (,In 14:26). Now his promise is fulfilled, and revelation continues, for the Holy Spirit will gradually shed light on what had, until then, been veiled and mysterious. The Spirit had indeed been present and active in the Person. and work of .iesus; he was close to the disciples but not yet "in them" (cf ,In 14:25,26; 17). Once .iesus is glorified a new phase begins: the sending of the Spirit, his coming into those who believe, and his permanent presence in the community. Then the Spirit will keep alive the teaching of .iesus, reveal its true mean- Theological Reflections ing, and make it penetrate the heart. He will guide the disciples into "all the truth" (Jn 16:13), give the~m true knowledge of their master (cf Jn 14:10)i revealing him as the only begotten Son-who is always in the bosom of the Father (Jn 1:18). However the work of the Spirit is not only to enlighten the mind; he is "another Paraclete" (cf Jn 14:16) who will prolong, renew and deepen in the disciple, the presence of the Son and the Father, enabling the disciple who "loves" to be the living abode of both. ~Jesus will be in him, he in Jesus (cf Jn 14:20; 17:26). Enlightened, vivified and’ sustained by the Spirit, believers become living’ members of the Body of Christ--the Church. Through his action in the hearts of the faithful, the Spirit constantly urges the Church to "go forth to all nations" (Mt 28:19-20), to announce the good news, to attend with compassion to the needs of a suffering humanity, and so to continue that good work of the Lord which reveals the love of the Father. As the Father, in sending Jesus into the world, remained ever with him, so those who set out to live Christ’s man-date know that he is always with them; the presence of his Spirit enables them to bear witness to him, that the world may believe and have life (cf Jn 17).2 The promise "I am with you forever till the end of the world" (Mt 28:20) becomes a vivifying reality: the presence of the Son who once walked in the heat and the dust with his disciples, of the friend who ate with them, of the prophet, the life-giving Word. The disciples experienced this as they walked many months at his side; they experienced it even more deeply once they set about "proclaiming Jesus" (Ac 5:42; 8:35). And this can be true also of all Christians in this eschatological age, stretching from the Pasch-Pentecost to the’ Parousia, in the measure that’ they give themselves to the service of the kingdom by living in docility to the Spirit and according to the Gospel. They are members of the People of God, build-ing history; regenerated h~y the ~Spirit, molded by the Word of God who enlightens them on their pilgrimage towards complete fulfillment, they pro-gressively become a new People. Indeed such~stiae mission of the Cl~ufch, the mission begun by Jesus who, as Risen Lord, continues to draw all to himself, and. by the power of his Spirit, establishes his Church as the universal sacrament of salvation (cf Lumen Gentium :,48). Her activity is no mere continuation of Christ’s pre-paschal activity, but it flows from the same source and with the same dynamism, and thrusts forward to proclaim Christ to all peoples, and so to establish his kingdom, until the end of time (cf Ad Genres !). In so doing, the Church places herself in intimate and true solidarity with the human race and its history, its struggles, its triumphs.and tragedies, enter-ing into the movement of Christ who died and rose again "to break the stranglehold of evil" that the world "might be fashioned anew"’(cf Gaudium et Spes 2). A keen awareness of being the bearer of salvation to the world leads the I~ / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 Church to a constant renewal in order to be faithful to her mission. She needs to "study how to bring to modern man" that Christian message which alone "can find the answer to his questions and the energy for his commitment of human solidarity"; but account must also be taken of that "heritage of faith" which the Church must preserve in all its purity and present with clarity and persuasion (cf Evangelii Nuntiandi 3). And so the Spirit, who urgeS the Church forward into the world to pro-claim Christ toall, likewise leads her back to the memory of Jesus, to contem-plate his attitudes, his words and deeds which alone can throw light on the contemporary situation. Until the very end of her pilgrimage the Church must keep her eyes fixed on the Person¯ of Jesus to know the path to follow and to have the light needed for everystep; for she too "mu~t walk the same road as Christ walked: a road of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice to the death," thus filling up "what is wanting to the sufferings of Christ" by her own trials and sufferings (Ad Genres 5). Fundamental Unit.v of the Christian IDfe; Diversity of Forms of ChristianI ~’ving; and Ways of Participating in the Mission of the Church According to Various Gifts and Vocations Given by God a) ,.Unity ~-The task of continuing the saving mission of Jesus Christ is entrusted to the entire Church, to all the members.of God’s family. If the Church "is crowned with the gift of the Holy Spirit," it is "for God’s glory" (Lumen Gentium 39). This implies that all the followers of Jesus Christ must "hold on to and perfect in their lives the sanctity which they have received" (cf Lumen Gentium 40), by living in union with Christ and in’ docility to. his Spirit. This means to put on the mind of Christ, to share his sentiments and dispositions of heart, to be guided by, his Spirit and, with Christ, to do in all things what pleases the Father. ~ To do this entails entering into that eternal plan of.,God, in which each human person has both a place and a particular function, together with cor-responding gifts and graces, whe~reby each can share in and contribute to the mission of the Church in a.~ unique way. b) ~ Diversity It follows then th~it the’living out of one’s union with Christ (i.e., Christian s~inctit3?) takes on different forms. Christian sanctity is one; the life in which believers share is one, as is Christ’s mission which continues in the world; but the manner of living this union with Christ and of sharing his mission is necessarily manifold and diverse; it depends upon the measure of giving of Christ (cf Eph 4:7), .on the action of his Spirit who "distributes his gifts to individuals as it pleases him" (1 Co 2:1 I). That is why, as the Church has emphasized, eabh Christian "must walk along the path of living faith which arouses hope and works through charity.., according to his own personal gifts and duties" (Lumen Gentium 41). Thedlogical ReflectionJ / 9 The teaching of Sacred Scripture is unequivocably clear concerning God’s sovereign freedom and liberality in distributing his "grhces," "gifts" and "charisms." This is amply borne out by the history of salvation where numerous examples are found of "vocations" or "calls" given 9nly to some. These refer not merely .to external tasks and offices among the People of God; but rather togenuine calls to a particular type of union with Christ and a specific way of sharing in Christ’s mission which may be, as in the case of the Blessed Virgin Mary, absolutely unique and unrepeatable. In all these cases we are faced with a type of charity and a form of life which are accessible only to those who have received such a call. This:becomes clear if one considers the choice and call in their deepest reality, i.e: as creative actions of God arising solely f.rom his free initiative. The creator’and giver of life~ in conferring life, communicates and keeps on com-municating an impulse which, reaching the created being,.gives it, from its very first inStant,~a particular orientation, together with the capacity to live in a given way. ~ Such an action, accomplished from all eternity by God--the eternal Present--is perceived .and received only gradually and in time by the human being (cf Jr: 1!5; Is 44:2; 49:1). -. All Christians are called to sanctity, to the perfection of charity; all are called to live in union with Christ in the deepest possible way. This means that each one is called to that particular fullness of Christian life and that specific perfection of charity which corresponds to the measure of the gift received from God. It obviously cannot mean that all are called to live their union with Christ in exactly the same way, with~ the same modalities, the same intensity.3 Perfection can and does vary according to the many factors, including the different gifts, which diversify the lives of individual Christians: ’ These theological tenets are further clarified if one considers yet another aspect of that union which the Holy Spirit brings about between the human persbn and Christ. Any union or relation between two persons has its own specific, unique and unrepeatable flavor, deriving from the various factors which make each person distinct and different from others. The relationships existing between any two persons and a th’ird can never be identical; one must think rather in terms of similarity. Furthermore, relationship and union between persons affects the inmost core and tendency of the person, and engages all the manifestations of life. All this is preeminently true with regard to our personal relationship with Christ. This principle, bgsed on the metaphysical constitution of the human person., likewise applies to the supernatural order; grace presupposes nature, :is "grafted onto it and ennobles it. Even more: ~this diversity in the relationships between individual persons and Christ is accentuated and becomes more effec-tive because the new life of grace is given not according to the rigid laws of distributive justice, bUt according t6 the sovereign liberality of the Lord (cf Ep 4:7). Hence, the person, elevated to the supernatural order,’ is endowed with 10,/ Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 personal characteristics which are even more marked than would be the case in the purely natural order. This particular aspect of the doctrine concerning the union of Christians with Cfirist, a.nd God’s expectations of each one individually, finds its ultimate explanation in the .nature of the Mystical Body: Here the Holy Spirit assigns to each that place and function which best befits the harmonious building up of the entire Body (cf l Co 12:4-30). Such a diversity of individual member~, endowed by God as they are with a variety of qualities and gifts, contributes much to the vitality and beauty of the Church and to the efficacy of its mission in the world. That is why the Church in Council, not satisfied even with: clear and profound .teachings about Christian life in general, went further to outline the different types of union, with Christ, such as are typical of the laity, of~ the hierarchy and of religious, indicating how each contributes to the mission of Christ. o o So it is that all are called to live in union with Christ, to live I~y his Spirit, and to participate in his mission, .fulfilling those tasks and functions which, by God’s eternal design, are theirs within the Body of Christ, and, this for the well-being of all its members. For God has indeed "chosen us before the world was made, to be holy and spotless, and to live through, love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons thorough JesusCh’rist, for his own kind purposes ..." (Ep 1:4-6). There remains one further point to be borne in mind: God’s choice and call--unique in each case--affects all the dimensions of. the personality, embracing as it does the.totality of the~human ,person. The human being created by God and the object of his sustaining activity is indissolubly one, as is also the process of human development and self-awareness. Even though we may grasp this unity with an intuitive awareness, when attempting to formu-late it we are faced with our human limitations: we are unable to think or to express our thoughts unless in successive moments of time and according to various categories. Hence, while fully aware ofthe~ oneness of the person~ we distinguish the various constitutive elements of that unified being, and remember also that it is as yet still in process of becoming..Both the constitu-tive elements and the process must be borne in mind with all their implications because each vocation is lived, not in the abstract, but in the vi~tal, existential order. This necessarily applies to thos9 called to apostolic religious Jife. Sensitive to the impact of God’s call,on all the facets of the person, and yet wanting to retain a unified vision of this form of life, one could say of an apostolic religious that such a person expresses the reality of being human by being a Christian, of.being Christian by living as a religious, and more ~pecifi~ cally as an_ apostolic re!igio_us, member of a particular institute. ~ There is hardly need to emphasize that the.mQr.e the implications of these realities are realized, and the more apostolic religious life and each institute develops accQrding to. its proper characteristics and to the authentic Vocation ,,Theological Reflections of each of its members, then the. more the Church, enriched "by the variety of her children’s gifts,twill be adorned like a bride going to meetthe Bridegroom (cf Rv 21:2) and ;through her th.e infinite ~wisdom of God will be revealed (cf Ep 3:1~0)." (Perfectae Caritatis 1, See alloc. John Paul II, Loyola,.Nov. 6, 1982, passim). , These preliminary remarks are designed to foster a deeper, understanding of the existence and nat~ure of apostolic religious life as one of God’s gifts to his Church. It should also allow a better grasp of what is specifically proper to it--both as regards the spirit whichanimates it and the ways in which it should find its own most appropriate form of expression. Chapter !I . Apostolic Religious Life in the Church Religioffs Life and Apostolic Religious Ltfe in the Light of the Sanctity- Charity of the Church °(Lumen Gentium 42, 44) The Church then is the new People of Ggd gathered from all nations (cf Lumen Gentium 4.9), the corrimunity of grace, whose newness transcends the human