Rome, June 1, 2019
United in the Mission
Directory of Fraternal Life, 25
Dear Fathers, Brothers, Seminarians, and Novices,
During the month that the Church dedicates to contemplating and honoring the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which in the Last Supper proclaimed us his friends – after having first told us to love one another as I love you so that we might go and give testimony of charity and so that our fruit might remain; – I desire to write to you about the testimony and the mission of fraternity to which Christ calls us.
Our Constitutions explicitly point out: “In the name of Christ, we desire to be a Religious Family: whose members are willing to… love each other as sons of the same Father, brothers of the same Son, and temples of the same Holy Spirit, forming one heart and soul.”
That is to say, the Incarnate Word has called us in our Institute to give testimony to the love of God that burns in our hearts, becoming his friends and collaborators in the sublime work of the Redemption according to our vocation, that is, according to our charism.
Saint John Paul II already said it: “The Church today does not need clerks, administrators, or businessmen, but above all ‘friends of Christ,’ who show love in an attitude of altruistic service that excludes no one.” Because communion with Christ is always overflowing with fraternal communion and charity towards others.
1. Christ: Firstborn among many brothers
Those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, says Saint Paul.
This passage from the Letter to the Romans speaks to us, above all, of our eternal vocation. Though, inevitably, it also makes us think of our religious and priestly vocation, through which we were particularly predestined by God to be conformed to the image of his Son. This should make us always recognize that “our vocation has its source only in God, who knows each of us in the Word, His Son, and knowing predestines, so that we too may become His sons. In this way, the eternal and only-begotten Son, generated, not created, of the same substance as the Father, has His brothers on earth, and He is the first-born among many brethren.”
We have been made brothers in Christ! And with Christ! For this reason, “to think of one’s vocation means being familiar with the eternal mystery which is the mystery of charity, the mystery of grace. This is precisely the fundamental and full dimension of our preparation for the priesthood.” And realizing this gives our vocation its profound meaning in the perspective of our whole life.
On the other hand, we can also say that our unique vocation implies that, before all, we are united to Jesus, in a very special way: as friends. Because, although on the natural level not all brothers are friends, all true friends are like brothers. And Christ called us to a double title: to be His brothers and to be indissolubly His friends.
I no longer call you slaves, I call you friends. These words pronounced by Him before His death, in the immediate context of the institution of the Eucharist and of the ministerial priesthood, express in some way the essence of the ministry to which our seminarians aspire or which many of us already enjoy. We have been specially chosen to be friends of Jesus Christ.
Christ Himself explained to us what this election means: a slave does not know what his master is doing; friends, on the other hand, know each other thoroughly, because in friendship, one reveals himself to the other. This means that the true friend understands, receives, and defends his friend, and in a very real way, participates in his life.
In this way, this loving communion with Christ makes us have the same attitude [as] Christ Jesus. That is to say, to have Christ’s mentality, which is acquired in the holy “familiarity with the Word made flesh.” This intimate familiarity with Christ is so important that Saint John Paul II maintained that in it resides “the solid foundation of every priestly and religious life” and our Constitutions call this element “absolutely essential.”
Without this friendship it would be difficult to think that He has entrusted to us, after the Apostles, the sacrament of His Body and Blood, and even more, the power to celebrate it in persona Christi. Without this special friendship it would also be difficult to think that He would have given us the power to pardon sins. That He would have entrusted to us His sheep, for whom He gave His life. In fact, he solemnly entrusted them to Saint Peter only after the Apostle professed his unconditional love for Him: Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.
This friendship with Christ that made us leave all for Him who called us to follow Him more closely, also involves us in His mission, like it did with His apostles. Because, as our directories say well, the mission belongs to the salvific will of Christ.
Who can deny that friendship with Christ has required of us various sacrifices, painful separations, and to expose ourselves constantly to all sorts of difficulties? But these separations, these renunciations, are not done just once, but every day, and this means presenting ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints… by knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love. So that Christ can truly say of us, like he did of His apostles: It is you who have stood by me in my trials.
