March 19, 2001

     Feast of St. Joseph

 In this our year of jubilee I feel the spontaneous desire to focus on our Institute, to recall that charism with which it was born, the spirit Blessed Allamano bequeathed to us, our make-up and those characteristics which have distinguished us from the very beginning. I will not limit my reflections to historical research. Our task is to keep alive the return to those roots from which our life and energy derive; we must cultivate that dynamic faith which is “capable of bringing to today’s life and mission … the fervor inspired by the Holy Spirit which overwhelmed the founders” (Religiosi e Promozione umana, 30). I think that this year, the hundredth anniversary of our founding, is an especially appropriate occasion to reflect on these things. Our Founder urged us to see jubilees and anniversaries as occasions to “lift our spirit and bring it back to its original fervor” (SL 216) because they recall “the great love God has for us, and the immense gifts He bestows upon us” (SL 217); finally these occasions “revive our faith and our charity … they spur us on to holiness, and to renewal in the spirit,” (SL 217)).

 Meaning of the Term

 We frequently call the Institute a “family,” and I do not think this usage inappropriate. If every family is born of love, we can certainly say that the Institute Blessed Allamano founded in 1901, was the result of love. It was his inmost conviction that the Institute was and should always remain a “family,” if it were to maintain its identity. We are all familiar with those expressions he used that emphasized this conviction, this teaching: “The Institute isn't a boarding school; it's not even a seminary. It's a family. You're all brothers. You must live together and prepare yourselves together in order to be able to work together the rest of your lives. In the Institute we must form one unit, only one dough". (SL 340); “How beautiful it is to be together, not like statues in a museum, nor like prisoners in a cell, but as brothers in one house, forming only one family". (SL 340)

 The belief that the Institute is necessarily a “family” is rooted in the Gospel itself, the Magna Carta of every Religious Institute. The Gospel tells us that whenever a group of disciples gathers around Jesus and in His name, a family is born. This nucleus of brothers has all the marks of a family – even if these marks are theological. As they are called by Christ, they form with Him a single thing (cf. Mt. 18, 20); the presence of the Risen Lord will never forsake them (cf. Mt 28, 20); it is not flesh or blood that have made them into a community – but the Will of God (cf. Jn 1, 12-13); they are of one heart and of one soul (cf. Ac 4, 32-35). The Gospels refer to the disciples of Jesus as a human family: “Behold, these are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the Will of God, he is my brother, my sister and my mother” (Mk 3, 34-35). 

 Church documents on the consecrated life are unanimous in their presentation of the religious community as a “family.” From the Council Decree, Perfectae Caritatis (PC) where we read: “A community gathered together as a true family in the Lord’s name enjoys his presence through the love of God which is poured into their hearts by the Holy Spirit”(15) to the most recent document, Congregavit nos in unum, which holds up the Holy Family of Nazareth as an example to religious communities: “The Mother of the Lord will help configure religious communities to the model of "her" family, the Family of Nazareth, a place which religious communities ought often to visit spiritually, because there the Gospel of communion and fraternity was lived in a wonderful way.” (18) 

 Family Values

 The Gospel, the Magisterium, the charism of our Founder – all these things draw our attention to certain elements which are constant in the Institute when it is considered and lived as an authentic family.

- Love is the foundation of the Institute and the soul which gives life to the relationships of its members. As in a human family so too in a religious community love is expressed in a variety of ways and adapts itself to a variety of very different situations. It can never be taken for granted, but must be constantly re-created, renewed and refined. The very structures of the institute must be subjected to the law of love, they must be directed to the same goal: to foster a family spirit.

- As in a family so too in the Institute, we hold all our possessions in common. This sharing of possessions can assume a variety of forms and expressions: to hold our spiritual possessions in common as well as our material ones, to feel a responsibility to work for the sake of the community, to cultivate trust in Providence, to be open to sharing whatever we are given with the very poor. The ideal of every religious community remains the Jerusalem community described in the Acts of the Apostles – their sharing of possessions was only the outward expression of a much deeper unity.

- Just as a human family is made up of a heterogeneous group of people, so too is the Institute. People differ not just in age, but in culture, race and background – these are valuable elements that make them who they are. Unlike human families mutual acceptance of very different people is not natural and spontaneous, but rather the result of a continuous effort on the part of everyone involved. It is precisely this which makes our witness sublime and worthwhile: as missionaries before proclaiming the Gospel by word, we must proclaim it with our lives. This unity of brothers so very diverse generates Christ and imparts Him to others.

