Rougemont

        Theme 5

The Future

 

 

  Speaking of conversion, the prophet Ezekiel stated two apparently contradictory ideas: a promise from God and an order :

- "I shall give you a new heart" (Ez 36:26).

- "Make yourselves a new heart" (Ez 18:31).

... therefore, conversion will be both a gift of God and an effort of the person.

These words contain the seed of a whole theology on grace, which comes from God and acts in the human being; and indeed it is God's grace that erases all our sins. People are converted because God enables them to make the effort; God gives them the power to make an effort and the desire for conversion.

So it is with the future of our communities: it will be our achievement, it will be God's achievement. It will be our work; it will be a wondrous work, from our wondrous God.

We shall begin by highlighting a few objective facts shaping the future. Then, from a more personal viewpoint, we shall try to describe what paralyses us, what inhibits our communities when they face the future. And to conclude we shall dwell on the available means to revitalize the community and give it new zest for the future.

 

 

1.    A FEW OBJECTIVE FACTS

 

 

1.      Vocations are becoming rarer

 

Irrefutable facts are there as proof: the number of entries and departures has greatly diminished.

But when we say: "vocations are rarer", perhaps the issue is not correctly expressed, for in fact God calls, God does not stop calling. It is the budding and blooming of vocations that is not taking place as formerly.

The decrease in vocations, sometimes sudden and brutal in an institute or monastery, has a direct impact on pedagogical programmes and means of formation. For example, when a novitiate can still count three or four novices a large part of the formation to community life is done by osmosis, by daily interaction of the young among themselves. On the contrary, when a novice is alone, the formator's dedication and expertise cannot replace all that is missing, especially the formation acquired by the give-and-take among equals. It is also true that an institute with several young people in formation can more readily attract and retain other young, at least for the first contacts. Life attracts life !

 

 

 2.     Commitment and perseverance entail more problems than formerly

 

Today, just as fiancés hesitate to commit themselves to an indissoluble marriage, often enough young novices, generous though they may be, also question the legitimacy, and even the possibility, of a life commitment.

Experience has shown that two approaches are powerful aids at this stage of their development :

- a deeper understanding of the theology of the vows, which appropriately defines fidelity as an enduring love;

- the influential witnessing of the young professed; that is, sisters in their forties, who may have experienced moments of hesitation but who were able to achieve a full integration of their feminine nature and bring it to maturity as a gift of total self-offering to Christ and his mission.

 

In many institutes it may well happen that vocation discernment is now more advanced that it was some thirty years ago, with subsequent repercussions on the number of sisters at all formation levels. To speak more directly: they are less easily accepted than formerly. But this is not to be regretted, for by close attention to the authenticity and stability of vocations, formation directors are laying a solid foundation for the future. By acting thus they become for the young aspirants witnesses to a deep love in the name of Christ, which seeks the long-term good of each person.

 

But vocational instability has other causes deeper than those just mentioned; I shall list only a few:

- It is well known that today character and will formation by the family is much less assured than formerly;

- it is clear that social permissiveness in the western world does not prepare youth for effort, for solitary effort;

- the high profile given to material success by the family makes young people hesitate to assume the constraints of life in common and renounce all ambition;

- moreover, the freedom young girls now acquire much sooner in their work and responsibilities, give them an early taste for instant security and especially the desire to live their life as they wish.

 

Paradoxically, the group life experienced by many young people does not always predispose them to true community life. For community life is a structured life with frustrating aspects for the spontaneous and independent young people of today, whereas group comradeship contributes much but rarely asks much in return; it gives them considerable friendly warmth but rarely exacts any real self-transcendence in return. For some years now, it has been said that in these groups of young people, the father is rejected, but they are unaware that a mother is being found. The father is refused in the sense that the group frees itself from structures or certain social pressures; it finds the bosom of a mother, or in any case, the young build a nest where warmth can always be found, where an easy shelter from the aggressiveness of a more responsible life is assured.