order (cf Mutuae Relationes l); in the Chu~:ch--"mystery and sacra-ment~--- the interior elements of the Order of Salvation are intimately united t9 the’div~{~ified exte’rnal and institutional elements which make visible the mys-tery of grace which she’enclose~ (Lumen Gent~ium 8; Mutuae Relationes 3). Within this complex and ~vonde’rful reality, God’s Spirit has raised.up a form of life which "is not intermediate between the clerical and lay state, but embraces some faithful of bolh th~se states who are called to enjoy this special gift in ~he. life "of the Church and to’ foster, each in his or her own way, her salvific mission" (Lumen Gentium 43). ~ a) Martyrdom, Virginity, Religious Life. ,~ ~ This special gift is that of which the same Dogmatic Constitution had previously spoken i(n. 42).;After dealing~with the "outstanding gift" bestowed on only .a few, leading them to~"offer the greatest witness of love" and "the supreme proof of charityr in martyrdom, the Council speaks of virginity and life according to the evangelical counsels, linking :it with martyrdom and establishing a certain parallelism between these two types of callings: In a:like manner the holiness of the Church is fostered in a special Way by the obser-vance of the manifold counsels proposed in the Gospel by ,our Lord to his disciples. Outstanding among them is that precious gift of divine grace which the Father gives to some (cf Mt 19:l I; l Co 7:7) sO that by virginity, or celibacy, they can more easily devote their entire selves to God aloiae’with und!vided he~’~ (cf I Co 7:32-34). This total continence embraced’on behalf of the kingdom of heaven has always been held in particular honor by the Church as being a ~sign of charity and stimulus towards it, as well as a unique fountain of spiritual fertility in the world (Lumen Gentium 42). ¯ God distributes his giftslwith sovereign freedom, calling ~people to various, complementary walks of life, each with its own distinctive qualities, and this for the good of the entire Church. But amongst the various callings to the reli- 19 / Review for Religious, Jan;-Feb., 1984 gious life there is one common element in which they are all rooted, namely, that all who are called to this way Of life devote themselVes in a special way to the Lord, imitating "Christ the virgin and poor man (cf Mt 8:20; Lk 9:58) who, by an obedience which carried him even to death on the cross (cf Ph 2:8), redeemed men and made them, holy." They are impelled by the Spirit to "spend themselves ever increasingly for Christ and for his body the Church (cf Col 1:24). And the more ardently they unite themselves to Christ in a self-surrender involving their entir( lives, the more vigorous becomes the life of the Church and the more abundantly her apostolate bears fruit" (Perfectae Caritatis i). In this form of life charity has its own specific quality: it prompts those whorri God calls to give themselves entirely to him, thus renouncing the dona-tion of self to another human being sought’and possessed as a life-long com-panion. Everything is centered on Christ the Lord; already here below he is "the one thing necessary~’ (Lk 10:42); even without seeing him (cf I Pt 1:18) they belong to him, live entirely for him, and follow him unconditionally in love. Such lives bespeak the absolute and transcending primacy~of God. These.perso.ns live in time; but time ca.nfiot contain the workings of God’s grace; his promise is constantly in process of being fulfilled. Saved by Jesus" death and resurrection, but saved "in hope" (Rm 8:24), they live already by his ¯ life, yet long for complete union with the, Lord when he returns in glory. Not only do they pray "Thy kingdom come" (Mt 6~ 10) but enter into the d~ynamics of his saving will, announcing the kingdom, inviting all to conversion and to join the fight against evil. In the words of the Council, the religious is "totally given to God, supremely loved, and thus by a new and special title destined to the service of God . .,. and mor~" intimately consecrated to it" (LG 44). b) Diversity of Institutes and Personal Vocations , How this is effected in the existential order depends on the Lord who, in the very act of calling, not only forms and moves the person in a special direction through his Spirit, but also bestows a particular sensitivity as to how the radical following of Christ’should be lived out, highlighting one or another aspect of his life and mission. Through these persons, "the Church can ever more present Christ contemplating on the mountain, announcing God’s king-dom to the multitude, healing the ~sick and the maimed, turning sinners to a new life, blessing children, doing good to all and always obeying the will of the Father who sent: him" (Lumen Gentium 46). So it is that this particular form of charity has found diverse concrete expressions in history and continues to do so. In fact: From the very infancy of th~ Church, there have existed men and women who strove to follow Christ more freely and imitate him more nearly by the practice of the evangelical counsels. Each in his own way, these souls have led a life dedicated to God; Under the influence of the Hol~, Spirit, many of them pursued a solitarY life or founded religious families to which the Church willingly gave the welcome and approval of her authority. And so it happened by divine plan that a wonderful variety of religious communities grew up ~Perfectae Caritatis I). Theologici,1 Reflections In this emergence of different types of religious life throughout the centu-ries various founders, bearers of a "charism-of foundation" with a particular ecclesial dimension, havb played a decisive part. They are singular manifesta-tions of the Church’s vitality and fecundity. ~ However, among these forms of life there is one which, even though it exists by the will of’God and has been livid generously by ~o many religious, has .not yet ~bee’n Sufficiently understood and appreciated. We refer to apostolic religious life~ that form of life which entails "ecclesial actirn" of an apostolic and charitable nature (cf Perfectae Caritafis 8). it must be ’made amply clear that the~’apostolic and charitable action" of which the Council speaks is an integral part of the very nature of this type of religious life. This is so, not because of any intrinsically secular or profane note in this form of life (yet ~neither does it repudiate the secular), but because it undertakes such action as an expression of genuine apostolic love, and because it is entrusted to these religious by the Church herself..In’fact, in the vast majority of cases .such action(for exarfiple, health, culture, social communications) is oriented to the bettering of the human condition. Such concrete forms of action have then a real ecclesiai density and constitute part of the Very nature of re.!igious life. As’~we have said,~apostolic religious life has not yet been. sufficiently understood and deepened, an~,conse.quently has not yet been able to offer to them3~stery of the Church that’contribution of light and origihality which in God’s plan it is destined to make. Apostqlic :Religious Life: A New and Original Form of Religious L~e The Church’.in Council has pointed to the distinguishing feature of apos-tolic religious life: apostolic and charitable activity belongs to its very nature. ~It is true that all forms of religious life imply apostolic love, and frequently also some form of apostolic activity; however, in this form of-life there .is an intrinsic union and a profound reciprocity between religious life and mission. From the sixteenth century onwards the Church, by the very fact of grant-ing its approbation, has accepted as a gift from .God the charism proper to apostolic religious orders and congregations; nevertheless, in practice there has been a ti~ndency to reduce this new form of life to those already in existence. Yet those who are called to apostolic religious life, and who must therefore develop a spirituality corresponding to their charism, are not monks who engage in apostolic activities but religious who are in mission in virtue of their very vocation and What it confers on them. It is a vocation in which the sending and the active mission are immediately present within God’s free choice and calling. The seed planted by the Council is beginning to bear fruit. The time has now come to define more clearly what typifies this form of religi.ous life. In so doing one must avoid presenting apostolic religious life as essentially religious life, understanding this~ term in a generic sense, with apostolic activity con-sidered as a later addition of secondary importance. 111 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 The oppoSite danger must also be avoided: namely, to conceive of the activity oLthe apostolic religious as. something exterior to and~ separate from the context of the radical and-total giving to God, of both the person and the life of the apostle. In.deed, apostolic religious exercise their apostolic and charitable activity precise~ly because they are called, consecrated and sent by God; theyaccomplish it as "a sacred ministry and particular task of.charity... confided to them ~by~the Church" (Perfectae Caritatis. 8) and as a gesture of that gift-of-self-in-love which is expressed as much by the service of their brrthren as by~ the profession’~of the evangelical counsels.. This iis what the Council highlights in stressing that "the entire religious life is compent~’ated by an. apostolic spirit and the entire apostolic activi,ty is animated by a religious spirit" (Perfectae Caritatis 8). "" 0 Th~se two asp-~ci~i religious and apostolic, must then .be understood in their inseparable a.nd’ mutual compenetration, or their symbiotic union. The capacity to grasp this reality is inherent in that intimate and personal call which’is the gift of a vocation to the apostolic religious life. ~This capacity must gradually become a vivid awareness through the daily living out of the total donation to God in 16ve and service; only then can apostblic religious, and through them the Church, reach that true understanding which will foster the growth an.d,flowering of their particular ,ff.ay ofqife. The specificity of apostolic religio~is life is; therefore, to be seen in~’the fact that the giving of self to God and to his service is lived out in a life of union with Christ who is followed as the only-begotten Son of the Father, sent into the world to save it by taking flesh in the womb of Mary, VirginZand Mother, by becoming Servant and Ri~deemer, the entirety of whose life is determined solely’by the mission~entrusted to him, which is to establish the kingdom of God. The life of the apostolic religious Will be, like that of Christ himself, held as it were in dialectic tension between the two poles of salvation history,0on the one hand, the Father who sends; .on the other, those to whom they are sent to reveal the Father’s love, _With Jesus as model and source of life, apostolic religious can find within this very tension the dynamism with which to,live their mission. " The Charismatic Nature of Apostolic Religious Life Intrinsically Related to the Mission of the, Church and Its Prophetic Role Apostolic religious life is a precious gift with which Christ’s Spirit enriches the Church through the founders of different institutes by means of the specific charism bestowed on them. Both they and their followers receive the capacity to embody in. new ways and forms that love which Christ himself lived as he accomplished hig mission. Our attention must first focus the basic element common to the founders of apostolic institutes: their salvific activity both expresses and bears witness to a profound interiority. Theological Reflections / 15 This inieriority is rooted in their attachment to and union with Jesus Christ, the Savior sent by the F~ather to the world. It is this attachment which transforms their vision, leading apostolic religious progressively to see man-kind with the eyes of the Savior, to love it"with the heart of the Incarnate Word--the Redeemer. Their lives, insofar as they are truly inspired by, their "option for the Lord and his kingdom," have an eschatological orientation and emphasize the transcendental dimension, revealing "in a unique way that the kingdom of God and its overmastering necessities are superior to all earthly considerations" (cf Lumen Gentium 44). But their particular vocation binds apostolic religious to the Church and her mission in such a way that, in virtue of the charism they have received, they are called to be in the world and to commit themselves to that world to which they are sent. "Dear religious, according to the different ways in which the call of God makes demands upon your spiritual families, you must give your full attention to the needs of men, their problems and their searchings; you must give witness in their midst, through prayer and action, to the Good News of love, justice and peace. The aspirations of men to a more fraternal life among individuals and nations require above all a change in ways of living, in mental-ity and hearts. Such a mission, which is common to all the people of God, belongs to you in a spe.cial way..." (Evangelica Testificatio 52). In this way religious may give "singular witness to the prophetic dimension of the mission of the Church" (cf Religious and Human Promotion, Introduction). All members of the Church are called to live this prophetic dimension primarily through the clarity ~with~’,which their lives, in. accordance with their various callings, bear witness to Jesus Christ. As for apostolic religious, they will bear this prophetic mark firstly and above all by the radical and whole-hearted living out of their call to be "those who are sent." Their prophecy is intimately united with and flows from the clarity with which they live with Christ-in-mission. Throughout the history of the various forms of religious life, wherever the following of Christ through one or another ministry has been lived out in its authentic radicality, it has always fulfilled a prophetic role in.theworld:This is hardly