Speaking of God Today – New Categories (T

XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES 3

XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES

Xaverian Spirituality Meeting

Tavernerio 2006

ACTS STAMPATO: 25 JANUARY 2007

Viale Vaticano, 40 – 00165 ROMA INDEX 5

INDEX

Message to the Xaverians ...... pag. 7

INTRODUCTION ...... » 9 Introduction...... » 11

CLARIFYING THE TERMINOLOGY...... » 15 Charism and life in the Spirit (L. Guccini)...... » 17 Group work: emphases and challenges ...... » 34 Spirituality: a psychological perspective (A. Cencini) ...... » 35 Group work: novelties and challenges ...... » 52

ST. FRANCIS XAVIER AND CONFORTI...... » 53 Reflections on St. Francis Xavier (I. Echarte) ...... » 55 Group work: relevance and topicality of St. Francis Xavier ...... » 63 Echoes of an ongoing journey (J. A. Flores O) ...... » 65 G.M. Conforti: a man consecrated to the mission (G. Camera) ...... » 77 What would G.M. Conforti say to the Xaverians today? (R.C. Marques da Silva ) . . » 83 Historical outline of Conforti’s spirituality (A. Manfredi)...... » 87 Group work: relevance and topicality of G.M. Conforti ...... » 112

A PAGE FROM XAVERIAN HISTORY...... » 113 The period of the first successor: 1932-1944 (A. Luca) ...... » 115

FROM THE FOUNDER’S CONSTITUTIONS TO THE 1983 CONSTITUTIONS...... » 125 Cum Christo in Deo (A. Ceresoli) ...... » 127 The 1983 Constitutions (G. Ferrari) ...... » 139 Principles for revision (L. Zucchinelli – R. Puopolo) ...... » 147 Spirituality in the RFX (J. Olvera Servin)...... » 149 Spirituality in the RMX (R. Benzoni) ...... » 157 Spirituality in the letters of the General Directions: 1981-2006 (L. Menegazzo) . . » 161 Group work: fidelity and novelties ...... » 164

STUDIES AND IN-DEPTH ANALYSES ...... » 165 Ministerial dimension of Xaverian identity (F. Sottocornola)...... » 167 Speaking of God today – New categories (T. Tosolini)...... » 177 Speaking of God today – Challenges to the mission and the Church (F. Marini)...» 185

CONCLUSION AND FINAL MESSAGE ...... » 193 Closing group work: developments, challenges and proposals ...... » 195 Final message ...... » 201 6 Message to the Xaverians

A large group of Xaverians from all our Circumscriptions gathered in Tavernerio (Como) for the Sec- ond International Meeting on Xaverian Spirituality (1-15 August 2006). The Meeting took place in the V Centenary year of St. Francis Xavier’s birth and the 75th anniversary of the Founder’s death.

This book contains the Acts of the Meeting. We decided to publish the contributions almost in their entirety in order to share with everyone the rich material prepared for the Meeting and, as far as possible, the debates that took place during it.

Unfortunately, the book will probably be unable to transmit the participants’ experience. During the Meeting, the figures of Francis Xavier and Blessed Guido Conforti acquired a new importance and beauty; we gained a more intense perception of the Congregation as our family and the importance of the topics we discussed. The Meeting was characterized by its fraternal atmosphere and the great commitment of everyone involved: our fraternity overcame the barriers of our different ages, nationalities and experiences. Above all, however, we felt that the Holy Spirit was working with us, helping us to experience and embrace the beauty of everything that was being said.

Some limits that emerged at the Meeting leave us with an open task for the future. In a particular way, I believe we found it more difficult than we expected to reappraise the topic and apply the reflections to the various contexts laid before us by the Congregations’ increasing internationality. This remains a challenge for the present and the future, together with the certainty that what unites us is more powerful than what may divide us, and that we have a rich common heritage which must not be squan- dered.

The figure of Fr. Franco Teodori comes to my mind as we prepare to publish this book: with his meticulous work he contributed more than anyone to making our Founder known and, therefore, to the successful outcome of the Meeting. I dedicate this work to him. Fr. Rino Benzoni Superior General Rome,7 October 2006 Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

INTRODUCTION

General Direction

1.Weall know that a demanding challenge awaits us and this challenge depends above all on two factors:

- The topic is a vast one and this forced us to make some choices; others will certainly be made by the speakers.Wehope our decisions prove to be the right ones. - Above all,however,the topic is very vague.Today,“Spirituality”is an all-inclusive term,almost synonymous with “identity”.Spirituality pervades every aspect of life and not only our way of praying or relating to God.

2. At the same time, the topic needs to be clearly defined:

- it was suggested by the XIV General Chapter - the COSUMA confirmed it; - the conference has given rise to voices of approval and,above all … of expectation; - the topic was welcomed by the majority of those who sent us their observations; during our visits we saw a clear desire to reflect on this fundamental aspect of our life. The confreres are very aware that topics such as spirituality and identity are fundamental for our family and,more generally,for the very survival of the consecrated and missionary life; - we also believe that the renewed interest in the figure of St. Francis Xavier and the contributions to the 500th anniversary of his birth all point in this direction.

3. We are aware of the difficulties as we accept the challenge, but we are also aware that in our midst stands Another Actor who guides the destinies of the Church and our Family. This Actor brings things to maturity in ways that are “different” from our own criteria, in ways that are sometimes im- perceptible and, at the same time, evident for those who have eyes to see. Little by little, without our being aware of it, this Actor can lead us to adopt positions that only a short time before we would never even have imagined; He can also transform into a success what from a human point of view seems just another failure and, on the contrary, leave in a barren state what everyone considered to be a great success.

4. The importance of the Conference, above and beyond whatever emerges from it, consists in the fact that it was proposed and how it shall develop. We do not know what will come out of it: the success of a conference such as this depends on many factors.

Above all, we are convinced that such conferences succeed provided they are held at the proper time, their topic is “ripe” and when a previous process, with its positive and negative results, leads us to understand the indispensable nature of something that, even a few years previously, we would never even have considered to be useful. It seems that the time has come for us to focus sharply on Spiritual- ity as the decisive dimension of every Christian life, especially of the consecrated life and, even more, of the missionary life. In the minds of those who reflect, the paths traveled by the consecrated life and the mission in recent decades or centuries, despite their magnificent achievements, seem to have dried up and are no longer able to offer a reason to the new generations for making a total life-commitment to the Gospel. We have been realizing for some time now that frenetic activity no longer produces fruit; that the mission is in danger of being excessively conditioned by elements that are alien to it ... that once these have been shed, the consecrated-missionary runs the risks of ending up naked and vulnerable (for they gave him visibility and filled his days) and that our action becomes sterile for ourselves and others without direct and constant contact with the source. 12 General Direction

In saying this we do not wish to judge the missionaries of the past in any way: many of them gave themselves totally and some even shed their blood. However, the consecrated life and the mission are dynamic by their very nature, they are always open to new challenges: in every age, total dedication to God and the brothers for the proclamation of the Gospel calls upon us to renew our zeal and dedication in view of a renewed fidelity in accordance with the times. It is therefore a wonderful thing that our Congregation is setting out once again in the quest for that “something more” that the Spirit is asking of us today.

5. Let us therefore enter with an open heart into these days, ready to listen to others and to the Spirit; ready to receive and to give. It will turn out as God wants it. The right attitude is one of optimism and realism. Perhaps our only task today is to sow ... others shall reap the fruits of our efforts.

6. Our confidence is based on the fact that even to speak of these topics is itself a process of growth. Many of you have asked us not to be concerned about documents and we are indeed perfectly aware that no document can change the life of those who do not want to change (not even the Gospel has this power). Nevertheless, we will have to put down in writing the fruits of our reflections for our confreres and for the next General Chapter. It matters a lot to us that we speak about these matters – our matters - and that speaking about them opens up our hearts and fills us with enthusiasm, convincing us who are here present, and all the confreres throughout the world, that these are indeed important issues that belong to us at a very profound level.

If we can make a comparison, even though the method is quite different, we also think that this conference is similar to the dynamic “forces” unleashed by the Ratio Missionis Xaveriana (RMX). We have said repeatedly that what benefited our congregation was not so much the RMX as a document– thought that too is useful – but, rather, the debate which led up to it and followed it. Undoubtedly, we find ourselves face to face with a “social body” that changes in accordance with criteria which even experts cannot fully grasp, but this must not forestall us.

7. We are aware that the debate on Spirituality can take us far, even to the discussion of whether or not the consecrated life and, concretely, the Congregations can be reformed. If this aspect emerges, we shall discuss it. Our attitude, the one that has given life to this conference, is that a maximalist response to these questions can result in paralysis, especially in a period of uncertainty like our own. We have decided to do our best and leave the rest to Another. We continue to believe that the journey began by the Spirit through the heart and the work of Conforti is still relevant for today’s world, useful to the Church, and capable of offering to each one of us the space in which to live out our total response to the Lord.

Somekeypoints As we were saying,the topic is a vast one.Weare open to any recommendations that come our way. We have no wish to condition the conference, though we do wish to mention some lines of thought that have become ever more evident and important to us.They have been growing within us as a result of our service to the Congregation, the contributions of the confreres to the conference, the V centenary of St.Francis Xavier’s birth,as well as from our daily listening to the confreres and many other situations.

1. It must be a missionary spirituality. Though we may not always realize it, we have already made great progress with the Constitutions,the RFX and the RMX (cf.RMX 22-28). - The certainty that the mission has a lot to say to our spirituality and that spirituality gives depth to the mission. In this sense, we can emphasize many topics: God’s universal and personal love which is made visible in the crucified Christ; zeal; love for the people and solidarity with their problems; martyrdom-witness; the ability to see the Kingdom of God at work in the weakness of the missionary and the Church ... - Especially in recent years, emphasis has been placed on the priority of being over doing; a mission that, before being an explanation and proclamation of God’s mystery, proposes it by showing it 13

present in life. Emphasis is placed on dialogue as method; the offering and the sharing of personal faith rather than its imposition (including through works); the attitude of the servant and the witness more than that of the master/teacher. - We must reassert the primacy of the Gospel for each one of us, but also for humanity and for the world; in other words, the possibility to live in profound communion with God that is offered in Christ to every person. Although we know that God can save (and truly does save) people according to ways that He alone knows, it is not a matter of secondary importance whether people know God or not,the God who makes us His sons and daughters in the Son. - We must also look for the human and spiritual conditions that can sustain the missionary in a weak mission such as today’s.

2. In continuity with what we have just said, we believe that the Meeting should make an in-depth study of the unity between consecration and mission, the essential choice made by our Founder and which gives flesh to our specific spirituality. Above and beyond the question as to whether or not it is an exclusively Xaverian characteristic, the Founder’s decision marks our spirituality in a radical manner, in other words: “Xaverian spirituality, which the Holy Spirit inspired in Conforti (…) is our way of living the Gospel … it has been enriched by the experience of the first 100 years of the Congregation’s existence, the Church has welcomed it and sets it before us as the way to fulfill our missionary vocation” (RMX 22). The reference to this unity as the heart of our vocation is so important for us, the members of the current General Direction, that we made it the topic of the main letter we sent to all the Confreres during our mandate and which, referring to the Founder’s exclamation in the Testament Letter, bears the title: “The Lord couldn’t have been more generous with us”.In this letter we recall how this unity is constantly referred to by all the last General Direc- tions and by our most important documents (Constitutions; RFX; RMX) over recent decades. We are convinced that we haven’t yet discovered the richness of this option or lived its consequences to the full.

3. “Sentire cum Ecclesia” as the humble awareness of belonging to a reality greater than ourselves, guided by the Spirit to whom we submit the discernment and verification of our activities. This is an aspect that was dear to St.Francis Xavier and Guido Conforti.It is perhaps a point that calls for a special conversion on our part.

4.Attention to the “things of the spirit”.As we said before,the topic of spirituality is a vast one and,in certain aspects, all-inclusive of the Xaverian life made up of charism, spirituality, consecration, missionary life, etc. However, we are convinced that concentration on the things of the Spirit and their influence on the rest of the consecrated-missionary-ecclesial life is now of the utmost importance. To emphasize the importance of a personal and communal relationship with Christ does not mean to narrow our horizons,but to broaden and consolidate them; it does not mean focusing only on one aspect of life, but discovering the center that unites all the aspects of existence. In this sense the Conference must not be afraid to analyze,share,study and make proposals in connection with whatever concerns our union with Christ in a direct and practical way.

Conclusion We should remember that this Meeting is not the first effort made by the Congregation in this direction. Over the last few decades the Xaverians have been rediscovering the figure of the Founder and how to make our spirituality relevant today. It would be a shame to forget the work that has been done during these decades and the material it produced to help us in our future journey of growth.

In a particular way,besides the Constitutions,RFX and RMX,we wish to remember: - the 1980 Pamplona Meeting, which is normally referred to as the time in which we rediscovered the figure of the Founder. The Acts of this Meeting were published in the collection “studi saveriani”under the title “Spiritualità Saveriana”, - the other volumes of this collection and the collection known as “Parma negli anni”, edited by the group “Amici del 5 Novembre”. 14 General Direction

- the publication of Conforti’s writings by Fr. Teodori and the publication of his most important writings for the Xaverians in the “Pagine Confortiane”. - The collection of letters written by the General Directions.

Furthermore,twoimportantworksareduetobecompleted: - The Confortian Anthology, the drafts of which shall be given to you during this Meeting; we believe this can be a useful tool for studying the rich Confortian “heritage”. - The scientific biography of the Founder,which should be ready before the XV General Chapter.

May this Meeting be for us a time of formation, openness and sharing. Above all, may it be a profoundly Xaverian experience. In your answers to the explanatory letter, many of you asked that we be the main protagonists of this conference. We have invited some experts to help us, but we agree entirely with the request you made. The conference is in our hands.

One last observation to be kept constantly in mind: the Conference is a moment of preparation to the next General Chapter. We must always bear this arrival point (which in its own turn will be a point of departure) in mind. If we manage to draw up some lines of reflection in view of the General Chapter, and some questions for the confreres in preparation to the Chapter itself, we shall not have wasted time.

We entrust these days of reflection to the intercession of St. Francis Xavier, the Blessed Guido Conforti and Our Blessed Lady, on whose feast day (the Assumption) our Meeting is scheduled to end. CLARIFYING THE TERMINOLOGY

Charism and life in the Spirit Group work: emphases and challenges Spirituality: a psychological perspective Group work: novelties and challenges

CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 17

CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

Luigi Guccini

The title of my reflection “Charism and life in the spirit” contains two very important terms, “charism” and “life in the spirit”, which call for some clarification.

- We speak a great deal, perhaps excessively, about “charism”, but what is it? In a publication some years ago, GC. Rocca showed how there are different ways of dealing with the topic and that there is perhaps some confusion in this field. It is one of those words whose meaning we take for granted, but each one of us understands it in his own way. Some don’t want to speak about it at all.

- When speaking about the “spiritual life”, I always quote these words spoken to me by a doctor who is very committed in the cultural field:

«Wewho are engaged in the cultural field also experience the need for the spiritual dimension with profound unease: caught between the demands of the professional life and the needs of the family, we often feel the need for the so-called “spiritual experiences” which beckon to us like an oasis of freedom; however, it also leaves us frustrated and hurt ». Why does my confidant speak of hurt? Because too often the guidelines offered by approaches to the spiritual life are possible only for those who can allow themselves the luxury (like monks) of practicing them, whilst they are inaccessible to the lay person with family and professional commitments. But, my interlocutor continued «there should be a way of living all the human dimensions of our life in an integrated and gratifying manner. There must be an answer to the needs of a Christian who wants to live his faith seriously in today’s world … There must be a “feasible proposal!».

Inthebackgroundthecharismoftheinstitute First of all, an observation on the so-called “charism of the Institute”. It refers us back to our own identity and raison d’être as a religious institute, namely, to the mission entrusted to the institute and the spirituality which sustains and inspires it. Allofthisisagrace granted by God.

It is God who initiates certain works in response to specific needs, but what is in the foreground is not the concrete work in itself, but what makes it Christian, namely, the inner spiritual motivation of faith. Obviously both elements are important, but the profound inner motivation and the experience of faith come first. This is what gives the quality of “charism” to the mission.

ThecharisminaPaulineperspective The first thing for Paul is the great chàrisma (Rom 6:23 – Greek text), namely, the work of salvation fulfilled gratuitously in Christ through the work of the Spirit. Paul’s entire theology of justification revolves around this. Within the context of the great chàrisma , Paul speaks of the charisms as gifts of the Spirit given to each one (1Cor 12-14). In this perspective, if the charisms are gifts of the Spirit, then they are not “a thing”but,rather,the action of the Spirit in the Christian and the fruits of this action.

Luigi Guccini is a Sacred Heart Father and was the director of the magazine “Testimoni”for many years.He is currently the director of the “Casa Incontri Cristiani”at Capiamo (CO). 18 Luigi Guccini

This seems obvious and fundamental to me. -Seenfrom above,the charism is the action of the Spirit; - seen from below, in the person, it indicates the fruits of this work when there is the docility that the Lord is looking for.

Therefore, these three words: -theworkofGod - its fruits - the docility the Spirit searches for in our hearts. The third point must be emphasized because it bind the “charism”to the spiritual life and takes it to the level of experience.

TheactionoftheHolySpirit We are therefore referred back to the action of the Holy Spirit in human conscience. It is the only positive perspective for understanding the charisms and the spiritual life. Only a correct pneumatology can help us here.

What do we mean by the action of the Holy Spirit and how does it express itself? If we look at the New testament, all the phrases that convey the content of the redeemed life have the Holy Spirit as their subject and protagonist:

- faith: «No one can say “Jesus is Lord”unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit » (1Cor 12:3); - prayer: «When we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words (Rom 8:26); -love: «The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us » (Rom 5:5); - hope: «Hope is not deceptive,because the love of God...(Rom 5:5); - freedom: «Where the Spirit of the Lord is,there is freedom» (2Cor 3:17); - knowledge of the truth: «He will lead you to the complete truth » (Jn 16:13); - witness: «When the Advocate comes,he will be my witness.And you too...» (Jn 15:26); - spiritual fecundity:«TheHolySpiritwillcomeuponyou»(Lk 1:35); - discipleship: «NoonecancometomeunlessheisdrawnbytheFather»(Jn 6:44); - the new covenant: «I will give you a new heart,I shall put a new spirit within you (Ez 24...)

The Christian life – the true spiritual life – can exist only as life in the Spirit: “Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God” (Rom 8:14). We can understand the spiritual life and the charism only if we rediscover the Holy Spirit at work in the life of Christians.

HowtheHolySpiritworksinus:Christocentrism - Jesus explains this in the Last Supper when he promises the Holy Spirit (cf.Jn 14:16ff.; 14:26; 16:12-15; 15:26ff.; 16:7-11): - Weonly have to emphasize this one thing,which is the most important: everythingtheSpiritdoesrefersusbacktoJesus: “When the Advocate comes, he will be my witness” (Jn 15:26ff.): he will give you an intimate knowledge and certainty of everything I have said to you: “He will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt”(Jn 16:12-15).

The action of the Holy Spirit is always essentially Christ-centered: it leads us to Christ and makes us his disciples and friends. I believe it is important that we consecrated people reassert the Christocentrism of the Holy Spirit’s work, because it is only this that gives us the possibility to truly clarify our identity, vocation and mission, and how it should be fulfilled. CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 19

In connection with the charism in the Religious Life, the late Fr. Tillard pointed out that the charism expresses its contents and profound meaning in discipleship. It is “because of Christ” that everything truly authentic takes place in the life of consecrated people. The Twelve left everything to follow Jesus, not because they were moved by some intention of their own that would justify their discipleship, but simply because they had encountered Jesus and in him they had found everything their heart was seeking. Their “following” is a self-justifying act: it is “charism” also in the etymological sense, namely, total gratuitousness. It is this absolute centrality of Christ that explains their vocation and, therefore, their “charism”. This also holds true for us who have made Christ our sole raison d’être and are called to bear witness to him.

When we speak about the charism as consecrated people, we must insist on Christocentrism: it is Jesus Christ and his Gospel that come first, not the “Founder’s charism”.

Seen in this charismatic perspective, the Consecrated Life means above all that we live in a perennial confession of faith; and if we live in community, we must be a group that has Christ at the center of the common life and, only afterwards and as a consequence of this, do we dedicate ourselves to everything else.

Faithandthelifeoffaith Therefore faith and the life of faith. The “where” and the “how” of the charisms is life in the Spirit, namely, the life of faith: there is no need to look elsewhere. It is the starting point in which everything is summed up and finds fulfillment: - The Holy Spirit and faith - The Holy Spirit and the Word - The Word internalized and,above all,“embodied”.

A fundamental text in this context is 1Jn 2:20;27. The anointing/krisma of which John speaks indicates the internalized word: not only the Spirit, but the Word and the Spirit; or the Holy Spirit which internalizes the Word and moulds us upon it. It is this anointing/krisma that teaches us and guides us; it is by following this guide that we become charismatic! Which amounts to saying: a serious and profound spiritual life. Only in this context can we speak of charism and charismatic life.

Faiththatworksthroughlove(Gal5:6) This is another fundamental aspect. St. Paul tells us that the charisms are given for the edification of the church, therefore for the good of others. This is so important that Paul regards it as the criterion for establishing a hierarchy of the charisms: those that are more useful are the most important. If we hold fast to the concept that the charism is the work of the Holy Spirit in each individual, with all the good consequences that result from this, then the charism seen from below, in the person, is everything we have and are as a gift gratuitously received, and which must be made available to others gratuitously. It therefore follows that: - the charisms have an essential apostolic dimension; - the apostolic dimension of the charisms is essentially spiritual, it has meaning and is fulfilled only within life in the Spirit. Outside of this, other mentalities intervene and, at the apostolic level, we have the example of efficiency, which is the exact opposite of the charisms; - the charisms “for the edification of the church” means that everything we have and are (at personal, community and institute levels) does not belong to us, but must be made available to others. This refers us back to a precise concept of life: our life given for others. 20 Luigi Guccini

Hence Paul’s declaration in 1Cor 13, that love is the heart and soul of all the charisms. Love is not merely a charism (something that is often said); rather,it is the heart of all the charisms: everythingwecanliveordoischarismtotheextentthatitislivedinlove.

Love as a biblical and existential concept: - the love of God poured into our hearts by the Spirit (Rom 5:5); - love that comes from faith/knowledge of Jesus: Charitas Christi urget nos in 2Cor 5:14; - faith that makes its power felt through love (Gal 5:6).

These are all fundamental perspectives for understanding the charism. It is the spiritual and pneumatological dimension of both the charisms and the apostolate.

Charism-Vocation-Mission If we remain within this perspective, we can say there is a perfect identity - between charism as the action of the Spirit in each one’s conscience,heart and vocation; - between the fruit of this action and the fulfilled vocation; - between the charism given for edification and the missionary vocation.

You might say there is nothing new here …yet everything that we almost systematically forget takes place at the level of experience: to refer these things back to the Holy Spirit and to what his action means in our life with the docility that this entails. More than things to be known, these are things that we must live. The charism is all about living: it is precisely in the passage from the objective, doctrinal and juridical value to living experience in our consciences and hearts. This is where everything is decided: it is a question of faith and interiority and docility to the work of grace.

Notefficiencybutgratuitousness,the“poorresources” In connection with the mission, the charismatic perspective reminds us of an important thing that is not easy to acquire and live.

We come from a tradition of Consecrated Life understood as resources for the apostolate. We accomplished extraordinary things, but this created some problems too. The apostolate was concretized in the “works” and this led (and leads) to a practical identification between the mission and the works, between the apostolate and “action”. The same thing happened (and happens) in the pastoral ministry, which is too often reduced to the “smooth functioning” of the ordinary pastoral ministry.

This theological perspective is obviously untenable and is now in crisis because, today, the “works” are no longer a sufficient mediation for carrying out the mission and the ordinary pastoral ministry of the parishes is in serious crisis. What can we do?

Veryoftenweruntheriskofexacerbatingeven more our efficiency. I believe that the alternative lies in a different concept of the mission and the pastoral ministry, a concept that is more spiritual in nature.

In short: we should return to the apostolica vivendi forma of the origins (cf. Acts 2:42ff.). With a charismatic formulation, pastoral and apostolic work is not what we can do or organize; it is more a question of giving our life for Christ and the Gospel. Obviously,what we do is also important, but the main thing is not the resources we use but,rather, what takes place within the authentic Christian life,which is a life of love.

This is what Jesus did: - He did not save the world by organizing great apostolic works,but by giving his own life. He gave up any idea of power and offered his own life,which was all he had. CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 21

- cf. St. Paul’s idea of the apostolate (thlipsis) as his participation in Jesus’ destiny, the lamb who was sacrificed for our salvation and the fundamental law of the apostolate as Paul formulated it– and as it was revealed to him – in 2Cor 12:7-10.

The spiritual and charismatic conception of the apostolate gives us a fundamental message: it reminds us that the kingdom of God is a question of poor resources. It is not the human resources that count, but the power of God. This is a difficult lesson to learn because it profoundly challenges our mentality and way of doing things, but we cannot ignore it!

Among other things, it means that there is a very close connection between charism and the cross, between mission and the cross. When we speak of the apostolate, it is the work of salvation that is at issue and this goes back totally to Jesus, his Passover and our vocation, which is to take part in it.

Charismandprophecy Let us now consider other important aspects of the “spiritual” meaning of charism.

The first reference is to “prophecy”, a typical aspect of the charism as fruit of the Spirit at work in our conscience. Paul tells us that prophecy is one of the Spirit’s gifts but,understood in its most profound sense,it is also a component that permeates the entire spiritual life.

We have already said that the Holy Spirit refers us back to the Word, He reveals the Word to us so that we might live by it. He takes us beyond the written letter (cf. 2Cor 3:6) and places us in communion with God’s profound intentions and the meaning He gives to events and our life. This why the charism very often goes beyond the established order and exterior things “of tradition”. When concrete life, rites and traditions no longer respond to their true meaning, the charism breaks with them and pushes us forward in the quest for the truth that lies in God,as it is revealed to us by the Spirit.

This is what we mean when we say that the charism is prophecy. Prophecy is the ability to go beyond the surface of reality because we have already embraced God’s way of looking at things. This too is an insight which comes from faith and it is authentic only when it is lived in faith – how many “prophets” were never true prophets!

Faith is only authentic when it becomes prophecy and is incarnated in history; otherwise, it is just a consoling intimism or an arid external observance of a word that has been reduced to a lifeless code. A prophecy that does not come from faith and does not express itself according to the Spirit is merely ideology and imposition.

It is this prophetic power of faith that enables the true charismatic to break the deadlock of situations that have sometimes been stagnant for centuries, to anticipate the future and push ahead towards those goals that have been growing to maturity deep down underneath the surface, but which no one can perceive unless he has the Spirit of God.

Unity,communion,fraternity There is no doubt that one of the most acute problems in the diversification and fragmentation that seems to have overwhelmed the Religious Life is how to recompose the community. Here lies the true point of verification of an institute’s spirituality:to see if it is strong enough and to make of many one community, felt so keenly as to make everyone converge together around the sole reason for their consecration.

St.Paul refers to unity when he speaks about the charisms (cf.Eph 4:2-16; 1Cor 12:4ff.). He does so 22 Luigi Guccini

- because the Corinthians were using individual gifts and abilities to create division and make their own claims against the others; - above all to emphasize the true nature of the charisms and diversity as they are to be understood in a Christian manner: they are not for division but for unity, to lead us all together towards the sole center,which is Christ and the edification of the Kingdom.

In the charismatic perspective and in the perspective of life in the Spirit, the condition upon which everything depends - especially in the chaos that surrounds us today - on our returning all together to the roots of our faith, to that Christocentrism of the Spirit’s action, which is the keystone of the Christian life.

There are enormous resources among you in the shape of persons who are endowed with extraordinary gifts and capabilities. No one can doubt that you are using them for the Kingdom of God, but this is not enough if each one does this without the others. We must place our resources in common and, even before this, we must be converted to living our life as Christians and consecrated mentogether.

This is the whole point: in order to do this, we need a measure of humility and meekness, self-detachment and willingness to carry the cross that only Christ and the power of his Spirit can give us. Jesus Christ and the Spirit point yet again to a true life of faith and discipleship that is finally and truly shared.

Ourspecificcharismaticnature We have our own specific identity: the problem consists in how to be ourselves as individuals, communities and institutes.

First and foremost, this means that I must read the Gospel wholeheartedly, with all that I am, because it is the fundamental point of reference: with my sensitivity, culture, preparation, formation and experience…; in short, with the tools of interpretation that I possess.

What is given to me by the institute - its tradition and spirituality, its mission and style of life - are the tools I need for approaching the Gospel and its proposals. Obviously, this awakens some sensitivities and characteristics that are peculiar to each person,although they are drawn from the same source.

In connection with this, we must emphasize some important consequences.

1. Fidelity to one’s own charismatic identity is indispensable, but there is no direct passage from the charism to the Founder. I cannot say “charism” and mean immediately the charism of the Founder or the institute. Only in Jesus can I find myself and my charism. My identity as a Xaverian (or as a member of any other institute) can exist only as the result of my adhesion to Christ. The point of reference when dealing with our identity is our baptism and our consecration to God (I believe this is a very wonderful and liberating truth). Not our consecration to an institute, but our consecrationto God in an institute.

2. Our charismatic identity, as individuals and institute, is not something we can draw up on paper,as a pre-codified expression of what we “must be”, or something we think we have clarified and can then embody in our concrete life experience. This would be a gnostic moralism, which is the exact opposite of the charism, even if we deduced this “what we must be”from good sources,such as the founder or the institute’s tradition. Therefore, we do not draw from the archives and “the founding documents” and apply what has been written and handed on directly to our concrete, personal and apostolic life. This would still be a form of moralism: we would be the protagonists. I take the liberty of insisting on this: we can be ourselves in a charismatic way only by remaining in a perspective that is radically centered on Christ and faith. Your specific nature and the name God has given you are known to Him alone and they emerge CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 23 and are fulfilled in your adhesion to the Gospel under the guidance of the Spirit.Only “afterwards”will you be able to see and know it.

3. When it is a matter of groups and institutes, the “founding texts” and the tradition of our own family are important, but they must be appreciated in a spiritual way, leaving the first place to the Lord Je- sus because it belongs rightfully to Him. We must never make the “charism of the institute” the first and main point of reference, or a kind of Gospel (ours) that replaces the Gospel of Jesus!

CharismandChurch One of the most negative features of the Religious Life until recently was theinstitute mentality. This included: - the feeling of being different, in the sense of being “better”(the Religious Life was considered to be the“stateofperfection”); - the feeling of being invested with a role and tasks that belonged to “us alone” and which distinguished us from the others; - the identification with the institute’s “super-ego”and the cult of “our things”; - the charism as a label which gave us a different identity from others …

They are dangers to which we are all exposed: - the local church vis-à-vis other churches; - movements – in a very marked way; - secular institutes in their desire to stress what distinguishes them from religious; - in short: all those who stress their identity “as a separation” that makes them different from others…

We need more than ever a truly open ecclesial mentality. For example: - the ability to recognize and appreciate the others’gifts; - concerning our “own charism”: we stress what unites us rather than what distinguishes us; - upon this foundation we open ourselves “to work with others”: an inter-congregational collaboration with the many fruits it produces, both at apostolic level (certain results are only achieved “together”) and the level of being ourselves (our own identity,which is always a relational reality).

This is a necessary and “inevitable”road we must travel today and in the future,a road we must open up and promote in the encounter and true collaboration among the different forms of consecration and between these and the local churches.

ObservationsontherelationshipbetweentheConsecratedLifeandtheLaity What we said before is also a fundamental perspective in the relationship between the consecrated life and the laity and the sharing of the charism.

If we take “our charism” as the starting-point, then we expect that lay people will come to the institute to share its spirituality and its “charism”: I don’t believe this is a good thing because it serves our own interests too much.

Things change when we place the emphasis directly and simply on Jesus and the Gospel: - each one remains himself,in his own place and respected in his identity; - we encounter each other in a complementary way; - we share the charisms (in the plural,because lay people too have their charisms).

It may happen that someone identifies with the “charism of the institute”, but this must come about within a living experience of the church –(baptism!) as the starting-point.

To the extent that this is a truly ecclesial experience for all, overcoming all barriers and the tendency to 24 Luigi Guccini label everything we do, the foundations are laid for a true encounter between different vocations. “The charisms” and the specific nature of each group will emerge from this encounter and find their fulfillment within it and not outside it. Ultimately,however,we must be capable of giving up the need to impose and assert ourselves.

Conclusion To sum everything up, we could say that the charism is a gift given for the edification of the church and, therefore, it refers back to the mission.

The mission can be a correct key for interpreting the topic of your meeting and it is right that this should be so in an institute of apostolic life. Yet you must be attentive to what is meant by mission and how we carry it out. Unfortunately we have identified mission very much with “what we do” and this is not very charismatic.

We can take the mission as our starting-point provided that we understand and live it in its profound spiritual meaning, namely, in a charismatic manner. This will finally lead us to a synthesis between spirituality and mission. The charism /life in the Spirit can help us to put things in their proper place and keep them there. This takes everything back to what is essential: faith and charity, faith working through charity, in other words: charitas Christi urget nos, whichissodeartoyou.

However, let us be careful and ensure that we do not take all this for granted, perhaps even reaching the usual conclusion: ok, there is nothing new here. This would leave everything as it was before. But everything is forever new because no one truly lives what we have said. If each one allows his heart to be touched and challenged,then what we have said here can take on a new meaning. CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 25

Replies to questions

Fr. Guccini’sinterventingaverisetomanyquestions, theanswerstowhicharearrangedbelowinacertainlogicalorder.

Onspirituality

- Isitnottruethatwetendtoidentifythespirituallifewiththeintellectuallife,asifthespirituallifehadnoinfluence onhistory(andits tragedies)?Is it not true that we are affected by a certain Cartesian dualism? Yes, we do tend to isolate and restrict the spiritual life. We do not understand that everything, absolutely everything, in the Christian’s life can be integrated into the spiritual life. Even sin, because when sin is forgiven it is a moment of supremely valuable grace, it is the moment in which the new covenant is fulfilled: “all shall know me because I shall forgive all their sins” (cf. Jeremiah). This gives meaning also to the cross, our tribulations, struggles and failures.

Fr. Bernardo Olivera, speaking to the Superiors General on spirituality on the very day that he heard his brothers in Algeria had been murdered, said that the greatest evil afflicting spirituality in every epoch is the division between prayer and life, faith and commitment. This depends also on the concept we have of the spiritual and spirituality. If I say that “spiritual” is everything that is not material, then all that belongs to the material level (work, struggles, the cross, the life of couples, sexuality, etc.) has no relation to the spiritual life. The spiritual life is for those who can allow themselves this luxury, those who are cultured (the secular spirituality of which we speak today), those who can lead a certain form of life (monks, nuns, priests). If instead by spiritual we mean what comes from the Holy Spirit, and we remember that the Holy Spirit has entered into and re-generated our entire life, body and soul …, we realize that the Holy Spirit has made all our life and actions spiritual. Unless I let myself be guided in my choices by a mentality that denies the Spirit of God, in which case I ask Him to forgive me; He shall then make me understand that for me too, a poor sinner, the way to an authentic spiritual life remains open. God will reach us always, in every situation and circumstance in which we find ourselves. This is very important also in our life which is totally dedicated to apostolic work. It is often said that the consecrated life is not about doing but about being. This is quite ambiguous because the consecrated life is also about doing. But, on what conditions does our action express our being? This is the point.What is left if we eliminate from the spiritual life all the struggles,sacrifices and resources used to help others? I think your authentic spiritual life is fulfilled here. The charism can be considered in the perspectiveofthemission,providedthatitislivedforwhatitisandnotinanotherway.TheHolySpirit helps us to understand how we should live the mission so that it is truly the mission of Jesus which continues in our life. I recommend the following small book: “Nel fuoco del roveto ardente, iniziazione alla vita spirituale”,di P.Rupnik (Ed.Lipa,Roma).

- IsitpossibletoharmonizespiritualityaslifeintheSpiritandspiritualityinthebroadestsense(wayofthinking,ideals,dreams,innerre- sources …) ? Everyone speaks about spirituality today. Even the secular world has rediscovered this terminology. Undoubtedly there are enormous values everywhere, including the secular world and the world of other religions. We recognize that it is always the Spirit of God who promotes the good that is in the world. But we also acknowledge that spirituality in this secular sense, with all its values, needs to be evangelized. The evangelization of this spirituality introduces people into the mystery of God, what He is for us, what He has decided for us, what He is doing for us and what He has done for us, etc. Al- 26 Luigi Guccini though we recognize the values that surround us, we cannot embrace the perspective of anonymous Christianity, as if the specific Christian identity, clearly known, welcomed affirmed and announced no longer had any sense.

- Speakingofspirituality,wecarrywithinustheinfluenceofthepastandthisemergesverystrongly whenwefindourselvesfacedwith other cultures … There are two factors which ask us to reconsider and make our spirituality more authentic. The first concerns our cultural, historical and formation influences. The other aspect, which is more difficult to eradicate and more consistent in its effects, concerns how we are structured from an anthropological point of view. The letter to the Ephesians tells us that we are by nature under God’s anger (Eph 2:3). We are sinners and are dead because of our sins … In other words, the reality of original sin and the consequence of our personal sins, everything we have internalized, leads to the strengthening of a mentality that seems to us to be the fruit of cultural and historical influences when, instead, it actually dwells within us.

How can we break free from this? Obviously, a theological and cultural reconsideration of certain problems is no guarantee of freedom from their influence. If we take the example of moralism (making ourselves the protagonists of everything, etc.): a thorough theological, moral or even psychological analysis of moralism is no guarantee that we can shake it off. It would be either too easy or too difficult (because only a few could afford this luxury). It is also a matter of what our spiritual forefa- thers called the need for conversion. It is a question of humility, meekness, self-detachment, having no claims, not imposing our own law and having a good heart. It is all about authenticity in faith and in the life of faith. All these things, the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians, are about our docility. It would be too convenient to say that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us all these things. He does give them, but they come to life only if we welcome them.

OnlifeintheSpirit We must rediscover the Holy Spirit. But when it is said that today is the time of the Holy Spirit (who was the great neglected one by Catholic theology), we cannot deceive ourselves into thinking we have rediscovered Him only because we speak and write about Him a great deal. This too is God’s gift, but the goal lies far ahead of us. We must reach a synthesis and a new vision of the Christian life, totally pneumatological and truly assimilated/internalized. A vision that is capable of giving a different orientation to our heart and conscience, beyond any form of moralism. In the meantime, we are still very dependent on a moralistic framework which, taking faith and true adhesion to Christ for granted, is content with preaching a moral code of conduct …

Jean Delumeau, a French historian, examined the pastoral correspondence and homilies of a deeply respected French parish priest, to see what idea he had of the pastoral ministry, religion and God. He discovered an idea of God as one who judges and “creates fear” as a direct result of the moralistic tone of the pastoral ministry. A moralistic framework means that moral obligations are taken as the reference point of our life, the obligations we have internalized from the Bible, formation, experience, from any source … Obligations against which everything is judged: ourselves, the others and by which, ultimately, we feel judged by God. The only way to escape from this web of self-justification is through the rediscovery of the Holy Spirit who opens our heart to recognize the work of God in our life and welcome it. Once again this is the perspective of faith.Tobelieve that we are saved,that we are loved and that we are forgiven – not only us, but everyone – and to believe that, through the work of the Holy Spirit, all the necessary resources for living have been given to us. Faith thus becomes the foundation of hope and “hope is not deceptive because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given us” (Rom 5:5).

A fundamental component of sin is not knowing how to trust the Lord and remaining bound by suspicion, fear and calculation; this is the consequence of the sin that ties the hands of human beings. Je- CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 27 sus frees us from this because he gives us the Holy Spirit which is not “the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out Abbà, Father!” (Rom 8:14-15). The Spirit gives us the parrhesia of the sons and enables us to live in the freedom of the children of God … These are all expressions that refer back to the trust in the awareness of the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit.

- The law and the Spirit What Rosmini said is true: our most noble ideal is Christ, provided that we do not make the passage from what we are to what we should be a question of our own achievement.Ifwetieourselvestoan ideal in a personal perspective, we becomes slaves to the law. When Paul tells us that those who are subject to the law are under a curse, we should not interpret this in reference to a written law, but the law we have internalized as a legalistic self-imposition and which others impose too. In his book on the community, Bonhoeffer says that the Christian community is not the fulfillment of our own ideal of community; if we believe this, we destroy the community instead of building it. The community is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift of God and we are to embrace it as such. If it is the gift of God, it means that it is already there. We must learn to recognize it and welcome it as it is. Those who are capable of welcoming it as it is, those who are capable of reconciliation with the reality of life as it is, become the true builders of community because they enter into communion with others, they no longer impose anything, they welcome others as they are and this experience of being accepted gives life to a koinonia which opens up the way ahead. The same applies to the passage from what we are to what we should be. It is a wonderful thing, but we must examine the perspective from which we look at it. We can do so from a perspective of voluntarism (our own project) or pneumatology (in which case it is radically different).

- Protagonism of the Spirit and our commitment We must take care to ensure that this insistence on the protagonism of the Holy Spirit, the work of grace and overcoming moralism, etc., does not lead to a lack of commitment. There is no such thing as cheap grace! In any case “Caritas Christi urget nos” reminds us that only those who truly believe and who have encountered Christ, those who have abandoned themselves to Him because they have understood love, those who have been freed from their fear, personal projects and claims, have the necessary resources to use gratuitously for the kingdom of God. True detachment in the Christian life is detachment from what we are not; in other words, it is detachment from all our fantasies of greater perfection that cause us so many problems . Instead, we must remain in the sphere of grace which invites us to embrace our poverty, to recognize and accept it as having been redeemed. If we are capable of this detachment from what we are not, we no longer have any claims and we become capable of the freedom to make our own life available to others. Totake love seriously: herein lies true industriousness and striving for what is best. Love, however, means giving our life; it is not a search for self-fulfillment or the pursuit of our own ideals.

The Holy Spirit is the father of the poor, pater pauperum. He makes us experience the fact that we who are poor are loved, saved and taken seriously by God and made important for the cause of his King- dom. To believe in the beauty, the greatness and the importance of our own life is an important component of the Christian life. He is father of the poor because, by giving us the awareness that we are poor, He makes us sensitive to the poor, those who suffer and those who are in need. However it is true that the others need us. The Church needs the Xaverians. Otherwise God would not have raised you up. The others need us. However, we must examine the way in which we make ourselves available: gratuitously or with the mentality of the masters; as disciples or people who build their own kingdom. If gratuitousness is lacking, we turn a very beautiful word upside down.

I am used to thinking, feeling and defining my priestly vocation in these terms: to be able to help others in the things that really matter. I believe that God has given priests and, ultimately, every Christian, the possibility of helping others who are in need. Just as we need others, so others need us. In Christ! Our remaining in Christ frees us from the tendency to make this our own achievement. 28 Luigi Guccini

- If everything is the gift of the Spirit, what space is left to the collaboration of the individual? One group pointed out that life in the Spirit is something to be embraced and which therefore calls for our collaboration and that asceticism is important in the spiritual life. I didn’t deal with this specifically, but I referred to it every time I said that the action of the Spirit in our conscience and heart can only bear fruit if we are docile. The word docility sums up what is asked of us and it is very demanding. Asceticism is undoubtedly important, but we must re-examine, in the light of the Holy Spirit, how we have understood and assimilated asceticism, otherwise it can lead directly into moralism and the spirituality of the scribes and the Pharisees who, despite their very demanding ascetic and moral code, were also the farthest from Jesus. The early fathers often repeated that the most demanding asceticism can co-exist with hardness of heart and can even produce hardness of heart. This is the complete opposite of the Christian spiritual life inspired by the Gospel. Our own part in the process is fundamental, but we must understand it in the proper way. God does not use violence with anyone, he does not impose anything on anyone. God is love and His love respects our liberty completely in a way that we are not capable of respecting it. This is why God speaks in parables; this is why He makes His proposals delicately and why the action of the Holy Spirit is like a ‘soft breeze’. Thus, He asks for our attention, openness, humility, vigilance and discernment … so that we might grasp what the Spirit is saying to us.

If we add the fact that this collaboration (living the charism as spirituality and mission) must be lived, not as individuals but in community and through the docility that leaves space for the action of the Spirit, then it includes all the dynamics of community life, with everything this entails: self-renunciation, openness of heart, humility, patience, meekness and the ability to submit to each other in the fear of the Lord which is so decisive for those who wish to live the Gospel. Paul describes the Christian life as an extraordinarily demanding journey without vacations, whose roots lie in the fact that we have believed. As John tells us in his first letter: “We ourselves have known and put our faith in God’s love towards ourselves. God is love and anyone who lives in love lives in God and God lives in him” (1Jn 4:16). We have identified faith too closely with adhesion to orthodox doctrine. We used to call the catechism ‘Christian doctrine’ and we attended ‘doctrine classes’.This was a very moralistic concept: ‘we try to understand what is asked of us and carry it out’.Faith, however, is first and foremost an encounter with Christ (and then there is also the truth).

Onthecharism

- The charism is all about living experience The charism thrives if we live it, otherwise it is doomed to die. It can die for other reasons too, when, for example, the apostolic reason for its existence and service no longer subsists. In this case, what fails and becomes weak are, first and foremost, the indispensable motivations that make it possible to continue to understand life as something truly “charismatic” ... We could also remember the classical relationship between the fervor of the beginnings (an institute’s charismatic period par excellence) and the subsequent phase in which the life of the institute becomes institutionalized. It can happen that the institutionalization prevails and lead to observance and efficiency, etc., which no longer possess the depth of the spiritual life and the charism.

- Who is the guarantor of the charism? At the profound and global level, the guarantor of the charism is the Holy Spirit. It is He who guarantees fidelity to the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit works in the profound depths of our conscience and He knows how to redeem our errors – even our sin – and lead us to salvation because God never gives up on everyone. When it comes to Church dynamics and our experience in history, there are many concrete components to consider.For example,in our personal journey,the guarantors of our charism are also those who formed us, who accompanied us in our vocational discernment, spiritual direction and the for- CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 29 mation we received … All this means that we cannot make our Christian journey alone; we must refer to the mediations that God provides.

At institute level, the General Chapter is guarantor of the charism when, aware of the mission entrusted to the institute and striving for a deeper and greater understanding of this mission, it makes decisions in view of achieving the necessary conditions for its fulfillment. The Chapter too needs some criteria and it gathers them from an appropriate analysis of the vocation and the mission you have received. The decisions taken by an institute are the criteria for assessment and a guarantee of the charism; consequently, they are binding on the members of the institute, the communities and the Superior General and his Council in carrying out his duties.

Who is the guarantor? In putting into practice the commitment I took on the day of my profession in my apostolic service, I too am a guarantor of the charism as a person responsible for the gift I have been given. No one can take away from me the full responsibility for my life. The superior is also guarantor when, on behalf of the institute, he tells me what is expected of me …. Since I have handed my life over, I remain faithful to the “yes” I pronounced, even if this is done through appropriate dialogue in view of reaching a proper understanding of God’s will …

In short, there are different aspects to the question of “who is the guarantor”. I also believe that we must rediscover the meaning and the importance of the superior’s role in the religious life. Since we come from a certain way of living obedience, we have re-thought it in a radical manner but perhaps we haven’t yet reached a clarifying synthesis. We are still in stage of transition. I believe that the Lord wants us to persevere in the pursuit of a syntheses that will allow us to focus on what is essential and acceptable to everyone as a point of reference.

- IfacharismisraisedupbytheSpiritintheChurch,whydoesitfadeawayanddieatacertainpoint?OurwayoflivingtheGospelnolon- ger attracts young people. What can we do to rediscover the charism and propose it in an attractive way? It is said that 64% of the institutes born after 1600 no longer exist. This means that God raises up certain families to respond to concrete situations and they can die off when they no longer have a reason for existing. This too is part of God’s providential plan. There is a distinction between the religious life in itself and the different forms of religious life. History has known many forms of religious life that have sprung up and then died out. Others have come along. The religious life as such has had a remarkable consistency from the very early days of Christianity.

The fact that there are vocations in certain contexts and none in others touches upon the inculturation of an institute’s charism in contexts that are new and different in relation to the original one. This is possible and important. Usually, we distinguish the Founder’s charism (the heritage he left us in its essential contents: spirituality and mission) from the foundation charism (the experience of the Founder and his first companions and the experience of those who came after him). Since the charism is a question of living experience under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it is enriched, it grows and even undergoes modifications. Gradually, as the times change, certain aspects are overshadowed and others emerge. This is part of the spiritual life because the Holy Spirit is creator. Freedom from the lawincludesthistoo.WhenwespeakofthecharismoftheFounderandtheinstitute,wemustbe careful to avoid enclosing it within rigid schema because life under the Holy Spirit and the stimulus of the initial inspiration is also open to further development and growth. Our institutes are also called to reconsider themselves on the basis of the different historical and cultural contexts in which they find themselves. We have overcome the exportation of the European model of religious life. We realized that this had to be re-thought. There are components in the charism (to live the Gospel) which depend on where we are living. There is a possible and fecund diversification in the way of living the institute’s charism within the same institute too, something that already happens since no one lives the Xaverian charism in the same way as the brother who lives alongside him. No local community lives in the same way as another in a different place. We must recognize that this is a value. This takes us back to the question of who is the guarantor of a charism. The institute needs a gen- 30 Luigi Guccini eral coordination to intervene and say whether or not decisions and orientations are acceptable. It is the Church’s right to confirm the charisms and recognize them as authentic, as coming from God. It is no small matter to receive this recognition.

- What is the relationship between charism and prophecy? I mentioned this in my intervention: prophecy is considered by Paul as a charism given to someone as a special gift. But it is also an inner attitude of faith that indirectly passes through the spiritual life of any Christian. Essentially, prophecy is the capacity to see our own reality and the reality of others, the church and the apostolate … through the eyes of faith, looking beyond appearances, stereotypes and ecclesiastical respectability … It means the ability to take on the things that concern us in their true meaning and, to the extent that they involve others, the community and the Church, act accordingly. Each one can become a prophet in his own context to the extent that he has the wisdom to show where the true problem lies.

To go beyond appearances is closely connected with what Paul calls freedom from the law, namely, from pre-conceived schema and the solutions we mistakenly believe could be applied to every situation. Instead, one who has the spirit of prophecy is one who possesses the inner freedom to grasp things in their true meaning, one who is guided by faith and love. This brings us to the problem of discernment, which is a fundamental component of formation, especially spiritual formation. There are different levels of discernment: there is a historical discernment (composed of cultural elements) and a personal discernment. Discernment is not first and foremost about understanding what is good and what is bad (we know this already). Spiritual discernment is knowing, in a concrete situation, how to make space for the Gospel, the work of God, His desires and plans. It is therefore the ability to perceive the voice of the Spirit in different situations. It is a complex matter but it is also within the reach of everyone, as we can see from the words of St. Paul in his main text on discernment: “My prayer is that your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognize what is best” Ph 1:9 (cf. also Col 1:9).The love that comes from faith – because it is the gift of the Holy Spirit – is not only something whose demands we strive to understand so that we might live up to them, it is also what allows us to discern and understand.Besides,the Holy Spirit is love and it is love that guides us. On the eve of the Synod on priestly formation, the lay people said to Cardinal Pironio: “we need priests who are mature in the faith and capable of historical discernment”, in other words, priests who are capable of helping us to understand how we should live the faith in our own reality and situation.

- Prophecy and “poor resources” The problem is more than just the use of money. “Poor resources” does not mean that we don’t use money, possess no structures or the works that we have used to help others until now … Poor resources does not mean that we throw all this away. Rather, we must ask ourselves: in what do we place our hope? What do we rely upon when we carry out our apostolic work? Therefore, rather than saying “yes” or “no” to these resources, it is a question of how, and with what spirit, we use them.

We say that the mission is the key to understanding the charism, provided it is conceived in the right way and is lived in a charismatic manner, namely, in a truly spiritual way, as Jesus, Paul, the founders and the saints all did. This also explains why, as a response to the possible observation that we place too much trust in human resources, diplomacy and cultural power, there are “prophets”who, realizing this, discard certain resources (which have actually become an end in themselves, and they also perhaps cease to use normal resources that might even be important; for example,St.Francis or today’s “Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus ”).

- How do we place the personal charism in the common charism of the Congregation and the Church? In Romans 6:23, Paul speaks of the ‘great charism which is the work of salvation fulfilled in Christ Jesus CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 31 for humanity in His Church. Every other personal, community and institute discourse must always be placed, thought and embraced within the framework of the great charism. The spiritual life becomes mature when one has truly understood and internalized the history of salvation with everything this means (who God is, what He has done for humanity, the relationship between God and humanity, etc.); when one has understood the history of salvation and knows his own place within it. The same holds true for the institute and the Church too. This brings us to those dimensions that go beyond the individual person and his charism; God’s plan for each one of us unfolds within the Church that welcomed us, made us grow and of which we are members. This dimension, which is both personal and communal, is essential.

If we consider the great words that define the Christian life, we discover that Holy Spirit is always their subject and protagonist. We must also consider this fact: the great words that define the Christian life – and the consecrated life – always have a dimension that is both personal and communal, ecclesial and apostolic. If I see them only from a personal perspective, or solely from an apostolic perspective (what I must do for…), I have failed to understand their true meaning. The same thing happens in the spiritual life: we truly understand it when we grasp the fact that it embraces our entire life and not just some aspects (prayer, spiritual exercises, etc ...). It also helps us to understand the relationship between personal charism and community charism: we cannot live the faith alone, but in the Church that has welcomed us. You can be yourself only if you know how to engage in the community with all that this implies in terms of self-renunciation and the renunciation of your personal charisms. We fulfill our charism according to the logic of love, which is a logic of self-renunciation because we have agreed to give our life and no longer seek ourselves. Jesus became Himself totally when He offered His life on the cross. No other path is possible.

Authentic charismatics are persons who “have personality” (human as well as spiritual); they are persons capable of renouncing even their own rights and their own freedom; capable of carrying the cross and giving precedence to others. When we find ourselves in situations of community conflict, it is the strongest, not the weakest, who have to give way because they are capable of renunciation and understanding that the way to self-fulfillment and the fulfillment of their own charism passes through the renunciation required by love. Therefore, self-fulfillment can come about only by following the ways of love, which is the way of the cross.There is a very close connection between the charism and the cross because there is a connection between love and the cross.Paul tells us that love for the Christian is a love that sacrifices itself.This is how we should resolve any community conflicts or difficulties.

Onmediations

- IfthereisadirectlinebetweenmeandtheHolySpirit;ifonehasreconciledhimselfwithhislimitsandarrivesattheconceptoflifeasa gift,asablessingfromGod,andiscapableofgivingit(actionoftheSpirit),whatneedisthereoffurthermediations?Whataretheyand what is their role? Mediations concern the life of each individual and the life of the institute, which is called to constantly re-interpret itself in order to understand the paths it must take. The ultimate reason for this is that life in the Spirit is mediated by the Word of God and this must be read within our history today. The Holy Spirit guides us by opening our hearts to understand Jesus and His word and embrace it as the criterion of our life here and now. We read the Word in the Church and never “on our own” and the Church too lives in history. There is no such thing as a direct relationship with the Spirit, nor do we have a direct and exclusive relationship with the Word. If we believe otherwise, we lose our way. The Word read in the Church is the great tradition that we are rediscovering for what it gave to us and taught us. The Church has always commanded us to read the Word of God in our historical contexts. The is also valid to each one’s personal life. If we draw up a list of persons, situations and contexts that have helped us, and still help us today, we shall find first of all the Church, the sacramental life, the liturgy …,but also the atmosphere we absorbed in the community and the help given to us by our confreres. 32 Luigi Guccini

-TheWord There is absolutely no direct line between me and the Holy Spirit because everything is mediated by the Word. The Spirit refers us to the Word of Jesus read in the Church. The Church’s great spiritual and theological tradition is a constitutive element in reading the Word. Since a direct relationship does not exist, the mediation of the Word read in the Church also creates the space for the mediation of the Founder and the heritage he has left us. Once again, this means that we read the Word proclaimed in the Church with the particular sensitivity that comes from our vocation. In short, there are many mediations, all of which are God’s gift: the formation we have received, our interpersonal relationships, the Church’s experience, the sacraments …

- Jesus Christ Christocentrism makes it possible for us to remain in the Holy Spirit (the charism exists only within this reality). Our belonging to the institute and our interpersonal relationships have meaning in this perspective. When we made our Profession we also made a pact of fidelity towards each other. How- ever, all these components can only be lived authentically in the Holy Spirit, namely, in a spiritual way. This is what makes us one: consecrated not to the institute (which is always too small with respect to the mystery of our life), but to God in an institute, consecrated to Jesus Christ together with our brothers. He has called us to live this being “together” and if we do not live it, the gift we have been given fades away because the component of the Church, the koinonia, is indispensable. This component is fulfilled at different levels: local community, the institute, the institute within the Church and the Church in society. There are different levels of ecclesial belonging, communion and the call to live with …

- The Foundand the charism of the institute I said that there is no direct passage to the Founder when we use the word charism because in the perspective of the Christian spiritual life, which is life in the Spirit, the word charism always refers back to Christ. For example: when I ask what is the charism of an institute, the answer is usually to quote the Founder, etc. This too can have meaning. Yet the charism would emerge with greater force if we were to propose a (theological and, above all, an experiential) reading of the Gospel which would have a charismatic power. If we look at the Rule of St. Francis, a charism emerges because the Rule is a direct expression of the spiritual and charismatic strength of the one who wrote it.

It is too easy to say what the charism of the Sacred Heart Fathers is by quoting some words of the Founder. We Sacred Heart Fathers can only make our charism visible by living it. People will grasp this charism when we proclaim the Gospel in a way that makes them say: “I have received something from you that I haven’t found elsewhere”. In actual fact, we simply proclaim the Gospel without putting the “Sacred Heart Fathers” label on what we say. The use of the Salesian, Sacred Heart Fathers and Xaverian Missionaries label would only shift the emphasis away from its proper place.

This does not mean that we eliminate the institute’s charism. The charism of the institute is our vocation which we must assimilate, live profoundly and then make available to others. We are not suggesting that it is meaningless to study Conforti and then try to highlight the proposals he embodied and handed on to you. However, this is something that can be done also by one who does not live the charism at all. Only those who live the charism can mediate it to others and ‘those who live it’ refers to baptism, to Christ and the Gospel. Your institute and mine shall inevitably read the Gospel in different ways because when we proclaim the Gospel we cannot leave aside what we are, our sensitivity and mentality, etc. However, I believe that you as missionaries, more than everyone else, feel defined by the Gospel you carry to the entire world. It may perhaps annoy you if one insists too much and in a certain way on the “charism of the institute”.

I would also like to say that we have received from our Founders some gifts, a life, a vocation. ... Thanks to their mediation, which is no small matter. This makes it possible for us to look at our CHARISM AND LIFE IN THE SPIRIT 33

Founders with an affective attitude which enables us to perceive wisely the authenticity of the heritage they left to us. In certain aspects, they are our fathers in the faith. They are the origin of the family that welcomed us and nourishes us (formation, atmosphere, life, etc.). This too is a reason for gratitude.

- The superiors This topic also brings us to the mediations and the influence that others exert on us. Let us consider the role of the superior in a community that wants to live as such and pursue a certain project together. This also inevitably includes the reassessment of purely personal perspectives – which may even be excellent – and to bear also in mind the ecclesial and fraternal dimensions, etc.

Let us also remember that no mediation is a guarantee of infallibility. God also uses poor instruments when it comes to superiors and chapters, etc. It sometimes happens that better decisions could have been made and this means we must reckon with the cross. We could perhaps reject such decisions and wait for a change of superiors … Instead, in a Christian perspective, after discernment and doing everything possible towards making the best decision, we must be prepared to accept something that does not convince us completely, a limited instrument, and give the best of ourselves nonetheless. The Spirit comes into play here precisely because of the weakness of the mediations.

How many wrong decisions have been made in the Church, pastoral ministry and institutes, etc. However, these have been redeemed by those who knew how to accept them in humility and meekness with the spirit of Christ and with the strength of the Gospel … They did what they could to straighten out certain situations but, when this was not possible, they knew how to assimilate them with the spirit of Christ. How many saints suffered persecutions that were certainly not desired by God! The wonderful truth is that everything has meaning in a life of faith handed over to the Lord and the Spirit. Nothing can overcome us and destroy our life because God will always be greater.

- The community When one joins an institute and makes the vows … he commits himself to a relationship of fidelity to his brothers before the Church and God. It is a very solemn commitment. This is the source of our sense of belonging, which is not self-absorption but openness to the apostolic perspective. The community is certainly a place of discernment but it does not go without saying.The presence of experts in group dynamics and the proper practice of dialogue are not enough to ensure that the community becomes a place of discernment. This occurs when the community is converted to living the Gospel together. It is this common evangelical life which allows the necessary awareness and the suggestions of the Spirit to emerge spontaneously.This is discernment. We must cultivate a true maturity in faith and discernment to help each other to understand how we should live and serve the Gospel … The community and the others can help us a great deal because, among other things,they see many aspects of our lives more clearly than we do …

We must also rediscover the ability to share what dwells in the depths of our heart. Religious life is the work of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit works in the conscience and heart of each individual. Over the years, many important, beautiful, profound and promising things have grown in the hearts of many, but they are buried deep down in the heart of each one.

It is also said that there is great loneliness in the religious life today and that it is often the “best” individuals who suffer from it. It does not go without saying that the community offers the possibility for sharing together all that the Lord has given us. Often we share a great deal with people outside the community rather than with our own brothers. In a certain sense this is also normal, but we must also recognize that it is not so normal in other aspects and act accordingly. CharismandLifeintheSpirit Emphaseworkconclusions

On the charism: - the charism is a gift in view of the Kingdom,it comes from God and is a requisite of life in the Spirit; - it finds its true meaning in discipleship: Jesus is the model of our consecration; - the Holy Spirit is the protagonist of the charism; its fruits depend on our docility; - we consecrate ourselves to God in an institute (institutions do not have an absolute value); - Jesus Christ and his Gospel have first place,not the Founder’s charism; - the whole Church and the entire Christian life are charismatic. Our charism is lived within this global charism. On spirituality: - spirituality is life according to the Spirit and not according to structures,laws,ideologies …; - it is the fruit of an intimate and personal relationship with God, the merciful Father, and is closely rela- tedtoChrist; - the action of the Spirit is especially mediated by the Word; - spirituality as a faith-response to God is the foundation of our vocation and is visible in the personal and community life of each one of us; - our mission is the fruit of an experience of faith and not so much the result of faith motivations. This experience is centered not only on listening to the Word but,above all,on the Word we live. Challenges for us today: - togivethefirstplacebacktotheprimacyofGod,sourceofthemission; - maketheSpiritthecenter,thereasonforouractionandthesourceofourcapacityforlove; - life in the Spirit is a gift that is offered to us, but it is also something we must learn to live through asceticism; - to remind ourselves of the necessity of a demanding evangelical life; - cultivate initial and ongoing formation,especially the methodology,in order to achieve a solid life in the Spirit; - to revive the articulation between the charism and our personal charisms; - to strengthen the charismatic elements that unite us within the plurality of our internationalization; - to understand that excessive efficiency, moralism and self-promotion are the true enemies which prevent us from opening up to the Spirit and the spiritual life; - to recognize that the Spirit is at work today in the Church, the world (in every person, culture and people) and in our Congregation. SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 35

SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Amedeo Cencini

Spirituality is a classical topic, perhaps even taken for granted, that leaves the speaker with the un- avoidable feeling that he is repeating things that have already been said in a better way by others who came before him. Nevertheless, we cannot avoid dealing with this topic because for many it is the necessary vehicle for the renewal of the religious life. Indeed, it is also a modern topic, in the sense that no matter how much we say that our modern society is becoming secular and that we have all been in- vaded by a tsunami of secularism, we certainly cannot deny that there is a widespread need for religion, a hunger for spirituality, although these are often expressed in a confused way. There is a great deal of spirituality, or the desire for spirituality, in today’s world, and even a certain branch of science that is normally not well-disposed towards spirituality and a religious interpretation of life, suspects that the spirit might dwell within matter or that the spirit is part of the human organism. It must also be said that, today, spirituality is experiencing a revival of interest even among religious people. In the immediate aftermath of Vatican II, spirituality was looked upon with some suspicion; now, many are saying that the renewal of the religious life will be above all a spiritual renewal.

I would like to offer a somewhat different perspective, at least as a starting point, which is not usually part of our reflections on spirituality, which are normally very … “spiritual”. I wish to emphasize the anthropological-psychological perspective. Obviously, the task of a science like psychology is not to define the concept of spirituality or the contents of a religious institute’s spirituality; it can perhaps make a contribution towards a correct definition of the idea of spirituality by avoiding the historical trends which impoverished it. At the same time, it can grasp some of its most important aspects, such as the connection between the concept of alterity and relationship, identity and the unifying center of the personality, with the reality of the mission and its renewal; it could also help us to consider more attentively the dynamism and functionality of spirituality. l-Spiritualityfromapsychologicalperspective The term spirituality is not very familiar to certain schools of psychology (for example, Freudian psy- choanalysis) which, as we know, either look with suspicion upon any psychological phenomenon that is not subject to immediate corroboration, or interprets it in a reductive or banal manner. However, Jung’s original insights led to modern psychology’s growing interest in spirituality, making it an object of analysis and attention1.

In an extremely concise and approximate manner, we can group together four psychological trends that are most sensitive to the topic and are capable of making a meaningful contribution. They are meaningful contributions also because they are not only relevant to a correct understanding of the meaning of spirituality, they also provide an internal logic and order. This shall be the object of my presentation.

Spiritualityasalterity The first psychological currents to express openness to the concept of spirituality were the schools (from Jung to Frankl) that opposed the Freudian interpretation of man as a simple array of (sexual and aggressive) biological instincts; instead, they proposed an anthropological model open to superior demands, beginning with those that man perceives in his encounter with others, in his irreducible objectivity and transcendence vis-à-vis the ego (even at a merely horizontal level). Man is capable of

Amedeo Cencini is a Canossian priest specialized in educational sciences and psychology. He teaches vocational pastoral ministry and formation to discernment and is well known for his contributions to formation in the consecrated life. 36 Amedeo Cencini opening himself up to the transcendent Other par excellence, the Radicaliter Aliter, who is located at a level that is radically different with respect to the ego2.

It is interesting to note that in the field of psychology the idea of spirituality is closely connected to the idea of alterity, as a full and radical expression of all that such an idea means and supposes3.Thereisa horizontal transcendence which is the foundation and authenticating condition of vertical transcendence. There can therefore be no authentic spirituality unless it is born in the fertile terrain of a genuine capacity for relationship with diversity, with the other. There can be no healthy spirituality when a person seeks, implicitly or explicitly, psychological satisfaction, a sensation of being accepted by others without giving anything in return, almost as a renewal of the gratifying fetal symbiotic union with our mother, the memory of which survives in our unconscious mind and continues to influence our present (the “nostalgia of the origins ”).

Spiritualityasidentity The second psychological approach to the concept of spirituality emphasizes the other natural and perhaps more traditional component, which sees spirituality as an element that sustains a person’s identity4. Here too some useful clarifications are in order.

On the one hand, it is a matter of transcending the somatic level (where man is defined mainly in biological and physical terms) and the psychological level (where the positive nature of the individual is identified with his personal qualities) in order to grasp the roots of human identity at the ontological level, in what man is (=the current ego) and what he is called to be (=ideal ego). It is the relationship between these two structural elements that guarantees a substantial and stable positive identity. In this context, spirituality finds its place in the ideal perspective of life, in those values that the individual not only wants to fulfill, but in which he also recognizes his humanity and the person he wants to become. It guarantees a positive identity because it is in the capacity for striving for this ideal that the individual’s radical lovability consists, and it is also an appeal and a challenge. In any case, and this is the most important aspect, it is not reduced to something important and useful, to a series of ideals, virtues or spiritual principles, which nevertheless remain outside the personality. Instead, it is the very expression of the personality, it indicates the goal, new name or mystery and what it is called to become. It is the most authentic ego and not a made to measure suit, no matter how elegant and attractive.

Each individual has his own spirituality, though he may not be aware of this or has never made an explicit choice in this direction. Yet it is precisely this spirituality that is the reference point and criterion of his decisions. Psychology tells us that a personal positive identity, together with the stability of the ego, is first and foremost connected with the ability to recognize oneself in the spiritual (rather than the somatic and psychological) level, and in a coherent translation of the spiritual criteria into practical life. There is an important consequence here for our reflection concerning spirituality’s psychological and anthropological valency and its importance at the psycho-dynamic level (therefore not only at the level of its contents), which goes well beyond personal piety and devotion because it directly concerns the ego and its definition, its identity and positive essence. The problem consists in assessing to what extent a consecrated person actually identifies with his spirituality, or recognizes in it the traits of his ideal identity which, even more than the corporeal or psychological references, makes him what he is called to be and guarantees his solidity and personal positive identity

It is therefore not enough to define the contents of the spirituality of the institute to which we belong; we must, rather, form consecrated people to grasp, first and foremost, spirituality’s function at psychological level too, in order to prevent the self-fulfillment of personal qualities and capabilities, or engagement in a successful and gratifying ministry, from becoming more important than reference to a spirituality that progressively reveals the mystery of the ego at the service of the Kingdom. This model of spirituality is often clear, well defined and proposed as such, yet it fails to provoke true adhesion in some consecrated people precisely because their identity does not “dwell” at that level and is directed towards other poles of attraction...! SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 37

Spiritualityasrelationship At the same time, another psychological approach 5 embraced the two previous insights and grasped therein a very important consequence: the idea of spirituality as relationship. The true meaning of spirituality is grasped by taking the concept of relationship as our starting point, which seems to imply the spiritual dimension by its very nature; in other words, relationship is spirituality in some way because it brings us into contact with the mystery of another person and,even before this, with the mystery of our own ego. From a psychological perspective, the spiritual person is, first and foremost and essentially,a relational being.