 

Another cause of vocational instability : in today's society youth is more informed than formed. This causes certain delays in attaining maturity, especially in the emotional field: many youth are informed much sooner, but become adults much later than formerly.

 

Finally, the religious ignorance of young people, which in certain countries has taken on catastrophic proportions, leaves them defenseless and resourceless in the face of spiritual crises. Sometimes, in the first months of religious fervor as aspirants, blessed by graces in their prayer life, these young people will slightly disdain the obligation to nourish their faith intellectually. But experience soon teaches them that a piety grounded in emotions, without sufficient scriptural and doctrinal supports, leaves them helpless in the face of prayer aridity, or the storms inherent in faith life.

 

 

3.    Sometimes a cultural gap is evident

 

The gap between religious life and the normal life of our contemporaries is sometimes clearly evident, in spite of courageous and clearsighted changes made to meet the demands of a post-conciliar aggiornamento.

In very little time, even among Christians, this cultural gap is denounced, and the outstanding reputation of one or the other establishment is quickly tarnished. Moreover there should be agreement on the meaning of "cultural gap": by itself, the reliance on a long and solid spiritual Tradition does not create any gaps with contemporary culture; at present, in Europe, the solidity of a spiritual tradition is a factor of stability which rather attracts young people. This dichotomy, wherever it exists, can be found especially in mentalities, in the way of dealing with political and social issues, economic changes, and emotional development.

What attracts young people is seeing sisters get a new evangelical understanding of their rich religious traditions, and offer a contemporary image of holiness based on this tradition.

 

Speaking of this cultural gap, one must now note that it is sometimes reinforced by the consequences of the 1960-70 secularization movement. Some Christians, particularly affected or traumatized by the popular theses of those years, fail to understand the place of contemplative life in the Church, even when they see evidence of these communities having fully assimilated the spirit of Vatican II.

 

 

4.    The evolution of women

 

This evolution sometimes takes the formators by surprise, but it must be taken into consideration in order to understand the vocational crisis.

The young girl or young woman knocking on the novitiate door grew up in a society where woman has taken a stance towards the married couple and her own body, toward maternity, her task as family educator, and these positions are vastly different from those taken by her mother 30 years ago.

In a few decades woman has taken, has conquered, at least in western societies, a totally new place in the economic, social, political, and associative life. And this is not without a profound impact on the thinking of today's postulants and their approach to: personal self-control, obedience and humility, community poverty, emotional stability in a group of twenty or fifty women, and spiritual fruitfulness.

 

5.    The prestige of contemplative life has experienced an eclipse

 

One must not be surprised by this. In the history of the Church it is not the first time this has happened; contemplative life has always been to some extent a sign of contradiction, more or less an embarrassing reminder of the values of the future world.

This eclipse may very well be, like all eclipses, a temporary phenomenon, and already here and there in Europe, the first indications of a return to deep faith values and Christian witnessing are beginning to appear.

 

6.    The aging factor in many communities

 

Statistics have fully documented this aging factor and its train of inevitable consequences: overcrowded infirmaries, overworked middle-aged sisters, a deadening of community energies in the face of present necessary changes, - even though elderly sisters can sometimes give a lesson to others as they face the future with a youthful spirit and an understanding of the pilgrim Church. Finally, there is an increasing difficulty in replacing experienced coordinators, especially in communities relatively few in numbers.

 

 

2.       PARALYZING ATTITUDES

 

 

1.    Sticking to statistics

 

Of course one must look at them, especially when related to a group of institutes. Statistics help to make decisions early enough to prevent human disasters or community extinction.

But one must remember that statistics are only ever-changing, evanescent numbers, which disregard life, charity, and heroism. One does not work for the future of a community by standing rooted to the spot, morning after morning, with eyed glued to the congregation's average age tables.

 

2.    Becoming paralyzed by generation conflicts

 

This is a temptation coordinators face, for they stand at the crossroads of all the tensions among the sisters. But perhaps this impediment may also threaten middle-aged sisters frustrated in their efforts to promote community renewal and who finally end up saying : "Really! Nothing can be done with this community ! Everything we try falls flat on its facet".