surprising since religious life is always a return to the original inspira-tion of the Gospel, reminding the community of the Church that before being an institutional society, it is a communion of those who believe in Jesus Christ and who are called to announce his presence in ’the world, bringing to it his Spirit which fr.e_quently oppos.es the spirit of the world and of society, Apostolic religious life is also prophetic by drawing the attention of all to those areas in Which the world refuses to be present. The Church, prolongation of Christ, wants to be and must be wherever the poor, the suffering and the emarginated are to be found--wherever there are the victims of this world. For this reason, and because the mission of the Church aims at bringing the life Of Christ to all (embracing the reality of the whole human person) the prophetic role of these institutes will be particularly significant when they: |6 / Review,for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 - Lunite themselves in that solidarity with the poor demanded by their mission in ’the following of Jesus, and commit themselves effectively as religious, and insofar as they are sent by the Church, to bring about the liberation of all, together with the promotion of~iustice in the world (cf Religious and Human Promotion 2-4); ~ - respond with generosityand creativity to the pastoral needs of today, thus contributing to the mission of the local Church (cf ibid., 27). "To accomplish her mission, the Church must search out~ the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the Gospel, thus responding to persis-tent human questions" (cf ibid., Introd.). Because they did this, certain founders, as well as some religious of outstanding holiness, have efficaciously contributed to this prophetic role~of the Church, arid continue to highlight for us what the Church expects of apostolic religious today. The Diversity of Foundational Charisms of Institutes is at the Service of the Complex Mission of the Church The action of the Holy Spirit who impels the Church in her missionary thrust, is manifest with particular clarity in the charisms which mark the being and the doing of each religious institute. It goes without saying that every congregation is animated first and foremost by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. But no congregation, just as no one person, is able to live in an integrated manner all the ,asPects of~the Gospel. It is here that particular charisms find their place, for the charism is a gift of the Spirit which accentuates in the depths of the person a sensitivity to one or another aspect of the mystery of God in Christ. This sensitivity is translated into concrete forhas of life and service according to the needs of the pilgrim People of God~--which calls for a keen awareness of these needs, be they of individuals or of society as a whole; it also implies an inner, spiritual intuition as to how best to respond to them and a readiness to be involved efficaciously. So it is that one or another facet of the Spirit of Jesus is embodied in the person and life of the founder. This is further crystalized in the foundation of a religious family; .it may be given expression in the primitive texts, and be tangible also in the history and manner of being of the congregation. For the founder’s charism is not only a personal gift but a grace bestowedlikewise and in some measure on those who are called to be part of the same religious family. It is the sharing of this particular sensitivity which brings about that mysterious affinity between members of a congregation, which in turn gives rise to the spirit which constitutes the specific nature of the ins/itute.~The~ charism is like a vital seed enclosing within’itself an abundafice of genuine~ newness in the spiritual and missionary life of the Church, which future gener-ations must continue (¢f Mutuae Relationes.l I). ~ The potential inherent in the foundational charism develops in the measure that communities reniain actively and creatively faithful to its impulse under th( continuing action of the Spirit; for recipients of the charism are in duty Theological Reflections bound to embody and safeguard it, to maintain the dynamism from which it arose, and to accept the consequences of fidelity to it. This will allow its authentic flavor to emerge, and to enrich the life of the Church, and also to attract in a particular way those persons (new vocations) who are already-- even if only germinally--endowed with the same gift and called to the same religious family. However, such dynamic fidelity makes very practical demands, li calls for fidelity to the Lord and to his Spirit, and this in relation to that gift which God gave for the life and mission of the Chhrch through the founders; it.. requires ¯ intelligent attention to th~ signs and circumstances which, in every age, evoke different responses~ as well as the willingness to live in communion with the Church, and to participate in her mystery under the.guidance of her pastors; it calls for bold initiatives, constancy in self-giving and humility in adversity. Finally, fidelity to the charism inevitably involves the cross, which, often enough, authenticates the charism with’ its new vision, and constitutes a helpful sign in discerning a genuine ~all from God (cf Mutuae Relationes 12). The specific~charism is, then, a source of unity, of vitality and fecundity for the religious community. This ongoing and ever-creative impulse of the Spirit in founders and their followers becomes fully inserted into the mainstream of the Church’s life when the institute receives, through her approbation, the official recognition of its charismatic ,identity, and the mandate to pursue the mission entrusted to it. ’ The Church of Vatican !I, aware.that she is enriched by the charismatic dimension of religious life in its various forms, wishes to promote the genuine renewal of these institutes in fidelity both to the original charism and the circumstances of our times. Such renewal requires of their members that charismatic inventiveness which was typical of their founders, enabling them to respond wi(h sensitivity and generosity to the needs of those who have always~had the preference of the Church: the little ones and the poor (cf Mutuae Relationes 23 ff).~’ The Church has repeatedly expressed her conviction that ~he will find a great source of vitality and fecundity in the genuine revitalization of apostolic religious life; thus she affirms her hope in a religious life which will be faithful to those principles which make of it "an immense fund of generosity," and without which the Church would not be fully herself (cf Religious and Human Promotion 3 I). Apostolic Religious, United in Community, Are Sent by the Lord and by His Church The experience of being with Christ-in-mission according to a given modality, of giving authentic expri~ssion to the particular charism of an apos-tolic religious community brin.gs about a special affinity between the members of that community, a bo6d of understanding, support and encouragement as well as the desire to search together with those who share the same experience. 111 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 The living out of these realities gives rise to that type of community typical of apostolic religious life, Prior to the organization of structures or adoption of concrete expression of this bond, the communitarian dimension of apostolic religious life depends on a relational capacity and an effective closeness to the other members of the same religious family who share in the same mission of Christ which has brought them together. Such being and sharing with the members of the community is not an end in itself. Those who gather together in Jesus’ name, gather to seek; to build and to live the kingdom; be they the community of the ’Church or the apostolic religiouscommunity; they must become an evangelizing community because the "Good News of the Kingdom" is destined "for all people of all times" (cf Evangelii Nuntiandi 13). Personal encounter with the Risen Lord lies at the core of an apostolic community. It is he who converts those he chooses as his witnesses, communi-cating his Spirit and the dynamism of his own mission, promising to be always with them---even to the end of time.. The fundamental, personal experience of the Lord confe~s on the community, as on each of its members, the capacity to proclaim to the world that the Lord is alive. And to this both their words and their lives bear witness. Such is the teaching of the Council--that "the com-munity is a true family gathered together in the Lord’s name, rejoicing in his presence," and the unity of its members witnesses that "Christ has come" which in turn "results~[in] great apostolic influence" (cf Perfectae Carit~.tis 15). However,a community which springs from faith in the Risen Lord, which is consecrated and sent in virtue of the Word of the Lord, must be built around that Word and the celebration of the Lord’s memorial if it is to exist withany degree of credibility and become an effective "message," creative of other communities of faith. The Gospel will not transform the world if it does not first transform those whom Jesus has chosen to ~ommunicate.it. Hence the community needs to grow constantly in personal knowledge of the Word, in contemplative openness to its transforming power, in the capacity to hear the inner word of the Spirit so as to grasp God’s designs on the world, to discern his action in themselves, in events and situations within the Church. In so doing, they strive for that creative fidelity to the charism of which we have already spoken. The Council also points out that other source of vitality and fidelity: :the sacramental life of the Church by which religious participate in a unique way in the mystery of salvation. In the Eucharist above all they experience the total self gift of Christ, and are both challenged and strengthened in their own gift of self. As they are drawn more deeply into the love of Father, Son and Spirit, and into union with them, they are impelled to greater urgency in carrying out their mission. Their sincere desire to serve the Gospel and to contribute to human promotion demands that they strive to build up communion at all levels; in this way their own community is enriched and their presence among Theological Reflections / 19 the people becomes more stimulating and significant. They should be seen as ‘‘experts" in communion. It is only with a deep conviction of what constitutes them as community, and with. a great fidelity to the demands of their vocation, that apostolic religious will be able to be in the world a light that is not hidden and salt which keeps its flavor. Chapter IH The Response of the Person Called to the Apostolic Religious Life4 Total Donation of Self to Christ and the Radical Following of Him as He Ministers to People Apostglic religious life exists only insofar as it is lived by persons, persons who, touched by’ God, have received and continue to receive, a particular sensitivity which enables them to live a specific type of relationship with Jesus Christ. At. the root of every vocation to apostolic religious life there is a deep and uniquely personal experience which makes a profound imprint on the person. This experience entails: - an encounter with God, who has manifested himself and continues to be present in Christ Jesus, the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; -. a call, which flows from a gratuitous election on the part of God; for God chooses some in Chrisi Jesus to continue his mission of announcing and ~making present God’s kingdom on earth. This call implies also a creative shaping of the person, making her capable of living in union with Christ-in-mission; - a response, which is also a gift of grace. It takes the form of a total and °. unconditional donation of self to God such that one’s whole being and activity are directed to the Cause of the kingdom. This self-giving is lived ’ in union with Christ and in ever-renewed docility to his Spirit; ~ - a special consecration by which God accepts the free and tOtal gift of self. " He makes the person "his own" in a particular way, communicating, by the power of his Spirit, his very own life, strength and love; sending her "out to others to make present and active for them that love which she herself has experienced. By the very fact of being.thu~ called to the "radical following of Christ" in mission and for mission, the person is endowed with the capacity to live as Christ lived and to share his own life and destiny. Prompted by the selfsame Spirit, the person can truly put on the mind and heart of Christ, sharing his sentiments (cf Ph 2:5-8), longing for the Father’s glory and acting only in loving dependence on him. Such intensity of life in Christ calls for a sustained contemplative attitude whereby the Spirit can enlighten and guide the person in the ways of Christ. ¯ Inherent in the call to this particular form of life with Christ is the capacity to live also, as did Jesus, in bonds of kinship with others; sharing from within 20 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 their sorrows, joysand .aspirations, bringing to them in genuine service and receiving from them the message of salvation, striving alongside them to spread the kingdom. Without being of the world (of Jn 3:23; 15:19; 17:14) yet they enter into the reality of this world in all its suffering and tension with that ,contemplative vision which enables them to love it as God does, and to detect therein the signs indicating how to live the mission in the contemporary world and in the context of salvation history. The distinguishing feature of this new form of religious life5 is, then, that it is a call to be with Christ precisely as hb is intent on carrying out his mission as the Onesent bythe Father; a call to uni6n with him who INes with and in the midst of people and ffho spends himself for (hem; in a word, to live in union with him who "went about doing good" (Ac 10:38) and who "gave his life for the