KEEP WATCH!
To Consecrated Men and Women
Journeying in the Footsteps of God
Keep Watch!
CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES OF
CONSECRATED LIFE
AND SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE
YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE
Paulines Publications Africa
PAULINES PUBLICATIONS AFRICA
Daughters of St Paul
P.O. Box 49026
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E-mail: publications@paulinesafrica.org
Website: www.paulinesafrica.org
Printed by Don Bosco Printing Press, P.O. Box 158, 01020 Makuyu (Kenya)
Paulines Publications Africa is an activity of the Daughters of St Paul, an international religious
congregation, using the press, radio, TV and films to spread the gospel message and to promote
the dignity of all people.
KEEP WATCH! – Congregation For Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
ISBN 9966-08-901-2
Year of publication 2014
Contents
Dear Brothers and Sisters, ……………………………………………………….. 7
Departing Obediently in Exodus …………………………. 11
With Open Ears …………………………………………………………………….. 12
Guided by the Cloud ……………………………………………………………… 14
The Exodus, in Living Memory……………………………………………….. 16
Joys and Struggles on the Way ……………………………………………….. 20
Stay Awake and Keep Watch ……………………………… 25
With Open Ears …………………………………………………………………….. 26
The Prophecy of Life in Keeping with the Gospel …………………….. 30
The Gospel, the Supreme Rule ……………………………………………… 31
Formation: Gospel and Culture …………………………………………….. 34
The Prophecy of Watchfulness ……………………………………………….. 37
Together, we Search the Horizon …………………………………………… 38
Leadership “Behind the People” ……………………………………………. 40
The Mysticism of the Encounter ……………………………………………. 43
The Prophecy that Mediates …………………………………………………. 48
At the Crossroads of the World ……………………………………………… 48
Under the Banner of the Least ………………………………………………. 52
In choir, in the Orans Posture ………………………………………………….. 55
For Reflection………………………………………………….. 59
The Paradoxes of Pope Francis ………………………………………….. 60
Hail, Woman of the New Covenant ……………………………………….. 63
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6 7
Travelling always with that virtue
which is a pilgrim virtue: joy!
(Pope Francis)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. Let us continue with joy our journey towards the Year of Consecrated
Life, so that our preparation may itself be a time of conversion
and grace. By his words and actions, Pope Francis continues to
demonstrate the fruitfulness of a life lived according to the counsels
of the Gospel and the joy that lies in proclaiming this, as he invites
us to go forward, to be “a Church which goes forth,”1 according to
a logic of freedom.
He urges us to leave behind us “a worldly Church with superficial
spiritual and pastoral trappings,” in order to breathe “the pure air
of the Holy Spirit who frees us from self-centredness cloaked in an
outward religiosity bereft of God. Let us not allow ourselves to be
robbed of the Gospel!”2
Consecrated life is a sign of good things to come in human civilisation,
as it travels onwards “in exodus” along the paths of history. It is
willing to come to grips with provisional certainties, with new situations
and challenges as they develop, with the clamorous demands
and passions of contemporary humanity. In this watchful pilgrimage
it preserves the search for the face of God, lives in discipleship to
Christ, and allows itself to be guided by the Spirit, so as to live its
love for the Kingdom with creative faithfulness and ready diligence.
Its identity as a pilgrim and prayerful presence on the threshold of
history (in limine historiae) belongs to its very nature.
1 FRANCIS, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24th November 2013), 20-24.
2 Ibid., 97.
8 9
resistance to the Holy Spirit: this is the grace for which I wish we
would all ask the Lord; docility to the Holy Spirit, to that Spirit who
comes to us and makes us go forward on the path of holiness, that
holiness of the Church which is so beautiful.”5
This letter is founded in remembrance of the abundant grace experienced
by consecrated men and women in the Church, and also makes
a frank call for discernment. The Lord is living and working in our
history, and is calling us to collaboration and to collective discernment,
so as to inaugurate new seasons of prophecy in the service of
the Church, looking forward to the coming Kingdom.
Let us arm ourselves with the weapons of light, freedom, and the
courage of the Gospel, and search the horizon, looking for the signs
of God there and obeying him, making bold evangelical choices in
the manner of the humble and the small.
5 FRANCIS, The Spirit cannot be domesticated, morning meditation in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae,
Rome (16th April 2013).
This letter is intended to hand down to all consecrated men and women
this valuable heritage, exhorting them to remain, with resolute hearts,
faithful to the Lord (cf. Acts 11:23-24) and to continue on this journey
of grace. We would now like to review the steps taken over the past
fifty years. In this, the Second Vatican Council emerges as an event
of fundamental importance for the renewal of consecrated life. The
invitation of the Lord resonates for us: “Put yourselves on the ways
of long ago, enquire about ancient paths: which was the good way?
Take it then, and you will find rest” (Jer 6:16).
In this resting-place (statio), each of us can recognise the seeds of
life: both those that, finding a home in a good and generous heart (Lk
8:15), have come to fruitfulness, and those which have fallen along
the wayside, on the stones or among the thorns, and have not borne
fruit (cf. Lk 8:12-14).
We are presented with the possibility of continuing our journey with
courage and watchfulness so as to make daring choices that will honour
the prophetic character of our identity, “a special form of sharing
in Christ’s prophetic office, which the Holy Spirit communicates to the
whole People of God,”3 so that people today may see “the unsurpassed
breadth of the strength of Christ the King and the infinite power of
the Holy Spirit marvellously working in the Church.”4
To search the horizons of our life and our times, in watchful prayer;
to peer into the night in order to recognise the fire that illuminates and
guides, to gaze into the heavens, looking for the heralds of blessing
for our dryness. To keep awake and watch, and to make intercession,
firm in faith.
The time is short to align ourselves with the Spirit who creates:
“In our personal life, in our private lives”, continued the Pope, “the
same thing happens: the Spirit pushes us to take a more evangelical
path, and we [say]: ‘But no, it goes like this, Lord’…. Do not put up
3 JOHN PAUL II, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (25th March 1996), 84.
4 Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 44.