By priestly ordination, by virtue of the sacramental character, we have been made ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God; we are ambassadors for Christ. Therefore, we must represent Christ. And the only way to represent Him is “reproducing Him, becoming similar to Him, configuring ourselves to Him;” making Christ’s wanting or not wanting our own, because this is solid friendship.
Christ’s friendship means commitment. “Therefore, as friends of Jesus Christ, we are bound to have that mind in us which was in Jesus Christ who is holy, innocent, undefiled: as his envoys, we must win the minds of men for His doctrine and His law by first observing them ourselves; sharing as we do in His power to deliver souls from the bondage of sin, we must strive by every means to avoid becoming entangled in these toils of sin. But it is particularly as the ministers of Jesus Christ in the great sacrifice which is constantly renewed with abiding power for the salvation of the world, that we have the duty of conforming our minds to that spirit in which He offered himself as an unspotted victim to God on the altar of the Cross.”
If at least sometimes we would weigh in our soul all the weight and profundity of being brothers-friends of Christ, we could exclaim with Saint Manuel González, “Be named a friend of Jesus! I think that among nominations that men could sign exalting other men, and that God’s hand could sign in favor of His sons on earth, there is none that confers so much honor and implies so much love as that of friend of Jesus, made by Jesus Himself.”
But this friendship with the Incarnate Word “cannot be improvised, but rather is prepared during many years in the seminary, and afterwards is continually rediscovered and deepened” throughout our priestly existence.
So, it is advisable that, already in the novitiate and then in the seminary, all our members learn to know the Heart of Christ, in order to become priests according to His Heart. This is what our proper law prescribes, echoing the Magisterium of the Church: “The spiritual training… should be imparted in such a way that the students might learn to live in an intimate and unceasing union with the Father through His Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. Conformed to Christ the Priest through their sacred ordination they should be accustomed to adhere to Him as friends, in intimate companionship, their whole life through.”
Now, if we are friends of Christ, how can we not be friends of “other Christs”! Because Christ has made us brothers and has done so in this Religious Family and not in another. So it is that together we aspire to reach the same ideals, and together we have to travel the same path to holiness, holiness that concretely means the path indicated by the Constitutions. “It is not about a mere disciplinary dependence, but rather a reality of faith.” “Remember our Congregation is not a school or a seminary – it is a family. We are all brothers; we must live together, prepare together and then work together all our life long. In our Congregation our unity must be such that we are willing to lay down our lives for one another.”
Which leads us to this letter’s second point.
2. Called to be united among ourselves
Lumen Gentium teaches: “In virtue of their sacred ordination and of their common mission, all priests are united together by bonds of intimate brotherhood, which manifests itself in a spontaneously and gladly-given mutual help, whether spiritual or temporal, whether pastoral or personal…” And Presbyterorum Ordinis specifies that priests are “united among themselves in an intimate sacramental brotherhood.”
From this follows the invitation to “unity with other priests, both diocesan and religious” and to cooperate with them in all we can. In this respect, how many good examples we have witnessed from our members! Who can count the times we have seen our elders walk the extra mile for a brother priest in need! We all should do the same and those in formation should be instructed in this spirit.
And this priestly fraternity that manifests itself in reciprocal affection and shows itself in pastoral collaboration and support, in prayer, in spiritual direction, and even in material assistance, etc., “helps so much,” as John Paul the Great said. “It helps to live problems together, to talk together, to be together, to celebrate together, and even to eat together… And this last aspect should not be neglected… We know that the Lord Himself did this. Even after the resurrection He came and asked, Have you anything here to eat?”
Now, if this is said of all priests, diocesan or religious, how much more should it be said of us who are sons of the same Congregation – which our proper law invites us to love as our Mother – and who, in consequence, share the same fraternal life in common, the same ideal, the same end, and who have the same mission.
The love of the Incarnate Word Himself is the bond of our unity in our Religious Family. Therefore, “we must live fraternal charity.” This means to “outdo one another in showing honor; bear their weaknesses, both physical and spiritual, with unlimited patience; be eager to obey one another; seek not one’s own good as much as one’s neighbor’s; practice true fraternal love; live always in the fear and love of God. Love your Abbot (superior) with true and humble charity; do not let anything come before Christ.”