An impediment can also be caused by young sisters still in formation, whose unexpected reactions sometimes strongly irritate the middle­aged sisters who also react by saying to each other: "When we were young, we were not surrounded by so much attention ! In our day we had to follow the Rule ! In our day... etc." This is the reaction... of former soldiers, veterans of the battlefield.

On the other hand, young sisters sometimes feel that in relation to the community (and therefore in relation to their future in the institute), a certain paralysis exists when no signs indicate a community engaged in a conversion process. Young people know well on entering a community that not all sisters are saints - but they do expect to find at least a few ! - and they cannot easily understand why their community fails to take means to make a fresh start and then keep on marching forward.

 

3.    Neglecting the formator's solitude

 

In relation to the community some degree of solitude is a normal situation for formators, as long as the community respects their work, their discretion, and trusts them for the ongoing formation of the young sisters.

On the contrary, an abnormal solitude surfaces when the formators can no longer count on a favorable community attitude; when they are blamed for the departure of some young aspirants and for their discretion concerning the young sisters; when the community ungraciously accepts the formation director's defense of the time alloted to formation; when she balances their work hours, or oversees the regular progress demanded of them.

 

 

4.    Letting the feeling of community unworthiness become an undermining factor

 

This would be revealed by such reflections as : "Unfaithful as we are, we no longer have the right to accept young people in our midst".

Perhaps true humility does underlie this type of reflections, but generally it is necessary to listen to them with serious discernment, for they could be a subconscious means of expressing hopelessness towards the current community situation, an endeavour to flee from efforts still possible, and sometimes a subtle attempt to sever the deep affectionate bonds linking one to a community in which hope has been lost.

If some day, - God forbid ! - the institute's major superiors were obliged to decree the closing of a monastery, then each one's duty would be to accept this new perspective with a poor and humble heart. But barring such an eventuality, great prudence must always prevail when the closing of a novitiate is being considered.

 

5.     Delaying community conversions

 

This delay in necessary conversions may be the consequence of generation conflicts but also of individuals that are millstones around the neck of the coordinator.

Confronted by her failure to achieve unanimity, to rally all the sisters around goals of contemplative renewal, the coordinator may settle for less, i.e., organizing the life of the elderly, making choices not aimed towards the future, but towards achieving present peace, or the approval of sisters attached to the status quo.

On the contrary, some coordinators, with the praiseworthy aim of salvaging possibilities for the future, will grant the young sisters an exaggerated autonomy, such as permitting them to develop a programme parallel to the community's, as if these coordinators had completely given up hope of a community conversion.

In saying this, there is no question of saddling the coordinators with a guilt complex, for they do what they can with the understanding they have and the trust given to them. It is simply a question of looking facts squarely in the face and indicating certain possible deviations.

 

 

 

3.    A NEW DYNAMISM TO PREPARE THE FUTURE

 

 

To revitalize the institute two pivotal measures are within our grasp:

A. Revitalize theological beliefs.

B. Take the steps we are able to take.

 

 

A.   A FEW THEOLOGICAL BELIEFS

 

If we want to maintain in the community enough vitality to face the future - and this is within our power - it will be necessary to act resolutely and keep in mind a few theological certainties as the basis of our efforts.

 

a)    God inhabits the community and desires its good

 

If the future of the community is everybody's concern, and especially that of the coordinators, it is also and above all, the concern of Jesus the Shepherd, and it will be achieved through the Spirit. The Shepherd will take all the necessary steps to save one of his sheep; so much more so when the whole flock is involved, when it is on the brink of catastrophe, or on the verge of losing its way. It is not necessary that the community be already converted to attract Jesus' compassion.

God does not ask us to be proud of ourselves, but to be proud of him, of what he wants, what he does, what he wishes to do. This is already true at the personal level: to approach the Lord, we need not put any finishing touches to our appearance. It is not necessary to be decked out in fine clothing to approach him. We need not be anything but ourselves, since he wants to save us as we are.