10 11
Departing Obediently
in Exodus
At every stage of their journey,
whenever the cloud rose from the tabernacle
the sons of Israel would resume their march.
If the cloud did not rise,
they waited and would not march until it did.
For the cloud of the LORD rested on the tabernacle
by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night,
for all the House of Israel to see.
And so it was for every stage of their journey.
(Ex 40:36-38)
12 13
With Open Ears
The life of faith is not simply something we have, but a journey
that has its bright stretches and dark tunnels, its open horizons and
tortuous, uncertain paths. Out of God’s mysterious self-abasement,
coming down into our lives and our affairs, comes, according to
the Scriptures, joy and amazement, gifts from God that fill life with
meaning and light, and find their fulness in the messianic salvation
accomplished by Christ. [Or is it the self-abasement that finds its
fulfilment in Christ’s messianic salvation?]
Before focusing our attention on the Second Vatican Council and its
effects, let’s take our cue from an iconic episode of the Bible to offer
a living and grateful commemoration of the postconciliar moment of
opportunity, its kairos, with its values that still inspire us.
The grand epic of the Exodus of the chosen people from slavery in
Egypt to the Promised Land becomes an evocative icon. It suggests
our modern stop and go, pause and resume, patience and enterprise.
The decades since the Council have been a period of real highs and
lows, of surges and disappointments, of explorations and nostalgic
refusals.
The interpretative tradition of the spiritual life, which has taken
various forms closely connected to the forms of consecrated life,
has often found, in the great paradigm of the exodus of the people
of Israel from Egypt, evocative symbols and metaphors: the burning
bush, the crossing of the Red Sea, the journey through the desert, the
theophany on Sinai; also the fear of the lonely wilderness, the gift
of the law and of the covenant, the column of cloud and fire; manna,
water from the rock, murmuring and the backsliding.
Let’s take the symbol of the cloud (in Hebrew ‘anan),6 which mysteriously
guided the people on their journey: it did so by stopping,
6 The term ‘anan occurs 87 times in the Old Testament; 20 times in Exodus and 20 more in Numbers. The expression
“pillar of fire and cloud” appears only once (Ex 14:24); generally it is referred to as a “pillar of cloud” or
“pillar of fire.” Both expressions describe the manifestation of the divine presence.
sometimes for a long time, so causing inconvenience and provoking
complaint; and then rising up and moving to indicate the pace of the
journey, under the guidance of God.
Let’s listen to the Word:
At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the
tabernacle the sons of Israel would resume their march. If the cloud
did not rise, they waited and would not march until it did. For the
cloud of the LORD rested on the tabernacle by day, and a fire shone
within the cloud by night, for all the House of Israel to see. And so
it was for every stage of their journey (Ex 40:36-38).
The parallel text in Numbers (cf. Nm 9:15-23) adds an interesting
element, focussing on the stops and starts:
Sometimes it stayed there for two days, a month, or a year; however
long the Cloud stayed above the tabernacle, the sons of Israel
remained in camp in the same place, and when it lifted they set out.
(Nm 9:22).
Clearly, this style of presence and guidance on the part of God demanded
constant watchfulness: both to respond to the unpredictable
movement of the cloud, and to preserve faith in God’s protective
presence when stops became lengthy and the final destination seemed
to be indefinitely postponed.
In the symbolic language of the biblical account, the cloud was the
angel of God, as the book of Exodus affirms (Ex 14:19). In subsequent
interpretation, the cloud becomes a privileged symbol of
the presence, goodness and active faithfulness of God. In fact, the
prophetic, psalmic and sapiential traditions would often revisit this
symbol, developing other aspects, such as, for example, God’s hiding
of himself because of the fault of his people (cf. Lam 3:44), or the
majesty of the throne of God (cf. 2 Chr 6:1; Jb 26:9).
The New Testament sometimes uses analogous language to revisit
this symbol in the theophanies – the virginal conception of Jesus
14 15
(cf. Lk 1:35), the transfiguration (cf. Mt 17:1-8), Jesus’s ascension
into heaven (cf. Acts 1:9). Paul also uses the cloud as a symbol of
baptism (cf. 1 Cor 10:1), and the symbolism of the cloud is always a
part of the imagery for describing the glorious return of the Lord at
the end of time (cf. Mt 24:30; 26:64; Rv 1:7; 14:14).
To summarise, the dominant perspective, already found in the characteristic
symbolism of the exodus, is that of the cloud as a sign of
the divine message, the active presence of the Lord God in the midst
of his people. Israel must always be ready to continue its journey if
the cloud starts moving, to recognise its faults and detest them when
its horizon becomes obscure, to be patient when stops are prolonged
and the destination appears unreachable.
To the complexity of the multiple biblical recurrences of the symbol
of the cloud we should add further factors: the inaccessibility of God,
his sovereignty watching over all from above, his mercy that parts
the clouds and comes down to bring back life and hope. Love and
knowledge of God can be learned only on a journey of discipleship,
in an openness free from fear and nostalgia.
Centuries after the exodus, almost on the verge of the coming of the
Redeemer, the author of Wisdom would recall that adventurous epic
of the Israelites led by the cloud and by the fire in an eloquent phrase:
“You gave your people a pillar of blazing fire, to guide them on their
unknown journey” (Wis 18:3).
Guided by the Cloud
The cloud of light and fire, which guided the people according to
rhythms demanding total obedience and total watchfulness, speaks
eloquently to us. We can glimpse, as in a mirror, an interpretive model
for consecrated life in our time. For several decades now, consecrated
life, spurred on by the charismatic impulse of the Council, has walked
as if it were following the signals of the cloud of the Lord.
