IÀs½-e-k-tµiw No: 241 March 2019 IÀs½ektμiw No. 241 am¿®v 2019 CONTENTS Editorial 3 Prior General’s Message 5 Prior General’s Circular No.28 CMI General Plenary Assembly 2019 10 Plenary- Prior General’s Address 62 Prior General’s Circular No.29 CMI Constitution Reatreat 2019 67 CMI Constitution Reatreat 2019 Schedule 73 Prior Generals and Teams 76 From CMI Archives 82 Anusmridhi 104 Ipcniv Cutim kvt\ln-®Xv Rm≥ t]-Sn®Xv 111 t\mºns‚ t\mhv 116 ssZhw F√m kabhpw \√-h-\mWv 121 `mc-X-∏pg IS∂ ae-_m¿ k`-tbm-sSmØv kn.-Fw.-sF.k`bpw 124 Philippines An Experience 133 National Seminar on Evangelization 138 IS-ep≠n sk‚ v t]mƒkv B{ia hm¿Ø-Iƒ 157 News & Views 160 I¿Ωebnse kuK‘nI߃ 196 I¿sΩektμiw Reflections on the Constitutions and Lenten Renewal The current issue, March 2019, of Carmelasandesam, visits you during the sacred season of Lent, a time for renewal and repentance. It takes us to the core of our faith, the mysteries in the life of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Saviour, around which our faith is rooted. This issue also presents to us the thoughts and reflections of our members who participated in the Plenary Assembly 2019 and the inputs of the invited thought leaders and speakers, in summary form. Another great context of this issue is the revisit to our Sacred Constitutions, in the light of ensuing Constitution Retreat, which we are planning to have this year, across our Provinces. In other words, we are looking back in order to leap forward! The yester years and the roots from which our congregation sprouted and flourished in the last two centuries impel and compel us to gain strength and courage to spring forward. It is to respond to the call of the Lord in today’s context and to be prepared in anticipation for the unknown but hopeful future. To help us in the process of revisit and renewal, some documents March 2019; No. 241 3 I¿sΩektμiw from the past are reproduced to help us have a pilgrimage to the past and to illuminate the memory lane. We are living surrounded by a generation which is trying to pull down and shape religious life into a new mould of their own liking or even disband it, and to which a few from among us are contributing through own frustrations and failures. The media circus around the recent scandals within the church and the residues or the layers of criticisms and the bared underbelly of a great institution on which the enemies of the church danced in a murderous frenzy or danse macabre, are still in our mind. It calls for us to remove any doubt in the mind of the people about religious life, and if at all we are wearing any mask, to remove it. Religious life has its own elan, vigour and verve, challenges and witnessing value. The market caricatures of it are not its real face. Its many facets are often hidden and submerged. For the real face of it we have to look at Christ, the saints who lived it, especially the founders who envisioned it for our context, and get into the shoes of all who tried to wrap it in the form of our Constitution. That will provide us with the insights, confidence and openness to further perfect it and make it livable in our context. Wishing you all the blessings of Easter, Fr Sebastian Thekkedathu CMI General Councilor for Education and Media 4 March 2019; No. 241 I¿sΩektμiw “Christianity is not a collection of truths to be believed, of rules to be followed, or of prohibitions. Seen that way Christianity puts us off. Christianity is a person who loved me immensely, who demands and asks for my love. Christianity is Christ.”(Oscar Romero) Pope Francis, in the opening ceremony of World Youth Day in Panama, stated, “Wherever we may be and whatever we may do, we can always look up and say, Lord, teach me to love as you have loved us”. He wanted the entire gathering to repeat with him the same prayer, Lord, teach me to love as you have loved us”. We have been called to religious life with the same mission to love, perfectae caritatis (Vatican II). That is the final question to Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15). Everything even the so called holy – gift of tongues, prophecy, prayer or liturgy, the contribution to the poor becomes another lifeless ritual when it is cut off from love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) That is what our beloved founder taught us “Above all, learn the art of loving Jesus Christ.” (Letter 1870) Jesus is very clear in his categorical utterance, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”. (John 13:35) Pollution is a reality today not only in the external environment but also of the religious circles. Those who sow the seeds of division March 2019; No. 241 5 I¿sΩektμiw and exclusion in the community as self-proclaimed agents of religion and worship are polluting the ambience within the religion today. Such people are referred to when it says, “They polluted the name of their God.” (Ezek. 36:20) They foster a tendency to exclude those who are not ‘like us’ and such fanatic groups in religion are the tragedy of the present times. Seeing such tendencies within the Church, Pope Francis advocated a culture of encounter and he reiterated encountering one another does not mean having to look alike, or think the same way or do the same things, listening to the same music or wearing the same football jersey. It is evident in the conversation of Jesus with the apostles, John said, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” Jesus said, “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. ”For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. (Mark 9:38-40) For Pope Francis, the culture of encounter is a call inviting us to dare to keep alive a shared dream – a dream that has a place for everyone, a dream named Jesus, sown by the Father in the confidence that it would grow and live in every heart. A dream running through our veins, thrilling our hearts and making them dance whenever we hear the command: “that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34) It is the same command even from our beloved founder St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, “First of all, be charitable to each other.” (Testament of a loving father). “However numerous the monasteries be, all must be like the members of one family, children born to, nursed and brought up by the same mother. Never let this love weaken, but let it grow stronger from day to day.” (Letter, August 1870). We are a privileged community called to live the Dream: the Dream named Jesus. Such dreamers move from scarcity to abundance through sharing and they experience the joy of contentment 6 March 2019; No. 241 I¿sΩektμiw and for them, God alone matters. Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” (John 14:8) “Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices” (Teresa of Avila). And for St. Therese of Lisieux, “Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our father’s love - difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul’s miseries, her burdens, her needs - everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God’s gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events - to the heart that loves, all is well.” After encountering Jesus and taking in his arms, Simeon states, “now let me depart.” (Luke 2:29).) He is not looking for anything else or he is not asking or wanting for something more. God is enough for him. In God he finds the ultimate meaning of his life. Citing the example of Simeon, Pope Francis says that this is the vision of consecrated life, a prophetic vision to keep the Lord before our eyes and between our hands, and not to serve anything else. He is our life, he is our hope and he is our future. Consecrated life has a powerful message that God is present in the world; God is enough, and the rest passes away. For them life becomes a continuous praise from the heart despite all the challenges. We find such a model in Prophetess Anna. She was a woman of great age, who had lived for many years as a widow but was not gloomy, nostalgic or withdrawn into herself. On the contrary, she arises; she praises God and speaks only of him. “She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:37-38) When our scholastics in Rishikesh visit Hindu Ashrams, they used to confront the question to share their God experience. For a Christian God experience is love experience. ”Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.