Any one of us, whether a novice or with many years in the Institute, knows that religious life offers countless opportunities for growing in charity. Community prayer and apostolate are certainly two indispensable means for this, and I have already spoken of them in other circular letters.
However, I now want to mention a means that is very handy for growing in charity: knowing each other. “To truly become brothers and sisters it is necessary to know one another. To get to know each other it is very important to communicate more and more fully and deeply. Communication normally creates closer relationships, nourishes family spirit and participation in everything that concerns the entire Institute, raises awareness of general problems, and unites us around the common mission.”
Communication achieves the difficult passage from the ‘I’ to the ‘we’, from my commitment to the commitment entrusted to the community, from the search for ‘my things’ to the search for the ‘things of Christ.’” Because “the communion of minds is easily transformed into the union of hearts.”
And although we have already mentioned it on other occasions, this time I want to emphasize it: “Only in the spirit of family, only in the spirit of trust… can the educative, religious, open to all, charitable, joyful and free environment be lived.”
To this should be added, that even more important for a profound spirit of fraternity is the unity of soul and heart that is strengthened in the shared effort towards holiness, in making the charism of the Institute more and more fruitful, which goes together with the commitment to follow the Incarnate Word by faithfully observing His evangelical teachings and the Constitutions of the Institute.
This is why it seems opportune to me to repeat here the words that Blessed Giuseppe Allamano addressed to his followers, and I believe that it is good to read them with particular attention: “For true charity there must be unity, a unity that embraces everyone. One for all and all for one. I repeat: this is absolutely necessary in a community. Where this unity does not exist, there is only ruin. Whatever the cost we must do all we can to create this unity. We form a single moral body and there ought to exist amongst us the same unity that prevails among the members of a physical body. This unity is necessary if we are to be strong and live in peace. Unity makes us strong. Unity turns us into a strong and well-equipped army capable of overcoming all enemies and obstacles. Disunity, on the other hand, destroys community. Every congregation has its own particular purpose which requires the cooperation of all to achieve it. The members of well-organized congregations are working in this fashion who, without thinking they are superior to others, prefer their own and strive to improve it constantly. We may think of ourselves as lowly, the most recently arrived on the scene, but at the same time we are happy to belong to our congregation and we cultivate the notion that the Lord has blessed us by calling us to this family. We must love our community as we love our vocation. In this way we will establish a like-mindedness that leads us forward in unity. A community in which this unity exists cannot fail to do good. Therefore, strive to achieve and maintain it. Unity is the essence of charity.”
Then, let us persuade ourselves that “we are united in Christ to live each one for all and not each one for oneself.” By vocation, we are all totally consecrated, soul and body, to the cause of our Institute, which as the same as saying: to the interests of Christ. This is why we have “dedicated our entire lives to revealing Christ to the world…” and for this reason “our field of action has no horizons, but rather, is the whole world.”
From this comes our duty to work so that the Kingdom of Christ be established and consolidated in souls and spread through the whole world, even in those places where no one else wants to go. Today also the resounding idea is to sacrifice oneself. And this is necessary to such degree that we also can paraphrase Don Orione and say that he who does not want to sacrifice himself for the Institute and its work is “a deserter of our banner.”
3. United in the mission
Our times demand daring and generosity, absolute fidelity to the Gospel, intense formation, and courageous openness to the urgent necessities of evangelization. “The entire world must be remade in Christ.”
I know for a fact, and have seen it in many of our missions, that many of us come to the end of the day spent by fatigue after a day of intense priestly work: after having gone a long way to take the sacraments, having had to substitute for an absent priest, for the many persons they have to attend to and they can’t keep up with, followed by a long etcetera. I also know that sometimes the distance, the fatigue, the need for reinforcements and the time they have been waiting for them, added to many other “humors” can make that dark complaint rise up in us that discourages the soul and tends to obscures the missionary impetus that should always prevail.