In the hearts of those who have had the grace to “see” the beginning
of the conciliar journey echo the words of St John XXIII: Gaudet
Mater Ecclesia, the incipit of the inaugural address of the Council
(11th October, 1965). 7
Under the banner of joy, the profound rejoicing of the spirit, consecrated
life has been called to continue, in renewal, its journey through
history:
“In the present order of things, Divine Providence is leading us to a
new order of human relations which, by men’s own efforts and even
beyond their very expectations, are directed towards the fulfillment
of God’s superior and inscrutable designs. And everything, even human
differences, leads to the greater good of the Church […] perfect
conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be
studied and expounded through the methods of research and through
the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient
doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which
it is presented is another. And it is the latter that must be taken into
great consideration with patience if necessary.”8
St John Paul II called the conciliar event “the great grace bestowed
on the Church in the twentieth century: there we find a sure compass
by which to take our bearings.”9 Pope Francis has reiterated that “was
a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit.”10
We can affirm the same thing with regard to consecrated life: the
Council was a most positive experience of enlightenment and discernment,
of strenuous efforts and great joys.
The consecrated have truly been on a “journey of exodus.”11 This has
been a time of enthusiasm and audacity, of inventiveness and creative
fidelity, but also of fragile certainties, of improvisations and bitter
7 JOHN XXIII, Address for the opening of the Council Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, Rome (11th October 1962)
8 Ibid., 4,6.
9 JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (6th January 2001), 57.
10 FRANCIS, The Spirit cannot be domesticated, morning meditation in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae,
Rome (16th April 2013).
11 Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Post-synodal Apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata (25th March 1996), 40.
16 17
disappointments. With the benefit of hindsight, we can recognise that
truly there was fire in the cloud (Ex 40:38), and that by “unknown”
paths the Spirit in truth led the lives and plans of consecrated men
and women along the paths of the Kingdom.
In recent years the impulse of this journey seems to have lost its
vigour. The cloud appears to enclose more darkness than fire, but
the fire of the Spirit still dwells in it. Although at times we may walk
in darkness and a lukewarmness that threaten to trouble our hearts
(cf. Jn 14:1), faith reawakens the certainty that inside the cloud the
Lord’s presence is not diminished: it is a [glow of fire flaming in the
night] (Is 4:5), as well as being darkness.
It is always a question, in faith, of starting out on an unknown voyage
(Wis 18:3), like our father Abraham, who departed without knowing
where he was going (cf. Heb 11:8). It is a journey that requires radical
obedience and trust, which only faith allows us to attain, and which
in faith may be renewed and strengthened.12
The Exodus, in Living Memory
There is no doubt that, at the end of the Council, consecrated men
and women welcomed the deliberations of the Council Fathers with
substantial adherence and sincere fervour. It was perceived that the
grace of the Holy Spirit, invoked by St John XXIII to obtain a renewed
Pentecost for the Church, had been at work. The intervening time,
at least a decade, had seen clear evidence that a harmony of thought,
aspiration and upheavals was occurring.
The apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia of 1947 recognised
that a form of consecrated life could be lived by following the
evangelical counsels whilst still “in the world.”
12 Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Audience, Rome (23rd January 2013).
This was “a revolutionary gesture in the Church.”13 This official
recognition came before theological reflection set out the specific
outlines of secular consecration. In a way this recognition expressed
a stance that would be at the heart of the Second Vatican Council: a
sympathy for the world that gives rise to a new dialogue.14
In 1950 this dicastery, under the auspices of Pius XII, convened the
first World Congress of the States of Perfection. The teachings of the
pontiff opened the way for an appropriate renewal (accommodata
renovation), an expression that the Council makes its own in the
decree Perfectae Caritatis. This Congress was followed by others, in
various contexts and on various themes, making possible during the
1950’s and at the beginning of the following decade a new theological
and spiritual reflection. On this well-prepared ground, the Council
scattered profusely the good seed of doctrine and a wealth of concrete
guidelines that we are still living today as a precious inheritance.
We are now about fifty years away from the promulgation of the
dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium of Vatican Council II, which
took place on 21st November 1964. This is a memory of the highest
theological and ecclesial value: “the Church has been seen as
‘a people made one with the unity of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit.’”15 It recognises the centrality of the people of God
redeemed by the blood of Christ, on their journey among the nations
(cf. Acts 20:28). Filled with the Spirit of truth and holiness,
they are sent to all men as light of the world and salt of the earth
(cf. Mt 5:13-16).16
This outlines an identity firmly founded on Christ and on his Spirit,
and at the same time sets forth a Church that reaches out to all cultural,
social, and anthropological situations.
13 Cf. FRANCIS, Audience with participants in the meeting organised by the Italian Conference of Secular Institutes,
Rome (10th May 2014).
14 Cf. PAUL VI, Allocution on the occasion of the last public session of the Second Vatican Council, Rome (7th
December 1965).
15 Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 4
16 Cf. ibid., 9.
18 19
…the Church is destined to extend to all regions of the earth and so
enters into the history of mankind. Moving forward through trial and
tribulation, the Church is strengthened by the power of God’s grace,
which was promised to her by the Lord, so that in the weakness of
the flesh she may not waver from perfect fidelity, but remain a bride
worthy of her Lord, and moved by the Holy Spirit may never cease
to renew herself, until through the Cross she arrives at the light which
knows no setting.17
Lumen Gentium dedicates the whole of its sixth chapter to religious.18
After affirming the theological principle of the “universal vocation
to holiness,”19 the Church recognises among the multiple ways to
holiness the gift of consecrated life, received from its Lord and preserved
in all eras by his grace.20 The baptismal root of consecration,
according to the teaching of Paul VI, is manifested in joy, while he
indicates the way of life lived following Christ (sequela Christi) as
a permanent and efficacious representation of the form of existence
that the Son of God embraced in his earthly life. Consecrated life,
finally, operates as a sign for the People of God in the fulfilment of
the common Christian vocation, and manifests the grace of the Risen
Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit, who works wonders in the
Church.21
Over the course of subsequent years, these claims have remained
vigorous and effective. One change that has already borne fruit today
is an increased ecclesial sense, which marks out the identity of
consecrated men and women, and animates their life and work.