Yet this is possible only if the individual has previously been capable of reaching the radical nucleus of ontological lovability where he discovers his own positive identity in a definitive way. Only at this point is a person capable of opening up to relationships and perceiving the other’s radical lovability. Relationship does not exists at the first two levels of identification: at the first (somatic) level, attention is totally focused on self and the body, sometimes even obsessively (the drama of many young people today), and the others at most function as terms of comparison. At the second (psychological) level, relationship is lived in a very ambiguous manner: the other, on the one hand, is seen as a rival, as someone who might possess better qualities (and stir up feelings of envy and jealousy, ambitions, a competitive vision of life and ministry and inferiority complex ... ); on the other hand the psychological type has an extreme need of the positive approval of others. Bonhoeffer often used this contrast between the psychological person and the spiritual person and gave it a theological interpretation that is very much in line with what we are seeing from a psychological perspective. The ontological (or spiritual) level is the point at which a person identifies what he is and what he is called to be; “called” means that another enters into my life (since no one can “call himself”) and only at this level, therefore, does a true and proper relationship exist, with God (the Eternal caller), first and foremost, and with others, with every person, by whom the well-identified individual allows himself to be continually “called”. This is where relationship is born, with all that this implies at the level of mutual responsibility, and the important place occupied by the other, any other, in our lives

Consequently, the spiritual person reaches spiritual persons and only such people can achieve relationship at this level, which is the only true relationship in the fullest sense of the word; relationship open to gratuitousness, capable of a certain intimacy and friendship. Only a spiritual person is capable of friendship, deep human relationships, empathy, understanding, solidarity, the freedom to rejoice at the good of another and take part in his suffering. Only such a person is capable of grasping the objective value of another and he is even free to let himself be changed by another ...

Spiritualityasmystery I believe we can propose a further psychological interpretation of the concept of spirituality within the context of the idea of the human person as mystery. Mystery is not to be understood only in the religious sense, as a somewhat generic and vague openness of the person to the transcendent-religious dimension which is recognizable in some expressions; rather, it is a constitutive element of the human person6. In this sense, mystery is the most intimate reality of the ego, it is what intrinsically and radically constitutes the individual as a person and it is therefore identifiable at the psychological level of every human expression, from the most simple to the most complex and from the most partial to the most apparently neutral. On the one hand, this interpretation invalidates many minimalist or reductive interpretations of the human being 7, on the other hand, this interpretation also gives life to a new idea of spirituality. If the human person is mystery, and carries mystery within him, this means that he cannot do anything without in some way “revealing”the mystery that dwells within him,without some fragments of it becoming visible in his actions and words (even beyond his awareness) in his aspirations as well as in his temptations, in what instinctively attracts him and in what he fears, in his virtue and in his sinfulness, in the signs of his maturity and in the symptoms of his immaturity.

Spirituality is precisely this attention to, or this self-examination of, the hidden first and ultimate 38 Amedeo Cencini meaning of what we do, think, desire, plan, fear, say and love. It is a dimension that is absolutely present in every individual and it is this that makes us thinkers. Provided it is done without prejudice and through a profound analysis, it is this thinking interpretation that brings to the surface the human being’s religious quest, or the religious dimension of the mystery itself. In other words, if man is mystery there is no need “to demonstrate” that he is open to God: it is enough to describe man or learn to interpret him in his integrity; it is enough to know how to read the mystery and we shall find ourselves standing before the Mystery. Anyone who denies this sees only a part of the ego!

Two more pertinent consequences emerge from this insight.

Unifying center of life This interpretation brings us immediately face to face with an absolutely vital demand: the need for a center around which our whole life revolves and which guarantees our unity. In psychological and spiritual terms, this need constantly emerges in the individual’s action and being: man needs a center, a stable point of reference, a meaning that gives sense and harmony to the complex reality of human life. This too is Mystery: to have found the central point of reference that allows us to establish harmony between the polarities that seem to be inevitably in opposition (limits and resources, the con- scious and unconscious, self-love and love of others, freedom and determinism, individuality and relationship, joy and sadness, holiness and sin, spontaneity and discipline, unity and plurality, ... ). This is the position of Imoda and his very interesting theory of mystery. To be a spiritual person means to have discovered this central point which allows one to retain all these polarities and promote dialogue between them, precisely because each one says something important about the human being that we cannot afford to lose.

This psychological perspective tells us that the spiritual individual is a unified person, one who lives by inclusion (not by exclusion); a person who has found the way of unifying his own existence around a value, a reality, an event ... which allows him to give meaning to everything, to every fragment of his personal history8. Therefore, his entire life is unified around this point, around the mystery, which remains such because it is truly radiant and not because it is dark and impossible to penetrate9. A result of this is the well-known psycho-pedagogical model of integration as a model of initial and ongoing formation.

A key for interpreting the human dimension In line with this approach to mystery promoted by a certain modern psychology, spirituality does not imply opposition to the material dimension, nor does it mean immaterial; what it does is allow us to penetrate the depths of human reality and mystery, even to the most carnal and material level (instincts, drives, desires, aspirations …). The spiritual dimension provides us with the key for interpreting the human dimension. By way of example we can look at sexuality. As we know, the components of sexuality are: - the genital component: made up of organs predisposed to a fecund relationship, which emphasizes theperson’sabilitytogiveandreceive; - the corporeal dimension: the body is sexualized in every one of its components and equipped with a precise masculine or feminine identity; this belonging is the basis of the attraction of one sex towards the other and the ability to enter a relationship with others who are different from me; - the affective dimension: sexuality acquires a truly human quality only when it is oriented, elevated and integrated by love; it grows and reaches fulfillment only in the person’s freedom to embrace love and self-giving10; - the spiritual dimension: sexuality is also spirit which sums up the extremes and enables us to perceive in these components a mysterious veritas, the truth of human life which is especially visible in the bodily dimension.It is worth pointing out that sexologists recommend the spiritual interpretation of sexuality,which would otherwise be reduced to something technical or a purely physical exercise, or even worse, as we can see around us today... Instead, when it is viewed in the light of the spiritual dimension,the sexed body becomes “witness to love as a fundamental gift”11,and SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 39

-itrevealstheperson, as one who comes from another and is directed towards the other,hisradi- cally dialogical nucleus; - it helps to understand the meaning of life, as a gift received which tends, by its very nature, to become a gift to others 12; - “it reveals God and his creating love”13, whose love for man has made him capable of a life-giving love,making him similar to Himself.The body is “God’s first message to man”14,asasortof“pri- mordial sacrament, understood as a sign that effectively transmits to the visible world the invisible mystery,hidden in God from all eternity”15.

Therefore the spiritual dimension (or the ontological level of the process of self-identity) enables us, on the one hand, to interpret the reality of the body and the flesh, grasping its richness and profound meaning, and to allow ourselves to be formed by the body’s magisterium when it grows old or becomes sick; on the other hand, it helps us to free ourselves from anything that makes the body an idol to which everything else must be subjugated16.

II–Thespiritualperson We shall now apply these psychological insights to our lives. I believe they call upon us to make some changes at the level of conception and practice of the spiritual life, as well as the way in which we understand the role and the function of spirituality. We shall consider the points we have just seen and in the same order.

TheauthenticexperienceofGod,theRadicaliterAliter The first psychological insight tells us that spirituality is fundamentally the ability to relate to what is other than the self. This is actually a profoundly biblical idea, which we have perhaps somewhat forgotten or whose consequences we have been afraid to face. It therefore calls for an absolutely indispensable clarification, upon which the entire process of purification and decontamination of spirituality in general depends, increasingly attracted today as it is by a vague idea of the divine and subjectivism. To say nothing of the New Age or the Next Age or the various sects that are springing up everywhere like mushrooms.

God who searches for man We usually think of experience of God as an initiative of ours that produces a pleasant and wholly subjective feeling. The believer is the subject of this experience and God is its object. Such a formulation is quite credible, as certain moments of our life and spiritual experience can testify. Yet perhaps it is not an encounter between God and man in the true sense, such as we can find in the biblical accounts of many “friends of God”. Von Balthasar had a wonderful insight about this on the basis of an observation that might seem strange at first sight, but which is profoundly true: in the Bible, there is no such thing as “experience of God”; instead, we see that it is God who searches for man. In other words, the bible does not tell us about man’s search for God on his own conditions and merit; it tells us about the pilgrim God’s search for man, the God who spares no effort to track him down, reveal Himself and His love to his creature! Merton is in line with Von Balthasar when he says: “Our discovery of God is, in a certain sense, God’s discovery of us17. Some might say it is the same thing, but in actual fact it turns the original concept on its head.

Experience and wisdom The first category (experience of God) is a modern one. It was coined by us, the presumptuous con- querors also of the divine, who do not seem to heed the biblical warning (“no one can see God and remain alive”). Perhaps it was created above all by those who frequent sacred space, making it familiar and predictable, moving securely within its boundaries, without any surprise or wonder, the modern doctors of the law or guardians of the temple, the champions of the divine ad nauseam, or “civil servants of the divine”, as Drewermann would say18. This is a mistake, a typical clerical counterfeit that is 40 Amedeo Cencini doomed to create doubts or a disastrous distortion of the sense of God that are difficult to decipher and discern.

Many times this subjective experience of God is sincere, but it does not attain wisdom, it is only a passing moment that is enjoyable and exhilarating as long as it lasts; it does not lead to a transformation of life, mind and heart, it does not become a decisive moment that transforms the believer, it does not become wisdom. Perhaps, as time passes, the individual will forget all about it, or will only remember it vaguely without any idea of how to renew its flavor and revive its beauty. Probably, at the root of such an experience, there is a substantial convergence between man’s idea of God and the contents of the experience itself (this is generally the case with gratifying spiritual experiences, when God seems to respond to human expectations). In our terms, we would call this a subtle rejection of alterity or an unconscious standardization of God.

The second category is truly biblical because it is the exact expression of God’s salvific will as told by the Scriptures where, on every page, from the very time of creation, God appears to be searching for man. God looks for man through trials, giving him and asking of him something that only God could give and ask, something which man would never have the courage to ask of himself, something arduous and difficult, totally unforeseeable and beyond his notions or images of God. Again, in our terms, we would say: something that clearly reveals the essential alterity of God.

This is an experience that transforms our life and way of believing; it is something that lasts and becomes a stable and definitive way of thinking about God and living in His presence. There is no danger of the believer forgetting it because it is a biblical, affective and rational memory all at the same time. As the story of the sacrifice of Abraham tells us. A kind of master-story which faithfully repeats itself in the existence of every believer, as a great grace-event. However, it is not always recognized as such because we persist in the mistaken concept of what it means to experience God; experience of God continues to mean the old idea, which is paradoxically modern and yet ancient at the same time, the expression of the temptation that has always flattered and deceived man, who tries to make a god in his own image and likeness, or to determine the times and the modalities of his encounter with the divine. He thus denies God the possibility of entering man’s life to draw him to Himself as only He knows how, in accordance with His own designs and following His paths; but he also denies himself the liberty of allowing God to “search for man” every day.

This gives rise to other errors or some very serious consequences for the life of a consecrated person. For example, the fear and the refusal to let oneself be constantly tried by God, the inability to recognize certain difficulties of life (a difficult obedience, a costly transfer, a failure, a betrayal, slander ... ) as moments which can become providential, as the visit of God with His strange requests, as a mediation of His grace. The inability to accept that God can also ask us to sacrifice our “only son”: a sacrifice that seems impossible and illogical (for example, the sacrifice of a great and wonderful love) or relinquish- ing the idea that we are the authors of our life, lords and masters of everything we have done. The inability to offer what we have “generated” and to which we become attached as something that guarantees our own value. Essentially, it means the sacrifice and definitive renunciation of the somatic or psychological “external ego”, which is a deformation and counterfeit of the true “interior” ego.

Quality of the experience-wisdom Another consequence of this error is the poverty and worthlessness of such an experience of God and, therefore, its falseness, both in terms of quantity and quality. If it is man who determines his experience of God, it is down to him to establish the criteria of this encounter, but with what guarantee? As we have said before, the criterion will be one of emotional gratification connected with a celebration, a prayer or perhaps a group experience, as if God were like the wine offered at a marriage banquet, something exciting, a feeling or a sensation, a flavor, in any case, that is always very positive and gratifying, as if God were only the God of consolation and did not also dwell in the silence and the nudity of the desert and in an apparently unanswered prayer. Yet we must also be careful to avoid the opposite criterion of a severely ascetic life of mortification and penance, excessive prayers (not necessarily of SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 41 prayer), as if God were a gold medal awarded to those who endure renunciation and discipline, or those who are simply the best (with all the well-known consequences of voluntarism and moralism).

Furthermore, if it is man who determines the experience of God, the possibilities of this encounter are reduced to those occasions when man observes a series of conditions that give him ... access to the divine, or a certain combination of elements, circumstances, environmental and personal conditions, more or less noble (such as the right atmosphere, the right persons, a good digestion or good humor), which make it a rare and occasional thing. This is not something that lasts for life or that is capable of embracing life in its entirety. If, instead, it is God who searches for man, then every moment of life is part of this encounter because the Creator always desires an encounter with His creatures, even in the most difficult and strange circumstances, even when His creatures experience their weakness and even when what happens is not in accordance with his mortal mentality. Indeed, it is above all in such circumstances that grace lies in wait, ready to open up new unexplored paths. If we think about it, this is precisely the basic principle of the idea of ongoing formation.

Senseofidentityandcharism Another very important contribution of the anthropological sciences is the clarification of the fact that spirituality is not an evasion and escape from the world but – on the contrary – it is the discovery of one’s ego and the radically positive identity which lies deep within us and which does not depend on our uncertain performances. Where can we find this?

The charism reveals the ego For the believer, our ego is rooted in God, the source of our life who has created us similar to Himself. This means that it is vitally important that we learn to live spirituality as that place, content or relation with God within which I constantly seek and find my identity. Spirituality is not, and cannot be, a flexi- ble, vague and undefined affair that is reduced to prayer or secret and private devotional practices, which are completely or mainly subjective, essentially optional, practiced by each one as he believes best and which are also changeable on impulse. Instead, it is the progressive revelation of my ideal ego, a revelation that is part and parcel of my relationship with God, the mother-relationship; revelation begins here, with God who reveals Himself to me; at the same time, – and this is truly extraordinary –my personal identity is hidden within this revelation.

In the particular case of consecrated people, it is a theophany that lies at the origin of the institute, it is the revelation of his own ideal ego, what he is called to be, and it is more decisive for his identity than all the qualities and abilities he might possess: the charism is my ego! It is the name that God has given me. However, I am not sure just how many consecrated people actually have a clear grasp of this. In the immediate aftermath of Vatican II, it was thought that we only had to bring about a positive renewal of the religious life in order to rediscover the charism of every institute’s origin. This did not happen (or at least not to the extent that we expected) probably because we failed to realize that, before dealing with the contents, we had to clarify the meaning and the functional value of the charism itself.

Disaffection for the charism Many consecrated people do not have a very clear idea of the charism’s role in view of their personal fulfillment. Indeed, quite a few experience a certain contrast between the two outlooks, as if the charism was something generic, indicating a merely institutional belonging without any spiritual connection; as if the charism were an imposition that levels everyone’s objective aspirations and individual potential and, therefore, something that is not loved very much and even less recognized as the reference point of personal identity. What is the purpose of discovering the original charismatic content if we do not first help each other to rediscover its function in the context of identity? What is the purpose of studying the roots, history, evolution and traditions... of the charism if together we do not understand that all this is also our own roots, our own history, our own identity and fulfillment, our own present and future? 42 Amedeo Cencini

Perhaps the “charismatic disaffection” was the first serious and somewhat hidden symptom of a certain crisis in the religious life, which has still not been totally resolved and has led to the well-known and classic “identity crisis”, or to the peculiar phenomenon of the “double identity”: the charismatic, official and institutional identity, which is proudly exhibited in public, and the private and personal identity which is based on the fulfillment of personal qualities and talents, protected and cultivated like a secret and forbidden love, sometimes defended as if it possessed absolute value, something that is inalienable. Obviously the consequence of this is an open or subtle conflict between these two forms of identification (or between the individual and the institution)...

Mystical experience and identity There is another meaningful specification we must make within the context of the function of spirituality (in reference even to personal identity) and spirituality that cannot be anything but charismatic for a consecrated person. It is a meaningful specification at the pedagogical and theological levels.

There is always an astounding theophany at the beginning of a charism. God reveals Himself and in showing the divine face He also reveals to man his human face. It is not merely a divine self-communication, which the believer can only welcome and contemplate, perhaps sensing even more the distance that separates him from the Most High; it is also a revelation in which man hears God speaking of man, a revelation of the divine Mystery that unveils and restores man to himself, because man is part of God’s Mystery, and God’s truth is also man’s truth, the truth of his very life. This is the aston- ishing element: not only does God reveal Himself but, at the same time and in the same revelation, He also pronounces our name19. For this reason the prophet can say: “we are called by your name” (Jer 14:9). In praying God’s mystery, or in a particular aspect of the divine reality or the human life of Christ, our Founders slowly or suddenly discovered themselves and God’s designs upon them or upon other persons, an identity to embrace, a divine image and a likeness with God to embody in their own lives.

Our religious families exist because the Founders lived this special experience of God intensely; they are still alive today to the extent in which others, by God’s gift, relive the same experience in the presence of the same mystery. The consecrated person is born of this experience when he begins to discover his ego within this relationship with God, and allows the prayed mystery to become the source of his identity. It is spirituality that reveals to him this identity and its features.

For this reason, prayer, far from being a disciplinary matter, is the main activity of every consecrated person because the experience, or the self-communication, of God necessarily precedes the human being’s knowledge of himself; more precisely, it is the theophany that enlightens human knowledge. This is the prayer that transforms us: we gradually become in tune with what we contemplate, we embrace its sentiments and let ourselves be shaped by it... until it becomes part of us.

Yet we need great perseverance and patience and we must learn to stand before the mystery even when it seems to be mute and deaf. If consecrated persons possess the certainty that this mystery conceals their identity and truth, by merely standing before it they are already drinking from its source. What counts is that the specific experience of prayer be connected to the Founder’s experience in the vital mystery to be contemplated, in the style, particular spiritual emphases and devotions too. Prayer thus establishes a profound harmony between us and the spirit of the institute: those who pray understand it better, contemplate it in God and “celebrate” it in some way; the Spirit suggests the interpretation to them, opening their minds and hearts to new and fruitful insights. Faithful and consistent prayer, or prayer in spirit and in truth, is always a source of light and creativity. Thanks to this prayer, the charism renews itself and remains faithful to itself.

Consequently this charismatic prayer is also an attractive prayer, not because it is original and easy, but because the Father’s plan becomes clearer and draws us powerfully to Himself. What being would not be attracted by something that reveals him to himself and which, far from repeating itself, continues to reveal to him new aspects of his identity? This attraction is already the action of God’s Spirit, it is the SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 43 beginning of the mystical experience, of abandoning oneself into the hands of God our creator, who is a great artist working on His project day after day so that it might conform to His dream. The charism is that project…

The spiritual person is one who entrusts himself every day to the hands of the divine artist, or who tries to discover and understand the image that contains and conceals his own identity. This progressive search is guided by two specific points of reference: the charism and the Word-of-the-day, the charism interpreted in the light of the Word-of-the-day. There can be no other interpretation and each one enlightens the other. This image is not static or unrelated to life, it renews itself through the daily revelation to the believer through the Word-of-the-day and in which the consecrated person perceives new aspects of his consecrated identity.

If this perception does not take place, this interpretation (and allowing oneself to be interpreted) and prayer become alienation (it literally, “ alienates me from myself). This would open up enormous spaces and disquieting questions for our reflection and verification (is prayer the revelation of the ego as well as God, in other words, does it reveal one in the other? If not, it is alienation). It is more a question of quality than quantity. Saying prayers is not the same as praying, just as “saying Mass” is not the same as celebrating the Eucharist; in short, is my prayer authentic or only apparently so (perhaps it is even false) ?

Sharingofspiritualityandspiritualityofsharing If the word “spiritual” derives from Spirit, is not the Spirit perhaps that relationship which unites in an indissoluble manner the Father to the Son? This is another (theological) reason for understanding spirituality as that which opens us up to meaningful relationships and not only: we can understand it also as the object of relationship and fraternity.

If, according to what we have just seen, it is the charism which defines the identity of the consecrated person at psychological level, identity in a religious community is a shared identity. This is a statement of some importance. Since this gives a solid foundation to fraternity, it is the reason that explains why the bond between consecrated people is stronger than flesh and blood ties and it makes the relationship the place that manifests this bond and expresses this sharing. Spirituality is the force that unites a community. On the other hand, on a more purely spiritual level, did not the Lord say that He would be present where two or three are gathered in His name?

Relationship as the theological place of encounter God, therefore, dwells in the midst of two believers and He belongs neither to one nor to the other. The relationship is the place where He dwells. There are many implications for appreciating the relationship itself, fraternity and the spiritual cultivation of this aspect of our life that is often considered not so vital, or as the place where we exercise the virtues of fraternal charity.

From the spiritual point of view, I believe that the most important consequence is linked to the fact that the very experience of God is essentially mediated by others; we cannot do without this mediation (this is the principle of the third person20), in the sense that I am able to reach God through others and God Himself reaches me through others. This is ultimately why I am called to welcome others unconditionally, independently of their virtues and merits; this explains why I must welcome their mediation, no matter how limited or peculiar it may sometimes be; this explains the importance of the community procedures through which each one becomes a mediation of the divine for the others in the interpretation of God’s will, letting the Word resound in their midst or for celebrating His mercy together (cf. the previously mentioned forms of integration of good and evil).

Another very concrete and interesting consequence: if spirituality is at the same time the foundation of identity and relationship, this means that a fraternal life implies that we accept the individual brothers and sisters with whom we live; I did not choose them, nor did they choose me, but it is with 44 Amedeo Cencini them that I can discover who I am and who I am called to be. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe says with challeng- ing clarity: “to place oneself into the hands of the brothers through religious profession means accepting that my own identity is no longer in my own hands. Fraternity is an indeterminate identity”21 that is the believer’s authentic identity.

Perhaps this is also the meaning of obedience, of fraternal obedience, which is the true frontier of the vow of obedience today 22. For this same reason, Radcliffe declares that he has always disagreed with the practice of asking a brother before elections if he is willing to accept the role of superior: “it is not my responsibility to say whether or not I think I am capable of carrying out this task. It is my brothers’ task to make this discernment”. Indeed, the indeterminate identity of the vow of obedience is a sign of that journey towards self-knowledge that we make with strangers on the way to the Kingdom. It means that we do not know who we are without the poor, the anonymous and the silent” because this is the Christian’s life story: “the constant and demanding commitment to strangers, giving up the right to decide who I am. No one will ever know who he is without every other single individual”23,inapro- cess that is constantly fulfilled (ongoing formation) and demands the liberty of docibilitas, especially at the level of interpersonal relationships (relational docibilitas24).

Spiritual sharing There can therefore be no expression of authentic spirituality or aspiration to holiness based on private projects that are exclusively oriented towards achieving subjective perfection; the same applies to any relationship with God that considers relationships with others as something optional, of secondary importance, or where the relationship with God serves as a mask for the radical inability to establish human relationships, as happened often in the past.

If spirituality reveals me to myself (or is the source of my identity) and this spirituality is marked by the charism, it is therefore a common spirituality; this means that it is only natural that we should share our spirituality. Consequently, we must promote a spirituality of sharing and a sharing of spirituality, so as to discover more and more the common identity we all are called to live in a consecrated fraternity.

In 1994 the document “Fraternal Life in Community” made a strong appeal for this sharing; perhaps it was not taken very seriously when it pointed out “the poor quality of the fundamental sharing of spiritual goods”, and the fact that “communication takes place around problems and issues of mar- ginal importance but rarely is their any sharing of what is vital and central to the journey of consecration”25. The document’s exhortation is still very relevant today: “communion originates precisely in sharing the Spirit’s gifts, a sharing of faith and in faith, where the more we share those things which are central and vital, the more the fraternal bond grows in strength”26.

Yet, alas, we are perhaps still very far behind on this aspect and, what is worse, the obstinate individualistic mentality shows no sign of waning and it continues to isolate us from the others; it has found visible and disconcerting expressions even in spirituality.

We shall never tire of repeating that we need relationships if we are to become spiritual persons. Nev- ertheless, not any kind of relationship, or with any kind of person, is enough; we need relationships that aim at sharing with those who are living the same vocational project. A spirituality that is born of the gift of God which makes us like each other, is nourished by our fraternal relationship and leads to God only through the mediation of fraternity.

Every religious fraternity should make this examination of conscience: how far have we developed in this spirituality of communion? To what extent do we consider our fraternal relationships a part of our spirituality? Is it therefore visible in concrete expressions? Or are we just glorious bachelors from the spiritual and relational point of view? Does each one just mind his own business, including his spiritual business? If there already is, by definition, a sharing of spirituality, why does there not seem to be a spirituality of sharing among us? SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 45

Community holiness Another consequence that is closely connected to the idea of communal spirituality is the idea of community holiness, as the ideal journey towards perfection that can no longer be considered as something belonging exclusively to the individual. We already have many individual saints. Today, in a world (and perhaps a church) that is losing the sense of fraternity, we need the witness of brothers who are sanctified by living together, forgiving each other and trying to understand each other, correcting and encouraging each other, each one carrying the burdens of the others and entrusting themselves to each other. Community holiness is attractive and it is the sign that the Eternal love of God is far stronger than all our divisions27.

The holiness of the individual is something exceptional, almost as if it were not the rule for everyone; the holiness of the community, instead, is a convincing witness and a truly prophetic message today. This holiness is fulfilled through those already mentioned instruments for integrating good and evil, the collatio the community project, community discernment, fraternal correction and the revision of life....28.

FromEastertoPentecost I believe that the idea of spirituality offers us a perspective of spirituality that is both paschal and pentecostal. It is paschal because it revolves around the mystery of Jesus’ Passover, and it is pentecostal because spirituality should be shared and translated into local languages and dialects.

Paschal spirituality This is the spirituality of one who has learned to integrate his own life in the mystery of the cross according to John’s theology; in other words, as the moment of the Son’s exaltation when He “draws all things to himself”: every person, every fragment of life, history, personality, past and present, light and darkness, everything positive and negative...We could describe this process of integration as the ability to build and rebuild,composeand recompose ourownlifeand ego around avitaland meaningfulcenter,asourceoflight and warmth, inwhich wefind ourownidentityand truth, and thepossibilityofgivingmeaningand fulfillment toeveryfragmentofourhistoryand person, togood and evil,topastand present, inaconstant centripetalmovement ofprogressiveattraction. Forthebeliever,thiscenteristhepaschalmystery, thecrossoftheSonofGod who,lifted up fromtheearth, drawsallthingstoHimself(cf.Jn12:32).

This psychological-pedagogical process has spiritual roots; essentially, it means “to sum up all things in Christ”. It represents an authentic way of understanding ongoing formation, giving spiritual roots to this lifelong process. We cannot dwell at length here on the description of this formation model29, but I believe that Thomas Merton expresses eloquently the central idea of this integration when he describes his conversion, especially the moment following his baptism as a 23 year-old man who was, initially, even hostile to any mention of life’s religious meaning, only to be later captivated by the extraordinary beauty of this divine project: “...I had finally become part of the eternal movement that is the life and the spirit of God: the gravitation of God towards the depths of His infinite nature and His infinite Kindness. God, this center, is everywhere; this circle whose circumference is not in any place, but it finds me through my incorporation into Christ, my incorporation into this immense and awe-inspiring movement of gravitation, which is love, the Holy Spirit, loving me. He called out to me from His profound and infinite depths30. 46 Amedeo Cencini

Pentecostal spirituality If paschal spirituality refers to a personal way of living spirituality or its founding elements, pentecostal spirituality focuses above all on the apostolic aspect. Whilst spirituality is the force that binds a community in unity, it is also the most important thing we must hand on in the mission. The spirituality of communion and sharing which we have outlined has an important effect on proclamation, not only because it strengthens our fraternity and makes us constantly rediscover the beauty of a gift that cannot remain private and must be proclaimed to all, but because it somehow enables us to become messengers. In a fraternity that teaches us the art of sharing the faith and the gift of the Spirit, by communicating simply and normally to our own brothers and opening ourselves to receive the same gift from each one of the brothers, we also learn a precise and precious strategy for confessing the faith with easy and simple eloquence in proclamation.. This is the image of the community-laboratory, recommended by the document “Fraternal Life in Community”: “This kind of communication (of spiritual goods) can also be helpful as a way of learning a style of sharing which will enable members, in their own apostolates, to “confess their faith” in simple and easy terms which all may understand and appreciate.”31. In such a way that the confession of faith activates that dynamism which moves from acculturation to inculturation (the difference between the two) and proclamation is transformed into the experience of a great fraternity (cf. Jacob’s ladder)32. Then we shall experience Pentecost,when we shall succeed in communicating the riches of our charisms in everyone’s language, when we shall not hold on to them ourselves under the illusion that we have already understood everything, when we shall allow our charism to return to the Church and the world, where they were born and to whom they are destined, when our charisms will be wisdom and beatitude for many, when we shall be evangelizers and evangelized at the same time.

This confirms that the new evangelization does not consist of original and sophisticated pastoral strategies; rather it is a question of the quality and the intensity of our relationships, in other words, the quality of our spiritual life. Or, in the words of Arturo Paoli, “today the term evangelization is no longer synonymous with catechizing and even less with proselytism. The expression of Teilhard de Chardin “amorizer le monde”, seems closer to the truth: we must fill the world with love”33.Inother words: we cannot evangelize what we do not love... SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 47

Dialogue between Fr. Cencini and the participants

- On the “principle of the third person” The principle of the third person makes room for reciprocity. The presence of God becomes the condition of an authentic encounter with another human being. Both polarities remain present: God, who is the point of reference that allows me to make contact with another human person. At the same time, the other human person becomes the test of whether or not my contact with God is truly a contact with the God of Jesus Christ. Both of these things go together. The harmony between the two polarities depends on the maturity of the individual; in other words, by his ability to hold both polarities together by virtue of the cross of Christ (paschal spirituality) which, for the believer, is the element that unites heaven and earth.

The solution therefore lies in the mature ability to keep these two perspectives together, the inner freedom of ensuring that I never forget that my relationship with God is authentic if it makes me capable of loving others as He loves them. Vice versa, I must always remember that I can never truly love another person unless my love draws its inspiration from God’s eternal love and the cross of Jesus.

- Community life in communion (transparency,dependence/interdependence,reliability) I hadn’t intended to speak about all the aspects of the community, however these emphases are connected with all that we have said because the concept of transparency in relationships is closely related to what we were saying about the spiritual person’s ability to connect with the other in his radically positive identity. This is the greatest act of love that I can show towards a confrere because it is only at this point that I can truly esteem the other. There is no relationship or love in a community if there is no esteem. To esteem another means to make a lucidly positive judgment of him that does not depend on his behavior or external aspect, but on what he is.

Transparency helps me to reach the profound depths of the other person’s radically positive identity. In this sense, relationships are called to be transparent. Often they are contaminated by our defenses and fears due to the lack of inner freedom, which makes the other an enemy. The question of identity is decisive here and how deep a grasp one has of his own radically positive identity.

Dependence within the community is a very normal characteristic of our relationships. Dependence is usually given a rather negative meaning, whilst in actual fact, living in brotherhood means accepting the inevitability of dependence. The greatest liberty of a person consists in allowing himself to be conditioned by the others and by the community. This is a sign of liberty: accepting that the other can enter into my life because he is a mediation for my understanding God’s will. Consequently, I accept the other as mediation. The important thing is the underlying motivation because dependence can be a very negative psychological symptom, but it can also be a sign of freedom. Obedience means that we are called to obey God and others too, but this obedience is done for God, not for men, and this is what makes it an intelligent and motivated dependence.

Reliability: here too, everything depends on the meaning we give to the word. For the spiritual person, to trust another is the logical and inevitable consequence of entrusting himself to God: “I trust God so much that I can place myself in the hands of others”. Trusting God is authentic and true when it becomes a very concrete entrusting of oneself to fleeting mediations which are obviously not perfect. We entrust ourselves to other people because we are secure in the hands of God, and because we know that the God to whom we have offered ourselves shall never abandon us. This is what Jesus did in His passion. 48 Amedeo Cencini

- Does God also need mediations to enter into relationship with man? It is not up to us to tell God what paths He should follow. If He wishes, He can make immediate contact with me. Usually, however, the God of Jesus Christ reaches us through the mediation of history, life, others, events … an infinite series of circumstances that can become the channel, the instrument and the opportunity which God uses for His purpose. It is important that we understand this principle: God, the perfect Being, tolerates imperfection. Consequently, He can reach me even through a situation that some might say is unworthy of Him … We, who are imperfect, are the ones that do not tolerate imperfection. The important thing in initial and ongoing formation is what we have called docibilitas;inother words, we do not tell God how He should behave but, rather, we place ourselves in a position to grasp the presence of God in every mediation and circumstance.

- Living together is easy up to a certain extent … Working together,in the broadest sense (getting the people involved, sharing goods …) is a real challenge:there are different languages,sensitivities,personal self-sufficiency in the financial area … This is a classical problem and it has two sides to it. In these situations, which unfortunately are not rare, there is undoubtedly a psychological element: fear of others, jealousy, feelings of inferiority (if I keep to myself no one can judge me …). These problems concern the person’s psychological structure and they should be dealt with thoroughly during initial formation. A person has an absolute need and right to be helped to verify these realities (fears, hostile feelings towards another, the inability to open himself up …) within himself; they should be dealt with immediately, otherwise they shall continue to trouble the person and, unfortunately, the more time passes, the stronger an obstacle to relationships they become.

There is also a typically spiritual aspect of this problem. Essentially, I can open myself to an other if I understand that the relationship cannot be based only on the absence of psychological impediments, but that it needs to be a relationship in which I move towards the other and welcome him as he is and for all thatbindsmetohim;inotherwords,thestrongbond that comes from God and from the charism, etc. This is relationship as the place of encounter with God. Consequently, each one is responsible for the other and each one needs the other. Therefore, I am responsible for the other, his journey towards holiness is my concern and if he is in crisis then I too must examine myself. At the same time, the presence of the other can help me to avoid the impression that I carry the world on my shoulders. This is not only about material needs: problems arise when an individual believes he has no need of others (when in actual fact he fears them); instead, the essentially theological motivations mean that we are responsible for others and that we also need them. Through religious profession a person entrusts himself to the institute, but he also accepts the burden of the institute. This is what we celebrate when we carry out a revision of life: each one confesses his own guilt and places it on the shoulders of the community; at the same time, he accepts the weight of the others’ guilt on his own shoulders. Once again, we are looking at the mystery of the bipolarities. This is also an ascetic journey for the community. The habit of reviewing our life in this way changes our mentality and progressively defeats any apostolic schizophrenia …

- What comes first:my own experience of being unconditionally accepted or committing myself to my work in any case? Perhaps the most appropriate thing would be to practice the unconditional acceptance of others. How much simpler my life would be if I were to enjoy this acceptance myself! What we must do is turn upside down our expectations vis-à-vis the others in favor of a commitment to accepting them unconditionally: we must go beyond appearances, accept others and respect them too. A community that strives to achieve this goal gives its confreres the greatest gift. Unconditional acceptance is born of love, and love is unconditional.

- The community you describe is wonderful,but how feasible is it? The present time is a decisive moment for the consecrated life. It is important that we identify some criteria by which we can direct the consecrated life in the future. We are not being asked to re-establish SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 49 or renew … if this means making projects that end up being very abstract, very ideal and utopian, but to pursue these criteria and reach a convergence.

For example, I believe that one criterion concerns what we have been saying about a certain type of spirituality that is increasingly marked by the communion dimension. This raises the question of some values that might appear quite distant to us but which we can also begin to digest in our own small corner of the world. The whole issue of spirituality-communion is a very meaningful one for a missionary institute. In the final part of my intervention, I quoted Arturo Paoli and Teilhard de Chardin who both declared that the new evangelization is not a matter of original and sophisticated pastoral strategies but, above all, the quality and intensity of the relationships we establish among ourselves or, rather, by the quality of our spiritual life. In the words of Arturo Paoli, “today the word evangelization is no longer synonymous with catechesis and even less with proselytism”. Teilhard de Chardin speaks about filling the world with love, almost as if to say: we cannot evangelize what we do not love.

Another important element is the question of a certain type of formation and a truly ongoing formation.

None of us shall ever enter the promised land of a renewed consecrated life. It is something we contemplate from afar. Nevertheless, it is important that we head in that direction and hand it on to those who will come after us. We have not as yet achieved a total, definitive and exhaustive syntheses, but this does not mean that we do not know anything … If we look at reality from a certain perspective and spiritual attitude, we find some precise and useful guidelines of the Magisterium. These can help us to make some very concrete policies that allow us to shorten the gap that normally exists between our present reality and our ideals.

- A contradiction:should we show esteem at any cost? It is possible to love another,but we cannot be forced to esteem him. Our aim is not to eliminate tension, which is a normal part of life; nevertheless, some important distinctions need to be made. First of all, esteem means that we do not limit our judgment of another to his external behavior. His behavior may well be reprehensible and worthy of condemnation and I may have to find the courage to say so.However,it is important that this is done out of a consideration for the other that is the result of connecting with his nucleus of radical lovability. We can carry out a fraternal correction, but we must always bear in mind that sinfulness should be integrated and not cast out.Sinfulness can become an opportunity for all of us to grow together …

Evangelical fraternal correction is possible only within a positive global attitude towards the others, which means that we perceive all that is positive and good within them. Fraternal correction is then an expression of responsibility for others on an equal level and it aims at helping them to fulfill their radical positive identity. The difficulty in some way remains, but we are called to bear the weight of the others’ sinfulness. Fraternal correction means bearing another’s burden in an adult manner, instead of a childish reaction that reports the other’s limits to those in authority, leaving them with the problem whilst I wash my hands of everything. Esteem is important in order to ensure that my intervention is not simply one of condemnation or judgment of the other’s behavior, but the reprimand of one who is a brother and who feels responsible for the other and duty bound to intervene. Jesus himself gave us some instructions on how to carry out fraternal correction. It is therefore a commandment, it is not optional. However, fraternal correction is only possible if our attitude is one of fraternal esteem, the attitude of one who lives the fraternal bond that comes from God and the charism. This helpsustograspthepositiveidentityoftheother and its fulfillment through relationship. We are therefore committed to helping the other grow. The remaining difficult is managed in an intelligent manner; the relationship becomes meaningful. Cain killed Abel when he denied before God any responsibility for his brother. When we do not shoulder the responsibility of our brother, we kill him. Fraternal correction is a way of expressing our own responsibility. Obviously, we must ensure that our 50 Amedeo Cencini intervention is truly one of correction! To correct derives from “cum-regere”, which means to carry a burden together. Therefore, the true goal of fraternal correction is to carry together the burden of a brother’s limitations and communicate to him the conviction that he is called to greater things.

Berjev says that God will ask us, at the end of time: “Where is your brother?” He will ask Abel to account for his behavior towards Cain. The good one shall be asked how he dealt with his brother’s sinfulness. This applies to us who normally do not look upon ourselves as Cain. Abel shall be asked how he shouldered his brother’s sinfulness, how his brother became envious of him. How did certain contrasts arise? How much of the journey did we share with our brother?” This is a very concrete issue, way beyond sentimentalism: fraternal correction is no simple matter.

- Spirituality-communionwouldbepossibleifwewerefree,butwearenot…Itpresupposesthatwebeginfromscratcheverytimewe move to another community … how is this possible? From a psychological point of view, the question of freedom is authentic when a person discovers that… he has complicated his life up until that moment. Freedom means that we find a way of relating that is finally free of certain prejudices, fears and suspicions which held us captive up until that point. Therefore, it does not mean that we must start again from scratch every time we change communities. If anything, the free person says: “that is enough, I have complicated my life until now; I understand now that I have created a certain style of interacting with the other, based on my perception of him, which has not helped me to be free”. Therefore the question of liberty is well thought out when it is definitive, in other words, when a person decides to stop complicating his life. He understands that it is much more liberating to enter into a relationship with the other leaving aside certain prejudices … There are some fundamental principles to be kept in mind, such as the fact that I did not choose the other, nor did he choose me. Therefore, it is a spiritual and theological principle that binds me to the other above all else. An expression of this principle is the fact that I am responsible for my brother and I also need his presence at the same time. To embrace this logic gives us an experience of freedom which, once we have tasted it, remains with us forever. It is not a matter of having to start all over again each time we move to a new community. This would mean that something has not matured profoundly. Obviously we are speaking of something that transcends us greatly … Nevertheless, this is the healthy tension and freedom we must ask of the Lord. This is the freedom of heart and mind that lightens us of the personal burdens we have been carrying around with us, perhaps for a long time, and that we have never truly decided to shake off. … Therefore it is not something I am called to begin over again every time, with every community or with every individual with whom I am called to live.

Notes:

1 Forexample,thelogotherapyofVVergote,ThomaeiktorFrankl. 2 SeethetheoryofAndréGodin. 3 See the transcendence of the ego, the abandonment of all narcissistic attitudes, the discovery of another world or dimension, the abandonment of an infantile self-centered vision of the world,sincere openness to others,acceptance of what is different and openness to its mystery,empathy,love ... 4 Vergote,Thomae,Godin,Rulla represent this line of thought. 5 See the contributions of Allport and Fromm and also a certain modern humanistic psychology. 6 This position refers to Vergote and today in some way to Rizzuto but,in even more explicit terms,to Imoda. 7 For example,an excessive emphasis on the instincts,psychology,spiritualism, etc. 8 In this sense, the diocese of Padua has an interesting ongoing formation initiative. The commission in charge of the program planned to organize a series of meetings on spirituality,but – faithful to the intention of following a deductive method (including,as far as possible, in the planning and choice of topics) – the word “spirituality”did not appear sic et simpliciter in the title, which was “how to achieve unity of life”.With the result that they all discovered that only spirituality allows us to unify existence and the person. 9 cf.the difference between enigma and mystery. 10 cf.Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education,Educational guidance in human love. Outlines for sex education, Rome 1983,no.6. 11 John Paul II,General Audience,9/1/1980,in Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo 11, 111-1,1980,p.90,n. 12 cf.The Pontifical Council for the family,The truth and meaning of human sexuality, no.12. 13 Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education,Educational guidance in human love. Outlines for sex education, 23. 14 Ibidem,22. 15 John Paul II,Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, HIA, Roma 1980,p.430,n.4 16 Socci has some interesting comments on this matter: “Our body is the first thing that decays. If we observe human beings on the SPIRITUALITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 51

beach during the days of summer,we are struck by the vigor and harmony of the young bodies that are on proud display.Yetin just a few years,the force of gravity shall take its revenge: everything begins to sag and break down.Remember,man,that you are dust and unto dust you shall return. Every effort is made (in vain) to halt the ageing process. We would like to halt time, like Goethe’s Faust, but individuals, like empires, vanish and fade away. “The whole world passes away practically without trace”,Leopardi warns. Even young people spend entire days and super-human energy in the huge and vain effort of maintenance:bodybuilding in the gym,per- fuming their body and getting a tan.This illusion of escaping from the ravages of time is like building castles in the sand.Ultimately, it is the carnal nature of our being that fills us with dread.Our epoch,which is apparently one of “materialism”and hedonism,is actually disgusted by the flesh. Without realizing it, we are all Gnostics. This is proven by the enormous increase in spending on cos- metics and the disgust we feel for the sick body. The disturbing crucifix of Grunewald, the most dramatic representation in the history of art,was dedicated by the 15th century German painter to the lepers and those suffering from shingles who used to crowd into the chapel to pray in desperation.There,in the ravaged flesh of the God-man,they saw their own sores,their own torment.When all is said and done,the only ones who are really “materialists”are the Christians.“It is the Flesh that saves the flesh”,said St.Ambrose.In “The Karamazov Brothers”, Alioscia becomes a monk and thinks he can avoid the hatred of the flesh by choosing the spirit and choosing a “spiritual director”like the holy starets Zosima.Yet the monk gives him the most important lesson by dying:his body immediately starts to give off a bad odor. Alesa is first of all devastated, then he understands that even that saintly man is made of flesh just like his own father. He understands that the destiny of man is not the dire and desperate decomposition, and not even the mere salvation of the soul,but the resurrection of the body,the glorification and divinization of our entire being.He understands that this power has entered into our history and that this new history has already begun with the first creature to live this glorification of the flesh, the eternal youth and beauty that never passes and never corrupts: Mary”. (cf. A.Socci, L’abbronzatura, il lifting e la “bella ragazza” di Nazareth...,in “Libero”,25/0712006). 17 T. Merton, Semi di contemplazione, Milano 1955,p.20. 18 cf.Eugen Drewermann,Funzionari di Dio, Bolzano,Raetia,1995 19 Kierkegaard tells us that this is the typical experience of those who truly read the Word of God: “When you read the Word of God, you must continuously remind yourself: these words are addressed to me; these words are about me” (S.Kierkegaard, quoted by B.Forte,“Contro i teologi sonnifero”,in Avvenire, 4/XII/1996, p. 19. 20 I discuss this idea in-depth in my book,Dalla relazione alla condivisione, Bologna,pp.48-56. 21 T.Radcliffe,Forti nella debolezza, in “Testimoni”,20(2004),28. 22 cf.A.Cencini,Fraternità in cammino. Verso l’alterità,Bologna 1999,pp.101-113. 23 R.Williams,quoted by Radcliffe,Forti,29. 24 On the concept of ongoing formation and docibilitas, cf. A. Cencini, Il respiro della vita. La grazia della formazione permanente, Cinisello B.2003,pp.34-37. 25 Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Fraternal Life in Community, Rome 1994,32. 26 Ibidem. 27 The canonization of married couples in today’s Church is meaningful in this sense,since it highlights the sanctification of people in and through married love and relationships. 28 On the concrete use of these instruments, cf. A. Cencini, “Come olio profumato”.Strumenti d’integrazione comunitaria del bene e del male,Milano 1999. 29 cf.A.Cencini,L’albero della vita, Cinisello B.2005. 30 T. Merton, La montagna dalle sette balze, Milano 1968,p.269. 31 Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Fraternal Life in Community, Rome 1994,32. 32 cf.A.Cencini,“Com’è bello stare insieme ... La vita consacrata nella stagione della nuova evangelizzazione”,Milano 2001,pp.52-88 33 A.Paoli,Gettati nel mondo, in “Rocca”,10 (2006),52. Anthropological-psychologicalperspectivesofspirituality: Noveltiesandchallenges

Group work conclusions

Novelties introduced by this interpretation: - the notion of alterity preceding identity gives a liberating dimension to spirituality: it grows or diminishes according to the quality of the relationship established with the others and the Other; - it enriches the spirituality of human completeness; it makes us see the mystery of the Incarnation in a new light; - it is gratifying to define spirituality as a dynamic project that is elaborated and realized by constantly integrating the transcendence of the different levels of identity (somatic, psychological, ontological); it promotes a holistic vision of human reality; - it places us in a hermeneutical circle in which spirituality illuminates every aspect of reality and the whole of reality shapes our spirituality; - it indicates a principle of unification and interpretation of human reality as mystery: the spiritual man is one who has found the way to unify his own existence around a value,a reality,an event; he is a man of inclusion; - it presents the charism as a liberating reality, fruit of discernment and sharing: a gift that makes us available and open to others. Ways in which this proposal could renew our personal, community and apostolic life: - it suggests new criteria for reflecting on human reality and achieving a better understanding and acceptance of ourselves and others in an inter-cultural context; - it helps to avoid the two great dangers that threaten every relationship (individualism and self-sufficiency in personal growth); it also enables us to go beyond appearances and discover the true motivations of an encounter; - it gives us a new hope and makes us feel better equipped to deal with the topic of spirituality and deepen our “ideal ego”as Xaverians; - it gives topicality Conforti’s “God in all”,an expression in which “all”means the others; - it encourages us to center our prayer on the others, their reality and listen to their experience; - with regard to the mission: it helps us to relate better to the people. Challenges for us today: - The idea of spirituality as relationship: - does not seem to have become part of our daily life experience; - challengesustodiscoverthecenteraroundwhichourentireliferevolves; - calls upon us to develop the ability to listen and cultivate patience,humility,empathy,silence …; - requires that we search for channels/languages of communication in order to achieve a dialogue on our identity at ontological level; - calls upon us to integrate initial and ongoing formation with the help of this hermeneutical science. - We need courage to share this new global discovery of personal life and measure it against our relationships with the confreres. - The community superiors are invited to prepare strategies for dealing with community problems that are not limited to the administrative level. ST. FRANCIS XAVIER AND CONFORTI

Reflections on St. Francis Xavier Group work: relevance and topicality of St. Francis Xavier Echoes of an ongoing journey G.M. Conforti: a man consecrated to the mission What would G.M. Conforti say to the Xaverians today? Historical outline of Conforti’s spirituality Group work: relevance and topicality of G.M. Conforti

REFLECTIONS ON ST. FRANCIS XAVIER 55

REFLECTIONS ON ST. FRANCIS XAVIER

Ignacio Echarte

I-ObservationsonFrancisXavier’sidentity

Introduction Every person is a product of his own history. Our life is the reflection of our memory, what we are today is the fruit of our experience and our historical memory. This is also true for our interior life.

The origin of the Christian’s interior life is conversion. This moment of conversion (which entails a journey with the Lord, a journey that includes fears, joy and hope …) gives unity to our identity, guides our life and influences our way of being and relating to others.

Referring to memory is a way of grasping more profoundly what we are. It is not a return to old ways, but a discovery of the foundations of our being. Our faith is a historical faith, a history of salvation, history of a people, history of a life, the history of Jesus, who urges us to give ourselves to others. In the Congregation and in the Church, referring to history is a quest for the basic moments that conform our being.

Reading of the life of Francis Xavier can reawaken your memory and help you reflect and pray about your way of being Xaverian Missionaries.

FrancisXavier’sidentity:Christ “Our exterior actions should be the manifestation of the interior life of Christ in us” (TL 7).

Your identity as Xaverians is constituted by a mission in a Congregation whose sole historical foundation lies in the interior life of Christ within you. I believe that these words from the Testament Letter reflect your foundation identity. Our exterior actions manifest the presence of Christ within us. Exte- rior actions and works are like clothes, namely, they are the visible part of your identity. It is as if Christ shines through your actions to communicate with others.

Francis Xavier is often represented in works of art looking upwards, cross in hand, his heart aflame with his inner ardor, dressed in a surplice and stole … this is how artists like to portray his identity composed of love for Christ and his self-giving to the mission.

Let us now remember four very important phases of his life:

- The first phase extends from his birth at Javier until his arrival in Paris. This was a period of family life in the castle. When he was an adolescent, he suffered the death of his father, the loss of the family’s possessions and honor, the semi-destruction of the castle and his older brothers were either at war or in exile … Francis was a normal, healthy and good boy like so many others, but he had to watch as his family’s honor was lost. This period left him with the desire to retrieve that honor by doing great things.

Ignacio Echarte is a Jesuit priest and former rector of the Javier community in Spain.He is currently a member of the General Curia of the Jesuits and Delegate for the Inter-provincial houses of Rome. 56 Ignacio Echarte

- In Paris, where he met Ignatius, he began the second phase of his spiritual journey which extended to his departure for India. During this time he encountered Christ in the Spiritual Exercises2.Thisen- counter led him to trust in God, a trust that was to guide him for the rest of his life. His desire to go to the Holy land and his companions’ journey from Paris to Venice and Rome were born of the desire to identify totally with Christ. During their journey they experienced a profound friendship and their total availability to follow the Lord’s call through the demands of obedience. Francis shared the first Jesuit’s experience of the discovery of what it means to be companions.

- The third phase concerns his journeys during which his trust in God was put to the test by the difficulties and resistances he encountered. He was the Pope’s nuncio and the envoy of the King of Portu- gal, but so many people who should have made his mission easy were actually opposed to it. Francis reacted by conforming his life to Christ: he entrusted himself to God alone, he became poor and placed himself at the service of the poorest people in whom he saw God’s loved ones.

- The fourth phase led Francis to a blind trust in God. This was a period of solitude and impotence. He felt lonely, experienced the solitude of the mission, discovered his own nothingness and, consequently, he abandoned totally himself to God. In the face of difficulties, he wrote that “God knows our intentions” and “all creatures depend on God’s will and cannot do anything unless God allows it”.(Tothe Company of Jesus in Europe. Malacca, 22.06.1549).

Adextra…adintra We pledge, by our mission vow, to dedicate ourselves totally to the specific mission activity of the institute (C 19)

While the first aspect of Francis’ identity is his conforming to Christ, the second aspect is his missionary activity, his being for others. Today’s western culture focuses on the individual, making the ego the center of everything and the measure of every relationship. The mission, instead, is born when we pass from the ego to the “we”, in other words, when we transcend ourselves and go towards the others motivated by our love for Christ.

Your last General Chapter highlighted this aspect by listing three elements that qualify your mission: ad gentes, ad extra, ad vitam… I see these elements as three coordinates that create a vital and dynamic space for others, a moving towards humanity which is waiting for words of meaning, help and comfort. However, this moving towards others ad vitam cannot be understood, it has no meaning, unless it is vitalized by the ad intra element, namely, Christ. There is no mission without Christ, just as there is no Christ without mission; indeed, from what I could see, a founding element of your spirituality comes precisely from the Mission of Christ, who receives the mission of the Trinity in the Incarnation. This gives life to your mission and its urgent, radical and universal characteristics, elements that reflect Christ’s urgent, radical and universal mission. The mystery of Christ is His self-emptying in order to accomplish the Father’s will and His discovery of His identity as the Son.His baptism in the Jordan revealed His self-emptiness and His being filled with the Spirit. All the struggles of His incarnation acquire meaning within His Mission to make the Father known to all.

Xavier made a point of stressing all the struggles and difficulties of the mission to show that they have meaning only in connection with the right that every creature has to know his Creator and to know that he is made in God’s image. Speaking of those who were to be sent to Japan he said “they shall be persecuted more than many realize, they shall be disturbed by visits and by questions at all hours of the day and even during the night and called to the houses of important persons without the possibility of any ex- cuses” (To Ignatius of Loyola, in Rome. Cochin, 29.01.1552). For this reason, he asked that “they be experienced and virtuous persons because since there are many dangers and evils lying in wait in these places” (To Simón Rodríguez in Portugal. Malacca, 23.06.1549). REFLECTIONS ON ST. FRANCIS XAVIER 57

ThemeaningofCompanyandreligiousfamily The Founder wanted to give his Congregation a keen family spirit; indeed, this is one of our most treasured Xaverian characteristics (RMX 29)

As I read your documents, I was deeply consoled by your family spirit. We of the Company of Jesus do not speak very much about the family, but about the Body, while I sensed that you have a very strong family spirit. At the beginning of the Company of Jesus, there was a deep friendship between Ignatius and his companions. The chosen name of Company does not refer to the military world, as people generally think. At that time (the beginning of the 16th century), there were many “companies in Italy and they consisted of groups of people who came together with the pious intention of helping others. Today, the correct translation of “company” would perhaps be “association”. The first companions gathered with a strong bond of friendship, the result of their recognition that their only head was Jesus.

Francis Xavier had a very strong sense of friendship that bound him to his confreres even though he had a very ideal image of the Company. He was familiar with the recently founded company but he had no experience of the daily difficulties. This caused some difficulties when he became Provincial and his ideal led him to be too radical and resolute.

His writings show us that Francis experienced the Company as a reality of love and harmony of souls, not as a servile fear: “I do not believe it is a good idea to keep anyone in the Company against his will, unless it is by the power of love and charity … I believe that the Company of Jesus wants to be a Company of love and harmony, not of severity or servile fear” (To Ignatius of Loyola, in Rome. Cochín 12.01.1549).

Your documents reflect the family spirit, welcome, openness, affection, praying community, the strongly asserted sense of obedience and community project that Francis desired.

4.Simpleandhumblelove Wemust deepen our understanding of what constitutes and defines the Xaverian in his spiritual dimension (The General Direction’s first Explanatory letter for the Spirituality Meeting).

We must speak of harmony if we are to define an attitude that can make our identity visible to others: a harmony of life that is both journey and mission. This harmony comes from listening to the initial call, lived in the mission, with a strong sense of friendship lived in a family. Yours is not a disincarnated spirituality; it is life immersed in the reality of people today who are also searching for their own identity. I believe that your spiritual identity is life lived in a simple and humble love in relationship with Christ and others.

In Francis Xavier’s mind, humility grows together with trust in God. At the end of his life, he wrote what is known as the “Instruction on humility” 3, which passes on to others the advice that he lived as part of his own identity: “first and foremost, everything should be attributed entirely to God”. “God granted me the grace of preaching because of the people’s devotion …this grace is the result of the prayers and merits of the members of the Company”.

II -The apostolic activity of Francis Xavier and the Portuguese Padroado The topic of this conversation may appear somewhat strange to us who are so far from the historical reality of that time. However, it can help us to reflect on the relationship between political structures and mission.

InthePortuguesePadroado Francis Xavier went to Asia not only as a Jesuit missionary, but above all as the Apostolic Nuncio and Envoy of the King. 58 Ignacio Echarte

As a Jesuit, it must be said that he had a very limited knowledge of the Congregation: he left for Asia when it had not yet been completely established and he would never know the text of the Constitu- tions. Francis was affectively and effectively attached to Ignatius and his other companions in Paris, he took part in the group’s initial project, but he did not see its concrete development. Moreover, in In- dia, the fact he was a Jesuit had a very relative importance.

He arrived in Goa as Apostolic Nuncio and the Envoy of the King of Portugal; he arrive to carry out the mandate to spread the Gospel “from the Cape of Good Hope to the last of the Pacific islands”. For this reason, an important part of his correspondence was addressed to the King to whom he gave information on the situation and activities, as well as reminding him, with great freedom of spirit, of his serious obligation to promote the missionary activity4. We can understand his activity and decisions better in the light of this mandate. He did not rely on the privileges conferred upon him by his office; instead, in order to imitate Christ, he lived as a poor man and the servant of all and he was always faithful to the task he had received.

Working in the Portuguese padroado, his relationship with the Portuguese, especially with the au- thorities, was especially important for him. On the one hand, the padroado gave him the necessary resources and opened doors for him, but it also caused him a lot of problems (we only have to mention that he was unable to enter China because the Portuguese Captain of Malacca prevented the diplo- matic mission of which Francis hoped to be part in order to meet the Chinese emperor).

Francis did not underestimate the reality in which he was to work. “The Portuguese in these lands of In- dia are the masters of the sea and of many places near the sea where the King possesses fortresses. There are Christian villages in these fortresses, inhabited by Portuguese who have found wives here” (To Ignatius of Loyola in Rome. Goa 20.09.1542). He accepted this reality to the extent that it could help his mission, but he did not become enslaved by it. His concerns were never of a political nature and he was determined to fulfill his sole task to make Christ known to the peoples of the Orient even beyond the frontiers of the Portuguese settlements.

FrancisXavier’smission Francis carried out his missionary activity in three ways: he began with the exploration of the places in which he was to work and then he established some structures and a strategy for the future.

Some look upon him as an adventurer because of his many journeys, but anyone who reads his letters can see that his explorations are always guided by his duty to make Jesus Christ known to others. Francis had very clear goals: he had to know the situations that awaited him so he could decide what needed to be done. Therefore, he set out on every new journey only after he had carried our a thorough research on the situation, sought every kind of information, pondered over the different possibilities in profound discernment, looked for collaborators to go with him and when he had the inner certainty that all the preparation and organization had been completed.

In his journeys he was always is accompanied by someone he could leave in each place in order to guarantee continuity. He could not bear the idea of a community being left without a pastor. He took care to ensure the presence of a pastor and even expelled someone from the Company for refusing an assignment to a certain place. His letters clearly show all his concern for the pastors he left in each place: he encouraged them and instructed them on the methods of work, catechesis, the construction of churches, administration and defense of the Christians...

He felt so responsible for all the Christian communities of the padroado that, when he received news of a community without a priest, he tried to send someone or go himself. Instead, Francis did not lin- ger long in the Portuguese cities when there was someone to look after the Christians. He sometimes sent a confrere to preach, but he himself did not feel sent to those places. He sensed the urgency of going to places where the Church was not present or wherever there were abandoned Christians. REFLECTIONS ON ST. FRANCIS XAVIER 59

ChurchAction Francis’ concern was to build the Church and establish its necessary structures of support: organizing the catechesis, look for resources to build schools and support for the houses of mercy.

In addition to preaching, he took on the work of administration. This concern appears often in his letters to his confreres. “Take a loan of 100 fanones from the money of Manuel da Cruz, your friend, and use it to pay those who teach the children; they shall tell you what I paid them” (a Mansillas 07.09.1544). “You shall pay a “canacapula” (scribe, catechist) with the King’s money that the captain shall give you for this purpose. (to Mansillas 18.12.1544). More than anything else, his concern for the catechesis emerges: “You shall take with you a “canacapula” who knows how to write, to leave some written prayers in every village so that all the people may learn them; every village must have a teacher to instruct the people in doctrine” (to Mansillas 18.12.1544). He suggests they did as he had done before: “Antonio Fernández will come for you with a “catur” and stay with you until the remaining baptisms have been completed. He is a zealous man of good standing, he knows the people and how we should deal with them. Do as he says without contradicting him in any way because behaved like this and always got on well: I be- seech you to do the same” (to Mansillas 18.12.1544). As a good missionary, Francis was concerned about the continuity of his work and he wanted it to produce fruits that would last.

Missionarymethod Francis also established a missionary method that was suitable to the local people’s way of life. He composed some catechisms and had them translated into the local languages, he committed them to memory in order to recite them and he sometimes put them to music so that the children could sing the texts. He saw the importance of being near to the poor, the sick and those in prison. He took care of the children’s catechesis so that they might teach their parents. He took great care of the formation of catechists who knew the local language. He tried to learn the local language himself. His method was one of adaptation, closeness to the people, formation of the catechists, the use of the local language and striving for inculturation.

But Francis’ main method was himself and his ability to create friendship, a gift that he always tried to cultivate and develop. He understood how important it was and he therefore advised his confreres to do all they could to create friendship. Some of his letters show that he looked upon friendship as a pri- mordial element of missionary action. : “I recommend you cultivate charity, friendship and love for everyone … Above all, I recommend that you make yourselves loved by all … and that the one in charge of the house should commit himself to making himself loved a great deal …” (To Frs. Paolo, Antonio Gomes and Baldassarre Gago, in Goa. Malacca 20-22.06.1549).

We could sum up his method by saying that Francis always tried to open up new paths, guarantee the Church’s presence and establish a network of friendship that would guarantee the continuity of the missionary action in the future. Francis could not have spoken about inculturation or dialogue with cultures and religions, and his soteriological vision was no different from that of his contemporaries, but his method of closeness, attention to the humble people, his efforts to learn the language and his friendship … are all valid indications for every missionary.

III-The Spiritual Exercises in the life of Francis Xavier In our attempts to understand the spirituality of St. Francis Xavier, his way of doing mission and his zeal, we must remember that his spiritual life was shaped during the Spiritual Exercises he made in Paris. Ignatius describes the purpose of these Exercises at the beginning of his book: They aim “to prepare the soul to eliminate all disorderly affections and search for God’s will for the person’s life and the salvation of his soul”. “ The Exercises help the person to conquer himself and put order into his life without taking decisions based on disorderly affections”.Tobe oriented towards God means to be trained in choosing His will and strive only for His greater glory. Francis learned to make choices based not upon himself, but 60 Ignacio Echarte according to the will of God and for His greater glory and this was not based upon his own voluntarism, but upon a profound experience of the God who handed Himself over for humanity in Jesus Christ. The one who carries out the Exercises desires to grow in the knowledge Christ’s love who went to the cross “for me”(Ignatius wants the person to feel that God has done everything possible for him). It is not a merely intellectual knowledge but, as Ignatius says, “an experience and enjoyment of interior realities”,namely, identifying with the love of Christ experienced in contemplation so that one’s life may be enlightened by Him.

The Exercises propose a criterion for decision that Ignatius calls “the three ways of humility” which are understood as three ways of loving God. - The first way consists in making decisions that do not infringe the law of God,thereby avoiding sin in order to save oneself. - The second way,which is more perfect than the first,consists in making choices not “for riches or poverty, a long or a short life, humiliation or honor”,but only in the search for the greater glory of God. - The third way, which is the most perfect (the Ignatian “magis”), consists in choosing, among things that give the same glory to God, poverty, humiliation and pain to imitate Christ the Lord “who has chosen this for me”(St. Ignatius). In the light of this third way, we can understand Fran- cis’ way of acting: he chose to be like Jesus in order to identify with Him, love Him and serve Him. In his moving towards the poorest and placing himself at their service, he was not motivated by an ideological choice or missionary method; he was guided by the desire to identify always and ever more fully with Jesus Christ.

The prayer suggested by the Exercises is not meditation, but contemplation. As a pedagogue, Ignatius proposes a method of prayer: it begins with a prayer, which prepares the person to encounter God; this is followed by what Ignatius calls the prelude which prepares the person to savor the encounter with God; this prelude leads to contemplation, which consists in using one’s faculties for listening and allowing everything that has been considered to enlighten one’s life. This moment finishes in a dialogue with God. This is not a rigid schema for Ignatius, but a pedagogical method that leads the person doing the Exercises to encounter God in his own life. Obviously, this was the method that Xavier followed in his lengthy prayers during the night and these prayers kindled his missionary zeal: Francis discovered God’s love and His desire that all men should be saved. He therefore made himself available to God and men so that the greatest number of them might be saved.

Francis Xavier’s action and decisions in his missionary method and zeal flow from the Exercises and there are some traces of this in his letters. For example, during the journey from Lisbon to Goa, he gave up the cabin that had been prepared for him to go with the poor. He did so out of his love for God and to be closer to the One who chose poverty. For Francis, the Exercises were not only meaningful for his conversion, they also supplied him with a life and mission method.

IV-SometraitsofFrancisXavier’spersonality. Francis’ quality is undisputable. His perennial value in the Church is the witness of one who discovered God’s love and gave himself totally to others following Jesus and identifying with Him.

Letusnowconsidersomeaspectsofhislifewhichcanhelpusmissionarieswho,likehim,havethe task of taking God’s Kingdom to others.

Experience of formation in the family: human, spiritual, social values …

Francis received a great deal from his family: a sense of duty, honor and a good Christian formation. By nature he was endowed with a cheerful and open character that communicated easily with others. These are all gifts he received without merit and he used them in the service of the mission. The missionary is one who uses everything he has received for the fulfillment of his mission.

Francis’ rich human qualities stress the importance of the every missionary’s human depth. REFLECTIONS ON ST. FRANCIS XAVIER 61

Twodifferentmodelsofconversion:IgnatiusofLoyolaandFrancisXavier Was Francis converted? There is no doubt that Ignatius was, but Francis was a good young man with good ideals, one of those young men we would say have no need of conversion. However, if conversion is orienting one’s love solely towards God, emptying oneself and total self-giving to Christ, then Francis was converted during his Spiritual Exercises. All of us stand in need of conversion but we do not realize this because we consider ourselves to be good people. Francis’ example tells us that the mission is impossible without conversion.

The mission in India came as a surprise to Francis for he was not supposed to go. He welcomed it with his usual readiness to respond to God’s every call. This is the mark of a converted man, one who is completely ready to give himself more and more. The mission is not our personal project, but always the result of this availability to God’s call through an obedient response whose sole purpose is to love, follow and imitate Jesus.

Aservicesharedwithothers Francis carried out the mission as a team work: he did only a part of the work. He opened paths and organized communities knowing that others would follow. Since the mission is work for the King- dom, it is a work of the community, Congregation and Church. Nothing is more contrary to the mission than an individual work from which the others are excluded.

Priorityofthesolepurpose One of the attractive elements of Francis is his simple style of service, which consists of openness, service and making himself entirely available to others. He adopted this style in order to be closer to Christ, but it did not enslave him. The important thing for him was to become the neighbor of others in order to announce Christ and he had no difficulty in changing his style when this made it necessary (see Japan). His behavior was not determined by fashion or stubborn decisions, but by his sole purpose to take Christ to all people.

OptionforGod’slovedones Francis loved the poor, the humiliated, prisoners and those who count for nothing in the eyes of society. He made this option during his Spiritual Exercises and put it into practice as “the third way of humility”: to chose the things and the people that Jesus chose.