- The human family is the natural environment for teaching values,; in the family one is developed and rounded out as a person. A religious family performs this same function vis-à-vis its members; it is the most favorable place to impart basic and on-going, permanent formation. “It must always be remembered that, for religious men and women, fulfillment comes through their communities. One who tries to live an independent life, detached from community, has surely not taken the secure path to the perfection of his or her own state.” (Congregavit, 25).

 - Another important component of family life is communication; it must be

continuous and spontaneous to the extent that everything becomes the subject of common interest. The document cited above, Congregavit, has this to say: “In order to become brothers and sisters, it is necessary to know one another. To do this, it is rather important to communicate more extensively and more deeply … This kind of broad communication asked for at various levels, corresponding to the character proper to the institute, normally creates closer relations, nourishes a family spirit and sharing in the concerns of the entire institute, creates greater sensitivity to general problems, and brings religious closer together around their common mission.” (29-30).

 Allamano’s concept of what makes a family

 April 2, 1911, was Passion Sunday. As was his custom every Sunday, the Founder went to the Motherhouse for a conference. On this occasion he felt the need to open his heart to his older sons, the missionaries, and for once he excluded the students. As his biographer tells us, the Institute was going through a difficult and critical period of adjustment and the Founder was aware of this. For a variety of reasons, but principally because of a malaise spreading among the members working in Africa, Canon Giacomo Camisassa had to go to Kenya to visit the missions. Joseph Allamano was left alone to handle the continual emergencies at the Motherhouse and to provide formation for the young missionaries. 

It was in this context that the Founder opened his heart to his older sons and reaffirmed the principles that should govern their life, principles that constituted the very foundation of the Institute. In speaking about the Institute, he saw it as a family governed by three basic elements:

- The house. Allamano congratulated the missionaries on the order and cleanliness of the new, recently opened Motherhouse: “… by now our house is running like a good watch. If someone from outside should happen to visit he would be obliged to say, what an orderly house! Everything is clean; every individual is intent upon his own work and doesn’t get in the way of others … everyone is working … no one is loafing” (Conf I, 387).

- The Father. The Founder saw himself as a genuine father in the family of the Institute. He behaved as a father with his sons: “In the past real fathers of families, like the patriarchs, would from time to time, gather their older, wiser sons together and discuss family business with them. They would talk about the past, the present and the future; how their business was faring, what improvements they should make; what housekeeping changes should be made … This is what I would like to do with you, especially this evening. I would like to pose the following questions: are things going well in our community? could there be improvements? what measures should we take? what pitfalls should we avoid?” (ibid.)

- Brotherhood. A Father seeks to instill fraternal unity, commitment and zeal among his sons: “We should do likewise: we must be united among ourselves and with the house; we must take an interest in everything – almost as if every inch of the house were our personal property.” (ibid. 390).

I would like to speak briefly on these three components of Allamano’s concept of family and point out certain aspects useful for personal reflection or community discussion. I would like to do this, though, in the company of Blessed Allamano; going from community to community, without losing sight of how very different are the environment and places missionaries live today. I would like to emphasize elements of a certain importance, but at the same time I would like to point out details that the Founder would never have overlooked – he knew that small things contributed to the creation of a “family.”

 The Missionaries’ House

What sort of house do Consolata Missionaries live in today? Does it reflect the characteristics and values our Blessed Founder cherished? These values may not be listed in his Conferences or writings, but they can be clearly discerned in his spirit.

My visits to the communities of the Institute over the past fourteen years have allowed me to see and live in all of our houses. To describe or classify these house would doubtless be a tiresome and probably uninteresting task. I would rather start with the conviction that it is not out of place for local and regional communities to reflect on the missionaries’ living quarters; similarly it would be helpful to describe the criteria that should guide us in setting up our houses.

When I say “our houses,” I am limiting myself to those places to which a missionary retires at the end of a day of commitment, work, missionary service and apostolic activity. It the place whence he goes out, refreshed by community life, to exert himself with great zeal and energy on behalf of his brothers. While the house of a Consolata Missionary is not a convent or a monastery, it cannot become an open house where the Christian community gathers, a parish office that is open at all times.

While it may assume different forms in different places, fundamentally it must display the following characteristics.

- A place where the community is at home: this is the primary finality of each of our houses; in concrete there must be appropriate rooms and appropriate furnishings; there must be that order, simplicity, refinement and taste which taken together create a genuine “home.” We must avoid any sort of luxury. Our rooms ought to be marked by a certain austerity; order and cleanliness must reflect that criterion Allamano wanted to apply to all our communities.

 Our house should be reserved to the missionary community. Privacy must be protected and valued as a sign of concern and respect for our brothers rather than as a shutting out of the world. Even in those cultures where hospitality is considered a supreme value, this respect for privacy is beyond discussion.

