XXII° General Chapter
Opening Liturgy
Introduction
This morning we gather officially to begin the XXII° General Chapter of the congregation. We are legitimately established in assembly and we have organized the basic services of chapter work for the next several weeks. This formal beginning crowns a number of efforts, in the General Curia and throughout the entities, to obtain the best conditions for the progression of this event which is so important for the life of the congregation.
We are, nevertheless, very conscious that the success of a chapter cannot be the result of our decisions alone, or our efforts, or our talents: everything that we are, can do, and have knowledge of, we place in God’s hands so that our hearts may be ready and freely available in attending to his Spirit and to do his will. Thus, as an established chapter assembly united with all our confreres throughout the congregation, and as representatives of all these communities which have accepted us into them, we commit ourselves to be attentive to the Lord and Master before all else and we open our hearts to his work and we break the bread of unity, love, and life together.
We bring with us our energy and generosity as well as our problems and personal failures as well as those of our brothers. As we begin this Eucharist, we ask for the gift of mercy from the Lord who reconciles us to Himself and among ourselves and renews us by the power of his Holy Spirit.
Kyrie
Lord, our Father, who unites his children from every corner of the earth:
Free us from discord and hatred and give us unity, truth, and love.
Have mercy on us / Kyrie eleison
Lord Jesus Christ, who came to fulfill the Father’s will:
Free us from egotism and fear and open our hearts to the voice of the Father and our brothers.
Have mercy on us / Kyrie eleison
Holy Spirit of God, who renews all things:
Free us from obstinacy and deceit and lead our hearts to the wisdom of the Father.
Have mercy on us / Kyrie eleison
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Homily
The readings we have just heard (2 Co. 5:14-21; Jo. 21:1-17) are an invitation to begin this indispensable period in the life of the congregation, opening ourselves to the presence of the Lord and the action of his Holy Spirit.
The selection given us from the Gospel of John has as its purpose not only to narrate an apparition to the group of disciples but also to call attention to the new way the Lord is present to his community after his resurrection. As we begin the XXII° Chapter of the congregation, let us examine this text together, as God’s Word for us, in such a way that it helps our hearts to be receptive to a visit from our Lord and Master.
- The narrative begins by telling us these disciples went fishing, carrying out their occupation as well as the mission to which they were called: I will make you fishers of men (Mk. 1:17). In this exercising this mission, they certainly had their moments of great enthusiasm and success, but at this particular moment the darkness of a night just over seemed extended by their fatigue and frustration at fruitless labor.
- Jesus, who himself once personally directed their activities on the streets of Palestine is not physically present in their midst. This does not mean he has abandoned them; when he is present he is not easily recognizable. The disciples, however, have the good sense to take the word of an unknown person on the shore of the lake who sees their dismay and advises a change in work method. The results are totally surprising: the presence of that stranger has led to a prodigious catch precisely where effort, experience, and skill failed.
- At this point, one member of the group (the one who knew very well the love of the Master for his disciples) establishes the relationship between the outcome of their activities and the word from the man on the shore of the lake: It is the Lord! And this recognition changes the group.
- Then the Lord prepares a banquet for them all and unites them around himself. On the table his gifts are to be found, but the fruit of the work and weariness of the disciples as well. From this encounter, the disciples will depart for the great sea of their mission, knowing that the Lord will be found on every bank in the world and throughout history.
Found at the conclusion of the fourth Gospel, this encounter on the shore of the lake connects the account of the life of Jesus with the activity of his disciples and opens up horizons for the entire life and mission of the church. He continues to make himself present to exercise care for his own, to encourage, direct, and make their mission effective.
Today on the shores of the Tiber in Rome, where we have disembarked, he awaits us and asks us to experience what his five disciples experienced. Let us attempt to discover the essential elements of this encounter.
- We come from every quarter of the congregation, with many gratifying experiences of fraternity and apostolic success, but in equal measure with fatigue and lack of understanding, problems and uncertainties about tomorrow. The question Jesus asks brings us to this point: What do you have to eat? What do you have to offer the world? What do you bring with you?
He had the habit of beginning his dialogs in this fashion: an interrogative mode that we ourselves examine in his presence…looking at him as much as possible. His questions echo throughout the Gospel at important moments of revelation:
- To the first disciples: What are you looking for? (Jo. 1:38);
- To his mother: at the marriage feast of Cana: What do you want of me? (Jo. 2:4)
- Before multiplying bread for the crowd: How many loaves do you have? (Mk. 6:38);
- Before Peter’s confession: And you, who do you say I am?(Mk. 8:29);
- To Mary Magdalene: Woman, why are you weeping? (Jo. 20:13);
- …the dialog with the Samaritan woman (Jo. 4).
We need to examine the reports that will be made during the chapter on the state of the congregation and its entities in this light. These serve not merely as an administrative balance sheet, but as an examination of conscience before the Lord who comes to us, of what his word has accomplished in and through us. It is also the opportunity to look, through his own serene and merciful eyes, at our wasted efforts, our mistakes and fatigue that our activism without his presence among us has led us to.