Nevertheless, in a certain way, this is also part of our vocation, as the apostle says, to be spent and be utterly spent always, with a great soul, although we may be few, although we may be persecuted, although we may have many needs, although the work may be immense and we cannot keep up with it. About this, I want to share with you the magnanimous example of the founder of the Sons of Divine Providence, who speaking to some sisters said: “I will tell you now that my priests and clergy cannot hear me, [that is to say], all those who do the hard work. We seem to be many, we make a lot of noise, and we are four nuts in a bag. Do you know how many missionaries we have in Brazil? We have two, and they have two homes and fifteen or sixteen convents to direct. I have the habit of opening a home when one of ours is ordained a priest. Three were ordained now and I opened three homes. One priest alone directs three homes where there are more than one hundred orphans and twenty-five deaf-mutes; bad kids, educated by the socialists, who hated priests and even broke the cruets out of spite. Well, Don Sterpi is there now, but he has to go away and one priest will have to carry on alone. What is our strength, what gives us such courage? Our unity! We all love each other in Christ, we feel ourselves to be brothers; our unity is our strength.”
We should repeat this ourselves if we want to make our apostolic endeavors prosper. None of us works alone in the Lord’s vineyard. Therefore, the Apostle teaches: Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.
A synergetic work is needed, with good spirit from all, with a fighting spirit, fraternally supporting one another, keeping the missionary drive alive, and even intensifying it, given the historic moment that we are without a doubt living as an Institute, doing and sacrificing ourselves all that we can, each one from his post, in order to always carry high the standard of the sublime mission that has been entrusted to us: that of “bringing to fullness the effects of the Incarnation of the Word.”
Note that our proper law warns us with a paternal exhortation not to fall into the temptation to be “localists”, that is, to be like the one who “worries only about his immediate world. He lives buried in his little works… and it seems like the Church ends at his parish, city, state, or country.” Our spirit is to live oriented towards the common mission, in the service or the universal Church, “to give oneself generously to the apostolic work,” even though at times we are at a distance or we have to do it among tears.
“We are all a corporation, that is to say, a mystical body in Christ… [in which] each one does all that he can for perfect concord” and to carry out the work of the Institute.
This is the spirit in which we have been formed and in which we should remain: “priestly happiness – and seminarian happiness – is found in spending and being spent. That is the mysticism of priestly work. In what measure should we carry out this spending and being spent? I consider it to be the rule that Saint Ignatius teaches for penance: ‘the more we do this, the better, provided only we do no harm to ourselves and do not cause any serious illness.’ We should even prepare ourselves to work in heaven, [like] Saint Thérèse”.
To nourish in the soul a distant attitude or to behave in the opposite way could mean acting like that religious that the holy founder of the Work of the Divine Providence called a “servant religious” – not a friend – who “seeks his interests in everything, who uses the Congregation to reach his personal goals: who obeys his Congregation only with fear and out of fear, who works with indifference and grudgingly.” These are those that our proper law calls false brothers, who seem to be with us, but are not one of us.
This servant religious “enjoys living his life,” “is inclined to criticism”, “is always with the coldest, with the professional jokers.” “When giving him a new mission, the superior must ask himself, ‘Will he accept or no? And when he is in that house… how will he behave? Will he behave like a good religious or like a “servant” religious?’ And above all, the ‘servant’ religious, when he has to work, to tire himself, he does only this (he measures a handbreadth) and nothing more. The ‘servant’ religious has his way of thinking, his confidants. Even at table you have to pay attention to what you say, because the ‘servant’ religious publishes the most confidential news of his religious family. There is no love for the Congregation in his heart. If he speaks about his Congregation to others, it is a lot if he does not throw stones at it. If he knows that the Congregation has outside enemies, opposition, he remains apathetic, he remains indifferent; on the contrary, his behavior makes it seem like he is even rejoicing interiorly.”
What is asked of us is much to the contrary. Christ has called us to “be sons” and to feel ourselves to be sons of this Religious Family. Sons that, like we said at the beginning, “love each other as sons of the same Father, brothers of the same Son, and temples of the same Holy Spirit, forming one heart and soul.” Sons that “desire nothing else than to see the Institute prosper, to see it extend itself over the face of the earth for the greater glory of God. Who sees the Congregation as mother and, after holy things, has nothing dearer than she.” He has called us to be religious who pray, suffer, work, and tire ourselves for the Congregation and to be always happy to serve, with love, in any office we are given.
