Rome, Italy June 1, 2017<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Dear Priests, Seminarians, Brothers, and Novices,\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cIf the Church wants good ministers\u2014said John of Avila\u2014she must provide a proper education for them.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For this reason it has been and continues to be our deep aspiration \u201cto form priests for the Catholic Church according to the Heart of Christ,\u201d who are men of great \u201chuman and Christian maturity\u201d so that they reach the extent of the full stature of Christ<\/em> and \u201cwith their works, members should demonstrate that they have God in their hearts because every tree is known by its own fruit<\/em>, and faith, if it has no works, is dead.<\/em> \u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We have a need for an authentic body of superior men, with \u201cthe spirit of a prince,\u201d with \u201cthe impetus of the saints and martyrs who gave everything for God,\u201d who have a priestly vision of reality with which they see all that is authentically human as a way to the Father; of men \u201cwho fully live the \u2018freedom\u2019 of God\u2019s children in full docility to the Holy Spirit;\u201d capable, moreover, to suffer in silence, to give his life up for his sheep; not simple soldiers, not \u201ctributaries,\u201d not hired men,<\/em> not amateurs, but men who are \u201ccapable of carrying the burden of responsibilities,\u201d \u201ctrue Shepherds of souls in the most sublime meaning of the word, who know how to form Jesus Christ in souls from the overflowing of the treasure of grace and virtue.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In other words, we aspire and we decidedly strive to form apostles, holy missionaries, who feel in the depths of their souls the words of Christ at the Last Supper: I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Therefore, we consider it fundamental that our religious be nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching,<\/em> primarily by the \u201cloving knowledge and prayerful familiarity with the Word of God\u201d by means of which they will acquire a holy \u201cfamiliarity with the Word made flesh\u201d and will be formed in \u201cthe strictest fidelity to the Supreme Magisterium of the Church of all times,\u201d solidly instructed in a sound theology\u2014which \u201cproceeds from faith and seeks to guide towards faith\u201d\u2014built \u201cupon the solid base provided by a profound knowledge of the philosophy of being, a \u2018perennially valid philosophical heritage,\u2019\u00a0 and the advances of philosophical investigation.\u201d More so, considering our specific end of evangelization of cultures, it is of highest importance that our members cultivate first in themselves culture and be versed in both ancient and modern languages.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This must be done in such a way that our plan of formation seeks to engrave the Incarnate Word in the minds and the hearts of our members in formation so that their lives may be\u2014as we say in our formula of profession\u2014\u201ca living memory of the way that Jesus, the Word made flesh lived and behaved.\u201d Only in this way will our religious \u201cbe able to efficaciously present Our Lord to the nations and to carry out the Mission in a dignified manner.\u201d\u00a0 Only in this way, will they be able to \u201csink their teeth into reality\u201d knowing how to change it in an effective way, so that Jesus Christ may be Lord over all, as is asked of us according to the specific end of our Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It is my desire, by means of this circular letter, to call to mind some characteristics of our religious formation, which we should consider a fundamental requirement for evangelization. Primarily, in that which concerns our fidelity to the Incarnate Word and the intellectual formation of our members, for these elements are indispensables for obtaining that attitude\u2014so very peculiar to our charism\u2014which we call \u201csinking our teeth into reality.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Saint John Paul II said that \u201cconfiguration with Christ<\/em> should be the priority objective in the formation of any candidate for the priesthood.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n From here, we seek to make of our members an authentic \u201cmanifestation and image of the Good Shepherd.\u201d For this reason, the Incarnate Word is the reality around which our religious are formed, so that He himself may be the light to illumine their ideals, the Truth which molds their intellects, the fire from which their hearts are enflamed and the nourishment which strengthens their souls.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As you all know, religious formation such as the Church understands it and as we embrace it, is \u201cdirected towards the whole person\u201d given that its ambition is to reach \u201cconformity to the Lord Jesus in his\u00a0total self-giving<\/em>,\u201d and for this reason, is never ending.\u00a0 And so, each aspect of our human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation\u2014closely and harmoniously united\u2014point towards the same thing: conformity with Christ, for we are called to be precisely that: another Christ. And as the chapter fathers called to mind \u201cif we do not form religious who are deeply convinced of this, we will not form religious of the Incarnate Word.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This implies that our priests be masters in the art of arts<\/em>, which, according to St. Gregory the Great, is the care of souls and so, all the aspects of our formation are ordered to this pastoral activity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For this reason, we understand that \u201cthe seminary should be a school of priestly formation in its deepest sense\u201d where the person is converted from the very depths of his being to the Incarnate Word, and where he learns the art of seeking out the signs of God in the realities of this world.