- A place of rest, refreshment and recreation. Everyone needs these things. Providing them ought to be the concern of all of us. These needs are important elements in our lives. An excessive insistence on work, the bane of industrialized societies, should not short-change time needed for rest, recreation and community dialogue. Neglecting these things will be harmful and damaging to individuals and to the community.

 The kitchen should receive special attention: food should be healthy and sufficient – especially in those places where climate and sickness require greater attention to health. One should avoid excessive refinement in our cuisine; this could work against the witness we give to the poor among whom we work.

- An environment appropriate for study and prayer. The missionary’s home is not a workshop or a meeting hall. It is a place where he can study; a place that fosters personal and community prayer. If possible there should be a small oratory in the house, a place for prayer and meditation for the community and for individual missionaries.

 There should also be a small library where the books and publications of the Institute are available. Certain reviews are helpful for the permanent formation of missionaries – they should be found in every local community.

In the spirit of Blessed Allamano, Consolata Missionaries should take care that their houses reflect the style of our family, and that they adequately fulfill the function for which they were built. There are four adjectives we could use to describe our houses. Austere, because they are the houses of missionaries who have chosen to live with the poor and seek to remove any barrier that might exist between them and the poor. Serene, because they are an expression of consecrated persons who have made of their life a gift of love to God and to others. Orderly, because the poor who come to us deserve respect and consideration. Beautiful, because they are “Marian” as our Founder willed it; houses where one breathes the air of Nazareth; houses whose components are love and mutual acceptance, and where the Divine can find a place – naturally.

 Authority at the service of fraternity

Although the role of Blessed Allamano was unique in the history of our Institute and his way of acting as a father to the missionaries cannot be repeated, nonetheless whenever we have cause to speak of authority in our communities we like to look at him as our particular model. We believe that in his example we can find light and encouragement that will help us transform the service of authority into an authentic ministry of sharing and growing for both our brothers and our communities.

On the one hand we believe it is impossible to apply the word “family” to our Institute without taking into consideration the role of authority. On the other hand a simple return to our roots is not enough to improve the image of and give weight to the figure of the superior. We must also consider the enormous changes in today’s society, the insights of the social sciences and psychology, as well as the new directions in religious communities that have evolved after the Second Vatican Council.

In the light of recent Church documents and our Constitutions I would like to recall certain aspects that illustrate the role of service played by a superior in our communities.

1. Authority is service

The concept of authority in consecrated life must necessarily start with the example of Jesus and his disciples. Power-domination was converted into Power-service (cf. Mk 10,45; Lk 22,24-30) and into giving one’s life for those entrusted to one’s care. This should be true for the Master’s disciples as well: the same style, the same behavior, the same ideal of service. This presented some difficulty for spiritual writers; their vocabulary lacked words to describe this new situation brought about by Jesus’ revolution. They used words like “servant, slave, little one,” to depict those in authority.

In our communities, the exercise of authority can only be understood through the concept of diakonia (deaconship, service). Any description of authority that departs from this concept of diakonia is arbitrary and distorted. St. Augustine, in his masterly style, wrote: “Your superior must not think himself fortunate in ‘having power to lord it over you,’ but in ‘the love with which he shall serve you.’” (Rule XI). 

2. Spiritual authority

The first duty of someone in authority in religious life is to promote and sustain community members in their consecration to God. The Code of Canon Law states clearly, “Superiors are to devote themselves to their office with diligence. Together with the members entrusted to them, they are to strive to build in Christ a fraternal community, in which God is sought and loved above all.” (619).

Every superior should be committed to the spiritual welfare of his community; his principal concern should be that each missionary carry out the fervent wish of our Blessed Founder: “Above all, love God!” (Pietre vive per la Missione, 24). Those in authority must have a genuine respect for the primacy of the spiritual; they must be convinced that their communities can find fulfillment only if they are founded on the solid rock of God. The Eucharist and the Word of God are the two indispensable means for binding a community to the true and perennial values of consecration and vocation.

3. Authority at the service of community

Authority is best expressed when it aims at uniting all the members of a community, and contributes to an increase of community spirit and a sense of co-responsibility in every aspect of its life. Certain terms have become an inextricable part of the life of our communities; they have the right to claim full citizenship in our vocabulary: dialogue, sharing, listening, mutual respect, encouragement, intimacy, sincerity and forgiveness. 

We have come to know that these ingredients of fraternal life work best when they find their natural point of reference not in superiors but in Christ present in each of our brothers. The superior fills the role of a servant; his authority is in direct proportion to his commitment to the common apostolate and to his respect for the abilities of each missionary.