Theangelshefoundalongtheway An angel appeared to Elijah in the desert and provided him with the bread that gave him the strength to reach the mountain. Francis too encountered angels who helped him along the way: Ignatius, Favre and the others, the bishop of Goa… We would do well to recognize the angels who live with us in the same community, those who help us to overcome difficulties and things more clearly … Like Francis, we must recognize that the Lord bestows his gifts upon us.

Personalpassivityandpassivityimposedbyothers Passivity is one of the most difficult elements to embrace, especially when the passing years and limits imposed by poor health diminish our ability to accept changes in the world, the Church or the Insti- tute. When we embrace our own passivity or the passivity imposed from without, we live in peace with ourselves and our trust in God grows. Francis was familiar with this passivity (he experienced health problems, lengthy journeys without being able to do anything and obstacles placed in his way by others …), but he embraced everything in the awareness that it was the Lord who guided his steps, life and activity. 62 Ignacio Echarte

Thedarknightofthesoul The dark night of the soul is not only an affair for mystics, but a time of growth in trusting God. It is the stormy night on the lake. We feel as if we are in a small boat with the sensation that the Lord has abandoned us, or we take him for a ghost. Yet this night of the soul prepares us to make a true confession of faith: “Lord, to whom shall we go, you alone have words of eternal life”. On 10 November 1544, after a period of difficulty, misunderstandings and problems, Francis wrote a letter to Mansillas which contains a disconcerting statement: “IamsotiredoflivingthatIthinkifwouldbebetterifIdied”. Francis undoubtedly experienced moments of doubt, uncertainty and disappointment at projects that had failed, but these difficulties helped him to abandon himself even more into the arms of the Father, thereby increasing his trust in God.

He once wrote a letter from Japan to his companions in Goa (historians believe he was speaking about himself even though he wrote in the third person):“I know a person who has often received great grace from God in times of danger and tranquility after he placed all his hope and confidence in Him; it would take a great deal of time to describe all the benefits he received from this … I beg you to give the best of yourselves for God’s love and service by eliminating your personal attachments for they are a great obstacle to doing good”. (to his companions in Goa, Kagoshima, 05.11.1549)

Truecheerfulnessisanexpressionofprofoundharmony Francis was endowed with a cheerful character, but his cheerfulness, to which many testified, was born of his abandonment to God. His was not a joy offered by the world, even less was it the fruit of his endeavors; his was a joy that he experienced also in times of suffering. It was the result of the harmony of those who have “oriented” their own life to God and emptied themselves. This was the work that Francis began at the Spiritual Exercises in Paris.

ThesmilingChrist When one enters the castle of Javier, there is a small chapel on the right which contains an image of the crucified Christ. The dead Christ has a smile that inspires peace and forgiveness. We may well believe that Francis often knelt before this image since this small chapel was his family’s place of prayer. Eye- witnesses said that Francis Xavier always had a smile on his lips which inspired peace and forgiveness. Perhaps this is the smile that the world expects from us.

Notes:

1 The text is taken from a recording that was thoroughly reviewed in view of publication. “The text takes the form of a conversation for personal and group reflection, rather than for a work of research and study. The text prepared for the Meeting (which was more elaborated than the present one) was lost as a result of “technical problems”during the final phase of preparation”[personal note of Fr.I.Echarte]. 2 In his letters,Francis Xavier speaks of the Spiritual Exercises as a reality that “makes us know and perceive the divine will within our heart”and they therefore allow us to “conform more to this will than our own inclinations”; whilst “those who study are in the habit of saying: I desire knowledge in order to obtain some benefit or ecclesiastical office and then,afterwards,to serve God”.(Tohis companions resident in Rome.Cochin,15.01.1544). 3 The third instruction for Fr.Barzeo,dated 6-14 April 1952 (116),is well worth reading in its entirety. 4 “I ask you to send here,with the necessary authority,a capable emissary,whose only occupation shall be to look after the salvation of a countless number of souls who are in danger of death … Calculate the great number of benefits and temporal goods you obtain from the Indies through divine providence and subtract them from what you are investing here for the holy cause of religion. After you have made these calculations, distribute them according to the dictates of your gratitude and religious zeal, between the interests of Your own Kingdom and the Kingdom of God,taking care to ensure that the Creator of all things is in no danger of being inad- equately rewarded by you”(ToJuan III,King of Portugal,Cochin,20.0.1545). RelevanceandTopicalityofSt.FrancisXavier

Group work conclusions

Concerning his spirituality: - The fundamental reasons of his life and his being a missionary: - the primacy of God: searching for His will and an unconditional openness to it; absolute trust in God; - unreserved discipleship: listening to God’s Word and a profound and total conversion to Him; a man in love with Christ; - mission for the love of Christ, to serve Him and live by Him; - a man of relationships:attentive to people,he sought direct contact and friendship;free and courageous in his dealings with the powerful; open to different cultural contexts; capable of giving hope to others and maintaining intense zeal in spite of difficulties; - a searching man: an evolving personality endowed with great human depth; he also promoted growth (as a forerunner); capable of cultivating desires (he was a resolved and courageous man) and joy in suffering. Concerning his apostolic life: - animated by a constant and strong desire to announce Christ, it was sustained by a robust and tried and proven faith; - prepared and programmed on the basis of a careful discernment of God’s will; - attentive to reality and the needs of the people (the poor and the marginalized); charity was the privileged instrument of his mission; -opentotheecclesialdimension:hesurroundedhimselfwithvalidcollaboratorsandremainedincom- munion with his brothers; - he did not underrate anything in view of an effective proclamation; he always gave priority to the weak instruments that draw the missionary closer to the people; - he did not neglect the fundamental demands of conversion; - he lived with a fresh outlook as opposed to the attitude of one who knows everything about the mission; -hedidnotstakeaclaimto“possession”;onthecontrary,hewasalwaysreadytoleavethingstoothersand go elsewhere; - he was sustained by a prophetic vision of life in which the unity between the apostolate and prayer becomes concretely visible in the messenger. Challenges for us today: - to strengthen a form of presence based on holiness and witness; - to rediscover the meaning of expressions such as: doing the mission “for the love of God”; - to create communities in which one can speak openly of this spiritual ideal of ours; - to maintain a fresh outlook on our experience and missionary ideals; - to rediscover the missionary zeal,which seems to have been diluted into formulas that do not reflect its urgency; - to cultivate our inculturation and adaptability (to be poor with the poor and noble with the noble); - to search for missionary methods that are more consistent and proper for us today; -toconvinceourselvesthattherichtoolsweusecanalienateusfromthepeople,whilepoorinstruments draw us closer to them.

ECHOES OF AN ONGOING JOURNEY 65

ECHOES OF AN ONGOING JOURNEY InthefootstepsofBlessedG.M.Conforti

J. Antonio Flores

The Xaverian’s principal and fundamental commitment is to know and embody Conforti’s «experience of the Spirit »in his own personal ‘spiritual’ experience. (RFX 38).

Introduction When I was between 19 and 20 years old, and I felt the need to consolidate my human, Christian and vocational identity in my journey of faith, a clear and persistent desire to know Jesus Christ more and better sprang up within me. To follow Jesus had become the driving force of my most intimate and crucial quests. I looked for answers in different directions. The life-witness of Guido Maria Conforti appeared on the horizon of my journey as a guide in whom I could place my trust.

I was accepted into the first Xaverian novitiate in Mexico, and was fortunate to be accompanied by formators who taught us to drink from our own well: we were introduced to the essential traits of the charism’s spirituality, the Founder and the Xaverian traditions (which are few and essential,astheyof- ten reminded us). The Xaverian charism thus became for us both a message and a dialogue that was a proposal, spontaneous, gradual and pleasant... I found a response to my concerns and expectations: the Xaverian identity had entered into a profound dialogue with my Mexican identity and I felt that a growing and mutual acceptance was coming to life. The following stages were equally privileged moments in my journey of growth in the charism.

From this introduction, it is obvious that my participation in this meeting is not so much a magisterial exposition as a memorial-echo-witness of what I discovered, and continue to find of vital importance, alive, efficacious and topical in our Founder’s figure and spiritual journey.

Gratitude-Introduction For some time now, I have been convinced that there is no such thing as ‘specialists’ of the charism. We all participate in its potential and yet, in both my experience of Xaverian identity and what I am about to share with you, I am indebted to many confreres for their careful research, serious study and zealous compilation of Conforti’s heritage. I think that we are all indebted to the First Xaverian Spiri- tuality Meeting (Pamplona 1980), which was the first to establish the coordinates for understanding our charism and its most genuine and original heart. Subsequent developments, until the Founder’s beatification and afterwards, were especially fertile years for discoveries/rediscoveries and different contributions that further clarify the genes and the characteristics of Xaverian spirituality. The drafting of the RMX was especially importance and I am grateful to all those who gave their contribution to this process. There is still a keen need, however, to continue the research and give a greater systematic structure to our spirituality. Delving into the memories that I want to share with you, I wish to point out that, although we do not as yet have a biography of Conforti that puts his complex personality and multi-faceted activity into context, his early biographers and postulators all agree that Conforti’s characteristics were of an exclusively spiritual nature: “An essentially unspiritual Conforti is inconceivable”(Barsotti 1970, 6). “All

Juan Antonio Flores Osuna SX is the Executive Formation and Mission Secretary. 66 J. Antonio Flores those who approached him, even for a few moments, exclaimed: is he a saint?” (Vanzin, 6). What was it that made his person, gestures, words and choices so attractive to me? Fr. Vanzin said about the Founder: “Wecan list the virtues he practiced, the many works he accomplished and the enthusiasm he triggered; but all this is the consequence of his power of attraction and not its secret cause”1.What, then,was the source, or the privileged sources,that made Conforti a fascinating man of the Spirit?

I-G.M.ConfortianexpertonJesus Conforti’s entire life was characterized by an intense passion for Christ. From that singular silent conversation before the old Crucifix until the fulfillment of his mission, there was no other central motive in his life. Faith in Jesus was everything for him and everything in him lived in that light. Recalling the final moments of the Founder’s life, Fr. Vanzin said: “He lived by that faith, he worked according to the norms of that faith, he preached that faith, he founded an army of fighters for that faith, he taught only that faith, he suffered for the defense of that faith, the faith of the apostles and the Church and he died confessing that faith” (Vanzin, 246). There are many gestures, words and writings in the Confortian tradition that speak of the centrality of Christ in the Founder’s life.

GuidoMariaConforticontemplatedJesusChrist Guido Maria Conforti contemplated Jesus Christ: and not only as a child. There are many depositions that remember his exemplary piety as a seminarian and, when he was a bishop, his frequent profound contemplation before the crucifix or the monstrance… as well as his resolute fidelity to daily prayer either in the bishop’s house, during his pastoral visits or in the Mother House. The habit of his childhood: “every morning I would stand before him and I looked at him …” is carried on in an uninterrupted dialogue throughout his entire life. Fr. Ballarin says of Conforti “we can state that he possessed union with God to an eminent degree” (Ballarin, 52). Although caught up by a heavy work load, in the Diocese, the Institute, the Missions and the Missionary Union of the Clergy…he habitually lived in an intense atmosphere (Dagnino, 362).

To say that the Founder contemplated Jesus Christ means for me to liken him to the Apostles, especially to Paul. I find this very meaningful because we could speak of a “Confortian Paulinism”, not only because of the recurrent use of the Pauline texts, but first and foremost because of the depth of his knowledge of Christ and the intensity of his faith experience2.

From Paul, the Founder took the expression “In omnibus Christus”, which sums up, enlightens and amplifies his attitude of dialogue and contemplation before Jesus: “My watchword - he said to the people of Ravenna - will always be the one I had engraved on my Episcopal coat of arms: in omnibus Christus! Yes, my dear children, in all things we must keep Christ in our sights and try to please Him”3. Years later, he was to propose to his Xaverian sons the same program: “We must therefore see God, love God and seek God in all … We cannot therefore formulate a more comprehensive intention than this one. Let this be the program, the watchword of our life”4. This saying was completed and given its Confortian originality in the final recapitulation of the Testament Letter when, speaking of the characteristics that were to qualify the members of his Society, the Founder first of all stressed the “the spirit of living faith which helps us to see God, seek God, love God in all by intensifying our desire to promote his kingdom” (TL 10). I believe that this experience gives life to the dynamics that harmonize contemplation and mission, embodied in a movement/rapport of “simultaneousness” and not one of “first” and “after”.

GuidoMariaConfortilovedJesusChrist Conforti’s extremely balanced personality may give us the impression of a man who was somewhat cold and distant, but a closer look reveals a man who had a big heart, a man capable of love: “Beneath the surface and his deliberate self-control, Conforti had a great capacity for love and he knew how to use it fully. The ability to love God, which took the form of an intense Christocentrism ...” (Pamplona, 58-60). In his Propositi (1883-1931), we can observe the progressive and ever more profound growth of his love for Christ and his desire to be like Him. Commenting on the Founder’s youthful ideals, Fr. ECHOES OF AN ONGOING JOURNEY 67

E. Ferro points out that “from an initial and common definition of the religious meaning of life, he moved quite quickly to stressing the glory of God as the primary purpose of his life”5. Nel suo primo saluto a Ravenna dice: “In his first greeting to the people of Ravenna, Conforti said: “I shall therefore study the heart of Christ in order to reform my own heart, trying to draw from Him that charity which tolerates everything, hopes for everything without discouragement, that ineffable gentleness that attracts the errant, that unshakeable patience that makes us steadfast even at the cost of sacrifice, that sincere humility which must be the greatest distinction of a prelate”6. “Everything for Jesus Christ, this is the great law!”7.

The most eloquent summary of this could only be: “Caritas Christi urget nos”. Moved by these words, Conforti made his consecration and mission zealous, lively and industrious. Addressing the Xaverian students he said: “We must possess a more profound knowledge of Christ than the ordinary faithful because we are bound to follow him closely, and our fidelity as disciples and our love for Him depend on how well we know Him. We must have a more intimate knowledge of him also because we are to make him known and loved by others. The infidels to whom we shall be sent one day will, like the Gentiles, say to us: we wish to see Jesus”8. Again, within a more profound and more intimate knowledge of Jesus, in the Caritas Christi, the Founder embodied and proposed to the Xaverians the reason that establishes equilibrium and harmony between the mission and consecration in our charism.

Conforti pointed to the Eucharist as the privileged place for growing and living in a more intimate knowledge of Christ. In his life, writings and pastoral action, the Eucharist repeatedly appears as the “Sacrament of love”, the “inexhaustible source of our every good”, from which we can “draw the energy we need for remaining virtuous and faithful” in spreading the “sublime lesson that has changed the face of the world”9. I too agree with the increasing number of those who, in recent years, have repeatedly drawn our attention to the Eucharistic depth of Confortian spirituality. We should deepen even further our study of this line of thought.

GuidoMariaConfortiproclaimedJesusChrist “May Our Lord Jesus Christ be known and loved by all!” is another of the first Confortian phrases I heard. I believe that these words express his apostolic zeal and the goal of a missionary project that animated him every day of his life. To the people of Ravenna, he said: “I come among you to dispense the mysteries of God, to proclaim to you the Word of life spoken by the Apostles and which has renewed the face of the earth, to help you know and love our Lord Jesus Christ more and more …”10.InParma, on announcing his first pastoral visit, and aware of his identity as an Apostle, he reasserted: “I will point out to all the Gospel of Christ …”11. It is also worthy of note that his proclamation of Jesus Christ embraced the totality of His mystery (Incarnation - Passion – Death - Resurrection) and stressed the practical and pastoral aspects more than the speculative and dogmatic ones (cf. Mondin, 31-41).

The Founder’s proclamation emphasized the characteristics of the Crucified Christ and of the Jesus who calls to discipleship, who shows the Apostles the world waiting to be conquered to the Gospel, the Christ who is the incomparable model we must imitate. We all remember his classical expressions: “The Crucifix is the great book”. “The Crucifix is the most sublime book … No other book can speak to our mind and heart with greater effectiveness …”12. “Your mission and your program of action are beautifully summed up in the crucifix that I have just given to you”13. The way in which he proclaims heightens his son’ awareness and confirms them in their vocation to follow Christ: “You have heard Christ call you to follow him closely in the best years of your life and you have responded generously: we shall follow you wherever you go, it will be our glory to serve you for our entire life … The mission of Christ is your mission”14.

One of the dominant themes in Conforti’s proclamation is the exemplariness of Christ (cf. Mondin 54-62) the model for everyone in everything 15: “Everyone can find in him a sure example worthy of imitation because He wants to be a model for people of all ages, conditions and states of life”16. “Let us study deeply this divine model and his world … and a rapturous love and admiration for him shall rise spontaneously from our heart and lips: sequar te quocumque ieris. Let us renew our energy in daily 68 J. Antonio Flores contemplation of Jesus Christ at the foot of the Crucifix and before the Tabernacle”17.

Consequently, I am convinced that we can say Conforti was an expert on Jesus, because Jesus occupied: - his entire mind (contemplative capacity) - his entire spirituality (capacity for love) - his entire theological reflection (capacity for immersing himself in the mystery of God) - his entire pastoral ministry (missionary capacity) - all his commitments as Founder and Formator of missionaries (generative capacity)

Recently, Benedict XVI, speaking of the Apostles as witnesses and sent by Christ, said: “An apostle is one who is sent, but even before that he is an “expert” on Jesus”18. Vita Consecrata reminds us that in order to become such experts we must not only follow Christ, loving Him “more than father and mother, son or daughter” as every disciple is asked to do; we must also live and experience this with by conforming our entire existence to Him19. The RMX reminds us often of this total conformity to Christ 20 and emphasizes that “a personal and profound experience of Christ, the missionary of the Father, is necessary for us”21. “The choice of the Mission emerges more than ever as a commitment based on faith and a personal relationship with Jesus and the Gospel” (RMX, 1 ). Consecration to the mission, therefore, owes its origin, foundation and pros- pect to an experience of love”22. How can this come about in our life? What are the criteria for verifying whether or not I am in tune with the words I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me?

II-G.M.Conforti:anexpertonhumanity To understand the man that is in me and the humanity with which I share the same history, space and life journey has always been a personal interest and commitment of mine. It is very meaningful for to discover that it was important to Guido Maria Conforti to understand the people of his times in order to serve them more faithfully.

My first encounter with this dimension of Conforti’s spirituality was when I read the book by Fr. Dagnino: “Dottrina spirituale di Mons. Guido M. Conforti”. I found Fr. Dagnino’s comments on the Parola del Padre to be a very interesting approach to Conforti’s vision of the human person. Beginning with the fundamental principles and models, Fr. Dagnino focuses his attention on a list of texts that speak not only of human virtue but of man’s constitutive dimensions (conscience, heart, will …) and concludes with the religious virtues and means of sanctification. I therefore understood that Conforti was an expert on man and that the human person, with his greatness and his dignity restored in Christ, is not just one more element in the Founder’s writings, but the true starting-point for understanding his thought23.

WhatwasConforti’stypicalwayofspeakingaboutman? The first impression and conclusion of his writings and his behavior with others is of a man endowed with great humanity, who always spoke naturally and spontaneously about man in a positive and constructive manner. The expressions he used when speaking of man highlight the greatness of human dignity: “man is the visible masterpiece of creation”, “the most wonderful treasure”24;“theking of the universe … Child of the infinite”, “Child of eternity”25; “Child of the earth … a fighter”26. Never- theless, his knowledge of man was also realistic. He was familiar with human miseries, the fury of human passions and the evil of the human heart: “There is no law … no power… no horror … that can dominate the fury of the passions and the evil of the human heart”27. He denounced modern man’s “slavery to the God of gold, the lord of this world”28. Yet the innate pedagogue in him and his solid faith conquered all temptations to exasperation. His references to human misery were always accompanied by words of pastoral understanding that redeemed man’s noble dignity and vocation. He often used the evocative biblical image of man as made in God’s image and likeness and it aptly sums up his anthropologic vision. He once wrote: “We are God’s masterpiece; He made us in his image and likeness”29. “O man, made in the image of God, come and learn your dignity at the foot of the cross … consider the price that was paid for you”30. ECHOES OF AN ONGOING JOURNEY 69

Meaningfulelementsofhisanthropology By nature and by ascetic commitment Conforti achieved harmony and personal equilibrium. “This is the fundamental feature of his character” (Vanzin, 259). Therefore it came to him spontaneously to think of man living in peace and insist that it is possible to achieve balance between mind and heart. He said: “God is the quintessence of order and peace; those who maintain order in accordance with His will, through the perfect practice of every justice, bear within themselves this characteristic which is proper to God” (Dagnino, 183). The Founder’s position on man’s freedom and curability are equally meaningful elements of his anthropology. His ideas on freedom have deep roots. When he was still a young priest, Conforti presented a dissertation on human freedom at the “Accademia Filosofica di San Tommaso d’Aquino” in Parma31. His main conviction was that freedom is an inviolable gift from God, “a sacred and inviolable right, engraved on the heart of man and which cannot be touched without profaning and destroying the most sacred individual liberty”32. Conforti believed that freedom is “the most precious thing of all”, as long as it does not become libertinism 33. He described it as a constitutive power of man: “The word freedom is without any doubt one of the greatest treasures of human nature. Man perceives himself as a power endowed with freedom or, in philosophical terms, a free power. From this he draws his self-respect and the respect he shows to others. Anything that threatens the exercise of this power represents a terrible attack on his person, whilst anything that promotes its expansion inevitably conquers him”34.

Many depositions testify that Conforti lived as a free, frank, sincere and candid man … a stranger to any compromise with simulation and falsehood (Vanzin, 259). He defended freedom of conscience as “the most sacred and inviolable thing” 35. He had no problem with the demand of the French revolution, liberty - equality - brotherhood, provided it did not become an abused slogan to claim rights without any recognition of duties 36. True liberty for Conforti was the one Christ restored to us at a very great price 37 and we live this freedom “by choosing what is most pleasing to Him 38. The Founder was convinced that there can be no true happiness without freedom39, but he was equally aware that it is not easy to experience this fully because ours is a wounded freedom 40 which often makes us slaves to our passions, damaging the harmony of the universe and contaminating the beauty of the world41.

Nevertheless, although Conforti was aware of the weakness of human freedom, he did not fall prey to pessimism; on the contrary, his optimism led him to see each individual and humanity as an open project, with the ability to restore himself and, therefore, he is never definitively lost. Conforti believed that man is curable. This conviction often emerges in his speeches and pastoral letters, a notion that he extends from the individual to all the nations: “God has made the nations curable” 42. The struggle will be bitter and long, but victory shall be ours, because God has made the nations curable”43.

Conforti’sspiritualitypromoteshumandignity From Conforti’s writings and personality emerge a knowledge of man’s inner being (conscience, heart, will, freedom …), his relationships (with God, the others and creation) and his work (duties, la- bor, time …), which find total fulfillment and completion in the exemplariness of Christ, the new man. Looking at Conforti’s ideas on man, I see many points in common with the anthropology of Vatican II, for example, in the first chapter of Gaudium et Spes.

Conforti’s spiritual experience offers a global transformation to man. It is not a restrictive, vertical spirituality, or one that is centered in an ostracizing internalization; on the contrary, it engages life in its entirety. Overall, Conforti’s spirituality is a proposal of humanization, it promotes the noble dignity of man in harmony with the way it is described in Gaudium et Spes: “The root reason for human dignity lies in man’s call to communion with God” (GS 19). Today too, many people recognize that human dignity is at the heart of the Spirit’s urgent messages for our times44.

Taking the Founder’s spiritual journey as an expert on man as a starting point and bearing in mind the worldwide phenomenon of interculturality, globalization and the liberal ideology that sustains it, I believe we need a new commitment to humanization, understood as a theological and spiritual 70 J. Antonio Flores commitment that puts human dignity at the center of attention: the basic truth about man (Puebla 304) and the pressing need of an authentic universal brotherhood. “Only the recognition of human dignity can make possible the common and personal growth of everyone”45. Man’s dignity in the eyes of God is the foundation of his human dignity vis-à-vis other men (GS 29 ). This is also the ultimate foundation of the radical equality and fraternity among people, the starting point for dialogue as a typical human attitude characteristic of each one of us and of the life of our communities (RMX 42 )the same can be said of Dialogue as the way of the mission ad gentes, which we have embraced as a specific activity (RMX 62 ). Our work of Human Promotion flows from this.

TheXaverian’shumancharacteristics:adimensioninneedofdevelopment In our own small corner of the world, challenged by the demands of interculturality in our communities, I believe we must pay attention to the Xaverian’s human characteristics as well as the family spirit and living faith that must animate our relationships. I believe that this dimension still needs to be developed in Xaverian spirituality. The Xaverian’s human characteristics have been summed up by our documents in a concise manner and have never been explicitly updated. The RMX, which is so rich in the other dimensions of the Xaverian identity, does not offer the same abundant anthropological elements to sustain the human characteristics of the Xaverian today. On the other hand, the growing multiculturality in our communities naturally brings with it different ways of understanding and embodying humanism. It would be a good idea to have an updated formulation of the Xaverians’ inspiring motives in this field, in order to give ourselves some criteria for comparison and discernment.

III-G.M.Conforti,apostleandformatorofapostles My first contact with the world of the mission ad gentes came about through reading the few missionary magazines that arrived at the seminary. My interest was also kept alive by the direct evangelizing activities organized by the first bishop of Mazatlán during the summer. I took part in this project for six years. Other important moments of my journey were the missionary experiences organized in small groups with companions who shared the same interest.

But the horizon I had glimpsed during those years in the diocesan Seminary became both wider and closer when I joined the Congregation. From the very beginning, the formators and promoters of the Xaverian charism in Mexico organized and based their work on a clearly defined option of presenting the Xaverian identity in its most essential aspects: dedication to the evangelization of the non-Chris- tians, in a missionary community of men consecrated to God who respond to the Lord’s mandate to go out into the whole world, taking the Good News to those who do not know Christ. The history of the Xaverian missions, the martyrs of Bangladesh, the tales of Fr. Zulian and Fr. Ambrico… all gave a special and lively flavor to the goal that was being proposed to us, the mission ad gentes and ad extra. However, pride of place was given to Conforti’s figure and pedagogy: his most original words and thoughts animated the life, prayer, conferences, lessons and the testimony of Xaverian life …

Themission:theunifyingreasonofhisentirelife Conforti was generally presented to us as a Founder dominated by a missionary passion, the promotor of a great dream: “to make of the world a single family”. St. Francis Xavier always appeared closely connected to his vocation and his choice of missionary field. From that moment onwards, I have never forgotten that the discovery of Francis Xavier’s radical apostolic option was, for Conforti, like an explosion that was the great turning point in his life. All his biographers agree in saying that “he saw in the missionary ideal a more complete form of self-giving to God for the salvation of others” (Ballarin, 189) and how, from that moment onwards, this ideal enlightened and directed his entire life with a coherence that nothing could break 46. The experience of love until the very end lived in dialogue with Christ on the cross, found in the encounter with Xavier the paradigm of the response his heart was searching for: the totality of Christ’s love, totality in self-giving as a response to his call. This is the originality of Conforti who from that moment became aware of the fact that the mission was asking of him an integral dedication, not only in terms of time but, above all, in terms of his person, namely, his ECHOES OF AN ONGOING JOURNEY 71 most legitimate and dear affections. The mission became the unifying motive of his life47.

We all know how difficult it is to achieve a unified life. In the mission ad gentes, Conforti gave my quest a vital core in which I could recognize myself and, at the same time, feel myself called to be.In Conforti’s mind, the mission “must be the daily focus, motivating ideal, mirrored goal, point of reference and measure of success” (RFX 12). For the Xaverian, his entire life must be inspired by a tending towards the missionary apostolate: the mission ad gentes is the fundamental, total and exclusive option of his entire life 48, the interior principle and dynamics capable of unifying the interior life and the different activities of the mission.

ThetruesourceofConfortitheapostle What was the source of Conforti’s untiring zeal and his total dedication to the mission ad gentes? I think that, in addition to the ascetic commitment to sacrifice his entire self, study the works of the foreign missions and search everywhere for illumination, protection, resources… Conforti’s richest and most dynamic source was his harmonic spirituality that revolved around Christ and became a missionary spirituality. I would like to emphasize two of the fundamental attitudes of this spirituality, which struck me most and which I find very pertinent for us today: to live by faith, moved by love.

Living by faith When the Founder expressed his desire concerning the characteristic that was to distinguish the present and future members of his Family, he named the spirit of living faith (TL 10) as the first coefficient. The Congregation’s history and our own days offer us the example of some confreres who bear witness to how a successful missionary life (at both personal and apostolic levels) is always the fruit of a man of faith, a man who has been converted. On the contrary, behind personal and apostolic failures there is always the deterioration, or even the disappearance, of a life of faith. To live by faith or not to live by faith is, therefore, the first and fundamental issue of our life project49.

What does it mean for Conforti and for the Xaverian Family to live by faith? In his famous desire, which we look upon as the Father’s Testament, the Founder tells us that, for us Xaverians, living by faith consists in our “seeing God, seeking God and loving God in all by intensifying our desire to promote his kingdom” (TL 10). To seek God is at the heart of the first part of this phrase and, I believe, this is the key to Conforti’s wish. To seek God, refers to the “Desire” to encounter God, to enter into his orbit, to experience him as a friendly and encouraging presence … To seek God means also to live a lucid discernment that helps us not to confuse God with any other thing that is not God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The opposite of seeking God is “theological apathy”, the absence of enthusiasm for God, something from which we are not exempt, immersed as we are in the global culture of our times. Desire and discernment are therefore essential in the experience of faith upon which the Xaverian life project is based.

The circular and harmonious perspective so typical of Confortian spirituality obviously means that we seek God in a way that is strictly connected to knowing and loving Him, that is to say: the experience of letting oneself become fully involved with Him to the point of becoming passionate about spreading His Kingdom. For Conforti, to see God means to contemplate Him, not only in creation, but above all in the person of his Son (Mondin, 27). Nevertheless, in Conforti’s mind knowledge without love is superficial, defective and imperfect. For the Founder, true faith works through love 50.

At this point, remembering that the great evangelizers were first of all the great evangelized (VC 81), we ask ourselves: how do we evangelize our experience of faith so that it becomes a vital source of our mission and our triple option: of meaning (obedience), of essentiality (poverty) and of love (chastity)?51. 72 J. Antonio Flores

Moved by love “Caritas Christi” understood first and foremost as a loving personal involvement with Jesus and his Gospel. This essential pivot of the Xaverian project was recently reasserted: “our spirituality is inspired by the spirituality handed on to us by the Founder in which love is the primary and ultimate driving force of the missionary” (RMX 24). It is an undisputed fact that love is the constitutive and de- termining experience of every person: “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is in- comprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own,ifhedoesnotparticipate intimately in it” (RH 10). Only those who love truly know what Love is (cf. 1Jn 4: 7ff). This process is always open-ended; love is never “finished” and complete; throughout life, it changes and matures …52.

Following the Founder’s footsteps, we are called to live the experience of Caritas Christi as the origin, foundation and horizon of our consecration to God for the mission. The missionary nature of the Church “flows from the “fount - like love” or charity of God the Father” (AG 2). Therefore, to let ourselves be evangelized in this aspect of our spirituality allows us to open our heart to two fundamental certainties of Caritas Christi: that of being infinitely loved and that of being able to love without lim- its53. Total giving, zeal and enlightened creativity spontaneously result from this… It is no coincidence that zeal, for Conforti, is “the love of God in action” (RF 15). His greeting to departing missionaries is also a classical example: “Above all else, it is the love of Christ that moves you to make the great sacrifice. Today, with your lives, you repeat: «Caritas Christi urget nos». You are driven by the example of the One who gave himself entirely for us: «tradidit semetipsum pro nobis», and who commanded us to love our brothers as He did: «sicut dilexi vos»” (DP 19).

There are many ways in the Church for sharing self-giving love, but “certainly the one which in a special way shows the world this love “to the end” is the fervent proclamation of Jesus Christ to those who do not yet know him, to those who have forgotten him, and to the poor in a preferential way.” (VC 75). It is also very significant that we should find evangelization as the first expression of love in the first encyclical of Benedict XVI: «The entire activity of the Church is an expression of a love that seeks the integral good of man: it seeks his evangelization through Word and Sacrament, an undertaking that is often heroic in the way it is acted out in history; and it seeks to promote man in the various are- nas of life and human activity»54. Along the same lines, the CELAM of Puebla, speaking of the missionary nature of the Latin American Church said that “evangelization is the best service we can offer to our brothers” (1145).

Changes in the mission, the history of many confreres, and perhaps our own personal history too, have convinced us that “neither our mission, nor consecration can continue for long nor be justified without a profound, committed, ever increasing passion for Christ. Once this passion causes us to love Christ more than ourselves, it will then prove stronger than death; then we shall be truly free because freedom cannot but be the consequence of the truth which consists in Love”55.

Caritas Christi urget nos. Conforti could not have left us more beautiful, rich and zealous words as a motto. I therefore wonder if we can continue to be content with positive experiences, however beautiful and useful they may be, but which remain at the level of average value, such as a certain ‘family spirit, obtaining academic degrees, achieving apostolic success, or references to the values of our own cultures … Conforti, on his part, puts Christ at the center of his life and spirituality. He reminded the formators: «After explaining the foundations of Christian perfection, exhort the students to focus their attention on the example of Jesus Christ, incomparable model of holiness for all, and for the apostle in particular. They should identify with the divine exemplar in thought, desires, and works, in such a way that Jesus is made manifest in them as the apostle teaches » (RFX 41).

How can we evangelize our way of living Xaverian spirituality so that it discovers/rediscovers love as the first and ultimate motivation of our missionary life? Perhaps it is here that we can find the true meaning of the Crucifix (not the cross) in Conforti’s life. Benedict XVI says: «This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ (cf. Jn 19:37), we can understand the start- ECHOES OF AN ONGOING JOURNEY 73 ing-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love”. It is there that this truth can be contemplated»56. Only this contemplation can help us find the path to true love. Conforti, quoting St. Alphonsus de Liguori often used to say: This is how we should love

Holinessasmissionarystrategy To live by faith, enthralled and driven by love in order to respond to Conforti’s intuition, namely holiness as a missionary strategy 57, explains why he chose St. Francis Xavier as model and patron. “In the face of the great challenges that the mission must deal with today, the example of St. Francis Xavier is very topical thanks to its dimension of holiness, which –as John Paul II emphasized in Redemptoris Missio- is an «essential condition for accomplishing the Church’s mission of salvation». A mission that is essentially: «to serve man, revealing God’s love for him made visible in Jesus Christ»58.Inhis 16th address to departing missionaries, Conforti said: “You cannot adopt any means other than the ones used by Christ for the foundation of his Kingdom . Contrary to those who conquer the world, Christ did not found his kingdom with the power of weapons, but with words that conquer minds and with the attraction of love that wins over hearts (…) And you shall confirm that word with the example of a holy life”59.

IV-Conclusion I have tried to re-visit some essential foundational elements of Xaverian spirituality 60. Looking at Conforti as an expert on Jesus, one who knows men and is a formator of missionaries, I wanted to list some elements which, in dialogue and a mutual acceptance between the Xaverian and Mexican identities, have touched my life and culture in a vital way. The process of re-reading also led me to open my heart and mind to considerations, questions, suggestions … that certainly promote further deepening and growth in my experience of the spirituality we have received from Blessed Guido Conforti. I hope that they can be useful for the work and the purpose of this meeting.

Today, the Xaverian spirituality is embraced by confreres of different nationalities and this calls upon us to deepen the potential of the common constitutive nucleus, in openness to mutual enrichment. The official texts that codify the typical elements of Xaverian spirituality (Constitutions, Ratio Formationis Xaverianae, and the recent Ratio Missionis Xaveriana) are valid and mutually enriching. Nevertheless, I believe they still need to be better exploited and, first and foremost, they need to be updated or completed on the basis of the journey of the last 25 years. I look upon the RMX61 as a novelty that is yet to develop all its potential, especially in connection with the new developments outlined in the document. I believe that we would do well to deepen our understanding of the symbolum fidei confortiano, with which the Founder responded to the call of Christ’s apostolic mandate, the biblical motives chosen by him to give content and identity to Xaverian spirituality: In omnibus Christus e Caritas Christi urget nos. In these words, which the Spirit has chosen for us, we find the vital source that nourishes our identity and mission, a common indisputable point of reference. Around this vital nucleus, the Xaverian tradition has preserved many other phrases and exhortations of the Founder that exhort us to duc in altum: « May our Lord Jesus Christ be known and loved by all »; « Love each other like brothers and respect each other like princes »; « The Lord couldn’t have been more generous to us »; « Keep your eyes fixed on Him … »; « The missionary is the most wonderful and sublime per- sonification of the ideal life »; etc.

Thinking back to my experience in Asia, I wish to conclude by making my own the words of John Paul II: « My contact with representatives of the non-Christian spiritual traditions, particularly those of Asia, has confirmed me in the view that the future of mission depends to a great extent on contemplation. Unless the missionary is a contemplative he cannot proclaim Christ in a credible way. He is a witness to the experience of God, and must be able to say with the apostles: “that which we have looked upon...concerning the word of life,...we proclaim also to you » (RMi 91).

Finally, I am aware that my way of sharing with you might appear somewhat simplistic, but I chose this style/genre because witness is the key for verifying new intuitions. I believe this meeting and the 74 J. Antonio Flores next General Chapter could lay the foundations for a profound verification of our fidelity to our Xaverian spirituality and to discern what the Spirit is asking of us so that we might develop our potential today.

Notes:

1 Vanzin,p.7. 2 His first greeting to the people of Ravenna is very eloquent in this sense: “From the moment of my election as your Archbishop I have thought only about you … From that moment my only concern was the solemn and tremendous duty that has fallen upon me, as described by St.Paul: to exhort,implore,reprimand,and be sick with those who are sick …”(Lettere Pastorali 1983,p.25). 3 Lettere Pastorali 1983,p.31. 4 Pagine Confortiane 1999,no.1215. 5 Pagine Confortiane 1999,pp.28-29. 6 Lettere Pastorali 1983,pp.45-46. 7 FCT 17,p.341. 8 Pagine Confortiane 1999,no.1391. 9 cf. FCT 26, p. 846; FCT 27, p. 228, etc. The word eucharist, as a noun and an adjective, appears more than 500 times in Conforti’s writings.The same can be said about the word sacrament used in reference to the eucharist.It is interesting to observe how Conforti uses the adjective eucharistic to describe many and different realities (practices, associations, celebrations, unions, congresses, worship, language, year, apostolate, spirit, etc) almost as if Conforti was saying that the eucharist radiates its light and strength on everything and everyone. 10 Lettere Pastorali 1983,pp.30-31. 11 FCT 16,p.317. 12 Pagine Confortiane 1999,nos.1397-1398. 13 Pagine Confortiane 1999,no.1006. 14 Ibidem. 15 Pagine Confortiane 1999,no.1244. 16 Pagine Confortiane 1999,no.1243. 17 Lettere Pastorali 1983,pp.198-199. 18 General Audience,St.Peter’s Square,22 March 2006. 19 cf.VC 16. 20 cf.RMX 48; 17; 53; etc. 21 RMX 25.1. 22 RMX 15. 23 Ceresoli,Studiare Gesù Cristo (appunti),p.5 24 Lettere Pastorali 1983,pp.33-34; FCT 17,p.165. 25 FCT 17,p.63; FCT 17,p.389. 26 FCT 17,p.403. 27 FCT 16,p.123. 28 FCT 17,p.62. 29 FCT 17,p.72. 30 FCT 6,p.774; FCT 7,p.504; FCT 8,pp.183.191; FCT 16,p.291. 31 FTC 6,pp.628-637. 32 FCT 21,p.80; FCT 6,628; Lettere Pastorali 1983,p.362. 33 FCT 16,p.792; FCT 13,pp.337.338-339.118. 34 FCT 6,p.627. 35 Lettere Pastorali 1983,p.362. 36 cf.FCT 26,pp.573-574; 37 cf.FCT 20,p.93; FCT 27,p.150. 38 FCT 23,p.147. 39 cf.FCT 19,p.94; FCT 20,p.237; Lettere Pastorali 1983,p.225. 40 FCT 19,p.69 41 FCT 17,p.44. 42 FCT 12,p.466; FCT 13,p.567; FCT 15,p.191 etc. 43 FCT 28,280. 44 Christifideles laici observes: “The sense of the dignity of the human person must be pondered and reaffirmed in stronger. terms. A beneficial trend is advancing and permeating all peoples of the earth,making them ever more aware of the dignity of the individual: the person is not at all a “thing” or an “object” to be used, but primarily a responsible “subject”,one endowed with conscience and freedom,called to live responsibly in society and history,and oriented towards spiritual and religious values.” (5d). 45 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,no.145. 46 “From my earliest years …”,“from the early years of seminary …”,“I have always experienced a strong inclination to dedicate my life to the Foreign Missions …”.These words prove that his missionary vocation had deep roots and that it went through a long and unexpected process of maturation of inclinations and tendencies he had from the earliest days of his life.At a certain point,focused on his zeal for the mission, his faith and his capacity for love reached, in the midst of circumstances that make the gift even more mysterious, the capacity for love typical of a holy man: in his heart sprang up the intention, “inspired by none other than God”,to found a Seminary dedicated to the very noble purpose of the Foreign Missions (cf.Ballarin,pp.35-48; Vanzin,pp.101-118; Barsotti 1970,p.32-33; Luca,pp.27-28). 47 The meaning and the perspective of mission he had in mind are found in the words of the fourth vow in all the profession formulae ECHOES OF AN ONGOING JOURNEY 75

he drew up: to commit oneself to work exclusively « pro conversione infidelium in missionibus ». cf.Barsotti 1970,p.93-95. 48 cf.RFX 31; FR 6. 49 “Mission is an issue of faith,an accurate indicator of our faith in Christ and his love for us”, (RMi,11) 50 cf. FCT 27, P.63; Pagine Confortiane 1999, n. 1264. “Acknowledgment of the living God is one path towards love”(Deus Caritas Est 17). 51 cf.Fernández Sans G.,Fede in Dizionario Teologico della Vita Consacrata,Ancora 1994,pp.732-734. 52 cf.Deus Caritas Est 17b. 53 VFC 22; cf.Deus Caritas Est 17a. 54 Deus Caritas Est 19. 55 Requisites of our missionary vocation,Circular Letter of the General Direction,Commix 8,p.8. 56 Deus Caritas Est 12. 57 We only have to remember his first missionary plan and what we can consider as his final desire: “the first and constant thought of the missionary must be his own sanctification in order to procure the salvation of others; let him remember that his words will have no effect unless they are backed up by a good example” (Pagine Confortiane 1999, no. 575). At the end of the Testament Letter, he says: “I wished to touch upon these points (…) because I am deeply concerned for your salvation and the good of the society”(10). 58 Maria A.De Giorgi,Editoriale della rivista Popoli,Aprile 2006. 59 Pagine Confortiane 1999,nos.1010-1011. 60 I say Xaverian spirituality because I am convinced that our charism, in its specific identity, also has its own true spirituality. I am led to say this by a very simple reason: the Spirit is always original in his work, he never repeats himself. His action in Conforti and his entire project is undoubtedly something unprecedented. Vita Consecrata: “every Institute and community will be a school of true evangelical spirituality. Apostolic fruitfulness, generosity in love of the poor, and the ability to attract vocations among the younger generation depend on this priority and its growth in personal and communal commitment.It is precisely the spiritual quality of the consecrated life which can inspire the men and women of our day, who themselves are thirsting for absolute values. In this way the consecrated life will become an attractive witness” (93). 61 cf.RMX 22-28; cf.also Section B-2 of the booklet “Percorsi saveriani per la crescita del carisma”pp.20-22. 76 J. Antonio Flores

Bibliography

- Bonardi Giovanni,Guido Maria Conforti, Istituto Missione Estere,Parma 1936. -BarsottiGiulio,Il Servo di Dio Guido Maria Conforti,Postulazione Saveriana 1959; Piùvivodeivivi, Ed.Pro Sanctitate 1970. - VanzinV.C.,Un Pastore due greggi, Istituto Missione Estere - Parma 1950. - Ballarin Lino,Tutto per la Missione, EMI 1981. - Pamplona 1980,Spiritualità Saveriana,EMI 1981. - Lettere Pastorali (1902-1931) di Guido Maria Conforti, Postulazione Generale Saveriana, Roma 1983. - Mondin Battista,Missione, Annuncio di Cristo Signore,EMI 1994. - Pagine Confortiane,Ermanno Ferro (a cura di),Centro Studi Confortiani Saveriani 1999. - Dagnino Amato,Dottrina spirituale di Mons.Guido M.Conforti,Paoline 1966. - FCT - Fonti Confortiane Teodoriane,Teodori Franco (a cura di),1966-2000. - Luca Augusto,Sonotuttiimieifigli,EMI,Bologna 1996. - Fabio Ciardi,In ascolto dello Spirito,Città Nuova,Roma 1996. - Atanasio G.Matanic,La spiritualità come scienza, Paoline,Milano 1990. - Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Editrice Vaticana 2004. - Dizionario della Vita Consacrata,Ancora,Milano 1994. - Misiones Extranjeras (rivista),Retos de la Misión a la Espiritualidad,210 / 2006. -AdGentes(rivista),Bibbia e Missione, primo semestre 2006. G.M. CONFORTI, A MAN CONSECRATED TO THE MISSION 77

G.M. CONFORTI, A MAN CONSECRATED TO THE MISSION

Guglielmo Camera

Introduction In a theological sense, “to consecrate”, means that God takes full possession of someone, invading him with His holiness and admitting to personal intimacy with Him. On man’s side,toconsecrateorto consecrate oneself means to trust or entrust oneself to God; to let oneself be possessed freely by Him; to actively welcome God’s sanctifying action or entrust oneself to Him. In a word, The person hands himself over completely to Christ and embraces His ideals and lifestyle, professing the evangelical counsels and looking upon Christ as his greatest treasure (poverty), his sole love (chastity) and exclusive life project-mission (obedience)1.

I-Christocentrismandconsecration We must place Christocentrism among the perennial and topical aspects of the Founder’s spiritual heritage as the foundation and the meaning of Consecration. We could sum this up with the enunciation of a theory: in Conforti’s Christocentrism we can see a “perennial” intuition that gives meaning to our “consecration” and mission.

Christocentrismintheecclesialdocumentsontheconsecratedlife In order to understand the topicality of the Founder’s teaching on our Christ-centered spirituality, we shall begin by looking at some of the statements made by the Synod of Bishops, which are contained in the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Vita Consecrata” (VC). This document presents “consecration” in a clearly Christ-centered dimension. It is intimacy with Jesus, the result of a profound love, that drives us to abandon everything for Him. If we allow ourselves be conquered by Christ we cannot help “abandoning everything to follow him”. The vows must become a pressing need, an interior drive, allowing Christ to become the absolute master of our life, as persons who are completely consecrated to Him and who no longer belong to themselves2.

It is clearly stated that there can be no Consecrated Life unless we love Christ deeply. The vows have meaning only if we consider Jesus as the supreme good and the reason for our existence. Vita Consecrata declared that this total belonging to Christ constitutes the perennially fundamental and valid motive for religious consecration3.

Vita Consecrata offers a definition of the consecrated life to consecrated people and missionaries that we should never forget because it contains the profound meaning of consecration and mission. When the document speaks of “memorial” it is not only referring to the memory of Jesus but, above all else, to the “representation” of Jesus’ life. When looking at a consecrated person, people ought to be able to see how Christ lived. This concept was well expressed by the words I heard spoken by a Muslim doctor who was treating Fr. Spinabelli: “I don’t know who Jesus was, but I think he lived like you”. The consecrated person reproduces Jesus’ life in his own life.

ChristocentrisminthelifeandteachingofConforti In the words of the Apostolic Exhortation and in the words of Conforti, to be consecrated to God means to share the same mind of Christ in faith and to walk constantly with Him, embracing his lifestyle: “We will experience this life if we keep our focus on Christ in all things, always and everywhere.

Guglielmo Camera SX is currently the General Postulator and Superior of the Central Delegation. 78 Guglielmo Camera

Thus, he will be with us in our prayer, at the altar, in our study, in our pastoral activity, in our meetings with others, in times of distress, sorrow and temptation. We will draw our inspiration from him so that our exterior actions become but the manifestation of the interior life of Christ in us5.

Conforti does not use the term “consecration” explicitly, but he conveys its meaning as we pointed out above. Consecration is akin to saying holiness, and holiness is intimacy with and imitation of Christ.6. It is always Christ who must be presented as a model of holiness, the apostolate and, we would say, of consecration to the mission. Keeping our eyes fixed on Christ must become the supreme rule of the formation of Xaverian novices7 and the missionary 8. Conforti offers his sons a résumé of the entire spiritual life:“Thereisnomorenoble, comprehensive and efficacious intention than the desire to turn all our thoughts to Christ, in all of life’s circumstances, whether they be happy or sad, reflect on how he would judge, speak and act in similar circumstances, in order to become more like him. This is what the saints used to do”9.

Conforti sees the roots of consecration and holiness in total conformity to Christ and he expressed this eloquently remembering St. Francis of Assisi and St. Francis Xavier.10.

Theprofessionoftheevangelicalcounsels asamysticaldimensionofthemissionarylife andasignoftotalbelongingtoChrist The post-Synodal document states that the profession of the evangelical Counsels calls for and makes visible “an explicit desire to be totally conformed to him. Living «in obedience, with nothing of one’s own and in chastity », consecrated persons profess that Jesus is the model in whom every virtue comes to perfection. His way of living in chastity, poverty and obedience appears as the most radical way of living the Gospel on this earth, a way which may be called divine, for it was embraced by Him, who was God and man, as the expression of His relationship as the Only-Begotten Son with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. This is why Christian tradition has always spoken of the objective superiority of the consecrated life”11.

Almost one century before this document, Conforti seems to be on the same wavelength too. The religious state is a “sign” of a gift from God “without reserve”, by which one no longer belongs to himself, but to God alone. With the religious state one removes every obstacle to perfect union with God: “In the religious state the soul gives itself to God and, through a happy exchange, God gives Himself to the soul with all the treasures of His grace. The religious state could be defined as the holy folly of the cross translated into the constant practice of life. Through it we progress more quickly towards our ultimate goal because we no longer belong to exterior objects or to ourselves, but to God alone, the only one who can satisfy the immense desires of our poor heart. According to St. Francis de Sales, the religious removes every obstacle to perfect union with God because obedience kills pride, poverty annihilates the concupis- cence of the eyes and chastity destroys every inappropriate attachment, allowing God to join with the religious soul in a sublime embrace”12.

Before being a public promise made in a community, the vows are something intimate; they must have roots in the heart because Christ wants to reign alone in our hearts. The evangelical counsels are therefore “sacraments” of our intimacy with Christ. In the words of Conforti: “He wants to reign alone in our hearts and He therefore especially asks us to sacrifice all our affections for the transient goods of the earth. For this reason He has called blessed the poor of heart. Evangelical poverty has an intimate nature which must be grounded in the heart and stripped of all affection for the earth. It is therefore not enough to renounce whatever we possess, or might one day possess; it is not enough to be satisfied with whatever is necessary, we must renounce any attachment whatsoever even to this. Only those who by their own free choice are detached, not only from the superfluous, but also from what is necessary, and are indifferent to this or that house, to this or that room, or to this or that clothing, and are satisfied with what the Superior gives them, can say they are poor in accordance with the Gospel.”13. G.M. CONFORTI, A MAN CONSECRATED TO THE MISSION 79

II-Consecrationandmission Following the teaching of Vita Consecrata, we must emphasize that the heart of consecration consists in living as Christ lived and in continuing thus His mission: “In the image of Jesus, the beloved Son «whom the Fa- ther consecrated and sent into the world » (Jn 10:36), those whom God calls to follow Him are also consecrated and sent into the world to imitate His example and to continue His mission.14. “...Nor can it be denied that the practice of the evangelical counsels is also a particularly profound and fruitful way of sharing in Christ’s mission.”15.

The consecrated life becomes mission. The more we allow ourselves to be conformed to Christ, the more Christ becomes present and the more the person becomes “totally free for the cause of the Gos- pel”. “Thus it can be said that consecrated persons are ‘in mission’ by virtue of their very consecration”. This can help to clarify many mistakes concerning the relationship between consecration and mission. Mission and consecration are distinguished from each other only at the logical level, not at the existential level: “By the action of the Holy Spirit who is at the origin of every vocation and charism, consecrated life itself is a mission, as was the whole of Jesus’ life. The profession of the evangelical counsels, which makes a person totally free for the service of the Gospel … Indeed, more than in external works, the mission consists in making Christ present to the world through personal witness. This is the challenge, this is the primary task of the consecrated life. The more consecrated persons allow themselves to be conformed to Christ, the more Christ is made present and active in the world for the salvation of all. Thus it can be said that consecrated persons are «in mission» by virtue of their very consecration, to which they bear witness with the ideal of their Institute.”16.

I believe that for Conforti too, the profession of the evangelical Counsels is a means, not an end, which helps us to keep our eyes fixed on Christ and on His lifestyle, so that it becomes our lifestyle: “Keeping your eyes fixed on Christ and letting yourselves be inspired by Him, you must never forget that the thoughts, affections, words and actions of an apostle of Jesus can never have any earthly, carnal, mundane or unworthy attachment. You must never forget that your love must welcome everyone in a holy embrace, without any exception because, as the Apostle says, in Christ there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, but we are all one in Christ Jesus; you must therefore make yourselves all things to all men in order to lead all men to Christ...You must never forget that Christ’s Apostle must, like his Divine master, go around doing good to all, serving all, attending to every kind of need and spreading heavenly blessings among the people ...”17.

Conforti’steaching Conforti’s mission at Ravenna and Parma had an ad Gentes missionary flavor. His words to his missionary sons, some of which are quoted above, had a very autobiographical flavor. He spoke about what he was trying to accomplish in his daily pastoral ministry, which was a missionary pastoral ministry. Jesus was the only model in his mind. His greatest concern was always to take Christ to those who did not yet know Him. He felt the need to be a good shepherd in search of the lost sheep, or a Good Samaritan who heals wounds and becomes all things to all men, in order to lead them to Christ. In a word, Conforti tried to accomplish what he said to his missionary sons, that the apostle, like Jesus, must go around doing good to all, serving all, attending to every kind of need and spreading heavenly blessings among the people...These words came from his heart and he addressed them to the people of Ravenna when he took possession of the Diocese: “I give everything for you, o afflicted and trou- bled ones; I want to tell you that the Lord is close to those whose heart is afflicted and he saves the humble of heart. I give everything for you, O Christ’s poor ones, to sympathize with you in your suffering, to soothe them as much as possible and to help you to carry the cross that the Lord has given you to increase your merits and virtues. I give everything especially for those of you who have abandoned the ways of the Lord; the Divine Shepherd commands me to leave the sheep in the fold and search with an anxious concern for those who have strayed”18. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy sum up his entire pastoral plan also in Parma: “It must be above all a compassionate love, a consolation of all the miseries of the soul and the body: he must practice all the works of mercy and remember that all those who suffer have the right to his concern. 80 Guglielmo Camera

He must give preference to those whose tears need to be dried.”19. In his 1921 Christmas homily, Conforti presented the figure of Jesus, with unconscious autobiographical characteristics, as the model of his entire pastoral ministry: Jesus is the one who came to heal, enlighten, and lead the whole of humanity to God20. Conforti interestingly stresses that in order to be a faithful copy of Christ and embody His example, both pastors and the faithful must be guided by the Holy Spirit, who must be “the principle, the motivation and the rule of our entire life and work”21.The Spirit is also at the origin of the missionary Consecration.

Conforti’sexample Conforti frequently said to his missionaries and his diocesan priests that Christ, the priest’s model, “coepit facere et docere”. The spiritual journey he proposed to his priests, missionaries and people was, first and foremost, a very personal experience; in this experiential dimension Conforti was a great teacher and he proposed the creativity and the novelty of the Spirit which dwelt and was at work within him. Our Founder’s originality and greatness should therefore be sought at this level. As the founder of missionaries and a man consecrated to the mission, he was a model for his missionaries even though he was never to be a missionary outside Italy. Conforti was and remains a great missionary because his heart is perfectly and totally missionary.

As a Bishop, he felt his first duty was to announce and bear witness to Christ, by promoting and organizing a catechesis suitable to the needs and the best methods of the times, a catechesis that was directed at children, adolescents and adults. Conforti himself was a true catechist through the solemn series of homilies he delivered in the cathedral, covering the most important topics of Catholic doctrine. Many witnesses at the diocesan and apostolic process spoke about Conforti’s proclamation of Christ to the people of Ravenna and Parma and his constant practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Among the most important witnesses are Ormisda Pellegri22, Fr. Bonardi and Mgr. Savazzini23.

We can make our own this observation of Ballarin: “His action, his thought and his virtues were under the catalyzing influence of his missionary vocation. This set within the schema of his spiritual life, the function, the measure and the place of prayer, mortification, pastoral zeal, meditation and study ….When he was a bishop, he looked upon his office as an apostolic commitment and he lived it out as a missionary, though it did not in any way distract his attention from the distant mission field to which he had committed himself through his institute…Catechism and the missions were the two recurrent and dominant topics in his mind, his writings and his activities, and they show how he always saw religion through the eyes of a missionary, as from its essential and initial perspective”24.

III-Instrumentsofgrowthinthemissionaryconsecration There are some instruments of spiritual growth for us as men consecrated to the mission, which were inculcated and lived by the Founder himself, that are never out of date and, therefore, must be a source of inspiration for us too today.

Prayer The Founder was a man of prayer. Witnesses testify that his prayer was a true expression of union with Christ, who accompanied him “during study, at work and in the many works of the apostolic ministry”. His prayer was awareness of God’s presence, in whose name he planned, thought and acted25.

Word of God Conforti was very devoted to the Word of God. Many testified to this, but perhaps the most beautiful words are those of Fr. Teodori: “Bishop Conforti loved Sacred Scripture above any other book in this world; he read it often and we marveled at this insistence in always having the bible to hand. We saw him read it, meditate on it, quote it in his speeches and recommend it always and in every circumstance. Sometimes, when I had to go to his room to call him, I found him reading the Bible”26. G.M. CONFORTI, A MAN CONSECRATED TO THE MISSION 81

Eucharist In his Testament Letter to his missionaries, Conforti recommended that the Eucharist be always “the center of our thoughts and affections”. He delivered a wonderful address on the Eucharist and the missions at Palermo on 6 September 1924. Christ is alive in our midst, he accompanies us and is our strength in the Eucharist. The Eucharist, therefore, seems to have been the Conforti’s royal devotion, if we bear in mind the testimony given under oath at the Process of canonization27.

Asceticism Our Founder reminds us often of mortification and asceticism, which he personally practiced and wrote about frequently in his spiritual journals. Though some of Conforti’s concrete practices may now be “out of date”, the same cannot be said about asceticism itself as a necessary dimension for the consecrated life today. The Church reminds us that: “Community that is not mystical has no soul, but community that is not ascetic has no body. “Synergy” between the gift of God and personal commitment is required for building an incarnated communion, for giving, in other words, flesh and concrete existence to grace and to the gift of fraternal communion. It must be admitted that this kind of reasoning presents difficulty today both to young people and adults28.

In speaking of Conforti, Fr. Mondin says that “the question of mortification appears quite often in the Founder’s writings; he deals with it from a Christological and agape perspective. Conforti presents mortification as an essential dimension of the imitation of Christ”29. Ballarin reaches the following conclusion on Conforti’s spiritual life “we can say that Conforti, through the constant practice of asceticism, strict mortification, dominion of self and meditation, achieved a far from common level of mystical life, in the sense of a loving, simple and permanent attention of the spirit to divine things”30.

Study Conforti in his time was considered to be one of the greatest experts in the missionary field. In his interventions as president of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, he often stressed the importance of knowing about missionary problems and for this reason he founded the magazine Rivista di Studi Missionari (Magazine of Missionary Studies). “Ballarin says: in spite of the pressing pastoral commitments of a large diocese, Conforti always found time to read and this gave him concrete and up to date knowledge of the problems and the situation of the missions”31. “We can see that Conforti’s missionary thoughts, and the documents that preserve them, are the proof and the measure of a true primacy, in relation to the times in which he lived and especially the works that were produced. His thought must be assessed above all on the basis of the works he supported. If there is no richness and originality, there is undoubtedly a depth of passion that led Conforti to the forefront of missionary cooperation, putting him on a level with the pioneers”32.

IV-Conclusion We have said on so many occasions that Christ is the missionary’s ideal. The missionary’s apostolic projects are the same as those of Christ, his pastoral priorities are the same as those of Christ and his sentiments and lifestyle are those of Christ. These were the sentiments of Conforti and he wanted to communicate them to his missionary sons. There is something in this that goes beyond the times and the circumstances and it is something that will always be part of the theology of the mission. In his life and teachings, Conforti left us an extremely precious heritage to which we should constantly return, namely, that Christ is the only missionary, as the encyclical Redemptoris Missio points out. If we read chapter VIII of this last missionary encyclical, we can only rejoice at the missionary spirituality left to us by Blessed Guido. In this chapter of the encyclical, we find the same teachings of Conforti, many cues ofthespeechesto missionaries departing for the missions and the characteristics of missionary spirituality that were to distinguish his missionaries: “An essential characteristic of missionary spirituality is intimate communion with Christ. We cannot understand or carry out the mission unless we refer it to Christ as the one who was sent to evangelize … It is precisely because he is “sent” that the missionary experiences 82 Guglielmo Camera the consoling presence of Christ, who is with him at every moment of life”33.“Amissionaryisreally such only if he commits himself to the way of holiness”34.

We can therefore make our own the conclusion reached by Fr. Mondin at the end of his study on Conforti’s Christology: “I have tried to highlight the fundamental goodness and topicality of Conforti’s teachings. Like the thought of all great authors, Conforti’s too conserves an extraordinary topicality at the level of speculation and at practical and pastoral levels too. It is a thought that deserves to be studied more attentively and profoundly, especially by the members of his Congregation. His doctrine and his praxis as a bishop in Italy and the founder of missionaries for the world, point the way towards a global apostolic commitment – pastoral care, new evangelization, mission ad gentes – because it places at the center “faith in Christ and in His love for us35.

Notes:

1 cf.Severino M.Alonso R.,Consacrazione,in Dizionario Teologico della Vita consacrata,Ancora 1994,pp.451-453. 2 cf.Vita Consecrata,18. 3 Ibidem. 4 Vita Consecrata,22. 5 TL 7. 6 (The missionary) should not ignore the ordinary supports and nourishment for the interior life which should enable him to think, judge,love,suffer,work with Jesus Christ,in Jesus Christ,for Jesus Christ (FR 18). 7 FR 67. 8 DP 4,Parma 25 January 1907; DP 17,Parma 11 March 1928; PdP in Vita Nostra,7 July 1919. 9 PdP in Vita nostra II,4,April 1919. 10 Cfr.PdP in Vita Nostra,I,8,1918; August,1924; FCT 20,Monthly retreat on St.Francis Xavier,Parma,pp.256-258. 11 Vita Consecrata,18. 12 PdP 1,1921,pp.93-94. 13 PdP,2,1921,pp.105-106. 14 VC 72. 15 Ibidem. 16 Ibidem. 17 DP 4,25 January 1907. 18 Homily delivered upon taking possession of the Ravenna diocese,6 January 1903. 19 Homily delivered upon taking possession of the Parma diocese,25 March 1908. 20 Homily in the Cathedral of Parma,25 December 1921. 21 Homily for the New Year,1 January 1924. 22 Positio,Summarium pp.68-69,testimony of Ormisda Pellegri 23 Positio,Summarium p.11,testimony of Mgr.Savazzini.The Positio is on-line at the General Direction’s Website. 24 BALLARIN L.Tutto per la missione,EMI 1981 58-60. 25 See,for example: Positio,Informatio,no.63,p.25. 26 Positio,Summarium p.620. 27 cf.Positio,Informatio no.67,pp.26-27. 28 Fraternal Life in Community,23-24.cf.also Vita Consecrata,28. 29 MONDIN B.,Missione annuncio di Cristo Signore,EMI 1994,130. 30 BALLARIN L.,Tutto per la missione,cit.,53-54. 31 BALLARIN L.,Tutto per la missione,cit.,58-59. 32 BALLARIN L.,L’Anima Missionaria di Guido Maria Conforti,Istituto Saveriano Missioni Estere,Parma 1962,p.65. 33 RMi,88.The entire 8th chapter should be read.Bearing in mind what our Founder taught us,we should feel at home here. 34 Idem 90. 35 MONDIN B.,Missione annuncio di Cristo Signore,EMI 1994,162. WHAT WOULD G.M. CONFORTI SAY TO THE XAVERIANS TODAY? 83

WHAT WOULD G.M. CONFORTI SAY TO THE XAVERIANS TODAY?

Roberto Carlos Marques da Silva

Any attempt to answer this question must go back to the early days of the Xaverian Missionaries’ existence and the initial insights of our Founder. His letters, from the initial discernment until the concretization of his dream, show us that G. M. Conforti was above all passionate about Jesus Christ and His Gospel, a man who let himself be modeled by the Spirit of God with unshakeable trust. Aware that his missionary project sprang forth from the heart of God, he felt the need to do something so that Jesus Christ might be known and loved by all.

I-MovedbyanintenseexperienceofGod’slove We can perceive in Conforti’s words the “mysticism ” of a man who had an intense experience of God’s love made manifest in Jesus Christ. He did not rest in his endeavors to ensure that this love was shared by all those who hadn’t received the opportunity to experience it in their own life. He cared deeply about communicating this love because he sensed that this was how humanity should be led to full knowledge and the true source of this love, in other words, to God himself. The experience of God’s love generates a certain malaise and a certain dissatisfaction in the human heart. In order to bring this experience to its fullness, we must share it, abandon our own comforts, break with our egoism and communicate a new possibility of life for all.

HowdidConforticometoknowthislove? Conforti discovered this love through the contemplation of the Crucifix and reading the life of St. Francis Xavier; through the illness that almost made it impossible for him to be ordained a priest and the foundation of a new institute for the foreign missions; through the illicit dealings of his father and the death of his mother. His life was marked by this love. “He discovered a new face, his own face: noble, balanced, divine and transfigured. It was not a question of narcissism or self-adoration. It was the consequence of contemplation: the face of one who contemplates is transformed into the face of the one contemplated”. Conforti managed to look at God in the same way that God looked at him: he experienced the fullness of this encounter thanks to his encounter with the Crucifix.

The commitment to sanctify the world - “to make of the world a single family” – demanded that he be a man of the Word, a reality that was “central in his life, his writings, programs and pastoral ministry”. He used to say: “no one who knows how to read should be without a copy of the Gospel. No one can deny himself the joy of reading the Word of God. There he shall find the most secure paths for his entire life, light in times of doubts and uncertainty, comfort in times of affliction, strength to face life’s struggles and a powerful stimulus for practicing all the virtues”1.

His commitment for the sanctification of the world necessarily passed through his personal encounter with Christ in the Word, in daily life, in his work for his personal conversion, in everything he did, even though it bore the mark of human fragility. He found the strength to live this “project” of love in a life of intense prayer, in a work of committed apostolate, in an enthusiastic attention to creation and, in a special way, to humanity.

CaritasChristiurgetnos! Love was the criterion by which Conforti lived his missionary spirituality fully. He believed that a spir-

Roberto Carlos Marques da Silva SX is currently the rector of Philosophy and Postulancy at Curitiba (South Brazil). 84 Roberto Carlos Marques da Silva itual and apostolic life, in order to be truly missionary, must possess the Trinitarian Love as its center, driving him to love the whole of humanity in its different cultural manifestations of race and languages. In his life he tried to strike the proper balance between spirituality and apostolic service, with love as the criterion of discernment.

Conforti’s tried and proven spirituality consisted in living as Jesus did, namely, by becoming a “little Christ”, a universal man inserted in a world suffering from a lack of love as a pledge of God’s loving presence among humanity. Universality means that no person can be excluded from God’s love. In order to avoid the risk of “emotional spiritualism”, Conforti believed that the life of faith had to lead to openness to historical evens, which must be lived in the light of faith.

He found in the centrality of Christ the way for us to become full and complete persons, in other words, closer to our neighbor and, at the same time, with a profound and humanizing interiority.

II-Spiritualityofcommunion The Founder’s writings contain some important expressions that show us how he lived the spirituality of communion: “I recommend that you have one heart and one soul among you, that you remain always united by the bond of perfect fraternal love which ‘does not think ill, does not claim its own rights and does not get irritated. It believes all, hopes all and endures all”.

In addressing thus his missionaries, we see that Conforti was very attentive and consistent in expressing his sentiments about the necessity of fraternal communion. In this kind of recommendation the Founder encourages them to live what he himself had lived, despite inner struggles, with the conviction that this was the way to ensuring an effective witness.

G. M. Conforti was aware that each person must realize that he is part of a greater reality and transcend the limits of a purely personal wellbeing to widen his horizons within the context of communal living, which makes it possible to “restore meaning” to one’s own personal history and live more profoundly the proposal of love that flows from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The table of the Word and the Eucharist are a “beacon” for the community; they show every brother that he is not alone and that only by remaining united can we discover the Lord’s presence who “communicates the Word to us”, allowing us to recognize Him “in the breaking of bread”. Conforti discovered all that was essential for himself and gave sense to his life as a brother, father and pastor, and he handed it on through his life and his action as a gift to his missionaries, so that they might embrace communion as a norm for their life in the freedom of the children of God. Living this unity created by the bonds of fraternal communion generates the apostolic man for the world; he hands on the gifts he has received, transcending the limits of self-absorption, to understand and embody love in a wider context, ready to abandon everything he has obtained for himself so that others might have a share in these gifts.