For the first time in the course of an ecumenical Council, consecrated
life was identified as a living and fruitful part of the Church’s life
of communion and holiness, and not as an area in need of “decrees
of reform.”
17 Ibid.
18 Cf. ibid., 43-47
19 Cf. ibid., chapter V
20 Cf. ibid., 43.
21 Cf. ibid., 44.
The same intention guided a decree whose fiftieth anniversary we
are preparing to celebrate, Perfectae Caritatis, promulgated on 28th
October 1965. In it, the radical nature of the call resounds unmistakeably:
“Since the ultimate norm of the religious life is the following of
Christ set forth in the Gospels, let this be held by all institutes as the
highest rule.”22 This seems like an obvious and generic affirmation,
but in fact it provoked a radical purification of devotional spiritualities
and identities and their re-alignment with the primacy of ecclesial and
social services, firm in the reverent imitation of their founders’ aims.
Nothing can come before the centrality of the radical following of
Christ.
The conciliar magisterium was also open to recognising a variety of
forms of consecrated life. For the first time at such an authoritative
level, apostolic institutes received clear recognition of the principle
that their apostolic action belongs to the very nature of consecrated
life.23 The lay consecrated life seems to be established and recognised
as a “state for the profession of the evangelical counsels which is
complete in itself.”24 The secular institutes emerge with their constitutive
difference, secular consecration.25 Groundwork is laid for the
rebirth of the Ordo Virginum and of eremitical life, as non-communal
forms of consecrated life.26
The evangelical counsels are presented in an innovative fashion, as
an existential project undertaken with its own specific means and
with a especially radical way of imitating Christ.27
Two more themes stand out, on account of the new language in which
they are presented: fraternal life in common, and formation. The
first finds its biblical inspiration in the Acts of the Apostles, which
for centuries has inspired the aspiration to a “single heart and mind”
22 Second Vatican Council, decree on the renewal of religious life Perfectae Caritatis, 2a
23 Cf. ibid., 8
24 Ibid., 10.
25 Cf. ibid., 11
26 Code of Canon Law, promulgated by John Paul II (25th January 1983), cann.604 and 603.
27 Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life Perfectae Caritatis, 12-14.
20 21
(cor unum et anima una, Acts 4:32). The positive recognition of the
varieties of models and styles of fraternal life constitutes today one
of the most significant outcomes of the innovative inspiration of the
Council. Moreover, drawing upon the shared gift of the Spirit, the
decree Perfectae Caritatis urges the dropping of ranks and categories
so as to establish communities of a fraternal character, where
all have equal rights and obligations, apart from those arising from
holy orders.28
The value and necessity of formation is laid down as the foundation
of renewal: “Adaptation and renewal depend greatly on the education
of religious.”29 Because of its essential nature, this principle has functioned
as an axiom: it has given rise to a determined and adventurous
itinerary of experiences and discernment, in which consecrated life
has invested intuition, study, research time and effort.
Joys and Struggles on the Way
On the basis of the conciliar guidelines, consecrated life has undertaken
a long journey. In reality, this exodus has not been directed
solely to searching for horizons pointed out by the Council. Consecrated
men and women are encountering and coming to grips with
unprecedented social and cultural realities; they are attending to the
signs of the times and of different places, to the Church’s pressing
invitation to implement the conciliar reforms, and the rediscovery
and reinterpretation of their founding charisms, as well as rapid social
and cultural change. These are novel situations, calling for new and
shared discernment, whilst, at the same time, destabilising models
and styles that have been repeated over time but now are incapable of
conducting dialogue, in witness to the Gospel, with new challenges
and opportunities.
28 Cf. ibid., 15.
29 Ibid., 18.
In the constitution Humanae Salutis, with which St John XXIII convened
the conciliar assembly of Vatican II, we read: “Following the
admonitions of Christ the Lord who urges us to interpret the signs of
the times (Mt 16:3), among so much gloomy haze we see not a few
indications that seem to offer auspices of a better era for the Church
and for humanity.”30
The encyclical letter Pacem in Terris, addressed to all men (and
women) of good will, introduced as a key theological concept the
“signs of the times.” Among these, St John XXIII recognises: the
social-economic rise of the working classes; the entrance of women
into public life; the formation of independent nations,31 the protection
and promotion of the rights and duties of citizens, all aware of their
dignity;32 the conviction that solutions for conflicts must be found
through negotiation, without recourse to weapons.33 He also includes
among these signs the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved
by the United Nations.34
The consecrated have dwelt in and made sense of these new landscapes.
They have proclaimed and borne witness to the Gospel above
everything else, with their lives, offering help and solidarity of all
kinds, collaborating in the most varied tasks under the banner of
Christian neighbourliness, as people involved in an ongoing historical
process. Instead of confining themselves to lamenting over the
memory of past eras, they have sought to enliven the social fabric and
its dynamics with the Church’s living tradition, tested for centuries
on the crest of history, according to the disposition (habitus) of faith
and of Christian hope.
The task presented to consecrated life by the historical landscape at
the end of the twentieth century has required boldness and courageous
30 JOHN XXIII, Apostolic Constitution Humanae Salutis convening the Sacred Ecumenical Council Vatican II
(25th December 1961), 4
31 .JOHN XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris on peace among all peoples (11th April 1963), 24-25.
32 Cf. ibid., 45-46.
33 Cf. ibid., 67
34 .Cf. ibid., 75.
22 23
inventiveness. For this reason, this epoch-making journey must be
evaluated as a prophetic gift, religiously motivated: many consecrated
made serious efforts to live the new evangelical awareness, which
obliges us to side with the poor and the least, sharing their values
and anguish, often at grave personal risk.35
Consecrated life opens itself to renewal not because it follows
self-generated initiatives, nor out of a mere desire for novelty, and
much less because of a reductive focus on urgent sociological matters.