redemption of all" (Mt. 20:28). In the words!of one great founder, Christ says to those whom he invites to follow him; "Whoever wishes to come with me, has to be content to eat with, me, and similarly with regard to drinking,and clothing, etc., similarly he has to toil with me by day and to wake with~me at night, etc., so that he may share in my victory just as he shared in my labors" (St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises 93). The Giving of Self!in Love to Christ and the Apostolic Charity Deriving from This Union. with Him Expressed In and Thro.ugh the Vows Jesus came as the One sent by the Father to cast fire upon the earth (cf Lk 12:49), the One sent to serve (cf Mk 10:45), Whoever is called to apostolic religious life has encountered,this Jesus, and, drawn into the selfsame move, ment of love, can respond only" by a correspondingly complete gift of self; a giving of self such that one is with Jesus at the disposition of the Father to be spent in a life of active service for others. The response made out of love for him who first loved us(cf Jn 4:10); the option for the Person of Christ who, virgin and poor, has redeemed mankind by his obedience; the union which flows from it and the consequent sharing of his form of life are totally rooted in and informed by charity, a type of charity which possesses a special quality, that which was typical of Christ the Apostle, who, sent by the Father and out of love for him, gave himself to others and :sacrificed himself totally "that they may have life in abundance" (Jn 10:10). The giving of self by which the apostolic religious expresses her exchange of love is, therefore, a vowing of her entire self to Christ, a gix;ing of her entire person and personality in order to live and work in union with him. Her response is’one single movement of charity which urges her to give herself at .one and the. same time to Christ, and with him to others. When this total offering of self is received and accepted by Christ through. the ministry of the Church his bride, then God himself makes the religious totally his own by consecrating her to his service by a new and special title (cf Lumen Gentium 44), This is a covenant of love sealed by God. Theological ROflections / 21 ~ What prompts the person to engage herself in this pact of love is that disposition of heart by which "the virgin~ follow the Lamb wherever he goes" (Rv 14:4) and to enter into the movement of his life and mission as redeemer, the Lamb slain for the salvation of the world. Into this movement of love enter in a unique way those who give themselves to him with an undivided heart (cf l Co 7:32-35). For this reason the total giving of self which has a primordial value has its privileged expression in the vow of virginity or celibacy for the kingdom. Not without reason the Council has always mentioned this vow in the first place, that is, before the other vows. In so doing, ~the Council has stressed the,fact that it is love which brings about the giving of self to Christ. At the same time it has given us to understand that this vow, understood in its most intimate nature, implies what is more explicitly expressed through the other vows. By these a person takes on the obligation to live according to those dispositions of love through which Jesus Christ shared ’all that he is and has with those he was sent to redeem, He did not cling jealously to anything ,that~was his, and in this wayhe has enriched us by hispoverty (cf 2 Co 8:9). Having loved tho~e whom the Father had given him, he further loved t~aem to the end (cfJn 13: l) offering himself in a sacrifice of Iovin~ obedience to regain what had been lost by man’s disobedience (cf Rm 5:18-19). In this unifying visi6n the profession of the evangelical counsels’ is seen in its salvific, redemptive and haissionary aspect; it is seen in its apostolic dimen-don. The same vision enables us to appi"eciate-with greater clarity the intrinsic unity between being religious and being apostolic. It is obvious, then, that in a~ostolic religious life the union with Christ, Which is sealed through profession, has a particular thrust precisely because of the specific nature of the call to this form of life. It is a Onion which entails a "being among7 men and women--an insertion in contemporary society; an active comnfitment to the upbuilding of the kingdom by means of innumerable ministries, of proclamation and evangelization, of social and charitable works, of presence and collaboration with those wh6 seek to foster a more Christian world, a society which is more just, a humanity which moves towards the fulfillriaent of God’s plan. The love typical of those who thus belong totally to Christ-in apostolic religious life is like his. They share his incarnational closeness andself-giving to others, seeking their good without any trace of possessiveness br persgnal ghin; on the contrary ,they are ready to be sacrificed for others. Retaining nothing for self, they share, readily all that God has given them: talents, time and energies. Keenly aware of being poor themselves, they are olSen to receive from others,’even to be challenged and evangelized by them. Moreover, in this proximity and sharing, especially with the most poor and deprived, they are conscious of being bearers of a current of life flowing from the One who through obedience died to communicate his own life. They are available to every call of the Father. Intelligently faithful in the accomplish- 22 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 ment of the mission entrusted to them, they know that by this loving submis-sion they become channels of that grace which comes from the Redeemer. Such an intensity of active commitment, such refinement of love expressed through service, such warmth of human and supernatural love is the fruit of an attachment to Christ who has prompted such a total self-oblation to, him. We know only too well that because of the frailty of human beings, this union is frequently obscured by miseries and weaknesses. The response to Christ and to his expectations must, moreover, be given in the context of a world and a society which often are opposed to the plans of God. Conse-~ quently, our union with Christ passes through phases of growth and regres-sion, of struggles and difficulties as well as of successes and victories. Hence, our affective and effective relationship with Christ must constantly be nour-ished and intensified. Prayer as Relationship: The Very ~Texture of Life for the Apostolic Religious At the core of the,vocation to apostolic religious life there is, then, the con-stant creative action of God infusing that particular form of theological charity~ of which the only adequate expression is total belonging to Jesus Christ alone. This specific type of relationship with Jesus Christ, unique in each .case, impinges upon all the dimensions of the person and all the aspects of her life as apostolic religious. Under the impu!s~ of the Holy Spirit,,it increases in depth and intimacy as the pe~on grows in conformity with his ways and his will, and this in the very midst--and indeed by means of--the struggles, the joys and sorrows of the mission itself. The charity which binds the person in a~relationship of virginal love to Christ-in-mission, is that same charity which is, increasingly, the dynamic source of all her apostolic undertakings, making of them that "prayer" which is. the very texture of life for an apostolic religious. This in no way implies that the apostolic religious disregards the need for time given, to prayer "face to face’--to the contemplation of Jesus Christ; on the contrary. However, unlike the person called to a monastic or contempla-tive form of life, the basic thrust of the apostolic religious~ is to be with Christ-in-mission, i.e., sent out to be spent for others, normally by engagement~ in some kind of apostolic activity. If, and in the measure that these 9postolic activit.ies are truly animated by and flow from union in love with Jesus Christ,. then they are genuine prayer. In this sense one holy Founder--Don Bosc0-: proclaimed the validity of.apostolic work, saying "work is pm.ye.r."~ S_uch .w_as the patternof Christ’s own life whose entire being and doing flowed from his union with the Father (of Jn 5:19-20; 8:28,38; 12:49,50; 13:3; 14:24, etc.). If then such God-willed action is prayer because charity is its source,~then that same charity which binds the person to Christ demands, of its very nature, that time be given exclusively to the contemplation of Christ, in prolonged moments of prayer. It is then that the apostolic religious, open and vulnerable to God’s action, grows in likeness to the heart and mind. of Christ, seeing with Theological Reflections his eyes, seeking, with him, the glory of the Father, and thus becoming more apt to do his work. Then, too, the separateness of prayer and action dissolves as both are unified in one integrated movement flowing from relationship with the. Lord. Growth in relationship with Christ, as in the integration of prayer and action, also demands familiarity with the word of God, with its penetrating, purifying, guiding and challenging power (cf Heb 4:12; 2 Tm 3:16, etc.). It is likewise the fruit of active and enlightened participation in the mystery of salvation through the liturgy "where the power of the Holy Spirit acts upon us through sacramental signs" (Lumen Gentium 50), through the sacraments, in particular the Eucharist, memorial of the Lord’s Passover, of his complete giving of self for others which is the animating principle and inspiration of apostolic religious life. ~ All this is intimately linked with the divers historico-sociai and cultural aspects of the milieia where the religious lives and works, together with the tensions and difficulties inherent in extending Christ’s kirigdom therein. But to speak of the Spirit acting in the world means nothing if not that the Spirit is alive and active in the hearts~of believers, moving and empowering them with~ the Spirit of the Risen Lord; to find him always and to make of all situations and events the very stuff of their prayer, of their union with him. Furthermore, in this the apostolic religious, although responding as a unique individual to’a deeply personal call, is not alone even were she physi-cally apart from others. Given~over to Christ for them, she carries these "others" for whom and to whom she is sent always in her heart, those who share the same calling and the same charism; she does it in the context of and in union with the local and the universal Church of which she is a part. The integration of prayer and action in the life of the apostolic religious, the maturing of that type of prayer particularly appropriate.to this form of life, is a gradually evolving, and often a falteringly progressive experience. But, however falteringly, if lived in sincere response to God’s ongoing call and constantly molding ~icti0n, it gives rise to that Christ-mindedness which should characterize the true apostle: Not only the way of life, but the very heart of the person becomes apostolic, open to the Father, ready to be sent into his life-giving mission, able to see the world with the eyes of Christ, and, guided by his Spirit, to seek sincerely the signs indicating how to continue his saving work in today’s world. This last point evokes the whole area of discernment, but may seem to restrict its scope. For far from being an occasional exercise, discernment is an ongoing, God-given capacity to know, to "sense" what is of God. It likewise springs from charity, from the unique bond of love with Jesus Christ to which each one is called precisely as an apostolic religious. For where this bond of love is truly alive, it is that verY love which is quick to discern in a quasi= instinctive manner, and in the course of daily events, what is of God and pleasing to him. 24 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 Lest this, exacting as it is, appear too simplistic, too facile for today’s complex world, it may be added that the process embraces the use of the other faculties. However, as stressed previously, since God’s action extends to all dimensions of the human person, then when the response to God’s call is authentic and generous, all’the faculties (e.g. the capacity to reason, to judge, to will) are brought under the sway and into the service of theological charity. Ultimately it is still the "love" that discerns--with a discernment that may well transcend the dictates of human wisdom. ’Such discern~ment can never be anything but personal; however, it can never be exclusively personal because it is made in the context of a community. At times it also engages all the members of the community as a family gathered together in the Lord:s name to contribute to the life and mission of the Church. But what we have said above holds good even here. For the authenticity of this discernment i~ intimately related to the quality of the "discerning hearts" (1 K 3:9 ff) which constitute the community, and on the personal sincerity with which they seek God’s will. ~ Summary We have considered some of the personal implications of a call to apostolic religious life: the constitutive elements of such a call, how the response involves a total donation of self which has a bearing on all the aspects of the personal-ity, how the re~lationship of vi~:ginal love with Christ, once established, is the source from which all else flows and which integrates the twofold elements of prayer and ap?stolic activity, and gives rise to Christ-like apostolic attitudes and the capacity,for genuine discernment. However, the individual thus called, although called and responding to the call,necessarily as an individual, is likewise a social beiffg, an individual within a community: the community of the Church, the people, of God, and further-more, in virtue of the various charisms, a member of a specific religious family within the Church. This has its effect on all the aspects of apostolic.life, and the particular charisms will add further qualifications and albeit subtle refinements to the religious consecration and mission itself as well as to the manner in which the vows are lived. Over and above the experience of being called to apostolic religious life, there is the experience of carrying that particular sensi-tivity or charism which binds the members of a religious family to the founder as well as to each other in a particular way, and which is one of the deepest roots of a religious community. ~ NOTES tWith regard toall this see the rich text of Eucharistic Prayer IV: "Even when he disobeyed you and lost yrur friendship, you did not abandon him to the power of death, but helped all men to seek and find you. Theological Reflections "Again and again you offered a covenant to man, and through the prophets taught him to hgpe for salvation. Father, you so loved the world that in the fullness of time you sent your only Sonto be our savior. He was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, a man like us in all things but sin. "To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners freedom, and to those in sorrow joy. In fulfillment of your will he gave himself up to death; but by rising from the dead he destroyed death and restored life." See also the words of John Paul II in his encyclical letters Redemptor Hominis. especially nn. 8,9,10, and Dives in Misericordia, especially nn~ 7,8. 