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Also, in the last Chapter it was remembered that, how from the beginnings and with ongoing efforts over all these years, the formation of our members has always been one of the priorities on the part of the authorities of the Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In fact\u2014mentioning only the most important items carried out from the General Chapter of 2001\u2014in December 2002, in San Rafael (Argentina) there was a meeting with all of the formators of the Institute. In 2003 there was an extraordinary meeting held by the General Council with all the Provincial Superiors of the Institute dedicated to the topic of formation, during which a final document was drawn up with specific indications.\u00a0 In 2006, there were visits made by the General Government to all of the Seminaries of the Institute, in preparation for the General Chapter of 2007. During that Chapter, various topics about formation were studied and dealt with, and our Ratio Institutionis<\/em> was completely revised, a document which newly revised and approved in 2009.\u00a0 In September 2013, a meeting was held in Montefiascone with the General Council, all the Provincial Superiors, Rectors of Major Seminaries, and Masters of Novices, to deal extensively with this vast and important topic.\u00a0 Afterwards, the General Government carried out various consultations with the Priests who work with the formation of our members, and with the Holy See, working intensely with the material and the common establishments from the meeting.\u00a0 There was an encounter dedicated to this work and decision making regarding it in Conversano, Italy (October 31-November 14, 2013). As a fruit of this work, the document Directives for the work of formators in the Houses of Formation in the Institute of the Incarnate Word<\/em> was sent by the General Superior on January 14, 2014.\u00a0 Together with this document, various subsidies for formation and the work formators were also sent, among which was sent out the document \u201cIndications for Ongoing Intellectual Formation\u201d for members of the Institute. In the most recent General Chapter (2016) an ample space was dedicated to the theme of formation of our members, looking to update our norms and documents according to the latest indications from the Authority of the Church.\u00a0 Currently, we are working towards adapting our ratio<\/em> to the new Ratio fundamentalis institutionis sacerdotalis<\/em> promulgated on December 8 of last year.\u00a0 Furthermore, it has been established as obligatory in each of our seminaries an annual formation course for formators at the beginning of the scholastic year, with a program which includes a quinquennial cycle of themes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For being such a vital and priority topic, it has been worked on much, and continues to be worked on, with a growing interest and determined diligence, for it is true that, as in other cases, things can always improve. But, even more, because we are convinced that the vitality of our Religious Family, the quality and creativity of our apostolic service, and the efficacy of prophetic action depend in great measure on the formation of our candidates.\u00a0 More so, because we believe that \u201cthe renewal of the Church and of the world depend greatly on good priests.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This has already been said by the great formator of missionaries, Blessed Paolo Manna: \u201cAll of the future of our missions passes here, in our Seminaries\u2026souls will have tomorrow those apostles, those shepherds who we formed here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Indeed, it is our firm intention that our Seminaries always be that \u201cspiritual environment,\u201d that \u201ctrue family,\u201d where, following the same method that our Lord instructed his disciples, we\u2014following his example\u2014might dedicate our greatest energies and the most conducive and apt means to prepare with great solicitude the future priests of the Incarnate Word.\u00a0 How many of us can remember with satisfaction the \u201cglorious years of the seminary\u201d when with great familiarity, we went on learning \u201chow to respond from the heart to Christ’s basic question: Do you love me?<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Such a spirit of family\u2014which implies also order and discipline\u2014should never fade or be lost, because it is that familiarity which permits an efficacious formation: \u201cfamiliarity brings forth affection, and affection trust.\u201d\u00a0 It is only in this spirit of trust between the subjects and the superiors, that the formative work is facilitated and the charism of our dear Institute is transmitted with all its force and genuineness, I would almost say, naturally.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n However, in this process of configuration with Christ, it is a distinctive note of our formation that of paying \u201cmost special attention to the maturity in the experience of God, which is carried out through personal and community prayer and which reaches its perfection in the Eucharist<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Inasmuch as the life of prayer during the seminary years is undoubtedly related with the mission with which one is to be entrusted in the future. For, \u201cThe priest is The man of God, the one who belongs to God and makes people think about God,\u201d and souls await to encounter in him \u201ca man who will help them to turn to God, to rise up to him.