Mainly, in fact, it does so out of responsible obedience to the
creator Spirit, who “speaks through the prophets” (cf. the Apostles’
Creed),36 and to the promptings of the Church’s magisterium,
forcefully expressed in the great social encyclicals Pacem in Terris
(1963), Populorum Progressio (1967), Octogesima Adveniens
(1971), Laborem Exercens (1981), and Caritas in Veritate (2009).
This has been a question – to return to the image of the cloud – of
fidelity to God’s will, as manifested through the authoritative voice
of the Church.
This vision of the charism of consecrated life – as something originated
by the Spirit, oriented to conformation to Christ, marked by
a community-based ecclesial profile, and in dynamic development
within the Church – has grounded every decision of renewal; gradually,
it has given rise to a true theology of the charism, applied in
a clear way to consecrated life for the first time.37 The Council did
not explicitly apply this term, “charism,” to consecrated life, but it
opened the way for this by making reference to some of the statements
of Paul.38
35 Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter to the religious of Latin America for the fifth centenary of the evangelisation
of the New World, Los caminos del Evangelio (29th June, 1990), 19, 21; ibid., post-synodal apostolic exhortation
Vita Consecrata (25th March, 1996), 82, 86, 89-90.
36 The first official use of the word “prophetic” on the part of the magisterium is found in a document of the Sacred
Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes, Religious and Human Development (in Latin: Optiones
evangelicae) (12th August 1980), introduction and nos. 2, 4, 24, 27, 33. In Vita Consecrata, in addition to the
two specific paragraphs (84-85), the term is used about thirty times, roughly a hundred if analogous expressions
are counted.
37 Cf. Sacred Congregation for Religious and for Secular Institutes – Sacred Congregation for Bishops, Directive
criteria on relations between bishops and religious in the Church Mutuae Relationes (14th May 1978), 12, 19, 51.
38 Cf. for example Second Vatican Council, decree on the renewal of religious life, Perfectae caritatis,1, 2, 7, 8,
In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelica Testificatio, Paul VI officially
adopts this new terminology39 and writes:
…the Council rightly insists on the obligation of religious to be faithful
to the spirit of their founders, to their evangelical intentions and
to the example of their sanctity. In this it finds one of the principles
for the present renewal and one of the most secure criteria for judging
what each institute should undertake.40
This Congregation, a witness to this journey, has accompanied the
different phases of rewriting of the Constitutions of the various
institutes. It has been a process that has altered long-standing equilibriums
and changed obsolete traditional practices,41 while it has
reinterpreted the spiritual patrimony with a new hermeneutic, and
has tested new structures, to the point of reshaping programmes and
presences. In this renewal, faithful and creative at the same time, we
should not conceal certain dialectics of confrontation, tension, and,
even, painful defection.
The Church has not stopped this process, but has accompanied it with
careful teaching and wise vigilance, identifying seven main themes
concerning the primacy of the spiritual life: the foundational charism,
life in the Spirit nourished by the Word (lectio divina), fraternal life in
common, initial and continuing formation, new forms of apostolate,
the exercise of authority and attention to different cultures. Consecrated
life over the last fifty years has been measured and shaped
according to these requirements.
Reference to the letter of the Council allows us to “find its authentic
spirit,” and avoid mistaken interpretations.42 We are called to commemorate
together a living event in which we, the Church, have
recognised our most profound identity. At the closing of the Second
Vatican Council, with a grateful mind and heart Paul VI affirmed:
14, 15; decree on the missionary activity of the Church, Ad gentes, 23
39 PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelica testificatio (29th June 1971), 11, 12, 32
40 PAUL VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelica testificatio (29th June 1971), 11.
41 Cf. Second Vatican Council, decree on the renewal of religious life, Perfectae caritatis, 3.
42 Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Homily, Holy Mass for the opening of the Year of Faith, Rome (11th October 2012).
24 25
Stay Awake
and
Keep Watch
Elijah Climbed to the top of Carmel
and bowed down to the earth, putting his face between his knees.
“Now go up,” he told his servant “and look out to the sea.”
(1 Kgs 18:42.44)
The Church has gathered herself together in deep spiritual awareness
[…] to find in herself, active and alive, the Holy Spirit, the word of
Christ; and to probe more deeply still the mystery, the plan and the
presence of God above and within herself; to revitalise in herself
that faith which is the secret of her confidence and of her wisdom,
and that love which impels her to sing without ceasing the praises
of God. Cantare amantis est (song is the expression of a lover), says
St Augustine (Serm. 336; P. L. 38, 1472).
The council documents – especially the ones on divine revelation,
the liturgy, the Church, priests, Religious and the laity – leave wide
open to view this primary and focal religious intention, and show
how clear and fresh and rich is the spiritual stream which contact
with the living God causes to well up in the heart of the Church, and
flow out from it over the dry wastes of our world.43
The same loyalty towards the Council as an ecclesial event and as a
model of behaviour now requires that we turn with trust to the future.
Is the certainty alive in us that God always guides our journey?
In its wealth of words and actions, the Church leads us to interpret
our personal and community life in the context of the whole plan of
salvation, to understand which direction to take, what future to imagine
that is in continuity with the steps taken previous to our own day,
and invites us to a rediscovery of the unity of the witness of praise,
faith and life (confessio laudis, fidei et vitae).
The “memory of faith” (memoria fidei) gives us roots of continuity
and perseverance: this is a powerful identity allowing us to see
ourselves as part of a tale, a history. Letting faith reinterpret in the
journey that has been made is not limited to the big events, but also
helps us reinterpret our personal history, helpfully dividing it into
episodes.
43 Cf. PAUL VI, Allocution on the occasion of the last public session of the Second Vatican Council, Rome (7th
December 1965).