III–TheApostolicman Conforti wanted to be a missionary from “his earliest years”. He fully believed that he was called, like his missionaries, to be light of the world and salt of the earth, but this is only possible if we have a “tried and proven love”, “capable of cordially welcoming everyone without exception”. Such a love gave him the strength for his apostolic activities, thereby showing that, in order to be missionaries, we must be men of love, imitators of Christ and, together with Him, capable of giving everything, even our life, so that others might live. This means that the greatest goal in giving our own life is “to bring about the Father’s Kingdom”, which was announced and proclaimed by Jesus during his earthly life. The missionary is one who leaves, stripped of everything and taking nothing with him “neither gold, nor sil- ver, but only a great heart that is ready to face any trials in order to spread the Kingdom of Christ” (DP 8). Commitment to others and their cause is therefore essential in the missionary spirituality that was lived and proclaimed by Conforti. WHAT WOULD G.M. CONFORTI SAY TO THE XAVERIANS TODAY? 85

In this sense I believe it is legitimate to conclude that the missionary spirituality of Conforti, his desire to share the faith, humanize the world, depend in the availability of man to fulfill the will of God. Conforti develops his action in the religious sphere, beginning with a profound experience of God’s love according to his self-understanding and his understanding of others. He desired that others should have the same experienced of this love and be led this essential encounter. The missionary spirituality, therefore, helps people to transcend their egoism, a abandon individualism to give themselves totally so that others too might have the possibility of “being”.

IV-Spiritualityofthecross Conforti proposes the cross as a “source of light” for those who wish to follow Jesus Christ. In the cross we contemplate the synthesis of the Gospel as Jesus himself proposes it to us, but we also contemplate the cross of everyday life, with all the sufferings and pain that belong to each one’s personal history and the difficulties we experience in the apostolate. “The crucified Jesus is your sword, your strength, the invincible weapon and the secret of your victories. It shall help you overcome your fragility, triumph over superstition and human perfidy and help you make progress in your peaceful conquests for the spreading of God’s Kingdom” (DP 12). To commit oneself to follow Jesus necessary implies abandoning the mysticism of the cross as suffering to embrace the mysticism of “suffering as a source of knowledge which gives us the necessary solidarity for encountering God in the cross”.

When Conforti exhorts his missionaries not to be afraid of the challenges in the mission, he invites them to remain faithful to the missionary mandate they received from Jesus also in times of difficulty, and to discover God’s wisdom in the contemplation of the cross. Conforti believes that we cannot obscure the cross of Christ because it helps the missionary to face the struggles and the battles of life with His wisdom; it is the same cross that guided the life of Christ. If the cross is the synthesis of the Gospel, it is also the synthesis of Christ’s life and the path for those who wish to follow him.

The cross means that we must serve the people of the mission with compassion, sharing their joys and sufferings. By contemplating Christ on the cross, we shall be able to contemplate those who suffer in this world and be with them in the same spirit of solidarity as Jesus when he walked among the marginalized people of his times. Jesus lived in solidarity with those who had been crucified by political, economic and social exclusion (sinners, lame, blind, crippled, tax collectors ...). By imitating Jesus, His followers shall learn to do as He did: forgive, cure, get involved and share with those who will be entrusted to him. For Conforti, the presence of the Crucifix is the essential element for living holiness and being a missionary.

V-Finalconsiderations The Founder’s spiritual journey shows us that the Xaverian Family has its roots in an intense spiritual experience, which sprung forth from the heart of a man who was passionate about life, humanity and creation as the fruit of his experience of God’s love. The great challenge of our times is to communicate this love in a fragmented world. This demands that the spiritual life of missionaries be marked by those basic values that Conforti lived and communicated to all his missionaries “present and future” and, above all, an “incarnated” and inculturated spirituality in the areopaghi of the peoples to whom we are sent (cf. RMX 22-28). The pastoral constitution “Gaudium et Spes” on the Church in the modern world reflects very well what I would call a true spirituality of solidarity: “The joys and the hopes, the grief and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the grief and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genu- inely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts” (GS 1).

This is the identity of the Christian who leaves everything to proclaim the good news of God’s King- dom. It is the identity of people whose love is great. It is the identity of persons who are always prepared and whose “lamps” are lit, people who are not discouraged by the atrocities of this world, thereby giving witness to love, justice and peace “like the divine master who was good to everyone, cured people, attended to every kind of need and distributed His heavenly blessings” (DP 4). 86 Roberto Carlos Marques da Silva

The efficaciousness of our witness will be all the greater when, as Xaverians, we open ourselves up to the spirituality of the culture into which we are inserted. In the case of Brazilian culture, our spirituality will be truly missionary only if it is imbued with joy, the sense of celebration and at the same time, involved in the reality of poverty and exclusion that devastates our country. In this consists “the challenge to understand and respect people who are different, to live alongside them and dialogue with them in a mutual enrichment in the evangelizing mission, apostolic relationships, formation to the religious life, relationships between cultures, generations and visions of the world, among the churches and people who intend to follow Jesus Christ faithfully”2,aswellasintheacceptanceofdi- versities, different manifestations of faith and living together in a truly fraternal and human manner.

We no longer need a “God who punishes”. We look for the God of Jesus Christ to learn from Him the ability to create spaces in which people have the right to “be”. Conforti understood this and he wanted the missionary spirituality to help men abandon their egoism, individualism and idolatry in order to have the possibility of living a full and abundant life. We should live in such a way that inculturation can become the source of mutual enrichment between our charism and the culture in which we are inserted.

Finally, our missionary family was born of Conforti’s intense, transforming, humanizing and passionate life of prayer. It no longer belongs to a small group, but to the Church and the world. This means that the Xaverians must be men who are constantly open and converted in order to become aware that, as citizens of the world, we must do the same as Christ and love the world with the same love of the Father.

We no longer go to the lands of the infidels to destroy altars and plant the Christian civilization (unfortunately some still think like this). We go to encounter God, the God of Jesus Christ, in the soul of every people, carrying only the cross of Christ – his love/giving – to do as He did and reveal to our brothers our own experience of this love. We discover that the Spirit of God has gone before us and that Jesus Christ is the only essential thing in the mission. The missionary is only the faithful servant of Jesus who bears witness to Him and draws others to Him through his evangelical witness. Prayer is the path to this experience.Letting ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit of God and dedicating ourselves to the Lord’s service in complete liberty, demands that missionaries have an intense prayer life, “as an inalienable necessity, the foundation of perseverance and holiness” - in the words of Paul VI. The Founder is an example to us because his prayer gave birth to a project of love which even today mirrors his holy life.

At then end of this brief reflection, enraptured by love for the loved One, I am convinced that we must continue to believe that a new world is possible and that we, the Xaverian Missionaries, in whatever part of the world we find ourselves, can and must bear witness to this belief, driven by the love of Christ, inspired by the life and holiness of Conforti.

Notes:

1 Reflection elaborated by Alfiero Ceresoli on “Conforti e Parola di Dio”.The text was taken from the 1991 campaign for spreading the Word of God. 2 Equipe de Reflexão Bíblica - CRB,Reconstruir relações num mundo Ferido,CRB Nacional,Rio de Janeiro 2006. A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 87

A HISTORICAL OUTLINE onConforti’sSpirituality*

Angelo Manfredi

INTRODUCTION I have been working on the biography of Guido Conforti for three years now. Unfortunately, I am unable to work on it full-time because I teach Church History at the seminary of Lodi and I am also in charge of the diocesan pastoral ministry to youth.

Your Congregation has given me an opportunity and a challenge to continue my study of the history of a diocese and a territory, moving on from the history of the Church in a certain place (statistical data on pastoral aspects) to the biography of your Founder.

I will take as my starting point what I have received from the biography. This meeting is more a seminar for me because there are persons here who know more about the spiritual figure of your Founder. Consequently, your questions, doubts, etc., will help me to see if I have grasped the essence of Conforti.

Interpreting spirituality When we speak of spirituality, there is a danger of reducing it merely to “forms of prayer”. We also run the opposite risk of extending it to include everything and anything, since spirituality affects many, if not all, areas of the life of a believer.

Rather than define spirituality, I shall try to offer a workable interpretation. Therefore, I shall not discuss the essence of spirituality in general, or the spirituality of Blessed Guido Conforti, but how his spirituality actually developed.

Concrete experience (encounters, suffering, illness, success, failure, positive and negative struggles) progressively epitomize theory. Each one of us has been formed, and continues to be formed through homilies, the advice of our Spiritual Director, books for meditation and the daily reading of the Gos- pel1. This is the theory and the key to interpretation. All this wealth of theories and concepts inevitably clashes with our concrete experience, which re-orders, prioritizes and testifies to a spiritual re-elaboration, telling us if it can work through the trials of mourning, failure and success, or whether it is too fragile and needs something more. Each person’s spirituality is formed in this way: experience acts as a “sieve”.2. The task of experience is to let the good flour pass through and draw out the bran of the elaborations, homilies, etc.

We shall try to determine how much of the formation and other input received by Conforti were sieved and became part of a mosaic that gradually developed his spirituality. Therefore, the input he received during the formation phase and the subsequent stages too (Conforti continued to read, study, reflect, preach and meditate on the Word of God) were filtered, reduced to the essential and inserted into an increasingly stable, harmonious and complete framework. It was stable because, little by little, life begins to acquire a certain stability (thanks to some reliable things that have withstood the

* The text is a re-elaboration of a recording.It was decided to keep the conversational tone of the speaker’s intervention. Angelo Manfredi is a young priest of the diocese of Lodi. For the last three years he has been working on a scientific biography of Guido Maria Conforti. His Doctoral thesis “Vescovi, clero e cura pastorale. Studi suilla diocesi di Parma alla fine dell’800”– is “the best social and pastoral treatment of Guido Conforti’s human dimension” (Giacomo Martina SJ, in “Bibliografia confortiana commentata”,editedbyE.Ferro. 88 Angelo Manfredi trials of life); it was harmonious because the shortcomings and gaps of a certain type of formation are gradually compensated by life experiences; it was therefore complete, capable of providing a subsequent tool for interpretation. It is therefore an interpretation “in progress” which possesses its own stability and evolution. This is how the spirituality of a person, group or Congregation evolves.

Starting point I begin with a supposition that should not be taken for granted: the personal spiritual journey of your Founder, Guido M. Conforti, coincided with his fundamental contribution to the Institute he founded. There is a definite overlap between his own personal journey and what he gave to the Insti- tute, and he wanted to give to the Institute most (we might well say all) of what he lived at the level of spiritual experience. We could say that this is obvious; it is what a Founder does. Yet it is not always so obvious: your Founder had a particular life experience as bishop of an Italian diocese and Founder of a missionary institute. He could have distinguished a little more in some way between his contribution to the pastoral organization of his diocese and his contribution to his foundation, but it was not possible.

I would like to make a modest comparison: Blessed Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, who was bishop of Piacenza some years previously 3, founded a congregation to assist Italian emigrants. He was a bishop and a founder too. I believe that the spiritual and pastoral figure of Blessed Scalabrini flowed only partially into his foundation because his experience was somewhat different. He accepted the responsibility of the Italian emigrants to America because Pope Leo XIII entrusted this task to him. Unlike Conforti, therefore, he did not experience an initial missionary vocation that was frustrated by ill-health and led to the foundation of the Xaverians. Scalabrini was a totally Italian bishop who carried out a mandate given to him by the Holy See. He poured into his Congregation some of his personal elaborations, pastoral style, spiritual experience, but only to a certain degree. Conforti, instead, was totally a Founder, just as he was totally bishop of Parma. This totality, I believe, led to a total, or almost total outpouring, with its undeniable great value and its limits too. By way of example, we can point to a rule that Conforti insisted his missionaries observe, the rule of weekly confession, which was a typical feature of priestly spirituality from the Council of Trent onwards (its peak moment was the 19th century). I wonder how many actually managed to make a weekly confession in China! On the other hand, we must not forget that Conforti only went to China in 1928! He said clearly: “you must do so, if at all possible … and do not hesitate to make some sacrifices in order to do so”. This is clearly the point of view of an Italian who has always lived in Italy and who observes the very precise code of conduct of his spiritual tradition. Conforti undoubtedly lived this way and he handed it on to his missionaries as he had received it. Obviously, his missionaries would have observed the norm as best they could. I have been told that other missionaries “held a funeral service” for Canon Law as they passed through the Straits of Gibraltar, but I don’t know if the Xaverians did the same.

I apologize for the lengthy introduction, but I believe it was necessary and I hope it has given some initial food for thought.

I-THEHISTORICALCONTEXT I shall not dwell on all that happened in the dioceses of Parma, Emilia and Italy in the period 1865- 1931. I shall mention some aspects of the context which I believe contributed to Conforti’s formation and spiritual development. I shall emphasize four aspects, though others could also be added to the list.

Theformationyears First of all, let us consider Conforti’s formation years, especially in the seminary. He studied in what I would define as a “hard-line” seminary; I use this term to refer to the spiritual atmosphere of the 19th century which resulted from the French revolution and the conflict between the Catholic Church, the A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 89

French revolution and a changing world. I do not use the term “hard-line” in a derogatory manner; it refers, instead, to a spiritual mentality, a set of ideas and positions that point to an intense spiritual life which produced many canonizations and beatifications. It was “one” spiritual mentality among others, some of which were moderate (cf. Rosmini, etc.). The seminary of Parma adopted a hard-line approach:

- Rosmini’s Philosophy (and not only his Philosophy) was systematically eliminated. - Rigorism and Jansenism, which were still thriving in Italy (including Parma) in the 19th century, were systematically eliminated. They had already been eradicated by the time Conforti joined the Seminary of Parma. This was a seminary whose moral theology and spiritual theology were close to the position of St. Alphonsus Liguori 4. It was obviously a great revolution from the pastoral and spiritual points of view. - The cultural and spiritual relationship with the Jesuits. - Thomism,therefore the adoption of St.Thomas Acquinas’thought,even before Pope Leo XIII imposed it on all the world’s seminaries.

This was the spiritual and cultural atmosphere of the seminary of Parma. What emerges from this? First of all, it reveals what we could call an Ignatian spiritual setup: retreats were done according to the model of St. Ignatius5. This was a typically Ignatian methodology, a spiritual framework that was thoroughly established in the seminary of Parma by Fr. Giuseppe Carelli, the predecessor of Ferrari 6.Don Giuseppe Carcelli was a former Jesuit who joined the diocesan clergy during the suppression of the Company of Jesus and later became the memorable rector of the Parma seminary in the first half of the 19th century, thanks to the distinctive spiritual approach he gave to it. This Ignatian framework is visible in many aspects of Conforti’s life. I refer to his continual attention to asceticism, which was typical of the Jesuit spirituality of those times. Fr. Martina always told us that Ignatian spirituality is also a mystical spirituality, though from the 17th century onwards until the entire 19th century the spirituality of Alfonso Rodriguez prevailed and this was a very ascetic and less mystical spirituality; indeed, it was very suspicious of what we would call, in technical terms, mysticism. We could sum it up in two Latin words: “age contra”. An asceticism, therefore, that was wary of anything that might dis- turb spiritual growth and which was to be immediately quashed as soon as it appeared7; attention to conscience and obedience and, as useful tools, the spiritual exercises and meditation, which were also, though not exclusively, Ignatian.

Readings Thanks to his biographers, we know what Conforti read as a seminarian. I would emphasize the fact that he read not only the moral theology of St. Alphonsus Liguori, but also his meditation: “The practice of the love of Jesus Christ” and “The glories of Mary”, which are still in circulation today. These were classical readings, especially “The practice of the love of Jesus Christ”. They were provided for meditation and especially adapted to the life of the seminary life and the priest with a strong pastoral and missionary approach. This is an important point: St. Alphonsus was first and foremost a missionary. He worked as a missionary in the abandoned villages of the Campania region and he made a contribution to Conforti’s life with his pastoral approach, which was characterized by kindness, continuity and his typical mental flexibility. A balanced affective spirituality8, the rejection of Rigorism and – as we mentioned previously – an emphasis on Marian devotion, which was very strong during Conforti’s formation years and which coincided with the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII. A lot of things are usually said about this Pope’s international politics and his relationship with the Italian state, though his pastoral approach and promotion of the rosary are less well-known. The Rosary was already widespread in the Italian countryside, but I believe that it became the typical prayer of the people during the last years of the 19th century, thanks to Pope Leo XIII and the many encyclicals he wrote on the rosary. The rosary was one of the pastoral and spiritual tools of those times: St. Alphonsus in the 18th century and Pope Leo XIII in the 19th century…Conforti was fully immersed in this atmosphere and, indeed, his early writings and homilies had a distinct Marian flavor9. 90 Angelo Manfredi

Theologicalformation We have already mentioned the school’s keen Thomistic stance and this undoubtedly influenced Conforti’s spiritual formation. Everything, including at a spiritual level, had to be grounded firmly in orthodoxy without any great innovations. Conforti received a rigorous and objective tradition, namely, the sense of objectivity governing the spiritual life and this clearly emerges in the attention given to the sacraments in Conforti’s spirituality and pastoral ministry. The sacraments were objective instruments given for the spiritual growth of the individual and the community. According to a 1997 study of the pastoral letters of the bishops of the Emilia Romagna region from the early 19th century until Vatican II: “although Conforti did not seem intent on writing a compete series of pastoral letters on the sacraments, he was one of the Bishops that wrote most on the subject”. This was the most intense period for the spreading of writings on the sacraments because Thomism and a certain type of theology clarified and elaborated sacramental theology very well.

Twosaints I shall mention but two of many possible saints. One is St. Francis Xavier as a legendary figure of the mission. As an adolescent, it seems that Conforti read the life of Francis Xavier by Giuseppe Massei. This biography was written in the 17th century and constructed from the testimony for Francis’ canonization process. The material was obviously collected during the 16th century and it consists of many wonders which can seem quite quaint to modern eyes10. Nevertheless, Francis was a man who combined pastoral zeal with the ability to bear the cross (suffering, illness and hardship) and a very intense interior life. This is an “ideal type”, a synthesis of holiness in which the figure of St. Francis Xa- vier stands out. It is no coincidence that you are called Xaverians.

Another saint emerges from Conforti’s texts, albeit more rarely: St. Francis of Assisi. It is probably no coincidence that Conforti went to Assisi when he resigned as bishop of Ravenna. He went to Mount Averna every so often and he would speak occasionally about Francis’ identification with the Crucifix. Francis of Assisi was obviously not a model for missionaries, yet he was nevertheless a man who lived and preached an intense interior life; a man who identified with and proclaimed the crucifix. There is therefore a pastoral and missionary consistency in the figure of Francis of Assisi. What does this saint have to do with our context? Membership of the Franciscan Tertiaries was one of the typical instruments of the pastoral approach of Pope Leo XIII (it was the subject of some encyclicals and was re-launched by the Bishop of Parma, Giovanni Andrea Miotti). Conforti became a Franciscan Ter- tiary with Ferrari in 1887. It would be interesting to see just how widespread was this pastoral instrument which, like the rosary11, was part of a wider design. Bishop Miotti promoted it in Parma and Conforti joined it too; thereafter he remained devoted to it12.

I have tried to lay the foundations of Conforti’s formation, which are the fundamental tools we need for a spiritual interpretation of his life experiences.

Otheraspectsofthehistoricalcontext

Modernism Conforti lived the first years of his Episcopal ministry 13 during the pontificate of Pope Pius X and he almost immediately had to deal with not only a series of social problems (these do not really enter into the spiritual picture), but also with the problem of modernism, which was certainly a shock for the clergy of those times, especially the younger clergy, who were partially captivated by the new and innovative suggestions, some of which were also interesting and valuable. There is no doubt, however, that this phenomenon came as something of a shock to the clergy formed by Thomism,with its social, theological and spiritual innovations (Fr.Tirrel,an English priest,was the spiritual theologian of modernism)14.By analogy,what took place was akin to the experience of some priests,lecturers or seminary superiors during the protests that followed Vatican II: some looked upon every kind of protest as a A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 91 threat and this led to strong divisions. Something similar probably happened with modernism. This was undoubtedly true in the case for Pius X, not only in the battle against modernism, but also in his pastoral interventions.It is said that Conforti as a bishop was more in tune with Pope Pius X in his pastoral approach than he was with Leo XIII. Catechesis was an important element in the project of Pius X, and it was a very clearly defined project and the most important aspect of Conforti’s episcopal ministry. Pius X gave some objective input: the Eucharist,pastoral commitment to Christian formation and catechesis and the establishment of a more traditional style. This was a partial reaction to the innovative ideas that aimed at listening to a changing world,though in many aspects these ideas were ambiguous and in some ways distorted the evangelical message and the Christian tradition.

Divisionamongtheclergy Another experience that left its mark on Conforti’s spiritual makeup were the divisions and quarrels among the clergy, first of all in Parma, then in Ravenna and… once again in Parma. As a young Pro-Vicar and then Vicar General in Parma he found himself having to deal with the tensions among the clergy, especially those in the town, at the arrival of bishop Magani; later, as a very young bishop at Ravenna, he found himself once again with a divided clergy. (In certain aspects the situation in Ravenna was even worse than what he experienced at Parma). Conforti suffered, his health deterio- rated and he resigned. He returned to Parma, where he spent some quiet months in the Mother House and was then appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Parma. He beseeched Pius X not to give him this task because he would have to accept a form of government he did not agree with (in the event this lasted only a few months). His disagreement also included the problem of the relationships among the clergy.

TheMissionaryUnionoftheClergy Another noteworthy aspect is the spiritual contribution Conforti received from his experience with the Missionary Union of the Clergy, an experience that introduced him to a series of contacts at national level. He had already experienced such contacts when he founded the Seminary for the foreign missions, but now he had become the national pastoral figure of the nascent Missionary Union of the Clergy. Not only did this experience give him a better knowledge of many Italian dioceses, it also made him work alongside Fr. Paolo Manna, in a very interesting and intense dialogue with a man who was 20 years ahead of his times! Fr. Manna was truly a far-seeing man of great enthusiasm and restlessness (even to the point of recklessness), typical traits of his home region, who realized that he needed the help of another person in the work of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, someone like Conforti who was an established, level-headed and balanced figure. These two men, who were almost the complete opposite of each other by temperament, enjoyed a harmonious relationship. Perhaps they experienced some moments of conflict, but for the most part Conforti welcomed, listened to and accepted Fr. Manna’s enthusiastic contributions, which he slowly allowed to cool down and then proposed to the bishops and the Italian clergy with great effectiveness15. An interesting comparison between the two men: during the same years of Conforti’s journey to China, Fr. Manna went on a tour of the PIME missions and China was among them. Fr. Manna returned from China and produced a text that was published by Butturini, but it was too ahead of the times …almost at the level of a Third Vatican Council16. Conforti, instead, returned from China with some experiences that changed him from within, though not too much. Fr. Manna had a very intense dialogue with Fr. Lebbe and even with some Anglican theologians. Conforti didn’t read that kind of material, he was interested in other matters. The two men had a different spiritual makeup but, nevertheless, their mutual involvement in the Missionary Union of the Clergy brought them into osmosis. I believe that Conforti received an important input from this experience, which he digested and integrated into his spiritual makeup.

ThepastoralconsequencesoftheFirstWorldWar The last aspect concerns the social-cultural dimension of the period between 1914 and 1929. From a pastoral point of view, the First World War was devastating for Italy because the majority of men, 92 Angelo Manfredi mainly young men17, had gone to the front, but it was especially devastating for the seminaries. The memory of those who say that our dioceses used to have great numbers of clergy seems to be stuck at 1945, when we had large ordination classes. They forget that there wasn’t even one priest ordained in the years 1918-20 because all the theology classes of the seminaries had been completely emptied. Re- covery was a very difficult process. The post-war years brought economic hardship, social upheaval and outbreaks of violence (of the anarchists first and then the fascists). Italy was a horrifying spectacle in the early 1920s. Violence was tolerated without any problem. It was normal for ordinary people to carry arms and use them against others. Gangs broke into the courts to prevent judges from complet- ing trials against people accused of violent crime. This was Italy in the period 1922-23-24! In some way it came to end with the Reconciliation and Conforti adopted two specific approaches. The first consisted in the primacy of the pastoral dimension. He strenuously defended Fr. Belmonte, the socially active priest close to the “Partito Popolare”, (the People’s Party) and he raised his voice in protest against the violence inflicted on his clergy, lay people and young Catholics and acted as mediator during the barricades of August 1922. He nevertheless appreciated the systematic interventions of Mussolini’s new regime in favor of the Church and the clergy in the form of stipends and religious instruction in schools. After years of antagonizing the clergy, the regime adopted a favorable approach, even before the Reconciliation and Concordat, and Conforti appreciated this, albeit with caution and some suspicion, because the primacy of the pastoral dimension was the most important thing for him as a bishop. These decisions of the regime were favorable to the pastoral work and he therefore accepted them as such.

The“ricomincianti” Another aspect that I shall attempt to examine in-depth because it concerns Conforti, Parma, the north of Italy and perhaps elsewhere, is what we might call, with a very modern term18, namely,,the return to the fold of the “ricomincianti”. It seems quite certain that there were very few non-baptized people, civil marriages and civil funerals in the Diocese of Parma until 1900. It was different in Ravenna, though this town was something of an exception. In Parma, and also in its more republican hill areas, children were still being baptized. From 1900 until 1910, instead, it seems that civil funerals, civil marriages, or people just cohabiting, and non-baptized children were on the increase ...

From 1925 onwards, these people, who were by then young adults or adult couples, were brought back into the fold. Was this because the fascist regime kept an eye on those who did not go to church? It was important to keep up appearances, but the Fascist regime was not like Franco’s regime in Spain (unless I am mistaken). In any case, the Fascist hierarchy was completely anticlerical and they were therefore indifferent to such matters. It was probably due to the disenchantment after the socialist, anarchic, atheistic and Bolshevik (however we want to call it) enthusiasm had died out. It was, therefore, not only a violent oppression by the fascists, but also a disenchantment, the death of a dream. This led to some returning to the fold and Conforti was attentive to their needs. His Pastoral visits addressed the problem too. He sent a letter to Subiaco to Fr. Giuseppe Parma, a priest of the diocese of Parma who later joined a Benedictine monastery, telling him about the 1924 National Eucharistic Congress: “there have been many conversions”. In the same year he also wrote to Fr. Uccelli: “The good fruits of our Eucharistic Congress are still visible. Every day we have Confirmation and First Communion of “children” aged 20, 25 and even 30” (these were people who had not received these sacraments in their childhood …) “to say nothing of the many illicit unions that have been validated”. This experience deserves to be studied in greater depth in the light of its importance and influence on Conforti’s vision of the world. A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 93

DialoguebetweenFr.Manfrediandtheparticipants

- Spiritual authors who influenced Conforti’s spirituality I shall take Ignatian spirituality as my starting point. Like many people, Conforti was capable of com- bining different contributions: Ignatius was one, in the sense that his spirituality was known in the seminary and diocese of Parma; there was also Alphonsus, whose spirituality was completely different and then there was Thomas à Kempis19. We could certainly speak of an essential spiritual tradition made up of many elements and Conforti was one of its representatives with his own personal approach. I have tried to present the ingredients of this spirituality. Conforti chose from among the elements that had been circulating in many Italian seminaries and dioceses during the second half of the 19th century on the basis of his own life experience. We must therefore mention the “Imitation of Christ”, some methods of Ignatian spirituality, St. Francis Xavier (who was not Ignatius of Loyola, but a missionary figure nonetheless; obviously not all the characteristics of Francis’ life were Ignatian, yet he was a model) and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus20.

Consequently, the following made an impact on Conforti’s spirituality: the “Imitation of Christ” with its various dimensions of spirituality, it is a very objective work with a strong emphasis on the interior life (my own personal opinion); there were also some spiritual authors (in his youth, St. Alphonsus, followed by others); St. Francis De Sales21. The influence of bishop Domenico Maria Villa brought him into contact with some spiritual authors, who were mostly French and Jesuits of the restoration. One example is Chaignon, who was a well-known author at the time and Fr. Manna used to refer to his work. In the Parma seminary Conforti was probably familiar with this author, Thompson and Deharbe (almost all of them were Jesuits of the restoration). At the beginning of Chaignon’s volumes, it is said that work began as soon the French revolution ended, but that they had to start again from scratch. Even the priests did not have much time for study and they had to be formed through preaching, spiritual exercises and the reading of useful books provided for them. This state of affairs continued until the end of the 19th century. The Jesuits contributed some Ignatian tools and methodologies and the organization of the Jesuits of the restoration, therefore a hard-line approach; then there was also St. Alphonsus, the “Imitation of Christ” and others too. In 1916, Chautard’s “The soul of the apostolate” was translated into Italian and Conforti probably read it. However, he read it in 1916 when he was already 51 years old! He quoted sentences from it by memory and this proves that he read it, but he read it quite late on in life, unless he had already read it in French, but we cannot be certain about this yet. Conforti therefore built up his spiritual path gradually with many similar authors, with an essential nucleus of objective and ascetic tradition, composed of obedience, fidelity and the crucifix, which results from these various contributions. It has been rightly said that it would be a narrow interpretation to read his resolutions only as an influence of the Ignatian retreat. The resolutions are a typical instrument of the exercises: at the end of the exercises, the Jesuit preacher asked the participants to write down their resolutions, but these were personal and various saints entered the picture, for example, Francis Xavier, John Berchmans (the typical models of seminarians and Jesuits in those days, with others too) and St Joseph. He therefore had his own personal approach. The work of the sieve and his personal life experience!

Regarding the question as to whether Conforti took Pollien’s book 22 (“La vita interiore semplificata e ricondotta al suo fondamento”) to his missionaries in China: I do not know. Probably in this case too there was a very interesting and typical choice of the times, the mental framework we were speaking about concerning the Jesuit preachers of the restoration (in the first half of the 19th century), who needed clear, essential and useable material. We cannot provide a library for those who have to meditate in the missions! We must give them something that is “edible”. This is only common sense, but it was also a strategy that spread among the clergy and the bishops of the 19th century from the restoration onwards23.

- Benedict of Nursia? This too is an interesting suggestion. Conforti certainly went to Subiaco on various occasions (see 94 Angelo Manfredi

Teodori’s very moving account of the first encounter at Subiaco); Fr. Giuseppe Parma was in Subiaco; the Benedictines were in Parma; he had contacts with Abbot Caronti, who was to work very closely with Conforti in the 1920s in the transition from the catechetical pastoral approach to the catechetical-liturgical pastoral approach. It was probably thanks to the contribution of Abbot Caronti that the monastery of Parma became an important center once again24. In fact, the Benedictines were to become the spiritual directors of many in Parma, among them Celestina Bottego, the Foundress of the Missionaries of Mary.

Francis Xavier and Francis of Assisi emerge in the “Parola del Padre”: Conforti speaks about them and tells of their adventures. The “Parola del Padre” is a collection of spiritual conferences. His choice of topics for meditation and retreats to the missionary aspirants in the Mother House is interesting. He wanted to give the essentials to his young students. I took this idea of Francis Xavier and Francis of Assisi from this source.

- Formation style I’m not sure if Carcelli cultivated the method of the superior who lived among the aspirants, but Ferrari certainly did. We find the mind of Carcelli above all in the written material he left in the form of “communications for the prefects”. The division by dormitories25 was a very traditional approach. Ferrari speaks to us of Ferrari the rector. We get the impression of a man who gave a more moderate tone to a somewhat rigid structure, using the common sense of a mountain dweller and the sensitivity to human relationships that Ferrari, though he was a scholar, retained from his very low social class origins. Ferrari restored this rare trait of simplicity of life and Conforti introduced it to the Mother House. It was a rare thing for superiors to be so close to the students in the seminaries that adopted the approach of St. Charles Borromeo26.

- The Modernism crisis When I began to study the Diocese of Parma up until 190727 I had the impression that there was very little modernism in Parma. Undoubtedly, the modernist crisis was present at different levels. At seminary level it was more a matter of study and elaboration; among the young clergy (cf. the policy of Murri) it was a question of social ideals to be pursued; at a lower level, modernism became almost an excuse for provoking various kinds of personal restlessness. The seminary of Parma undoubtedly pursued a typically Thomistic approach for a long time, initially in a somewhat rigid manner and later in a more profoundly cultural way; this did not give any space to a philosophical, theological modernism, or any other kind, also because bishop Magani had transformed the old theological school into a theological faculty. He had also counted on sending someone to study at the Lombardy seminary in Rome (let us not forget that he was from the Lombardy region); he therefore had a “shel- tered” body of lecturers who were very loyal to the neo-Thomistic thought. A name that stands out above all others is Amato Masnovo. This, together with the high-level theoretical elaboration, ensured that there was no modernism in Parma. From the perspective of social ideals, in Reggio Emilia there were a number of priests from the lower classes who were very close to Romolo Murri; in Parma the divisions among the clergy (which were also in part the divisions of the Catholic movement) and the strong presence of a political leader such as Giuseppe Micheli who, though he was young, was a moderate man of the center ground, prevented the extreme Murri line from spreading among the clergy. Parma therefore seemed somehow to be immune from Modernism.

However, a typical phenomenon of those early years of the 20th century under Pope Pius X, the witch-hunt, raised its head. Apostolic visitors arrived also at the seminary and the diocese of Parma; Cardinal Delai, who was one of the champions of this modernist witch-hunt, sent a letter, to which Conforti thus replied: “there are no problems here as far as orthodoxy is concerned”. Some younger members of the clergy had some personal problems and the root cause of this lay in the fact that there had been many vocations during the Magani’s final years, but the whole vocation sector had been somewhat neglected. Consequently, a poor selection of candidates led to the ordination of men who would later become a problem that Conforti had to manage with prudence, patience and some diffi- A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 95 culty (he was sometimes unable to do very much because these men had personal problems). Mod- ernism in Parma exposed some of these persons and a seminary where things had been badly managed, not from the teaching point of view, where the level was one of good Thomism, but from the point of view of the pedagogical direction that had lost consistency. Here too we see Conforti dealing patiently and steadfastly with a problem without accusing anyone of modernism. His letter to Cardinal Delai mentioned the problems and the difficulties, but he defended the seminary’s teaching staff.

Conforti also had to work long and hard to get his seminary back on track. It is difficult to restore prestige and luster to a seminary that is in crisis. The direction of the seminary had lost its bearings somewhat. Conforti engaged an Oblate from Milan as rector, but he only lasted one year. “He is a good man, but he clashed with the priests”. Another rector had to be found, but it was a truly difficult task! This, however, had nothing to do with modernism and more to do with Conforti’s patience and pastoral discernment. As far as modernism in the strict sense of the word is concerned, I believe I can say, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, that Parma was, all things considered, quite exempt from the problem. Others too have reached this same conclusion.

- The Word of God It is a widely held belief that priests before Vatican II had little, if any, familiarity with the Word of God. This is not true. Conforti himself recommended, in the typical tradition of all the synods after the Council of Trent (spiritual advice contained in many meditation books) that a chapter of the Bible should be read daily. The Bible was read and the spiritual and theological interpretation was a traditional one. I do not think that the readings of Lagrange are present in Conforti. This was a very spiritual reading, probably a little fragmentary, based on great quotations28 ...It would seem the quotations were often used as mottos and a key for interpretation: this was a typical aspect of the pastoral approach in those days. However, on the other hand, Conforti was ahead of the times in insisting that his parish priests read the Sunday Gospel in Italian too. His vision of formation and catechesis probably had a strong biblical emphasis, in view of providing children and adults with a tool for approaching the Word of God.

Undoubtedly Conforti practiced this constant reading of the Bible. His comments on the Breviary (though they are not especially brilliant) are proof of this. He wrote many notes on the pages of his Breviary in line with a spiritual tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages. This can be seen in the reading of the Imitation of Christ, in the verse that speaks to the reader personally. It is also an aspect of the Lectio Divina, yet we believe that we rediscovered or invented the Lectio Divina! The verse that speaks to the reader, which gives him an insight and becomes a key for interpretation. It seems like using the Word of God as mottos, but behind this approach there was a daily reading of Scripture which gradually opened up one’s understanding of experience.

II-SomeaspectsoftheFounder’sspiritualpersonality I shall try to give you a glimpse of what I, as an outsider, managed to grasp of your Founder’s human and spiritual makeup (though I don’t know if such a distinction is possible): some ideas, some aspects his spiritual personality that seem to emerge from the very traditional setup in which he was formed and the way it evolved. In other words, I shall focus on the pastoral and spiritual options that emerge from his life experience. I shall mention four aspects, though many others have probably escaped my attention.

Themanof“newbeginnings” I am more and more convinced that one aspect of Conforti’s interior life, though it was also visible in his concrete decisions regarding his missionaries and the diocese, is what I would call: “the man of new beginnings”. I believe I can safely say that Conforti’s often experienced failure and the death of a 96 Angelo Manfredi project. This holds true for everyone’s life, but for Conforti it was particularly so. I shall now refer to some moments that concern his personal life, the foundation of the Institute and the diocese.

The illness of his youth and the postponement of his ordination. What happened to your Founder when he was 18 and from then onwards was, at that time, a serious obstacle to becoming a priest. He had the good fortune to have Ferrari, the rector, on his side; Ferrari was convinced that Conforti was destined to become a priest and he defended him before the bishop and the other superiors. In another seminary and with another rector, I believe that he would have been obliged to leave. The whole affair (his ordination, a grace obtained for him by Our Lady of Fontanellato) was to have a happy ending, but before this he had to endure four-five years of worry “what is happening to me, what should I do…shall I make it?” This was the breakdown of a project.

The obstacles placed in the path of his missionary project by bishop Miotti. This too was no small matter, in the sense that, despite the fact that the young vice-rector had asked to begin the material construction of his own foundation at his own expense and full responsibility, bishop Miotti literally prevented him from doing so by appointing him as a canon, providing him with a clear set of directives and insisting on his obedience. Here we must refer to the spiritual tradition by which Conforti lived and which was based upon total obedience. The bishop said to him: “you shall now establish an institution for poor children”. One can understand the Latin text in many ways and, I believe, Conforti deduced from the document’s Latin expressions that it could be a seminary for poor boys (there is no written record of this, it is pure conjecture on my part). The institute for the foreign missions was also this at the beginning. Conforti, therefore, did not sway in his formal obedience to bishop Miotti and the latter’s successor gave him the OK for his project. At the beginning, however, his only great “creative intuition” was thwarted by Miotti, despite the fact that he had taken steps to become a parish priest of a place on the hills where he could house some boys.

Ravenna was an experience of failure. He arrived there as a young archbishop to fix a pastorally devastated situation and realized that he did not have the necessary physical strength for the task. It is worthy of note, and it has been rightly pointed out, that some months before his letter of resignation, he had thus described bishop Vespignani, whose metropolitan he was: “ He is looked upon as a pious and learned man, but his health is poor and the diocese is going adrift”. At a certain point, Conforti saw himself in the same light. It was the experience of the failure of another’s project, because it was the project of Pope Leo XIII. The combination of obedience and episcopal consecration (therefore an objective sense of the sacrament and his pastoral commitment) with the demanding attention to his foundation from a distance, clashed with a physical crisis that probably contained some psychosomatic elements. He was forcedtosay:“IshallneverbeabletoworkasabishopifIgoonlikethis,”.Hethereforehadtore-examine himself and declared that “the care of my missionary aspirants is not a task unworthy (the precise term escapes me) of the episcopal ministry”.Since it is a question of an objective ministry, Thomistic objectivity says a sacrament is sacrament, that it is a grace and should be put to good use and made the most of; anything to the contrary would go against the will of God. Nevertheless, this was a failure of his physical constitution.

The tragic end of the first missionary expeditions: Rastelli died and Manini left the ministry 29.Thefirst sending of missionaries ended in failure.

Lastly, we could mention the critical situation and the tension in the mission in China when Conforti went on his visit. In addition to being an enthusiastic discovery, China was also an ordeal and Conforti did not go there with a light heart; he went because there were problems and the mission was experiencing internal tensions. His ideal and his dream had finally been rewarded with a missionary district to evangelize, with a prelate from his own Institute and with his own missionaries, but the mission was experiencing quite a considerable amount of tension. At the end of his life, after giving so much towards the fulfillment of a missionary dream, the concrete experience of the divisions among his missionaries was not an easy one from a human perspective. A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 97

To say nothing of the extremely critical moments in the life of the Parma diocese during his entire 24 years there (1907-31). The 1908 strike; the seminary crisis during the war; he had managed to fill almost all the vacancies in the parishes in his diocese when the shortage of priests appeared again with more vacant parishes30. This was a great problem!

Conforti, like everyone else (because that is life), dealt with these problems which were, at least partially, great obstacles in the path of the fulfillment of his dream and his life projects.

I think we can say this very traditional spiritual background, which revolved around the cross, en- abled Conforti to elaborate these failures without bitterness and without ever giving up … even after Ravenna31. Each time, Conforti would put things off, though he was by no means in denial: “perhaps it could be dome. With the help of Divine Providence, who knows …”. Each time he would start over again with renewed commitment, reshaping a project. The missionary dream is a typical case in point: “I would like to be a missionary, but my health is not up to it so I shall be a missionary in this other way”.

This was the fruit of the spiritual consistency he had received and which he progressively made his own. I have already given some examples of this: “The pope made me an archbishop by obedience. I cannot be the archbishop of Ravenna because my health is not good. I will be an archbishop by looking after the missionary aspirants. This is a way of exercising the ministry”. It was also a way of convincing himself that he was right. Our psychological makeup needs answers and an interpretation of our experience. This process was the result of his spiritual makeup and formation, which he fully embraced because, in different ways, he interpreted his experiences in the light of the cross. “ That’s how things are, I must offer my life. However, my offering does not mean that I am giving up. I shall leave things as they are for now, I shall wait and do something else, something that I can do at the present time”.

The way in which he lived his lengthy and burdensome period of service as vicar general to bishop Magani was also sustained by this spirituality: “There’s nothing else I can do at this time. I interpret my role as vicar general within the restrictions placed upon me. This is all I can do. It counts for nothing, however I can do it. This is the cross I have to bear”… Yet it was an active cross and an expert on the spiritual life would probably detect a certain asceticism and a certain activism (in a positive sense) behind his attitude. “I cannot sit back. I must continue to act in my Episcopal role rather than in my service as Founder, but in the light of the cross”. Was this the influence of Ignatius? I don’t know. It was certainly a trait. This psychological aptitude is applied to the interpretation of events that derives from traditional spirituality: the sense of God’s will; spirit of obedience; spirit of self-giving; spirit of pastoral and missionary zeal (Francis Xavier and others too).

These are elements which are summed up in a certain sense by what we could call (here, too, it is only one aspect) the Christocentrism of the Crucifix. The crucifix at the “Chiesa della Pace” which “seemed to say so many things to me”and which became a focal point for Conforti32.He probably took prayers or traditional texts from the “Imitation of Christ” or perhaps from the “anima Christi” of St. Ignatius”.His reference was the contemplation of the Crucifix 33. This is not a question of spiritual theology concepts, but human attitudes which, in my opinion, are the fruit of the assimilation of a spiritual path.

Theadviceofwisepersons I sum up this second aspect with an expression used by Conforti himself: “the advice of wise persons”. Conforti did not live an individualistic spirituality or project. Individualism is one inherent risk of Ignatian spirituality because Jesuits are also formed to be alone, to be sent alone, like Francis Xavier, to the missions. Conforti was not like that. He was by no means an individualist. Among other things, there was some mistrust of giving too much space to human relationships. It was one of the aspects that we today call negative (perhaps in the future we shall think differently once again) in a certain seminary education: particular friendships. It was therefore not natural and spontaneous to abandon 98 Angelo Manfredi oneself to a comparison, dialogue or friendship, whether it was a spiritual friendship or a pastoral collaboration. Conforti lived his human relationships with the people who were closest to him. He was certainly a man whose relationships were cordial, though without exaggeration and affectation (perhaps even a little old-fashioned, but this was the style of the clergy of his times) and which was careful to deal … “cum mulieribus sermo durus et brevis34” - in the words of a priest of my diocese. How- ever, besides being cordial and courteous relationships (typical of the people of Parma), they were also authentic adult friendships which led to the sharing of projects and difficulties. Whenever Conforti had a problem, he made a point of sharing it with someone and asking for advice. In a letter to Ledochowski, he said he had asked Pope Pius X to release him from Ravenna only “after hearing the opinion of wise people”. He did not decide on his own to seek permission to resign, but he sought the wise advice of others. Perhaps we can even identify these persons as old and wise priests of the diocese of Parma. Conforti’s problem was that he was isolated in Ravenna. He could not count on the friendship of anyone, either because he did not know anybody and, moreover, there were divisions among the clergy. There were some people he felt he could trust, though he was not 100% sure. Whereas in Parma he could count on some specific people. I shall mention some of them.

One was Fr. Enrico Aicardi, his vicar general. He wrote some very beautiful letters to this priest from holiday locations or during some pastoral visits. Conforti’s humor shines through these letters, though he was never usually very humorous in his correspondence. There are some quips, without any sarcasm; he showed a keen sense of irony vis-à-vis some priest who was causing problems. It is obvious that he was in tune with Fr. Aicardi. We only have the letters from his holidays in Arabba, in the Trent region, or when he was on a pastoral visit. He obviously “chatted” daily with his Vicar General and it is evident that theirs was a sincere and very adult relationship.

Another was Fr. Ferdinando Venturini, who was parish priest of Villula 35 for 56 years 36.Whenhehad a problem with some priest in that area, he entrusted him to Fr. Ferdinando Venturini. He spoke to him with great sincerity: “Keep an eye on him, he is young and must be put to the test; this one has caused some problems elsewhere”. When there was a conflict between two priests, he would send Fr. Venturini to deal with it.

There were some men with whom Conforti enjoyed a very direct relationship. It would be interesting to look more deeply at who they were in the Congregation. He probably enjoyed a variety of relationships within the Congregation. I assume that his relationship with Fr. Bonardi was one of close collaboration and strong friendship. Before, at least in part, with Fr. Pellegri, but Fr. Pellegri was a special case: he worked in the Congregation though he was not a Xaverian.

We could continue to list names and it would be interesting. This is the best context for mentioning an aspect that Conforti inserted into the spiritual experience: laughter 37.Perhapstheimmediateim- pression given by your Founder was of a somewhat cold man, but in actual fact he was nothing of the kind. He was a reserved man by nature with a seminary formation, but spiritually he was anything but cold or lacking in a sense of humor, joy and enthusiasm for life. In this sense, he was very much a man of his home region of Emilia! He let himself go with his friends and the people he knew he could trust and express himself fully with them38. He did so with few people and he sought the advice of others. He was an adult who, extremely reserved by nature and formation, knew when and with whom he could express his emotions. It will be interesting to see how much of this sense of friendship, collaboration and sharing has rubbed off on the Institute.

Dynamicequilibrium According to Fr. Amato Dagnino in “la Dottrina spirituale di G.M. Conforti”, the keystone of Conforti’s spiritual makeup is his dynamic equilibrium, the composition of various factors in the construction of a balanced personality. As far as I am able to judge, I believe this to be profoundly true. Once again it is a result of the traditional model in which we see the emergence of the profoundly humanistic roots of the Jesuit tradition. In the period 1600-1700, it was the Jesuits who continued a certain pedagogical tradition that was typically humanistic and, among other things, it was strengthened A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 99 in Conforti also by his youthful acquaintance with the classics. I think he continued to read them because he was a well-read man who taught the classics, Cicero, etc. His equilibrium was a medietas…In his writings he says: “in all circumstances the bearing of the missionary must always be serious without being condescending, kind without affectation and such as to inspire respect in all who approach him. His dress should also be proper and clean, neither dirty nor refined. Let the missionary never forget that his conduct in all circumstances must always be an eloquent sermon and it shall be truly so if he considers how Christ would behave …” The second part is very traditional. This external bearing identifies with a medietas which was ultimately a question of equilibrium, the right means, the middle way. This too was the typical ideal for all the seminaries (exemplary priests were to be like this), he lived it profoundly and made it his own with a personalized approach. He was a man who embodied this equilibrium. I believe he practiced the “Ne quid nimis” (not too much, we must not exaggerate) profoundly, with the toning down (here we can refer to the propositions of the retreats) of some aspects of his character, attitudes and emotions that were too strong. We might perhaps question whether this was the height of spirituality, but it was a spiritual characteristic nonetheless.

Spiritualtraditionandcreativeinsight This fourth aspect, in a certain sense, sums up all the rest. Conforti was no innovator, at least not in the area of spiritual language. Conforti did not say “This thing that I have understood, and which I have not yet mentioned to anyone, is an important thing”. He makes a point of saying: “Francis De Sales says…, the Gospel says …”. However, he profoundly embraced and assimilated the spiritual tradition.

Conforti had only one creative insight, namely, his missionary foundation, which “has been the object of my aspirations for a long time”. He felt this to be his own. He did not say it was a new thing, that “a bishop has never before founded a missionary institute”. He was not aware of being the first to do certain things and was not interested in saying so.

He had this one creative insight which was ultimately one of the central components at the heart of the mystery of Conforti, his person and his spirituality. This motivation never diminished his very keen sense of the bishop’s service to his diocese. He was driven by his motivation and he allowed this creative insight to guide him without in any way distorting what had been given to him; on the contrary, I believe he used the same pastoral and spiritual language he had received. With the benefit of hind- sight, we can now say that a novelty truly emerges from the spiritual and pastoral language used in this creative insight: a profound synthesis between the pastoral approach and spirituality of Conforti the diocesan priest and, thereafter, the bishop and missionary.

The Missionary Union of the Clergy gave him the opportunity to speak of this synthesis between the missionary vocation and his concrete experience as priest and bishop. He was already living it out but he also had to speak about it. In this case too, his words were of a traditional kind: “the Missionary Union of the Clergy is not an innovation; on the contrary, it is the way in which we live better the other missionary works. It is not a new way of living the diocesan priest’s spirituality. It is a window we must open because when priests invest in the evangelization (this was not the terminology used by Conforti) of those who do not know the gospel, the Lord will reward them with pastoral fecundity in Italy”. This was far from being a new concept of Divine Providence; it was a traditional, though profoundly lived, concept.

DialoguebetweenFr.Manfrediandtheparticipants

Dynamic equilibrium and the right measure This element, which Fr. Amato Dagnino has rightly stressed as the central nucleus of Conforti’s personality, should not be trivialized. It was an equilibrium of very strong, even violent, forces that make up this equilibrium. We only have to think of the external components or, at least, those of the daily 100 Angelo Manfredi life of this man whose mind was occupied with the affairs of the diocese, China and the Mother House too. It wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do and it clearly entailed a very high degree of heroism. I have named it as the third point because I believe that this dynamic equilibrium is heroic on the basis of the first two.

- On the one hand,his ability to embrace what life threw at him,even the most painful events.Some- times we believe we have achieved serenity and equilibrium in our lives and then something happens which shatters our illusions. An equilibrium that is very psychological in nature and perhaps even with some deep roots in wonderful things that we have read,but which we have not yet deeply embraced, is something that can easily collapse even in adult life. In these situations Conforti also experienced some moments of discouragement, in which he was obviously suffering despite his reserve39. In some way, this shows us how much this dynamic equilibrium was also the fruit of a continual interpretation of life in the light of the Gospel, in the light of the cross and in the light of his offering of himself.

- There is also his equilibrium that came from his life with others. It is a working hypothesis, but the difference between Ravenna and Parma for the episcopate of Conforti was not a question of Ravenna’s climate. Ravenna was humid and had swamps (which no longer exist), but Parma did not have the climate of a spa. In Ravenna his physical endurance was sorely tested. But if he spent just 2 years in Ravenna and 24 years in Parma,this was because in Parma he could go every so often to the Mother House and spend time with his missionary aspirants and collaborators and get involved in a network of relationships. His equilibrium was also the result of this capacity for relationships, of this truly felt charity and fraternal love that he lived without great visible manifestations. To our eyes the heroism of the virtues speaks of asceticism, but relationships and fraternal charity are an important aspect of the heroism of the virtues. Conforti was a man who lived these things deeply.

- The contemplation of the crucifix and Divine Providence In traditional spirituality these two topics were closely connected. The cross means fidelity to one’s mission, obedience and destiny, in the certainty that the Father will dispose all things according to his will. I believe that it was in this sense that his capacity for beginning over again was confirmed by experience. For example, Conforti interpreted the experience of the institute through historical events in which he could also say personally: “Whenever I said: I accept this, I obey and place myself in the hands of God’s Divine Providence …, I can say that things picked up again, something new was born or things got back on the right track”. In our life we also need some confirmation; things actually did turn out all right. Fortunately, every so often the Lord gives us a glimpse of transfiguration. Moreover, it is a question of active and zealous trust in Divine Providence.

- Diocesan and religious40 A very interesting and broad matter. Conforti as a diocesan priest had a great respect for the diocesan clergy. In fact, he asked the Xaverians to be truly available to the diocese and to work with the prelates, but he did not want them to be only diocesan priests. He himself was not a diocesan priest for he too had made the vows when he became bishop. He wanted the Xaverians to be religious and did not want a merger with the PIME because the PIME was structured in a different manner.

This too comes from the spiritual and canonical tradition: vows are something else and more. Conforti emphasized the value of the vows in different places, including the legislation, as something which does not separate religious from diocesan life and service to the diocese; in actual fact, the vows give extra grace and a stronger bond. We could perhaps draw a parallel between Conforti’s human ties and the bond for him which were the vows in relation to God.

This, however, did not diminish his attention to the diocesan clergy, which did not exactly shine,41 and without detachment from diocesan life. It was an undoubtedly successful attempt at synthesis pre- A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 101 cisely because it summed up the two aspects that he bore within himself. In a certain sense, this was the focal point of the tension that was to emerge in China: the problem of the relationship between the religious superior and the prelate. Conforti instinctively identified them: why couldn’t Calza be the religious superior? This conflict indicates that it was a demanding and difficult synthesis.

- Relationship with clergy in difficulty Conforti found himself in a what was quite a typical situation. On the one hand, the first years of the 20th century saw a vocation boom (practically all over Italy), yet the structure of the seminary superiors was quite critical. This was not a moral problem (though some superiors perhaps had problems with alcoholism), but… they weren’t Ferrari nor were they Conforti. Conforti hadn’t appointed them. There were many poorly filtered vocations and some priests that had come to Parma from other places. He welcomed a couple of priests into the diocese to see how they would fare; things did- n’t work out for them. These things happen! On the other hand, he had some priests from outside the diocese who fitted in well. It is very moving to see how Conforti reacted to all of this with extreme reserve and with great enthusiasm too.

His letters reveal that he struggled to contain his feelings over the suffering caused to him by the life, decisions, gestures, disobedience or the morally questionable behaviors of some priests. Such things wounded him deeply and he would have preferred never to have to intervene … He did so in a literally discrete way … (Conforti’s style was very classical and he managed to contain himself) yet also with the ability of offering a second, if not a third, opportunity. He told a priest: “you have to leave that village, not because you have caused God knows what disasters (though this was sometimes the case!), but because the people cannot put up with you anymore: you have managed to fight with everyone. I am now offering you another parish. Make your choice! I shall look into the stipends or the offerings of the parish you choose”. As if to say: “I am not giving you a parish that is poor, either in financial or in human terms. Perhaps I shall even give you one with a certain prestige42. In the past one could fall back on these small parishes (as a form of damage control) with few inhabitants, that were easy to manage, but which also provided a certain income, (stipends and parish benefits), parishes that were safe and also simple from a pastoral point of view. Sometimes there were strange inequalities between large parishes with a modest income, where a zealous priest was needed, and these situations. “I am giving you a second chance, it’s up to you now”. He often took this approach, probably risking quite a lot.

He sometimes not only had to suspend a priest “a divinis”, he even had to pronounce an interdict on a parish because its priest did not want to leave, whilst he had assigned him elsewhere. He wasn’t throwing the priest out; it was the priest who did not want to go. Sometimes the government of a diocese entails working on the basis of Canon Law and … appeals to Rome (this was especially true in those times). By way of example, he once had two contenders for a large and prestigious parish (the parish of Soragna, if I am not mistaken). One was his own candidate: Fr. Bonfiglio Conti, who was a former student of the Mother House. Though he was not exceptional, he was a good priest who was later to become the rector of the seminary. The other priest was Fr. Comelli, who he had got to know very well at the time of the division among the clergy during the Magani years. Before making the appointment, he wrote to Rome: “ This is the situation, and you shall certainly receive an appeal. I am explaining to you why I am giving the parish to Fr. Conti instead of Fr. Comelli and, as I explain it to you, so shall I also explain it to him”43.

- The missionary inclination from his earliest years It is interesting to see how the missionary inclination was both precocious and tenacious in Conforti from his earliest years44. I believe that 90% of diocesan seminarians, myself included, felt a call to the missions during the visit of a missionary to the seminary. Yet in Conforti’s case it was something more than just a feeling because the missionary vocation you sense as a seminarian … “yes, it would be great, I think I would like that”… is filtered by time. Conforti’s illness also tells us that in this extremely precarious situation, the missionary call remained there like a thread running through his life. 102 Angelo Manfredi

His very profound interior life stood the test of time because we all fall in love as adolescents, but time tells us whether or not this falling in love becomes a life-long option.

- Meeting between Conforti and Manna in China There are no written records of the meeting between Conforti and Manna in China. Conforti said nothing about it. Perhaps there is something in the archives of the PIME. It would be interesting to see how much time they spent together and in what contexts. It seems that they spent some time together and they knew each other well! They must have spoken about many different things: the Missionary Union of the Clergy, its new president, the situation in China, the Apostolic Delegate Celso Costantini... I believe that Fr. Manna was working on some things and I also believe he was sufficiently in tune with Conforti to be able to discuss it with him, despite their profound diversity. It is true that Conforti had already sensed that some aspects of this missionary method were inadequate and he relativized them. In particular,the relationship between the mission and the colonial powers emerges here and there in Conforti’s writings and he had no scruples about accepting the help of the Italian Association in favor of the missionaries overseas, which was a Catholic-liberal organization45, yet with the proper degree of detachment. This detachment emerges also from the fact that the strength of his missionaries was not backed up by the protection of the French passport 46.

Conforti had a serene and detached relationship with the various governments. I shall mention two episodes which are quite interesting despite the fact that they have nothing to do with spirituality. Bishop Magani had to wait for quite some time before he received the government’s approval for his entrance into the diocese, and was unable to administer diocesan goods until he got this permission, until the 1929 Concordat. Even appointments were something of a problem. This was the so-called exequatur. I found a note in the central State archives calling for the procedure to be speeded up; it was written by an interesting character called Luigi Pigorini47, a self-confessed Mason , who was involved in politics though he was not a politician himself. A cousin probably asked him to exert some pressure on the government to bring about the bishop’s arrival.

The second episode (I mention this because Conforti had dealings with these people) took place in 1911, when Bissolati’s socialists presented a motion against religious instruction. A representative from Parma, Faelli, addressed the chamber and said: “We are not like Prometheus, we are not trying to steal fire from the gods. We are pygmies who will have to sweat for even one seat in the chamber in a few months, and we know how much influence the clergy has in this process. Therefore we should leave the question of religious instruction alone”. Conforti took advantage of his acquaintance with such people. He even ended up negotiating with Berenini, who was a socialist and in favor of divorce.

Conforti probably had a very detached vision of these matters, a very Italian but also a very detached vision, of one who believes that the government can help but without embracing the policies of any particular government. For example, when he founded the Institute he tried to finance it through a national lottery and reached an agreement with different members of parliament; when the chamber approved the move and insisted on the Institute being erected as a non-profit organization, Conforti gave up the idea of the lottery “because who knows what might happen in a few years time; they might pass another law of confiscation and take everything away from me”. This is a typical attitude of Conforti and I therefore believe he was in tune with Fr. Manna on certain issues.

We cannot say anything more on this meeting for the time being, but Conforti did not seem shocked into saying that the missionaries in China had perhaps only caused damage. Quite the contrary, he seemed to be happy that his missionaries were in China. There is documentary evidence of a different attitude towards the Chinese. The famous combination “faith-civilization”, which was typical of Conforti and not only, namely, “the Christian faith is civilization” – though it does not identify with Western civilization (Conforti was very clear about this) – but which nevertheless takes civilization to the barbarians, was toned down somewhat. He already knew that China had many problems, but its people was not to be looked down on. A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 103

He was unable to put together a concrete reflection on the indigenous clergy which was in full development during those years (Pope Pius XI ordained the first Chinese bishops in 1926). His fidelity to the Holy See probably led him to fully embrace the positive approach to the indigenous clergy as a re- source to be valued. However, he was unable to develop it concretely.

III–ConfortianelementsforaXaverianSpirituality I would now like to attempt to reply to what is written in the Explanatory Letter no. 2: “During these days we shall listen to Fr. Angelo Manfredi, the priest who is preparing a “scientific” biography of the Founder. We shall ask him: “From your contact with Conforti in view of writing his biography, what elements should his sons bear in mind when they speak of a Xaverian spirituality?”

I shall mention some elements which I believe to be useful as identifying factors and which I also found to be valuable for me. I personally observed some interesting and powerful things. Perhaps your own point of view will be different and there are probably other non-negotiable and inalienable elements because spirituality is, essentially, a style that contains many elements: pastoral life, behavior, dress, habits, the use of time, and so on. I shall mention some aspects which I believe emerge from Conforti’s life, from his words and what he gave to his Institute and his Diocese.

Synthesisbetweentheinteriorlifeandmissionarytotality First of all, I believe that this synthesis between the interior life and pastoral action is a real priority, especially the missionary action which is a consequence of the exclusive missionary option. Interesting is the issue of the “first”, or rather “fourth” vow that gives depth to the juridical codification of your Institute, which has always been exclusively missionary. There are many wonderful things that could be done, but this is not the Institute’s “vocation”. The exclusively missionary option and the codification-incarnation of Conforti’s original insight, (though he was not exclusively missionary himself) gives rise to an almost automatic, serene and immediate identification between the interior life and the missionary commitment.

It is very simple: since the commitment of the Xaverians is to be exclusively missionary, it is obvious that they must become saints and have a profound interior life in order to be totally and exclusively missionary. In actual fact it might not be quite so simple, but behind it there is the concrete daily experience of Conforti who cultivated a profound interior life, which was the essential nourishment of his episcopal pastoral ministry and the dedication he always showed to his Institute.

There is a powerful synthesis between the interior life and the missionary’s self-giving. It is a basic totality: if you belong totally to God, you belong totally to the mission. This is how God is. This is possible provided we do not get caught up in a thousand things or run after things to do, however worthy or prestigious they are, because that is not our vocation. This vocation is clearly totally missionary (I emphasize the word “totality”); Concretely, the Founder had to deal with the problems of the Mother House, find some teaching staff for the houses of Parma, Vicenza, Poggio San Marcello... and he could, therefore, have asked for “missionaries to work behind the lines”. The Founder was himself a missionary behind the front lines... I mention the following amusing episode: when the house of Poggio San Marcello was opened, the Xaverians immediately received requests throughout the Marche region (an area where even today some dioceses have abundant clergy and others less so) for preachers, a chaplain or confessor (or both) to some convent of cloistered nuns. Conforti wrote to the missionaries he sent to Poggio San Marcello, telling them to help with the confessions if possible, but not to become regular confessors because – I don’t remember exactly to whom he was writing - “you know how much time those people take up”. It is a wonderful thing to go to the convents... but we have another totality and goal in mind and this goal must spontaneously unify, at least ideally, our inner life and commitment. This is the essence of the example left by St. Francis Xavier. 104 Angelo Manfredi

RelationshipwiththelocalChurchandthemissionaryopennessofthelocalChurch The second aspect, though I don’t know if its importance is secondary, concerns the cultivated and convinced relationship with the diocese and the local bishop. What does the Founder say to the Xaverians about the diocese and the diocesan clergy? He did not speak very much about the diocesan clergy to the Xaverians, also because the Xaverians who were in the mission had little contact with the diocesan clergy. Moreover, he could not say very much about the local Chinese clergy since he knew nothing about them and never had any involvement with them.

At least on two or three occasions, we come across the classic expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch: “Let nothing be done without the Bishop”48.

This cultivated and convinced relationship with the diocese and the local Bishop was, at least initially, lived with such an intensity that a problem arose concerning the distinction between the religious superior and the local bishop. (It was one of the problems, perhaps the most important one, that he had to deal with during his visit to China). The Constitutions spoke of the religious superior and the local bishop. The missionaries owed total obedience to the religious superior in all that concerned their religious life, and obedience to the local bishop in all that concerned the pastoral life, availability, etc. Conforti’s own role as Founder and bishop of an Italian diocese probably did not allow him to articu- late this distinction well. Subsequent experience obliged him in some way to do so. A positive aspect of this is that it reveals Conforti’s attention and very spontaneous and keenly felt availability to the local church and its stability.

Conforti had a very clear vision of the local Church, but it did not blind him to the things that were not going well in the diocese. The dioceses had to open up to the mission. When a priest from Vicenza was prevented from becoming a missionary by his bishop in 1921 (the house of Vicenza had just been opened), Conforti wrote to Bonardi: “I have written to the bishop just the same to fulfill a duty, the duty to support the rights of an aspirant missionary. I think that opposition to a religious vocation, trampling on a sacred freedom that is ratified by the Gospel, is quite simply a mortal sin that should be reserved speciali modo to the Roman Pontiff, especially if it is committed by one who uti in casu should defend the sacred freedom of the Gospel, a mortal sin reserved to the Supreme Pontiff!” Conforti himself was faithful to this principle: never, not even when the seminary of Parma was practically empty after the First World War, did he think that the Emiliano Seminary was a superfluous luxury, even though dozens of parishes in his diocese had no parish priest. In a 1921 circular letter to the Italian bishops (who were all at that time still affected by the slump in the number of vocations after the First World War), he invited them to promote the missionary vocation in their diocesan seminaries. Therefore, his diocese too made a real decision in favor of openness to the missionary cause in what were difficult times, with the conviction that the Lord would reward those who were generous.

This was the situation as far as Italy was concerned. In China, everything was still in the infancy stage because it was still a Church based mostly on the Xaverian clergy, even though the formation of the local clergy began almost immediately.

Traditionaltoolsofspirituality Conforti used traditional spiritual language for himself and for the Xaverians. He asked the Xaverians in formation or in missionary activity to live an interior life based on some traditional tools: the Eu- charist, the two meditations, the twice daily examinations of conscience, weekly confession, monthly retreat. They were the same tools used by the diocesan clergy in many dioceses49.Theywerethenor- mal tools of the times, practiced faithfully and intensely. Usually there was one meditation each day, though he asked that two be done in the novitiate. I don’t know how many other institutes adopted this practice. The double examination of conscience, before lunch and before dinner, is part of the Ignatian exercises, but how many suggested that this should be an important formation practice? Conforti was one who said so: “we must do this for the missionary aspirants...”. The impression is of a Founder who was not looking for anything specific, but who wanted to provide the classical tools, al- A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 105 beit adapted, because he had been formed by them and his experience, once again, told him that they were solid.

Strongemphasisonobedienceandunity Another recurrent aspect, in terms of quantity and quality, is the strong emphasis on obedience and unity. This was also based on a spiritual tradition that made obedience one of the cornerstones of the diocesan priest’s life and, even more, of the religious life too50. Conforti had chosen this path and lived it faithfully ornerestoneven more of the reliigous lifetion that made of obedience one of the pillars of the life of the preist d. It seems t. Along with obedience, he also stressed unity within the Institute and within the Diocese. This was also a product of his experience, which was very painful at diocesan level and he experienced some problems at Institute level too.

I believe that this receives special emphasis among all the very important and elements of the Testa- ment Letter. My impression is that in the Testament letter, which is a collection of insights, styles and desires of the Founder, there is an interesting emphasis precisely in reference to obedience and unity. In this context, without demanding too much from a missionary situation of which he had no direct before his journey to China, he hints at something that he certainly felt as in inner spiritual necessity, namely, the spirit of teamwork and community life. The rules contained some very prudent instructions because he was aware that this was not always feasible. At that time, the difficult transport situation quite frequently forced some missionaries to remain alone as they waited for sufficient personnel to arrive51. Conforti’s idea, however, was that they at least have the opportunity to meet and spend some together in the interest of the common life. There was certainly no need to call for, or impose, such a style in the Mother House, where the common life was the rule, marked also by his presence. This aspect too was the result of his experience and need for constant comparison with others.

Equilibrium This is an aspect we have already mentioned: equilibrium is not something that can be taken for granted in the life of a bishop, and even less in the daily state of emergency of a European in a Chinese mission territory. I believe that life itself was already a daily situation of emergency before even considering the persecutions, transport, health, etc.52. Equilibrium in such circumstances was not a foregone conclusion. Some aspects of this inner equilibrium are worthy of emphasis:

- Mortification was encouraged, but without any specific instructions. The Constitutions and rules of traditional religious Congregations that were not directly missionary often prescribed how many times their members had to wear the hair shirt and fast, etc. Conforti said: “Mortification should be practiced in accordance with tradition:refer to the spiritual director”.This norm granted great freedom and was based on a great common sense because one had to consider what was feasible in the missions. This was an indirect message of exhortation to strive for equilibrium: “I won’t tell you what your equilibrium should be. I shall tell you that we must practice mortification (we know that Conforti practiced mortification in accordance with the spiritual tradition), but you must find your own concrete form suitable for your life in the missions”.