But “if ever,” continues Don Orione, “the superior of the ‘son’ religious says or does something that he does not like, thus bringing him to deny himself, this religious blesses God with holy joy,” because he knows that “Jesus is loved and served on the Cross and crucified with Him, not by any other way.”
Therefore, he who is a “son” of the Institute of the Incarnate Word knows that he does not serve Paul or Apollos, but the Incarnate Word; he serves the Institute, and the Institute is not of the founder, neither is it of the general superior, nor of any other superior, but is rather of the Incarnate Word.
Christ has called us to be religious missionaries in the Institute and of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. And so, this question that the Founder of the Consolata Missionaries could also be asked of us: “Are you [religious missionaries] in truth or only in name? You will prove that you are [religious missionaries] in truth if you have the spirit of the Institute and if you conform your daily and hourly life to it. […] You must have the spirit of the Institute in your thoughts, words, and works.”
And he added, “Never forget that the holiness to which you aspire as Consolata missionaries should not be a capricious holiness, each one practicing that which most pleases him, but rather a holiness that is achieved through following the norms given by legitimate superiors, as well as the life laid out by the Directory and Constitutions, in conformity with what I have told you. Not all means are equal for all in tending towards perfection. For example, it would be wrong for someone who is preparing to be a missionary religious to follow the rule of the Cartesians or of diocesan priests. Each Institute has its character and its own means of sanctification. Holiness is one, but the form varies and there are different ways to reach it. You should keep this in mind, my dear ones, when someone who does not have this vocation from God discovers that here we teach and practice something that is different from other congregations.”
And he strongly affirmed, “First comes a right intention… The Institute was founded and exists only to form Consolata missionaries, to the exclusion of every other end, as holy as it may be. Furthermore, also in Seminaries where they want to do a little of everything, they end up doing nothing, and form neither good priests nor good laymen. Therefore, he who has come to the Institute with a different goal than that of becoming a Consolata missionary, for the love of God, may he leave! He cannot stay here in good conscience. He would be like a plant placed in bad earth, like a bone out of place; he would harm the others, be an obstacle for the smooth running of the house and for achieving the common goal. He must rectify his intention, if he still can, or go away.”
We should be a select body, with the spirit of a prince, to guide the soul to great acts, not Christians without nerve. The one who is not able to understand this is not made to be one of us. This is why with Don Orione we also can say: “And he who does not like the Congregation and the observance of the common life, may he go away, and God be with him… May no one say that the persons have multiplied, but not joy.”
The Lord wants us, as missionaries, to be concretely interested in the common good: we have embarked on an adventure together, and we have the same ideals. “We have to be a force!” “We have to be a force in the hands of the Church, a force of faith and apostolate, a doctrinal force, capable of great sacrifices.”
Have we not said that we have pledged all our strength for the mission, that we want to combat errors with all our strength, that we want to enter cultures to heal them and to elevate them with the strength of the Gospel, and that having been called to be men of faith, we who should bring our brethren to, and strengthen them in, the faith?
Well then, for this we certainly need a great love for the Incarnate Word, but also a great love of the Institute, great union, and a lot of work. Our proper law also invites us to this when, through the mouth of Don Orione, it says: “‘Love your Congregation in its holy purpose! … Love it because it is your Mother! Give it great consolations, honor it with your life as good and holy religious, as its true and holy sons.’”
How can one say that he loves the Institute, that he loves the Church, or Christ, and then stand idly by; or complain because he thinks that he is the only one to sacrifice himself, and not support the Institute’s initiatives?
“Whoever does not want to be an apostle should leave the Congregation: today, whoever is not an apostle of Jesus Christ and the Church is an apostate”, the Directory of Spirituality says, quoting Saint Luigi Orione.
All the holy founders strongly recommended hard work, with zeal and love for Christ. Thus, for example, the founder of the Consolata Missionaries said these words to them, which also apply to us: “You can become saints without performing miracles but not without working. Without determination you will accomplish nothing worthwhile in mission. Courage, determination and a steely will!”.