This is also true for a community. Better for the Church and its mission to have a community of people poor in spirit, glorifying in the fidelity of God, than a community preferring the glory of this world.

 

b)    It is God who calls and God who sends

 

This is evident to all formators. The sisters in the postulate and the novitiate were chosen by God. If one examines each sister's personal life, her origins, her lived experience, it becomes evident that she responded to the Lord's call. Most of the time young aspirants do not come knocking at the convent door because they know Sister X..., nor because they have had a previous relationship with institute Y..., but because the Lord himself has called them.

Jesus, who chose his apostles and sent them ahead of him with his messianic authority, was already saying 'in his day' : "The labourers are few". Jesus said these words at the very moment he was himself sending the apostles out, and the only command given them on this subject was: "Pray!", "So pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest" (Lk 10:3).

 

In this statement every word is significant:

 

Pray, that is to say, dwell in prayer. Pray and wait in peace.

 

So pray, said Jesus. The labourers are few ? So pray ! So we pray in situations of extreme poverty and this is one such situation destined to last as long as the Church exists: men and women, labourers for the Lord, will always be few in comparison to the needs.

 

Pray the Lord of the harvest, said Jesus. Please note: the Lord of the harvest. It is a question of harvest. Jesus did not say: "Pray the Lord of the ploughing", but instead: 'Pray the Lord of the harvest". Our field is his harvest and God will send labourers directly there. Marvellous optimism in Jesus who again touches this subject in John 4:35, at the end of the episode with the Samaritan when he tells his apostles: "Save you not got a saying; four months and then the harvest ? Well, I tell you. Look around you, look at the fields; they are white, ready for the harvest !"

When we think of the vocation decrease we must listen in our hearts, (personal and communitarian) to these optimistic words of Jesus : "Look around you, look at the fields; already they are white, ready for the harvest. Pray that the labourers will come".

 

c)      Nothing is impossible to God

 

This is exactly what the Angel said when he took the precaution of telling Our Lady: "Nothing is impossible to God", at the very moment Mary was asking herself : "But how can this come about ?" Nothing is impossible to God, but attention must be given to choosing the right objects of our hope.

Nothing is impossible to God, even though the acts of God, the power of God, his unexpected wonders have never been statistically proved. God will always astound us : "The Almighty has done great things for me", sang Mary.

What God has done is proof of what he will do again, and he likes to hear communities repeat that they trust him, as did the psalmists. But we often make mistakes in what we hope for. To be honest, we would really like to be able to hope in ourselves, to find in ourselves, personally and communally, reasons for hoping. However, Paul says, "Hope is not hope if its object is seen" (Rm 8:24). Our true theological hope is in God, in a faithful God.

And God wants us to be, in the Church, the vanguard of hope.

 

d)    The future takes shape in the present,

with the Spirit, and with the dynamic power of God.

 

Evening came and morning came: that is the rhythm of creation. Morning came, night came: that is the rhythm of the Redemption, of which Jesus said; 'Each day has enough trouble of its own' (Mt 6:34).

The future is shaped in the present. There are no dead seasons in God's plan. It is today that God cooperates with us, in all things, for our own good (cf. Rm 8:28), the moment we strive to love him.

God does not ask us for success we can see with our own eyes, but to work in his field, go to his vineyard, "only for today". He asks us to live, and with him we shall survive.

 

 

B.    TAKE THE STEPS WE ARE ABLE TO TAKE

 

 a)    Aging beautifully

 

Aging beautifully, yes. Aging is an inevitable necessity, the common lot of all human beings. In an institute, every year all the generations age that much and no more; no place for jealousy !

Aging beautifully: why make such a statement ? Are there several ways of aging ? In all our communities are found these elderly sisters, very old sometimes, but happy and source of happiness for others. They are a blessing for the community and especially for the young sisters, who sense these elderly sisters are full of wisdom, quick to forgive, and gifted with instinctive understanding.