- Not a rigid “age contra” , yet with a commitment to keep tensions under control and with a great attention for the “beautiful virtue”that is chastity. I read in his Constitutions: “Those who are preparing themselves for the apostolate should be counseled by their advisers to study literature, religious and profane subjects, foreign languages so as to become fitting instruments in the hands of their superiors for the salvation of souls. In the course of their formal studies they should also be introduced to the fine arts, practical medicine, applied physics, natural history, music, etc., to all that might prove useful. They should be encouraged to follow their individual talents so that someone is prepared in every branch of knowledge. In this way the varied needs of the missions may be met. The students should be guided and counseled, not left on their own in the choice of their curriculum” (FR 57). This resulted in Xaverians taking an interest in cinema, the study of 106 Angelo Manfredi

medicine... It was a mentality based on a certain kind of spirituality that was also dependent on a certain type of “Jesuit approach”,somewhat formalistic and present not only in the religious congregations, but also in quite a few seminaries, according to which, if a person was capable of doing something, or wanted to do it, that was precisely the thing he should not do! This led to a cunning strategy: “if you want to go to a certain place,don’t tell the superior because he shall never send you there”.Conforti’s position demanded a higher degree of equilibrium from the superiors.It is easier to say: “No, you must not indulge your inclinations!”rather than: “seek the advice of your director andcarryitout”.Obviouslythisisalsotheresultofthecommonsenseofonewhoknowsthatthe mission needs nurses, carpenters, etc. However, I repeat, this was not a foregone conclusion in the tradition and it is no coincidence that this can seem the most banal thing in the world.Another example in this sense is the use of the bicycle. In those times, all the Italian dioceses forbade priests and seminarians from using a bicycle because it went against the dignity of the priestly ministry. Bishop Conforti, obeying the indications of the Regional Episcopal Conference which dealt with these “extremely important” issues, forbade his priests from using the bicycle … but not his missionaries! Where he was able to decide, he understood that the bicycle could be very useful in the missions. This points to his equilibrium and the distance between him and a certain mentality. It was not only Conforti who possessed this equilibrium. He also asked his missionaries to make some choices that would enable each member of the Institute to achieve a concrete and suitable equilibrium for the situation in which he lived.

Thecrucifixandtheclock As a brief conclusion, I mention the Crucifix and the watch. This was the conclusion of one of Conforti’s reflections in the “Parola del Padre” (schema that the Founder used to prepare for “Vita Nostra”). At a certain point, he said: “if I were to point to the most important thing for a missionary, I would say these two things: the Crucifix and the clock”.

- The crucifix is a reference point, a key for interpretation. We have seen how Conforti lived this dimension. - The clock (the schema discussed time as a gift from the Lord – a very traditional doctrine promoted by many spiritual authors – as time filled with opportunities for doing good, opportunities for grace that the Lord gives us; therefore,we must not waste time).

Karl Barth’s remark about the Christian having the Gospel in one hand and the newspaper in the other comes to mind. Conforti’s example is better because it speaks of fidelity, embracing opportunities, in a word: it is all about zeal, that missionary zeal which is very closely connected with the interior life, represented by the contemplation of the Crucifix. Perhaps behind Conforti’s very simple example there is a series of elaborations of his spiritual life, which was shaped by a spiritual tradition and his life experience. We know that Conforti was not one to waste time.

DialoguebetweenFr.ManfrediandtheParticipants

- Difficult moments in relation to the Institute Someone asked me about Conforti’s relationship with the Institute and the allegation that he was rejected by it at some point. The following things come to mind. - The Founder’s journey to China and the well-known and rather harsh report sent to him by the superiors of the mission. This was certainly a time of great trial and, perhaps, the final straw in the Founder’s ability to accept life’s blows,crosses and failures.

- Another episode refers to when he was reprimanded by the Chinese mission over a financial matter, something which later proved to be unjustified: “What has become of the money given by the Italian association for the missionaries in China?”.This must have happened immediately after the A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 107

First World War and Conforti explained that with the high increase in the cost of living and,consequently, the extra cost of maintaining the aspirants, they had to take what was necessary for the needs of the Mother House, but that they had no intention of taking even one cent away from the Chinese mission. Though the Founder’s reaction was a sad one, it was not bitter; he did not say: “I am your Father and look how you treat me …!” He probably had to quell some humanly under- standable emotions in favor of an extremely elegant and meek response, to show how things really stood,without rebuking what was a form of betrayal.He could well have said: “you are ungrateful” because, ultimately, Fr. Calza and the missionaries in China had been raised by Conforti, he had sent them out to the missions and had maintained them until then. Conforti put this too in his “curriculum crucis”

- The Missionary Union of the Clergy From the very beginning, Conforti sensed the necessity of a synthesis between his roles as a diocesan priest and the founder of a missionary Institute. Yet this was something that did not apply to him alone for his vocation, it was something that had to belong to all the diocesan clergy.

He probably began to fulfill the attempt at a fusion between two apparently different and distant vocational roles, at least for the mentality of those times, when he began his commitment as a seminarian to the Pontifical Missionary Works53. We today should bear in mind that it is thanks to Conforti, the Missionary Union of the Clergy, Fidei Donum, the missionary Encyclicals and Vatican II, that we can take for granted the missionary openness of the diocesan clergy. However, in a structure that was still feeling the effects of a pre-French revolution mentality, things were very different: it was one thing to be a secular priest, quite another to be a religious; it was one thing to be in Christian European and quite another to leave for the missions. The total difference appears in the image used by Conforti (it was no coincidence that this was after the First World War): the troops that functioned as a territorial army, in other words, the diocesan priests, must also cherish in their hearts the desire for new conquests for the Gospel. Yet the mentality of the times was: “I am a diocesan priest bound to a diocese and to specific modalities …there are a lot of problems in Europe, but the faith has taken root with its civilization, its Christianity. It is different in the mission countries, where there are still many infidels. Have mercy, Lord, on the poor people who do not know of the Gospel, send them people who will teach them the right path to heaven” 54. In this precise structure, Conforti’s intuition was in contrast with a very widespread mentality.

I believe I can say that the experience of Ravenna caused a personal crisis for Conforti. As Vicar Gen- eral he had found an equilibrium: in the morning he worked at the Curia and spent the afternoon at the Seminario Emiliano. A traditional Canon would have worked in the Curia and then dedicate himself to his serene town life … a walk in the afternoon. Conforti instead managed to carry out both his tasks. At Ravenna all this collapsed. I believe that one of the elements of the Ravenna crisis was the fact that the Institute and the Mother House were far away. He followed them via correspondence55 but, although he was the Founder, he no longer lived there. To obey the call of the bishop he had to set aside the missionary experience, even though it was one from behind the lines.

His work with the Missionary Union of the Clergy gave him the opportunity to attempt this synthesis, to fulfill it and speak about it.

The founders and those in charge of the missionary institutes wrote to Pope Pius X in 1912; the letter did not say anything special, except its request for a missionary Encyclical. Nevertheless, such letters can often also contain some interesting ideas. Bringing the missionary institutes together was no easy task (the Missionary Union of the Clergy is a case in point)... They did not exactly get along very well together, also because they had each a different history. The Italian exclusively missionary institutes were coming to life in that period, but there were also the traditional religious congregations that had some missions (the Jesuits to a certain extent, the Salesians too) and, therefore, with very different sensitivities. I mention the first meetings for launching the Missionary Union of the Clergy, in which there were regional representatives of the clergy, but no representatives of the missionary institutes, 108 Angelo Manfredi though they had a right to a place on the council. Therefore a letter written together was an important gesture. All of them probably signed this letter, but two or three people, among whom I believe we can include Conforti and Manna, took the opportunity to leave aside all the difficult memories of the past and establish a degree of understanding among them. That meeting probably helped several of them to realize that some ideal projects could actually be fulfilled. Little by little they sensed that they could head in that direction but it was the dialogue among different people, a dialogue that even just a few years previously would have been difficult because of mutual mistrust. Therefore I think that this was quite a significant episode. The Missionary Union of the Clergy was still in its infancy, but Conforti gave great importance to it because it concerned him personally as well as his clergy.

Conforti was an “image” of the Missionary Union of the Clergy because he was a prestigious bishop. Even Roncalli went to visit him. Fr. Manna was well known in the Italian Church because of his many books and interventions, but the man above all parties was Conforti. This was ultimately so because the bishops could say: “ This man is a bishop and he knows what it means to have an insufficient number of priests in the diocese”. It was also due to the fact that his spirituality could not give rise to any suspicion. Therefore, it is true that at a certain point Fr. Manna was the catalyst for starting the Missionary Union of the Clergy; to get it off the ground, however, someone above all parties was needed, someone with a prestigious (in the positive sense of the word) image: Conforti was that man, especially because he was a bishop and he therefore possessed the sense of authority of the institutional Church of 90 years ago …and which is also the case today.

-Fraternity Conforti was a man of fraternity. I am convinced that this is a fundamental aspect of his spirituality. He mentioned it in the legislation and in his exhortations to his missionaries, but he left it to them to implement it as best they could in mission territory. I see this need for fraternity as part of the traditional demand for obedience and unity. In Conforti’s psychology and spirituality there is the need of having someone with whom to share. I find it difficult to see this reality clearly defined in the legislation and exhortations. However, those of you who know these texts better might well say that I am mistaken.

* Fr. Angelo’s words were followed by some questions-contributions that emphasized the importance attributed by the Founder to community life and the Family Spirit.

- In connection with our documents: although there is not much in the way of quantity in the Testament Letter, the final part places such a great emphasis on it that we can say it is characteristic; in addition, there are also some of the rules of the Founder’s Constitutions. - Above all, his praxis. Many episodes are remembered (Christmas lunch with the new aspirants, and others)which created a family atmosphere. - The first General Chapter approved the Mission Statute which ruled that that the missionaries should “if at all possible” live in communities of two or three members. - The importance of community life also appeared in the statute of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart).

As one reading from the outside, I was probably struck more by that “if at all possible” (in the question that referred to the Mission Statute) more than by the witness offered by his praxis. But I too could not fail to see what you were saying. Conforti probably could not, or did not want to, make further concretizations because of his equilibrium and because it was necessary to see how things worked in China before imposing specific norms.

Nevertheless, Conforti’s praxis was always one of relationships and the common life. He took this from Ferrari, but he too personally lived this style of life in the Seminary. He organized the Mother House along these lines and this was not a common occurrence in those days. In his experience as diocesan-priest-founder, he had more time to spend with his missionary aspirants and he took advantage of this. He wanted them to be close to him, he directed their meditation in his room. There was a very strong emphasis on his physical presence and sharing. Again, I repeat: this was not so common! A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 109

This position made the Seminario Emiliano for the Foreign Missions quite an unusual reality. Conforti was founder, rector and spiritual director. Later he would look for a spiritual director, but it meant a lot to him to be there. It would be interesting to see how the superiors of the traditional seminaries (inspired by St. Charles Borromeo), which is the model in the entire north of Italy, kept their distance. The spiritual director spoke to the seminarians, heard their confessions, their secrets, but did not spend any time with them56. This was not the model of the Mother House or the praxis of the Institute, a praxis that was much more similar to a model that was almost absent in Italy, namely the model of the Sulpician seminary in which the superiors, who often make no distinction between the rector and the spiritual director (external forum for the former and internal forum for the latter), each carry out some aspects of both positions and live among the students. Therefore, the question of Conforti’s relationship with the Mother House is linked to his own style of human relationships: not with many persons, but with some collaborators (with whom he actually had no common life in the bishop’s house), with whom he enjoyed a certain degree of dialogue and familiarity. I don’t know of how many bishops this could be said57.

The praxis bears strong witness to this family spirit. This probably emerges in his texts with the mental flexibility that we mentioned earlier.

The Oblates of the Sacred Heart 58 was a dream that Conforti was unable to fulfill in those traditional times. He probably felt the need of a clergy with some strong elements, including in the religious sense, based on the model of the diocesan Oblates of Milan, a powerful model that he knew through many experiences and especially thanks to the Blessed Andrea Ferrari who sent Conforti an Oblate when he was in some difficulty59. Yet a look at the model of Oblate life in Milan shows that the Oblates in Rho lived the common life (even though in a particular way because each one had many tasks), though in actual fact they were completely at the service of the Archbishop, who sent them out as individuals, something that was quite normal. The Oblates of Milan were ready to set out alone for a mission of the Archbishop. Conforti had a different and absolutely original idea: it is something I did not find anywhere else. It would be interesting to see how much of this idea of Conforti was really original also in its application to community life. We would have to compare it with other foundations, however it was a dream which Conforti never managed to fulfill.

- What made Conforti the man he became? Apart from the Holy Spirit, who is certainly the principal source, though it is difficult to measure...60, there are some other things that we can measure and some that must be left to the mystery of the person. What we can see from the outside is what I would call an “original insight”, seeing in the word “insight” a nucleus of various motivating levels because, precisely as an insight, it is not so defined. An insight contains many ideas that are always interconnected. Undoubtedly, one of Conforti’s sources was his certainty that he was called to be a missionary. Yet it was a certainty that absorbed a series of elements and, because it was an insight, it drew on different sources and elements. The work of concep- tualization, which consists in untangling these elements, always ends up by forgetting something, similar to what I shall probably do myself in answering what is a very tough question.

First of all, I would say his zeal, which today we would call “pastoral charity”: his sense of “a Kingdom that must become a single family”. Then, I would say his relationship with the Crucifix and the Eucharist, which were nourished by spiritual readings, theology, Thomism, though it was also a profoundly personal and affectionate relationship. Here too we can distinguish between the Crucifix and the Eucharist, but only to a certain extent because they are essentially united.

The Crucifix he encountered as a child and which he kept in the bishop’s House and then in the Ca- thedral; today it is at the Mother House. Many eyewitnesses saw him before this papier mâché image of a Crucifix, totally absorbed in his contemplation and oblivious to his surroundings. Though it had little artistic value, to Conforti it represented his sentiments as a child, his Eucharist, his celebration, many other crucifixes, St. Francis on Mount Verna... 110 Angelo Manfredi

There are probably other sources too, but I emphasize these: the vision of the Crucifix and the vision of the Eucharist which opens up to the vision of the entire world (the universality that comes from the Eucharist, this too is very traditional61. The words of a Belgian priest, Fr. Edoardo Poppe, come to mind: “at any one moment on earth, the celebration of the Eucharist unites...”).

These are some insights. I have probably forgotten 95% or 97% of them. I have mentioned 3, another 97 remain.

Notes:

1 Spirituality books are normally divided into two categories:those which are doomed to gather dust in 50 years time on the shelves of some seminary library – the library of the Lodi seminary is full of priests’ meditation books written in the 19th century and which are now illegible,even though they nourished the spirituality of a generation of priests– and those that are destined to become classics. 2 An instrument used in our homes and mills to separate the flour from the bran. 3 Born in Fino Mornasco (Como), on 8 July 1939, he was Bishop of Piacenza from 1876 until his death in 1905. In 1887 he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of St.Charles Borromeo. 4 Fr.Benassi,a member of the teaching staff who later became a bishop in another diocese,followed the moral theology of Alphonsus and was therefore … a probabilist. 5 I made an Ignatian retreat with Fr.Bettan,who is a traditional Jesuit.When I saw Conforti’s resolutions and spiritual commitments during his seminary years and the early years of his priesthood (and even more as a bishop), I identified fully with them. This is a typical tool of the Ignatian month: at the end one writes down a series of resolutions, projects, and goals to fulfill. I still have mine from the retreat I made in 1988.I look at them again every so often,just as Conforti used to do. 6 The Blessed Andrea Ferrari, rector of the Parma seminary and later bishop of Guastalla, Como and Archbishop of Milan, was Conforti’s friend and,- some say – his spiritual director.Ferrari had been Conforti’s rector and there was undoubtedly a very strong spiritual friendship between them. 7 This is clearly visible in many writings of Conforti and his contemporaries. 8 In the period in which Muratori’s “Della regolata devozione dei cristiani”cast suspicion on all popular forms of religious devotion, Alfonso promoted them: for example,Marian devotion in “The practice of the love of Jesus Christ”. 9 The month of May (which was also a typical pastoral instrument of the times) was often suitable for the simple homiletics of young priests and seminarians. But it was also a devotion that was undoubtedly very keenly felt by Conforti and which he absorbed from the context. 10 For example: Francis Xavier tells a person that he shall survive a shipwreck, and another that he shall die in a shipwreck and both events come true. 11 The rosary was invented by St. Dominic to defeat the Albigensians and in Conforti’s times to defeat the new enemies of the faith at the end of the 19th century.St.Francis proposed the Third Order of the Franciscans to sow the seeds of the Gospel: today,we need to do the same thing. We must go back to the Middle Ages! This is the pastoral approach of Pope Leo XIII. The Middle Ages were seen as the great image of the Christian life.Leo XIII identified with Innocent III; he would liked to have been like Innocent III ... 12 My grandmother was a Franciscan tertiary and left instructions that her memorial card should bear the title “Franciscan tertiary”. 13 The period of Ravenna, the interval in the Mother House, his appointment as first coadjutor bishop and then, just a few months later,his succession as official bishop of Parma. 14 This is an aspect I would like to deepen. Perhaps it was Thomism that created in Conforti, who was still quite young (though entrusted with a great pastoral responsibility),this sort of reaction and distrust of everything that was innovative.At first sight it does- n’t seem so,but who knows…it might be the case and it is something that deserves closer examination. 15 I wouldn’t go so far as saying that one was the accelerator and the other the brake, yet…, a car does need both to function properly and the Missionary Union of the Clergy certainly functioned well.Perhaps they were more like shock absorbers,or something of the kind. 16 MANNA P.,Osservazioni sul metodo moderno di evangelizzazione,In BUTTURINI G., La fine delle missioni in Cina nell’analisi di Pa- dre Manna 1929, EMI,Bologna 1979. 17 This I saw also in my diocese where already the oratories functioned and were completely emptied because the youth were all at the front and only the very young boys were left behind. 18 The word indicates lapsed Catholics who return to the practice of the faith. It was used recently in a national gathering of “Azione cattolica”,an important Italian Catholic organization. 19 The imitation of Christ,independently of whether it was written by Thomas à Kempis or by someone else. 20 Bonardi mentions Ralese’s book on the Sacred Heart, but I was unable to find it. Probably it is a printing error or maybe Bonardi misquoted the name. 21 There are many quotations from St. Francis De Sales. I am unable to say how much weight we should give to this, but Conforti certainly quoted the Filotea (an introduction to the devout life). 22 Joseph Pollien, (1853-1936), a Carthusian monk with the name of François de Sales, wrote “La vita Interiore semplificata e ricondotta al suo fondamento”in 1894 (the book was widely revised in 1902). 23 At the beginning of the 19th century, the bishop of Lodi expressed the same opinion: “these priests no longer know Latin and I thereforehavetogivethembooksinItalian”. 24 It had always exerted some influence,but to a lesser degree when the monastery was at Torrechiara. 25 There were still dormitories in my seminary at Lodi in the 1980s. 26 Even today,in my seminary at Lodi,we still eat in a different dining-room from the students. 27 My doctoral thesis ended at the death of Magani. 28 The quotation “there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice, A HISTORICAL OUTLINE 111

and there will be only one flock and one shepherd”appears probably about 20 times in Conforti’s writings,especially in his missionary writings! 29 He came back to Italy in his own way,left the Institute again and was incardinated into the diocese of Parma,He finally left the ministry altogether. 30 One can observe a downward trend here: through his patience he had managed to put priests almost everywhere and then the number of vacant parishes began to increase again. 31 He was left with a bitter taste in his mouth even when the matter had been closed: some continued to complain that the accounts were not right .At a certain point,Conforti said,“I’ve had enough of these money problems”. 32 The “many things”was also,essentially,the experience of Francis of Assisi on Mount Averna. 33 This Christocentrism deserves to be examined in greater depth. It was surely an outline that the subsequent evolution of 20th century theology and spiritual theology was to develop in different directions. It is not Marmion’s Christocentrism, probably because Conforti was not familiar with it,or discovered it late in life.Perhaps it was the Christocentrism of some elements that came from these spiritual readings …of Chenion or others …the Imitation of Christ … 34 “Speak to women with harsh and brief words”.Women are not to be dealt with.There were some problems in this area. 35 A small village with few inhabitants,near Corniglio,in the mountains. 36 Fr.Venturini had been appointed by Miotti and died after Conforti whilst he was still in Villula. 37 From the Parola del Padre 1923: “St. Philip Neri used to say to penitents “Flee from scruples and melancholy”.He often reminded those who spoke to him of the words of the psalm: ‘servite Domino in laetitia’ and he wanted his religious to be always cheerful. What is the reason for this frequent recommendation which may not seem very important at first sight? The saint knew well that cheerfulness in doing good is pleasing to the Lord, who told us that his yoke is easy and his burden light and that serving him is to reign.He wants those who serve him to have a foretaste of eternal joy on this earth,unlike the sad ones whose heart is life a sea tossed by the storm and the agitation of passion”.He goes on to speak of Christian joy and cheerfulness as elements of the spiritual makeup. 38 These very concrete letters to the Vicar General, containing specific decisions on the clergy, are worth reading. They are written in the same pleasant tone as the letters he wrote in his youth to Fr.Giuseppe Venturini. 39 For example,in his dealings with priests: he was never violent,but always stayed within the limits,not only of Canon Law,but also of courteous but very clear language. 40 I am a diocesan priest,so I am taking a rough guess.I am not competent in this area,nor do I possess the sensitivity of those who live the religious vows. 41 There were good and bad,as is the case everywhere and in every time. 42 This could be done in the past.Today it is no longer possible because of the new system of maintaining the clergy. 43 At the beginning of the 20th century there were these appeals to Rome: “The bishop has treated me unjustly”. 44 There are no documents and, although the sources are good, this material should be taken with a pinch of salt. We have the memories of those who knew him, but when someone of 50-60 years is remembering things that happened when he was an adolescent, the events he recalls are inevitably subject to selection and distortion. 45 The Holy See was very suspicious of this association because it was pro-government. 46 For a long period the missionaries were protected by the French passport; consequently, if anyone did anything to a missionary, the French government exerted pressure on the Chinese government. 47 cf.Ethnographic Museum Luigi Pigorini at Eur,Rome.He was one of the greatest paleontologists and paleoethnologists of the end of the 19th century. 48 Conforti used the technical term “prelate”because in the Honan region, even when the Xaverian mission was divided into two dis- tricts, and even when there was a bishop consecrated by ordination, he had the titles of apostolic prefect or apostolic vicar, which were used for the provisional situation of the mission countries. 49 When he arrived in Ravenna he re-established the spiritual exercises that had been stopped some years before. Bishop Miotti had started them off in Parma. 50 Obedience was thus articulated in devotion to the Pope,obedience to the superiors and so forth. 51 Of the more or less edifying lives of missionaries I had the chance to read in my seminary days, I noticed that many of them were alone for months at a time. 52 Fr. Rastelli died after the Boxer persecution; Frs. Vincenzo Dagnino and Corrado Di Natale died soon after their arrival in China. The Founders and the missionaries knew that this was a possibility 53 During the sede vacante between bishops Miotti and Magani, Conforti was entrusted with the Pontifical Missionary Works, the Holy Childhood, and so forth. The Capitular Vicar, Tonarelli, put him in charge, undoubtedly upon the recommendation or, at least,the consent of the appointed bishop (Magani) who had not yet arrived in the diocese. 54 Taken from a well-known missionary song of the times. 55 The telephone hadn’t yet been invented and,therefore,the physical distance was felt even more keenly. 56 A priest from Milan, who studied psychology in Rome during my time there, told me “Our old spiritual directors... used to stay in their rooms,they did not share our recreation and this was a wise decision because the relationship was more serene”. 57 I would like to read the letters of the bishops to their Vicars General and compare them with the ones written by Conforti his Vicar General,Fr.Aicardi. It is obvious that the two men were friends. 58 This morning someone was wondering about the place occupied by devotion to the Sacred Heart in Conforti’s spirituality. Was it present or absent? Wasit strong or weak...? In any case,the name appears here! 59 This was a common practice that Ferrari used not only with Conforti. He sent the Oblate Fr. Marelli to Conforti as Vicar general in Ravenna; he then sent Cattaneo as the rector of the Parma seminary. In the same period, the seminary of Lodi was experiencing a crisis and Fr.Piovelli was sent as the Seminary rector.Piovelli was an Oblate and later became an archbishop in Sardinia. 60 Fr. Roger Mols, a sociologist of religion in the years 1930-40-50 used to say that “history and sociology do not measure faith, they measure the acts of faith”. 61 I shall not mention Theilard de Chardin who was unknown to Conforti. RelevanceandTopicalityofG.M.Conforti

Continental group work conclusions

For us today the Founder is: - A decisive source of inspiration and starting point.He was the first one to live the charism. - A Father who helps us to fulfill our identity as men consecrated to the mission. - A guide and witness: in his way of living the Gospel he points to the Christ we must follow. Inalienable aspects of Conforti for our spirituality: - Christocentrism (Caritas Christi urget nos - In omnibus Christus): the mission is based on the crucified Christ contemplated and celebrated in the Eucharist,which proposes a discipleship immediately available to be sent. - The apostolic life that looks beyond reality (ad extra) and is lived in the evangelical counsels. - his unchangeable testament and the Constitutions: a project he lived with ascetic commitment: prayer, Word of God,study and a positive vision of the world. What the Founder means to me, as a Xaverian in: - Africa: he is the father and initiator who proposed a life in which each one rediscovers his dignity (spirit of family in Christ); a local bishop open to the world; the man of new beginnings, of the medietas (equilibrium),whose authority lies in his simplicity. - America: he is the man who seeks “God in all things”,a man of deep compassion, sensitive to popular reli- giosity but with Christ at the center; attentive to the growth of the local Church; positive and open. - Asia: he has an “oriental”feature,recognized above all in the importance he gives to human relationships, the sense of family (harmony) and communication at profound levels (such as illness or other kinds of suffering). - Europe: he tells us, by his example, that we are all missionaries ad vitam, called to feel part of the local Church and its animators,presenting clearly the motivations of faith and vocational proclamation. Challenges for us today: - The Founder is not a model to be copied in the fundamentalist meaning of the word. - it is important to avoid the risk of referring to the Founder without any reference to the growth of the local Church. - we need a re-appropriation and actualization of our identity in response to the demands of today. - The Founder reminds us that our communities must bear witness to the family spirit, become centers of spirituality,be attentive to the laity that share our charism and be available to our ’“ad gentes”dimension. - Following the Founder’s example,we must cultivate an inner trust in Divine Providence and embody this in a true sharing of goods,reminding the Church of this value so that she may give from her poverty. APAGEOF XAVERIAN HISTORY

The period of Conforti’s first successor: 1932-1944

THE PERIOD OF CONFORTI’S FIRST SUCCESSOR: 1932-1944 115

THE PERIOD OF CONFORTI’S FIRST SUCCESSOR: 1932-1944

Augusto Luca

Our Congregation celebrated its 25th anniversary of foundation in 1920. By that time it had one bishop (Calza) and 12 missionaries in China, in the Apostolic Vicariate of West Honan. There were five fathers in Italy, in addition to the Founder, Guido Maria Conforti, Arch- bishop-bishop of Parma: Giovanni Bonardi, Novice Master, Pietro Uccelli, Spiritual Director, Anto- nio Sartori, Superior of Vicenza and Giovanni Gazza, who had been ordained a year earlier in 1919. The total number was 17 priests and two bishops (Conforti and Calza). There were about thirty students in the minor seminary, which had reopened in Parma in 1913 and then moved to Vicenza in 1919. Some were getting ready to go to Novitiate.

ThefirstNovitiateandreactionsinChina The first regular Novitiate began on 16 September 1920 with 22 novices. It was already known by then that the approval of the Constitutions and, consequently, Rome’s approval of the Congregation, was very near. At the end of the canonical year, on 17 September 1921, 16 novices made their First Profession; Fr. Bonardi had formed those novices to a certain self-assurance, in accordance with the Founder’s instructions: «(The Novice Master) should attempt to impart certain characteristics: namely, joyous serenity, social ease, gentleness, decisiveness, loyalty – the enemy of deceitfulness and insincerity - , and spontaneity in accepting new challenges and risks for the glory of God and the good of souls » (FR 69). The novices had been formed to a sense of responsibility and autonomy, though in a spirit of obedience. Before beginning the Novitiate, Fr. Bonardi had contacted some Jesuits to find out how they did things, since our Institute had taken its name and inspiration from St. Francis Xavier, one of St. Ignatius’first companions.

When the first group formed by Fr. Bonardi (Frs. Vanzin, Fontana, Lampis and De Martino) arrived in China at the end of 1924, the older missionaries looked upon them with some suspicion. Their self-assurance and sense of initiative caused some amazement and criticism because, intelligent and prepared as they were, they did not accept the older confreres’ words lying down. On the contrary, they sometimes criticized their elders’ attitudes with the typical frankness of youth.1. The first group was followed by a second in 1926 (Frs. Chiarel, Emaldi, Munaretti and Capra); these were later followed by others who had been formed with the same methods.

The reaction of the older missionaries is explained by the fact that they had been formed with some haste and did not possess great culture, especially those who had come from military service. Frs. Popoli and Magnani, who had cone from the Seminary of Parma and were well prepared, were the exceptions. Besides their disapproval of the young confreres’ behavior, some missionaries suspected that they were writing to Italy and presenting what was going on in China under a bad light.2. In his notes on the Visit,Conforti wrote that various Missionaries had spoken to him about the division between the younger and older fathers. Fr. Pelerzi stressed the independent spirit of the young missionaries and their free use of gifts sent from Italy. When the time came to vote for the religious superior, the young missionaries, who were by then the majority,voted Fr.Magnani (18/25) as their first or second choice; they probably also gave Bonardi his seven votes. Conforti then appointed as Superior, pro bono pacis, Fr. Amatore Dagnino, who was in Italy at the time. The Founder, informing Dagnino of his appointment, wrote that «in hisce rerum adiunctis»onlyhe

Augusto Luca SX was postulator from 1980 until 1990 and is the author of many works, among them a life of Conforti “Sono tutti miei figli”,Bologna,EMI,1996. 116 Augusto Luca could fulfill the delicate and important task. «Any other choice would lead to difficulties that we must avoid at all costs, both for the good of the Mission and the honor of our Institute»4..

The young missionaries were counting on Magnani because they believed him to be the only one capable of standing up to Fr. Pelerzi, the administrator of the Mission, who had forced the Missionaries to sack the catechists, who were the backbone of evangelization, by reducing the monthly allowance of each residence from 300/400 Chinese dollars to 40/50 dollars (from a total of 3000 to 560 Chinese dollars a month) 5. Pelerzi told the Founder that they were receiving 60 dollars and that they were somewhat better off than those in other missions. By the time of the visit the sum had obviously been increased a little. The missionaries’ displeasure with Pelerzi was such that Conforti spoke to Calza about recalling Pelerzi to Italy. Calza replied that if he did this he would appeal to Propaganda Fide. As Conforti told P. Armelloni about this he could barely hold back his tears. Armelloni recalled this episode during the Beatification Process.

The young missionaries’ behavior led the older ones to criticize Fr. Bonardi’s formation work (they did not want to accuse the Founder directly). The written record sent to Conforti after his visit to China contained advice on the novitiate (p.916), the Institute’s publications and the expenditure that was to be reduced (p. 918), etc. The written record ends by recalling how many wanted Fr. Magnani as Superior in order to carry out certain reforms which - if they had been accomplished - would have led the Mission to appeal to the Holy See. We can well understand the Founder’s sorrow at his sons’ intention to accuse him (even though the appeal was merely a hypothetical threat).

Theproblemofthereligiouslife In the elder missionaries’ criticism of Fr. Bonardi’s formation, there is no mention of the “religious life” in opposition to the apostolic life. The matter was not a problem for them since they were living alone or, at most, in twos, they hadn’t done a regular novitiate and they organized their own spiritual life according to a personal program. The problem was instead raised by Fr. Amatore Dagnino, the Rec- tor of Poggio San Marcello, who had already been appointed as the Regional Superior of the mission. In the run-up to the imminent General Chapter,Dagnino wrote to Conforti on 10 April 1929,saying that there was a crisis in the Institute, which needed to be resolved; the General Chapter would therefore have to take some serious and firm decisions, leaving aside personal considerations, to lead our humble Institute from its youth to a strong and serious adulthood. Dagnino also wrote that the Institute’s first General Chapter «is of capital importance, I would say even a question of life or death for our Congregation ». The problem concerned the formation of missionaries and the Mission, since the missionaries must maintain in the Mission, through the Religious Superior, the religious spirit acquired in the Mother House6.

In his reply, Conforti wrote: Dear Father, although my time is taken up with many concerns, I too am constantly thinking of the forthcoming General Chapter.I shall be truly grateful to anyone who can enlighten me beforehand on the most crucial problems we are facing. …Yourlast letter caused me some sorrow because it is not very explicit and leaves a lot to the imagination. I beg you to say what you feel in detail. Only then shall we be able to make practical and conclusive decisions.[…]

Fr. Dagnino’s reply was a long letter, indeed, a Report whose title was “Proposals for the 1st General Chapter”. A summary of its contents: The financial problem is keenly felt in the Mother House because of the poverty in which we are forced to live; nevertheless, according to Fr. Dagnino, «the true question concerns the Direction of the Mother House ».By way of explanation,he says that the Mission reaps the fruits of the formation sown by the Mother House. During his visit to the mission, Conforti received many consolations but, also, some disappointments. In other words, he witnessed shortcomings in mutual love and the religious spirit. THE PERIOD OF CONFORTI’S FIRST SUCCESSOR: 1932-1944 117

Dagnino states that he has been in the mission for 15 years and that he is aware of its problems. Some attribute the missionaries’ dissatisfaction to bishop Calza and Frs. Pelerzi and Gazza. Fr. Dagnino ad- mits that bishop Calza, after many years of «immense and heroic» work, with all the tribulations he had endured, is now suffering from fatigue and exhaustion. Perhaps the two fathers mentioned above exerted too much of an influence in an attempt to help him, but he also believed that various missionaries deserved some condemnation for their behavior which was insubordinate, free, always ready to give opinions and not so well disposed to receiving them and their demand for a certain broad-mind- edness with regard to life and outlooks.

Such behavior is the result of the formation received in the Mother House; in other words, the blame lies with the «direction of the Mother House ». The direction of the Mother House means Fr. Bonardi, therefore he is to blame. Immediately afterwards, he says clearly that Frs. Bonardi and Popoli have done an immense amount of work for our Family and have written a glorious page of our history; it would be unjust and ungrateful not to acknowledge this; nevertheless, a shadow would fall over their work «if they, even indirectly, showed indifference to the new attitude that the Congregation must now adopt »7. “Indifferent” in this context means “contrary”. «Such an attitude would lead to greater and more serious problems tomorrow».

Fr. Dagnino obviously believed that the formation of new missionaries was not as it should be and mentioned the possibility of this state of affairs coming to the attention of people «in high places», thereby giving certain people in Rome an excuse to amalgamate the missionary Families.

The problem could be solved by choosing personnel for the General Direction and the other offices (Novice Master and his Deputy, Spiritual Director) from among the oldest fathers, recalling them from the Mission. For Fr. Dagnino, the ideal is to have «a collective formation» in the Mother House with the Superior General, the Consultors and various Fathers resident in the Mother House and also some Theology lecturers, if it proves possible to have a theology school in our house. Worthy of note is his proposal that the Spiritual Director and the Rector be two different people.

Dagnino then lists the attitudes of the young missionaries that had already been criticized by the older missionaries in China. Among other things, he also says that it is not a good formative idea «to assign the young missionaries to external tasks, including propaganda; it accustoms them to a liberal way of doing things that is at odds with simplicity and evangelical poverty»8. In fact, when Dagnino became Superior General, he called back to the Mother House all the missionaries engaged in missionary propaganda work in the various dioceses of Italy.

We also have a letter written by Fr. Teofano Bassi, the future Apostolic Vicar of Loyang, in reply to a letter he received from Fr. Dagnino. They agree in their assessment of the young missionaries. Fr. Bassi mentions their poor spirit of sacrifice, easy criticism and poor submissiveness. Fr. Bassi concludes: I admire Fr. Bonardi’s work; for many years he has sacrificed himself for the Institute; his merits are truly many and we must be grateful to him for all he has done. Nevertheless, we must criticize some aspects of the young missionaries’ formation, namely the lack of a solid religious formation. Yet who is perfect in this world? Another in his place might have done worse9.

Having said all this, we can easily understand why Fr. Bonardi, despite the fact that he was the Founder’s right hand man for twenty years, was never voted by the missionaries in China to succeed Conforti.

ThesecondGeneralChapter The first General Chapter, presided over by the Founder, was celebrated in 1929 and limited itself to correcting some articles of the Constitutions and approving the Statute for the Missions. After the Founder’s death, on 5 November 1931, the General Chapter (6-9 April 1932) was called to elect a successor.China was represented by Bishop Calza (who had the automatic right to take part on account of 118 Augusto Luca his being a bishop),Fr.Amatore Dagnino,the Religious Superior of the Mission,Fr.Gazza,the delegate of the mission of Chengchow and Fr.Battaglierin,the delegate of Loyang. Italy was represented by Frs. Armelloni, rector of the Poggio San Marcello seminary, Morazzoni Eugenio,rector of Vallodella Lucania and Vanzin,rector of Grumone.Frs.Bonardi,Popoli,Uccelli and Magnani were Consultors.In all,there were eleven electors. After an attempt to elect bishop Calza, the missionaries from the Mission agreed to the election of Fr.Amatore Dagnino.By way of compromise,Fr.Bonardi was elected Substitute,in other words,Vicar General.

The task entrusted by the General Chapter to the new Superior was summed up in one word: “Con- solidation”. It was thought that reflection and a spiritual renewal were necessary after the Founder’s death. In other words, they were not to think of new expansions, but to reflect on the Founder’s teachings and life in order to achieve a better knowledge of their spirit and assimilate them into their lives. It must be said that Fr. Amatore Dagnino proved to be a devout son of Blessed Conforti and promoted knowledge of the Founder; he spoke often about Conforti and referred to his teachings and example. The first thing he did was to publish a pamphlet containing the Founder’s «Ricordi e Propositi», subdivided according to historical periods, for the edification of the various categories of Xaverians: the young aspirants, to whom he dedicated the “resolutions” of Guido Conforti, the seminarian; the professed confreres and the Fathers, to whom he dedicated the “resolutions” of Conforti’s later life.10.

The Superior General then entrusted to Frs. Vanzin and Francesco Bertogalli the task of collecting Conforti’s writings, which were published in “Vita Nostra” in the period 1918-1929, under the title “La parola del Padre”. The writings were organized with a certain criterion and accompanied by titles and subtitles. The result was a small book of 159 pages, published in 1937, which became the first anthology of Conforti’s writings. In 1935 Fr.Bonardi published Guido Maria Conforti, the first biography (290 pages) of the Servant of God with the Editore Istituto Missioni Estere,Parma. Fr. Dagnino also set in motion the Founder’s Cause of Canonization. The informative Process began on 18 March 1941 and ended on 12 September 1943. In 1942, Conforti’s body was exhumed and transferred from the Cathedral to the Chapel of the Mother House in Viale San Martino.

Fr. Dagnino’s efforts to achieve a spiritual deepening were truly remarkable. Reading his many Circu- lar Letters and other writings, we are given an impression of a man with a great love for the Founder and who constantly strived to ensure his teachings and spirit were kept alive in his sons. No other Su- perior General has spoken of Conforti with the same intensity and passion, referring to his words and teachings. He also made frequent and indicative references to our Patron, St. Francis Xavier. The concept of «the religious life combined with the apostolic life », which was so dear to the Founder and constantly preached by Fr. Dagnino, ran the risk of splitting into a detrimental dualism. In spite of his insistence on small rules,we can say that Fr.Dagnino knew how to inculcate a spirituality that was in harmony with the Founder’s spirit, and make it yield fruit in apostolic activity. He never forgot the mission and preached zeal for the salvation of souls as the characteristic of the missionary, but he insisted on the necessity of a solid spiritual life.

In contrast with the dynamism of Fr. Bonardi, the new Superior General believed he had to dedicate himself primarily to the inner formation of the Xaverians, thereby halting the various activities of the institute, including those already underway. He called back to the Mother House the priests who were working in the various Italian dioceses, from Trent to Sicily, to establish in all the parishes the “Opere Missionarie della Propagazione della Fede”, the Holy Childhood and the Missionary Union of the Clergy in all the dioceses.11. Culture, in its various expressions, did not receive any support and almost no Xaverian was sent to the Universities.Fr.Vanzinpoints out that vocation recruitment also suffered and that there was a con- siderabledecreaseinthenumberofmembersintheCongregation.Thisdecadeleftitsmarkandwas something of a youthful trauma in the life of the Society12. Yetwe must honestly acknowledge that the drop in vocations was especially due to the war that rocked Italy and the world. Indeed, after the war THE PERIOD OF CONFORTI’S FIRST SUCCESSOR: 1932-1944 119 there was a vocation boom which lasted for about twenty years. Fr. Dagnino, however, never failed to recommend prayer and the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and Brotherhood13. In December 1940,Fr.Dagnino sent a warm letter to the Spiritual Directors of the Seminary asking the Seminarians to pray for China and propose the missionary vocation to them, especially in view of the needs of that great nation.

Religiousormissionaries? If Fr. Dagino faithfully handed on Conforti’s spirit (something that clearly and constantly emerges from the Circular Letters and other writings), why was he accused of «wanting to make the Xaverians religious rather than missionaries»? Fr.Dagnino was personally inclined towards a concept of the religious life in which community life was to be lived in a way closer perhaps to the fraternity of the Franciscan Orders,rather than to the idea of the religious Institutes,which was introduced by St.Ignatius of Loyola in 1500. A clue to this tendency is contained in a letter he wrote to the Founder when he was the religious Superior in China.Among other things,he asked whether it was a good idea to oblige the missionaries, who lived together in groups of two or three, to pray the breviary together. Conforti’s replied that it shouldn’t be imposed.The Founder replied to various questions in his letter: The examination of conscience should be done at midday and in the evening. It would be commendable for them to pray the Divine Office in twos, if this proves to be convenient, though it should not be imposed upon them. The monthly retreat may last one day or end at 9 or 10 o’clock on the following morning, whatever is best.The months of March,May,June should be observed in the most convenient way.If a homily is given, the reading should be omitted. Regarding the renewal of vows on the feast of St. Francis Xa- vier, I believe the best thing is for the religious Superior to pronounce the relevant formula. I do not approve the practice of acceding to the altar without some form of preparation, even brief, in order to avoid scandal in those who are observing; in the same way,I cannot approve that those who must celebrate at a late hour should pass the time beforehand smoking, chatting and enjoying themselves. This can also be a cause of scandal. In responding to the questions I have been asked, I have been quite liberal, as you can see, because we are dealing with missionaries whose life is constantly exposed to change and we cannot establish precise norms as we can for those who live in community14.

I have quoted the entire passage because it shows us a Conforti who did not want to impose fixed rules concerning the various devotional practices and other rules, leaving it to the missionaries to adapt to circumstances, whilst Fr. Dagnino tended to impose many small rules. Returning from an audience with the Cardinal Protector, he enthusiastically referred to the Directory and the Rule Book of the White Fathers (which ran to 500 pages) as if it were a model to imitate … It was Fr. Dagnino’s mentality to conceive the religious life in terms of the smallest details. Despite the wise and balanced way in which he wrote about the apostolic life combined with the religious life in his Circular Letters, in actual practice, he insisted in the Missions that the Xaverians were first religious and then missionaries15. Some time previously,the Founder had written to Fr.Dagnino on another matter:

Since you ask me to speak to you clearly, I shall tell you that the Direction of the Mother House frowns on your disapproval of what is being done in the formation of our good young men and in the search for material resources in order to meet the costs of daily life16.

Wasitatruereform? When Fr. Dagnino was elected Superior General and began to live in the Mother House, he had to change his mind on many things. He found a community that was disciplined and animated by a positive spirit; he admitted this with some satisfaction at the end of the 1937 Canonical Visit, and he perhaps thought that the past criticism of formation was unfounded. The way in which Conforti organized the Mother House was inspired by the Jesuits’way of life and the idea that a missionary would often find himself outside the community; he therefore needed to be formed in such a way that he would be capable of fulfilling his obligations even when he lived on his own. It is worth pointing out that the Statute for the missions, 25 years after the foundation, when the 120 Augusto Luca

Mission was already consolidated, introduced the norm that the Missionaries should live in communities (“made up of at least three priest confreres”); the final formulation was very elastic: (The religious Superior) should ensure that no missionary is ever alone in his district or station,unless for short periods and for a grave necessity; this is to ensure the preservation of the religious and apostolic spirit and make the practice of the spiritual life easier 17.

The young students therefore had to become accustomed to saying morning prayers alone, while they were getting dressed, and evening prayers before going to bed. Meditation was personal, as was the examination of conscience, which was done when the bell rang. What irritated the students was the obligation to do in community what had been previously left to their personal responsibility; for example, the examination of conscience in church, recitation of the breviary in twos, and similar other things. Nevertheless, the students of the Mother House submitted, albeit with some grumbling, to these norms which placed an excessive emphasis on community life. A new Rector arrived, in the person of Fr. Magnani, who was an intelligent, good and prepared man who gave importance to what was essential.

In my opinion, the crisis arose with the appointment of Fr. Eugenio Morazzoni as Rector, after the sudden death of Fr. Magnani (18 March 1934), and with his election as Consultor. His entrance into the Council broke the previous state of equilibrium, or so it seemed from the outside. Fr.Morazzoni regarded himself as a reformer.As our rector in Grumone,in 1934 he began to publicly criticize Fr. Vanzin,his predecessor. Contrary to what had been done before, he introduced rigorous systems in Parma.There was a clear division between the Brothers,students and Fathers. Fr. Amatore Dagnino visit China8 in 1934-1935 Fr. Morazzoni was left in charge at Parma. Ru- mours spread that Morazzoni had sent to the General in China a list of the students that were to be expelled; Fr. Dagnino put the matter off and some were saved (among them, it seems, Fr. Castelli). It was like a witch-hunt. It seemed that everyone, fathers and students, were against the new Direction; yet I must say that, except for the complaint against some “monastic” practices that were introduced (for example, the recitation of the Miserere on the stairs when leaving the dining room) which were later accepted, I never heard Fr. Bonardi, or any other Father, criticize the new Direction. The new instructions were accepted in a disciplined manner. However, I did hear some Superiors publicly criticize Fr. Bonardi in the presence of the students,including us who had just arrived from the Novitiate. Morazzoni’s reforms were sometimes strange, like his interpretation of the Constitutions (Art. 59, Cost. 1931) where, in connection with clothing, bed and room, it said that «no-one should keep for himself anything other than what he needs at the time, putting everything else in the common ward- robe »; this obviously meant that anyone who had 10 shirts should keep the ones he needed and give the others to the community.

The question was not so much the religious life but, rather, the hostile feelings of some missionaries in China towards Fr. Bonardi. Anyone who was believed to side with him was regarded as a rebel. I believe the height of the conflict was reached in the last months of 1935, when Frs. Vanzin and Barsotti (who taught Philosophy and Literature respectively) were sent away from the Mother House on the suspicion that they supported Fr. Bonardi. In actual fact, they had never spoken in front of the students in any way about the affairs of the Institute. The school was completely ruined and those who were sent to teach us Philosophy were not very competent.

ThethirdGeneralChapter Thankfully, that period was short-lived. At the end of the five year mandate, given the contrasts within the General Council, and a certain dissatisfaction on the ground, Fr. Dagnino felt the need to seek the mediation of an outsider. The Abbot Emanuele Caronti was called in to preside over the Chapter. Af- ter listening to the various parties, he must have said something like this: “The Superior General and his Vicar must be of one heart and mind; it was a mistake to put alongside the Superior a person who does not share his policies of government”. He therefore advised Fr. Bonardi to resign. Bonardi was sent to Rome as Procurator and he kept silent; he is to be admired for stepping aside without protest- ing. He remained excluded forever from the governing tasks of the Congregation, but he continued to THE PERIOD OF CONFORTI’S FIRST SUCCESSOR: 1932-1944 121 serve it humbly and lovingly as General Procurator. The Third General Chapter elected Fr.Faustino Tissot,a former Novice Master,Fr.Giovanni Gazza Fr.Dante Battaglierin and Fr.Pietro Uccelli as Consultors.If necessary,they would moderate the Supe- rior General’s tendency to draw up rules that were too meticulous. Fr. Dagnino asked the Chapter members to declare whether or not his government had been in harmony with the spirit of the Founder and the proposals of the previous General Chapter. He thus wrote in the Circular Letter no.13,dated 5 November1937: One of the reasons for which I strongly desired this General Chapter (at which I hoped the bishops would also be present) was to ask the Chapter members whether or not the work done in the first five year period ofgovernmentwasinlinewiththeCongregation’spurpose,andifwewerefaithfultotheFounder’smind and spirit. Having received the unanimous affirmative response of the General Chapter, I humbly thank the Lord and prepare to dedicate myself completely, with renewed vigor, to our task, to the demanding work of a new five-year mandate, trusting always in the Sacred heart of Jesus and in my dearly beloved Collabora- tors.I know that each one of them is aware of his own responsibility and all of us,as Abbot Caronti reminded us,feel that we are servants of the Institute.

Serenity returned to the student community when Fr.De Martino succeeded Fr.Morazzoni as rector. Fr. Dagnino was a humble man with good intentions; although I was only a student, I had the chance to speak frankly with him about things that were not going well and he always listened to me paternally and with humility. It must also be said that his sermons came from the bottom of his heart and his profound convictions, even though he did not know much theology. His affection for the Founder and his continual references to St. Francis Xavier formed one or two generations in the Xaverian spirit.As far as the external activities areconcerned,weonlyhavetorememberthat,inthepe- riod 1939-1940, he authorized some theology students to give conferences to communities of nuns and hold meetings with teachers, in view of the foundation of the CEM, which was then called the Missionary Education Center. In closing this period, I must say in defense of Fr. Morazzoni that he later modified his rigorous style of government, cultivated spirituality and became a highly regarded Spiritual Director. Among the elderly fathers he was one of the few that tried to study and adapt to the instructions of Vatican II: I deduced this from what I heard from various confreres.

On 13 February 1944, Fr. Dagnino asked the Holy See for permission to resign on the grounds of fatigue and in the expectation that the war would continue for a long time yet. Propaganda Fide accepted his resignation and, on 4 April, Fr. Dagnino wrote his last letter to the Community, ending with these words: My dear brothers, I now ask you to forgive me as if I were to present myself before the Divine Judge after this Retreat, which has prepared us for a holy death. I ask for pardon if, in spite of my good intentions, I was inadequate in many circumstances; if I offended you with an impulsive and not very kind way of speaking; if I was unable to give you the encouragement you needed; if I was excessively rigid in your formation. Perhaps I was too focused on forming young eagles and not caged birds; young eagles who could withstand storms and inclement weather, striving for the rocks and the summit. I do not wish any public or private sendoff. I long for one thing only: that we now unite more than ever around the Vicar, who receives from God the heavy cross of governing our dear Family, in the hope that what I asked for in May 1932 at the tomb of the Apostles Peter and Paul, after receiving the Pope’s blessing, might come true: Ut sint unum in fide, in caritate radicati et fundati, solliciti servare unitatem spiritus in vinculo pacis. Yes, all of us truly united in solidarity,remembering that Jesus Christ unites and Satan divides […]19.

With these words Fr. Dagnino ended his twelve years of service to the Institute as Superior General. He had served with complete dedication and he resigned before the expiry of his mandate, not through weakness, but «for the greater good of our Congregation ». IhavespokenmorethanonceaboutmydesiretodiebeneaththecrossforthegoodofourCongregation and I offered my entire existence to the Lord for what it was worth. Now, through a complex set of circumstances, the Lord has made me understand that he had in mind another death for me and I accepted it willingly ». 122 Augusto Luca

He humbly asked forgiveness for any shortcomings in his government, as we saw above. The fruits of his humble service have perhaps remained partially hidden, so that the words of Jesus in the parable of the seed might be fulfilled: «This is what the Kingdom of God is like: a man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know » (Mk 4:26-27). The period of dissatisfaction did not last very long; probably the conflicts had probably taken place within the Council during the first five years,but there had been no leaks and serenity soon returned to the student community,thanks also to the Rectors who succeeded each other in the Mother House.

Fr. Vanzin, who also described the period of Dagnino as a «standstill» (caused also by the war), gave an objective judgment of that period in his book Un Pastore e due greggi. It often happens that the death of a founder results in painful fractures in the work which his spirit and hands modeled and sustained. Different interpretations of the Rule, disagreements that had remained dormant while he was still alive, suddenly come together and cause distress to the whole body. The test of the Institute’s real consistency takes place precisely at such a time, and the crisis sometimes results in visible divisions and internal struggles that are unlikely to restore the previous state of tranquility. Now, nothing like this happened in the Xaverian Congregation. Though the succession was arduous and the Founder’s absence was keenly felt by everyone, it did not lead to either secessions or insubordination. After a period of adjustment, which more than anything was a sign of our concern that we remain in absolute harmony with the Founder, the Society began its journey once again, without deviations or considerable delays20.

In confirmation of the Institute’s good state of health after the Founder’s death, I wish to share a very valuable testimony, which was referred to me by a priest of Parma who was, I believe, the late Mgr. Triani.

During those years, Bishop Evasio Colli went to visit Pope Pius XI who, after discussing the problems of the diocese, asked the bishop what he thought of the possible merger of the Missionary Institute of Parma with other Institutes (at the time, the Prefect of Propaganda Fide was Cardinal Marchetti Selvaggiani, who was campaigning for the unification of the missionary Institutes).

The bishop of Parma replied more or less with the same words he later said during the transfer of the body of the Servant of God on 8 November 1942. Such a young and thriving Institute, which is so in harmony with the spirit of the Church and so up to date in the spiritual and material spheres, is itself a monument to the greatness and the merits of the one who gave it life,spirit and form,and who continues to do so today21. He probably also added: «It would be a pity to suppress it!».

Apersonalimpression I have asked myself the question many times: what were the missionaries of China opposing in the formation given at the Mother House by Frs. Bonardi and Popoli. What was the real bone of conten- tion? The conclusion I came to was a conflict concerning obedience, betweenthewayitwasconceived and practiced in the shadow of the Founder and the way it was conceived and practiced in China.

Conforti used to dialogue with his priests before giving an order and he must have done likewise with his missionaries. In the Mother House, the students were living together with the Superior and they knew each other, something that was made easy by the monthly conversations. I never heard of sudden orders being given without an explanatory meeting.

In China, instead, the concept of blind (and mute) obedience had been introduced, something that is definitely not the responsible obedience promoted by Vatican II. The strange thing was that mature men, who bore the responsibility of a mission, had to go on Annual Retreat with their bags packed, as it were. At the end of the Retreat they were given a list of transfers. Though it may not have been done THE PERIOD OF CONFORTI’S FIRST SUCCESSOR: 1932-1944 123 literally in this way, it is a fact that changes took place every year, or almost every year. Fr. Fontana wrote: It was so demoralizing for the missionaries that they felt like pieces on a chessboard. The worst thing was when ill-informed Superiors,almost by way of punishment,deliberately and expressly kept the missionaries concerned in the dark about the reasons for their transfer, whether they were valid or not. It was just as well that the good Lord (it is to Him that we have consecrated our lives) soon soothed the pain (he did this too with Fr.Fontana). I had heard that similar things were happening also in Italy … Long live obedience!!! The Founder did not behave like this; you could always explain your reasons to him and he would listen, even at the cost of suffering 22.

The criticism leveled at the newcomers by the missionaries in China was a sign of this mentality: the young missionaries were not docile enough, they lacked respect towards their Superiors, they were too critical, etc. Another sign was Fr. Dagnino’s attaching the “Letter on obedience” by St. Ignatius to his fourth Circular Letter on 11 February 1934, eight months after his election. I personally received a bad impression when I was a student at Grumone. A temporary Superior spoke of blind obedience, saying that we had to have such confidence in our Superiors that we would never ask if what they ordered was good or not. Perhaps the speaker’s intentions were different; perhaps,if interrogated,he would have explained saying that the choice was between two good things.But no-one dared to ask and I remained with the impression of an obedience against conscience, a truly “blind”obedience. When I went to Novitiate and I heard how a discerning obedience was explained in St.Ignatius’letter, I discussed it many times with Fr. Tissot, the Novice Master, and expressed the opinion that it was impossible to accept something that one believed to be wrong. In subsequent reflections, I became aware that the orders of the Superiors concerned a good action to be carried out and that I could judge it to be less convenient than another, but I had to accept it with the conviction that this was God’s will for me and, therefore, for the best (not in an objective way but in a supernatural way). I would obey after explaining my viewpoint to the Superior, and only afterwards would I accept it. This was a discerning obedience: neither mute nor blind,but one of collaboration. For example, I was assigned to the mission of Japan in 1951. In view of my departure I had prepared Fr.Sandro Danieli to succeed me in the direction of the Institute’s publications.At a certain moment, the Superior General decided to send Danieli to the missions too. The confrere was happy with this decision. The rector announced his assignment one day during the weekly Conference and said that Danieli no longer belonged to the publications, but that he had to get ready to leave. That afternoon, Fr. Danieli went to his office to finish correcting drafts or attend to some other unfinished work. The Rector, who had been a missionary in China, came in and scolded Fr. Danieli harshly because he was still in the office. I, instead, would have praised his dedication and fidelity in finishing a job that had already been entrusted to him. There was still some way to go before we achieved the responsible obedience of Vatican II.

Note:

1 In whatever kind of meeting,our confreres should always behave with the seriousness that is expected of the missionary’s holy state. This is also a requirement of the good example they should show to their inferiors and the respect they owe to their Superiors. Too much noise dissipates the soul and gives onlookers an impression of frivolity, whilst it can make us forget our essential duties, such as the duty to greet the (ecclesiastical) Superior upon arrival at the residence instead of waiting to be called by him. (Memoriale to Conforti,3.1.1929,.FCT 14,p.9). 2 Fr.Fontana,inSpiritualità Saveriana,convegno di Pamplona 1980,EMI 1981,p.51-54. 3 Armelloni,Gazza,Pelerzi,Tonetto,Emaldi.See Diario in FCT 14,November 1928,pp.851-852. 4 Letter, 21 November 1928,in FCT 14,p.861. 5 Fr.Fontana,inSpiritualità Saveriana,convegno di Pamplona 1980,EMI 1981,p.36 6 Fr.A.Dagnino a Mons.Conforti,10.4.1929,in FCT 14,p.933.934,footnote. 7 Speaker’s emphasis. 8 Dagnino to bishop Conforti,1-3 May 1929 in FCT 14,p.935-939,footnote. 9 Bassi to Dagnino,10 May 1929,in FCT 14,p.941. 10 Ricordi e Propositi,Parma 1933. 11 In connection with this,see Conforti’s letter to Fr.Dagnino,Superior in China,in Lettere ai Saveriani, vol.2,pp.268 and 272. 12 Vanzin C.,in I Missionari Saveriani nel Centenario della nascita del Fondatore, Istituto Missionari Saveriani,Parma 1965,p.151. 124 Augusto Luca

13 Circular Letter no. 14,p.3. 14 Lettere ai Saveriani, vol.2,pp.277-278. 15 Fr.Fontana in Spiritualità saveriana, p.40. 16 Ivi,pp.275-276. 17 Statuto per le Missioni estere,Art.29,in FCT 14,p.979. 18 He left in November 1934 and returned in October 1935. 19 Chiusura della Visita Canonica alla Casa Madre e Cambio di guardia,4 April 1944. 20 V.C.Vanzin,UnPastoreeduegreggi,Istituto Saveriano Missioni Estere,Parma 1950,p.277. 21 Le Missioni illustrate,December 1942,pp.178-180. 22 P.Fontana,in Spiritualità Saveriana,convegno di Pamplona 1980,EMI 1981,p. 41. FROM THE FOUNDER’S CONSTITUTIONS TO THE 1983 CONSTITUTIONS

Cum Christo in Deo The 1983 Constitutions Principles for revision Spirituality in the RFX Spirituality in the RMX Spirituality in the letters of the Gen. Directions: 1981-2006 Group work: fidelity and novelties

CUM CHRISTO IN DEO 127

CUM CHRISTO IN DEO (Col3:3-TL2)

TheTestamentLetterandthe1921-31Constitutions

Alfiero Ceresoli

Introduction The research I was asked to carry out is an attempt to penetrate the mystery of the Christian’s relationship with his God and to uncover the heart of a charism and a spirituality. I believe this calls for some methodological criteria. Where should we begin? From which angle should we look at the issue? Upon which elements should we focus the greatest attention?

These are the questions that plagued me before I began my research and they constantly returned to my mind after I had finished: did I make the right choice? Though it may seem paradoxical, I took as my starting point abbot Serafini’s harsh and cutting criticism of the Constitutional text presented by Conforti in 1916. Among other things, Serafini says: Theentirestylereflectstheheartofthefounder and, consequently, there are abundant exhortations that aim at forming the hearts of the missionaries 1. I thought that this would be a good path to follow: to discover the soul of the founder – reflected in the rules – in order to “form the hearts of the missionaries”! We shall therefore take as our starting point those very pages that Serafini would have preferred to remove! Those pages expressed the goal of Blessed Guido Conforti, which was very different from those of the Roman jurists2.Hewrotetothe missionaries in China with the first draft of the constitutions: “While composing this modest rule I had three things especially in mind: to convey the sublime nature of vocation and the apostolic life; to guarantee unity of spirit and government to our society; to stipulate what is necessary for the formation and preservation of that spirit. Hence I limited myself (exclusively) to whatever could help attain this threefold goal”3.

Fortunately, the Founder remained true to his goals and, with the material “that aimed at forming the hearts of the missionaries” and the “preservation of this spirit”, we drew up our precious Fundamen- tal Rule (FR).

The Founder was faithful to his goals and, although confined within the strict limits of the law of his times, he did not abandon any of his texts which, significantly, remained stable and solid like beacons during the unfolding events prior to the drafting of the constitutions (from 1898 until 1921)4 and thereafter during the Xaverian family’s growth until the formulation of the Fundamental Rule, the 1983 constitutions and the various “Ratio” that resulted from them.

We Xaverians may well call this continuity the “Xaverian tradition”, the “patrimony” mentioned in Perfectae Caritatis 2b, the “particular gift” of the Spirit 6 which also determines, or should determine “this distinctive character which also involves a particular style of sanctification and of apostolate”7.In other words: the spirituality of our Missionary family!

These texts and the Testament Letter were my guides throughout my research 8.

Alfiero Ceresoli SX is the Novice Master in South Brazil. 128 Alfiero Ceresoli

InfaithandintheGospel There is a specification in paragraph 2 of the Testament Letter which I believe is very important: “in the Gospel”9. The same specification appears in a different form also in the 1921 Constitutions (henceforth C21): “In faith and in the Gospel”10. In these two cases, Conforti is praising the “greatest” vocation, the one that “constitutes the most perfect life conceivable” −Inthe Gospel −infaith.

Faith, I believe, can be placed at the roots of our spirituality: faith as the truth we must believe because God has revealed it; faith that we must embody; faith that gives us new criteria for judging events, decisions and persons and faith that conquers the missionary, turning upside down his values and criteria of judgment: poverty becomes richness, the cross becomes power and persecution is bliss … Some defeats are actually victories.

The Apostle’s words are a guarantee that must now resound powerfully in our ears as encouragement: haec est victoria quae vincit mundum fides nostra. This faith has first and foremost conquered you, who for the love of Christ have abandoned family, homeland, friends, life’s comforts and everything that is most dear to you. Above and beyond all the natural affections stands the Kingdom of God which we must spread;all that remains to you is the sublime love of the Apostolate,the desire to satisfy the wishes of the dying Christ,who has a burning hunger for souls.To- morrow, this same Faith shall conquer those to whom you are being sent; it shall triumph over superstition with the light of truth, over barbarism with the appeal of charity; over the most repulsive corruption with the purity of the Gospel. Through this Faith you shall convert those barren steppes into fertile fields and sweet-smelling gardens. All of this, however, shall be the fruit of lengthy struggles, sufferings, pain, surprises and misfortune. Jesus Christ foretold this: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves ... as they persecuted me, so shall they persecute you ... but do not fear for I have conquered the world. Altho- ugh it may seem you have been defeated,in the end you shall triumph11.

Faith which springs from the heart:

Faith is the love that believes. If love has not opened our heart; if the truth does not sit down, warm itself and renew its energies at this mysterious hearth of life; if the soul has not drawn truth into its will with its longings and burning aspirations,there will never be a supernatural,living and industrious faith12.

Missionary consecration has no meaning without the Gospel; once faith has been removed from our horizons, the beauty and splendor of the consecrated life fades. Poverty is no longer a question of greatness and perfection but,as the Gospel and faith teach us,it is lovableandfillsuswithjoy13. How can we be content with what is necessary as befits the poor?14 How can we be happy with poverty “even at the cost of suffering, hardships and humiliation” if not for the love of Christ and inspired by faith? Chastity is not a question of greatness or meaning; instead, in the light of the Gospel and faith, we love and cultivate it, as a source of peace and joy 15. Likewise, “we should (also) treasure the sacrifice of our will which is made to God through the vow of obedience”16.

We have been told repeatedly that: “Mission is an issue of faith”17. Conforti, instead, prefers the expression “life of faith”. At this point, even if we know it by heart, the quotation of paragraph 7 of the Testament Letter is obligatory:

«Lest this occur, we should always try to live that life of faith which seeks God’s pleasure and not our own. Such a life is expected of a just man,and more so of a priest and apostle.Our life will be so if faith becomes an absolute norm for our conduct so that it permeates our thoughts, intentions, feelings, words and actions.Wewill experience this life if we keep our focus on Christ in all things,always and everywhere.Thus, he will be with us in our prayer, at the altar, in our study, in our pastoral activity, in our meetings with others,in times of distress,sorrow and temptation.Wewill draw our inspiration from him so that our exterior actions become but the manifestation of the interior life of Christ in us. This deep-seated life of faith will ward off dangers in our ministry, fortify our strength, multiply our merits, purify ever more our in- CUM CHRISTO IN DEO 129

tentions and obtain for us the joys and ineffable consolations which ease the burden of our apostolate»

Theprototype Conforti frequently said that God lives in an inaccessible light and “has revealed himself in the ador- able Person of Jesus Christ; thus the model par excellence of God’s holiness was made visible to us; the divine perfection has become perceptible, and the immaculate life of the God-Man has become law for the entire world, the yardstick of human perfection”18.

Those who seek perfection turn to Jesus Christ, the carpenter from Nazareth, Mary’s son, our com- panion on our journey and the one who inspires our every action. Faith becomes friendship, company and intimacy19 with Jesus, the “disciple” who does only what he sees the Father doing (cf. Jn 5:19;36), the prophet who only speaks the words he hears from the Father (cf. Jn 7:16). Blessed Guido likes the image of the light and he prefers the term: “reflection”: “Christ is the reflection of all divine perfection, made accessible to our eyes and our imitation”20..

With Christ and in Christ, faith grows and becomes intimacy, trust, obedience, and abandonment in every moment of life: in everything that happens, joys, suffering, sin and imperfections 21. Intimacy and abandonment never run the risk of becoming spiritualism because they are an “industrious” faith.

We will draw our inspiration from him so that our exterior actions become but the manifestation of the interior life of Christ in us (TL 7). The apostle tells us to treasure holiness.It should animate the life of the missionary and be reflected in his every action.Those who see him should be able to discover there the man of God (C21,206 = FR 19). Let the missionary recall that his conduct always and everywhere must be a living sermon,eloquently witnessed by fact. This will happen if in all his personal contacts with people he tries to behave as Christ, whose faithful copy he should be,would have acted (C21 238 = FR 14).

Mission is manifestation, transparency, “reflection” or, as Gutierrez says, “to evangelize is to communicate the joy of an encounter”. Mission is to proclaim the person I see, the person I am seeking, the person I love. This is the first characteristic that Blessed Guido Conforti left to us as a heritage: Dy- namic faith, which impels us to see, love, seek God in all, and thus become keenly desirous to make his kingdom known everywhere22.

These are the stages of the journey: contemplation – spirit of faith - our eyes fixed on Christ –mission (the proclamation of the kingdom). The missionary can therefore be coherently defined as the one who: “Has contemplated in the spirit Jesus Christ, who shows the apostles the world they are to conquer to the Gospel, not with the power of weapons, but with the persuasion and the love that have conquered him23. Yet, once again, contemplation does not imply seclusion, a monastery or a mystical experience; it is contemplation in action or, even better, “contemplative action”24. The contemplated Christ points to and sends out into the world; consequently, the missionary ...