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For this reason, we seek to form men who stand out for their intimate union with God for it is the Most Holy Trinity who molds in the depths of souls the alter Christus<\/em>. Hence, as Saint John Paul II said \u201cthe daily celebration of the Eucharist and frequent Eucharistic adoration occupy a central place in priestly formation.\u201d\u00a0 This is precisely what we have received and what we want to transmit, something which has been transformed in a concrete norm of our way of acting, as it could be no other way, and as is traced out in our proper law. Moreover, we look to put into practice all the means so that our seminarians participate in an active, conscious, and fruitful way of the Sacrifice of the Altar.\u00a0 This we do, making the effort so that the liturgy of our Masses \u201cmay be cathedral without formalisms, beautiful without affectations, solemn without being overwhelming, austere but full, faithful to the rubrics but creative, with the fullness of participation and developing all of the possibilities that the liturgy itself gives to the full extent, in a particular way in songs and in sacred music.\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Regarding this, I would like to emphasize here the words on this matter that the Spiritual Father of our Religious Family dedicated to seminarians in 1993 and which I consider of great value to us: \u201cIt is necessary that seminarians participate daily<\/em> in the Eucharistic celebration\u2026in the redemptive mystery of Christ, renewed in the Eucharist, the sense of the missions<\/em> is strengthened, the burning love for men. From the Eucharist, it is also understood that every participation in the priesthood of Christ has a universal dimension<\/em>. With this perspective, one is called to educate one\u2019s heart, so that we may live the drama of the peoples and of the multitudes who do not yet know Christ, and so that we may always be disposed to go to any part of the world, to announce him to all nations<\/em> (cf Mt 28:19).\u00a0 This disposition\u2026is today particularly necessary, before the immense horizons which are opened before the mission of the Church, and before the challenges of the new evangelization.\u201d With this understood, how much strength and how much significance do the words that we have so often heard and read take on: \u201cthe seminary is the Mass!\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This is why it is our most diligent desire to do all that contributes to the achieving that our religious be religious priests who, by the superior light of faith which illumines the human realities, may be suited to \u201csink their teeth into reality\u201d with valiance, which means, in absolute fidelity to Jesus Christ. With a \u201cserious spirituality (not sentimental),\u201d men who do not fall into poses, ostentation, in false mysticism, in exteriorities, in sentimentalities, in false piety, but who rather are capable of transcending the merely sensible and disposed to pass through the dark nights.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cTo send out young members to the missions without familiarity with (mental prayer),\u201d Blessed Paolo Manna would say, \u201cis like sending unarmed soldiers into battle: it is to betray them and expose them to certain ruin.\u201d\u00a0 This is why we strive for our dear seminarians to take full advantage of the strong moments of prayer; that they exercises themselves in discernment of spirits; that by faithful meditation on the Word of God they go on acquiring \u201cbasis for judging and evaluating persons and things, events and problems\u201d ever more in accord with the Gospel; that they yearly make the authentically Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, and that they might experience from the time of the novitiate the service of charity to the least of their brethren.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Our formation is directed towards forming men capable of facing reality with a supernatural and priestly vision, so as to transform it according to the spirit of the Incarnate Word and after the way of the Incarnation, which means assuming the cultures which should be evangelized.\u00a0 Faithful to the mystery of the Incarnate Word we face evangelization without watering down the faith in that which is reasonable, without converting that which is sacred into something profane, without falling into insubstantial spiritualities, without accepting any dualistic and Manichean vision of reality, neither the vision which considers that reality has a unidimensional character.\u00a0 Rather, considering the order of grace and the order of nature as twofold and distinct, but hierarchically united, which means a unity of order. In such a way that the supernatural has primacy over the natural, and so God has primacy over man, the Church over the world, theology over philosophy, that which is eternal over that which is temporal, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n How evident and how utterly necessary is it than that we have a righteous consideration of the mystery of the Incarnate Word and a fidelity it, without which all pastoral work would inevitably fall into absolute failure.\u00a0 In other words, it is in the serene and fruitful contemplation of the sacred mystery of the Incarnation, in the light of faith an in its fullest and most just consideration that we are permitted to \u201csink our teeth into reality\u201d and to arrive at having a great intervention in the work of evangelization.