26 27
With Open Ears
Let’s look for more light in the biblical symbolism, asking for inspiration
for the journey of prophecy and of exploring new horizons
of consecrated life, which we would now like to consider in this
second part. Consecrated life, by its very nature in fact, is intrinsically
called to serve as a witness, presenting a sign of the Church
(signum in Ecclesia).44
This is a function that belongs to every Christian, but in consecrated
life it is characterised by the radical nature of Christian discipleship
(the sequela Christi) and the primacy of God, and at the same time by
its capacity to live the evangelising mission of the Church with truthfulness
(parrhesia) and creativity. St John Paul II rightly reiterated that “The
prophetic character of the consecrated life […] is also expressed through
the denunciation of all that is contrary to the divine will and through the
exploration of new ways to apply the Gospel in history, in expectation of
the coming of God’s Kingdom.”45
In the patristic tradition, the biblical model of reference for monastic
life is the prophet Elijah, because of his life of solitude and asceticism,
his passion for the covenant and fidelity to the law of the Lord, and
his audacity in defending the rights of the poor (cf. 1 Kgs 17-19; 21).
This was also recalled by the apostolic exhortation Vita Consecrata,
in support of the prophetic nature and function of consecrated life.46
In the monastic tradition, the mantle that Elijah symbolically let
fall upon Elisha at the moment of his ascent into heaven (cf. 2 Kgs
2:13) is interpreted as the passage of the prophetic spirit from father
to disciple and also as a symbol of consecrated life in the Church,
which, always new, lives by memory and prophecy.
Elijah the Tishbite suddenly appears in the narrative of the northern
kingdom, with a peremptory admonition: “Elijah the Tishbite, of
44 Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 44.
45 JOHN PAUL II, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (25th March 1996), 84.
46 Ibid.
Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “There will be neither dew nor rain
these coming years unless I give the word.” (1 Kgs 17:1). He stands
for a rebellion of religious conscience in the face of moral decadence,
into which the people are led by the insolence of Queen Jezebel and
the indolence of King Ahab. The prophetic sentence that shuts heaven
is an open challenge to the special function of Baal and the baalîm,
who were reckoned to control fecundity and fertility, rain and abundance.
From here begins the sweeping narrative of Elijah’s actions in
episodes that, rather than telling a story, present dramatic moments
of great inspirational power (cf. 1 Kgs 17-19, 21; 2 Kgs 1-2).
In every event Elijah lives out his prophetic service, undergoing the
purifications and enlightenments that characterise his biblical profile,
until the culminating moment of his encounter with God in the soft
and silent breeze on Mount Horeb. These experiences are also inspirational
for consecrated life. This too must pass from the solitary
and penitential refuge in the wadi of Cherith (cf. 1 Kgs 17:2-7) to
the encounter with the poor fighting for their lives, like the widow
of Zarephath (cf. 1 Kgs 17:8-24); must learn from the brilliant audacity
represented by the challenge of the sacrifice on Carmel (cf. 1
Kgs 18:20-39) and by the intercession for the people devastated by
drought and the culture of death (cf. 1 Kgs 18:41-46). It must defend
the rights of the poor, trodden down by the high and mighty (cf. 1
Kgs 21), and warn against those forms of idolatry that profane the
holy name of the God (cf. 2 Kgs 1).
One particularly dramatic episode is Elijah’s deadly depression in
the desert of Beersheba (1 Kgs 19:1-8); but there God, offering him
the bread and water of life, is able to turn his flight into a pilgrimage
to Mount Horeb (1 Kgs 19:9).
This is an example for our dark nights, which, as for Elijah, precede
the splendour of the theophany in the gentle breeze (1 Kgs 19:9-18)
and prepare the way for new seasons of fidelity, which become stories
of new callings (as for Elisha: 1 Kgs 19:19-21), but also bring bold28
29
ness to intervene against the perversion of justice (cf. the murder of
Naboth: 1 Kgs 21:17-29). Finally, we are moved by his affectionate
farewell to the communities of the children of the prophets (2 Kgs
2:1-7), in preparation for the final crossing of the Jordan, up to heaven
in the fiery chariot (2 Kgs 2:8-13).
We might feel drawn to the spectacular actions of Elijah, to his furious
protests, his direct and bold accusations, to his encounter with
God on Horeb, when Elijah goes so far as to accuse the people of
planning nothing but destruction and ruin. But let’s consider that at
this historic moment, there are some lesser elements that have more
to say to us, which are like little signs to inspire our steps and choices
in a new way in this modern age in which the footsteps of God seem
to vanish, as religious sensibility becomes a desert.47
The biblical texts offers numerous “lesser” symbols. We can highlight:
the scarce resources for life at the brook Cherith, and the ravens that
obey God in bringing the prophet bread and meat, in a gesture of
mercy and solidarity. The generosity, at the risk of her own life, of
the widow of Zarephath who has only a handful of flour and a little
oil (1 Kgs 17:12) and gives them to the famished prophet. The powerlessness
of Elijah in the face of the dead boy, and his cry of doubt
together with his desperate embrace, which the widow interprets in
a theological way, as the revelation of the face of a compassionate
God. The long struggle of the prophet, prostrate in intercession – after
the spectacular and rather theatrical clash with the priests of Baal on
Carmel – imploring rain for the people, exhausted by the sentence
of drought. It is a team effort by Elijah, the boy who goes up and
down from the crest, and God who, rather than Baal, is the true lord
of the rain; and the answer finally comes in a little cloud, the size
of a man’s hand (cf. 1 Kgs 18:41). A tiny answer from God, which
nonetheless quickly becomes a great rainfall, restoring a people on
the brink of exhaustion.
47 Cf. FRANCIS, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24th November 2013), 86.
Another outwardly poor yet effective response comes a few days
later with the loaf and the jar of water that appear beside the prophet
in his deathly depression in the desert: this is a resource that gives
him the strength to walk forty days and forty nights to the mountain
of God, Horeb (1 Kgs 19:8). And there, in the cleft of a cave where
Elijah takes shelter, still bristling with anger against the destructive
and sacrilegious people threatening even his own life, he witnesses
the destruction of his conceptions of threat and power: The Lord was
not… in the impetuous wind, in the earthquake, in the fire, but in a
sound of a gentle breeze (1 Kgs 19:12).48
This is both a sublime page for mystical literature, and a sheer drop
into reality for all of the prophet’s “holy rage” he has to recognise
the presence of God outside all traditional conceptions, which tried
to keep him prisoner. God is whisper and breeze, not a product of
our need for security and success, he leaves no visible trace of his
passing (cf. Ps 77:20), but is present in a true and efficacious manner.