2See the following sentence of the Eucharistic Prayer IV which sums up in a very dense way what we have tried to express: "That we might live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace." 3It was precisely to prevent such rhisunderstandings that the Theological Commission of the Council discarded the draft stating that all Christians are called to the "same" (eadem) sanctity. And for the same reason the Council was careful to present the Christian’s life of union with Christ as "one" and yet "diversified," the diversity deriving from the rich variety of gifts granted by God which in turn leads to the variety of functions, offices and states of life within the Church and the various ways of sharing her mission. See the relevant and important passages of Lumen Gentium 39,40,42. 4This sectionr,dealing as it does wih the response of individual persons, necessitates the use of personal pronouns in the singular. In the context of material presented for the consideration of women religious, !hese are obviousl3~ in the feminine gender. However, the contents of the entire paper hold for all apostolic religious.. 5One can speak of a new form ofreligious life because since the sixteenth century the Holy Spirit has raised up in the Church orders of clerics regular, then congregations of men and women, both clerical and lay, in which typically monastic or conventual i~lements were abandoned so as to allow their members to dedicate themselves entirely to works of evangelization or charitable activity. Thus, a quite new type of religious !ife came into being: the apostolic religious life., 6Confirmed authoritatively by Plus XI who in answer to a petition made by Don Rinaldi, third successor of Don Bosco, said "Work and prayer are one: work is prayer, and prayer is work" (Ahi del Capitolo Superiore della Pl"a Societb Salesiaha. Anno III, June 24, 1922, n. 15). Vocation: An Appeal to the Primacy of the Spirit,ual Here, close to the Eucharistic Christ, I wish to tell you of my esteem and that of the whole Church, for your choice of the religious life ~hich is the basis and foundation of all the multiple and varied activities which, according to the typical charism of. each of, your institutes, yot~ carry on day after day for the glory of God and the good of others. The Church looks with admiration on your presence because you are a most important and ir~placeable force" in the structure of her life and for the very well-being and promotion of civil society. The chdrity of Christ which’impels you (2 Co ¯ 5:14) has truly expanded your minds and hearts in a continuous dedication to others which finds in all your initiatives--inspired .by the directives of your founders and foundresses--the most valid and genuine expression of that attitude of total availability for your brothers and sisters, loved and served in and for Christ.--John Paul II to Religious Sisters in L’Osservatore Romano. 12 Sept.. 1983. p. 10. The Priest as Preacher in the Theology of Karl Rahner GeraM F. Finnegan, S.J. Father Finnegan teaches theology at St. Joseph~ University and resides iN the Jesuit community there. His address is: St. AIphonsus House; 5800 Overbrobk Ave.; Philadelphia, PA 19131. The purpose of this paper i~ to listen tothe answers which Karl Rahner gives to the familiar problem of the identity of the priest. Who or what is a priest? What is his function? What is the relationship between him and his function? Does the latter determine his identity, and if so in what sense? Or is any attempt to identify the priest by means of his function 9r functions too shal-low? Is the priesthood too mysterious a reality to be defined functionally? These are the questions which produced this paper. Rahner answers them. But if we are to understand his answers, we must allow him to introduce and contextualize the subject for us. What might at first appear to be natural points of departure for a consid-eration of the priesthood, namely, the presuppositions that it is either an office of superior religio ~us powers or one of mediatorship between a holy,God and a sinful people, are not the right ones, Rahner argues. The first conception lacks a biblical basis, and the second would have to be radically altered before it could be applied to the Christian priesthood.~ The correct point of departure, he claims, is a consideration°of the context in which this prie, sthood exists, and that is the Church. What therefore is the nature of this Church? Rahner describes it as a’community made up of those who believe that the world is the ekstasis of God’s love, that it exists because God has chosen t? express his love outside himself, and. that the intention of this divine expression is the sharing of his own life w~th his creation.2 The acceptafice of this divine intention has found its historical, and therefore irrevocable, realization in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Thus in Jesus the world has begun the final stage of its journey to 26 The Priest as Preacher ] 97 God. The journey may still be a long one filled with many difficulties, but the reaching of the final destination is assured. Thus for Rahner the world is not simply a redeemable but rather a redeemed world.3 The final victory is assured in and because of the risen Jesus. Therefore, the purpose of the Church is to bear witness in hi~tory to this final victory by anticipating it in its own way of life. Suchoa witness is not only possible because of the power of Jesus poured out upon~ the world but rilso necessary, because without it this power of Jesus goes unnamed and unrecognized in history. As the historical embodiment of this victory, the Church~is by its very existence a sacrament. Traditionally, seven actions of.the Ch~urch have been identified as sacraments. However, for Rahner it is because the Church is itself a sacrament, the originating sacrament (Ur.sakrament), that these seven actions can be called sacraments, and not the other way around.4 In Catholic theology the seven, sacraments have been conceived as having two moments, those of word and element (Augustine’s terms) or those of form and matter (the Aristotelian terms of scholastic theology). Of these moments, -the word, according to Rahner, is the more important, for it is the word coming to the element which constitutes it a sacrament (Augustine’s accedit verbum, ad elementum et fit sacramentum), and it is the form which gives matter its character and identity. This is also clear, he believes, from the actual practice of the Church, for in two sacraments, marriage and penance, there are in fact only wordsP Yet these two elements mustnot be too strictly separated. In fact, the material element, since it, too, can be a sign of something even without the help of an ’explaining word, is of the same theological and metaphysical genus as the word. Nevertheless, since the word is the more important element of a. sacramental reality, and since the Church is a sacra-ment, it is also necessary to affirm the fact that the word is the more important element of the Church as well. Just as the word defines the material element of the individual sacrament, so too it is the word which defines this body called the Church. Without this word the Church would not know who it was nor be able to expCess itself to others. It is the Ursakrament because it possesses the word of God. What is true of the Church is also true of Jesus himself. The word is the more important~element of his reality, and that for many reasons.6 First of all, according to Christian faith it is the Word of God which gives Jesus his personal identity. Second, the historical Jesus depended on words, both inter-nal and external, to express, himself to himself and to others. Third, it is the word alone which can do justice to the reality of Jesus as Christian faith understands him, for this reality, while belonging to the world, also transcends it. Thus its explanation demands a tool or instrument which shares these characteristics. The word is such a tool; for while part of the world, it can reach beyond it by making a statement about an inner-worldly reality, then denying this statement, and then making this denial a reference to the transcendent-- the familiar via negationis of scholastic theology.7 211 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 For Rahner’the word also characterizes the divine-human relationship as such..By definition a word is the expression of cons(iousness and freedom. Thus the reality which God wishes to communicffte tous, his love, since it is an act of his conscious freedom, is a word.s If we reflect on what Rahner has done, we see that he has given to the word the place of honor traditionally reserved in Catholic theology for.. the sacra-ments. He began with the concept of a sacrament as ~the historical appearance of God’s love. Then he singled ’out the word as the more important of the two elements constitutive of a sacrament, and therefore of the Church as the Ursak-rament. The word was also identified as the mbre important element of the reality of Jesus himself. ~inally, God’s imparting of himself to us, since it is a commerce of the spirit, of freedom a.nd consciousness, is also necessarily a word, for that is the very definition of a word. The word has taken over. As the more important element of all the realities of faith, it can be defined as the appearance of God himself in history. ~’ Rahner holds that this is the understanding of the word of God in both the Old and New Testaments. Here the word never simply talks about something but rather makes that of which it speaks present. Rahner calls this the exhibi-tive or effective character of the word, i.e., its ability to make historically ~present the reality of which it speaks? This is also the understanding of the word in traditional Catholic theology, he argues. To prove his point, he cites this example: Suppose someone hears the authoritative word of the Church calling him to repentance, and accepts it. In such an acceptance traditional Catholic theology would say that something more ihan the subjective disposi-tion of the person is at work. God’s offer of repentance i~ part of this situation, and the content of this offer is God himself. Thus in this case the word of the Church has made God’s offer historically present to this individual, and this offer is God himself.~0 But the words which the Church speaks have different levels of intensity, according to Rahner. Those which demand the Church’s full engagement precisely as itself, as the Ursakrament, as the historical presence of God’s grace and love, are its most intense and therefore most effective words, for if God is not present in these words he is not present in any of its words. Furthermore, such words, when they are addressed to people in moments of decisive impor-tance for their salvation, are its individual sacramental words.~1 Yet even within these sacramental words there are degrres of intensity, because they all either anticipate or refer back to the words of the Eucharist where all is said with the greatest intensity.~2 "And there it ’tis," as the king in Peter Schaffer’s play, Amadeus, would say, for in Rahner’s opinion the nsember of the Church entrusted with its most intense word, its eucharistic word, is by that very fact its priest.13o Given this identification of the priest as the one entrusted with the eucha-ristic word, it would seem that Rahner, despite a rather long evangelical detour emphasizing the word, has ended with the traditionally Catholic understand- The Priest as Preacher ing of the priest as the rrian of the Eucharist. That canndt be denied. Neverthe-less, Rahner now argues that precisely because the priest speaks the eucharistic word, he,must also speak many other words in order to make this final, all-embracing fiord crrfiprehensible. In short, because he is a priest, this man must also be a prgphet. Moreover, he reminds his readers that in a Christian cont.ext both these functions of priest and prophet have been radically weak-ened, in fact have lost their autonomy.~4 The Christian prophet has no new word of revelation to speak but simply interprets for his time God’s final word to us given in Jesus. The Christian priest has no sacrifice of hi~ own to offer but simply allows the sacrifice of Jesus to be present’in sacramental form. In short, the Christian priest/prophet is the servant of Jesus’ words and actions. But when it comes to ih’-~ question, w-fiq-~ch of these functions, the priestly or the prophetic, offers an individual a chance to become existentially involved, and thereby gives his life a peculiar stamp or character, Rahner chooses the prophetic.