Rome, Italy, April 1, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLive as if we were resurrected\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Directory of Spirituality<\/em>, 39<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear Fathers, Brothers, Seminarians, and Novices, <\/p>\n\n\n\n A very happy Easter Sunday of the Resurrection to all of you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n May God grant that the ineffable joy and the brightness of the Risen Christ fill our souls and make all of us heralds of the paschal peace wherever we may be. For, this is why the Lord has chosen us: to be signs of his Resurrection. And so, today, as our Constitutions <\/em>teach us, we should know \u201chow to celebrate,\u201d with immense joy, and carefully dedicating ourselves to the missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having already been consecrated to God by Baptism, through which we have died so as to share in the fruits of the resurrection, with our religious consecration that life in Christ<\/em>–which supposes identifying of self with his death and resurrection–is transformed into a particular program of life for us. \u201cIt becomes a rule and a charism, witness and apostolate. It is the proclamation of Christ not only in words, but also through the choice of life, which reaches to the deepest implications of the Gospel: go, sell what you have and give to the poor…then come, follow me:<\/em> <\/em>in poverty, in obedience, and in chastity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saint John Paul II wrote: \u201cUpon the sacramental basis of Baptism in which it is rooted, religious profession is a new \u2018burial in the death of Christ\u2019: new, because it is made with awareness and by choice; new, because of love and vocation; new, by reason of unceasing \u2018conversion.\u2019 This \u2018burial in death\u2019 causes the person \u2018buried together with Christ\u2019 to \u2018walk like Christ in newness of life.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this way, through the profession of religious vows, our consecration implies being especially rooted in Christ<\/em>, <\/em>so as to build in Him all our life and works<\/em>, <\/em>with the unique end of seeking to \u201cmore closely imitate and perpetually represent in the Church the way of life that the Son of God made His own when he became flesh,\u201d so that we ourselves might come to be as \u201canother Incarnation of the Word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, the profession of the evangelical counsels, which has a singular efficacy in likening us to Christ, should continue to be \u201ctransformed in a part of his humanity, in which the entire mystery is renewed.\u201d So, the three evangelical counsels come to be the structure of our complete and joyful gift of self to the service of God living \u201cin accord with the specific identity\u201d of our Religious Family, as we have already mentioned on other occasions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Keeping in mind, then, that we are a few days away from the liturgical celebration of \u201cthe sacrosanct mystery of the Incarnation which is \u2018the first and fundamental mystery of Jesus Christ,\u2019\u201d [and considering that some of our members, in various parts of the world, are to make their profession of vows] I thought it worthwhile to dedicate this Circular Letter to deepen our understanding of the significance of our religious profession which, with holy pride, we one day pronounced, and which we fervently renew on the 25th<\/sup> of each month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is my intention that these lines may help us to be ever more enflamed in the total fulfillment of that which we once professed, being witnesses day in and day out of the Kingdom of God, living as if we were resurrected, seeking only what is above, not of what is on earth.<\/em> <\/em>Because, that is what we are called to as religious of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, that is, so that our consecrated life might be \u201cthe prolongation in history of a special presence of the Risen Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Religious Profession according to our proper law<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Code of Canon Law<\/em> establishes that: \u201cBy religious profession, members assume the observance of the three evangelical counsels by public vow, are consecrated to God through the ministry of the Church, and are incorporated into the institute with the rights and duties defined by law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, since it could not be any other way, our Constitutions<\/em>, following the wise teachings of the saints of all times and the Magisterium of the Church, and furthermore in full accordance with that which is established by canon law, see in the profession of the religious vows the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n a)<\/strong> The means by which the religious is freed<\/strong> from \u201cthe obstacles that may separate us from the fervor of charity and the perfection of divine worship, and consecrating us more intimately to the service of God;\u201d recognizing in profession the \u201cspecial and fruitful deepening of the consecration received in Baptism.\u201d This includes the twofold resolution to \u201cradically die to sin and vice\u201d to \u201cderive more abundant fruit from the baptismal grace\u201d and to live \u201ca new life \u2018for God in Christ Jesus\u2019 lived in all its radicality.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n b)<\/strong> A resemblance of \u201cmartyrdom<\/strong>, since the religious possesses the same will as a martyr. Both accept their death to this world in order to unite themselves totally to Christ and partake of His kingdom.\u201d And so, one day \u201cnot with a childish soul, but with a robust will\u201d and \u201cready for martyrdom \u2013 the full and total rejection of the evil world\u2013 for fidelity to God,\u201d we made our profession of vows, desiring with it to \u201cput in practice the most sure and efficacious means to possess perfect charity.