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We are convinced\u2014as experience has thus shown us\u2014that it is familiarity with the Incarnate Word\u2014strengthened and fostered in the life of prayer\u2014that gives us \u201cthat Christian common sense,\u201d that special capacity to interpret the signs of the times free from any worldly pretenses. It is this familiarity with the Incarnate Word which gives us a particular \u201csensibility\u201d of the cultural changes of the age, of the specific needs of the missions, of the problems of the current world and its currents of thought, and which makes us capable of opening up fruitful dialogue with cultures which we are called to evangelize, knowing how to give a positive response in the light of the Gospel; knowing how to esteem and value the diverse ways by which God seeks to communicate himself with men, and ultimately, efficaciously insert ourselves into the places where we are carrying out apostolic works, because it will always be true that \u201ctrue inculturation is from within: it consists, ultimately, of a renewal of life under the influence of grace.\u201d\u00a0 Not as modernism does things, seeking to embrace, without merit, current culture, while refusing to impregnate it with the Gospel.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This aspect is, without a doubt, one of the essential components of what we intend as \u201csinking our teeth into reality\u201d and that which gives our priestly ministry a distinctive note which we are proud of.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Even more, this spiritual life which we strive to impress in our religious is the \u201c\u00a0is the core which unifies and gives life to his being a priest and his acting as a priest\u201d and as such is the foundation of our pastoral life.\u00a0 In fact, in how many of our missions is this spirit of prayer praised in our parishes, whether it be for the times of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, for the worthy celebration of the Holy Mass, for the preaching which shines forth the perennial message of the Cross, for the very witness of the religious who awakens in others the longing for the supernatural, for the prodigality of the sacramental life. And without even going any further, how many Bishops request us to work in their dioceses precisely for this reason.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In the end, it is absolutely indispensable for us to form men who live by faith, seminarians\u2014future priests\u2014who live by faith.\u00a0 Who have in mind the truths of the faith, who have very clear the five preambular fidei<\/em>, because if they do not have the preambles of the faith clear, that faith at some point later on, will not have a strong base on which to build itself up.\u00a0 Men who, for their very faith, remain faithful, even \u201cwithout being able to have a tabernacle and an image of the Blessed Virgin,\u201d who for that very faith are consistent and who are disposed to lay down their life for the sheep<\/em>.\u00a0 Without that faith, nobody would voluntarily sacrifice themselves in the missions. It is for faith, for the deep convictions and the great love for the Incarnate Word that the heroisms of the Cross are carried out.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n All that has been said until now puts in an even greater light the importance of study, which is oriented\u00a0 towards our specific end of evangelizing cultures, and which \u201cdemands from us a spirituality with unusual nuances, a faith on the part of responsible Christians that is illumined by continual reflection when confronted with the sources of the Church\u2019s message, and a continual spiritual discernment pursued in prayer.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Saint John Paul II said that if our evangelizing activity \u201cdepends on the intensity of our interior life, then it should also equally find support in ongoing study.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n That is why we understand that the intellectual formation of our priests is presented as something urgent and as a priority before the new evangelization and modern approaches.\u00a0 As such, it can never be permitted to improvise, neglect, or \u201ctake away the strength\u201d which has always characterized our formation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As you well know, one of the non-negotiable elements which belongs to the charism of our beloved Institute, which means that it forms part of that which distinguishes us apart from the world, and which has allowed us to present a living Christianity being a faithful source of vocations and of supernatural blessings is, without any doubt, \u201cthe clear intention to follow Saint Thomas Aquinas, as the Church commands, and in this vein, the best thomists, especially\u00a0Fr. Cornelio Fabro.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This is so, not only because the Church and Canon Law prescribe it, and because the Holy Pontiffs recommend it, but in addition, our Constitutions<\/em> wisely order it saying that we seek to \u201cbe formed under his magisterium\u201d for \u201chis knowledge is of undeniable and fundamental importance for the right interpretation of Sacred Scripture, so as to transcend the sensory and achieve union with God, and to build the edifice of Sacred Theology upon the solid base provided by a profound knowledge of the philosophy of being.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It is not fitting for us to \u201cput a nominalist sticker on reality\u201d simply because that does not help evangelize.\u00a0 We are striving towards making the Gospel inform the cultures of all men.\u00a0 Thus, it is a realist, rather than a nominalist formation which helps us to \u201cnot shadowbox\u201d but which allows us a full and global openness towards the whole reality, providing us with the \u201ccrucial keys to the interpretation of the human condition today and to the choice of the priorities,\u201d giving us the opportunity to place ourselves in the problematic of the modern culture and to offer an effective contribution towards evangelization.