But we also have cases of shipwrecked sisters. For example, sisters who became old before their time; sisters who were already old when young; sisters who suffered through a destabilizing illness or surgery (not always a serious one), and have settled down comfortably in a premature old age. We are also familiar with some who courageously served the community till their old age, but who suddenly disappear into solitude, refuse to attend any meetings; some again who live on the fringes of the community schedule: they perform all their duties, but one hour later than everybody else !

This is the point I want to make: sometimes the community helps sisters age beautifully, by their customs and by their support. On the other hand, sometimes the graciousness and patience of the community members do not help the sisters age well, that is to say, keep as long as possible their physical independence, intellectual aliveness, capacity to render small services, openness to others, fidelity to their commitment.

 

Our reactions towards our elderly members are not always reactions that help them age the best way possible. Should we not question ourselves on the different aspects of this problem, seek expert advice from sisters or doctors competent in the matter, those in charge of health care services to the elderly, in order to prepare the sisters, at the opportune moment, to age in a beautiful way, humanly and spiritually ? Also, should we not help our nursing sisters by adequate psychological instruction adapted to religious community life ? An individual does not automatically become a nurse qualified for elderly patient care. In government services and large hospitals, nurses follow courses to prepare themselves for such responsibilities. It would probably be difficult to organize sessions exclusively for the nursing sisters of a convent, but should we not question ourselves, take this aging problem firmly in hand - eventually we will have to do so anyway - and manage to facilitate the last years of life in ways conducive to the greater good of all persons involved.

 

 

b)   Put your efforts in formation, for the future depends on individuals

 

The future depends on persons, not on walls !

 

Investing in formation generally demands a formidable community effort:

- a time effort,

- a reflection effort, for example, on the council's part because of community needs, and the individual needs of each sister,

- a programming effort for the community, and also for each sister,

- an evaluation effort to verify progress in the work undertaken.

 

Registration in a correspondence course will not suffice if the young sister lacks the time needed to study. A decision to begin a community research of a biblical theme is far from being effective if periodic follow-ups are not established to verify the work accomplished.

Due to overwork and lack of time, this aspect of formation is often neglected. It would be wise to ask ourselves regularly how urgent are the urgencies, how urgent are those items that always top the list. If it is the worship of the Lord, all is well; but there are many things unrelated to the worship of the Lord which become priorities in our personal and community schedules.

 

In relation to ongoing formation, the coordinators and formation directors sometimes have to confront a certain inertia in the sisters, victims of a physical and psychological settling down, which happens to all human beings when, instead of a "get up and go" attitude they adopt a "letting go" mentality. And it is so easy in conventual life to let go and slide into comfort. When a seventy-year old sister confides: "I am no longer able to concentrate on a subject", that is quite normal. But when a sister hardly fifty years old declares: "I can no longer read; for the past ten years I have been reading only bits and pieces of articles; I care for nothing else", one then feels that somewhere along the way the vigilance o£ successive coordinators was at fault. Some difficulties of life, and of prayer life, can result from a lack of faith nourishment, and for such a deficiency the communities will perhaps have to render an account to the Lord.

 

c)    Aim for personal and communal authenticity

in line with the charism of the institute

 

In a religious commitment this truth is the best preparation for welcoming new aspirants. From this point of view there is always something to do, always something new to attempt.

The following examples are a few priorities to keep in mind regarding authenticity in line with the charism of the institute.

 

A. First, let us consider the case of an autonomous monastery

which can rely only on itself:

 

1. To revitalize individuals and the community for the sacrifice of praise, and by the sacrifice of praise. It is possible, in fact, that in our prayer life some form of routine, some kind of schlerosis, is beginning to creep in.

2. To recover the essential basic equilibrium proper to conventual life, in line with the charism of the founders, and particularly the balance between work and prayer, between work and ongoing formation.

3. To guarantee optimum conditions for the initial formation of young sisters, especially in choosing the collaborators for this task, i.e., the assistants and spiritual directors.