\u201d Such is nothing other than \u201cimitating Christ in his self-emptying in his Incarnation and his death on the cross,\u201d for He himself told us one day: No one has greater love than this, to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n c)<\/strong> \u201cA true holocaust<\/strong> of oneself, since in light of the vows, the religious offers himself and his possessions wholly and without reserve to God. Through the vow of chastity, he offers the good of his body. Through the vow of poverty, he offers the good of external things. Through the vow of obedience, he offers the good of his soul.\u201d \u201cIn such a way that the religious is left with absolutely nothing\u2026 [considering that] immolation implies the total destruction of the victim in honor of God.\u201d Although we speak of \u201cdestruction, we should more properly speak of a positive transformation for the attainment of perfect charity, which leads one to possess God fully and intimately\u201d and to fulfill the commitment of \u201cimitating Jesus Christ as perfectly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n d) <\/strong>\u201cA true consecration<\/strong> through which the religious becomes something sacred, destined for divine worship; the religious becomes the property of God.\u201d In fact, the Church refers to us \u201cabove all, as persons who are \u2018consecrated\u2019: consecrated to God in Jesus Christ.\u201d This consecration clothes one with a character that is totalizing, exclusive, and most intimate to God, with the desire of expressing with the complete gift of the religious to God, a gift which is \u201clife-long.\u201d A consecration which, in our case, asks of us a \u201ctotal surrender to Mary so as to better serve Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Our formula of consecration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The document \u201cEssential Elements in the Church\u2019s Teaching on Religious Life,\u201d<\/em> which is so often cited in our proper law, establishes that \u201creligious profession is made according to the formula of vows approved [\u2026] for each institute. The formula is common because all members undertake the same obligations and, when fully incorporated, have the same rights and duties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our Constitutions<\/em> in numbers 254-257 contain, respectively, the formula of profession for temporal and perpetual vows which we use in our Institute and according to which we have had the grace of consecrating ourselves to God with the supreme resolution to \u201cimitate the Incarnate Word, chaste, poor, obedient, and son of Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is, so to say, the presentation card of a religious of the Incarnate Word. Each word contained therein, is nothing less than the fervent desire, I would say, of a deliberated and ardent intention to configure ourselves with Christ \u201cin conformity with our own charism.\u201d It is the vehement desire to belong entirely and forever \u201cwithout diminution or retraction, without reserve or condition, without subterfuge or delay, without retreating or even slowness.\u201d It is the expression of the uncontainable joy of recognizing that we spend our lives given over to \u201cthe edification of the Church and the salvation of the whole world\u201d and all \u201cfor his glory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so, the formula contains the serious responsibilities and obligations which we commit ourselves to and according to which we must remain firm as if seeing the one who is invisible.<\/em> <\/em>In such a way that each line of our formula of profession should be the pulse of our heartbeat, the north in our missionary pilgrimage, the stronghold of our fidelity and sign of sure hope and consolation. For, in it are summed up our vocation and the duty of our lifetime. And the same can be said, analogously, of the formula which we use on the 25th<\/sup> of each month to renew our consecration through our vows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And although it is most unfortunate reality that some of our members have seemingly turned back from their word given to God\u2014at times excusing themselves with erroneous and fictitious motives which led them astray from such a noble ideal until they finally left\u2014this fact should never discourage us. It is a reality which has been and is a part of the history of the foundations of religious congregations within the Church and we are no exception. In any case, as was seen in the study that was done leading up to the VII General Chapter (in 2016) and has been indicated in the introductory letter of the last Official Bulletin<\/em>, by the pure grace of God we have a high rate of perseverance and we belong to a Religious Family which is growing and expanding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For all these reasons, and although succinctly, I would like, in a few lines, to illustrate and demonstrate according to our proper law, the profound implications to which we are called as professed religious of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, according to the beautiful expressions of our formula of profession. Many of the things contained there, and which we have solemnly professed the day of our vows, are taken literally from the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata<\/em>, from Saint John Paul II (March 25, 1996). <\/p>\n\n\n\n of the Holy Spirit, who disposes our soul to receive His inspirations.\u201d<\/em> <\/em>This is what we said, and it was to the very Trinity that we said it. There are no words, possibly in our entire lives, which have more seriousness and importance than those which we pronounce the day of our profession. It is the very Trinity to whom we correspond because it is God himself who has called us. \u201cGod calls who he wants, by his free initiative of love\u201d\u2014and who can doubt it\u2014each one of our vocations has been the fruit of \u201cdivine action.\u201d Furthermore, \u201cit is an initiative coming wholly from the Father, who asks those whom he has chosen to respond with complete and exclusive devotion\u2026to respond by unconditionally dedicating his or her life to God, consecrating to him all things present and future, and placing them in his hands\u2026complete\u2026being comparable to a genuine holocaust.