- The second moment is that of being open and attentive to other voices. In the congregation and in our various entities, we have venerable traditions, structures, organizations, and ways of thinking that we learned from and gathered fruit. We can run the risk of closing ourselves off with our certainties, our fears or our tendencies to take things lightly. A feeling of crisis or void can help us grasp what needs to be changed to prevent holding onto the birdcage when the bird has flown away.
It can happen to us, as it did with the disciples, that someone outside our group can make the right suggestion. To be ready, we require an open heart and the Spirit, an intellectual honesty and innocence to listen, grasp, and think through ideas without prejudice because the voice of God can make itself heard everywhere. This implies a freedom to change procedures, methods, structures so that the Gospel can be made present in changing circumstances found in our world.
- A listening attitude is critical also for the subsequent moment which we can call discernment: evaluating the situation, one member of the group arrives at a fundamental conclusion: It is the Lord!
Frequently it is not the authority (in this case, Peter) which is first to recognize the presence of the Master. This is not important. The key element is that the authority be attentive to the other members of the community where God is often revealed and that it is able to judge their suggestions and to vest itself with courage and jump into the water and go out to meet the Lord. Then, even the others will follow with their nets…which will not tear and break.
Such attention to others is based on the very freedom of God who makes us free and brothers. God is always greater than any institution which renders him visible: he cannot be organized even if he must be the model for our organizations; he cannot be structured even if his image must be reflected in our structures. He assists those who direct our communities but he is found in any brother or sister. Therefore the chapter is a time during which the ordinary authority in the congregation ceases to exist. This is far different from the idea of ‘democracy’ –a restoration of power to the people – this is the expression of listening and obedience to the voice of God together.
The figure of the disciple who identifies the Lord brings us, as usual, to the Gospel of John, to the core of the mystery: he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. These words clearly tell us that the one who has experienced the love of God is best prepared to hear his voice. His discernment is based on ‘recollection of the heart’ and is based on an ability to make the past present as the root of understanding, discernment, and new creations.
This is the essential attitude for chapter discernment. Simply following the first voice that is heard is not helpful. Discernment is done together, beginning with our ‘heart’s database’ which includes the Gospel which we receive in the church, the spiritual heritage we have from Fr. Dehon, the history of the congregation and our own entities, each one’s personal experience. We have found God’s presence and love in all these. And the one who has known the voice of the Good Shepherd will recognize it whenever he hears it.
The second part of our reading, the meeting of Peter with Jesus, is just another aspect of our main point. He has had experience of the love of the Lord even in his failure and fall. And his experience of this love allows him to respond affirmatively to the threefold question of the Lord: Simon, do you love me?
It is in light of this experience that he clearly sees and receives his mission: feed my sheep. The mission is born of the love of Christ for us. With him, we learn to give our brothers the attention, care, organization, and style of the Good Shepherd to the point of laying down our lives for the flock like Jesus did.
This is also the message of our first reading on which the theme of the Chapter is based. In it, Paul presents the love of Christ as our starting point, our continuing support, and the finish line of our own existence and ministry: the love of Christ urges us on.
We can say with confidence that this cry contains the core of the charismatic gift Fr. Dehon gave with the foundation of his Institute: the Heart of Christ, the icon of filial love for the Father and his redeeming love for humanity. This core of the Christian mystery he deliberately wished to leave to his religious as their identifying legacy: I leave you the most marvelous of treasurers: the Heart of Jesus.
This is the core of that ‘recollection of the heart’ by which we examine the life of the congregation with the serene, demanding, encouraging eyes of Christ who loves us through the concrete persons of the men who constitute it. We are invited to look where he looks, to see what needs cleansing, to discern the signs of changing times, to pay attention to the appeals of the world and the church, to dream and to plan our mission in his name.
Over the next four weeks, he awaits us on the shore of the lake of our mission. He wants to keep us close to him and he provides us an abundance of gifts from the Father’s Spirit. But he also counts on our generous and fraternal cooperation so that this banquet can give new life the congregation and to our mission in the church and world.
Let us take on the dispositions of the apostles which are presented to us today:
- Peter, in his sincerity, ardor, and weakness, who was made solid like a rock by the faithful love of Christ;
- The beloved disciple, close to the Heart of Christ, ready to recognize the voice of the Lord in the life of the church and the world;
- Paul, devoted to Christ and apostle of the nations, bringing the love of God to all cultures and nations.
From Mary, may we obtain the gift of a heart capable of listening to the voice of God and putting it into practice in our lives and in the life of the congregation.
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Reflection and meditation on the style, contents, and extent of our mission should have as their point of departure, an understanding of Paul as “ambassador” (or ‘prophet’) of the love of God. The love-mission that Paul learned from Christ is fulfilled through the mystery of solidarity. This makes fraternity present and ready to take on the problems and sins of others to bring about reconciliation, peace and hope in the justice of God who heals and saves.
Our vocation and mission is centered in this operative love. I ask the Lord that the chapter will allow us to achieve this: if someone is in Christ he is a new creation…