~5 The pi-iest’s cultic role demands a rather small share of his time and does not depend, for its validity on hi~ personal involvement in it. Conse-quently, it c.a,~nnot make great existential demands on him or provide his life with a distinctive character. Certainly, the priest should have the intention of performing his cultic actions according to the Church’s intention, and it would be a contradiction for him to have an inward disposition contrary to that of the acts which he performs outwardly. Nevertheless, these actions have their own validity and meaning, whether he is involved in them or not.~6 And even if it were granted, for the sake of argument, that the obligation imposed on the priest of having the intention of the Church in performing his cultic duties demands that he involve himself pe.rsonally in them, this demand would not be pecu!iar to the priest and therefore could not serve to explain his life as having a peculiar stamp or character. For what is here required of the priest is required of all the members of the Church, that they worship in spirit and in truth. According to Rahner, it {s the prophetic function which gives the priest’s life its pecular character:by derrianding that he be existentially involved. The obligation to preach the Gospel has no time limits except those which the prac-tical necessities of life impose, and it demands his personal involvement.~7 For preaching is not the exposition of objective truths from which the preacher remains as far removed as possible for the sake of objectivity. If preaching is what it should be, it takes place in the power of the Spirit of God. It i.s charis-matic; it is done in the spirit of "strength, of love and of prudence."j8 Only when it is suc.h is it authentic and therefore capable of, and justified in, claim-ing the obedience of fdith. But when it is such, it lays claim to the preacher himself. In the past Catholic theology taught that the preacher was given grace for the performance of his office and the sanctification of others, but this grace was not seen as touching the preacher himself. Rahner rejects this view as too simple and not in accord with Scripture.~9 The grace given for preaching is given for the preacher as well. His preaching is carried by the fact that its message is also having its effect on him, that it is becoming a reality in his own ~1{1 / Re’view for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 life. If it is not, then his preaching is untrue and inauthentic, even though it may remain spiritually and dogmaticallycorrect. It ceases to be an address to faith and to /he obedience which faith demands anff becomes something addressed to the mind alone End no longer distinguishable from a lecture.2° The distinction ~etween a sermon and a lecture is simple enough. Even the non-church-goer can distinguish between the per~bn wh6 talks about Chris-tianit, y and the person who preaches it." But Rahner grounds this simple recog-nition philosophically in order ’to explain why preaching demands the existential involvement of the preacher. In his philosophy, beit~g and knowing are one: To be is to know, and the two increase concomitantly. The more a reality is, the more ii knows. But Rahner is using the word know here not in the popular sense of knowing something which is separate from the knower but rather in the sense of being present to oneseif.2~ Knowledge in this sense is self-consciousnes~. Thus God as full being is perfect self-consciousness. How-ever, if the more popular meaning of that word is used, then Rahner would argue that the more complex an obje~ct of knowledge i~, the more demands it makes on its knower. In Christian revelation the object known is God. Thus the one knower equal to this object would b~ God. Any other knower must be made somehow congenial to this object through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the acceptance of this gift takes place in faith which is an action involviiag a person totally. Consequently, if the Christian p.reacher is to know whereof he speaks, he must speak from within the context of faith, and this demands his personal involvement.2~ Neve~heless, even this explanation is not sufficient to ground an involve-ment peculiar to the priest. For the word of God must not only be preacheffin faith, it must also b,e heard in faith. Thus here again, asin the case of worship, both priest and people share the same call to personalinvolvement.~3 What is peculiar to the pr!,est, however, is the unique relationship which he has to God’s word because o.f his being called by the community to preach it. Because of this call he no longer simply meets the" word, is no longer simply confronted by it. Instead he now stands next to it and speaks it34 Furthermore, though the truth of his ,preaching is carried by his faith, he does not witness to his own faith in preaching but to that of the community. In doing tl~is hi: is different from his fellow Christians. They too, to be sure, are called to witn(ss to the community’s faith, but they do so in and througq the ~.circumstances of their lives.~, The priest, on the other hand, is called to give this witness not simply in and through the circumstances of his life but always and every~vhere. He must speak where he is not himself at homE. He must say things for which his own life offers little or no example because he speaks as one sent from ~ibove and therefore sent to every situation. Because of this he is in constant danger of being .mistaken for a fanatic who ,inv6lves himself in° the private affairs ~f others36 It is this universal quality of his witness to the Gospel which explains the uniqueness of the priest’s personal involvement in it. If he is faithful to this The Priest as Preacher ~.peculiar obligation, it will influence all the b.reas of his life and personality and give them a igeculiar stamp and character. Moreover, since this obligation tO-give this kind of witness is considered to be permanent once undertaken, the priesthoo~l is rightly called a vocation, for an occupation which involves~ a person personally and permanently deserves that name.2z Again, since this vocation requires the grace of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled, it is a matter of decisive, °salvific importance for the one accepting it. Therefore, when the Church is asked to designate someone for this office, she is asked to promise him tl~e grace of God. That is, she is asked to act in her full identity as the sacrament of God’s love. As a confirmation of his identification of the prophet function of the priest as that~which gives him~his peculiar character, Rahner points to the fact that whenever the New Testament attempts to establish .what he calls an ethics of the priesthood, it does so always.from its prophetic rather than from its cultic activity.28 As to the identity of priests of the future, Rahner holds that because the Church will remain the same in its essential belief and structure, its priesthood will not change in its essential reality, in what he calls its Genotyp.29 But its appearances (its Phenotyp) will chan, ge.3° For more than fifteen-hundred years the priesthood has been not only a vocation but also an occupation recognized by society.31 With the increasir~g secularization of society, priests may have to .havi~ secularjobsP2 Greater specia.lization may also be n(~essary on the part of future priestsA~f they are going to be able to dialogue with members of an increasingly specialized society~33 Yet in these changed circumstances the priesthood will remain a vocation because it will continue to be that which gives a fundamental and ~permanent °orientation to the life 0f the one who accepts it. Because Rahner is confident that God v~ill maintain the Church’s presence in history~ and because this presence depends in turn on the preaching of the Gospel and the celebration of the Eucharist, Rahner is also confident that God will raise up in each successive generation those who will be willing ~to under-take these functions in the Church.34 Such a divine provision also implies, according to Rahner, the holiness of these priests, or at least of some of them, for otherwise they will not continue in their office.35 We can now answer the questions we asked at the beginning of our paper. Who or what is a priest? For Rahner the priest is the person to whom the Church has entrustei) its most intense, which is its eucharistic, word. What is the priest’s function? To speak this eucharistic word, i.e., to lead the commu-nity in the celebrationof~the Eucharist. But if this is to be done intelligently and authentically, the priest must also speak many other words which explain and apply the meaning of th~ eucharistic word for today. Does the priest’s function determine his identity? Accord!ng to Rahner it does. The obligation to preach the word of God, if fulfilled, gives his life and personality a peculiar character. Despite an emphasis in the documents of Vatican II on the priest as ~12 / Review for Religious, Jan..Feb., 1984 preacher, in the minds of most Catholics today the priest .remains the man at the altar. This position should not be attributed to stubbornness,~to a refusal to "go along,’ with Vatican II. It is simply a reflection of the exp,e.rience of the majority of Catholics of Catholic worship a.nd life. For many priests continue to regard preaching as secondary in their ministry. But if these doc’uments of Vatican II and Rahner’s understanding of the priesthood are right, then we have found hereone of the major causes of a certain malaise often experienceO by some prie~sts today. They overlook the function which could and should provide their lives with meaning. By not taking their preaching seriously, they do not allow the study and prayer involved in ii~ preparation, and the call to faith which these presen~t, to claim them personally and in a way peculiar to them as priests. Ha~,ing overlooked this primary source, ..this unum neces-sarium, they look elsewhere--mistakenly, as far as .their Priesthood is con-cerned-- for meaning in their lives. NOTES IKarl Rahner, "Priesterli,c~he Existenz," in Schriften zur Theologie 3 (Einsiedeln, Zurich, Koln: Benziger Verlag, 1964), pp. 289-301: "Der theologischer Ansatzpunk fur die Bestimmung des Wesens des Amtspriestertums," in Schriften zur Theologie 9 (Einsiedeln, Zurich, Koln: Benzinger V~rlag, 1970), pp. 366-372: "Theologische Reflexionen z.um Priesterbild von H~ute und Morgen," in Schriften 9, p. 377; Von ,Sinn des kirchlchen Amtes (Freiburg, Basel, Wien: Herder, 1966), p. 13. ¯ 2V on Sinn des kirchlichen A’mtes, p. ]4; Knechte Christi (Meditationen zum Priestertum) (Frieburg, Ba,,sel, Wien: Herder, 1967), p. 8; "Der theologische Ansatzpunkt," p. 369; "Theo- Iogische ~Reflexionen," p. 379¯ ’ 3"Si~ ist erloste, nicht nur die erlosbare Welt." See "Wort und Eucharistie," in Schriften 4, 1964, p. 388. See also Von Sinn des Amtes, p. 16. *Kirche und -Sakramente in "Quae,s.tiones Disputatae" series, no. 10 (Freiburg Basel, Wien: Herder, 1960), pp. lift. 5~Won und Ei~charistie~" p. 330. 6"Priesterliche Existenz~" pp. 290-95: "Wort und Eucharistie." pp. 313-321¯ 7"Denn nur im Wort ist die M6glichkeit einer verweisenden Verneinung gegeben. Diese allein aber kann durch ihr Hintreten ein postives Weltliches zum Zeichen einer fibernatfirlichen Wirk-lichkeit machen." ~Priesterliche Existenz," pp. 291-92. My translation of these two sentences would be: "For only in the word is the possibility of a referential nega~t~on given. But this alone (the negation), by being applied to a positive reality of the world, can make the latter into a sign of a supernatural reality." S"Anders ausgedr(ickt: insofern die Gnade die freie personale Selbstmitteilung Gottes ist, ist ihre Verlautbarung immer frei und personal und darum wesenhaft Wort, und darum muss das ganze Zeichen tier Gnade, wie immer es gestaltet sein mag, an dem Wortcharakter teilnehmen."’Wort und Eucharistie," p. 330. My translation of this sentence would be: "Insofar as grace is the free, pe~sonai giving of God of himself, its expressi~on is always free and personal, and therefore essentially a word; and so every sign of grace, no matter what form it takes, shares of necessity its The Priest as Preacher word-character." 9"Wort und Eucharistic," pp. 321-28. For Rahner the dynamic of reality itself is the struggle to express itself, to "come to word." Thus, if a reality is already conscious, its desire is to know and love intensely and to express this in the exchange of words of love. If a being is not conscious, its desire is to enter into the knowledge and love of those realities which are conscious, which can know and love actively, and to be expressed in their words. Rahner calls these "Urworte." Other words lose this ability and are reduced to ~vhat he calls "Nutzworle," p.urely functionary words. See his article, "Priester und Dichter," in Schriften 3, pp. 354-56. ~°"Wort und Eucharistic," p. 325. ~qbid., pp. 323-29; 337-45. ~2/bid.. pp. 334-53: "Der theologische Ansatzpunkt," p. 370. ~3"Der theologische Ansatzpunkt," p. 370: "Theologische Reflexionen," pp. 38586. ~4"Priesterliche Exist~nz," p. 294ff. ~S Ibid., pp. 305ff. ~ lbid. ~71bid. ~Slbid., p. 307. The scriptural citation is from 2 Tim 1:6-7. ~9lbid. 2°Ibid.. p. 308. 2~ Ibid. This presence to oneself, das Bei-sich-Sein, Rahner also calls the "enlightedness" of being or reality, "die Gelichtetheit von Sein." See chapters three and four of his Hfrer des Wortes (Munchen: Verlag, 1963). 22ll?id., pp. 309. 231bid. 24Ibid.. p. 310. 25lbid. 2~Ibid.. p. 31 I. 271bid., pp. 285-88: p. 31 I. 28Ibid., pp. 311-12. ’~ 29"Zum Selbstverstandnis des Amtespriestertums," in Schriften 10, pp. 448ff. ~O lbid. 3~"Theologische Reflexionene," p. 389: Knechte Christi, pp. 16, 25. 32~Zum Selbstverstandnis des Amtespriestertums," p. 461. 33Handbueh der Pastoral Theologie (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1969), Bd. 4, p. 501. 