\u201d Hence, in the monthly formula for the renewal of vows we beautifully say that we have been called to be \u201cthe unconditionals of God,\u201d placing an emphasis on the totality, the full reach and perpetuity of love which we profess. That is why Saint John Paul II explained: \u201cThe religious vows have as their end the carrying out of the vertex of love: a complete love, dedicated to Christ under the impulse of the Holy Spirit and offered to the Father through Christ. This is the basis of the value of the oblation and consecration of religious profession, which in the eastern and western Christian tradition is considered as a baptismus flaminis<\/em>.\u201d Many times, the weakening in religious profession has its foundation in this reason: in our desire to place conditions on God, thinking that it will turn out for our personal benefit. \u201cSeeking oneself\u201d is never a good business in the spiritual life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Son\u2019 in us.\u201d Who can point out an ideal which is more sublime, more stirring, or more enveloping ideal than that of \u201cimitating more closely and representing perennially within the Church \u2018the form of life which Christ proposed to His disciples and, which He, as the Son of God, accepted in entering this world to do the will of the Father?\u2019\u201d His earthly life is the \u201cexample of a priestly surrender to the Father which we must imitate,\u201d his virtues should be replicated in our lives: \u201chumility, poverty, suffering, obedience, self-surrender, mercy and charity to all men.\u201d He is the \u201cWay we must follow,\u201d and we should take to his interests, fighting to attain them, we must go into the world in order to convert it, enter cultures to heal them and to elevate them with the strength of the Gospel. For this reason, our proper law points out splendidly how it is \u201cabsolutely essential to be united with His Person, have His Spirit, assimilate His doctrine, frequent His sacraments, imitate His example, profoundly love His Mother, and be in perfect communion with the Church hierarchy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n * * * * * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n In conclusion, dear brothers: the following of Christ, as has been made quite clear, brings together with it this resounding idea: to sacrifice oneself<\/em> <\/em>and the even more pressing demand, which is that of remaining faithful<\/em>: to the Incarnate Word and to the discipline of the Institute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n May we always keep in mind the magnificent teaching of Blessed Paolo Manna: \u201cthe greatest holiness was made through the smallest faithfulness; but in order to be faithful, always faithful, one must necessarily make himself familiar with mortification, because if Christ is generous, he is also demanding. There are some who think that, having gone to the missions is a big enough sacrifice, and this alone is sufficient. This is a fatal error which has led to the failure of many vocations. The cross is to be carried each day, for the Lord said take up your cross daily<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know well that following the Incarnate Word means a complete renouncement to unite ourselves to Him and to accompany him on the paths of his mission. But it is also certain\u2014and how many times has God in his mercy let us experience it so as to nourish our hope\u2014that following him also brings with it a treasure in heaven<\/em>, that is, an abundance of spiritual goods. He even promised us eternal life in the future, and a hundredfold in this life.<\/em> This hundredfold<\/em> refers to a superior quality of life, a happiness which is incomparably greater. Experience has shown each one of us that consecrated life, according to the designs of Christ, is a profoundly happy life. A happiness which is measured in relation to our fidelity to the designs of Jesus, even when, that hundredfold <\/em>does not take away the need to associate ourselves with the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us always remember that only in the measure that our love gleams for our oblation and our spirit of sacrifice, will we truly be able to prolong the presence, the words, the sacrifice, and the salvific action of Christ, victor over sin and death, and so give to other the credible witness of the glorious destiny of our existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On this day of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord, and a few days away from celebrating the august mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, let us pray for one another, through the intercession of our Most Holy Mother, the Faithful Virgin, that we may always remain faithful to our consecration, that we not refuse any sacrifice so that we might reproduce within ourselves the way of life of her Son and that we may be magnanimous and humble constructors of the Kingdom of Christ, as She was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Again: Very Happy Easter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Incarnate Word, a big hug for all of you,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fr. Gustavo Nieto, IVE<\/p>\n\n\n\n General Superior<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rome, Italy, April 1, 2018 Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord \u201cLive as if we were resurrected\u201d Directory of Spirituality, 39 Dear Fathers, Brothers, Seminarians, and Novices, A very happy Easter Sunday of the Resurrection to all of you! May God grant that the ineffable joy and the brightness of the Risen Christ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1322,"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 center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circularletters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210,"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourcharism.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Saint Peter Julian Eymard defined religious profession as \u201ca divine contract between the religious and God,\u201d through which one gives of himself entirely, without conditions, to God, and with Saint Thomas of Aquinas he says: \u201cWhat I ask of you, my Lord and my God, is you alone and nothing else.\u201d \u201cIt is the consecration of victims,\u201d the saint said, \u201cbecause through the profession of vows, the religious becomes the Lord\u2019s victim and holocaust.\u201d \u201cProfession of vows is the commitment of going to the extreme length of the immolation of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n