Sacrifices his family, homeland and the most precious and legitimate affections to this ideal. He ventures into inhospitable jungles, crosses fiery deserts and skates along polar ice; he does not go off in search of goldorpreciousgems,ivory,rarefursorpreciouswood,butsolelyinsearchofsoulstoconquerthemto Faith in Christ; he carries neither sword nor rifle in order to deal with the difficulties he encounters, nor does he try to strike down those who cross his path, but armed only with the cross of Christ, he is always ready to shed his own blood if this proves necessary for the good of the brothers; even more, his heartfelt desire is to seal his own apostolate with martyrdom. Oh! Let us bow our heads, dear brothers, before the Missionary, the Apostle of the Faith; let us admire him and honor him because nothing greater can shine more brightly before the human spirit!25

This is the source of Conforti’s great esteem for the missionary vocation, something he expressed at every opportunity: “Our vocation calling could not have been greater or more noble. Our calling draws us to Christ, who inspires and perfects our faith” (TL 1). It calls for “Abandonment with filial 130 Alfiero Ceresoli obedience” (TL 6) and asks to “place all our trust in God alone, for he is our strength and our only true good”: “The Novice Master should carefully try to instill in the novices sentiments of true humility, rooted in the reality of human weakness and the vanity of earthly things, especially riches and honors, and teach them to place their trust solely in the Lord, our strength and only true good. Therefore, according to circumstances, they should be assigned humble tasks, such as waiting at table, house clean- ing, service in the kitchen” (C21, 175 = FR 66).

From this is born a commitment that is mentioned three times in the C2126:

C21. 36 = FR 63 « The novitiate is a time set aside for the preparation of missionary candidates in the habitual union with God 27, prayer, mortification, detachment from earthly things, zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls » C21. 179 « He should train them in the habit of fruitful mediation, to the general examination of conscience and especially, to live in the presence of God; he must teach them the most practical way of overcoming temptations and to recognize the deceptions of the Evil One; he must also warn them about the dangers and the difficulties they shall encounter in the exercise of the ministry ». C21.176 = FR 67.« After explaining the foundations of Christian perfection,he should invite them to focus their attention on the example of Jesus Christ, incomparable model of holiness for all, and for the apostolic person in particular.Their identity with the divine exemplar in thoughts,desires,works,should be such that Jesus is made manifest in them,as the apostle teaches ».

The third quotation is, as we can see, more directly Christological and repeats the expression of the letter to the Hebrews 28 that was so dear to Conforti: Keep Christ before our eyes ... Keep our eyes fixed on Christ ... Contemplate! If we examine the text of the C 21 looking for the missionary’s attitude in relationship to Jesus Christ, we come across the same mystical and apostolic itinerary: to contemplate in order to evange- lize29. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ (to contemplate) in order to “become like him”30 a faithful copy of Christ”31 to qualify ourselves to” cooperate with him”32 making ourselves a reflection33 of him. Thus the missionary’s life becomes an effective and “eloquent” proclamation: “His conduct in all circumstances must be an uninterrupted homily,with the eloquence of fact”.

Thus everyone who observes the missionary will see in him “the man of God as a result of the transparency of his every action”34. A man of God, one who like Christ belongs entirely and totally to the Father as his total and exclusive property. This emphasizes Conforti’s ideas of the consecrated life as: “Total emancipation”; “entirely and without reserve”, “martyrdom”!35 Perhaps we should rediscover expressions that were already used in the very early constitutions or rules: “They shall make a formal promise, before the Divine sacrament and in the presence of their companions,to consecrate themselves entirely for the conversion of the infidels 36.

In C 21, 174 = FR 65 this formula becomes: “He should encourage his novices to highly value the apostolic life, and help them to understand that the professed evangelical counsels (CIC 565.1) joined to the vow of totally dedicating oneself to spreading Christ’s kingdom among the infidels is something praiseworthy and sublime since it more closely responds to the work of the Redeemer”.

The Redeemer is always at the center, he is always the Prototype. Like Him we too are consecrated by the Father, and to the Father 37, to carry out the Father’s plan to evangelize the world. Everything else must take second place, and everything must be dedicated to the service of the Kingdom 38.

If spirituality is the sum of the motivations, ideals, utopia and enthusiasm that guide choices, inclinations, likes and dislikes, the ideal of Xaverian spirituality is Jesus Christ, as the utopia of the kingdom, as zeal for the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

The relationship between faith and mission is worthy of note here. The maturity of adult faith, with total adhesion to Christ the Lord, opens up to the mission, flourishes and comes to maturity in proclamation. CUM CHRISTO IN DEO 131

FortheKingdomandthenon-Christians Conforti sometimes resolutely identifies the Kingdom with the Church; at other times he considers it to be the desire of the universe and identities it with the advent of justice and fraternity 39. For our present purposes, it is sufficient to observe its eloquent presence in C 21.

The “spreading of the kingdom” is the essence of vocation, which calls for the convergence of our best energies (C21, 71 = RF 6). the Xaverian desires, “aspires to” the conquest of new peoples to the kingdom (C21, 111), a peaceful conquest with the weapons of the word, charity, witness and self-giving even until martyrdom: in order to avoid all misunderstandings, the Founder never tired of repeating this. This conquest responds to humanity’s hunger: “Brothers who hunger for justice, truth, peace and love”40.

The Congregation is not only contemplative, but also active because it sets out to spread the kingdom (C21 194 = FR 53) and, consequently, the Apostles and St. Francis Xavier are our models as ones who “worked and suffered for the spreading of the kingdom” (C21, 211). Finally, we consecrate ourselves to God by vow for the spreading of the kingdom of Christ among the infidels (C21 174 = FR 65).

The man of God becomes an “apostolic teacher” ( C21 176 = FR 67), not a generic and factotum apostle, but one whose aspirations, energies and consecration are for the non-Christians. Our vocation and, consequently, our spirituality are not “vague and ambiguous” (Mutuae Relationes)41. It has its own “particular characteristics”, its “own function”, “spirit” and “specific goal” which the Founder left to us as our heritage 42.“For this reason the distinctive character of various religious institutes is preserved and fostered by the Church. This distinctive character also involves a particular style of sanctification and of apostolate”43. The Founder often insisted on the Congregation’s sole and exclusive goal in the Consti- tutions and in all his writings to the Xaverians. In C 21 the missionary is always the subject 44.

It has been said that the Founder speaks little of the mission “ad gentes” in the Testament Letter. From a certain point of view this is true, but not from the spiritual point of view. It is quite easy to build ca- nals and complicated mechanisms of irrigation and then forget the source of water. All our methods would be useless without the living water, which only the Jew sitting by the well asking for a drink can give, (cf. Jn:6ff). In my opinion, the Founder follows John the evangelist’s method: “John did not insist on mutual love among the disciples to confine the mission but to indicate its source. Also the disciples’ mission can only spring forth from a strong communion”45.

In an analogous manner, the Founder insists on total belonging 46 - “Hidden with Christ in God” - to lead us to the mission’s source, to the primary and ultimate reason of our commitment to evangelize the non-Christians. We belong to the Creator and Lord of the universe:

HecreatedusoutofsheerloveandHemadeallthingsforHisglory.Brothers,wehavebeencreatedbythe ecstasy and the happiness of God’s love. God in his love saw that his glory demanded to be known and considered that we would only be too happy to know it. These two motives, glory and kindness, wrapped up in one, moved God to his creative work. The world, the universe, is a great book, a faithful expression of God’s thought.He opened it slightly under our eyes to make himself known and,consequently,that we might love and serve him. And since it is an expression of God’s thought, it reveals an infinite power, an infinite wisdom and an infinite love. The visible world is nothing more than a transparent exterior of the invisible world.

From the invisible to the visible, just as in the case of the mission; from the richness of the interior life to evangelizing action. It is not a temporal succession, with a first and an after, but in one sole apostolic movement, just like our vow: “The apostolic and religious life together constitute our single indivisible charism”(C 83, 18b). Shortly before in the same speech Conforti had said:

God has created us and all these wonderful and beautiful things that surround us solely out of love. Crea- tion is born of happiness and love. All great works are created in ecstasy, the joy and the effusions of a he- 132 Alfiero Ceresoli

artthatcannotcontainitself.Itistheinfiniteperfectionofhappinessthatmakescreationnecessary,so that this joy may be spread and communicated to others. Sadness is silent and condemns to silence. Hap- piness, on the other hand, makes us expansive and industrious; the happy man cannot contain himself and feels the need to spread his happiness to others47.

Belonging to this God “without any reservations whatsoever”, the Xaverian shares His “ecstasy and happiness” in becoming the messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Could this be the starting point for our theology of the mission: God projecting himself outwards in the ecstasy and happiness of the love that spreads goodness?

The Founder wrote the 5th circular letter, he left us a testament “for the intense desire I feel for your sanctification and the good of our Society” and in drawing up the constitutions he aimed at “the formation and the preservation of such a sprit”. We call this holiness!

Holiness must be the missionary aspirants’ “sincere desire” and “of paramount concern to a missionary” (C21, 192 = FR 18). In the mind of Conforti, this holiness becomes dynamism, proclamation and “eloquence that shines through in deeds”. The beautiful text of C21, 185 = FR 15: “Since the conversion of the infidels is the sole purpose of the society, zeal for the salvation of souls should be a characteristic mark of missionaries. Zeal is the love of God in action. The missionary should be patient, kind and wise, not self-seeking, but solely for the glory of God. He tolerates all, he believes in all, he hopes for all, he tries to resist all and to persevere in this until death49.

Holiness “understood in the basic sense of belonging to him who is in essence the Holy One, the “thrice holy”50. Holiness is the ultimate definition of the missionary: “The true missionary is the saint”51.

Fraternity The missionary proclaims God’s paternity and the brotherhood of all men and women. God’s dream of gathering his sheep into one fold was revealed by the good Shepherd; the Founder of the Xaverians translated this dream into the goal of making the world a single family52. Conforti believes in fraternity and in the possibility of transforming the world: “We should not get too downhearted, evil is not incurable, as it may seem at first sight, because God has made the nations curable and knows how to bring good out of evil53.

He asks his missionaries to build fraternity, to be the place where the kingdom comes about and is spread; he asks God to make his missionaries messengers and credible signs and witnesses to the fraternity that is “the fulfillment of Christ’s prophetic desire, that one day there may be a single Christian family embracing all mankind” (TL 1).

He asks every one of our communities to become a “consoling sight”: “It will do so if the love of Christ, so well described by the Apostle of the gentiles, becomes the basis of our mutual relationships and forms all of the members into a single heart and a single mind” (TL 9).

The Testament Letter begins by recalling the “grave and solemn commitment” to build universal fraternity and ends by recommending charity, the “local” fraternity. “for those who belong to the same religious family and who therefore share common life, common labors, merits, direction, and all things while awaiting the day when we shall also share heavenly glory” (TL 9).

After paragraph no. 10, in which he attempts a “summing up”, the Founder returns to the topic of fraternity; instead of recommending it, he now puts himself forward as a witness and opens up his pater- nal and fraternal heart: “At this time, as I feel the tenderness of the love of Christ, stronger than any human bond, and I recognize the greatness of the cause which unites us into a single family, I wholeheartedly embrace, as if here present, all those who have given their name to our society and all who will join us in the future and, unworthy as I am, I ask God to bestow on all the spirit of the apostles and the gift of final perseverance”. CUM CHRISTO IN DEO 133

A superior and stronger fraternity rooted in the love of Christ. With St. John we could say that we are united by a “bond” that comes not from flesh and blood but from the power of God (cf. Jn 1:13). The question in the Synoptic gospels also comes to mind “Who are my brothers?” (cf. Mk 3:31-35). It is, inthewordsofPopeJohnPaulII,thefraternitythat is born in the radius of the fatherhood of God himself 54.A fraternity which, in its most profound reality, surpasses Paul’s notion of adoption to embrace John’s idea where, with almost polemical vehemence, he declares that we are called sons; better still, we are truly sons (1Jn 3:1) .

Our belonging to the family and brotherhood is not only of a juridical nature (though Conforti also insists on this level) 55 - it is one of full communion: life, ideals, struggles, merits, direction ... Com- munion in everything until we reach our final home; our fraternity is eternal, surpassing time and space 56, it is founded upon the love of Christ and made socially stable by juridical belonging; our fraternity must be embodied in the sharing of everything and embrace all levels of our existence, mind, heart and emotions. Confortian fraternity is affectionate: the Founder is very sensitive to fraternal affection and asks his missionaries to cultivate it57.

As I re-read C 21, I was struck by the repetition of the word “affection”: sincere and mutual affection for the confreres; towards the superiors “they should show respect, affection and obedience”58. Obedi- ence should also be carried out with affection. He also referred to the duty of affection for parents,without prejudice however to our apostolic vocation: “Due appreciation for parents and relatives should find expression in a prayerful remembrance to the Lord.However natural family ties should never be allowed to prejudice the apostolic vocation to which all should be subordinate. Let them remember the words of the Lord, which for apostolic men should be a program of action: «in iis quae Patris mei sunt oportet me esse» and these words which are no less powerful: «qui diligit patrem suum et matrem suam plusquam me,non est me dignus»”59.

A natural, proper and holy affection and an affection that “is stronger by far than any natural affection”, flowing as it does from the love of Christ and “the great cause that binds us together in a single family”. We are bound by the bonds of kinship of flesh and blood, but we are more strongly united by our sacred and solemn bonds60. Christ is at the center of the missionary’s thoughts and affections; the missionary must shape his thoughts, affection and actions on Christ61.

Thebondsofbelonging The Founder left us some principles that manifest and strengthen our belonging to God in Christ for the mission. In the Testament Letter and C 21, I believe there are the two fundamental reasons for his decision to make of the “Seminario Emiliano” an “Institute which, in the mind of its founder, had to take on the form of a Religious Congregation”62: identification with Christ, “the one who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection” and the “bonds that bind us more and more to divine service”.

There are, obviously, other reasons too: detachment from all earthly things 63, the liberty which the vows bestow on the consecrated man, and others still. I believe these are fundamental and that they are an indissoluble and harmonious part of the Founder’s vision.

The first – identification with Christ – takes us back to the heart of Xaverian spirituality and to the Mis- sionary’s faith and incessant contemplation of the Father, in order to identify ourselves with him. I also believe this charismatic intuition to be important for the consecrated life in view of the way in which it has developed during recent decades.

Vatican II, after repeated emphases on various “more” (more abundant fruit, more intimately, , more perfect, more closely LG 44) adds a parenthesis which will be further developed after the Council and receive its final formulation in the post-Synodal exhortation on the Consecrated Life: “The form of life, taken by the Son of God, when he came into the world”, “life in the image of Christ”, “conforming one’s whole existence to Christ”64. 134 Alfiero Ceresoli

If the missionary, “on the strength of Christ’s mandate, continues His peaceful conquests in the world”65, if he must be a faithful copy of Christ, sharing his sentiments and be his “reflection”, he cannot but choose “the form of life taken by the Son of God when he came into the world”. If the kingdom demands total and unconditional dedication, the missionary cannot but “abandon all and follow him competently and without reserve”66. If he must choose the same means used by Christ67 to proclaim God’s paternity and universal brotherhood, the missionary cannot but choose “the holy folly of the cross made visible in daily life”68. The mission itself becomes a vow and is expressed through “formula propositi se dedicandum in perpetuum conversioni infidelium” and the resolve to “me totum dicare atque impendere usque ad extemum vitae spirutum pro conversione infidelium”69.

In the very first “special rules for missionary aspirants”, the Founder wrote: “They shall make a formal promise, before the Divine sacrament and in the presence of their companions, to consecrate themselves entirely for the conversion of the infidels”70.

Consecrate, a word that remains unchanged until 1921! It is significant that, in the C 21, the word “to consecrate oneself” appears precisely and solely in relationship to the mission.

We cannot forget the letter to Cardinal Domenico Serafini, prefect of Propaganda Fide, who had suggested that the Founder remove the vows from the constitutions. He began that letter by saying: “We wanted to combine the Religious Vows and the apostolic life from the very beginning. For this reason, all our Missionaries are bound by this and it was thus that the Institute, more than ten years ago, obtained the Decretum Laudis from the Holy See” .

The Founder then explains the reason for this decision through the conviction that: “detachment from all earthly things and the total and irrevocable sacrifice of one’s entire life for the greatest and holiest of causes might better contribute to its triumph”71.

The Founder never loses sight of the goal that is the primary reason for the Xaverian family’s very existence: the triumph of the greatest and holiest of causes, the “sole purpose”, towards which everything must converge, in formation and in the direction of its members, with the exclusion of any other purpose, no matter how noble and holy it may be (C21, 3).

Consecration, the gift of self “as a voluntary victim for the conversion of the infidels”72, foolishness in the eyes of men (cf. 1Cor 1:22-26), but the strength and power of God for those who believe. A win- ning strategy “in faith and in the Gospel”. The Christ-centered option necessarily turns values on their head. Once “hidden with Christ in God”, our horizons extend into infinity and the world takes on a different color: barriers fall and every man and woman are my brother and sister, created in God’s image and likeness, invited to the feast in the Father’s house. In God’s family, profit must give way to gratuitousness, performance to solidarity, pleasure at any cost to self-giving and love that does not seek gratification, the frenzied quest for quality of life to sharing and personal success to planning that is done and implemented together.

The second reason for the vows can be found in the description of them as “the bonds that bind us more and more to divine service”.

On the one hand, this points to the “greatness of the work”, the “sublime goals” and the “grave and solemn” commitment to which we bind ourselves; on the other hand, these words remind us of our fragility and our need of close bonds in order to avoid failure at difficult times. Conforti is aware that he is proposing an ideal that surpasses us and he therefore reminds us of the need to cultivate humility, which is “the foundation of Christian perfection” (C21, 176 = FR 67) and he offers the vows as a bond for an irrevocable and total self-giving. “The Church has always recommended them, as she has always recommended the religious state. The vows are an excellent protection against human incon- sistency and fragility. Nothing is more inconstant that the human will”73.

Conforti never broke away entirely from the theology that defined the consecrated life as a state of CUM CHRISTO IN DEO 135 perfection, but he emphasized human fragility and poverty: the radical gift of the plant together with the fruit can fail because the “the devil leaves nothing untried” (TL 3) to make us abandon the path we have chosen. The memory of our baptism reminds us of the situation of the neophytes, always needy of vigilance and fidelity to the rule, which are “powerful instruments of sanctification”74. We need strong “bonds” in order to remain always faithful.

Conclusion I asked myself a question: what did the Founder mean when, at the end of the “the Father’s testament”, he says he “is summing up what was already said” in suggesting the three coefficients that were to be “the distinguishing characteristic of the present and future members of our holy society”? In our attempt at a response, I believe we have found confirmation in what we have been saying. Faith is the starting point and the foundation of the entire building. John’s Gospel calls us to faith and the contemplation of Christ in order to become his “reflection”.

Faith empowers us to live like Christ, who is the obedient one to the Father par excellence, the one who, from all eternity, is turned towards the Father (Jn 1:1), comes into the world – becomes Mission- ary – ready to respond to the Father’s will (cf. Heb 10:5-10); he consecrates himself to the Father for the mission the Father entrusts to him, which is the sanctification of the brothers (Jn 10:36; 17:19). A sanctification that is far from being an escape from reality; on the contrary, it is a commitment to make a decisive mark on history. It is the proposal of new relationships, of a new and different society: “This is not to happen among you!” (Mk 10:43). It is the proposal of fraternity.

In a nutshell: the Xaverian is always and entirely for the mission: “intensifying the desire to spread his kingdom everywhere”, “to achieve the victories promised by God to those who are obedient”, ever aware, as he reminds us in the constitutions, that in our missionary work “the individual’s energies will always be inferior to needs” (C21, 72; FR 7). A spirit of living faith, a generous, a ready and constant obedience, an intense love for the family and a proven love for the brothers75.

One final observation. Our work is incomplete. We haven’t said anything about the human maturity that is both the foundation and the summit achieved by those who abandon themselves totally to God. We did not enter into the problem of the means. Conforti always distinguishes clearly between holiness and the means necessary for achieving it. Nor did we ask ourselves what “experience of the Spirit” gave him his charismatic intuitions and even less did we look for the biblical roots and the implementation inspired by the texts of the Magisterium and the theologians of the Consecrated Life. The question remains open.

Notes:

1 M.Serafini,Appunti sulle Costituzioni dell’Istituto S.Francesco Saverio per le Missioni Estere;the manuscript is preserved in the archives of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, 8-339/17. Along with abbot Serafini, a certain Ladislao Marszatkiewicz was also appointed to read the 1916 Confortian Constitutions and he was even more drastic and harsh than Serafini The Abbot consultor began his judgment with the title: « The title is the rule: and it truly is a rule – containing its share of statutes – but it is very different in style and drafting from the constitutions of Religious Institutes. They diverge greatly from the Norms and to approve them would require not one but many serious exceptions – indeed, I should say that it is not possible to approve them with the criteria of the Norms – and it would be a total exception. The whole style reflects the heart of the founder and, consequently, there are abundant exhortations that aim at forming the hearts of the missionaries ». He concludes his general observations with the advice that the enterprise should be abandoned, leaving «the title and style as they stand,because it would not be possible to improve them – but then (he continues) they cannot be approved as the Constitutions of a religious Institute,or receive solemn final approval». 2 In 1900,Pope Leo XIII had officially recognized as religious the congregations with simple vows (Conditae a Christo),but the following year these congregations were obliged to adapt their constitutions to detailed and narrowly defined norms: The document was “Normae secundum quas S. Congregatio Episcoporum et Regularium procedere solet in approbandis novis instituti votorum simplicium” (cf.L.Ballarin,Missione Storia di un Progetto, EMI,Bologna,1993,p.17; See also J.Alvares Gomez,Historia de la vida religiosa, vol.III,p.528). 3Fourth Circular Letter,21 February 1916,in FCT 1¡ã p.287.See also the letter to Luigi Calza,8 September 1916 in FCT 1¡ã,p.13. 4 Ballarin reached the following conclusion in his historical study of the Constitutions: “The Founder used various contributions (which he had asked for) to reach a satisfactory draft.However none of them,no matter how useful they were for juridical precision 136 Alfiero Ceresoli

or a flowing style,changed the fundamental idea that Conforti wished to express.He never allowed himself to be distracted from his original inspiration and intention. In a particular way, he maintained his position with regard to the articles of an ascetical and exhortative nature, which are contained especially in the third and fourth sections of the Rules, which had been comprehensively judged as inappropriate by the two official Roman consultors.Bishop Conforti kept them because he was against reducing the Con- stitutions to a bare body of juridical norms without the backing of spiritual motivations and exhortations (Lino Ballarin, Missione storia di un progetto, Le Costituzioni del Missionari Saveriani – Studi Storico.EMI,Bologna,1993,pp.134-135. 5 See, for example, the question of “indissoluble” belonging to the Xaverian family, which was already present in the first letter to Ledochowski: “He shall govern them though a uniform rule, always vigilant to ensure that the Apostolic Spirit is maintained”; and later: the family “will take care of those who decide to dedicate themselves to the mission”. In 1897 he spoke of “binding oneself indissolubly to the Institute” (C 97 3) and in C 98, 10 of “belonging” also in the mission. Belonging and the commitment to watch over the preservation of the apostolic spirit remains a fixed point until C21, 118 = FR 12. See the “spirit of union withGod”(C 97.2;C 98.23),the topic of detachment from all things and the sacrifice of everything,the insistence on the greatness and beauty of the missionary vocation lived as the total gift of self through the bond of the vows. These are only some examples of constant coherence with the initial project that contemplated a “sole” goal,but which was rich in a precise and profound spirituality. 6 Redemptionis Donum - RD 15. 7 Mutuae Relationes - MR 11. 8 The tradition of introducing the constitutions with a letter seems to have been started by don Bosco and aimed at saying what had been impossible to say in the Constitutions themselves because of the strict norms imposed by the canon law and the policy then in force. 9«In the Gospel the apostolic life and profession of religious vows together constitute the most perfect life conceivable » (TL 2). 10«Let each one bear in mind the incomparable grace the Lord has granted to him by calling him to serve him closely,through the profession of the evangelical counsels and the exercise of the apostolic life which, in faith and in the Gospel, is the greatest form of life conceivable in the Church of God. At the same time, let him also remember, as an incentive to virtue, the obligations he has con- tracted with the holy vows of poverty, chastity and obedience ». (C21/54 = FR 26). In C21, 199 = FR 62; e C21 227 = FR 44 says: “In faith”.Elsewhere he uses the formula “for supernatural motives”(C21,70 = FR 41). 11 25 March 1926,DP 13. 12 15 August 1910,Parma,Homily on the Solemnity of the Assumption,in FCT 18,p.179. 13 cf.TL 4. 14 “Love poverty and be content with what is necessary, as befits the poor; do not look for superfluous clothing, housing and food” (3rd Circular Letter,1 September 1912,pagine Confortiane no.1991). 15 cf.TL 5. 16 TL 6. 17 RMi 11. 18 11 June 1902,the First Pastoral letter to the people of Ravenna,in FCT 11.There are a great many texts: see,for example,April 1919, PdPinVitaNostraII,4(EdEMIp.37). 19 “Faith must animate my spirit, my heart and my will. My spirit shall live by faith if, through recollection, I remain steadfast in thinking of God,Jesus Christ and the Christian mysteries and if I refer to the Christian principles to judge men and events .My heart shall live in faith if, taken up by God’s greatness and the beauty of Jesus Christ, I open it to the sentiment of love; if through a tender and living piety, I establish an intimate relationship with the God who lives in me through Jesus Christ. My will shall live in faith if, not content with religious emotions, I resolve to live well in order to honor my God and use the moral energies that his grace has sown within me; if Consider religion as a power that aims at making my actions holy (Riflessioni e propositi scritti durante gli esercizi,in FCT 20,p.183). 20 August 1918,La Verna,PdP,VN I, 8,in Luca,p.45. 21 During a retreat in the Mother House he develops the theme of abandonment point by point: 6 November 1924, Parma, Appunti per un ritiro alla casa Madre,in FCT 20,p.255 22 Whilst the first part of this statement can be found in the spiritual manuals of the time,the second part is Conforti’s own:“Intensify- ing… increasing our desire to spread the kingdom”. 23 DP 12 / Pag.Conf.977. 24 Ratio Formationis Xaverianae 47; 59. 25 Here we clearly see the influence of Chateaubriand’s “the genius of Christianity”. 26 See also LC 1/ in Pagine Confortiane 1075 «If you wish to preserve this spirit of union with God, so essential to the Missionary, be faithful to your daily meditation and spiritual reading.Celebrate Mass well like those saints who learned in the Divine Sacrament to climb the heights of sanctity,to be objects of wonderment for men and angels alike.». «They shall make their meditation and a twice daily examination of conscience; each month they shall make a one day retreat, since these are very effective means for achieving that spirit of union with God that is so necessary for a Missionary who must be detached from all earthly things and always ready to make even the greatest sacrifices for the divine glory and the wellbeing of souls » (C 97.2). 27 In the 1983 Constitutions, article 63 is very well translated: «harmonize periods of prayer with time of work, so that the apostolate becomes the place for his habitual union with God ». The Founder reminded the formator to «keep before his eyes the God who shall one day be his judge » (C21,181) 28 See Heb 3:1 and 12:2 29 The sanctification mentioned in C21, 192 = FR 18 is seen as working for the sanctification of others: “Of paramount concern to a missionary should be the attention given for his own sanctificationinorderthathemaybebetterabletoprocurethesanctification of others”. 30 C21,176 / FR 67.See Rom 12:1-2 and VC 16; 18; 31; 37. 31 C21,238 / FR 14. 32 C21,184 / FR 9. 33 C21,206 / FR 19.cf.also the term “reflection” in the Conforti anthology. 34 C21,192 = FR 18; C21 238 = FR 14; C21,206 = FR 19. 35 cf.TL 1.2.Conforti takes these definitions from St.Thomas. 36 C 97,3; repeated in C 98,24; and C 99 17. CUM CHRISTO IN DEO 137

37 cf.VC 22¡ã,whereJesusisalsodefinedas“the Father’s supreme consecrated missionary”. 38 An interesting excerpt from the “Parola del Padre” (The Father’s Word): “We must place before all other affections those imposed upon us by our duties.Christ taught us this by his example.He tenderly loved his Mother,St.Joseph,his homeland,but before all of them he placed the will of his Heavenly father and his affection for humanity,which he had come to redeem.When his Mother, complying with maternal love, complained gently to him because he had left her to go to the temple, he responded: «Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs? When they interrupted him as he was preaching to onlookers and they told him that his mother and relatives were waiting to speak to him, he quickly replied: «My mother and my brothers are those who listen to the Word of God and put it into practice ». And when Peter tried to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem to fulfill his sacrifice,he almost forgot his customary kindness and rejected him,likening Peter to Satan,the Tempter”(VITANOSTRA a.VIII - 1925 p.13). 39 See the Confortian Anthology under “Regno di Dio”. 40 6 September 1924, Palermo “L’Eucaristia e le Missioni Cattoliche” (The Eucharist and the Catholic Missions). Speech delivered at the National Eucharistic Conference,held in Palermo.In FCT 4° 483. 41 MR 11. 42 cf.PC 2b/708; see also LG 43/402; 44/405; 45/408. 43 MR 11. 44 For example, C21,55 = FR 33; C21,66 = FR 28; ecc. 45 Bruno Maggioni,I racconti evangelici della risurrezione,Assisi,Cittadella Editrice.2001,p.114. 46 The Founder uttered the following words on his deathbed: “Sive vivimus,sive morimur Domini sumus”. 47 8 December 1918,Homilies on the Creed,Creatorem Coeli et terrae,maker of heaven and earth,in FCT 17°,pp.161-172. 48 cf.C21 10 = FR 52. 49 Note that this is the quotation of 1Cor 13:4ff in spite of the “Normae secundum quas...” which said: “all Sacred Scripture texts, quotations from the Councils and the Fathers of the Church must be excluded from Constitutions” (a.22).See also my own contribution to the preparation to the XIII General Chapter (12-15 June 1995): Un progetto originale in una struttura prefabbricata, le Costituzioni saveriane del 21-31.Manoscritto pp.9-10. 50 NMI 30. 51 RMi 90. 52 27 September 1931,DP 22¡ã,in FCT 0 pp.123-126. 53 24 September 1918,Parma, FCT 16,pp.216-226.See also p.218; FCT 28,p.188 and FCT 28,p.229. 54 Redemptoris Mater 20. 55 cf.C21,118 = FR 12. 56 cf.C21,213 = FR 51. 57 Elderly and sick missionaries must not worry because the Family shall intensify its efforts and affection towards them in their time of need (cf.C21,190 = FR 46); thoughtful and affectionate care should also be given to the sick in the missions and in the communities (cf.C21,228 = FR 48). 58 cf.C21,199 = FR 62; cf.C21,226 = 43. 59 cf C21,230 = 49. 60 In his programmatic speech on taking possession of the diocese of Parma, the Founder said “Tothe pleasant bonds of a fellow citi- zen,brother and friend,that already tied our hearts together,we must now add new ones that are closer,more solemn and sacred because they have been desired and imposed by God himself,from whom all fatherhood,in heaven and on earth,takes its name.(Eph 3:15). These new bonds are very dear to me and they must unite us indissolubly in a wonderful correspondence of affections and sentiments!”4 March 1908,in FCT 15,pp.329-343. 61 cf.C21,176 and TL 8. 62 Guido M.Conforti,Cenni storici,7; in Pagine Confortiane no.1547. 63 “We die to earthly things” (TL 2). See also the letter to Cardinal Domenico Serafini, 5 June 1915, Archive of Propaganda Fide 8-873/17. 64 cf.LG 44; VC 14.16.18.30.etc.Xaverians will hear the echo of all the Christological formulae of TL 7.C21,176 and others. 65 C21,78. 66 TL 1; Wealso find “Make ourselves similar to the divine prototype of the predestined”. 67 13 March 1927,-Cathedral Basilica,DP 16, in FCT 0 pp.110 - 114). 68 PdP,EMI p.94. 69 The formula written by the Founder for the initial promise and the subsequent religious profession of Rastelli and Manini, the first two missionaries. 70 C 87,3.See the Pagine confortiane 514. 71 5 August 1916,in FCT 14,p.705. 72 “Every missionary should consider himself a voluntary victim for the conversion of the infidels and regard his modest contribution to the work of Christ for the salvation of the world as his greatest glory.Enthusiastically he should welcome the day when he is called to leave all and go to the missions. He should always be ready for any eventuality and be prepared to accomplish the will of God, made known to him by his superiors”.C21,n.184 = FR 9. 73 19 February 1921,Monthly Retreat,Seminario Missioni Estere,Istituto Saveriano,The Evangelical Counsels FCT 20,p.238. 74 cf.C21,nos.127 = FR 73; 192 = FR 18; 198 = FR 61.TL 8.It should be kept in mind that the Founder made a point of distinguishing between “piety” (the filial relationship with God the Father) and the “pious practices”. 75Commenting on the TestamentLetter, Ballarin states: “The Founder’s reflection identified the characteristic of the Xaverian institute in this fusion of souls in faith,obedience and love.He points to it as the supreme “vow” the “Father’s testament”.Thesuc- cession of these ideas, expounded with close logic and obvious fervor, is the thread running through the constitutions and the light that enlightens them. The constitutions must be understood from the perspective of the introductory letter which, in this sense, sums them up and complements them” Lino Ballarin,Missione Storia di un progetto,EMI,Bologna,1993,pp.155-156.

THE 1983 CONSTITUTIONS 139

THE 1983 CONSTITUTIONS

Gabriele Ferrari

Introduction Historical development, especially in times of rapid changes such as our own, led our Institute (and others) to adapt our way of living the missionary vocation to the changing times and, therefore, to formulate the Constitutions in a new and updated manner. Any desire to hold on to the material expression of the Constitutions, whatever the cost, would merely be a form of fundamentalism. We re- wrote them, preserving as much as possible the foundational inspiration, the charism and Conforti’s typical spiritual and missionary insights. We shall ask ourselves if the Institute succeeded in this delicate task, if in other words the new Constitutions are faithful to the Founder’s spirit. For this reason we shall look back at the history of the new drafting of the Constitutions.

I-TheFounder’sXaverianConstitutions In 1921, after many years of expectation, Conforti promulgated his Constitutions. He was pleased to have finally elaborated a constitutional document that complied with the Church and expressed his own “daring project”, although it had been scaled down somewhat in accordance with the canonical requirements of the time. The Founder hoped he wouldn’t have to touch them again but, quite soon afterwards, he realized that such a step would be necessary after all. This is proof, if any were still needed, of just how difficult it is to draft a final rule: In his presentation letter of 1931, Conforti wrote: “Only time and experience can lead to a final text, suggesting the additions and the modifications demanded by the different circumstances of community life”. In actual fact, the approved and promulgated 1921 Constitutions had been composed in the period 1913-16, when the Institute was still very small. On the agenda of the First General Chapter of 1929 was the task of preparing other accessorial texts which had proved to be necessary in the course of the first years, such as the Norms for the religious superior in the mission,aRule book for the novitiate and the Mother House, and the explanation of some obscure points of the Constitutions. As we can see, the Founder already was aware that it would be an arduous task to draft a truly definitive text. Propaganda Fide approved the modifications deliberated by the First General Chapter1. The new text now contained 254 articles instead of 241 (cf. Lino Ballarin s.x., Missione, storia di un progetto, EMI Bologna 1993, p. 171.).

II-TheConstitutionsaftertheFounder’sdeathuntilthemostrecentversion(1983) After the Founder’s death (1931), our spirituality underwent some variations that resulted in an emphasis on monastic and religious aspects to the detriment of the missionary flexibility and openness that Conforti had in mind. The number of normative documents and rules had increased and, although they were not constitutional, they were very minute and detailed and produced a in a complex of colossal and pleonastic Xaverian norms …like the law of the Pharisees! The constitutional text, which at the time contained many norms that today would be in the General Rule, was an object of frequent discussion; clarifications and an authentic interpretation were needed, but the General Di- rection of the time did not have the courage to shoulder this responsibility.

Modificationsandafirstattemptatrevisingthe1931Constitutions The V General Chapter of 1951 had asked the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide to approve the modification of article 95, concerning the electoral law, as deliberated by the Chapter and the wider

Gabriele Ferrari SX was Superior General from 1977 until 1989 and is currently the Director of Formation Courses (Tavernerio). 140 Gabriele Ferrari interpretation of article 66, which concerned the prohibition of possessing real estate “other than the houses for the missionaries’ exclusive use and the minor seminaries”. The Chapter had also resolved to allow missionaries to return home, not only for the internal service of the institute, but also for “for a one year period of well-deserved rest … after 10 years of continual presence in the mission” (art. 84). These were normal readjustments or interpretations of the constitutional text.

The VII General Chapter of 1961 found itself with the problem of having to harmonize and also reduce the mass of documents that had been added to the Constitutions, which had made them difficult and complicated to use. At the same time, changes were on the horizon and the winds of the Second Vati- can Council, even before it began, were blowing in the Church, calling for its aggiornamento. For this reason, the VII General Chapter instructed the General Direction to begin the process of reorganizing the Xaverian norms. On 28 September 1961, the Superior General, Fr. Giovanni Castelli, appointed a commission of confreres (Frs. Garbero, Spagnolo, Mainini, Teodori, Bonardi, Masi and Franco Sottocornola) and entrusted them with the task of carrying out the Chapter’s instructions.

Was the Founder’s text to be updated or rewritten? The main problem of the Constitutions’ revision immediately became clear. The mere idea of touch- ing the Founder’s text divided the confreres between those who wanted to preserve it at all costs and those who wanted to make it a relevant and inspiring text for today. Was it lawful to touch the Founder’s text? A letter addressed by Fr. Giovanni Bonardi to a meeting of the Commission at which he could not take part had given the impression that the Founder would not have minded modifications to his text: “The Beloved Founder was a very realistic man in all things and, consequently, he would have had no difficulty in adjusting to changing situations ... The Founder’s desire was that nothing be changed in what was fundamental and concerned with formation but, realistic as he was, if he were still alive now he himself would make any necessary modifications, as well as looking ahead at future situations in order to adapt to them” (22 October 1961). However, just then the Founder’s die-hard defenders intervened and expressed their doubts, and this forced Fr. Bonardi to clarify his position in a more strict and inflexible manner. Fr. Giulio Barsotti was a representative of this strict position: “The Founder must be turning in his grave at seeing his Constitutions changed just 33 years after his death”, he wrote on 31 July 1964.

The demands of Vatican II In the meantime, the Second Vatican Council was convoked and celebrated (1962-1965). In paragraph 3 of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis, the Council asked religious to review and modify the texts of their constitutions (“recognoscantur … aptentur”) on the basis of the Council documents. On 6 Au- gust 1966, in his Motu Proprio Ecclesiæ Sanctæ (II, 12-14), Pope Paul VI enforced the Council’s deliberations and explained that the institutes were to present a new constitutional text expressing the nature, the purpose and the organization of the institute, in accordance with the Founder’s mind and containing the evangelical and theological principles of the religious and apostolic life as suggested by the Council. We can easily understand that the Pope was proposing a process that revolutionized the traditional idea of constitutions, which until then were conceived as rigidly juridical texts in accordance with the 1901 Normæ, and later classified in 1917 Code of Canon Law. The Church was calling for “a true and proper recast of the old constitutions” (Ballarin, op.cit., p. 176). The Motu Proprio also established the deadlines: everything was to be completed within 2 or 3 years of a special General Chapter called to update or, if need be, even redraft the Constitutions.

The VIII General Chapter and the first attempt at revision In the spring of 1966, even before Ecclesiæ Sanctæ, the Commission for the revision of the Xaverian Norms, in compliance with the mandate of the VI General Chapter, had sent an amended and completed text of the 1921 Constitutions (containing the novelties introduced by the Council) to all the Xaverians, asking them to express their opinions. The confreres’ poor response and the objective difficulty of the task made it quite clear that the road taken was not practicable. In any case, the VIII Gen- THE 1983 CONSTITUTIONS 141 eral Chapter of 1966 looked upon itself as a special Chapter entrusted with the task of reviewing the Constitutions. When it began on 26 August 1966, just 20 days had passed since the Motu Proprio and 8 months since the end of the Council! Was it not too early to go ahead with the task? With a good dose of courage or recklessness, but also with the desire to comply with the Church’s requests, the VIII General Chapter got down to work with two goals in mind: to bring the Institute’s life into line with the new demands of the post-conciliar Church and to update the constitutions. It responded to the first goal with a series of declarations and deliberations on the various sectors of Xaverian life and spirituality (missionary activity, religious life, formation, the position of the brothers, missionary-vocation animation) which only served to highlight, though not deliberately, the difficulty of achieving the second goal: the adaptation of the Constitutions to the new reality outlined by the Council was superior to the Chapter’s possibilities. As is always the case in similar circumstances, an ad hoc commission was elected. Nevertheless, when the time came to give it some criteria, a clear division emerged in the Chapter between those who wanted to preserve the text and those who proposed a new one. The Chapter instructed the Commission to beware of “suppressing the work composed by the Founder propria manu, since it was still valid, and confine itself to truly necessary integrations”2. It was clear that these limitations would make the task an uphill struggle and it proved to be so. The text prepared by the Commission consisted in an expansion of the 1931 text and it was sent to the confreres for their assessment. Of the 830 Xaverians who were asked, 303 replied: 237 accepted the text, 10 rejected it on the grounds that it was too revolutionary (!) and 18 rejected it because it was too conservative, whilst the remaining 38 said it was useful for further elaboration. The commission ended up with an unsolvable dilemma: was it possible to update the Founder’s constitutions or was it not perhaps better to re- write them? On 25 January 1969 the commission declared that it was unable to proceed with its work and, lacking more precise indications, it remitted its mandate to the General Direction. The most important result of that decision was to make everyone aware that the task was not a simple one. Indeed, three special Chapters were needed to complete the work (Easter 1984) and some totally new and innovative criteria

ThedevelopmentofthenewversionoftheConstitutions The IX General Chapter of 1971 and the first draft of the constitutional Texts The Institute had profoundly changed since 1931: it was now a congregation that had developed and was articulated in many different places; the Church had gone through a Council of aggiornamento, the mission was profoundly renewed and formation had to be reviewed. The unsolvable dilemma that had blocked the 1966 Commission seemed to be moving towards a new drafting of the constitutional texts, which would combine the Founder’s texts and new ones made necessary by the changed conditions, in order to be faithful both to the Founder and the new ecclesial situation. This was done by the Founder and the new ecclesial situationer and new ones required by the changed conditions, in order to be faoithful both to the IX General Chapter (27 June – 29 October 1971), but the result lacked the organic unity and the clarity demanded by Ecclesiæ Sanctæ.

The text of the new Constitutions was made up of four documents of different origins: the Testament Letter, Fundamental Rule, Identity of the Institute and Structure and Government. These documents were prepared by a group of Chapter members who worked in an interim session (end of July and August 1971) on the basis of texts drawn up in preparation to the Chapter, and these were examined and approved during the second session (September-October 1971). At the end of its work, the IX General Chapter declared that it had “responded to the necessities of the Congregation and the instructions of the Church” (Documents of the IX General Chapter, p. 9) and completed its task as a «special Chapter», by publishing the four documents that were to serve as Constitutions ad experimentum, and which were promulgated by the Superior General, Bishop Gianni Gazza, in the presentation letter dated 5 November 1971.

- The IX Chapter kept the 1921 Constitutions, transforming them into the «Fundamental Rule» which, after the removal of all the obsolete and unnecessary elements, preserved its constitutional value. The 1921/31 text had been reduced by more than half: 88 (out of 254) of the Founder’s articles remained with slight modifications for lexical reasons. The Testament Letter of 2 July 1921 was 142 Gabriele Ferrari

also preserved and promoted to the rank of constitutional document, as a text that interprets fully the mind of Conforti. - The new document on the «Xaverian identity in the Church» connects the Fundamental Rule with the current moment of the Church and the world,integrates it with more explicit theological principles on the Mission and the religious life and presents an organic image of the Institute in the present time. -«Structure and Government », another new constitutional document, contains the internal norms for the government of the institute, which were elaborated in the light of the principles of subsidiarity,collegiality and coresponsibility.The novelty of this document consists in the division and the decentralization of the Institute in Regions and Provinces, quasi-Regions and quasi-Prov- inces. - This was followed by a series of Chapter Documents which, by virtue of an explicit declaration of the IX Chapter, did not possess constitutional value, though in a way analogous to the conciliar documents,were looked upon as decrees of application3.

Yet it did not take long for us to realize that the IX General Chapter’s new constitutional text was far from responding to the expectations of the Motu proprio. The majority of the institute accepted it with satisfaction, whilst a certain number of confreres received it with suspicion and strong opposition, on the grounds that it was an unjust and impossible extrapolation of the Founder’s Constitutions and, ultimately, almost a betrayal of Conforti’s thought. Above all, some pages of the Chapter documents on formation and the common life which, although they were not constitutional, were the object of lively protest. Since it was responsible for the promulgation of the new constitutional text, the General Direction was accused of having abandoned the spirit of Conforti and even orthodoxy. Some confreres did not hesitate to appeal to Rome, where they found listening ears especially in some parts of the Curia that were opposed to Conciliar renewal. During the Chapter, the die-hard defenders of the Founder’s Constitutions had already asked for the informal opinion of some Vatican experts and their verdict was clear: the body of the constitutional texts did not respond to the demands formulated by the document Ecclesiæ Sanctæ.

The six year period (1971-77) was definitely an unfavorable one for the new drafting of the Constitu- tions. There were many reasons for this: the Council had only recently come to a close; some problems were too acute; the changes were too many and too profound; there was an internal wind of rebellion that was ready to protest at anything and everything... we were in the full throes of 1968 and, in a period that was highly allergic to documents of a juridical and definitive nature (as demon- strated by the slow preparation of the new Code of Canon Law!), it was difficult to propose an organic and final text. The matter was deferred to the following Chapter.

The X General Chapter marks out a clear path The General Direction wrote a circular letter on the eve of the X General Chapter (May 1977), to remind it of the pressing need, expressed by the Church’s authority, to avoid further delay in producing a final text of the Constitutions, albeit in an informal but accurate manner.

The X General Chapter (Chapter Documents no. 145) believed that it could not possibly do this during the Chapter itself, but it did give clear directions for the new Constitutions to an ad hoc Commission that was made up of 4 members elected by the Chapter (bishop Gazza, Frs. Mondin (president), Dagnino and Ballarin (secretary) and another 3 who were appointed by the General Direction (Menin, Larcher and Mainini). Bishop Gazza was replaced by Fr. Ceresoli following his appointment to Aversa at the end of 1981. The instructions were drawn up and voted by the Chapter in the 40th session from among three hypotheses proposed by the Commission for the rules:

- torewritethe Constitutions in an organic text and a clear and up to date language,expressing faithfully the Founder’s theological and spiritual thought, without aspiring to save his texts and ipsissima verba at all costs; - redraft the Constitutions in an organic text that express, as much as possible, the Founder’s thoughts,in his own words; THE 1983 CONSTITUTIONS 143

- preserve the four constitutional texts presented by the IX General Chapter, correcting them where necessary in order to make them an organic constitutional text.

The great majority of the delegates opted for the first hypothesis, a few for the second and only two for the third. The path had been marked out, but many Delegates were still concerned about saving the Founder’s texts in some way. Consequently, a fourth hypothesis emerged: the 1921 Letter of presentation (commonly called the Testament Letter)shouldbepreservedandthe88articlesoftheFundamen- tal Rule elaborated by the IX General Chapter as an introduction, or attachment, to the new constitutional document, but only as inspirational texts. 28 voters out of 37 approved this fourth hypothesis.

- Fr. Lino Ballarin, the executive secretary of the Commission and a rigorous historian, carried out a historical research on the Founder’s thought and the authentic traces of the Constitutions throughout their development, and the Commission prepared a text that was presented to the Conference of Major Religious Superiors in 1979. The Conference approved the text and ordered its distribution to all the confreres for their examination, assessment and suggestions (10 Septem- ber 1979).The replies came back by January 1981: 433 out of 827 Xaverians responded and 31% of them expressed a positive judgment (placet), 63% approved it, but it needed some corrections (placet juxta modum) and just 5% replied non placet.

- A revised second edition was presented to the 1981 Conference of Major Religious Superiors containing the corrections suggested during the previous phase and this was distributed among all the confreres. More than forty individual and collective replies came back and these were taken to the IX General Chapter.

In the meantime some important things happened: - The Formators’ Meeting in Pamplona (July 1980) opened a new phase in the knowledge of the Founder,an authentic rediscovery of Conforti after many years in the shadows. - The resumption of Conforti’s Cause of Beatification, which had been blocked for many years, and a new knowledge and love of the Founder. - The death of some confreres who had been very close to the Founder and who stood in the way of a serene change, among them the former Superiors General Fr. Amatore Dagnino, Fr. Giovanni Gazza, Fr. Giovanni Castelli, Fr. Giovanni Bonardi, the Founder’s right-hand man, and Fr. Giulio Barsotti,the Postulator of the Cause.

These events happened at the same time as others of a historical nature: the end of the protests against structures, the re-emergence of the Founder’s figure, thanks also to the publication of his letters, the resumption of the Beatification process, the need for a new constitutional text that Rome was calling for, but which was also felt at Congregation level and new persons at the General Direction, etc. All this made it possible to accelerate the drafting of the new Constitutions.

The XI General Chapter of 1983 and the conclusion of the work During the course of its first session the XI General Chapter, with the help of two experts, Fr. Dante Mainini SX, and Fr. Juan Lozano, MFCM (Claretian), carried out the examination, correction and final drafting of the Constitutions and the General Rule. At the beginning of the second session on 24 August 1983, the General Chapter approved, with a great majority, the text of the Constitutions and the General Rule.

In October the text was presented to the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, which approved it on 24 March 1984 after asking for some modifications which, since they were not of a substantial nature, were easy to accept and integrate into the text.

In the letter of approval, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Cardinal Agnelo Rossi stated that, “this fundamental document of your Congregation, especially its spiritual content, is in harmony with the directives of the Second Vatican Council and current ecclesiastical 144 Gabriele Ferrari laws… The biblical inspiration, the continual reference to the Council texts and the documents of the ecclesiastical Magisterium, as well as to the Founder, with frequent quotes from the Fundamental Rule and the Testament Letter, are all deserving of particular appreciation”. In presenting and pro- mulgating the new text, the Superior General said: “I feel confident in saying that it is the result of a threefold fidelity: to the Founder and his original inspiration, to the Church and her mission, to the world and its expectations. These three fidelities are both the hinges of the text and the key to its reading, interpretation and application” (letter of presentation, 22 April 1984).

Canwesaythatthe1983Constitutionsare«theFounder’s»? I honestly believe we can say yes, even though they are no longer materially the Founder’s and even though they do contain some novelties. Nevertheless, they are inspired by Conforti. The new text, besides preserving and bringing up to date the typical characteristics of the Xaverian missionaries as the Founder had imagined them, restores the most characteristic aspect of Conforti, the primacy of the mission, that he had been unable to include in his Constitutions (as he would have liked) through the central vow, the fourth vow, which is the hermeneutical key of the Constitutions and the pillar of Xaverian spirituality. In presenting the completed work to the 1983 Chapter, Fr. Lino Ballarin said: “We can say without any hesitation that the valid substance of Conforti’s Constitutions has been preserved. We tried to liberate the Founder’s thought from the limitations that had partially obscured it and deflected it from its original orientation. We have put the Xaverian life in a mission perspective and restored the mission vow to pride of place, so that it inspires the rest. This was what Conforti had in mind when he conceived the Congregation as an institute of apostolic activity which adopted the religious life in view of the greater effectiveness of its action, (cf. Regolamento Schizzo (1898) art. 1, Regole-Vivari (1905) art. 1, 1931 Constitutions, art. 3,73-75, 184, 198, 207). The mission vow disap- peared from the 1915-1931 Constitutions and “personal sanctification” became the “primary” goal, thus stressing the religious life as the main value, as a result of external factors that the Founder was unable to prevent and which have now fallen by the wayside. In looking for signs of the Founder’s thought in our Project, we must remember that certain practical norms (such as the minor seminaries, devotional practices, etc) were either moved into the general rule or into other documents, while others were dropped because they were incompatible with a modern constitutional text. This raises the problem of the balance between the elements of the Institute’s particular heritage and elements that are common to every Institute of apostolic and consecrated life. Depending on whether too much space is given to the former or to the latter, we become either too meticulous or too generic. We believe that the specific Xaverian characteristics are highlighted without neglecting the elements common to other institutes, especially with the place and emphasis given to the mission vow” (from Fr. Lino Balalrin’s presentation of the Project of the Constitutions to the IX General Chapter. The text is preserved in the Institute’s General Archive).

The novelties in the 1983 Constitutions In addition to the centrality of the mission, expressed in the mission vow, which is the text’s true novelty (recovered from the Founder), there are certainly some novelties in the Constitutions that were not in the Founder’s Constitutions.

- the decentralization of the government and the structure of the institute (art. 6 e 73-108 o 116) which is no longer united under the direct and immediate government of the General Direction, but divided into Regions and Delegations.This entails less intense relationships and the loss of that unity and family spirit based on mutual knowledge that was a characteristic of the Institute when it was a small family in the Mother House, as well as the risk of the autonomy of the individual circumscriptions.

- A new emphasis on the community and community life (art. 35-41), articulated at all levels (local, Regional and general) with their internal rhythms, chapters, assemblies, according to different modalities (evangelizing community and vocation animation, community open to others ...) and above all characterized by communion in everything: faith and apostolic commitment, joys THE 1983 CONSTITUTIONS 145

and hopes,material and spiritual goods,the process of community discernment.This way of living is certainly new in its formulation and in its structure, though it is the logical elaboration of that “family spirit ” (n.35) inculcated in us by the Founder and by the conciliar doctrine on the community dimension of Christianity. The family spirit entailed for Conforti a harmony or communion among persons which is essential in the family (cf.FR nos.45-47).

- Greater importance is given to the Word of God in a direct way through the invitation to “listen, meditate and pray”the Word every day (C 44), and indirectly through the presentation of the new text which is full of references to the Word of God (cf. the footnotes) and Biblical themes , such as the Kingdom of God,the Gospel to be announced and lived ( for example, 9.11.12.13 etc.).

- A new organization of prayer life that tone down somewhat the devotions (feasts, novenas and prayers and devotional practices) in order to give precedence to liturgical prayer in accordance with the requests of the Council (PC,OT,PO).

- The formation program proposed by the Constitutions has as its criterion “the Xaverian project for the mission” (C 53), which involves the entire Institute (“it is a corporate endeavor involving the whole Institute”,C 57) and adapts itself to the “different ,milieu and ecclesial situations ”without losing its identity (C 54).

- The Constitutions now bear witness to a clearer articulation of the universality of the mission entrusted to us with its localization (C 11), in the clear statement of our relationship with the local churches, a reality that the Council asserted (AG 27 MR 40-42) and which our Founder had perceived and lived ante litteram.

- Finally, the new Constitutions outline a mission theologically founded in the Trinitarian missions, contextualized and open to the whole world,like the Institute which is now spread throughout the world, according to a Catholicity that is not only geographical but also anthropological , which bears in mind the geographical territories and also the new problems relative to incarnation and solidarity with the social, political and religious reality and in line with the Church’s Magisterium (Gaudium et Spes, Populorum progressio, Africæ Terrarum, Medellin, Puebla).

But the novelties are not ... really new. The novelties are new ... but not arbitrary.Theyarelogical and necessary developmentsoftheideasof Conforti that have been elaborated in line with ecclesiology and the mission, the consecrated life and the social magisterium of the Church in order to respond to the current context. In other words, these novelties of the 1983 constitutional text are the development of values already present in nuce in the Constitutions of Conforti : for example, the family spirit, the invitation to cultivate prayer, the cordial and dynamic insertion in the human milieu, relationships with the local Ordinary, etc.

In general we can say they have been received positively by the confreres who have recognized in them the inspiration of Conforti and, therefore, the foundation of Xaverian spirituality for our times.

As far as any resistance is concerned - without wishing in any way to judge the intentions of anyone - it seems we can say, that it was the result of an attachment to the Founder’s text but, even more often, it was the result of a fear of change, or the fear of being disturbed in consolidated habits (praying the entire breviary in the morning or in the evening ... or not praying it at all), or by the fear of having to sur- render the management of one’s own work and money.

What is at stake with the new Constitutions is not only a return to the centrality of the mission proper to Conforti, but also a new way of living the mission that is more coherent with the developments of the post-conciliar theology. Now we understand that this renewal cannot be done from one day to the next and, therefore, it should come as no surprise if it hasn’t yet been completely implemented. 146 Gabriele Ferrari

Conclusion I believe we can say that the 1983 Constitutions are close to the Constitutions that Conforti would have wanted to write, that they are characterized by a valid Biblical and theological framework and that they express all of this in a simple and readable language, free as far as possible from theological fashions, so as not to result too dated. Probably as we read them today, caught up as we are by the ac- celeration of history, we could have the sensation that something should still be changed and further actualized. But will it ever be possible to produce a text that transcends time?

Notes:

1 Additions were made to two constitutional articles (33 and 40 and 181),whilst others were modified (91,96,122,147,201); the possible introduction of provinces was mentioned and, consequently, some articles (95, 122 155-159) were either modified or added. As a result, the new edition of the 1931 Constitutions contained, with respect to the 1921 Constitutions, 13 new articles (34, 42, 152-159, 192-194), 7 articles modified by the General Chapter (91, 96, 122, 131, 147, 182, 201) and 9 articles modified subsequently in accordance with the proposals of the Chapter. 2 Fr. Giovanni Bonardi said that he saw this desire to change the Founder’s text as an expression of “that insane itch for reform” that the Founder had already denounced; he asked that each article of the Constitution in a new project should be accompanied by the Council text that called for its reform. 3 These documents,which were additional and therefore changeable,were thus articulated: Declarations and deliberations (Commu- nity life,Prayer,Problems of the mission,Practical problems concerning missionary personnel,Elements for solving the formation problem today,Some stages of the formation curriculum,The Xaverian missionary brother,Outlines for planning (personnel strategy, rotation, blocking new openings) and Directories (General Prefectures, Directory of temporal goods, Directory of the General Chapter,Conciliation and arbitration,Faculties granted by the General Direction).These were the documents that led to discussion (Community life,Formation,Mission). 4 This concern was determined by the fear that a conflict might arise between the new Constitutions and the Fundamental Rule and that this might perpetuate the division of the Institute between those who wanted to follow the Constitutional text of the Founder and those who intended to follow the new Constitutions.In my own modest opinion,this concern is now a thing of the past . PRINCIPLES FOR REVISION 147

PRINCIPLES FOR REVISION Fidelityandrenewal

Luigi Zucchinelli and Rocco Puopolo

ThekeyprinciplesofPerfectaeCaritatis The Second Vatican Council urges the Consecrated Life, in its various forms, not so much to an aggiornamento of the norms, but to a change of life in consonance with the simplicity of the Gospel. Perfectae Caritatis points out the clear principles we are to follow: “The adaptation and renewal of the religious life includes both the constant return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time. This renewal, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of the Church, must be advanced according to the following principles:

These basic principles have been applied in accordance with the norms promulgated by the Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae(1966): “The general laws of each institute (constitutions, Typika, rules or whatever name they bear) should ordinarily include these elements.

- Discipleship. 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. - The Institute’s historical charism. It redounds to the good of the Church that institutes have their own particular characteristics and work. Therefore let their founders’ spirit and special aims they set before them as well as their sound traditions-all of which make up the patrimony of each institute-be faithfully held in honor. All institutes should share in the life of the Church,adapting as their own and implementing in accordance with their own characteristics the Church’s undertakings and aims in matters biblical, liturgical,dogmatic,pastoral,ecumenical,missionary and social. - Attentiontothemodernworld. Institutes should promote among their members an adequate knowledge of the social conditions of the times they live in and of the needs of the Church.In such a way, judging current events wisely in the light of faith and burning with apostolic zeal, they may be able to assist people more effectively. - Personal spiritual renewal.ThepurposeofthereligiouslifeistohelpthemembersfollowChrist and be united to God through the profession of the evangelical counsels. It should be constantly kept in mind, therefore, that even the best adjustments made in accordance with the needs of our age will be ineffectual unless they are animated by a renewal of spirit. This must take precedence over even the active ministry”(PC 2).

- The evangelical and theological principles of the religious life and of its union with the Church and suitable and clear words in which “the spirit of the founders and their specific aims and healthy traditions, all of which constitute the patrimony of each institute, are acknowledged and preserved.”(No.2b of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis). - The necessary juridical norms for defining clearly the character,purpose and means of the institute (ES 12) - union of both elements, spiritual and juridical, is necessary so that the principal codes of the institutes have a stable foundation and that the true spirit and life-giving norm pervade them; care

Luigi Zucchinelli SX is currently the Vice-Director of the Formation Courses and Rector at Tavernerio. Rocco Puopolo SX was rector of the Chicago Theology from 2000-2006; he is currently Director of the AFJN office in Washington. 148 Luigi Zucchinelli and Rocco Puopolo

must therefore be taken that a merely juridical or purely exhortatory text is not composed (ES 13). - Those matters which are now obsolete, or subject to change according to a particular era, or which correspond with merely local usages should be excluded from the fundamental code of the institutes.Those norms however which correspond with the needs of the present time,the physical and psychological conditions of the members and particular circumstances should be set down in sup- plementary codes called “directories,”books of customs,or in books bearing other titles. (ES 14).

The 1983 Constitutions are the fruit of various attempts spread over a period of 18 years and they have a triple aim: dynamic fidelity to the charism; attention to the new situation of the Church and the world; helping the members to an inner transformation in the Spirit.

Each one of us must measure himself against them and adapt his life to them. Fidelity to them will pro duce : the clarity of our identity, the vigor and efficacy of the apostolate, incisiveness in the mission, fidelity to the charism in its spiritual dimension and service to the Church.

Methodology Fr. Rocco Puopolo makes an interesting observation on the process of renewal of the Constitutions concerning the methodology: «After having researched the common lines and the basic structure of the different texts, with the help of some experts and texts that had already been prepared specifically for the Chapter, we began to draft the different articles of the Constitutions according to the contributions of the various language groups. Thus we can truly say that the drafting of the different articles was the fruit of the various languages present at the Chapter.

Each article of the Constitutions took on the life and the words of the different language groups. I discovered a truly unique and effective method that respected the different cultures. It was by no means an easy task, but it produced results that were surprising in their clarity, purity and simplicity and the nuances of the various languages make the text profound . The method allowed us to express in the final articles of the Constitutions what had been discussed during the Chapter itself. I am also convinced that the method which made space for linguistic plurality produced a very simple and clear constitutional text , which seems to have made translation into the various languages more easy. A simple and poetic language!».

Fr. Rocco concludes: «As always, no text is ever complete and definitive. When we finished the work on the 1983 Constitutions, the chapter on Prayer and Mission seemed incomplete. Although each one of the ten articles of that chapter was approved by a large majority, the vote on the entire chapter was not equally convincing. This suggested to me the necessity of a further deepening that might improve the quality of guidance that the Constitutions must possess». SPIRITUALITY IN THE RFX 149

SPIRITUALITY IN THE RFX

Juan Olvera Servin

Introduction A presentation of the important aspects of Xaverian spirituality that emerge from our Ratio Formationis calls for a brief introduction to bring the topic into focus. We should therefore remember that the drafting of the RFX began back in 1978, on the basis of already existing documents in the various circumscriptions. The process went through different stages until its final approval by the XII General Chapter (1989)1.

The challenges of modernity, the different situations in which we live, changes in formation personnel and the challenges of the mission ad gentes forced us to produce the Ratio Formationis. The document is a concrete step in the inculturation of the charism and the development of our spirituality in the different contexts in which we work2. the Ratio Formationis presents the program and the essential methods of Xaverian formation, beginning with the Congregation’s ideals, goals and living traditions present in the Constitutions (cf. C 53). It must be completed with the documents of the universal and local Churches.

The document is structured as follows: an introduction outlines the document’s importance and purpose, its meaning and its limits, together with some drafting criteria; four chapters: I) Xaverian For- mation in the mind and praxis of the Founder, II) The nucleus of Xaverian spirituality, III) The fundamental formative principles and IV) Formation stages and some criteria for vocational discernment.

Our reflection shall focus on two chapters: Xaverian formation in the mind and the praxis of the Founder and the nucleus of Xaverian spirituality.

I-XaverianformationintheFounder’smindandpraxis It is fundamentally important to remember how the Founder took a personal interest in the missionary aspirants of the seminary in Borgo Leon D’Oro (1895-1901) and in the Mother House. He loved to take part in community prayer, he preached the morning meditation, took an interest in discipline and study and followed the students personally. From the very beginning, the Founder was very clear about the “sole and exclusive purpose” of his work3.

Later, despite the fact that his Episcopal commitments prevented him from being habitually among his missionary aspirants, Conforti never ceased to show an interest in each and every one of them. He visited them often, kept them informed of what was happening in China and regularly received Fr. Pellerzi (1898-1911). He did the same when the other minor seminaries were established4.

On the basis of the testimony of many confreres and his writings, we can say that: his formative work was precise, accurate, delicate and non-obsessive. He was not formalistic nor aloof 5.Someofhisstu- dents remember him as “an incomparable father and formation person”, (P. Guareschi), who “inspired great veneration”, (Mons. Del Monte).

Three important elements: the importance of formation, what formation meant for the Founder and the goal of formation.

Juan Olvera Servin SX is currently the Novice Master and Vice-Regional Superior in Mexico. 150 Juan Olvera Servin

- The Founder emphasized the importance of formation by calling it “no less a great”work than the work of the first missionaries in China (cf. FR 25 He did this to motivate the missionaries he had called back from China to help in formation in the Mother House. - The Founder defined the formation of his missionary aspirants in an organic and dynamic way.He used to say: “Formation means promoting and stimulating the harmonic growth of those who are still “susceptible,like soft wax,to every impression”6. - At the same time,the Founder was very clear in stressing that the goal of Xaverian formation is: “to prepare new workers” for the mission ad gentes. “Mission should be its daily “focus”,motivating ideal, mirrored goal, point of reference and measure of success. Formation locales are to be directed exclusively towards mission and “be permeated with an apostolic spirit” (RFX 12). In line with the document,the formator must focus exclusively on the missionary goal.

In the Founder’s instructions to the formators and his recommendations to the missionary aspirants, there are three recurring elements:

Asolidhumanandculturalformation The Founder wanted his missionaries to possess a broad culture to enable them to face the many demands of the mission. The missionary must be “light”. He must therefore be well-versed in both the sacred and profane sciences. In addition, he must study foreign languages. The goal of this intellectual preparation is to make missionaries: “suitable instruments for the salvation of souls”. As we can see, the apostolic goal is always the reason for this intellectual preparation. The Founder also promoted the development of the practical skills that would be useful in the missions (cf. RFX 23).

This intellectual preparation and the cultivation of practical skills in view of a better missionary service presuppose a human foundation that is up to the demands of the mission. The Founder used to insist on the indispensable human virtues that improve the quality of interpersonal relationships, such as: serenity, courtesy, loyalty, joy, steadfastness, capacity for dialogue and the strength to face struggles and difficulties joyfully. All for the glory of God and the good of the brothers7.

The intellectual and practical preparation and human qualities should be completed with the invitation to cultivate an open spirit as a necessary virtue of the future missionary. We can find this invitation to openness of spirit in the recommendation to embrace the Pauline program (Ph 4:8) and commit oneself to “all that is true, good and just”; the suggestion to study the different local cultures and the preparation of monographs: “that are useful to the confreres and others too”8; the recommendation that they study the local language “diligently” “in order to speak it correctly and fluently”9.

Amoderateandprofoundspirituality Human virtues and cultural preparation are not enough to ensure that the missionary’s action is grounded in a vision of faith. The missionary needs a solid spirituality that will enable him to deal with the typical challenges, difficulties and surprises of the mission: “a spirit of living faith and a spiritual life foundation which allows for constant continual growth within the exercise of their very ministry. The missionary, therefore, “must first seek his own sanctification if he hopes to be efficacious in working for that of others”10. Consequently, in paragraph 8 of the Testament Letter, Conforti insists on fidelity to some indispensable moments of formal prayer. Nevertheless, he avoids the multiplication of devotions because he knows that the missionary is a contemplative in action. His example, words and personal practices must teach the necessary fusion between contemplative and active life: “zeal is the love of God in action”11. The heart of his spirituality is the spirit of living faith that enables us to cultivate the habit of “seeing God, seeking God and loving God in all” and “in every circumstance” we keep Christ in mind so that he may be with us wherever we go. We can therefore say: “faith shall be the missionary’s “guiding rule”, permeating his thoughts, intentions, feelings, words and actions12 .

In this perspective of apostolic action, which is born of and nourished by the contemplation of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Founder wants, for himself and his missionaries, an intimate union between SPIRITUALITY IN THE RFX 151 mission and religious consecration. He sees the religious life as the total and radical gift of self to God for the salvation of the brothers (cf. RFX 29)

Allattheserviceoftheapostolate The previous dimensions and content, the human and intellectual formation and spirituality, must be at the service of a generous missionary commitment. The mission gives a very particular slant to our human formation and, at the same time, it defines the mark of our Xaverian spirituality (cf. RFX 30), by nourishing the missionary apostolic tension that must inspire the life of all the Xaverians: “To- wards this goal “they must channel their best energies” avoiding anything that might distract them from it in any way”13.

With this goal in mind, the missionary offers himself “as a voluntary victim for the salvation of the infidels”. For this reason “The missionary must be patient, gentle, prudent; he must seek no self-gain, but the glory of Christ alone: he endures everything, believes all, hopes all, is above everything and perseveres in this until death”14.