34 Kirche und Sakramente, pp. 89ff. 35"Wenn Gott also absolut im Ganzen der Kirche die Existenz der Sakramente will, muss er auch absolut die Heiligket der Kierarchie im ganzen wollen, sonst w(irde er den Grunkt nicht wollen, dureh den die faktische Existenz der,Sakramentenspendung ist" (ibid.. p.:,91). My translation :would be: "Therefore, if God wishes, unconditio’nally, that there be sacrainents in the Church as a whole, then he must also wish, unconditionally, that the hierarchy, as a whole, be holy. Other-wise, he would not intend the basis by which the actual existence of the administration of the sacraments is carried." The Vocation of lhe Priest The priesthood is a gift from God. The Lord Jesus chooses for his priests those whom he wishes from ambng men. His loving gaze halted over each of you: he called you to follow him, t6 share in his priesthood. I therefore urge you to thank God ceaselessly for the gift of priestly vocation, to hold it in great esteem and to cultivate it. Be proud and happy because Christ has called you! Be aware of the grandeur and beauty of the priesthood! With all your youthful enthusiasm give yourselves to Christ and generously offer him your love! .May all those who approach you be aware of your joy and your happiness to be seminarians, called to bring everyone the joyful news and the wonderful fruits of the Resurrection! (John Paul II, to Croatian Seminarians, 27 April. 1982. L’Osservatore Romano. 5 July, 1982). Currents. in Spirituality Assessing and Choosing Even as the Journey Continues George Aschenbrenner, S.J. , This is Father Aschenbrenner’s fifth annual survey of the field of spirituality. ’So that his reflec-tions might have their greatest contribution to religious in this season of reflection, it seemed useful to "go to press" as soon as possible, rather than await Father Aschenbrenner’s reserved space in the issue of March/April. 1984 should see the publication of this series of reflectibns by Father Aschenbrenner in book form: Entitled A God for a Dark Journey, it will be published by’ Dimension Books, and will be available in standard book outlets. Father Aschenbrenner continues to work at St. Joseph’s University as Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. He may be addressed there: St. Joseph’s University; 54th and City Ave.; Philadelphia, PA 19131. The exhilarating wind of Vatican II, by means.of which the Holy Spirit b~:~eathed and even gusted through the Church and world, introduced a period of special experimentation and very challenging transition. This year’s article, the fifth in a series of annual reflections and commentary on the contemporary American spiritual scene,~ is very mhch influenced and focused bya sense of the special, quite specific stage we have come to in this post-Vatican II’ transi-tion. It seems to me that from many points of view we are being called to assess and take stock of our pilgrim journey since Vatican II--without, of course, closing the door on further development. We remain, and very rightly so, very 34 Assessing and Choosing / :$5 much in the midst .of a period of transition in the Church. But within that tran-sition, I believe we are now also in an extended moment that asks for a careful and honest evaluation of what has been happening, with a view to appreciating where we stand at this point and What we have learned thus far. It is "stock-taking timr," therefore--assessing and choosing, even as the journey continues. This article, then, begins with a brief description of this special moment in our qorporate pilgrimage. After that I will treat some trends and issues which seem to me part of this special moment of assessment and accountability, whether influencing it, being influenced by it, or both. Assessment in the Midst of Transition Both experimentation an~d evaluation always play important roles in the .healthy dev.elo,.pment .o._f..ogn.y human organ! .za.tion. One without the other is. always dangerous a,nd, finally, destructive. To be carefully and constantly. evaluating life, but without experimenting with it much, is to stagnate and to make evaluation otiose, On the other hand, frequent experimentation and change that is not regularly focused and disciplined by ’some serious, discern-ing eva!uation quickly misleads. It can be exciting at times, but finally it will violate and even destroy a basic identity. And all this is so both of persons and of groups. ., . ~,s the period of speci~l experimentation ,mandated by -E~clesiae Sanctae comes to a close, we are witnessing various efforts at review and evaluation. A prolonged and elaborate study of American seminaries is presently under way. A document on "Essential Elements in the Church’s Teaching on Religious Life as Applied to Institutes Dedicated to .Works of the Apostolate" has been published by the Sacred Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes2 to help the American bishops "to encourage and strengthen religious life in its authentic renewal.’~ Furthermore, a new canon law for the Church has been promulgated. And many religious congregations are involved in gett(ng their constitutions approved by the Holy See. These are just a few signs of the spe~iall phaseof evaluative reflection now taking place in the Church. How this process of evaluation is interpreted and how it will be carried out is of thevery greatest importance because, while the official period of special experimentation mandated by the Council may be terminating, the Church itself continues to be involved in a profound, extraordinary transition and development~ We are still passing through one of the few critical upheavals and periods of radical change that~the Church has known in her long exis-tence. And whatever some might wish, there is no sign we shall be done with it any time soon. Very fundamental realities, like grace, faith, sin, the sacra-ments, and so forth, continue to be conceived and articulated in very new ways. The moment of careful evaluation I am describing here is not meant to bring this extraordinary transition to a halt. Therefore,. the evaluation and accountability which is due will not be written on stone--now is not the time for setting norms and essential elements in any rigid or definitively settled way 36 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 that Would prevent future development. Nor is this evaluation~in any ~ay a strategy for "getting back to the way it used to be" before,all the change and turmoil. The moment of assessment and chq0sing 1 am tryihg to describe hire marks no such narrowly "conservative" move or victory. In hny time of extensive~ vigorous transition, it is important both to main-tain a sense of identity rooted in tradition and a profound ongoing and actual experience Of God’s love and care which actively invites a trusting surrender in the Spirit. ’These are the essentials of genuine development in the midst of rapid and rampant change. It takes~both a sense of identi~y in the tradition, and a profound experience of God to give the discerning insight that is neces-sary for a careful evaluation and for making decisive choices. But, when grounded in this way, a decisively honest reflection and evaluation can confi-dentlysort out true and false developments. It can point the direction for the continuing growth of God’s people. God’s fidelity, promised in Jesus and leading us through his Spirit, will never, in the last analysis, crntradict our tradition. But he will develop, stretch, bring new life from that tradition--at times in exciting and even ghocking changes that might not be~~ fully appre-ciated at the moment that gives them birth. In this connection a knowledge and love of the history of the Church, of spirituality, of religious life can be as important to us as our hope in the future, because history teaches vividly--as in the instance of a Francis of Assisi--that the spirit can do something so new, and so apparently disruptive, that only time--and that deep peace of heart which allows patience---will show it to be the Spirit of God building in a deep, mysterious, loving continuity with what has gone before. 1. Quiet Polarization Preventing Healthy Pluralism The vociferous polarization that so often occurred among us in the 60s and 70s has quieted down a good deal now, if it has not disappeared. It does not play to the gallery so often as it used to. But it is here. And most of us know ~that very well. Furthermore, I sense that this quiet, largely unsp~oken polariza-tion’among us often not only prevents a healthy, developing pluralism but often foments an unhealthy tolerance of mere plurality. It is a polarization at those essential depths where we either are or are not a community, are or are not fundamentally one in Catholic faith, are or are not one in Christ. And yet, as 1 have mentioned in an earlier article in this series,4 healthy pluralism will always involve, because it must involve, a unity of faith that is clearly perceived and shared. Without such unity, rapid diversification can easily become the tolerance of just plurality--at times a plurality or differing beliefs of such moment and such depth that it defies unity and reconciliation. Such tolerance of plurality can. be a lazy--or a wary--settling for mere diversity, without the hard work ,of that patient dialogue and honest investigation needed to lay bare and share a profound substratum of unity in faith. There are many examples today of positions quietly polarized beyond .much, if any, dialogue. These polarized positions are not always clearly con- Assessing and Choosing tradictory, but they often veer towards such collision. Two large groups who view the Church in different ways--one in an overly juridical, authoritarian, "law and order" way, and the other in a more charismatic, pneumatic, parti-cipatiye way--often, and mostly quietly, go their separate ways. There are also ¯ profoundly divergent views about more particular subjects, such as the rela-tionship ’of faith and _m_orality to sex_ua_lity. Related to thi_s. !ssue of morality and sexuality, there are vast ecclesiological differences. These include under-standings of what the magisterium is, and what is its right to teach faith and morals to the faithful. There are conflictual understandings of what religious life is,~:’and, especially, of the role and exercise of religious authority and obediefice. The understanding, significance and relationship’of the priesthood of all the faithful and a special ministerial priesthood is another area where great diversity of views exists. The questions of the ordination of women and a marr~ied priesthood continue to be cause for deeply felt cleavage of opinion. The gospel of organized, systemic liberation for justice and the gospel of the conversion of individual hearts can tangle in conflict in a way that separates ra.ther than unites. Admittedly these issues, used.here just to exemplify the quiet polarization, are very complicated and rarely capable of easy solution. Sometimes the solution does lie in seeing that one opinion is right and the other wrong..Very often, however, solutions lie in more integrated ways of viewing the particular matters in question. My concern here is not to resolve and settle these conflicts. These situations, and many others, can be seen as examples of ’profound differences of opinion among us, differences which often quietly polarize us. There are some but relatively few incidents of screaming, name-calling and public condemning related to these issues. But a clarity about the differences and a tenacity of conviction usually joined with a quiet, closed settledness, may be steadily dividing one opinion from its opposite. And so, underneath a surface uhity of politeness and courtesy very often lie deeply divisive opinions that are rarely discussed. And it is this quiet, settled, accepted nature of the polarization that can be most dangerous. At the heart of this phenomenon of quiet polarization we can usually find evidence of a too narrow and closed ideological type of thinking. This applies equally to conservative and to liberal views. A way of thinking locked into ~the narrow purview and comfortable assumption of an ideology is very different from a way of thinking rooted in.a profound Gospel perspective and an ongoing experience of God.5 Of its nature such obedience to the Gospel and to any genuine experience of God is always open to the possibility o,f being called away from what comes to be seen as a mistaken way of thinking to a deeper unity of faith. This is not to bypass the fact that Gospel faith has an intellectual content, and that at times we must stand for an essential of faith against all opposition. And it is certainly not to deny that minds professionally trained in philosophy and other secular disciplines are needed to analyze specific worldly issues. But it is also to claim that a Gospel vision, besides the assistance of an 311 / Review for Re~ligious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 educated mind reasoning carefully, requires a heart growing in the Spirit of Jesus as it is converted more and more from unbelief and sinful self-centeredness. We must learn to recognize in ourselves the signs of this tendency to get locked into a narrowly ideological way of thinking. One of these signs~can often be a stronger desire for the victory of showing how right I am than a desire to be genuinely reverent in seeking and learning something right about another person’s opinion. This tendency to a narrow, closed way of thinking is in us all and often goes undetected. But whether detected or not, ideology divides and polarizes~ It forbids and erodes that dialogue which searches for a deeper~unity of faith in Jesus within the diversity of a healthy pluralism, Especially in this present moment in which we are being called to a discern-ing evaluation that leads to further transition and genuine development, such quiet polarization needs to be faced~and worked through~ Honest and rever-ent dialogue about our differences brings enlightenment to everyone, rex~eals a deeper unity of faith, and makes pos.sible an increasing, healthy pluralism. But to remain settled in polarization, however quietly, to settle for a lazy or wary tolerance of plurality, can only be an interference and, in my judgment, a grave one, to the tasks of this present moment in our pilgrim.age together. 