4. To question ourselves on the group profile the community presents to outsiders. This does not mean to follow avidly all the latest fads and lose our personality, but simply to examine, without shrinking from the task, how the institute's hospitality functions.

 

B. In the case of monasteries able to help one another,

        changing residence becomes a possibility for sisters:

 

1. In view of the future, an effort can be made to restore, at least in one community, conditions conducive to a true fidelity to the institute charism. So, it could humbly be said of this house: "Go and see. You have questions about our institute ? Go to that place. Go take a look."

 

2. And in this house offer - and gradually do likewise in the others - to young people in search of answers, three essential services, three fruitful ones for the future:

- appealing liturgical celebrations,

- a high-quality, gospel-inspired life, at once simple and authentic (and this can very well be achieved with sisters of all ages),

- formators gifted for collaborative work and for understanding young people.

 

3. In this area one must also stress the importance of setting time aside for retreats : a personal retreat, but also community retreats whose value we can try to enhance so that we can truly all return together to the source of our first call. Through the years some institutes have taken the habit of following community retreats (preached) as if they were an ordinary series of conferences, attended by sisters who would untie their apron strings barely three minutes before the opening. Evidently, such community retreats have little real impact on community contemplation, on the sisters's inner prayer life, on gratuity in their work, on reconciliation among the sisters. A community retreat is truly an event; it should be considered and prepared as such.

 

d)      Prepare successors

 

This supposes that incumbents will retire from a post, a service, an important responsibility when the time has come. If a person retires when the deadline is reached, retirement can be planned in progressive stages, on condition such a course of action be considered beneficial to the community.

 

e)    Give the young sisters positions of responsibility

 

There must be no unreasonable delays in giving young sisters positions of responsibility. Evidently, in many cases prudence will dictate a measured pace, but sometimes in our monasteries the USSR Supreme Praesidium style seems to predominate : the same persons are always re-elected. It is so much easier to proceed thus.

Placing young sisters in positions of authority will be so much easier if the problems of ongoing formation and personalized formation have been well discussed.

 

f)   Always speak positively about the future

 

In a community nothing is more contagious than negative feelings; however, the Lord asks us to share the best part of ourselves, i.e., our peace, our joy, our hope, and not to add to other sisters' burdens by obliging them to carry our own insecurity.

This basic optimism, founded on Christian hope, enables one to broach certain problems fearlessly, without bending the truth, and do so with a constructive attitude. And do it all at the propitious moment.

 

g)   Revitalize the spirit of membership

 

If we wish to keep the family spirit alive in an institute, we must seize all opportunities to show unity among coordinators and their viewpoints, and to highlight the important celebrations of community life.

 

h) Celebrate the presence of the victorious Christ

 

The antidote to all sadness and despair, especially in a community, is the Glory of Jesus, the indescribable mystery of his union with the Father.

The antidote to the aging heart and mind is the Glory which the only Son "had with the Father before the world began" (Jn 17:5) and which he retrieved, along with his body, through his glorious passion.

The antidote to sadness is "the glory of God shining on the face of Christ" (2 Co 4:6). And it is by reflecting as in a mirror this Glory of the Lord that we are transformed, personally and communally, into the resemblance of Christ, into the image of Christ, from glory to glory.

There is, therefore, a gaze that transforms us into the resemblance of the glorious Christ, and "we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is" (1 Jn 3:2). Above all, it is this communitarian meditation of the glorified Christ which prepares the future of our community, because this gaze gives us the strength to enter into the mystery of the Cross. And the strongest acceptance of Jesus' glory is doubtlessly the Eucharist, when our personal and communal offering is incorporated into his own.

 

i)     In the community spread the passion for Unity

 

On this subject let us reread from a community standpoint the final words of Jesus after the Last Supper (Jn 17:20-26). Jesus, speaking to the Father, said :

 

"I do not pray for them alone.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their words.

That all may be one

as you, Father, are in me, and I in you;

I pray that they may be (one) in us,

that the world may believe that you sent me.