II–TheheartofXaverianspirituality We shall try to retrace the Founder’s spiritual journey, the charism and our spirituality through the five constitutive elements as a systematic way of presenting our spirituality in formation.

TheFounder’sspiritualjourney “The Spirit of the Lord, which animates the Church and constantly renews her awareness of her mission in the world, is the same Spirit that inspired the Founder to dedicate himself to the evangelization of non-Christians and to gather into a missionary community men called to consecrate their lives to God for the same ideal” (C 1). The Founder handed on to us his “experience of the Spirit” and we are called to hand it on to all those we receive into our family that it might be “lived, safeguarded, deepened and constantly developed, in harmony with the Body of Christ continually in the process of growth” (MR 11). We could sum up his Christian spiritual experience in the words of Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians: “Caritas Christi urget nos”, (2Cor 5:14). Like every spiritual experience, this was developed through different historical events . At the beginning of his journey, we must necessarily focus on his encounter with the Crucifix, about which he said: “I owe my vocation to Him”. “I looked at him, He looked at me and He seemed to say so many things to me”15. These encounters with the Crucifix are the starting-point of Conforti’s spiritual journey. We later come across other meaningful elements in the Founder’s life: his reading of the “Annals of the Propagation of the Faith”; his acquaintance with the life and work of St. Francis Xavier; the difficulties that prevented his own departure for the missions, which led him to accomplish his daring project and his growing awareness of being the object of an inspiration that came “undoubtedly from God” (cf. RFX 35-36). Many events highlight the plot of Conforti’s experience as Founder, but the sum total of them cannot express the irresistible power of his self-giving, his radical and universal resolve: “I shall sacrifice myself, my possessions and all that I might one day possess, in order to persevere in this holy endeavor; although I am aware of my nothingness, I shall nevertheless not be discouraged by contradiction and difficulties; I shall put my trust in the Divine Heart of Jesus which beat and suffered for all the peoples of the earth”16.

TheCharism The Founder chose to communicate his experience with a powerful and concise Pauline expression: “Caritas Christi urget nos” (2Cor 5,14). The Founder places Christ at the heart of his life and spirituality as the sole incomparable model 17. In the Testament Letter he calls upon the formators to help the students embrace the same vision: “After explaining the foundations of Christian perfection, he should invite them to focus their attention on the example of Jesus Christ, incomparable model of holiness for all, and for the apostolic person in particular. Their identity with the divine exemplar in 152 Juan Olvera Servin thoughts, desires, works, should be such that Jesus is made manifest in them, as the apostle teaches”18. This Christological position, which is summed up in the Pauline expression, is the heart of the Founder’s spirituality. It is therefore the mission’s origin, support, model and dynamic strength. In the crucified and risen Christ we see just how much God loves each person. Christ reveals the unlim- ited horizons of the Kingdom of God.

The experience of Christ’s love necessarily leads to proclaiming him to those who do not yet know him, so that Christ’s desire may be fulfilled: “the formation of a single Christian family that embraces all humankind” (cf. TL 1). The Founder reminds us that Christ’s love and the proclamation of his message are the fundamental motivations of our departure for the mission: “For this reason alone you are going there. You are not moved by a desire for vainglory, greed for earthly riches, the desire to see new lands, peoples and customs. Charitas Christi urget nos. It is the love of Christ that drives you; this is your watchword, the sum of your aspirations. To win all people to Christ with the power of persuasion and the attraction of love” (DP 22).

This missionary impulse and pressing need are born of the awareness of one who has experienced Christ’s love and they are transformed into total self-giving, enlightened creativity and untiring activity. Given that the Institute’s sole purpose to proclaim the Gospel to those who do not know it “zeal for the salvation of souls should be a characteristic mark of missionaries” (cf. FR 15). The Founder defines zeal as “the love of God in action” This apostolic zeal is born and nourished by the experience of God’s love for each and every one of us and for the whole of humanity. Reality too is nourished by the vision of faith; that is to say, we must recognize the image of Christ in the face of every brother and sister. The ability to see God, love God and seek God in all, “animates” the desire to spread the Kingdom. The contemplative missionary action makes the missionary encounter Christ in everything – In omnibus Christus (cf. Col 3:11).

We must be convinced that the vocation to which we have been called “could not have been greater or more noble. Our calling draws us to Christ, who inspires and perfects our faith, and it brings us closer to the apostles, our best guides and teachers, who abandoned all and followed him completely and without reserve” (cf. TL 1).The Founder defines religious life as “the holy folly of the Cross, made constantly visible in concrete life” (cf. PdP 94). He also said of the religious vows: “by the profession of the vows we die to earthly things so as to live hidden in God with Jesus Christ” (cf. TL 2). Within the context of the experience of the Spirit is born the search for a radical and comprehensive life, a complete imitation of the martyrs as a second baptism. In this sense, we can speak of the unity between consecration to the mission and religious consecration. This unity is grounded in the person of Christ as the centre and the model who became poor so that all might become rich (cf. C 25), obedient until death (cf. C 31), totally oriented to the Father for the Kingdom (cf. C 20). Therefore, “the apostolic life and the religious life are for us a sole and inseparable charism” (ib.).

The Founder is quite clear in stressing that, that together with the love of God, we must love first and foremost the brothers who belong to the same religious family (cf. TL 11). The Founder makes his own the desire of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who wants to form a single family that embraces mankind. The community becomes the sign and living experience of a universal fraternity and the missionary is “the most beautiful sign, the most convinced and zealous apostle of this universal brotherhood” (cf. DP 22). In other words, the love of Christ that motivates us to proclaim the Kingdom to non-Chris- tians makes us share everything, giving us one heart and one soul (cf. Acts 4:32): “By means of the Founder, the Lord has gathered us together into one religious family. As such we make the church, communion and new brotherhood in Christ, present to non-Christians. As a family, we appreciate and share all that we have... Our brotherhood becomes visible and credible when lived out in a local community, a place of sharing, conversion, forgiveness and celebration” (cf. C 35-36).

Spiritualattitudesorcharacteristicsofourspirituality Once we have presented the heart of our spirituality we must turn to the attitudes that emerge from our spirituality as it is described in article 3 of the Constitutions: “A dynamic faith which impels us to SPIRITUALITY IN THE RFX 153

“see, love, seek God in all, and thus become keenly desirous to make his kingdom known everywhere”; spontaneous and generous obedience; profoundly instilled love for our Xaverian family”.

The spirit of living faith is one of the most typical elements and characteristics of our Founder’s spirituality. We must take care to cultivate this spirit during the formation process and throughout our entire life. This spirit of living faith is such a clear apostolic approach that the Founder considers us to be active contemplatives; that is to say, we must learn to contemplate God at work in human history (cf. C 44). This contemplation leads us to see Christ in everything and in everyone: “In omnibus Christus”. The contemplation we have inherited from our Founder is the ability to “see”, in a new and prophetic way, persons, things and events in the light of the Gospel and to live with total trust in the Father, completely available to his salvific will19. This way of seeing, loving and seeking God becomes the “apostolic zeal” that leads us to an untiring missionary commitment, especially to the poorest non-Chris- tians (cf. C 9). This untiring commitment demands and implies: strength of spirit; spirit of sacrifice; capacity for adaptation, creativity and initiative; patience and joy. At the same time, we must emphasize that this contemplative action is constantly nourished by fidelity to individual and community prayer, reflection and contemplation. This is one of the conditions and, at the same time, the means for living the missionary life with faith. Indeed, prayer is “the most important activity of a missionary” (C 43).

The second attitude –characteristic of our spirituality is ready and generous obedience.ThenewCon- stitutions ask us to make the Father’s will the norm of our life (C 31). This will is accomplished in the projects and the concrete activities of the Xaverian family. This entails: availability (cf. C 33), submis- sion to the orders of our legitimate Superiors (cf. C 34) joyful acceptance of their decisions and active and generous collaboration of all (cf. C 32), recognition of God’s will in events 20, listening and collaboration with the Christian and human community in which we are called to work (cf. C 44). The Founder also believes that obedience is expressed through an “unshaken attachment” and “profound veneration” to the Church and its pastors (cf. TL 6). This love for the Church becomes creativity so that the Church is always renewed in her approach to humanity, ever more attentive to those who are “most distant”. For the Xaverians, love and fidelity to the Church are the “conditions” of evangelical authenticity and apostolic effectiveness21.

The family Spirit is the third characteristic of our spirituality. This consists in the ability to establish serene and dynamic human relationships within the religious and ecclesial communities. The Founder defines the institute as a family we must love “asamother”; in other words, a community of persons we must love as brothers. This love is expressed through our sharing everything, “common life, common labors, merits, direction”22. Therefore, the family spirit is nourished and expressed in fraternal love and the “ready, generous and constant obedience”23. The Founder’s saying: “Loveeachotheras brothers and respect each other as princes” aptly sums up this kind of relationship which is so typical of our lifestyle.

Constitutivedimensionsandultimategoals The RFX calls them the five constitutive elements and they organize our spirituality through pedagogical goals. These five constant elements are a way of concretizing our charism and spirituality for the formation of those who wish to belong to the Xaverian family and those in ongoing formation.

In the Christ-centered foundation, thepersonofChristisplacedattheheartofformationasoursole model. In other words, the formator must help those in formation to acquire the ability to see Christ everywhere, “in our prayer, at the altar, in our study, in our pastoral activity, in our meetings with others, in times of distress, sorrow and temptation” (cf. TL 7). This calls for a personal and profound experience of Christ, the missionary of the Father. We meet Christ in people and in human history, we listen to him in his Word, we proclaim him as Good News, we celebrate him in the Eucharist and we await him in active vigilance. The fundamental missionary attitudes must emerge from this experience of Christ24. We are speaking here of a harmonic Christocentrism. Our goal is the full development of persons who are animated by a living faith that is born of friendship with the Lord. 154 Juan Olvera Servin

Moreover, our formation aims at helping people to interpret life events in the light of faith. Hope is formed especially in missionary commitment and the practice of love even to handing over oneself completely. These gifts are based upon a serene and balanced personality endowed with the following qualities: creativity, sensitivity to others and the ability to listen to others and welcome them (cf. C 58).

The second constitutive element, the “Missionary purpose” is described in article 9 of the Constitu- tions 25. The formator must promote the conditions that enable those in formation to grow and mature in the apostolic attitudes which express and the typical features of the mission and its evangelical development. We are speaking here of the love that becomes “kenosis” (humility, self-emptying), incarnation, solidarity, proclamation, witness, dialogue and liberation (cf. C 12-14).

The missionary vocation entails the task of evangelizing the non-Christians as our sole and exclusive commitment (cf. C 17) and we are inspired by Christ in the construction of a human family under the guidance of one Shepherd. Therefore, the fundamental missionary attitudes are: spirit of faith; detachment, departure 26, spirit of service, gratuitousness, listening, patience, zeal, perseverance, courage, creativity, poverty, capacity for communion and participation, preference for the least of the brethren; commitment to justice and liberation 27; sensitivity to the presence of the “semina Verbi” (AG 11) and cooperation in the inculturation of the Christian message.

The third constitutive element, the “Religious dimension”, is described in article 18 of the Constitu- tions 28. The formator must propose the apostolic life in all its grandeur to those in formation, so that they might experience the beauty of their missionary vocation and love it intensely. They must be led to understand that the profession of the religious vows combined with consecration to the evangelization of non-Christians is the most beautiful gift that God can offer to men (cf. RF 65). In the Institute, the vows are professed and lived in a community-apostolic perspective. In other words, our way of living our consecration unites us to God and the brothers of the community. At the same time, religious consecration has an apostolic goal: to relive and prolong in our own lives Christ’s total gift of self to the Father in his crucifixion – death (cf. FR 9). In this sense, the vows are a radical response to the Gospel in a community of brothers “consecrated to God for the mission ad gentes”29. Poverty is full dependence on God and total commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel among the poorest of the non-Christians. Poverty must be lived in a way that is free, joyful, full of solidarity, fraternity and trust in the Father’s providence30. Chastity is the expression of personal fulfillment through an exclusive commitment to Christ and the total gift of self to the brothers. The affective and effective embodiment of chastity leads to apostolic fruitfulness. It must be lived in an atmosphere of moderation, vigilance, serenity, joy and freedom31. Obedience is the radical expression of faith and total availability to God’s project even to the point of self-sacrifice. Obedience frees us from individualism and introduces us to the communion of life: we think, plan, and work in community (cf. TL 11). Formation, therefore, aims at following Christ as the apostles did.

The fourth constitutive element, the “family spirit” is described in paragraph 35 of the Constitutions 32. The article tells us that the Lord has called us through the Founder to form a missionary religious family. Our religious family makes the Church present among the non-Christians as a sign of brotherhood in Christ. As a family we share everything: “faith, apostolic call, hopes, joys, concerns, spiritual and material blessings”. At the same time we are reminded that the brothers elected to roles of authority are first and foremost “signs and catalysts of communion”.

The formator must guide the formation community to acquire more and more the characteristics of a family in which all the members, with different roles and functions, feel committed to the sole purpose of our vocation (cf. C 8). Therefore, our formation tends towards building a community based on its convocation, by the grace of the Word, to the service of Proclamation; to make those in formation capable of finding their place in the community as “in a family of disciples” faithful to its apostolic purpose; to the formation of a community apostolic commitment; to grow in the community and as a welcoming community, open to the situation in which it lives, to the local Church and other Xaverian communities (cf. C 36). The RFX describes the attitudes necessary for a life of fraternal communion: sharing of life, work and faith made visible in fidelity to commitments and community mo- SPIRITUALITY IN THE RFX 155 ments; mutual welcome, respect, mercy, sincerity, solidarity, apostolic friendship, joy of life together, sense of belonging, intense love for the family, sense of communion with the local and universal Church33. In short, Christ is always the model of our fraternal love.

The fifth constitutive element, “the Xaverian’s human characteristics” is described in article 4 of the Constitutions. We find in this article some of the characteristics the Founder wanted his missionaries to possess. He wanted us to have a great openness of horizons, the capacity for adaptation sustained by a rich and balanced humanity and a cultural preparation up to the demands of the mission. At the same time, the articles also describes how formation has tried to be faithful to the Founder’s desire to intensify the creative spirit without prejudice to persons, cultures, milieu and evangelization strategies (cf. C 4). Keeping our eyes fixed on Christ the missionary, and following the Founder, “driven” by the Love of Christ, we have drawn up a life project. This project expresses the Founder’s “evangelical intentions” and spirituality. This daring project is demanding and calls for the ability to understand the Christian antinomies in a harmonious manner. This project must be based on a personality that is balanced and constant, serene, strong, sensitive to others, with the capacity for listening, cordiality and common sense; industrious, with initiative and creativity, solidarity, love of justice, sincere, discrete and with a sense of limits; with the readiness to grow, learn and improve oneself; a vision of life that is full of hope, a sense of joyful self-fulfillment in one’s vocation34. Combined with all the previous qualities, a thorough cultural preparation is also required (cf. C 72). These are the characteristics that must be discovered and cultivated so that the Founder’s daring project may become reality in the life of those in formation and those who are already members of the Xaverian family.

III-Conclusion There is probably not much that is new in these pages for they are merely an attempt to rediscover our spiritual roots that emerge from our Founder’s life and work, and which were later embodied by the Xaverians over the years and in the many different cultural contexts of our missions. We have looked at the entire process from the formation perspective because our task was to try and rediscover some important elements of our spirituality in the Ratio Formationis Xaverianae. On the other hand, I recognize that we still face the challenge of making these important aspects concrete. This is a task for each and every one of us and our Regions too.

I wish to share a final thought with you. The preparation of this intervention left me with a new desire to gain a deeper knowledge of our Founder, our charism, our history, and the immense richness of our missions. In doing this work I was really happy to rediscover just how generous the Lord has been with us. We are heirs of a missionary spirituality that has an incalculable value. In contemplating the beauty of our spirituality, I feel bound to pray more intensely for the Lord’s grace so that I may live my vocation with greater fidelity and, at the same time, accompany those who have been entrusted to my care in a better way.

Notes:

1 cf. RFX 1. Formators’ Meeting, Guadalajara, Mexico, 1986; XI General Chapter; COSUMA 1987 and the final approval of the XII General Chapter. 2 RFX 1.“The Ratio seeks to provide unity amid diversity ands charism fidelity throughout the total Xaverian formation process”. 3cf.Letter to Cardinal Ledochowski in 1894; Regolamento 1897-98. 4 cf.The letters to the Xaverians,especially those to Pellegri,Sartori,Uccelli and the Prefects. 5 RFX 10.Conforti’s formation methods. 6 LS vol.3º.p.122,in RFX 11. 7 cf.FR 69.21,in RFX 24. 8 cf.FR 17,57-60,in RFX 25 9 cf.Fr 16,in RFX 25. 10 cf.Fr 18,in RFX 26 11 cf.FR 15,in RFX 27. 12 cf.TL7,inRFX28. 13 cf.FR6,inRFX31. 14 cf.FR 9.15,in RFX 33. 156 Juan Olvera Servin

15 Summarium depositionis testium,1976,p.60,¡ì 210; p.273,¡ì 854. 16 cf.First letter to cardinal Ledokowski dated 9.3.1984 17 TL 7: “We will experience this life if we keep our focus on Christ in all things, always and everywhere. Thus, he will be with us in our prayer,at the altar,in our study,in our pastoral activity,in our meetings with others,in times of distress,sorrow and temptation.We will draw our inspiration from him so that out exterior actions become but the manifestation of the interior life of Christ in us”. 18 cf.FR 67; TL 7; PdP 45.37. 19 cf.C 32,44,58; TL 7; FR 18-19.65-68. 20 cf.C 32.58 21 cf.FR 11.42; C 11.33. 22 cf.TL 9; C 35 23 cf.TL 9-10; FR 45-47. 24 These are the fundamental attitudes listed in the document for the missionary: spirit of living faith; detachment, departure, (cf. C 9.19); spirit of service, gratuitousness, capacity for listening, patience, zeal, perseverance, willpower, creativity (cf. C 4), poverty, capacity for communion and sharing,option for the least of men and the marginalized; commitment to justice and liberation (cf.C 8. 56);capacity for dialogue,joyful discovery of the “Semina Verbi”(AG 11) and the ability to collaborate in the inculturation of the Christian message. 25 “Our specific charism directs us to those non-Christian peoples and groups found outside of our usual milieu, home churches and cultures. We adopt the choices of Christ, which choices, among non-Christians, fall on the privileged of the Kingdom, namely, the poor,weak,oppressed,unjustly treated,outcasts of society”(C 9). 26 cf.C 9.19 27 cf.C 8.56 28 “Togive a more radical expression of our life and consecration to mission we follow Christ by professing chastity, poverty and obedience.The apostolic and the religious life together constitute our single indivisible charism”(C 18). 29 cf.C 17-19 30 cf.FR 33.38-39 31 cf.TL 2,5; FR 28-29.31. 32 “By means of the Founder, the Lord has gathered us together into one religious family. As such we make the church, communion and new brotherhood in Christ,present to non-Christians.As a family,we appreciate and share all that we have: faith,apostolic call, hopes, joys, concerns, spiritual and material blessings. Those who are called to authority roles should be primarily signs and catalysts of communion”(C 35). 33 cf.TL 9-11; FR 45-48.52.62; C 35-39. 34 cf.FR 14.23.31.52ss.58-60.69.84; PdP 157-166. SPIRITUALITY IN THE RMX 157

SPIRITUALITY IN THE RMX

Rino Benzoni

The work that led up to the RMX was so vast1 that choices inevitably had to be made.

I-Thebirthofanidea The idea was born at the 1995 General Chapter, therefore only 12 years after the 1983 Constitutions were published. I wonder: “why did the Chapter feel the need for this operation? Were the Constitu- tions not enough?”. We probably felt the need to find a new common vision of mission and life to solve the “doubts and ambiguities concerning the mission ad gentes”that had been denounced a few years before (1990) by the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio.

Concretely, the idea of the RMX was born as a result of a deadlock at the Chapter which was asked to carry out a deeper unifying reflection on the problems of the mission. Hence the idea of preparing it calmly.

The XIII General Chapter gave us two short documents: With Guido Maria Conforti at the beginning of the second century of the Xaverian family and The daring missionary project. In the first document, observing the presence of “many reasons for optimism but ... some dark spots too” the Chapter declared: “particular attention needs to be given to a deep renewal of our spirituality, the reaffirmation of our missionary identity and the role of the community; individualism and activism are destabilizing elements in community and apostolic life” (XIII GC, 12)2.

“in general terms, the Xaverians have reacted to these problems with great inventiveness, generosity and dedication, in a spirit of faith and love. Nevertheless, we have often reacted in a disorganized manner, to the detriment of community processes and an effective witness, concentrating more on the amount of work done for the people rather than the more laborious process of promoting awareness and involvement. This has led to a dichotomy between our missionary action and our consecration” (39).

The initial recommendations given by the General Chapter for the RMX are interesting: “this Chapter believes that it is necessary that all of us undertake a renewal of our spiritual and missionary tension in line with the charism of the Founder. A re-focusing of the mission on the urgent need of a passionate proclamation of the message of Jesus Christ will be a permanent source of growth in our vocation” (40). As if it were not enough to “clarify the principal missionary themes” it must be done “as we renew our spiritual energy”(41).

We can therefore say that the XIII General Chapter meant the RMX to put spirituality before missiology or missionary strategy. Even better: it was to be an operation in which the true missionary strategy consists in the recovery of a more solid spiritual depth and a more intensely shared Xaverian identity.

II-TheRMXasaXaverianspiritualitydocument The RMX is a rich and balanced document that is not bereft of charism in all its parts. We can believe

Rino Benzoni SX is currently the Superior General. 158 Rino Benzoni that it is the result of our great efforts, but it is also the fruit of the Spirit at work in our family.

A long debate reached the conclusion that for us there is a balance between the ad gentes, ad extra and ad vitam dimensions. But since we have to sum up the RMX’s contribution to Xaverian spirituality and to the Congregation’s present growth, I believe we can refer to the General Direction’s letter “To- wards the Regional Ratio” of November 2002. The recurrent themes of the RMX are identified in this letter3.

One of the merits of the RMX in reference to these points was that its options were in line with the Congregation’s growth over recent decades and we could take them as the starting point of further in-depth study.

- TheabsolutepriorityoftheGospelas our reason for existence; as “the element that establishes our identity (who we are), shapes the characteristics of our being (how we are) and guides our action (what we do)”(RMX 6).What do we mean when we say “we are men of the Word”(RMX 23) ? Be- fore being Good News for the others, the Gospel is Good News for us too and the first condition it lays down to us is “repent and believe the Good News” (Mk 1:14). In what aspects must we “let ourselves be evangelized “ (cf.RMX 9)?

- A powerful spiritual experience because “the mission is the work of the Spirit and the missionary is such to the extent that he becomes a collaborator of the Spirit,placing himself under his guidance” (RMX 26). This is the source of that unity that makes the missionary belong entirely to God and the others, especially to God’s poorest children. Only this experience can give life to zeal for God and humanity.However,it can only endure if united in a single zeal,whilst we still look upon them as if they were in competition with each other.RMX 26 takes up the slogan of RMi 90 according to which “the true missionary is the saint”

- Mission done together. This is perhaps the most emphasized aspect in the RMX because of its missionary and Confortian valence (cf. RMX 29), but at the same time it is the aspect in which we are most lacking. The very beautiful paragraph 29.14 stresses the inseparable union between this dimension and spirituality and,therefore,the road we must travel.

- Consecration and Mission. On this point the RMX clearly moves in line with the logic of the Founder and Xaverian tradition: “in the Gospel the apostolic life and profession of religious vows together constitute the most perfect life conceivable”(TL 2).“For us,consecration and mission are one and the same”(RMX 18). And yet the impression remains that we have not yet embraced this union if the current General Direction felt the need to make it the main topic of its letter “The Lord couldn’t have been more generous with us” (October 2004). We must continue to rediscover the foundation of this union by deepening the RMX’s statement that our consecration is made “to God” (RMX 15. 18). Even before being religious or missionaries, we are men consecrated to God first and foremost: to “God, not the works of God”as Card. Van Thuan summed it up so magnifi- cently.

- Weakness, incarnation and solidarity.RMX48remindsusthatthisistheroadchosenbyChrist. “Youcannot use any means for founding the Kingdom other than the ones adopted by Christ himself”(DP 16; RMX 48). The ways in which we carry out the mission must also be enlightened by a constant relationship with Christ and by the desire to follow his methods. He did not leave us any economic rules and valid political policies for every place and occasion, but he did not leave us without any concrete criteria either. Hence the need for a lengthy and daily quest in dialogue with Him and the brothers. Perhaps we should also focus more sharply on the current consumerism mentality,which is becoming increasingly difficult to shed and which makes it impossible for us to embody incarnation and solidarity.

- The sole mission of the Congregation. The Xaverian family is “the depositary and custodian of the Confortian charism” (RMX 20). This is a revolutionary declaration, but a constantly denounced SPIRITUALITY IN THE RMX 159

individualism clashes with it. The RMX strives in all its three sections to provide us with reasons and instruments for this unity.Such a strong emphasis leads us to see that this is precisely where the problem lies.Too often the mission is at our service,and not vice versa,resulting in serious damage to both the mission and our own fidelity.The question can only be resolved by a habitual reference to paschal reasoning. The assertion of the Congregation’s sole mission should perhaps be completed by looking at it from within the Church’s mission (cf. RMX 8).

III–Afterthe RMX As soon as the work on the RMX was finished, various members of the XIV General Chapter proposed that the work be completed by committing the congregation to a process similar to that of the RMX, but with Spirituality as its topic. Why did the Chapter Delegates make this request?

- Perhaps the real response to this question should be sought in the Chapter delegates’intuition that is so well expressed by the RMX itself: “today,we recognize the necessity of a more intense,personalized and profound apostolic and spiritual life” (RMX 22). The Chapter delegates were thinking that beyond the RMX there is our whole life that must be enlightened by a more normal reference to faith and by a more constant association with the Spirit of Christ. For example, our communities pray little and quite badly and they still look upon the sharing of faith and its values with suspicion.This diminishes the energy and strength of our communities. - Another problem that remains open in the RMX concerns the spirituality of the consecrated lay Xaverians and the spirituality of the Xaverian priest (cf. RMX 21). Once our fundamental documents have ratified the substantial equality of the two vocations, it might be useful to rediscover the specific contribution of each one to the enrichment of the one family and the fulfillment of the mission

Conclusion The RMX made us understand that the mission, the inalienable aspect of our charism, runs the risk of becoming a meaningless word unless it is accompanied by a series of conditions that enable it to take on life and flesh. Among these conditions, a solid and profound spiritual life, according to the teaching and the example of our Blessed Founder, appears to be more and more indispensable.

Notes:

1 Two letters of the General Direction; a Lineamenta,which was followed by a survey among all the Xaverians; 6 years of work that involved many confreres in all the Circumscriptions; the work of the General Chapter ... 2 Weonly have to remember the titles of the 1st document for their importance for our conference: 1) Permanent relevance of the Founder (6-10) “the General Chapter invites all Xaverians to consider Guido Maria Conforti not just as a Founder rooted in the past,but rather as our father whose example continues to inspire our way of living in today’s’world”(9) 2) Xaverian identity (11-17) see the subtitles of this section:the centrality of Christ (where the contemplative dimension of our life is mentioned); the Charism,(exclusively missionary nature,consecration and fraternal community) and apostolic pluralism 3) Internationality (18- 21) 3 The absolute priority of the Gospel and the First Proclamation; A mission born of a powerful spiritual experience; A mission carried out together in an increasingly international community; Consecration; Weakness,incarnation and solidarity; The sole mission of the Congregation. 4 “This new family is based, not on flesh and blood, but on the Trinitarian love of which it is a joyful sign and participation; its reference point is not so much the natural family as the new relationships that the Gospel creates around the person of Christ and “in the love of Christ which is by far superior to any natural affection”(LT11).This love must govern all our fraternal relationships. This is the evangelical novelty that allows our family to be open to the mission and internationality”(RMX 29.1)

SPIRITUALITY IN THE LETTERS OF THE GENERAL DIRECTION 161

SPIRITUALITY IN THE LETTERS OF THE GENERAL DIRECTION 1981-2006

Luigi Menegazzo

Introduction The Renewal of the Constitutions is a fundamental and decisive stage in the Congregation’s development and a sign of its vitality and availability within the Mission of the Church.

A brief analysis of the policies and instructions issued by the General Directions to the confreres, as well as providing us with a great treasure for the proper interpretation of our Charism, helps the Con- gregation to ground itself in Xaverian spirituality, which is the starting point for the renewal of the Congregation, the individual confreres and our way of doing mission. The Circular Letters taken into consideration date from 19811.

The process of renewing the Constitutions, requested by Vatican II, engaged the Congregation in a sincere process of study with a view to living our vocation in the Church in a faithful and radical manner. The Institute’s internationalization is another important motive that calls for the confreres to unite around the common values of the Xaverian identity and spirituality. The Church’s Mission and the Founder’s initial inspiration are the background of our reflection.

I-Veryimportantissues The General Directions all agree on some very vitally issues for the Life of the Congregation:

- Clarity on the charism: Vatican II combines charism and Religious Life as a sole and visible way of embodying the faith. The Religious Life is necessary for a more authentic mission and with the mission it forms one Charism. For the Xaverians, the Religious Life is mission and the Mission is religious. From a theological perspective, this unity between Mission and Charism is born in Conforti as a result of his experience with the Crucifix.

- Unity between Consecration and Mission2: the harmony and the unity between these two aspects is not always perceived and this leads to conflict between one’s personal mission and the mission of the Congregation, between the individual charisms and the charism of the Congregation. It is one of the most dangerous obstacles to the Mission.The only source of true harmony lies in total abandonment to the God who calls us. An area which calls for continual reflection and progress in connection with this aspect of the Congregation’s life is the relationship of harmony that must exist between Mission – Religious Life – Priesthood.

- Demands of the Xaverian vocation: its content and its modalities should be clarified and embraced in a spirit of faith. Intimate union with Christ (Christocentrism) and incarnation (love of neighbor) are the two inseparable aspects of our vocation that make the Proclamation effective. Exces- sive activity is detrimental to faith and vocation.Furthermore,our communities are still grappling with the problems of ethnocentrism and a poor degree of communion.

- Inculturation and contextualization: these are a Christological and theological fact first and foremost and only then a sociological or strategic phenomenon. It is an integrating part of our Christ-centered spirituality, which is capable of embracing the incarnation as the normal way of

Luigi Menegazzo SX is currently the Vicar General. 162 Luigi Menegazzo

proclamation. Christocentrism makes the Xaverian available to any kind of human and cultural encounter, it enables him to discern and welcome pluralism, it gives him an incentive to persevere in an ongoing formative process and remain faithful to the Founder’s life project “to see, love and seek God in all”.Inculturation, therefore, is not sustained by voluntarism, but by asceticism and faith, communion and solidarity, fidelity to Consecration, inner freedom and contemplation3.In- ner freedom, that is to say, coherence with our Religious Consecration, enables the Xaverian to become all things to all men. Inculturation, therefore, is the fruit of faith, because it lives of the pressing need to propose Christ and the Gospel within human history.

II–Definitionsofspirituality The Letters also give a univocal definition of spirituality. The following are components of Xaverian spirituality: Christocentrism, Consecration, Confortian characteristics, the Word and the Eucharist.

The experience of the Crucified Jesus is the Founder’s starting-point and this enlightens our present spirituality. Consequently, the Congregation has always insisted on the fundamental importance of the following aspects:

- The missionary contemplation of Jesus on the Cross, which shapes all our activity, makes our prayer become incarnate and opens the heart to incarnation. - Missionary discipleship: self-sacrifice, or self-immolation, is its paradigm. It is the model of religious Consecration and the Congregation’s missionary purpose. - Proclamation of Christ to the non-Christians: this is the heart of our charism and should be kept intact, though there is space for creativity and adjustment to the times of the Church and the Mis- sion.The following attitudes are required: inner poverty,openness of mind,pluralism and solidarity.

Xaverian spirituality aims at making the Xaverian a man of God, consecrated exclusively for the Gos- pel, rich in faith, fraternal charity and the necessary human qualities 4. Only spirituality can keep the Charism alive and strengthen our Vocation. Without it our identity, and reasons for being in the Church, disintegrate.

III-Problems The General Directions unanimously agree on some problems that affect the Life of the Congrega- tion. The effectiveness of our Charism depends on finding a proper solution to these problems.

- Unity between activity and contemplation.The two elements are as inseparable as love of God and love of neighbor, yet the Congregation still suffers from a lack of balance between them. The Gen- eral Directions suggest the following as a way to achieving greater harmony: the Eucharist, Bre- viary, meditation, sacramental confession and spiritual direction. These are also the indispensable means for the renewal of the Religious Life. - Communion and Community. These are a very weak point in the Congregation. The greatest difficulty is individualism, whose persistence can even lead to the historical ineffectiveness of our communities and our activity. The Community Life Project is often emphasized: community and communion are the gauge of the authenticity of personal charisms and apostolic effectiveness. Communication is also poor when there is no sharing of faith in our communities. - Spirituality.There are some recurring weak points in this field: spirituality is reduced to a commitment to peace,looked upon as a duty,detached from community life and the apostolate,with a superficial approach to the Word of God and little importance given to the Eucharist,which many no longer celebrate daily. This reveals a serious theological failing and also, sometimes, an excessive secularism,which causes spiritual emptiness. SPIRITUALITY IN THE LETTERS OF THE GENERAL DIRECTION 163

IV-Proposals These can be summed up in the four pressing proposals made by the General Directions to the Con- gregation: - Embrace the New Constitutions.They have a fourfold project: - A clear perception of the Xaverian Charism, whose goal is the Proclamation of the Gospel to those who do not know it.The charism gives meaning to every Xaverian activity. - The Mission Vow,which qualifies Consecration - Spirituality combined with the Mission Vow, a Christ-centered, contemplative and active spirituality - Communion,which is the Xaverian style of mission and upon which the apostolic fruits depend. The Constitutions should be read and meditated at community level because they help the Xaverian to understand and make his Charism relevant, renew his personal Alliance with God, remain faithful to his vocation, free himself from the temptation of self-justification, especially in connection with the way of living the ad gentes and ad extra dimensions.

- Greater fidelity. This is perhaps the most frequent exhortation in the Letters of the General Direc- tions. It takes various forms: joyful faith, because it is free from its own plans and inserted into the Institute’s project; embracing the specific charism, which calls for commitment, creativity and dedication; openness to internationalization; joy and respect in the inculturation of the Charism; fidelity to the Vows,prayer and the Eucharist. - Yearning for holiness. Tending toward and desiring holiness is not a matter of secondary importance for the positive outcome of our apostolic activity. The encounter with God in prayer is the road we must travel.The centrality of the Eucharist in our path to holiness is a recurring theme. - Embrace the RMX. This is an exhortation of the current General Direction, which received the RMX from the XIV General Chapter.The RMX is like an up to date comment on the Constitutions and a means for embracing them and conforming to their spirit.Wemust not look upon the RMX as an optional document; rather, the Circumscriptions must take inspiration from it in devising a strategy that will promote their fidelity to the Congregation and a fruitful apostolic activity.

Conclusion The coherence of contents, concerns and suggestions of the General Directions from the promulgation of the New Constitutions until today is, at the same time, a powerful help in the process of fidelity to the Charism, an incentive to our unity as a Missionary family and a strong invitation to remain steadfast in our Vocation through a spirituality lived with joy and determination.

Notes:

1 Linee Fondamentali della Spiritualità dei Missionari Saveriani nel cinquantesimo della morte di Mons. Conforti, 12 Sett. 1981; Un nuovo punto di partenza,Il testo delle Costituzioni,31 Luglio 1984; A partire da Guadalajara,15 Agosto 1986; Verso una Spiritualità dell’inculturazione,12 settembre 1987;Requisites of our Missionary Vocation,9 August 1990;Towards the XIII General Chapter,23 September 1993; Consecrated for the Mission: The Xaverian Vocation.Preparatory Letter to the 1995 General Chapter, 12 Septem- ber 1994; Towards the Regional Ratio, indications for the implementation of the RMX, 15 October 2002; “The Lord couldn’t have been more generous with us”(TL 1),7 October 2004. I do not include the two letters of 17 March 1996 and 9 July 1998,which deal with the methodology to be followed in the elaboration of the RMX. 2 The relationship between Mission and Consecration was one of the suggested topics on the agenda at the XIII General Chapter. 3 The 1993 Letter sees fidelity to the Word as the starting-point for the spirituality of incarnation or Inculturation. It is the Word that dictates the ways of incarnation: this has been accepted at a theoretical level; at a practical level the persistence of pre-conciliar positions (charitable assistance and little formation) remains a problem. The spirituality of the missionary does not appear in our various activities.Wemust give more attention to the spirituality that sustains us. 4 A concise definition is contained in the personal Letter written by the Superior General,Fr.Rino Benzoni,to all the Xaverians on 25 July 2002 on the death of Fr.E.Testa:“By spirituality,I mean a constant habit of thinking about the Spirit of God,his strange ways of working,often marked by the paschal dynamics of life that bears fruit through failure,suffering and death.In other words,we could speak of Christ as one capable of filling our life (cf.RMX 9) to such an extent that we easily prefer his Kingdom to our own domain, his plans to our own.In this sense,spirituality does not imply an increased quantity of prayer,though this cannot be neglected,both at personal and communal levels”. FidelityandnoveltyintherevisionoftheConstitutions (1983Constitutions-RFX1990-RMX2001)

Group work conclusions

Was it a faithful process? - Yes,since its development was progressive (period of the witnesses ® period of allergy ® period of the return to the original sources). - Not only are they faithful to the Founder’s spirit, they also gave rise to some previously hidden insights that are not explicitly expressed in the first constitutions. Novelties: - a greater biblical inspiration; centrality of the Kingdom and openness to the historical developments and needs of the Church and the world; the innovative chapter on structure and government; - a new way of thinking evangelization; the ad extra dimension as an inalienable characteristic; sensitivity to cultural differences; a new emphasis on missionary animation; - concept-praxis of community life; the community dimension of doing mission; community sharing at all levels (including the financial level); - description of the vows from the perspective of the mission and the new theology of the religious life; - focus on what is essential in prayer life; practice of the lectio divina; - new way of classifying the ordained brothers and the non-ordained brothers; - formation is dealt with in a more global and pedagogical manner. - The innovation was peaceful.The biblical and theological language helped us to embrace and assimilate the text. Possible shortcomings in relation to today: - the biblical-theological vision of “experience”; - thechapteronprayerseemstobelackinginsomethingtypicallyXaverian; - diminished clarity on the superior’s role and identity; - the contents for ongoing formation in the RFX; - some feel that the Founder’s warmth or “heart” is missing. Challenges for us today: - the struggle of daily fidelity to the Founder; we must avoid “saturation” oftheFounder;wemustre- organize the spiritual contents and give priority to Christ; - a lot of comradeship, but little communion; little fraternal sharing of the faith, our hope, pastoral projects,etc; - an evangelical vision of authority has not yet been sufficiently assimilated; we feel the lack of readiness and docility in accepting joyfully the decisions of the superiors; - more than resistance, perhaps it would be necessary to note the negligence on the part of some; the Constitutions are little applied for what concerns the community aspect; - incarnation and solidarity have not yet found meaningful expressions in our way of doing the mission; - we still notice today the prolonging of a colonial and individualistic missionary praxis; emphasis is laid on the geographical and ethnocentric characteristic; - not everyone is willing and ready to accept a specialized service; - the letters of the General Direction refer to the means for contemplation, but methods should be proposed also for making our activity contemplative; - lectio divina and breviary: problematic elements? STUDIES AND IN-DEPTH ANALYSES

Ministerial dimension of Xaverian identity Speaking of God today - New categories Speaking of God today - Challenges to the mission and the Church

THE MINISTERIAL DIMENSION OF XAVERIAN IDENTITY 167

THE MINISTERIAL DIMENSION OF XAVERIAN IDENTITY ImplicationsforXaverianspiritualityandmissionarypraxis

Franco Sottocornola

Introduction I begin these reflections with some statistics from the “Stato del Personale”: at the beginning of the year 2006, 660 out of 819 living Xaverians were priests and there were 121 aspirants to the priesthood; only 1 Xaverian is a permanent deacon. 96% of the Institute’s members are, or wish to be, ordained priests. To this we must add the de iure situation of our Institute, which is recognized by the Holy See as a clerical Institute, a category also included in the new Code of Canon Law (can. 588, ¡ì 2). This, of course, came about in accordance with the will of the Founder, who always thought of his Institute as composed primarily of priests, with a structure and an organization based upon this fact and this law. The Founder was following a universal praxis: as far as I am aware, all the missionary institutes, religious or otherwise, are clerical institutes; in other words, they are institutes which are not only made up primarily of priests, but they are such precisely in response to their specific purpose, as intended by their respective founders.

I wish to make two brief observations at this stage, the first of which is of a philological nature whilst the second is of a juridical nature.

1. In recent times, the term “clerical” has taken on a very negative meaning: it is used when the Church, especially the Hierarchy, is seen as interfering in the affairs of civil society. Within the Church itself, it is used to indicate the excessive dominance of the clergy over the life and activities of the Chris- tian community to the detriment of the laity’s own role in the Church. This is obviously not the true, original meaning of the word which, instead, refers to a special belonging and consecration to God of the Church’s ministers. In the Old testament, the term “kleros” marks Israel as the Lord’s own portion, the people who belong to Him in a special way, a people chosen and established by God for a special mission. Within the ranks of the same People of God, the Levites, especially the priests, are considered as the Lord’s “portion” or, even better, have God alone as their “portion”. When God promised the land of Canaan to the people of Israel and, after its conquest, this land was divided among the 13 tribes (the two sons of Joseph received their part among the tribes of Israel in their father’s place), the sons of Levi did not receive a piece of the promised land as was their due, but their “portion” was the Lord. They were to spend their lives and carry out their work in the Lord’s service and receive their sustenance from this service. This is the etymology and the theological meaning of the term “clergy”. To understand this term entails faith in God’s gratuitous action, His decisions and His initiative, which is supreme, mysterious and inscrutable. Man is at God’s service, he receives salvation from Him and he is both witness and minister of this, not according to his own decisions and criteria, but in loving obedience to God’s infinite and inscrutable will. This leads us to the threshold of the mystery.

2. Analysis of canon 588, 2. In order to have a clear grasp of the technical (social and juridical) meaning of the term “clerical”, we must refer to the Code of Canon Law 588, § 2: - at the origin of the clerical nature of an institute is its purpose,in other words the original intention of its founder (ratione finis seu propositi a fundatore intenti); - consequently,its direction is entrusted to clerics (sub regimine est clericorum); - the institute as such undertakes the exercise of the sacred ministry as part of its identity and its spe- cificactivity(exercitium ordinis sacri assumit);

Franco Sottocornola SX is the Director of the Shinmeizan Center for spirituality and inter-religious dialogue,Japan. 168 Franco Sottocornola

- and ”as such”(qua tale) it is recognized and approved by the Church.

The nature of this type of religious institute emerges even more clearly when it is distinguished from the ’lay institutes’, a category of institutes defined by the Code immediately after the definition of clerical institutes. In accordance with their natures as defined by their founders, lay institutes do not include the Sacred Orders in their specific activity. Hence, by contrast, we can better understand that the so-called clerical institutes include the exercise of the sacred ministry in their nature and purpose as an essential component of their own activity.

We must therefore take note of the fact that the Blessed Guido Conforti wanted to found a religious institute in which the ministry or sacred service, namely the activity proper to the “ordained ministries”, was to be the principal and qualifying activity of the institute and, considering its nature and exclusively missionary purpose, we must recognize that in the Founder’s mind, and the Church’s approval which effectively accomplishes it, this religious institute is by its intimate nature consecrated to the service of the Church’s mission in the way proper to a clerical institute; in other words, placing the exercise of the sacred ministry at the heart of its specific activity.

There is no doubt that from the very beginning the Founder, just as he considered the religious life to be an essential component of our identity, also meant his institute to be made up of priests, to whom were added “those good lay people who ... help the Brother Priests or aspirants to the Priesthood ...” (1921 Constitutions, 5) Also for this reason, “the patron saint”(and model) given by the Founder to his institute is a missionary priest: St.Francis Xavier.

I-Theprofound(theological)reasonsofadecision The Founder’s “decision” (if we can call it that, since it seemed self-evident to Guido Maria Conforti!) is profoundly rooted in the very nature of the Church and, therefore, its mission to the world. These roots, which gave the life-blood to the Founder’s original decision, are the same ones that today can restore the life-blood to our own awareness of this dimension of our identity, not only to give us a new understanding of it, but also to help us in our re-appropriation of it. Conforti’s profound ecclesial sensitivity and his strong awareness of being a minister of the Church, first as a priest and then as a bishop, cannot be separated from a reflection on the Xaverian’s identity and, consequently, his spirituality!

The Founder’s faith and life experience lie at the origin of our Xaverian identity; it has often been said that his faith was endowed with a strong Christological character and a very strong ecclesiological dimension too. What we need to rediscover, deepen, understand and share is this ecclesiological dimension of the Founder’s mind, so that we might be able to fully grasp the ecclesiological dimension of his missionary thought and, therefore, his vision, his “intention”, in founding his missionary institute. Unfortunately, we cannot reconstruct the Founder’s ecclesiology in this paper, but we should keep it in mind in order to follow the case we are about to make. Although it is framed in the form and the terminology of his times, Confortian ecclesiology has two cornerstones: the apostolic dimension and the sacramental dimension. We shall examine briefly these two main topics as they were developed by Vatican II and not according to the theological terminology of Conforti’s times. In so doing, we not only find an authoritative confirmation of the Founder’s insights, but we also grasp their topicality, re-reading them in the light of the official teachings of the Church handed down by Vatican II, which was not only the great historical event of the 20th century, but, as Pope John Paul II declared in his Apostolic Letter “Novo millennio ineunte” (57) and in his Testament, it must be the “ sure com- pass” that guides the Church in its journey towards the future..

TheApostolicnatureoftheChurch The Church’s “mission” (and, therefore, the intimate identity of its “missionaries”) is rooted in its apostolic nature. This should be understood on the basis of an ecclesiology that is fully grounded in the apostolic nature of the Church, according to the twofold meaning of the term “apostolic”: THE MINISTERIAL DIMENSION OF XAVERIAN IDENTITY 169

- referring to the Apostles,founded upon them and continuing their mission; - and,therefore,sharing with them their call and sending (“apo-stello”) by Christ.

Thereisasole“apostolic” succession in the Church in which, by the will of Jesus himself, the bishops (successors of the Apostles) and, together with them, the presbyters and the deacons, have a specific and particular role. The apostolic ministry is essential to the intimate nature of the Church and, therefore, to its life and “mission”. On the basis of this notion of Church, we can understand how the goal of the “mission” (the foundation and development of the Church where it is not yet present or self-sufficient as “Church”, beginning with the “first proclamation” and striving towards the Eucha- rist and the ordination of ministers: local bishops-presbyters-deacons) demands and entails the special role of the bishops and their presbyters and deacons in its implementation.

This is the ecclesiological foundation of the theology of mission in the Second Vatican Council’s decree Ad Gentes; referring to the dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium (28), Ad Gentes attributes the responsibility of the Church’s mission to the “Christian community as such” (AG 36), but, “first and foremost” to the bishop (AG 38) and the presbyters and deacons (AG 39).

Therefore, in the Church the bishop, and with him his presbyters and deacons, are consecrated in a special way to the “mission of the Church” (AG 39)1.

In founding his missionary institute, Blessed Guido Maria Conforti was following and implementing this ecclesiological vision, which closely binds the Church’s mission to the function of the Apostles. This is not only because the Church and its witness to and proclamation of Christ rests on the foundations of the Apostles, but also because of the more specific meaning by which, through the ministry of the bishops and their collaborators (presbyters and deacons) the Church carries on the same “apostolic function” of announcing the Gospel, and convoking all the nations, in order to make everyone a disciple of Christ through baptism in his Church “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19-20) (LG 28). The Founder was acting on this ecclesiology which, later on, was clarified and taught with the authority of Vatican II when, without any hesitation or uncertainty, as a self-evident decision he founded a “clerical” institute that is composed mainly of priests who, consequently, embrace a form of life that is essentially bound to the priestly ministry.

TheSacramentalnatureoftheChurch Vatican II also uses the category of sacrament (LG 9; AG 5) to probe and explain the mystery of the Church. This term is obviously applied to the Church as such (as it is to Christ himself) in an analogi- cal sense with respect to its more technical use when it is referred to the Church’s “sacraments”. Yet it is a very close analogy. The very nature of the Church, and, therefore, her mission, is adequately enclosed and expressed by its sacraments, which, in their theandric dynamism (cfr. S.C. 2) not only “celebrate” but also accomplish the salvation history in which the whole of humanity is called to the salvific experience of the paschal mystery. This notion of the Church and her mission was expressed with the authority of the Council in its constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, as can be seen in two well-known texts.

“For the Liturgy, “through which the work of our redemption is accomplished” (cf. Heb 13:14), most of all in the Divine Sacrifice of the Eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church... While the Liturgy daily builds up those who are within into a Holy Temple of the Lord, into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit (cf. Eph 2:21-22), to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ (cf. Eph 4:13), at the same time it marvelously strengthens their power to preach Christ, and thus shows forth the Church to those who are outside as a sign lifted up among the nations (cf. Is 11:12) under which the scattered children of God may be gathered together (cf. Jn 11:52), until there is one sheepfold and one Shepherd (cf. Jn 1:16)” (SC 2)

“...the Liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is 170 Franco Sottocornola the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the Sacrifice, and to eat the Lord’s Supper. The liturgy in its turn moves the faithful, filled with “the Paschal Sacraments”,to be “one in holiness”(prayer after communion, Easter Sunday); it prays that “they may hold fast in their lives to what they have grasped by their faith” (prayer, Tuesday of Easter Week); the renewal in the Eucharist of the covenant between the Lord and man draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them on fire. From the Liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, as from a font, grace is poured forth upon us; and the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God,to which all other activities of the Church are directed as toward their end,is achieved in the most efficacious possible way.”(SC 10)

The Founder did not use this terminology and perhaps he never even used these theological notions, but he substantially drew from the same Catholic tradition, which looked upon the sacraments and the sacramental life as the essence of the Church, when he founded his missionary institute composed mainly of priests, who would be helped by lay people. The very nature of the Church’s mission demands that the sacramental life (liturgy) be its heart, its font and its summit (SC 10). It is not only a matter of proclaiming the Gospel, but also of baptizing, confirming, celebrating the Eucharist, ad- ministering the other sacraments, without which there is no Church. The entire Christian life as the Founder knew it, following the bimillenary tradition of the Church, was based on the sacramental life, and, therefore, in founding new Churches, or in helping them to grow towards self-sufficiency; the ministry of bishops, presbyters, deacons is indispensable, for only to them is entrusted, in a special way, the proclamation of the Gospel as qualified witnesses of the Church and the celebration of the sacraments, which are the only way by which the Church can be established and thrive.

TheEucharisticnatureoftheChurch The crowning moment and the confirmation of our reflection on the nature of the mission is a reflection on the Church’s Eucharistic nature. The Eucharist is the heart of the Church, it embraces and expresses its entire mystery and contains all its grace. After the “year of the Eucharist” (2004-2005), which was preceded by the Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, presented by the Apostolic Letter Mane nobiscum Domine and brought to its conclusion by the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, it is more easy today to put forward this thesis, which is already contained and asserted in the previously considered texts. These documents, in the context of a general treatise on the liturgy, always recognize the Eucharist’s special place in the dynamism of salvation history. Nevertheless, it is an important clarification. Indeed, in the Eucharist “the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church” (SC 5) is taken to its peak. Christ is present in the Eucharist and acts through the supreme gesture of his death and resurrection, the paschal sacrifice, convoking all the peoples to the “great Passover” from this world to the kingdom of God. Just as the parable of the messianic feast tells us (Is. 25:6-9; Mt 22:1-14), the Church’s mission tends towards, and reaches its highest point in, the convocation of all peoples and every individual human being to the great banquet in the Kingdom of God, of which the Eucharist is the sacrament; in other words, it is not only the sign that reveals God’s salvific plan, it is also the instrument that accomplishes this plan. Without the Eucharist there is no Church and, therefore, no mission of the Church. The Eucharist is, however, linked to the exercise of the priesthood, namely to the ministry of the bishop and his priests. For this reason, a missionary life without the Eucharist and, therefore, the priesthood at its center, was unthinkable for our Founder.

Guido Maria Conforti had a profound Eucharistic sensitivity, which also pervaded his idea of the missionary life and activity. A passage from his “Testament Letter” confirms this: “May the Eucharistic Lord (namely, Jesus present and working in the Sacrament of the Eucharist) ever be the focus for our thoughts and affections, we are his apostles and priests. We can, every day, before the tabernacle find ways to renew our strength for ever greater challenges” (TL 8). In these words the Founder joins together “naturally” our twofold characteristics as priests and apostles. In this expression (which is also contained in TL 7) his idea of our missionary identity surfaces spontaneously. A missionary activity that is not centered on the exercise of the priesthood was unthinkable for the THE MINISTERIAL DIMENSION OF XAVERIAN IDENTITY 171

Founder.He therefore wanted his institute to be made up of priests,who would be helped by lay people (1921 Constitutions,no.5).

II-Consequencesandproblems The consequences of this vision of the mission, rooted in the apostolic, sacramental and Eucharistic idea and experience of the Church’s nature and, therefore, of her mission, pervade the so-called “traditional” missionary praxis, at least at a subconscious level. This obviously took proclamation as its starting point and aimed directly at baptism and, through this, to initiation into the life of the Church. The center of this life of the Church was the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Sunday Eu- charist. the Church was shaped, sustained and guided by the ministry of her “Pastors”: bishops and priests. The logical crowning moment and conclusion of the “mission” as such was the institution of the local hierarchy.

This explains the priority given in the missionary’s formation and spirituality to the “sensus ecclesiae”, the sacramental life and the celebration/ devotion to the Eucharist... This “life” of the Church and individual Christians animated and inspired his mission, missionary ideal, missionary praxis and the spirituality of the missionary families. It would be easy to reconstruct and demonstrate this from the Founder’s life and teachings.

In his letter no. 1102, St. Francis Xavier said that a harsh test for the missionaries traveling to Japan in those early days would be the occasional impossibility of celebrating Holy Mass because “it is very difficult to go without the consolation and the spiritual strength which are given to us by communion with the Lord’s Body” (no. 5).

Obviously,theformulationofthisideaofChurchandthewaysinwhichitwaslivedoutwereex- pressed in the typical language of the times, culture and theology. The profound cultural and “theological” crisis that hit the post-conciliar Church resulted in quite a deep crisis in these formulations and modalities. New formulations and new modalities were needed, ones that would be more suitable to the new historical situation. Sometimes the danger of “throwing the baby out with the bath- water”was not avoided, and together with the modalities and the formulations their contents were also rejected; the words needed changing, but their underlying ideas were also changed.

The meaning and the role of “worldly” realties had to be reassessed; these had been sometimes under- estimated or ignored by a theology of grace or Church-centered vision, which was not always capable of really understanding God’s action amidst humanity beyond the horizons of the Church. The role of the laity also needed to be reassessed in its positive meaning as the “body of Christ” present in the world; this role had often been overshadowed by a theology and an ecclesial praxis that emphasized, sometimes in an excessively exclusive manner, the task of ordained ministers (which is indispensable but nevertheless complementary to the task of the laity). The challenge consisted in grasping the profound connection of the sacramental dynamism, composed of signs which, by their very nature, refer to the reality of life.

In order to deal with these problems and resolve them, the Council, after clarifying the nature of the Church in Lumen Gentium, put forward a courageous “aggiornamento” of the Church’s life and mission. The Church was no longer seen in contrast with the world, but in relation to it. The Church had to adopt an attitude of love and respect for humanity as such and cultivate a spirit of dialogue with its various social, cultural and religious components3. Thus, together with the roles of the bishops, presbyters and deacons4, the Church had to rediscover and reassess the role of the laity in the life of the Church and, especially, in its action in the world (LG 30-38; Decree Apostolicam Actuositatem). The reform of the Liturgy was to make this the font that gives life to the Church and nourishes its mission, and the summit to which it tends (Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium) ...

Unfortunately, it is not easy to correct the course of a car that has swerved to the right without at least swerving also, at least a little, to the left ... The inherent tendency of the human soul and society is to go 172 Franco Sottocornola from one extreme to another. Equilibrium is a difficult virtue for the individual and, even more, for groups and society. The wise and audacious principle of “and...and”, instead of “either... or”, which characterizes the Council’s approach to the various problems, was difficult to put into practice and, as it turned out, in many cases we did see things go from one extreme to another.

III-Thereasonsforacrisis It must be recognized that the Founder’s notion of the mission, which was centered on the priestly function, was handed on without too much difficulty during the first seventy years of our Family’s history. However, it went into crisis with the arrival of the great cultural and “theological” changes which followed the Second Vatican Council. The following are some elements of this crisis.

- Secularization.This vast movement5 corroded the sense of God,and,consequently,the sense of the sacred (the “sacrament”) as an intermediary between God and humanity. The post-conciliar process of true liturgical reform was damaged by this and it still represents a threat today. The idea of religious life as an alternative to the life of the world and within the world has been weakened; it is also often falsified by a mistaken interpretation of the Church’s being-for-the-world and, therefore,of the religious life itself.

- Crisis of the Church’s “sacramental” ministerial identity and the perception of the Church as the sacrament” of salvation. As a result of the misunderstood and badly practiced “secularization”, both the “priestly”nature and function of the entire people of God and the specific (“sacramental”) nature and function of the bishop and presbyters has been damaged and sometimes distorted in their presentation and implementation6.Anegalitarianism based on an entirely subjective and gratuitous anthropology, a misunderstood “democracy” that simply applies political categories to the Church, an excessive and unilateral emphasis on the “prophetic” dimension, distinct from and in opposition to the Church’s “hierarchical ministry”,a unilateral emphasis and,at times,an ideological exploitation of the “Word of God” to the detriment of the Church’s sacramental-priestly dimension are some of the cultural and ecclesial phenomena that have caused the loss of the sense of the “priesthood” as the human meditation of God’s action. Whereas the biblical revelation,with its essential notion of covenant, placed this mediation and, therefore, the “priesthood” which accomplishes it, at the very heart of the economy of salvation (cf.Heb 7:1-10;18). Consequently, the reform of the figure-role of the “apostolic ministry” (bishop-presbyter-deacon) in the Church, begun by the Council, has only partially succeeded and remains an open issue with an uncertain future... Yet it is a matter of fundamental importance for the “catholic” concept and praxis of the Church and her mission.

- Ministeries and the role of the laity. The crisis of identity affecting the “sacramental dimension”of the Church7 coexists with an identity crisis concerning the laity’s role in the Church. In this case too, the undue application of social and political ideas (even conflict) to the Church has profoundly falsified the terms of the question. While the Gospel has turned the worldly ideas of precedence and power, superiority and authority, upside down, we continue to use them in our percep- tions and understanding or in the implementation of the various services and ministries within the Church. Luke makes a courageous exegetical combination between the Apostles’ discussion about “which of them was the greatest” and Jesus’ ”last supper”, during which He instituted both the Eucharist and the priestly ministry (Lk 22:14-20;24-30). John takes up this theme with the wonderful anamnesis of the washing of the feet and Jesus’ teaching on that occasion (Jn 13:1-15). Paul developed this “gospel” in his first letter to the Corinthians (1Cor 12-14). Nevertheless, even today, so many problems concerning the relationship between the “ordained ministries” and “lay people”in the Church is the result of forgetting, or a poorly founded reflection on Jesus’ “Gospel”. The “measure of greatness”in the Church is given by its likeness to Christ, in which there is no distinction between laity and the ordained ministry, between man and woman, between races and cultures... Greatness is measured by love (1Cor 13), not by the role that one exercises; roles are given by God freely and gratuitously and must be exercised in the fraternity that unites all and makeseveryoneequalbeforeGod. THE MINISTERIAL DIMENSION OF XAVERIAN IDENTITY 173

- Crisis in the Church-world relationship. the Council’s invitation to a greater “openness” of the Church towards the “world”,based on a new perception and definition of the Church itself as “sacrament of salvation” for the world, entails a new and strong emphasis of the Church’s identity as being-for-the-world. The Church is thus invited to adopt an attitude of empathy towards the “world”,looking upon it not as something which resists and rebels against God’s action (cf. 1Jn 2: 15-17), but as a human reality created and loved by God even when it strays far from Him (Jn 3:16-17). The Blessed John XXIII called upon us to distinguish between evil as such and those who are responsible and guilty of it and to always remember that,as long as they live,they can always be called to conversion and must, therefore, always be loved. In this context of empathy and dialogue vis-à-vis the world, we have witnessed the previously mentioned swing from one extreme to another. For many people, the Church’s being-for-the-world has often become, not only a being-in-and-with-the-world but, at times, also a “being like the world”.This has not meant just the acceptance of the criteria of judgment and forms of behavior proper to the “world”and, therefore, often alien to the sprit proper to the “religious life”and the Gospel; it has also resulted in the disciples of Christ losing the sense of their identity and belonging to the Church, of “renouncing the world”, its mentality and form of life, a renunciation that stands at the heart of their baptismal promises and, above all, the profession of vows in the religious or consecrated life. The post-conciliar renewal of the right relationship between the Church-world and the religious life is open and always vulnerable to the inevitable vicissitudes of conflict and the alternation between too much and too little. For us Xaverians an attitude of “discipleship” towards our Founder should be a decisive help. Al- beit within the perspectives and in accordance with the instructions of Vatican II and the Church’s Magisterium, we should find the criterion of discernment and decision in our Founder’s life and teaching, and precisely as the Founder of a specific forma vitae in the Church. It is my modest opinion that Blessed Guido Maria Conforti had, among other things, an exemplary equilibrium and serenity rarely found even among the Saints!

IV-Howtoovercomethecrisis We must limit ourselves to identifying some paths for reflection and some suggestions.

- The characteristic and central element of the Founder’s “spirituality” provides us with a first sure foundation and reference point: Jesus Christ, ”thesublimeprototypeofthepredestined”, as Conforti calls him. We must rethink everything starting from Christ: the idea and very sense of God, human life, the Church, its mission, apostolic ministry, religious or consecrated life, our very Xaverian identity (cf.TL 1,2,7).

-TheChurch’sapostolic dimension.Wemust appreciate more this line of reflection in view of a necessary ecclesial and ecclesiological renewal. The apostolic succession is not only a distinguishing mark of Christ’s Church,it also one of its essential components and part of its intimate dynamism. The apostolate as the proclamation of the Gospel, at the service of spreading the Church in the world,is necessarily and dynamically united to the Church’s apostolic nature as the continuation of Jesus’ sacramental presence in it through the Apostles and their successors. It is here that that the profound,living and dynamic relationship between priestly ordination and the qualified “authoritative” missionary commitment finds its place; without this there can be no mission in the fullest sense. Here too, Conforti’s frequent, better still, constant references to the Apostles in his missionary magisterium are a sure and necessary point of reference for us in identifying the essential characteristics of our identity and,consequently,our spirituality.

- Finally, we must rediscover the profound biblical, theological and mystical sense of the “clergy”in the mystery of the Church.This is the result of a free and creative decision made by Christ:“You did not choose me,I chose you”(cf.Jn 15:16).This gift is an identification with Christ as the “Servant of Yahweh”,who has come among his own as “one who serves” (Lk 22:27). We must rediscover the evangelical meaning and live out the mystical dimension of service, but also the biblical meaning and the mystical dimension of vocation and consecration (“anointing”). Above all, we must redis- 174 Franco Sottocornola

cover and live out the meaning and the mystical dimension of the identification of Christ as mediator (priest) of the new covenant. This is a specific and special identification, a particular and personal gift. The ordained minister is chosen,consecrated and “anointed” to be a sign and instrument of Jesus,the Christ,as the source,caput,and author of salvation. The Church,His body,must have, and does have, in its essential structure the living sacrament of Jesus as the one who “inspires and perfects our faith”,as Conforti says (TL 1). This entails the amazed and grateful rediscovery of the “priest’s”profound identity within the economy of Christ’s Incarnation and mediation: -aliving sign of the free and gratuitous initiative of God.A gift offered to everyone. -the“Living sacrament” of Christ as the One who reveals the Father (Jn 1:18), calls to conversion (Mk 1:15), heals and frees from evil (Mk 1:32-34), gathers (Jn 10:16), nourishes (Mt 14:13-27), guides (Jn 10:1-15),gives life (Jn 6),joins the Church to himself (Jn 15) and to the Father (Jn 17). -theIcon of Christ as head of the Church. - The one who says of the body of Christ: “This is my body” and who says of the blood of Christ: “This is my blood”.Here we have a sacramental identification that implies and demands a mystical identification 8.

- Since this only has meaning within the context of faith,we must rediscover or deepen the “sense of God”because “priestly service”only means something in relation to it.There is a profound and essential correlation between the meaning-experience of divine transcendence and the perception of the necessity and the role of priestly mediation in the encounter between God and man. Just as Moses’vocation and the mission of Moses starts with the experience of the “burning bush”(Ex 3), and Isaiah’s vocation and sending begin with his experience of God in the temple (Is 6), so the Apostles’ constitutive experience begins with their encounter with the living Jesus, with his death and resurrection. It is in this apostolic experience that the ministry and the sacramental “priesthood”of the Apostles’successors and their collaborators in the ministry is grounded. The celebration of the “paschal mystery”has a central role in it,as the experience of the salvific encounter with God,of which the Eucharistic celebration is the sacrament.

V-Consequencesforourwayofconceivingandlivingthemission These reflections have some consequences for how we conceive of and embody our Xaverian identity; not only for our missionary “praxis” but also for the spirituality that nourishes and animates it.

- First of all, our missionary identity must be experienced and embodied within the mystery of the Church.In the Church,the apostolate is the perpetuation of the apostolic ministry,which is essentially “sacramental”and “priestly”,in which the universal priesthood of all the faithful calls for service, a “priestly”ministry through which Christ himself becomes present and works in his Church and,through it,in the world.It follows from this,on the one hand,that there is no Church without priestly ministry and, therefore, no mission either; on the other hand, it also follows that the exercise of this ministry is fundamental and essential to the Church’s mission. In the Church,it constitutes the continuation of the Apostles’ ministry, which is essentially distinct from the common participation of all the faithful in the priesthood and mission of Christ,at whose service it is (“ministry”).

- The mission is, first and foremost, the action of Christ who leads humanity to the Father, in the Holy Spirit, through the Church 9. The nature of the purpose determines the nature of the means. Our service to the mission,as presbyters,must consist in harmonious prophecy,witness and sacramental encounter with God. We must re-comprehend the mission by rediscovering its theological dimension and taking its purpose as our starting-point: salvation is man’s encounter with God, known, loved and experienced even now, today, on this earth! Everything else fits in with the Church’s mission provided it is oriented towards this goal.

- Anyone who has received a “ministry” has been called by Christ through the Church to a precise task,not to an ad libitum task.It is a munus,atask,ofwhichheisnotthemaster,buttheservant;itis a task which implies a sending or “mission”. THE MINISTERIAL DIMENSION OF XAVERIAN IDENTITY 175

To be a missionary as a presbyter (“priest”) is the fundamental radical (as in “root”) and principal way of being a missionary. This is why the Founder, like all the other founders of missionary institutes, took for granted that the missionary is, normally, a priest.

Anyone who asks or accepts to be a priest in the Church is asking or accepting to live and work as a presbyter in the Church and for the Church. His mission ad gentes cannot be an alibi but, on the contrary, a privileged position for exercising his ministry. He is called and commits himself to being “a missionary presbyter”, a missionary as presbyter. His identity as a presbyter finds in the mission a typical and specific form of implementation, but this also confers a particular modality upon his mission. The two realties are not only not in opposition to each other, they strengthen and enrich each other. Just as the bishop is, first and foremost, a missionary and the main one responsible for the mission in his Church, so the presbyter is, with the bishop, a participant in this original missionary nature. Just as the bishop is the original minister of the local Church’s sacramental nature, so too the presbyter is, with the bishop, the “sacramental presence” of Christ as Head and Pastor of the local Community and the source of its sacramental life. The Presbyter will be a missionary, first and foremost and above all as a presbyter, to the extent that he embodies this ministerial function which is proper to him.

- This inalienable correlation means that the presbyter’s modality of being a missionary must be, first and foremost,the one laid down and demanded by his nature as a presbyter.He must be an al- ter Christus, an icon of Christ, a sacramental extension of Jesus himself inasmuch as he gathers the Church from among the peoples and transforms it into Christ’s Mystical Body to offer it to the Fa- ther, consecrated by the Holy Spirit, as an acceptable gift. This sacramental concept of the mission finds its embodiment in the entire Church, but it finds its “minister”in the presbyter. It is through him that Christ fulfills the mission in his Church for the salvation of the world.

Conclusion “No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”(Jn 1:18). Christ’s mission is to reveal the Father and lead all men to the encounter with the Father, in the Holy Spirit, through the “Paschal journey” which introduces humanity into his King- dom. At the heart of the Paschal experience stands the encounter with God (from the “burning bush” to the theophany on Mount Sinai). In Jesus’ Passover, in his death and resurrection, we find the supreme revelation of God to the world. The proclamation of Jesus’ Gospel is the communication of this news and this knowledge but, also, a vital experience of this message within the Church.