A not unimportant aspect of this service to community is the effort to establish a balance among the various aspects of life. Excessive emphasis on certain elements of our life to the detriment of others can damage the over-all equilibrium of a community. In our missionary communities the goal must be harmonizing prayer and the apostolate, fraternal sharing and giving to others, rest and work, care for oneself and commitment to others, renewal of the missionary and evangelization.

4. Authority and obedience

For a healthy exercise of authority in our communities there must be frequent dialogue and community discernment. Where these are practiced with faith and good sense, obedience gains and is made easier. At the end of the process it is up to the competent authority to make a clear and firm decision (cf. Const. 37). This decision must always be in harmony with the Church and the general orientation of the Institute. Indecision and lack of clarity can be harmful to the growth of fraternal communion. 

In all of this, however, faith plays a fundamental role and puts obedience in a completely new light, making it possible to establish a proper balance between personal projects and community efforts. Without faith, there can be no convincing dialogue, no successful method for solving problems, no particular talents in a superior that makes carrying out an order or doing a job easy. Without faith obedience would be come an unbearable burden. Let us remember the words of our Founder: “If one has a spirit of faith - Dominus est! It is the Lord – then he won't have any difficulty obeying any Superior and any order" (SL 285).

 Fraternity

 I don’t intend to speak at length on this subject. The letter “La nostra Vita Consacrata” (Our Consecrated Life) of September 14, 1995, has already done this (cf. Called and Sent), pp. 78-94). I would like only to speak on certain things directly related to the real-life situation of a missionary community. It is in this community that we learn how to be brothers, to live in fraternity and to convert family spirit into a tangible reality.

We cannot deny the occasional temptation to think that freedom from community ties and commitments would benefit our mission apostolate. Nonetheless our Founder insisted over and over on the importance of fraternity and family spirit. The Church too has emphasized this point in words with which we are all familiar: “Communion and mission share a profound bond; they inter-penetrate, they are interdependent, to the extent that communion represents both the source and the result of the mission; communion is missionary, and mission is for the sake of communion” (ChL 32).

It would be opportune, from time to time, to make an act of faith in the value of fraternity, and to renew our commitment to live this dimension of our consecrated life, convinced that it corresponds to one of the “wishes” of our Father and Founder. We can do this by repeating the words of the Constitutions on this subject:

- "Our Congregation is a family whose members are consecrated for life to the mission ad gentes. They live in brotherly communion, profess the evangelical counsels and regard Mary as their model and guide" (4).

- "In our Congregation, which is a family gathered in the Lord's name, all the members are as brothers and accept each other as such (cf. Rom 15,7); they show concern for each other, live their mission united in mind and heart, and make their own the joys, suffering and hopes of the whole Congregation (15).

Where number is important

Fraternity requires, above all, people who are willing to live together and ready to follow the rules of the “game” of community. We were reminded of the importance of number during our last General Chapter when we dusted off an old directive of the Founder. He told us that number counted. "The Founder considered it 'very important' that his missionaries be at least three per community. This rule has had many exceptions right from the beginning of the life of our Institute, and even today is considered utopic and impossible to put into practice. However, if you really believe in the value of communion willed by our Founder as the way of ding Mission, we cannot simply give up. It would be truly utopic to aim at a deep renewal of our Institute, of our ad gentes and of our modus operandi, if those who wish to follow this path cannot find the support, the reassuring help and the climate of a community that is truly a community" (XCG 35).

To reach this goal or to get as close to it as possible we must all make a commitment – from Regions and regional superiors down to individuals. We must realize that any talk about fraternity is both useless and without foundation if we lack this basic premise to make it a reality. We must admit that this norm of the Founder, proposed again by the Tenth General Chapter, goes to the heart of so many problems in our family and provides the means of achieving the goals we are constantly setting in our Community Programs (e.g. encounter, community prayer, monthly retreats, times for relaxation, community pastoral program).

The missionary strength of the sign

“Along with sending them to preach the Gospel to every creature (Mt  28,19-20), the Lord sent his disciples to live together "so that the world may believe" that Jesus is the one sent by the Father and that we owe him the full assent of faith (Jn 17,21)… All must be reminded that fraternal communion, as such, is already an apostolate; in other words, it contributes directly to the work of evangelization.” (Congregavit, 54-55).

It is not enough to “listen” to the words of Jesus, we must live them and make them a reality through signs which are authentic, eloquent, visible and intelligible. In a correct “missionary economy” fraternal life and apostolic work are equally important; both must be cultivated with missionary zeal. The demands of the mission, the pressing needs of the apostolate, commitment to the poor – nothing should distract us from our attention to fraternal life in all its forms. Ours are neither monastic nor contemplative communities, but they are, nonetheless, fraternities, expressions of love and mutual acceptance, fraternal sharing, common prayer and possession of all things in common.