Likewise, Don Orione, with his fatherly and familiar genius, said to his religious: “Do not drag along… Each one has to understand that we use the ‘apostolic pace.’ Not just the ‘Christian pace,’ but the apostolic pace. He who does not feel the force of charity, the force of fire, of apostolicity, can stay at home, in his town; he should not stay with us. Maybe he would be a holy Trappist… but he who stays here, must be a ‘specialist in charity.’” And “you who do not intend to follow me should get out of the way, otherwise, I will jump ahead of you, I will put you aside; do not be offended.” “It is a question of having vitality, of not having dead weights.”
In the same way, each of us must always keep in mind that the spirit of the Institute has nothing to do with settling down out of fear of commitment or out of stinginess, like one who says “but everyone else only works 8 hours” and dismisses souls just like that, or like the one who pettily seems to “do the least possible with the excuse of not falling into over-activity, or because ‘we live in bad times,’ or because the family doesn’t raise children as it used to, or because of the ‘unhealthy action of the media.’ He only knows how to complain: ‘There’s nothing you can do.’” Ours is “to live the over and above.”
Notice that in the missions, like in all other works, “when there is good spirit and charity, which is the precept of the Lord, everything moves forward and all the sons are content, even in privations, and live happily.” Anyone can observe this and can see how this spirit “makes the difference.”
We have to realize that we attack this unity and concordance of hearts – that is to say, we attack this “unity in the judgment of reason about what must be done and unity in the will so that all may want the same thing” – when, through pride, we inordinately seek our own excellence and refuse to submit to others or to recognize their excellence; when we think ourselves to be self-sufficient, thereby refusing other’s teachings; when we fall into this selfish spirit of particularism, in the spirit of opposition and distrust, in the spirit of reserve, of non-participation, of non-consent with others.
Then let us all always remain united among ourselves and united in the mission, because only in this way will our testimony be credible. And may this same charity, united to active commitment to the work of our Institute, identify us as true followers of the Incarnate Word who said to us: This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Because if union among the members of a Religious Family is a powerful evangelical testimony, division among brothers is a stumbling block for evangelization.
Our following of Christ is lived in fraternity. This fraternity among ourselves, manifested in charity and mutual help, in fervent love for the Institute, in embarking together to reach its ideals, is a sign that shows the divine origin of the message we preach and possesses the power to open hearts to the faith.
Consequently, strong, constant, joyful, paternal unity is a source of great apostolic strength for our Family and makes our task of evangelization more effective. Even more, the more family spirit there is, the more fraternal charity exists among us, and the more effective our ministry will be, even individually speaking, because “one-man-plus-one-man equals two thousand. One man along with another grows in courage and strength; his fear disappears, and he escapes from any trap.” And in this way, we will have more vocations, because one single priesthood lived with enthusiasm, in a fraternal spirit, can become the ideal of a youth, especially in a time like ours, so full of futile joys and extreme individualism.
* * * * * *
Dear all,
I would like to finish with some words of Saint John Paul II, Spiritual Father of our Religious Family, who said to priests: “You know that your ministry as priests can never be lived as an exclusively private affair. The presbyterium should clearly reflect the communion which is the very nature of the Church, the one Body of Christ. The Conciliar Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests speaks of the ‘intimate sacramental brotherhood’ that unites priests as members of a single body under the Diocesan Bishop in a ‘bond of charity, prayer and total cooperation’. Charity is required, lest we fail to practice among our brothers the very commandment of love we preach to others: a bond of prayer, so that no priest will be spiritually isolated in fulfilment of the ministry; and cooperation, for, as the same Decree tells us, ‘no priest is sufficiently equipped to carry out his own mission alone and as it were single-handed. He can do so only by joining forces with other priests, under the leadership of those who are the Church’s rulers’. I urge you above all to be models of unity and harmony, so that the flock entrusted to you can likewise find inspiration to live in peace and work together as members of one family.”
“Courage, life is short, the fatigue is brief and Paradise is waiting for us. Courage, let us go forward together! Jesus is with us. Let us go forward together, with one will and one love, together. This is the strength of our religious life.”
May the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the first adorer of the hypostatic heart of Jesus, grant that each day we may immolate our whole person and all our activity in order to honor His Blood with our blood, as Saint Gregory Nazianzen said.
Sending you a big hug, in Christ, the Incarnate Word,
Fr. Gustavo Nieto, IVE
General Superior