In his fury and emotion, Elijah was about to ruin everything, deceiving
himself that he alone had remained faithful. God, meanwhile, knew
well that there were seven thousand faithful witnesses, and prophets
and kings ready to obey him (1 Kgs 19:15-19), because God’s story
was not limited to the failure of a depressed and surly prophet. The
story continues, because it is in the hands of God, and Elijah must
look at reality with new eyes, allowing himself to be reborn in hope
and trust by God himself. His crouching posture on the mountain
when he is begging for rain, which so strongly resembles the unborn
child in its mother’s womb, is also revisited symbolically on Horeb
when he takes refuge in the cave. Now it is now completed with the
prophet’s new birth to walk upright and regenerated on the mysterious
paths of the living God.
48 In Hebrew, qôl demamáh daqqáh; the translation is not easy or straightforward, because each word has
several meanings. Qôl means voice, sound, wind, rustling, murmur, breeze, whisper; demamáh means silence,
void of death, suspension, breathlessness; daqqáh means light, faint, fine, subtle, tranquil. The Septuagint
translates this into Greek as phonè aúras leptês, Jerome into Latin as sìbilus aurae tenuis.
30 31
At the foot of the mountain, the people were still fighting against a
life that was no longer life, against a religiosity that was a profanation
of the covenant and a new idolatry. The prophet must take upon
himself that fight and that desperation, he must retrace his steps (1
Kgs 19:15), which now are God’s alone, and re-cross the desert.
The desert, however, now blossoms with new meaning, so that life
may triumph and new prophets and leaders may faithfully serve the
covenant.
The Prophecy of Life in Keeping with the Gospel
The time of grace that we are living through, with Pope Francis’s
insistence on placing the Gospel and what is essentially Christian at
the centre of things, is for consecrated men and women a new call
to watchfulness, to be ready for the signs of God. “There shall be
neither dew nor rain these years except at my order.”49 We have to
fight against eyes weighed down with sleep (cf. Lk 9:32), so as not to lose
the attitude of discerning the movements of the cloud that guides our journey
(cf. Nm 9:17) and to recognise in the small and frail signs the presence of
the Lord of life and hope.
The Council has given us a method: the method of reflecting on the
world and human events, on the Church and Christian existence,
beginning with the Word of God, God who reveals himself and is
present in history. This method is supported by an attitude: one of
listening, that opens itself to dialogue and enriches the journey towards
the truth. Returning to the centrality of Christ and of the Word of
God, as the Council50 and the subsequent magisterium have insistently
invited us to do51 in a biblically and theologically grounded way, can
49 FRANCIS, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (24th November 2013), 84.
50 Cf. Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life Perfectae Caritatis, 5; ibid., Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 21, 25.
51 Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (25th March 1996), 84; JOHN PAUL
II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (6th January 2001), II. “A face to contemplate” (16-28); III. “Starting
afresh from Christ” (29-41); Benedict XVI, encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est (25th December 2005); Congregation
for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, instruction Starting afresh from Christ:
A renewed commitment to consecrated life in the third millennium (19th May 2002).
be a guarantee of authenticity and quality for the future of our lives
as consecrated men and women.
This is a listening that transforms us and makes us proclaimers and
witnesses of the intentions of God in history and of his efficacious
activity for salvation. Amidst today’s needs, let’s return to the Gospel,
quench our thirst with the Sacred Scriptures, in which we find
the “pure and perennial source of spiritual life.”52 In fact, as St John
Paul II aptly put it: “There is no doubt that this primacy of holiness
and prayer is inconceivable without a renewed listening to the word
of God.”53
The Gospel, the Supreme Rule
One of the characteristics of the conciliar renewal for consecrated
life has been the radical return to following Christ (the sequela
Christi):
Indeed from the very beginning of the Church men and women have
set about following Christ with greater freedom and imitating him
more closely through the practice of the evangelical counsels, each
in his own way leading a life dedicated to God.54
Following Christ, as proposed in the Gospel, is the “ultimate norm
of religious life” and the “supreme rule”55 of all the institutes. One
of the earliest names for monastic life is “evangelical life.”
The different forms of consecrated life bear witness to this evangelical
inspiration, starting with Anthony, the pioneer of solitary life in the
desert. His story begins with listening to the word of Christ: “If you
wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow
me” (Mt 19:21).
52 Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, 21.
53 JOHN PAUL II, apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (6th January 2001), 39
54 Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life Perfectae Caritatis, 1.
55 Ibid., 2.
32 33
From Anthony on, the monastic tradition makes Scripture its rule of
life: the first Rules are simple practical norms, without any pretence
of spiritual content; because the only rule of the monk is Scripture,
no other rule is admissible: “We take care to read and learn the Scriptures,”
writes Orsiesius, a disciple and successor of Pachomius, “and
to consecrate ourselves incessantly to meditating on them…. The
Scriptures guide us to eternal life.”56
Basil, the great master of Eastern monasticism, when he wrote the
Asceticon,57 destined to become the manual of monastic life, refuses
to call it a Rule. His point of reference is instead the Moralia,58 a
collection of biblical texts commented on and applied to situations
of life in community (santa koinonia). In the Basilian system, the
behaviour of the monks is defined through the Word of God, the God,
always present, who examines hearts and minds (cf. Rv 2:23). This
constant presence before the Lord, memoria Dei, is perhaps the most
specific element of Basilian spirituality.
In the West, the journey moves in the same direction. The rule of
Benedict is obedience to the Word of God: “Let us listen to the voice
of God that speaks to us every day….”59 Listen, my son:60 this is the
opening of the Regula Benedicti, because it is in listening that we
become sons and disciples, in welcoming the Word that we ourselves
become word.