I would also mention that the members of our communities cover a wide range of ages and national origins; this makes it possible for them to be a forceful sign of a shared life and fraternal solidarity in a world torn apart by conflict and division.

Promoting the Person

A fraternity comes into its own when it can place the person at the center of its concern without failing to attend to the missionary service to which the community is called. A healthy concern for the person, his growth and maturity, is the primary duty of every apostolic community; only a person who is happy and fulfilled can proclaim effectively the good news that God is our Father, that He loves us and wills our salvation. The following are some ideas on how to achieve this promotion/formation of the person.

- Allowing everyone to live in a real community with others; speaking of human families Scripture tells us, “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gn 2,18). A religious will achieve growth if he is able to integrate his solitude as a consecrated person with a warm and meaningful relationship with his brothers in community.

- Encouraging everyone to find a spiritual director who can “discern the action of God, accompany a brother along the paths of the Lord, nourish a life of sound doctrine and lived prayer” (Elementi essenziali dell’insegnamento della Chiesa sulla vita religiosa – CRIS, 1983, 47). This spiritual direction is one of the fundamental aspects of basic formation and should follow a missionary throughout his life (cf. Const. 68).

- Promoting cultural and professional growth will make it possible to face the challenges of the mission competently and efficiently. We should be mindful of the words of our Father Founder who quoted Pietro Blessense comparing an ignorant missionary to “an idol of sadness and bitterness” (SL 144).

- Seeking to establish a proper balance within the community between respect for the individual and the demands of the common good, the needs of the community. In other words, this process implies a continual passage from “I” to “we,” from concern for my tasks to concern for the tasks of the community, from interest in my affairs to interest in the affairs of the Kingdom. This can more easily be achieved if the community is able to live intensely that vocation we all share, if the community can be attentive to the pace of those who are slower while not stifling the swift, if the community can foster an intense communion with all the other communities of the Institute.

The privileged ones

Every family has privileged members; the law of nature prompts stronger members of a family to protect weaker members. Gradually, the weaker members become the center of our family nucleus, the point of encounter, the pole of attraction – the object of the solicitude and service for all the others. 

The Institute, our family, also has these objects of solicitude. This situation does not come about naturally – everyone involved must make a conscious effort. I see three groups of “privileged members” in our family.

1. Young people in formation: they take up so much of the Institute’s energy and resources. Efforts to provide everything necessary for the formation of young people to prepare them for the challenges of the future mission must not be short-changed. These young people are our future, an extension of our life and mission. Those involved in recruiting vocations and in basic formation should be considered a priority of the missionary endeavor, even though their work may be, humanly speaking, less fulfilling than pastoral service.

2. The aged and the infirm: here we find the best demonstration of the authenticity of our family spirit. Those missionaries whom age and sickness oblige to retreat from direct work or responsibility do not cease to be missionaries. The mission is not taken away from them; it is only their way of carrying it out that changes. Their prayer, sacrifice and loving interest in our family are an incomparable contribution to our missionary endeavor which neither age nor sickness can diminish. The concern of all of us for these special brothers of ours must never slacken. We must show this concern with our attention, companionship and appreciation for what they contribute to the mission and to the Institute.

3. Brothers in difficulty: Family spirit requires support and particular concern for those of our brothers who for various reasons are going through a hard time, or a time of crisis. These brothers are suffering and not infrequently they cause others who are near them to suffer. The Ninth General Chapter (40, 4, 4.1) urged us to take on their problems, to seek out the best way to help – even if this means calling in specialists. When care for these missionaries becomes difficult or even impossible we must never withdraw our patient support and fraternal charity, mindful of the Apostle’s words, “Help each other bear your burdens, and thus you will obey the law of Christ” (Ga 6,2)!

  Conclusion

 Let me conclude these thoughts on the Institute-Family (they have become somewhat lengthy) by inviting you to read again what the Tenth General Chapter says about the present situation of the Institute (pp. 20-22). In the face of the profound changes the Institute is currently confronting, the chapter text urges us to keep an eye open to what is new, and a heart open to hope. While we praise and thank the Lord for the gift of our family in this our jubilee year, may we be guided across the threshold of our second century of life with renewed commitment and enthusiasm.

 I send you my best wishes – in my own name, and in the name of the General Council. I invoke the maternal protection of Our Lady, the Consolata, our Foundress, and the paternal intercession of Blessed Allamano for all of you.

 Fraternally,

    Fr. Piero Trabucco, IMC
 (Father General)