At the Last Supper, Jesus, after reminding Philip that “to have seen me is to have seen the Father” (Jn 14:9-10), took bread, broke it, gave it to them and said: “Take this all of you and eat it. This is my body...” Beyond the Semitic nature of the word ‘body’ which means the entire person, here (according to the teaching of Thomas Aquinas), Jesus’ gesture constitutes the supreme revelation of his person, his identity and his mission; it sums up his teaching and his entire salvific work. The expression “Thisismybody”isthesameassaying“Thisisme”,“HereiswhoIam”,“Hereismyface”,“myiden- tity”; and, through this, we are given access to the Father and to communion with Him.

The Eucharist is not only presence; it is also epiphany. In the Eucharist we have the fulfillment, the fullness of the mission as the manifestation of God and the sacrament of our encounter with Him. This is why there can be no missionary life and activity unless it is gathered around, begins from and is directed to the Eucharist.

But there is no Eucharist without priesthood, without the ministry of the priest, in other words, the bishop and his presbyter.

Just as the celebration of the paschal mystery stands at the heart of the Church’s life and mission, so too does the priestly ministry.

The book of Revelation, which closes and crowns the “great story” of the mirabilia Dei, whose central 176 Franco Sottocornola symbol is the immolated Lamb, can only be understood within this theology and this vision of faith 10.

Notes:

1 This ecclesiological awareness has been acquired and also expressed in the most meaningful modification to the prayer of priestly ordination,which thus concludes with an intercession for the new presbyters: “Sint probi cooperatores Ordinis nostri, ut verba Evangelii, eorum praedicatione in cordibus hominum, Sancti Spiritus gratia,fructificent et usque ad extremum terrae perveniant.... Sint nobis iuncti Domine, ad tuam deprecandam misericordiam propopuloipsiscommisso atque pro universo mundo. Sic nationum plenitudo,in Christo congregata, in unum populum tuum, in Regno tuo consummandum, convertatur. Per DNIC,Filium tuum ...

2 The original is kept in the Centro Studi Confortiani Saveriani (CSCS) of the Xaverian Missionaries. 3 Gaudium et Spes ; Nostra Aetate,ecc. 4 Decr.Christus Dominus,Presbyterorum Ordinis,Optatam totius; Lumen Gentium 29. 5 It is especially a typically Western phenomenon and the consequence of the so-called Enlightened era, which rejected Revelation and,therefore,the transcendence of salvation. 6 I believe that this is one of the principal causes of the current crisis in vocations to the ordained ministry! 7 The mystery/ministry and the mission are expressed,recognized,actualized and embodied on the foundation of the Eucharist. 8 cf.the last letter written by Pope John Paul II to priests. 9 cf.Ad Gentes 1-6. 10 Obviously the emphasis on the role of the sacred ministry in the Church’s mission and missionary life can give the impression of an excessive focus to the detriment of the missionary role of the laity. The same can be said about our emphasis on the “sacramental” and “Eucharistic”dimension of the Church: it might be accused of forgetting or relativizing the other components of the Church’s lifeandmission,suchasthereligiouslife,forexample.Thisisdueto the limited nature of the paper as well as its specific purpose. To speak of the heart as a vital organ of the human body means leaving other organs,and the body as a whole,in the shadows.But just as the body cannot live without the heart, so the heart cannot live without the body! The heart exists for the body! Since all the members of the body exist for each other, in the diversity of their functions, they are all complementary to each other. So it is of the Church, in which the variety of charism and ministries is lived out in the unity of fraternal love, a gift of that Spirit which is the soul of the Body of Christ,the Church (cf.1Cor 12-13). Rc.the relationship between the sacramental and Eucharistic dimension and the other dimensions of the Church’s life and mission, we only have to re-read and meditate upon SC 9. SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY - NEW CATEGORIES 177

SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY - NEW CATEGORIES

Tiziano Tosolini TheEnglishtextisanabridgedversionoftheItalianoriginal.

Ratio autem gratuitae donationis est amor: ideo enim damus gratis alicui aliquid, quia volumus ei bonum. Primum ergo quod damus ei, est amor quo volumus ei bonum. Unde manife- stum est quod amor habet rationem primi doni, per quod omnia dona gratuita donantur1

St.Thomas Acquinas,Summa Teologica.I,q.38,a.2

Introduction In 2005, during the homily of the Mass Pro eligendo Pontifice, Cardinal Ratzinger expressed his concern at the fact that relativism, «which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, looks like the only attitude (acceptable) to today’s standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desires»2. The term relativism then came to the fore, with a new and firm condemnation, in the speech delivered by Benedict XVI, on 6 June 2005, at the opening of the Diocese of Rome’s ecclesial Congress on the Family and Christian community:

Today,a particularly insidious obstacle to the task of educating is the massive presence in our society and culture of that relativism which,recognizing nothing as definitive,leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires. And under the semblance of freedom it becomes a prison for each one, for it separates people from one another, locking each person into his or her own “ego”.With such a relativistic horizon, therefore, real education is not possible without the light of the truth; sooner or later, every person is in fact condemned to doubting in the goodness of his or her own life and the relationships of which it consists, the validity of his or her commitment to build with others something in common.Consequently,it is clear that not only must we seek to get the better of relativism in our work of forming people, but we are also called to counter its destructive predominance in society and culture3.

The Pope’s statements on «dictatorship of relativism » and «relativism as a prison » call to mind another passage on post-modernity contained in John Paul II’s Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio,with words that express the same concern at the modern world’s apparent loss of consistency:

One thing however is certain: the currents of thought which claim to be postmodern merit appropriate attention. According to some of them, the time of certainties is irrevocably past, and the human being must now learn to live in a horizon of total absence of meaning, where everything is provisional and ephemeral. In their destructive critique of every certitude, several authors have failed to make crucial distinctions and have called into question the certitudes of faith. This nihilism has been justified in a sense by the terrible experience of evil which has marked our age. Such a dramatic experience has ensured the collapse of rationalist optimism, which viewed history as the triumphant progress of reason, the source of all happiness and freedom; and now,at the end of this century,one of our greatest threats is the temptation to despair”4.

Relativism and post-modernity 5 thus highlight the fact that modernity has given way to fragmentation, and where once there was order and unity, there now seems to be separation and division: every-

Tiziano TosoliniSX is the Director of the Asian Studies Center,Japan. 178 Tiziano Tosolini thing has become more indefinite and discontinuous. As the Popes warned us, relativism and post-modernism eliminate every global and univocal vision of reality and undermine the roots of values that were once universally accepted and they do not recognize any stable foundation upon which knowledge and awareness may be based. This gives rise to a condition of uncertainty in which hetero- geneity, diversity, indetermination, mistrust in universal languages, plurality and the chaotic nature of reality reign… a context in which philosophy appears to be bereft of metaphysical foundations; the art of government has no justification and is ever more implicated in the useless plots of video-politics; ethics have no goals and are emptied of every semblance of truth; the scientific-technical culture offers no guarantees, but it is always open to new experiments and manipulations; history knows no goals or time and religion is without a God that one can recognize and to whom one can pray. How did such a transformation of thought occur, resulting in the breakdown of reality into myriads of visions, and the disintegration of every homogeneous and universally accepted discourse? And what implications does this new cultural season have for a comprehension of the religious and spiritual phenomenon? Is it still possible to speak of God today and, if so, with what categories?

I-TheinstabilityofallFoundations The impossibility of conceiving global and univocal visions and the widespread dispersion and multiplication of discourses can be traced back to a crisis of foundations or «the incredulity vis-à-vis meta-narratives»6. After Nietzsche and his proclamation 7 (or discovery 8) of «the death of God », in other words, the eclipse of every stable and metaphysical reference which gave coherence and propo- sitional strength to the religious system and the interpretative categories of reality, after Heidegger’s insistence on the need to embrace the insurmountable historicity, finitude and temporality of humanity, after the demise or the denial of every ideology … and moving towards a future and metaphysical ideal (whether we identify this with the idea of God, the Good, Work, Emancipation or the State …), all we are left with is nothing more than an infinite chain of interpretations that describe and exalt partial, circumstantiated and temporal truths; the reduction of the world to a series of hyper-real images and simulations that can no longer be distinguished from fantasy because there are no guidelines or criteria for discernment; all meaning has been absorbed into self-serving linguistic games that have their own logic, principles and rules that must be respected. What remains is truly a weak, con- jectural and contextual thought, which must abandon all claims to the solid and indubitable premises that were once defined as the foundations of knowledge. If there is knowledge, it has no foundation or infallible truths. As Vattimo wrote: «There is no basis for believing in the foundation, in other words that thought should be the foundation »9. Living in the uncertain world of post-modernity also means that we no longer feel comforted by the law of progress and development, precisely because of the failure of the visions of history that created and sustained them: the eschatological-religious perspective and the secular illuminist perspective, with their trust in the provident and linear nature of history, have given way to the dimensions of the possible and the contingent which dissolve all chronology in the discontinuity of the moment and empty every tradition of its quality and value.

An irretrievably fragmented world, society and history produces a subject that is weakened in an analogous way, dispelled and disoriented by the crisis and the collapse of all collective identities, which is a typical feature of modernity (the nation, party, sate, etc.). Pluralism and existential nomadism give the post-modern subject a taste of superficiality and monotony: he is now an individual reconciled with the transitory and uncertain nature of everything, an ally of multiple interpretations of reality, doomed to live in the ambivalence of his own, and others’, principles, norms and sensations. He is an individual that is completely free of the constrictions that the various religious, economic, political and educational systems … used to enclosed him with their pretentious securities. Weakness also implies the renunciation of political, religious and moral totalitarianism, tolerance of differences, welcome of diversity and multiplicity against every homologizing ideology. And yet the post-modern subject is also without a center; he is aware of being overwhelmed by a world of fading images and obliged to abandon the power and the security of reason. He is now an individual that must go it alone and shoulder a radical responsibility for himself in the moral and political field, since he no longer has the reassuring network of protection afforded by a doctrine or creed. According to some thinkers,it is precisely the instability of every ontological,metaphysical or religious SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY - NEW CATEGORIES 179 foundation that makes it possible for people to dedicate themselves to others in charity and practice a faith based on friendship, an attitude that promotes respect and solidarity and a non-violent ethic, based on dialogue,cooperation and contextual to the post-metaphysical era.

II-FromtheGodofDefinitionstotheGodofPossibility.FromtheIdoltotheIcon As we have seen, the emptying and the weakening of every metaphysical category not only concerns the idea of subject (which from the modern Cartesian illusion of personal independence and substan- tiality of cogito ergo sum has now become, thanks to Nietzsche, merely a mixture of weakness and lies, thanks to Marx the product of economic forces or relationships, thanks to Freud a puppet maneu- vered by the invisible wires of the unconscious, thanks to Foucault a momentary figure that will vanish as a sand-face at the seaside, thanks to Vattimo to surface illusion, thanks to Derrida a linguistic stratagem and thanks to Baudrillard a virtual spark, etc.) but, at the level of source, also the idea of Be- ing and the idea of God. More specifically, the agreement between philosophy and religion (or religion and faith) that had sustained and influenced the thought of saints and scholars until the threshold of modernity, is now becoming unraveled in its metaphysical plot and accused of using ontological categories to penetrate the religious mystery, to prove God’s existence in a stable and certain way and to wrap up in comprehensible formulae what cannot be expressed in words.

What many post-metaphysical thinkers (for example, E. Levinas, J.-L. Marion, J. Derrida, J. Caputo, R. Kearkey) try to emphasize is precisely the need to try and understand a God not contaminated by Being, in other words a God who is beyond the horizons of being, a horizon that does not safeguard the absolute transcendence of the biblical God. According to these philosophers, all proof of God’s existence can only lead to a reduction of the divine transcendence to a mere human concept. This metaphysics of presence and immediacy, this encapsulation and imprisonment of the infinite of God within the limited proportions of a concept, can therefore only empty God and make him an idol. To speak of God in terms of substance, foundation, cause, essentia, esse, etc., only contaminates the mystery of God, treating him as if he were part of objective reality, of our language and experience of the world. What is needed is a more respectful way of approaching God, a way that can leave his transcendence intact and, at the same time, surprise human comprehensive categories, a gesture that can awaken the consciences of those who have made a God in their own image and likeness (the idol of the golden calf) instead of waiting for Him to reveal Himself beyond all their preconceived ideas.

These authors maintain that imagining a God without Being by no means implies being without a God: on the contrary, it means that the God of metaphysics must be replaced by the God who can «come to the idea10 (Levinas), that the God inscribed in the promises of the monotheistic religions (in which the Messiah has already arrived) gives way to the God who continually defers his appearance and who remains in that state of prophetic indeterminateness in which the Messiah is always about to arrive (and if he really did arrive we could then ask him «When shall you return again?» – since it is connatural to the very idea of Messiah that he is the one who is always about to arrive)11. The God of presence and definitions is now replaced by the God of possibility, capable of revealing Himself as «otherwise than being» (and not as a being otherwise) and the identity of God narrated in Exodus 3:14 (’ehyeh ’asher ’ehyeh) is understood not so much in an ontological sense («I am who I am », in the sense of «I am », «I am ousia», «I am Being itself ») or through that idea proposed by a certain negative theology («I am who I am and you shall never know who I am because you can never contain me »), but in a third interpretation that might embrace and overcome the two previous interpretations, by saying that the true name of God is that «I am who I shall be. For ever», «I am the one who can be », «who shall want to be who he wants to be »12. The God of metaphysics thus gives way to an idea of God that is not defined by any human concept, but which proceeds from God himself, from his self-revelation and his own horizons, in other words, from an icon which, overturning the essential traits of the idol, presents itself to me as a face that is looking at me.

The God without being is therefore a God that «evades » the grip of knowledge, it is a God who as an icon communicates more than human thought can contain and in showing and giving himself and giving himself, he exceeds any human intention, instead offering himself discretely to the intention of 180 Tiziano Tosolini the one who sees. «Christ as the image (icon) of the invisible God» (Col 1:15) shows himself to man, not so much as in idol who flaunts himself in his visibility, but as an icon who makes the invisible visible.

III-SpeakingofGodtoday As we have seen, the decline of metaphysics and the consequent weakening of thought, mark not only the failure of the notion of an absolute unchangeable Being, but also the crisis concerning the authoritative face of God. For the post-modern and post-metaphysics philosophers in general, many of the ways in which we have understood the figure of God, and many of the commandments or divine precepts we have tried to obey throughout the centuries, no longer possess any persuasive force or any ir- refutable legitimization, and are put aside or simply ignored as symptoms of dangerous and anachronistic expressions. The weak figures of the biblical message and Christian tradition are now exalted, the ones who have an open structure and uncertain future, who put man in communion with the possible God, or with the God that no human thought can define, but only welcome. Instead of the God built by our reason we discover the idea of a God who arrives unexpectedly, a surprise, who passes through our rationality and makes our concepts that try to approach his mystery more humble.

Instead of trying to imagine a God without being and without foundation, the task is now one of proposing a God of possibility, a God to whom man can listen in his attempts to obey his voice. Is it possible to think this different way of relating to God? What human and divine phenomena can help us to reflect in order to discover its depths and its riches? What words of the Bible could enlighten us on this point? Personally, I believe that two phenomena can be analyzed with a certain interest: the phenomenon of gift («God so loved the world that he gave his only Son » Jn 3:16) combined with the phenomenon of agape («a man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends » Jn 15:13).

God «offers», «gives» his Son to the world, to us, making him therefore His gift par excellence to the world («If you only knew the gift of God …» Jn 4:16). But the gift, in order to remain such and not become trapped in the idolatrous economy of exchange, commerce or barter (in which the donor never gives anything without receiving some benefit in return) must be considered on the basis of its “givenness”, beginning from the gift reduced to its donation. This happens to the extent that the gift almost imposes itself on its giver. It can do so only by happening to the latter as a need to be given, ap- pearing to the eyes of the donor as something so beautiful that it lends itself to an even greater beauty than the beauty of the one who possesses it, thereby compelling him to give it away. The gift decides its own donation and appears indisputably “giveable” and making itself be given away. This phenomenon does not arise out of anything other than itself. The gift has no reasons other than the pure logic of giving. It is here that we can discover the connection between giving and love. The two decisive traits of love -agape lie in the fact that there are no prior conditions.

Love excludes the idol or, better still, it overthrows the idol because, in giving, the subject does not invest the other with his conceptuality, but he abandons himself totally to him and allows himself to be determined by this giving. The receiver or beneficiary of a gift, instead, must first of all accept to receive the gift, but this acceptance implies first of all a considerable renunciation because it calls for the abandonment of self-sufficiency and the calm possession of self and one’s world. Before accepting a gift, one must first of all to accept to accept and this becomes the recognition of the fact that we do not grow alone, but through a dependence on what we are not or, more precisely, on that which the ego is not. Thus the ego must embrace the position of one who receives himself, not from a self-foundational movement, but from the gift that is given to him; he receives himself entirely from what he receives.

Love, like the gift (or love as gift) makes visible what it loves and, at the same time, offers to the beneficiary the reassurance of its own love, the certainty that he is loved even before he is in a position to return this love. We can thus say with John that «we love because he loved us first » (1Jn 4:19) and «everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God » (1Jn 4:7). Pope Benedict’s words on love, the topic of his first Encyclical, are at home in this context. The Pope says: «Man… cannot always give, SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY - NEW CATEGORIES 181 he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf. Jn 19:34)». Again: «The “commandment” of love is only possible because it is more than a requirement. Love can be “commanded” because it has first been given». Finally, with echoes of a cherished Confortian saying: «Love of God and love of neighbor are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “We” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all”». (1Cor 15:28)13

IV-Finalconsiderations Having identified and examined, albeit briefly, the phenomenon of gift and having seen its intimate connections with love, we have at least managed to avoid two dangers that seem to be the result of the post-modern climate: the danger of considering every proposal of institutionalized religion as a both- ersome and useless meta-narrative and, by contrast, the danger of encouraging multiple religious be- longings in the name of a tolerance of thought and/or faith that are finally emancipated and free of all dogmatic and totalizing constrictions.

We believe that Derrida’s proposal of a “religion without religion” 14» can be included in the first danger» with Vattimo’s proposal of a «weak Christianity». Looking briefly at the latter, we could state that the God of weak thought is the God of Paul and kenosis, the paradoxical God who becomes man, re- nounces his power and his own divinity and looks upon humanity not as servants but as friends (Jn 15:15). The Christianity that results from this will therefore be a friendly, fraternal, intimately human, and therefore weak, religion. To believe in the salvation inaugurated by Christ means that we do not cling either to the letter of the Gospel or the Church’s dogmatic precepts, «but that we strive to understand, first and foremost, what the words of the Gospel mean to me, here and now; in other words, read the signs of the times, relying only on the commandment of love »15. Love, or the loving attitude to one’s neighbor is, according to Vattimo the «crucial principle » that stems and delineates the otherwise infinite drift of a thought that is bereft of all foundation: just as an indefinite kenosis of God is unthinkable, so too can love only be directed to others through a friendly, dialogical, ecumenical attitude, in a spirit of solidarity, and thus contribute actively to the construction of the kingdom of God which as yet has not been fulfilled completely. For Vattimo, therefore, to believe means «believing to believe», to think or hope that the weakness of love might really surpass that faith in the domineer- ing and metaphysical God who is still a feature of the modern era and who still cannot embrace a creed without dogma, without « meaning » and without preordained contents.

On the basis of these premises, we can certainly say that there is an aspect of the weak thought that can open itself up to faith: this is the thought of those who are aware that man is incapable of giving an absolute meaning to the course of human history, that human knowledge is always partial, fallible and incomplete. With no illusions and regrets, this weak thought scans the depths of man’s inability to become God, his inability to discover a purely human way to salvation. The weak thought is a new filter for the interpretation of reality: against everything that in our own time is looked upon as obvious, taken for granted and part of everyday normality, and which therefore assumes a strong character, it proposes the suspension of all habits. A kind of continual experimentation that leads to value and assume also the strident differences, the secondary or minority (rejected) aspects of reality.

Here arises the first criticism: this new Weltanschuung can only be lived as an individual experience. It can never become, at least at the level of social organization, a collective experience. It is therefore an elite, selective and aristocratic experience precisely because it is reached through the awareness of the demise of all foundations. From a logical point of view, instead, we could say that if a thought does not want to be enclosed in the logic of identity and not even in the dialectic contradiction, is it not there- 182 Tiziano Tosolini fore perhaps a thought that excludes all other «possibility»? Does it not reduce itself to an agglomerate in which everything is possible but without form? Where every discourse is subjected to the classical rule «Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur»? A thought of such a vision would be anything but weak thought; on the contrary, it would be the strongest thought that man could think. In the words of Perniola: «The strength of the Romans did not consist in the imposition of their own gods on the conquered peoples but, on the contrary, in building temples in Rome for the worship of foreign gods16.

Regarding the second danger which we believe is the result of the postmodern climate (namely looking with excessive benevolence upon hybridism or religious pluralism as the natural symptom of the decline of all metaphysical thought), I think we can say that, despite the profound tolerance encouraged by a similar position, it also seems to eliminate every possibility of exercising critical judgment (which is born of love and returns to love) on social, cultural and religious situations that are structur- ally oppressive or unjust. In the post-modern mind every justice (or injustice) can only be attributed to a particular place and deduced from norms that regulate a particular group or society; consequently, such a justice cannot be given the status of a universal thought nor can it be compared with any other. Even more, especially at religious level, the lack of a «loving hermeneutics », in other words a hermeneutics that based on the logic of a love received does not suppress the spirit, or treat the gift of prophecy with contempt, thinks before doing anything and holds on to what is good (cf. 1Th 5:20), seems to us to be one of the causes of the rebirth of esoteric and gnostic cosmogonies, of the rampant New Age spirit which always kneels before that grim and monstrous god who destroys all harmony, order and moral law, inviting man to discover his most profound unconscious mind and follow his every instinct.

The logic of love given, of the gift that offers itself in love, becomes the criterion through which we can look at reality and examine its expressions; it becomes a love which creates communion, a giving that knows how to take concrete form today because it knows«the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge » (Eph 3:19). Contrary to faith (which calls for perseverance), this love and hope (which will receive its reward at the end of time) can only be given immediately. The time of love is the present and the present, viewed from love’s perspective, means above all a time that is given. Love makes the gift present and presents the present as a gift, as for-giving, as a time that awaits no other for making concrete gestures of justice, proclamation of peace, an act of mercy. The time of love is the present time given to us, therefore its imperative can only be this: love now as if your next act of live were your last chance to love. Love now at this very moment as if you had no other person to love for ever. It is only in this given love, in this present time of love, that the invitation to speak of God re-echoes in the vast post-modern maze in which reason seems to have lost its bearings: an invitation that is transformed into the desire to let ourselves be loved by the One who encourages us, helps us and allows us love truly: Christ.

Notes:

1 Love is the reason for a gratuitous gift.Thus,we give something to someone gratuitously because we love that person.Therefore,the first thing that we give him,is the love with which we love him.This makes visible the love which is the first degree of giving,through which all gratuitous gifts are given. 2 MissaProEligendoRomanoPontefice. Homily of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals., St. Peter’s Basilica, 18 April 2005. 3 Pope Benedict XVI’s address at the opening of the Ecclesial Conference of the Diocese of Rome on the Family and the Christian community,Basilica of St.John Lateran,6 June 2005. 4 Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio,Pope John Paul II,14 September 1998,no.91. 5 The terms «relativism» and «postmodern» are not synonymous (though they sometimes have similar characteristics). Generally, «relativism» means to say that human knowledge is incapable of approaching reality in its objectivity because every statement refers to particular elements and is true only in reference to them. Therefore, in this sense relativism is interpreted as an abandonment of meaning. «Postmodern», instead, although it is characterized by a deep skepticism concerning the ability of human knowledge to reach the ultimate meaning of truth,liberates or opens reality to a multiplicity and plurality of meanings which had previously been denied,or subjected and standardized to a common foundational principle,to equalized and all-embracing metaphysical theories. 6 Lyotard J.-F., La condizione postmoderna.Milano:Feltrinelli,1981,p.5. 7 Nietzsche F.,La gaia scienza.Aforisma125. 8 Camus, A.; L’uomo in rivolta. Milano: Bompiani, 1981, p. 79: «Contrary to what some of his Christian critics think, Nietzsche did not draw up the plan to kill God.He found God dead in the soul of his times ». SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY - NEW CATEGORIES 183

9 Vattimo G.,La fine della modernità.Milano: Garzanti,1985,p.175. 10 Levinas E.,Of God Who Comes to Mind. Trad.B.Bergo.California: Standford University Press,1998. 11 Caputo J. (ed.), Deconstruction in a Nutshell: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida. New York: Fordham University Press, 1997, pp. 24-5, 156-80; Caputo J.,Apostles of the Impossible.On God and the Gift in Derrida and Marion.In Caputo J.& Scanlon M.J.(eds), God, the Gift, and Postmodernity.Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indianapolis University Press,1999,pp.185-222. 12 Kearney R., The God Who May Be: A Hermeneutics of Religion. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indianapolis University Press, 2001, pp. 20-38. cf. also Marion J.-L., God without Being. Translation, T.A. Carlson. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1995, pp. 73-83; Manoussakis J.P.,Thinking at the Limits. Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion in Dialogue with Richard Kearney. In Philosophy Today,2004/1,pp.3-26.For a different philosophical interpretation of the name of God in Ex 3:14,cf.Stein E.,Ways to God.Translation, R.Allers.New York: Edith Stein Guild Publications,1981. 13 Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI,25 December 2005,nos.7,14 e 18. 14 cf.Caputo J.,The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida: Religion without Religion.Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press,1997; Derrida J.and VattimoG.,Religion.Trans.D.Webb.Stanford: Stanford University Press,1998. 15 Vattimo G.,Credere di credere.Milano: Garzanti,1996,pp.64-5. 16 Perniola M.,Lettera sul Pensiero Debole.AlfaBeta,1984/58,p.24.

SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY – CHALLENGES FOR THE CHURCH AND THE MISSION 185

SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY – CHALLENGES FOR THE CHURCH AND THE MISSION

Francesco Marini

Introduction Spirituality is a way of living the Gospel; Xaverian spirituality is the Xaverian way of living the Gospel, as RMX 22 tells us. Our spirituality is therefore based on two elements: a relationship with the God proclaimed and lived by Jesus and a special modality defined by our charism. I believe that both these elements are currently in a stage of transformation and, therefore, of crisis.

In its entirety, spirituality represents the fundamental challenge for each one of us: it concerns the reasons and the modalities of our whole life (not just a part), as believers and as missionaries.

I-Analysis At various times in recent years I have felt like a soldier who has penetrated the enemy camp and, discovering that he is on his own and, perhaps, surrounded, asks himself: what am I doing here? In other words, he feels loneliness and a sense of danger; he feels unequal to the task and doubts the very meaning of what he is doing.

From a feeling to the question: was I perhaps too idealistic in following my vocation? Was I naive? Or was it an authentic act of faith? What undercurrents lay beneath that feeling? What mental background has changed to make such a doubt possible?

Themission

Richness and burden of a tradition. The heroic dedication of the missionaries of the past contrasts with the social, cultural and theological limits of the mission as it was lived beginning from the XVI century (violence, euro-centrism with the imposition of foreign culture and the destruction of the local culture, colonialism...). In Asia, we are living in such a context and, in general, this legacy is still keenly felt 1. The burden of this legacy is also felt within the Church, with the result that the missionary feels like a (more or less welcome) guest and the representative of an outdated past.

New questions and the erosion of motivations The radical questions echoed in RMX no. 4 are not rhetorical. They are questions that rise in the missionary’s heart and it cannot be taken for granted that each one manages to reach a convincing justification of his vocation and experience the joy of living it.

TheXaverianmission

The changed “spiritual”context (the atmosphere) During the first decades, the Founder and the Congregation lived a special spirituality, which com- prised: a) a clear theological vision, b) an undisputed devotional practice and, above all c) a very intense idealistic atmosphere.

Francesco Marini SX was Superior General from 1989 until 2001.He is currently working in the parish of Bintaro,Jakarta). 186 Francesco Marini

The theological vision was typical of the post-Tridentine Church, with a strong salvific motivation. Devotion was practical and undisputed, with the advantage of some “missionary innovations” which gave it a halo of attraction. The emotional atmosphere was idealistic and epic: a chosen group, like an army at the front line, compact, dedicated to a great cause and inspired by great tales2. All of this has irreparably changed since Vatican II.

The priority of the charism in a Congregation Modern Congregations define themselves in general by the charism for whose service they were founded. However, this has inevitably led these Congregations to measure (and be measured) their worth by the quantity, quality and efficiency of the service they provide. This also inevitably leads to the precedence of doing over being and the relegation to second place of gospel-inspired living and of the mission as witness.

The fading of the charism In the eyes of many Christians, the missionary charism has lost its theoretical justification. Theology has abandoned all talk of extra ecclesiam nulla salus and, consequently, the mission often appears to be an optional extra; its practical attraction, which used to comprise adventure and spiritual enthusiasm, is now often marked by doubts and uncertainty; the former pride of a heritage has become the silent fear of judgment; the clarity of the proclamation of the Kerygma to non-Christians has given way to a policy of exchange among the churches; the primacy of the local church seems to nullify the primacy of the foreign missionary ...

In the past everything was very clear: missionaries left the West to go and convert the pagans beyond the frontiers of Europe. Culture, religion and geography were inseparable. Today, a missionary can still go abroad, but without necessarily living among non-Christians and, if he works in the apostolate it does not go without saying that he will be proclaiming to the non-Christians. A missionary can also find himself in the midst of non-Christians in his own home country and engage there in authentic proclamation work.

I am still convinced that the Congregation was right to reassert the physical ad extra dimension for us missionaries. Yet we must recognize the danger that departure from our own country might be just a cover for just any kind of presence and activity. A missionary is usually happy if he can “stay in the missions”, just as soldiers used to be proud to “remain at the front-line” and they would have felt humiliated if called back behind the lines; but the crucial point is not where we are, but how we are and what we are doing.

Distance between the charism and actual activity The contrast between the theoretical justification of the proclamation ad gentes and concrete missionary activities can cause a daily crisis in the “punctilious”. Missionary. We cannot think of man- aging a parish and limit ourselves to some specifically missionary activities (catechumenate, contact with the non-Christians...), or take our place in the diocesan church and work in “extra-parish” missionary activities (as if those in charge of the parishes were not capable of doing those “missionary activities” that we would like to reserve for ourselves). At the present time, we are practically parish priests abroad, we haven’t crossed the frontier to live among non-Christians (a necessary condition of a new-style missionary presence)3. If the local church is the subject of the mission, the missionary has no other choice but to become part of the local church, with all the rights and duties of the other pastoral agents. At most, the specific nature of the charism will give him the opportunity to make a special and qualified contribution to the apostolate. Is this emphasis sufficient for the fulfillment of the missionary charism? Does not the change in the ecclesial context entail also a change in how we understand and live the missionary charism?

It is practically impossible to live the charism in its theoretical purity. Perhaps only in the form of the SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY – CHALLENGES FOR THE CHURCH AND THE MISSION 187 ashram could it be lived more adequately in an institutional form; but in a pastoral ministry inserted in a local church it is already considered more than enough if the missionary makes himself available, uses resources correctly and is zealous in the apostolate...

TheMissionintheChurch The missionary’s presence in the Church today has become problematic. In the present ecclesial atmosphere a missionary feels increasingly relegated to the sidelines... We live in an exasperated atmosphere of centralism, in which every gesture has already been decided, the Truth is reduced to universal and unchangeable formulae and research allowed only if done in one’s own head (like bad thoughts)...; we are not driven by the essentially liberating Gospel, but by details, applications and rules. This came home to me very clearly in the Order of the celebration of the Eucharist which was imposed upon us in 20054: I felt very angry and very humiliated. The Order and the way in which it was imposed eloquently expresses the relationships within the Church 5, especially the relationships between the Holy See and the young Churches. The missionary is torn between fidelity to the universal Church and fidelity to his vocation as animator a local Church which is in a process of growth.

The lack of freedom in the Church, the way in which decisions are taken for the universal church, the positions on Aids and sexuality in general, unity and diversity in the Church, the role of the local Churches, the forbidden inculturation (in the liturgy, in the formulation of the faith, in the law), double standards in the relationship with democracy and values (request for liberty or imposition of “Christian” values through the law, depending on whether it’s a minority or majority): these topics affect us all the time and we must always bend over backwards to say that yes, the Gospel has a liberating potential but we must be patient for the time being because the Church doesn’t see things yet and, anyway, the situation will surely change before too long... The imposition of one approach on the Church (in discipline, the liturgy, understanding and formulation of the truth...) may give an impression of unity and strength to the body as such, but many feel oppressed by narrowing horizons and feel that they are being suffocated6.

If I am allowed one further personal testimony, I must say that the distance between what I am ideally seeking and what I am actually doing appears to me only too often: when am celebrating the Eucha- rist, the sacraments, the prayers I am asked to say, in the formulae of faith I must propose and in the rules that govern the life of the community... I would like to be the promotor of a “catholic” Church, and I feel I am just a tool that is “used” for the spreading of a particular tradition of the entire Church.

The missionary’s position in the structure of the Church is another problematic aspect. We are stuck in the times of the institution of Propaganda Fide (the missionary congregations depend directly on the Holy See), whilst Vatican II rediscovered the primacy of the local Church (in which it is hard for us to find a place). The fact that some local Churches look upon us as an unpleasant necessity, rather than as a help, does not depend only on their narrow outlook , but also on our juridical and, therefore, relational estrangement.

TheGospel The depth of the crisis is very apparent when we see just how it affects the very source of vocation, namely, the Gospel itself, which we are supposed to be proclaiming with enthusiasm, but which is clothed in old garments that mask its true nature. The traditional presentation of the Gospel7 forces many of us into a painful defensive position, in which we must reconcile everything, bend over backwards to justify non-essential details and defend transient things as if they were a matter of faith... It is not only a matter of ideological distance; it is now a question of emotional, moral and global estrangement that forces the missionary and proclamation into a difficult situation.

The tensions originated by the Gospel As J.M. Vigil8 says : the old answers are no longer good enough. After a long epoch of great changes 188 Francesco Marini

(which began with humanism and ended with modernity) we have now reached a change of epoch. The re-proposition of the faith in medieval terms is neither tenable or, in more modest terms, it no longer convinces me.

Whence comes the difficulty? It is the result of a contrast between the inherited vision (which is not the object of critical thought, though it exerts a constant influence) and a new, different sensitivity. 1) The many and incompatible elements of the message risk nullifying the novelty of the Gospel. 2) The evangelical message still appears in pre-modern clothing: it is still read with a mythical mindset. 3) Tension between the Gospel with its riches and positive outlook and a pastoral service that is not only bureaucratic and excessively religious, but also objectively impenetrable and suspicious of everything that is human.

The problem of salvation The novelty of Vatican II on Christian salvation, the non-Christian religions and dialogue have pulled the carpet from under the missionary’s feet. Those novelties, however, can be the basis of a new inspiration, provided they are properly understood.

The missionary’s internal contradictions The constant difficulty of finding new bearings, with old instruments and facing hostile currents, especially affective problems.

II-Proposal

Thecontextofacurrentspirituality We must become aware of our weaknesses, from an ideological point of view (confusion, research...), a psychological point of view (fragility, egocentrism, we are motivated more by needs than by ideals; our very convictions are conditioned by our emotions) and a moral point of view. A spirituality in a “time of confusion” must: a) seek out what is essential (not to be found in the burdensome details that were handed on to us), b) point out processes/paths (instead of indoctrinating), c) give people a glimpse at, show them (instead of “demonstrating” or indoctrinating). External help is relative. Everyone can and must rediscover the Gospel and himself. This is not achieved through obtaining more information,but by a different interpretation of the data 9.In this process,there is a very small difference between authenticity and ever possible error,but we cannot avoid this risk.In any case,what we can and must always guarantee is honesty of method.

Spirituality that springs from the Gospel The new sensitivity implies a different perception of self, God and our relationship with God (in other words, a different perception of faith)10. In such a context, we can only speak of God:

Softly Because he is God and we are men and because it is difficult to understand something through interpretation; and any presumption is out of place. We must not attribute anything negative to him; but as to how he is in positive terms, we cannot even imagine. Even less can we explain human things beginning from him. Nevertheless, the image that Jesus gives us of God opens the way for us.

“in a Jesus-inspired manner” Mission has the same importance as faith: the fruit and the necessity of the mission is similar to those of faith, at whose service the mission is. Today we can save the mission if we become proud of the Gospel again11. We can do this if the Gospel appears in our mind and in our experience as the source of the highest expression of humanity 12. SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY – CHALLENGES FOR THE CHURCH AND THE MISSION 189

Everything depends on our image of God and how we present it. Not the patriarchal image of God in- sinuated by the serpent and the pre-comprehension of Genesis: the jealous and envious God who does not want man to acquire knowledge of good and evil, and even less that he should eat of the tree of life, so that he doesn’t “become one of us”; a God who places guards at the entrance to the garden of Eden to prevent man from entering; the God who defends his wisdom by showing his extreme power (Job), a God who loves the good and hates the evil and calls for the death of those who do not respect his laws... A God who is “Lord” (a projection of experience with earthly rulers?) and who can only have servants. He establishes everything in an arbitrary way. He intervenes if, when and how he wants (randomness of nature and history). This vision was taken for granted for centuries, but it is now unacceptable: both intellectually (the autonomy of nature and history) and morally (the God who distributes evil and who is biased in his dealings with people).

The God of Jesus does not compete with man; he helps man and defends his dignity as the creator of his autonomy, dignity and freedom 13; he does not want man to be servile, but free as a son; his success lies in man’s success and happiness; He neither needs nor wants man’s sacrifice, but mercy (his own and man’s)14; he does not impose laws “because he is the Lord” (and we his servants), but he shows us what is most helpful to us; he loves everyone and is not bizarre and partisan in his choices; we do not have to appease him or win his favor, avoid punishment or earn his benevolence; he “does not wait to be asked twice”, but gives us all he can, and will continue to do so, in Christ.

The God of Jesus is Father-Mother; he only gives good things. He does not ask us to follow a certain path or determined formulae to obtain them, and if someone does not agree, then “too bad for him”. An earthly father doesn’t behave like that, even less our heavenly Father!15

The God of Jesus is very powerful (so much so that he generates a creating creature, the free dependent being...) but very humble (he does not intervene occasionally to correct, complete). He respects fully, down to the last consequences, what he has created: the material creature and human freedom; even to the extent of leaving Jesus (and man) on the cross. Not because he wants the cross, but because he cannot but respect the history that we are constructing.

The God of Jesus “is not jealous” of his divine prerogatives: he becomes one of us to make us one of “them”, one of the Trinity (this seems to be the exact opposite of what is said in Genesis); he puts religion (the Sabbath) straight, making it serve man; he asks us to judge ourselves what is right; he frees us from the laws of eating, drinking, time16. Christ has freed us so that we might be free. Now nothing is forbidden even though, obviously, not everything does good (cf. 1Cor 10:23).

The God of Jesus is so much happier when man lives well. The only thing he asks of us (because it is the only thing that fully humanizes man) is to live as sons of the Father and brothers among ourselves. Nothing more and nothing less than this; this is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets: everything else comes from the evil one17.

Therefore:

The Christian faith is not the best way to eternal salvation; it is the proclamation that this salvation is assured for all and is the proposal to live up to its demands 18. Our faith is not a morality, a rite...; it creates, and is fulfilled by, a humanism 19. To love what is human, in all its manifestations: this is divine. The “defense of values” and truths, is a mistake. Or, at least, it can become so, unless it is an expression of evangelical attention to all that is human. Where there is love, there is God. Where there is no love, even if there is everything else, God is not there.

The Gospel does not lay down conditions for saving the soul. It is an indication of how to live fully, humanly, on the foundation of gratuitous love. It is its own reward. The Gospel is only “good news”. Other visions and versions of the Gospel humiliate God and humanity. The Gospel is that vision of God, life, the world, myself and a self-justifying experience on the sole grounds of its positive nature 190 Francesco Marini which imposes itself by virtue of its power of appeal.

Such a Gospel is beautiful, liberating and necessary for all; it can even ask for sacrifices; a faith such as this is not a burden, or a condition that one must fulfill in order to obtain something; rather, it is the place of our self-understanding, hope and a better way towards a greater humanity.

From our experience It is the conclusion of all that we have said so far. A vision of faith that cannot be shown through its visible fruits in personal life is an ideology and its spreading is mere propaganda. But it is precisely this need of “verification” that is one of the greatest challenges facing each and every one of us and the thing which torments me the most.

LivingthemissionintheChurch:how? From the “good news” that God is Father (“love” according to 1Jn 4:8), it follows that the Church is “catholic”, that is to say, universal. Christianity is qualitatively universal: it is not an ready-wrapped truth to be spread to all but, rather, “a universal receptacle of all truths”, whatever their origin. It does not set itself up as a body among the others, in competition with the others and better than the others, it is of another class altogether.

As missionaries we cannot be the protagonists of inculturation, but we must become its best support- ers. However, today we can speak sincerely of inculturation only in terms of regret (for the lost opportunities) and complaint (for the present situation): anything else would be hypocrisy. All we can do for the time being is accept this suffering while we try to change the situation and create a new one in the mission from which the Church is born.

Although recognizing the serious nature and the difficulties of this ecclesial situation, I believe that we must repeat what Nietzsche said, namely that when there is a great “why” (for us, the Gospel) many (ecclesial) questions, “the how”, can be resolved.

TheXaverianvocation:how? The elements of this spirituality are not discovered as the result of a demonstrative argument; rather, they are rediscovered at the theological (faith) root/source, centered on an understanding of the Gos- pel and great attention to the spiritual situation of our times.

- Consecration is not a sacrifice we make for the coming of the Kingdom; it is the appearance of the Kingdom in our lives.It is acceptable if it is the expression and way of a greater love.But if the quantity of renunciation required by consecration is superior to the quantity of love it generates, then it has already lost all justification.This means that the vows are instruments of liberty and a fuller life; a path to fullness and happiness21. But we must recognize that the more the understanding of the vows is exalted , the more we risk widening the gap between the ideal and reality. Wehave instead insisted that existential experience should confirm the ideal vision,otherwise it loses its intellectual and moral justification.

- It is not living together that makes the community, but the bond that unites everyone in the concrete journey towards a common goal. Today, this bond is something that is not a given fact but, above all, a process moving towards the rediscovery of the faith and the meaning of the mission. The community thus becomes a place of growth,humanity and support.

I believe that these two elements (the family and the mission) are the foundation of our identity and tradition: they are at the same time very Confortian. We can look to them for bringing our Xaverian identity up to date. SPEAKING OF GOD TODAY – CHALLENGES FOR THE CHURCH AND THE MISSION 191

Andspirituality? Perhaps all of this is already spirituality. Or perhaps It will begin to emerge when we have completed this journey. In any case, I believe that the answer to the problem of spirituality does not lie behind us, in an attempt to retrieve what used to be; it lies ahead of us, as something we must create with the inner fire that is the same one that burned in the heart of the Founder, who discovered love in his contemplation of the Crucifix. How can we unite mysticism and adult faith? Not with an even more powerful invasion of an inter- ventionist God in history and nature.The “movement of the Spirit”is not a special intrusion of God in our psychology; it is the divine aspect of our being and acting, its origin and intentionality. From a rational and scientific point of view,there is nothing new here; from the perspective of analysis/interpretation and, consequently, faith, everything is sacrament. Our personal and liturgical gestures become expression and stimulus for the encounter with the God of solidarity.

III-Conclusion Spirituality has become a problem because the maturity of persons has become problematic. This maturity calls for things that are too difficult to be taken for granted or easily accessible. The mission, in order to be lived in its human and Christian truth, calls for some great things: a Christian vision that is humanly defendable; a mystical tension that is capable of an affective concentration on the Gospel and the Kingdom of God; a great harmonic richness of ability and virtue. If these conditions are lacking, there is less chance of effective action and a successful life. In its ambivalence, my testimony is a sign of uncertainty and, I hope, of light, hope and dissatisfaction 22. If I dared to present it with all its inevitable limits, it is because I think that, although it is something personal, perhaps it is not unique. It is a sign that various Xaverians are living in view of a new comprehension and embodiment of our Xaverian identity; a form that stands before us, calling us, though it is still not clear.Might this not be a call; in other words,a vocation?

Notes:

1 An example of how this is expressed: “It was largely colonization and evangelization in tandem that brought and propagated the western understanding of Jesus in Asia. Not only was it foreign to Asia, it was also an understanding which was polemical against non-Christian religions, disrespectful of indigenous cultures and insensitive to the injustices which colonialism brought about”(J. M.de Mesa,Making Salvation Concrete and Jesus Real.Trends in Asian Christology,www.sedos.org). 2 The profile of Fr.S.Calza is a clear example of that sensitivity; cf.also the analysis of A.J.Gittins,Missionary Myth Making. 3 Peter Phan (Crossing the Borders. A spirituality for Mission in Our Times from an Asian Perspective) clearly explains what this would entail: “In terms of evangelization, with kenotic spirituality missionaries cross over borders less with the attitude of givers than of receivers. They do not go into the mission lands with an advanced technology to modernize the underdeveloped, with a superior culture to civilize the barbarians,with a true religion to wipe out superstitions,with a set of revealed truths to teach the unen- lightened.As Anthony Gittins has pointed out,they come primarily as strangers and as guests.As strangers,they will be perceived by the hosts as “foreign”,“abnormal”,“alien”,“odd”,“strange”.As guests,they must depend on the generosity and kindness of the hosts, respect and follow the rules and customs of the new environment, and may change the ways of life of the place only if asked or allowed. Furthermore, in many cases missionaries are not invited guests, they just invite themselves or even force their way into the hosts’ countries. This makes their condition of stranger and guest even more pronounced and precarious”....“In this respect, perhaps the virtues that were extolled in the past as requisites of a successful missionary such as independence,self-reliance,risk-taking, and creativity might no longer be appropriate,at least during the phase of incorporation into the local community,and must be replaced by willingness to give up, self-control, vulnerability, interdependence, deference, and conformity. Of course, as etiquette demands, the missionary as guest must also bring some gifts of his or her own, not to “repay” the host but to “return” the host’s gra- ciousness. Consequently, the missionary must bear witness to Jesus Christ and present God’s gift of faith. But gifts are offered in gratitude and humility; they should never be imposed on the host”(From www.sedos.org). 4 The reference is to the final edition of the Indonesian Missal. 5 cf.O.H.Pesch,La terza epoca della storia della chiesa,in Regno-attualità,20/2005,705-13.Shortly before the 2001 Consistory,Car- dinal A. Lorscheider said: “The Pope is a prisoner of those who surround him and who separate him from the Church on the ground. ... we endure a bureaucracy that is distant and increasingly deaf”(SdT,n. 177, 29), a bureaucracy that even tends to exploit the Pope... 6 Especially those who experienced the climate of hope,openness and pride...of the times of Vatican II. 7 A pre-Conciliar interpretation that is making a comeback and which finds its highest and most complete expression in Anselm’s theory of redemption,complete with an image of God,man and salvation. 8 SdT,n.176,295-302 9 “But the faith of adult persons too remains alive only if it penetrates the existential experiences that are never concluded, if it survives the test of crisis and recovers from real trauma.This happens when a person personally appropriates the vital contents of the 192 Francesco Marini

faith, enabling him to face the questions posed from within and without; such a person becomes ever more familiar with the mystery that sustains him”(Vescovi Tedeschi,La catechesi un un tempo mutato,Regno-doc.,5/2005,p.176). 10 A new pre-comprehension concerning what we could call, in negative terms, individualism and, in positive terms, personalization: The reference of the mission and the Gospel to the thinking and judging person is unsurpassable.From an intellectual point of view: there is no acceptance of truth without judgment or an assessment of credibility. From an existential point of view: there is no true, authentic acceptance of a value unless we are in tune with the value. “Proclamation as «proposing» - that is to say, the frank and committed witness of faith in modern society – must concentrate on what is essential and clarify the relationship with the heart of the message. We must answer these two questions: «Why is it a good thing that there are Christians in this society?» - and on a personal level: «What does it mean for my life – and my death – that I accept and live the Christian faith?».Therefore today the basic task of fundamental theology is also the basic demand of a fundamental catechesis: to be able to sustain the discourse and the response starting with the hope that fulfils us completely; we need to be elementary in transmitting the faith....A catechesis oriented in a missionary way is characterized above all by the greater importance it gives to the personal dimension” (Vescovi Tedeschi, La catechesi...,p.174.5). 11 Every vocation has a close relationship with the Gospel,but perhaps none like the missionary’s vocation needs this relationship,because the missionary vocation is nothing other than service to the Gospel. 12 “The Christian message is just one among many offers of a meaningful and completely fulfilled life; the Christian faith is an offer that must demonstrate its own plausibility in the context of a wide variety of similar offers”(The German bishops,La catechesi in un tempo mutato,Regno-documenti,5/2005,174). 13 The reverse of Feuerbach’s formula and the serpent of Genesis. 14 Sacrifice is something that we do for God; mercy is what God does for us.Wehave no need to offer sacrifices in order that God might show us mercy: he loved/loves us when we were/are sinners. His love converts us; we do not convert so that he might turn benevo- lently towards us. 15 The message of Jesus is superior not because it establishes a better bureaucracy in order to obtain favors from God, but because it eliminates all bureaucracy.It is not necessary to follow a certain procedure in order to obtain a benevolent God,because he is already benevolent beforehand,without conditions.All we have to do is recognize this and live accordingly. 16 “Don’t take,don’t taste,don’t touch this,that...»: all this was just a pale reflection”(Col 2:16-23). 17 The God of Jesus is obscured by a) the traditional explanations of Jesus’ death (in the version of Anselm), b) the understanding of human sacrifices as a means of sanctification or expiation of sin, c) in the understanding of God as one who sends evil (he could avoid it if he wanted to,but he doesn’t).Werecognize ourselves in that image of God that Jesus gives us,not in the one we find in the tribal,patriarchal and national stages...of Israel’s history.The Old Testament s rightly a part of the Canon.It is necessary,but so that it can support,not correct,the New Testament. 18 cf.Rom 8:29-30. 19 Not only “existentialism is a humanism”; the Christian faith is too,and even more so. 20 Wemust therefore present the Gospel exclusively centered on the essential elements that are coherent with the God of Jesus.Wecan no longer demand an “integral”presentation of the Gospel and the acceptance of all the historical legacy of the Church (which also includes moral shortcomings and distorted ideals; already visible in the New testament). 21 cf.T.Radcliffe in an interview in Vita Consacrata,42,2006/2,179-185 . 22 I must confess that I have not reached those conditions that I consider to be necessary for a good proclamation.The joy of living according to the Gospel is obscured by restrictions and renunciations (which sometimes seem unnecessary) connected with the Gos- pel itself (or with our narrow interpretation of it?). CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL MESSAGE

Closing group work: developments, challenges and proposals Final message

DEVELOPMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS 195

DEVELOPMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS

Closing group work

I-Developments Though it is by no means exhaustive, the first section contains the reflections that the participants consider to be important.

Thespiritualman - Man needs a unifying center to his life which gives meaning to everything and holds everything together.Spirituality can be this unifying,concise and decisive center,from the perspective of human maturity and Charismatic plenitude. (The two elements are not in contrast with each other). - The adult man is one who finds his identity in openness to the other in a fruitful relationship and dialogue,overcoming self-absorption (in which the individual remains at an infantile,self-gratifying and narcissistic level, a slave to his image and success) to achieve total openness to the Other, to the Mystery. - The spiritual man is one who allows himself to be guided by the Spirit in order to live his life in the light of God’s primacy (Faith) and His grace, discovering that it is God first and foremost who seeks man. It is not a question of multiplying experiences of God, but of discovering that it is God who desires to experience man. Consequently, life in the Spirit is essentially listening, obedience and docility. - Allowing ourselves to be guided by the Spirit frees us from the need to put ourselves at the center of everything (show of great efficiency,moralism,self-promotion). - The Spirit always refers us back to Christ in the search for his Face and, through him, in the search for the Father’s Face and the brother in every man. The Spirit “reminds”us of the Word, revealing its meaning in today’s life in order to make us disciples and keep us faithful in discipleship.

Thecharism - A charism is a gift of the Spirit and it must always refer to the Spirit. - In the consecrated life,we hand ourselves over to God in the Institute forwhateverGodwillsforus. - The Charism is the name God has given me,my identity and our identity.The Charism is given for theedificationoftheChurchandthereforerefersbacktothemission. - The Spirit acts through historical mediations (persons, institutions, events) that are not just mere tools,but the consequence of the fundamental choice of the incarnation.

Concretely - Spirituality is not something that affects only a particular moment of the day; it influences our entire life and all its dimensions. - Spirituality is a giftof grace,but it is also an ascetic journey in which we learn towelcome Life in the Spirit every day. Listening becomes understanding through obedience rather than as the result of many experiences. - The Consecrated Life must be a never-ending conversion and confession of faith (as individuals and communities); an eloquent witness to the primacy of God and Christ’s Gospel. The Consecrated Life must always give priority to the gift of our life to God,for Christ and for the Gospel,over works. - We consecrate ourselves to God in concrete historical circumstances: in this world, in the Church (in this Church), in a Congregation (for a mission and a specific Charism) and in a community (with these brothers I did not choose, and not any others). 196 Closing group work

- The Founder is the concrete instrument through which God grants us the gift of vocation and a specific key for interpreting the Gospel.

St.FrancisXavierandConforti The Meeting gave us an opportunity to rediscover St. Francis Xavier and Conforti as models and inspirers of missionary zeal and as witnesses to a profound spiritual life. It became almost spontaneously clear to us why St. Francis Xavier was offered to us as “model and patron” (C 2) and we grew in the perception of Conforti’s role as the inspirer, father, teacher and guide of our identity and Spiritu- ality.

We emphasize the following aspects of these two figures: -Theirencounter with the Face of Christ (The smiling Christ of the Castillo de Javier; the crucifix in the “Chiesa della Pace”,Parma) as the founding experience. Their missionary zeal is born of the discovery of the personal and universal dimensions of Christ’s love. Conforti based his entire life on this creative intuition. - As the foundation and source to which they always referred, this love gave them the desire to ad- here and conform to Christ and a greater human capacity for love. - In line with Ignatian Spirituality above all, and with the spiritual tools of their time, God became the First and the Only One for both of them and His will was the exclusive criterion of their decisions. This exclusive option grew stronger, nourished by a constant and intense prayer. Especially strong was their reference to the Word and the Eucharist. - Their total trust in God helped them to interpret failure and sustained their ability to “start over again”everytime.

Their human richness: a regular spiritual life; the need for relationships, especially with the brothers; capacity for affection and human contact; endurance in times of difficulty; a dynamic equilibrium. As far as the Founder is concerned, we were struck by the assertion that his spiritual journey coincided with his fundamental contribution to the Institute. His entire life was marked by fidelity to the missionary vocationthat he handed onintact to his Institute.

We joyfully observed how the Founder is also loved in the new contexts in which his Charism is spreading and we felt the need for tools that might help all toknow him better.

In measuring ourselves against St. Francis Xavier and Conforti, we realized that the mission must be the fruit of a powerful founding experience for each one ofus too. - Such an experience cannot be anything other than a personal and profound encounter with Christ (cf.RMX15; 25). - Through our witness as missionaries, we propose to others the experience of our own encounter with Christ (cf.RMX55.1). - Christ is the model we must follow and our sole criterion of judgment. Wemust embrace and embody his attitudes,sentiments,lifestyle and missionary options, etc.( cf.C.3;RMX25.1)

Xaverian history The Meeting also dwelt upon two periods of Xaverian history: the one immediately after the Founder’s death, and the long difficult process which, beginning from Vatican II, led to the elaboration of the new Constitutions.

Immediately after the Founder’s death, the Congregation experienced a period of difficulty connected with the character of some individuals and visions of formation that diverged from those of the Founder. In spite of the suffering, however, the Congregation managed to remain united and faithful to the Charism.

The 1983 Constitutions have a special importance for us. They hand on to us today Conforti’s intu- DEVELOPMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS 197 ition and options. The Meeting discovered their fundamental fidelity to the Charism and the characteristics of the Xaverian family. However, this fidelity is not a mere repetition, but an updating for the present timesin accordance with what the Second Vatican Council asked of the Congregation.

In the new Constitutions and in the documents that completed them (RFX, RMX and Directories), there are some elements of novelty which, though they are not alien to the Founder, now take on a new importance. On the basis of the theological, ecclesiological and missiological vision of Vatican II and the 1983Constitutions, the following are some examples of these novelties: - Greater importance is given to the Word of God; - Emphasis on the community dimension of the Consecrated Life and the Mission; - A new articulation of the government of the Congregation; - A relationship with the local Church that is necessarily different from the one that the Founder had. This relationship today demands that we live the Spirituality of the servant rather than the spirituality of the master.

The Constitutions are a bond and guidance for each one of us and they are a point of reference and unity for our family. The participants at the Meeting reasserted their importance, together with the other documents that complete them(RFX and RMX).

“May he be known and loved by all...”: speaking of God today. The last interventions at the Meeting reminded us that our Congregation exists so that God might continue to be announced today in a world that is marked by new visions and experiences, and which seems to want nothing to do with Him. This opens up an enormous field for future reflection. However, it is already clear to us that we can only announce God today by speaking of Him discretely, telling the story of the path that God himself chose to tell his own story, namely the love of Christ even until death on the cross. This story can be told mainly through witness, in other words, the extent to which our life clearly shows that the “good news”has touched us and filled us with a greater love.

II -CHALLENGES

PassingontheMeeting - Share with the confreres, in an empathic manner, the rich experience of the Meeting, and the necessity of rediscovering the Founder and his heritage, in order to reawaken interest in Xaverian Spirituality whilst avoiding saturation and rejection.

Challengesatpersonallevel - Put into practice and concretize all that we discovered as important (instruments and moments of prayer, use of time …). This calls for a never-ending conversion that will give us the inner freedom to start over again from paralyzing situations, and ongoing formation in order to grow daily in the dimensions of our Spirituality.

Challengesatcommunitylevel - How to pass on to the community the conviction that Consecration to the mission bestows fullness of meaning,that it should be lived in a community manner and that it is sustained by the interior life? - The spiritual dimension of community life so that our communities may become places in which we share our faith, ideals, experiences, joys, successes, failures …, support for the confreres and a source of help in living out the choices we have made. - Tolive the same Charism in international communities where the charismatic communion is not automatic,but calls for a strong spiritual tension. 198 Closing group work

ChallengesatCongregationlevel - The most emphasized challenge is internationalization,an asset that is not without problems.

Challengesatmissionlevel - The relationship between missionaries and the local Church at a time in which we are becoming less indispensable. - How to speak of God and ourselves (our Charism) today in an inculturated manner in a world that is undergoing radical changes? Dialogue with the people’s culture,religion,life and sensitivity on the basis of a profound Spirituality. Weneed a new language in which to speak about God. - Move away from a mission understood in an individualistic manner, mindful of The Founder’s Constitutions and the community vision of the 1983 Constitutions. - How to assimilate a “weak mission”(that adopts “modest means”), the experience of solitude and the precariousness of always being guests and foreigners in our missions? The inevitable difficulties of missionary life strip away our securities so that we may trust in God alone.

III-PROPOSALS

Proposalsatalllevels:

Passing on the contents and the spirit of the Meeting - The participants at the Meeting must become animators in the circumscriptions and communities,with a view to promoting interest in these topics. - The assemblies, monthly retreats, spiritual exercises and other initiatives in the circumscriptions must follow the topics of the Meeting. - The General Direction should become the animator of the topics that challenge Spirituality in the renewed aspects of the mission; it should also prepare some instruments to promote the knowledge of the Meeting (a broad résumé of 15-20 pages; publication of the Acts; translation of some contributions).An “instrumentum laboris”should be prepared in view of the General Chapter.

Knowing the Founder, our history and Xaverian documents - A better knowledge of the Founder, the Congregation’s history (life of the confreres) and Xaverian documents (Testament Letter, Fundamental Rule, RFX,RMX…)preparing persons and promoting biographies, translations, material for practical use... This will help us to live out our identity, understand the charism better and work together.A particular emphasis was placed on the importance of knowing the Constitutions.

Rediscover Xaverian spirituality in ongoing formation.

Proposalsatpersonallevel - Spiritual aggiornamento: Personal Life Project; give time to God; the habit of reflection; daily study of the Word of God (faithfully prayed in the Liturgy of the Hours and celebrated in the Eu- charist); take advantage of the counsel of wise people and a Spiritual Director. - Corporeality of Spirituality: revalue times of rest for a harmonious life.

Proposalsatcommunitylevel - A Community Life Project that includes the contemplative dimension (normal instruments of DEVELOPMENTS, CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS 199

Xaverian prayer), the community dimension (interpersonal relationships) and the apostolic dimension. - The (weekly) Community Meeting as the place for sharing, discernment and fraternal correction (in the sense of cum-regere).Space could also be given to Xaverian Documents in this meeting. - Greater attention to the Lectio Divina not only as a preparation of the homily.

ProposalsatCircumscriptionlevel - A deeper study of mission topics and a serious preparation to the mission (not reduced to the study of the language).We should be faithful to the Charism but also creative in the context in which we find ourselves, for example setting up groups to study the mission, comparing our Xaverian Spirituality with the challenges that come from the local and continental contexts, thereby promoting dialogue with the cultures and the encounter with the positive ‘charism’of every people.

Proposalsatgenerallevel - In promoting the knowledge and the study of the Founder,a special role can be given to the Centro Studi Confortiano Saveriano (CSCS): a series of CSCS studies could be established (small collec- tions or historical studies; studies on Xaverian Spirituality; thematic comments on the Constitu- tions, RMX, RFX; studies on Conforti by the confreres); a booklet containing typical Xaverian and Confortian prayers; an in-depth study of post-Conforti period and, more generally, of Xaverian history; distribution of the scientific biography and the Confortian anthology… - Internationality is a problem that needs to be dealt with: facilitate the access of non-Italian confreres to the Congregation’s documents and the study of Conforti; translations… - Clarify the specific identity of the consecrated priests and the consecrated lay people. Substitute the addresses of the ‘Xaverian Fathers ’with ‘Xaverian Missionaries’. - Promote the communication of the confreres’experiences in iSaveriani. - Other similar Meetings are proposed,especially on missionary topics. - Complete the RFX in what pertains to ongoing formation.

FINAL MESSAGE 201

FINAL MESSAGE

On the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis Xavier, our patron and model, on the 75th Anni- versary of the death of Blessed Guido Mario Conforti, and 26 years after the Pamplona Conference, which marked the beginning of the rediscovery of the figure of our Founder, we gathered here in Tavernerio, from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe to reflect together on Xaverian Spirituality. And, like a river flowing in the valley of our multiple apostolic activities, we look up to the source of that river to find inspiration, energy and new vitality.

Gatheredasbrothers... In an atmosphere of Xaverian fraternity which, “by far surpasses all natural affections” we listened to;

- Father Ignatius Echarte, a Jesuit, who spoke to us about the spirit that moved St. Francis Xavier, his rich humanity, his zeal supported by a unshakable trust born out of his encounter with Christ in the experience of the Spiritual exercises, his sense of belonging to the Company of Jesus, his untiring and courageous,but also prudent and wise,apostolic work. - Fr. Luigi Guccini, Dehonian, and. Fr. Amedeo Cencini, Canossian, who helped us to better understand the theological meaning and the psychological implications of Spirituality. We understood that this was described as life according to the Holy Spirit, work of God’s grace, lived within our concrete human identity,both as individuals and as a community,as an incarnation and actualization of the Charism of our religious family; - Don Angelo Manfredi of the Diocese of Lodi, who helped us better see and understand our Founder,situating him in the complex context of his time and leading us to discover the not so well known aspects of his rich humanity and his spiritual journey. - Various confreres guided us in a keen and deep analysis of the spiritual experience of the Founder, of his TestamentLetter,his constitutions and also the first years of the Congregation after his death. This also included a look at the journey of aggiornamento since the Second Vatican Council (new Constitutions,Ratio Formationis and Ratio Missionis).

Acting upon these suggestions and taking the lead from the human events of the Founder’s life and his original intention we reflected, discussed and deepened our identity and our spirituality.

...weencounteredtheFounder... In all this work of research which we carried out together, we had the joy of seeing, somehow, the clear and loving countenance of our Father and Founder appear before our eyes, of feeling fascinated by him, of understanding better our charism, to see with him the dream, that dream he saw in his contemplation of Christ Crucified. We rediscovered and felt the Founder close to us as a Father who has given us life as Xaverians, but also as the Teacher who guides our daily commitment to live out this Xaverian identity. We also understood and felt that his original experience of Christ must become our experience, that his passion to make Christ known by all must nourish our passion, that his way of being faithful to his calling to the end must inspire and nourish our fidelity day after day.

We hold with particular affection not only his Testament Letter and the Constitutions he left to us, but all the rich treasure of his spiritual experience offered to us by his example and his teaching.

Unanimously, we found his spirit in the new constitutions together with his ideal and his indications on how we can be “missionaries” also today. And we had discovered that fidelity to these constitutions is the privileged means to live intensely that family spirit that he strongly recommended and 202 Closing group work gave authoritative indications in order that we may be authentic Xaverians today. This “spirit” we find also in the Ratio Formationis and the Ratio Missionis.

...tofacenewchallenges. Listening the presentations of some other confreres we perceived that our journey moves on today on a path in new and uncharted lands towards new cultural and historical situations. We face new challenges. How can we “say God today?” How can we announce the Gospel, “the good news of Christ today?” What can we do, today, so that “our Lord Jesus be know and loved by all” (as our Founder used to write at the beginning of all his letters) in the small villages of the countryside and in the suburbs of the great cities of Asia, Africa, America, and Europe? What paths should we follow? What methods should we use? - to be able say God as an eternal gift of himself who in Christ enters human history and transmits it by our witness. - to announce, with our life, the Gospel in all its original and liberating truth. These have been suggestions that spurred us to search with love the signs of the time.

During this search we felt as an inspiration and encouragement the figure of the Founder who had a serene and harmonious personality, who was himself deeply involved in the service of the Church and World as a disciple of Christ, matured at the school of the Cross and there had become an apostle. He had “a spirit of living faith, an unshakable hope, an intense love for our religious family.” He teaches us to restart again, continuously, after each trial.

Christ is present also today in our midst with the gesture of the Cross through the Eucharist. From here Christ Crucified speaks again today to each of us and “shows us the world” “with its joys and its hopes, with the anguish of men and women of today, above all of the poor and those who suffer.”

And during these days of dramatic events that threaten and shake the peace of the world, our attention and our prayers were turned to the tragic events of the war, bleeding the Middle East as well as the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo which offers us hope for a peaceful solution to the tragic events in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

Grateful... Gathered together here at Tavernerio in these days of grace we experienced of the fraternity and Xaverian joy which we lived in the light of the self giving love of St. Francis Xavier and Blessed Guido Conforti. And it is this experience, this grace, that we want to share with all our confreres scattered all over the world.

All together we wish to thank God for the gift of having gathered here, for the gift of being Xaverians, for the gift we received through the example of the Saint of Xavier and Blessed Guido, for the gifts of the spirit which we received through our constitutions, the Ratio Formationis, and the Ratio Mis- sionis, for the gift of this conference, for the gift of so many brothers who are for each one of us the “hundredth fold promised by Christ to his Apostles.”

A very special word of thanks to the confreres of the General Direction who promoted and prepared this conference, to them we ask that the concrete proposals that emerged be sent to all. And we also thank the brothers of the house of Tavernerio for their generous welcome and hospitality which contributed so much to make these days beautiful days.

...wepray And we pray, making ours the very words and “supreme desire” of our Father and Founder:

God, Creator and Father of us all, you have chosen Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, a faithful disciple of FINAL MESSAGE 203 your crucified Son as apostle to the peoples of the whole world. Grant us, his sons, the ability to fulfil his dream. Hear his ardent plea. Give us a spirit of living faith, a spirit of prompt, and generous obedience, a spirit of intense love for our religious family, so that we may bring our humble contribution to the fulfil- ment of Christ’s invitation addressed to all humanity that all the peoples of the earth may become in Him one family. We ask you this through your Son crucified and risen who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Tavernerio, on the solemnity of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary , August 15, 2006

TheparticipantsattheConference

Benzoni Rino Flores O.Juan Antonio Robledo Sánchez J.Gpe. Raschietti Stefano Menegazzo Luigi Gallia Mario Lazzarini Giancarlo Roia Martino Romano Salvador García Fernando Ceresoli Alfiero Rubianto Solichin Vitus Anzalone Luigi Germano Antonio Luca Augusto Serrano Insausti Antonio Bacibone Deogratias Giannattasio Rosario Macías Sapién Rubén A. Sottocornola Franco Bortoloci Jão Filho Godínez Uribe Samuel Marini Francesco Tavera Giuseppe Camera Guglielmo Katindi Ramazani Marques da S. Roberto C. Tosolini Tiziano Montanaro Dario La Nike Joanes Coperchio Gildo Turco Faustino Musafiri Joseph Lazzarini Piero Ferrari Gabriele Zanoletti Ulisse Olvera Servin Juan Loda Mario Ferro Ermanno Zon Pereira Adolfo Puopolo Rocco Zucchinelli Luigi