I have given them the glory you gave me

that they may be one, as we are one - living in them, you living in me -

that their unity may be complete.

So shall the world know that you sent me,

and that you loved them as you loved me".

 

After twenty centuries of Christianity, when we speak of unity, Church unity, the unity of all who believed on the words of Jesus' witnesses, the unity of our communities, we always do so with feelings of guilt and nostalgia. Instinctively, we invoke this unity through the historical church schisms, through our community tensions, through our own aggressive, impatient or destructive reactions which make us slow to forgive, insensitive to those experiencing distress and solitude.

 

But when Jesus speaks of unity it becomes once more a hope, a call, and a certainty. In fact, even before being the believer's difficult goal, unity is the object of Jesus' prayer: "Father, may they all be one". In our uneven and disappointing efforts for unity, for communitarian unity, we are always preceded by Christ, by his plan, by his intercession.

 

Not only has Christ included his concern for unity in his spiritual testament, he has also laid an everlasting foundation through his Cross, the cross that glorifies: "I have given them the glory you gave me that they may be one". But what is this glory twice given in Jesus' hour, if not the glorious manifestation of God's great secret: communion in the love of the Father and his anointed, Christ ?

 

To show us the road to unity, to inspire in us the daily hope of its possibility, Jesus shows us this unity as achieved in God, and as offered to humanity, gratuitously, joyously, serenely, like an engagement ring.

The unity towards which we are journeying after so many rifts, in the midst of so many tensions, already exists in God and is offered to us in God. The unity of the Father and the Son is presented to us by Jesus as the model of the unity of believers: "May they be one as we are one. May they be one as you, Father, are in me, and I in you". This total sharing of life and light, this unblemished reciprocity in love - this is what we should strive for.

 

But the unity of the Father and Christ the Son is more than just a model for us. It is the place where we can live this gospel unity too. In fact, Jesus adds: "Let them be in us also". To be all together in God and in his Son, that is true unity. To be one is to be in God, to be together in God. And when we are in God, we learn to love and then we want nothing else but to love. Unity is therefore possible, since God gives it to those who meet together in Him. To show us clearly that this route to unity is open, even to hasten this moment of gospel unity, Christ reveals another wonder, another secret of redemptive love: He himself comes to live in us, in each and in all, his unity with the Father: "With me in them and you in me, may they be completely one" (Jn 17:22).

Thus, we are the place where the Trinitarian God lives his mystery. Christ in us, in each one and in all, and the Father in Christ: two interiorities, one within the other. At the heart of the community, Christ; at the heart of Christ, the Father's presence. The Father, therefore, finds himself at the heart of unity. He is the heart of unity. In him everything has its origin, its beginning, and all other beginnings. It is from him, the Father, that all life, all love will radiate, and also what Jesus calls glory, which is at once the density, the power and the brightness of the life of God. This glory emanating from God the Father, also clothes Jesus, who in turn, gives it to the disciples according to the degree of their faith: "I have given them the glory you gave me that they may be one, as we are one - I living in them, you living in me - that their unity may be complete".

In the same way the mission of salvation, the Father's initiative, is totally assumed by the Son, and through the disciples it is spread to the ends of the world. The active presence of the Father and the Son at the heart of the community renders it at once a united community and a missionary community. When the community of disciples lets itself be surrounded by the glory o£ God, the glory of the Father given to the Son, it finds its cohesiveness and becomes transparent. Through gospel love, it manifests to all eyes its indwelling mystery, the mystery of the one God and his loving plan: "That they may be one, as we are one. I living in them, you living in me, that their unity may be complete. So shall the world know that you sent me, and that you loved them as you loved me".

 

When the unity of the Father and the Son inhabits and transforms the community; when, by its courageous union, the community lives in harmony with the one God who inhabits it, with this God who comes to live his unity in us; when the community lets itself be transformed into one body by the Lord's Eucharist, at that moment it becomes truly missionary. Because then nothing impedes the dynamism of the Word that calls: "Thus", said Jesus, "the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them as you loved me".

 

 

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