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I want to note that \u201cthe choice of Saint Thomas does not have a personal or confessional character, but rather a universal and transcendental one \u2018for it wants to be the most vigorous expression of the possibilities of reason in its foundational task regarding science.\u2019 And because it is the \u2018natural metaphysics of human understanding.\u2019\u201d Therefore, all that which in any way\u2014subtly or evidently\u2014tends towards distancing us, diluting, creating obstacles or dissuading us from this non-negotiable element, should be rejected as something foreign to our charism. Rather, we should enter in in the deepening and diffusion of an essential Thomism\u2014opposed to a formalist and fossilized Thomism\u2014as our proper law demands of us, and which the Acts<\/em> of the last Chapter remind us of. This is our endeavor and for it we dedicate ourselves to the sublime work of forming religious missionaries.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Consequently it is also our determination\u2014and it has always been such\u2014to devote ourselves to help our members in formation to learn a Thomistic philosophy, not as a catechism or something completely disconnected with life but knowing how to transcend the difficulties in the same Thomistic school and the deficiencies of the formalist scholasticism, they learn how to think according to reality\u2014starting from Saint Thomas himself, entering into dialogue and controversy with the problems and contemporary thinkers \u2014going on to make it known to others as is due.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This is a task which takes on an imperative nature in our times, considering the progressivism which devastates the Church \u201cfor lack of critique and discernment in the face of modern philosophies and the assimilation of the principle of immanence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This is why the chapter fathers in the last General Chapter said that our intellectual formation does not only refer to a passing on of content, but it is a complementary part of our vocation which helps the person mature in his search for truth, it strengthens him in its possession, and it fills him with joy upon contemplating it.\u00a0 They similarly pointed out that our formation, if it is serious, should also educate regarding study habits, in methods of investigation, and in inspiring the desire for ongoing formation always keeping in light where to look for and find the truth, and how to access it.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Nothing is more strongly opposed to our formation that \u201can encyclopedist instruction.\u201d We recognize that intellectual formation is a formation in habits and methods which will become tools for one\u2019s entire life. For without this discipline and habit of study, our priests will not be able to exhort<\/em> whether it is convenient or inconvenient<\/em> with the Word of God, nor convince others of the truth which frees them from error.\u00a0 If we say that we are called to be teachers of the faith, then we should be capable of giving reasons for the faith which we preach and teach.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Our Directory <\/em>clearly says this: \u201cWe must form priests who are convinced of the existence and the transcendence of God; convinced with the strength of intellect to demonstrate the existence of God, foundation of any supernatural edifice;convinced that only Jesus Christ\u2014God and man\u2014in the Church, can bring definitive salvation to man; and that without God, man is destructive of self. They should be formed in such a way that they can, in all truth and charity, give an adequate response to the men of our times who are \u2018full of doubt and uncertainty, [who] will not accept a priest\u2019s teaching authority easily and without reaction; nor are they going to believe and hold uncritically and without prejudice the doctrine which the priest tries, ex officio, to teach them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Our Constitutions <\/em>further establish\u2014as it could be no other way\u2014that our specific end of evangelization of cultures should be done \u201cin accordance with the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church.\u201d From here springs forth another non-negotiable element which is \u201cfidelity\u00a0to the living\u00a0Magisterium of the Church of all times.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Therefore, it is clear that we cannot conceive \u201csinking our teeth into reality\u201d without a fidelity to the Magisterium of Peter and to the Bishops united with him.\u00a0 This is clearly seen in the countless citations of magisterial texts within our proper law. For the \u201cMagisterium is not, then, something extrinsic to Christian truth nor is it set above the faith. It arises directly from the economy of the faith itself, inasmuch as the Magisterium is, in its service to the Word of God, an institution positively willed by Christ as a constitutive element of His Church.\u201d We should then, flee from those who, according to Blessed Paul Vi, \u201cseem to ignore the living tradition of the Church\u2026and interpret in their own way the doctrine of the Church.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n If our intellectual formation has as its object the study of truth and if we want to live in its fullness the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, it is thus, in the living Magisterium of the Church where we will find the fount to quench our thirst for the truth for\u2014as our proper law says\u2014\u201cthe Magisterium \u2018can give utterance to that truth which is Christ himself.