In the twelfth century, Stephen of Muret, founder of the Order of
Grandmont, concisely expressed this condition of being rooted in
the Gospel: “If someone asks you of what profession or what rule
or what order you are, respond that you are of the first and principal
rule of the Christian religion, meaning the Gospel, the wellspring
and principle of all rules; there is no other rule than the Gospel.”61
56 Cf. Pacomio e i suoi discepoli.Regole e Scritti, L. Cremaschi (ed.), Magnano 1988, p. 409
57 Basil, Moralia (PG, 31, 692-869); Ibid., Regulae fusius tractatae (PG, 31, 889-1052).
58 Ibid., In Regulas Brevius tractatae (PG, 31, 1052-1305).
59 Benedict, Rule, Prologue, 9.
60 Benedict, Rule, Prologue, 1.
61 Monastic rules of the West, Magnano 1989, pp. 216-217.
The emergence of the Mendicant Orders makes, if possible, the
movement of return to the Gospel even more incisive.
Dominic “showed himself everywhere to be an evangelical man, in words
as in works.”62 he was a living Gospel, capable of proclaiming what he
lived, and who wanted his preachers to be “evangelical men” as well.63
For Francis of Assisi, the Rule is: “The life of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ;”64 for Clare of Assisi: “The form of life of the order of four
sisters… is this: ‘To observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ.’”65 In the rule of the Carmelites, the fundamental precept is
that of “meditating on the Law of the Lord day and night,” in order
to translate it into concrete action: “All that you must do, do it in the
word of the Lord.”66 This foundation, common to so many religious
families, remained unchanged with the passing of centuries.
In our own time, James Alberione affirmed that the Pauline Family:
“Aspires to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the full,”67 while Little
Sister Magdeleine has said: “We must build something new. Something
new that is old, that is the authentic Christianity of the first
disciples of Jesus. We have to take up the Gospel word for word.”68
Every charism of consecrated life is rooted in the Gospel.
Passion for the biblical Word is evident and significant in many of
the new communities that today are flourishing all over the Church.
Today, returning to the Gospel sounds to us like a “pro-vocation”;
it takes us back to the source of every life rooted in Christ, and is a
62 Libellus 104, in P. LIPPINI, San Domenico visto da i suoi contemporanei, Edizioni Studio Domenicano, Bologna
1982, p. 110.
63 First constitutions or “Consuetudines”, 31. Because of this “often, both by voice and by letter, he admonished
and exhorted the friars of the Order to study the Old and New Testament continually… He also carried the Gospel
of Matthew and the epistles of Paul with him and studied them so much that he almost knew them by memory”
(Deposition of Fra Giovanni di Spagna, in Domenico di Gusmán. Il carisma della predicazione, introduction
by P. Lippini, EDB, Padova 1993, p. 143).
64 Regola non bollata, Titolo: FF 2,2. The Regola bollata begins with the same tone: “The Rule and life of the
friars minor is this, to observe the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1, 2: FF 75).
65 Rule I, 1-2: FF 2750.
66 Rule of Carmel, cc. 10 and 19; cf. B. Secondin, Una fraternità orante e profetica in un mondo che cambia.
Rileggere la Regola del Carmelo oggi, Perugia 2007, pp. 8 e 11.
67 G. Alberione, “Abundantes divitiae gratiae suae”. Storia carismatica della Famiglia Paolina, Rome 1977, n. 93.
68 PICCOLA SORELLA MAGDELEINE, Il padrone dell’impossibile, Casale Monferrato 1994, p. 201.
34 35
powerful invitation to undertake a journey back to the origin, to the
place where our life takes shape, where every rule and norm finds
meaning and value.
The Holy Father has often urged us to trust in and entrust ourselves
to this life-giving dynamic: “I invite you never to doubt the power of
the Gospel, nor its capacity to convert hearts to Christ Resurrected,
and to lead people on the path to salvation, which they are waiting
for deep within them.”69
Formation: Gospel and Culture
Formation according to the Gospel and its demands is an imperative.
In this context, we have been asked to undertake a specific revision
of the model of formation that accompanies consecrated men
and in particular consecrated women on the journey of life. Spiritual
formation is a pressing need, although very often it is limited almost
entirely to simple psychological companionship or to standardised
exercises of piety.
Impoverished, repetitive and vague in its content, this formation
can trap the candidates in infantile and dependent levels of human
growth. The rich variety of ways followed and suggested by spiritual
authors remains almost unknown to direct reading, or is recalled only
in fragments. It is essential to ensure the patrimony of institutes is not
reduced to cursory outlines, detached from their life-giving original
content, because this is not an adequate introduction to the Christian
experience or to the experience of the charism.
In a world in which secularisation has become selective blindness
towards the supernatural and men have lost sight of the footsteps of
God,70 we are called to rediscover and study the fundamental truths
of the faith.71 Those who render the service of authority are called
69 FRANCIS, Discourse to prelates of the episcopal conference of Madagascar on their visit ad limina apostolorum,
Rome (28th March, 2014).
70 Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata (25th March, 1996), 85.
71 It could also be helpful here to read and assimilate the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which presents a systo
foster in all consecrated men and women a well-founded and
consistent understanding of the Christian faith, supported by a new
love of study. St John Paul II exhorted: “Within the consecrated life
itself there is a need for a renewed and loving commitment to the
intellectual life, for dedication to study.”72 It is a reason for profound
regret that this imperative has not always been accepted and far less
received as a demand of radical reform for consecrated men, and in
particular for consecrated women.
The weakness and fragility in this area require us to recall, and forcibly
to reiterate the necessity of continual formation for an authentic life in
the Spirit, and in order to remain mentally open and consistent in the
journey of growth and fidelity.73 There is certainly no lack of formal
acceptance of this urgent need, on a theoretical level, and there is
an overwhelming consensus in