2. A Phase in the Dynamic of Liberation Liberation, like maturity, is a terribly important process for every human being. Liberation is a process. So it never happens suddenly, but over a period of time, and it can be divided into various stages or phases. Liberation is also meant to be a growth to greater maturity. The process of liberation to.greater maturity can be applied to an individual person, to a nation and to other groupings of people, like blacks, gays, men, women. And basically it remains tlii~ same process as applied in these different instances. Though the process of liberation is meant finally to lead to healthy, mature identity, it usually, among other characteristics, involves a phase of rather exaggerated self-concern. This is a phase involving discovery of and fascination with the self, sometimes in strong reaction to a period of oppression and denial of self. This one phase--one of many involved in the process of maturing--is my concern here. It is not always a very balanced phase. But it is unavoidable. And since it affects not only persons and groups, but whole movements also, it therefore is going to affect how liberation movements have their impact on pe.rso..n_s, on groups, and on .o_rganizat!ons--including religious con.g_~.ations. Because of the many different liberation movements currently at work in our world today, it is important that we learn to appreciate and deal with this one stage within the context of the whole process of liberation and maturity. The affirmation and discovery of self is an essential moment along the road to mature identity. But such preoccupation or fascination with the self, however necessary for a period, is not the goal of human existence. Love is. Human maturity is about self-sacrifice in a surrender of love. Nevertheless, it is pre- Assessing and Choosing cisely this affirmation and discovery of self which then makes possible the human maturity of surrender of self in love. Hence the essential goodness of this transitory stage in all liberation. Without this sense of self-possession, not always reflectively grasped and articulated, self-surrender in love, where possi-ble at all, would lose much of its depth and energy and staying power. A similar dynamic can be perceived in the developmen.t of a nation’s identity. A nation’s mature identity should involve it in playing its proper role in a careful balance of international.relationships. But before this stage can happen, there is usually an excessively isolationist and/or an aggressively nationalistic phase which pits this one emerging nation against, rather than in healthy relationship with, other nations. There can be a belligerently, superior and: Self-centered spirit infecting a nation while ~it is in this experience of excessive nationalism. For many countries this is a strong reaction to a period of oppression-and _domineering colonialism. Many third-world nations are struggling through this stage. Iran’s ferocious anger in the American,hostage-holding incident is an obvious example. We might wish that such an exces-si~, ely iaationalistic phase could be bypassed as the country moves toward a healthy international identity, but it wbuld seem unavoidable. So we must learn to deal patiently with such nations as they go through this early and unde°rstandable stage on the way to a more maturely integrated, international identity. We haste our own immaturities as a nation seeking full development ~ind libera3ion. Recognition of such limitations on our own part can provide us with the motivation needed to find patience in our dealings with nations that may be involved in this stage of th(dynamic of liberation. This same dynamic of self-centeredness, finally, can be seen in the devel-opmental process of various groups of people as well. Blacks, gays, and women are some examples of groups that are involved in the liberation movement. In all three instances, there can be no doubt about past unjust ,oppression and discrimination. And the predictable and understandable stage of excessive self-concern aimed at self-affirmation and discovery cannot be avoide~d. We can only be unrealistic, therefore, in wishing that this stage would not happen in a. particular liberation movement. Rather, we must learn to acknowledge the stage for what it is, in order to keep it in the context of the overall passage to greater maturity. In this way we can deal with it appropriately.6 Since this stage is usually and understandably overreactive, and since it is certainly not the final stage of maturity, any liberation group--and any per-son, group of persons or organizations affected by a liberation movement-- should be careful to avoid articulating its identity, or most aspects of its identity, from this limited, overreactive perspective. The stage is a time for tentative soundings, but not for judgments. While in the intensity of this overreactive stage, neither blacks nor gays should fully define what is to be their role in society. Nor should women who are in a moment of significant influence from the women’s movement. Nor’should men who are in a moment 40/. Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 of signficiant ini’luence from the women’s movement. And religious congrega-tions of women, therefore, which might very understandably be moving through this reactive stage, should be careful, during such a period and from such a limited perspective, not to define in their constitutions what is to be their identity on essential questions such ,as the meaning and role of religious authority and obedience. (Of course, the point I am making presumes a con-tinuing struggle and advocacy to convert the prejudicial:attitudes of many men and women in areas where women are oppressed.)7 In this present moment of careful reflection and evaluation--this special time of assessing and choosing in the midst of transition--any failure to recognize and appreciate this temporary stage ,of excessive self-preoccupation in the dynamic of liberation could lead to serious misunderstanding and unjust evaluations which will damage authentic personal and group identity and will anger and divide rather than unite and open to further, genuine growth. 3. ReligiousoLife 1 will treat in this section a number of trends that directly concern religio~s life. In the midst of the simply enormous amount of experiment find change characteristic of religious life since the Vatican Council, two ev~ents are perhaps especially evocative of the present moment of prayerful assessment for Ameri-can religious: the issuance of the Vatican document on religious life to the American bishops, and the present effort of so many congregations to have their rewritten constitutions approved by the Holy See. In some.instances i will reconsider here trends which have been examined in the previous articles of this series~ Developments, whether in myself or in the matters at hand, have sometimes altered or deepened my perceptions and brought me to a greater clarity about possible issues involved. a) A Public Witness to Christ and to the Church The Vatican document makes it very clear that a public witness to Christ and to the Church distinguishes religious life from a secular institute. For the most part, this is a repetition, at this particular point in the history of r~ligious life, of a long-standing view. And this publicly sanctioned witness, in the Church determines many of the essential elements of religious life as presented in the Vatican document. The presence of religious life is "visible, affecting ways of acting, attire and style of life."s In light of this stress on public witness, it becomes clearer that some religious congregations over the years have moved unsuspectingly closer to.the classification that the drcument gives to secular institutes. Some interesting questions can surface at this point. How serviceable is this distinction now, after so many years of growing diversification and complexity :in religious groups in the Church? Does this document express.clearly and carefully enough all that. we have learned about the distinction between monastically apostolic and actively apostolic religious congregations--learned Assessing and Choosing as a result of returning to the roots of our founding charisms, as mandated by "Perfectae Caritatis, and as a result of our study of the development of religious .-life in the whole history of Christian spirituality? Are some congregations meant now to develop into secular institutes? Will some congregations con-sider the option of extra.-canonical status because of difficulty in getting revised constitutions approved, or because of essential disagreements about religious life as presently described by the Holy See? Or will some congregations make ’ further adaptations so as to reveal more clearly the public witness of religious life? How will some religious accomplish a needed reconciliation in order genuinely to have the relationship to the Church of giving public witness? (I remember a sister commenting in a workshop on reconciliation that a fair number of reiigious are finding it hard to be reconciled to a Church that can be so oppressive, unjust and sinful in our world today.) . According to ~the Vatican document, public witness essentially involves life in_community in a "place oLresidence which’is properly established ’by their institute i’n accordance with common law and their own constitutions.’~ Two years ago~0 I noted thee operational divergence in religious congregations as regards to whether,,ljfe in community was seen to be,essential to religious life. I think this divergence is still with us, and must be reviewed in this time of evaluation. It is important to see that much more is intended here than getting every religious into a religious house. A corporate dimension in mission, faith, life and identity is seen to,be essential to the public witness of religious life. This is a profound attitude of heart which must then take flesh and be explicitly incarnated in daily life. Again, some questions will be faced. How do we form specific local communities? How much of a role do’es the choice of the individ-uals involved play? What role does a religious congregation’s missioning of the individual play in. the choice of community? How do we justify an individual’s living alone? Another element of the public witness of religious life is the wearing of a "religious garb that distinguishes them as consecrated persons.TM In another place the document states that "Religious should wear the religious garb of the institute, described in their proper law, as a sign of consecration and a witness of poverty."~2 Though it seems always a mistake to make this issue of attire and garb too central, this could be the most provocative statement of the Vatican document for American religious.13 Some may respond by simply disregarding this directive. But I have heard a lot of concern, questions and discussion of the topic already. My hope is that the issue will not be exploded out of due propor.tion, but will lead to some serious experimentation with a form of religious garb that is publicly distinguishing, a sign of simplicity and poverty, and in accord with the founding charism of the institute. Where the value of some special religious garb is accepted, still other intriguing questions arise which need further discussion, experimentation and review. Can a full religious tlabit (a word.not used in the recent Vatican document but found in the new Code: (canon 669, #1) be distinguished from a .religious garb? And if 42 / Review for Religious, Jan.-Feb., 1984 so, does the meaning and purpose of a habit speak more to the charism of monasticism than to the charism of actively apostolic religious life? Should the religious garb be basically uniform for all members? What role, if any, does a veil play as part of appropriate religious garb? Is a religious garb something to be worn always, or are there times when it is not necessary or is even inappro-priate? Can a distinctive garb, at times, prevent the appropriate service intended by a religious? . b) Religious Authority and Obedience Recognizing authority and responding in appropriate obedience is always challenging for sinful human beings. Hence it is not strange that we still find ’confusion, fear and, at times, rebellious denial as responses to authority. This variety of responses can be found among .the general run of people in this country. Though there is a growing concern for "tough love" with its expecta-tions and demands to be met, it is still quite true that an excessive egalitarian-ism and a narEissistic individualism have ’put the question in many people’s minds’and hearts, and on their faces: "Who are you t~ tell me what to do?" Throughout the ranks of believers in the Church this same variety of response can be found. Whether it is papal teaching in morality or Vatican guidelines for religious life or the .Nationals-Conference’ of Catholic Bishops’ pastoral on peace and war,!4 the same question can surface: "who are you to tell me what to do?" Oftentimes I sense among us religious that feelings bristle at the mere mention of religious authority and obedience. Much of our present reaction is due to a past, 9verly authoritarian exercise of religious authority and a mistaken identification of immature, passive dependency for authentic religious obedience. But a lot of the present difficulty ma~, also be rooted,in other forms of immaturity, aswell as in the perennial, common sinfulness of our human condition. Perhaps some of this confusion about the existence, source and role of authority in religious life will be challenged by reflection on the recent Vatican document on the essential elements of religious life. Today there is not only diversity but~cbnflict among the various views, experiments and practices in religious congregations regarding the functioning of religious authority. Some-times this conflict seems to have moved toward irreconcilable positions. A number City of Saint Louis (Mo.), http://www.geonames.org/4407084 http://cdm17321.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rfr/id/271 |