\u2019\u201d Indeed, our formation is carried out in full consciousness and ecclesial solicitude, in full obedience to the successor of Peter, with sincere respect for his magisterium and in fidelity to the Holy See.\u00a0 All of which has always been a distinctive sign of our Religious Family.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Far from our intellectual formation those empty slogans, passing ideologies, debatable opinions, \u201c\u2018eagerness for novelties\u2019 and the contempt for the guide of the Magisterium which has characterized all of those who have shipwrecked in the faith.\u201d Rather, we seek in the treasure of the Magisterium of the Church the solidity, the purity and the proximate norm of faith which is required by the sublime task of evangelization.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Regarding this, during the VII General Chapter, it was reaffirmed the need to be able to count on \u201cprofessors and formators with doctrinal certainty, which is fidelity to the principles of the sciences and to the authentic Magisterium; doctrinal unity, which is consequential to the aforementioned.\u201d This manifests a constant and real commitment of what we profess.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n And so, in vain do those argue who say that our love and fidelity to the Vicar of Christ is fictitious or merely \u2018lip-service.\u2019\u00a0 For, not only proper law, but the formation which is imparted, the vehement intention of \u201cthe attainment of a Roman spirit\u201d by sending several of our priests to study and to work in the pontifical universities in Rome, the spreading of the teaching of the Magisterium and Tradition of the Church (by way of publications, conferences, websites, etc); the authentic and sacrificed collaboration with dozens of Bishops throughout the world. More so, the boldness and enthusiasm of our missionaries who, on all five continents, preach and defend authentic Catholic doctrine, \u201cwithout ambiguity, distinguishing it from mere human opinions,\u201d make evident our faith, veneration, and love for the Sweet Christ on earth as a continuous reality of our Institute and of each of its members.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Ultimately, our formation which is directed towards the sublime knowledge of the Incarnate Word, can only be \u201cmade with faith, \u2018in the Church,\u2019 in strict fidelity to her Magisterium.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Dear Brothers: in this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart I invite you to deepen in that which the Saint Cure of Ars said: \u201cA good shepherd, a pastor after God\u2019s heart, is the greatest treasure which the good Lord can grant to a parish, and one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It is necessary to carry the Incarnate Word firmly planted in our heart, in our soul, and in our intellect.\u00a0 We must be intimate with the Crucified. Without this, we will have doctors, theologians, and philosophers who crush with their science, but the missionaries will disappear. And so, paraphrasing Saint Julian Eymard we can say: \u201cI cannot understand how a religious of the Incarnate Word would want to stand out in any science other than the Incarnate Word.\u00a0 Without this, we are not in the fullness of our grace.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We must be conscious that we are called to set aflame the ends of the earth with the burning firebrand of the truth of the Incarnate Word which burns within us. May we always maintain ourselves in a permanent state of formation and renewal, as the specific end of our Institute demands of us. Being faithful in this, the new generations will follow after us and\u2014God willing\u2014we will greatly contribute to the work of evangelization.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I cannot conclude without expressing my sincerest gratitude and recognition of those who, with great toil, dedicate themselves to the noble and magnificent work of the formation of our religious, with a praiseworthy dedication, in deep fidelity to our charism and to the Magisterium, accompanying their teachings with their witness of life.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n To all who are being prepared in our houses of formation, I repeat to you the advice of St. John Paul II: \u201cthere are three \u2018a lot\u2019s\u2019 which are rewarded by another three: a lot of study, a lot of knowledge; a lot of reflection, a lot of wisdom; a lot of virtue, a lot of peace. Animo!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n May we always be grateful to God for the great gift that he has given us, having cemented us in the magnificent principles which give foundation to, which rule, and which sustain our formation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word, help us to form within ourselves the image of her Son and to serve him all the days of our lives.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n In the Incarnate Word,\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Fr. Gustavo Nieto, IVE<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n General Superior<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rome, Italy June 1, 2017 Month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Dear Priests, Seminarians, Brothers, and Novices,\u00a0 \u201cIf the Church wants good ministers\u2014said John of Avila\u2014she must provide a proper education for them.\u201d For this reason it has been and continues to be our deep aspiration \u201cto form priests for the Catholic Church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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Configuration with Christ<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
2. Intellectual Formation<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n