Easter 2007

Il Superiore Generale

D E I P A S S I O N I S T I

PIAZZA SS. GIOVANNI E PAOLO 13 (AL CELIO)

00184 ROMA, ITALIA

Dear brothers of the Congregation and brothers and sisters of the Passionist Family,

It is always a gift of God to be able to share my thoughts and to greet you on the occasion of the great celebrations by which we remember the mysteries of the Lord who has loved us with infinite mercy and kindness. It is a love that gives us life and that sustains us and together with us, sustains the universe and all creation. It is true love and, consequently, it is life giving. Our interpersonal relationships within community and within families must be marked by the truth of this love if we want them to be truly authentic. While visiting the communities in preparation for the upcoming provincial Chapters I was aware of the need to once again reflect, as was also requested by a number of individual religious, on charity in community even if the most beautiful and efficacious letter on charity is the Crucifix itself.

In the celebration of Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday, we liturgically “remember” the mystery of the limitless love that was fulfilled when Jesus himself taught his disciples that: “There is no greater love than the giving one’s own life.” It is a gift that was begun with the Incarnation which we have recently meditated on when we celebrated the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord in which the Word of God, by the working of the Holy Spirit, began to be human in Mary’s womb. We celebrated Grace, i.e. gratuitous love. “Nothing is impossible for God”, the angel Gabriel reassured the distressed and fearful Virgin Mary. “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus…the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Lk.1:26-38)

“Nothing is impossible for God” will resound in the heart of Mary even on Calvary and in the heart of those who loved him at the foot of the cross. They contemplated that the “Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father…and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” While he bled to death on the “throne” of the cross only the Good Thief will recognize him as a king, even though he too was crucified and dying as he prayed to him: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Lk. 23:42) He calls him by name, “Jesus” and as he names him there is a strange tenderness. Jesus comforts him and reassures him: “Today you will be with me in paradise”. Then he forgets about himself, hearing the voice of those who still pursued him in order to offend him and mercilessly hurl mocking words at him, even though he is dying, and Jesus prays: “Father forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.” It is Friday of the Passion on a hilltop near Jerusalem, the city that is rejected and beloved.

Even the disciples are at a distance and dispersed because they are afraid. However Jesus, predicting their fragility and their flight had celebrated the Passover and mystically anticipated and shared with them, in community, his Passion at the Last Supper: “I have greatly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before my Passion…” (Lk.22:14) In the intimacy of the house and the community, together with his disciples, far from the crowds and from those who had already condemned him to death without process anticipated, by the institution of the Eucharist, His death and resurrection: “This is my body which will be given for you…this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you…do this in memory of me.” (Lk.22:19-20) At the Last Supper the offering of His life is carried out as a totally free choice and gift, without constraints either from the high priests or from Pilate. The dinner table becomes the Calvary upon which Jesus the priest offers himself to the Father as a victim for the forgiveness of our sins, in union and with the already anticipated mystical “memory” of what will take place the following day, Good Friday, on Calvary where he will concretely accomplish his crucifixion and death.

In light of this mystery and in light of what will take place in the Cenacle and on Calvary and what takes place on our altars when we celebrate the Eucharist, we understand even more clearly what is stated in our Constitutions: “The Eucharist is central to the life of each community. In so far as possible, we celebrate it together every day as the fundamental action of community life. Our common sharing in the same Body of Christ nourishes the life our community, constitutes its norms and fosters union among ourselves.” (Const. #43) In fact, during the community con-celebration we participate through Christ, with Christ and in Christ in His sacrifice and we share with Him and with each other the same death and resurrection and therefore, we achieve and experience a profound mystical unity that then “nourishes”, “constitutes” and “fosters” charity in community in everyday decisions and in the interpersonal relationships among us and with our brothers and sisters that comprise the holy people of God.

The Eucharist is not for us “a judgment of condemnation”; rather it nourishes and manifests our charity to those to whom we are called: “Our Passionist vocation is a call to live the fullness of Christian love in an evangelical community. We bear witness to our fidelity to Christ through the charity that makes us all one in mind and heart. ‘By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.’”[Jn.13:35] (Const. #25) Let us not be deceived. It is not religious profession or ordination that makes it possible for us to be recognized as disciples of Jesus; rather it is our charity and love for one another. At the Last Supper, in the context of the institution of the Eucharist, Jesus ties a towel around his waist and, by means of a simple and charitable gesture, he washes the feet of the disciples: “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.” (Jn.13:14) Jesus’ maximum expression of service to us was that of dying on the cross and to make it more understandable, he washed his disciples’ feet. And this is what should take place in our communities by overcoming any possible division or self –centeredness. Then the Congregation will be spiritually set aflame and we too will work wonders as did the primitive Christian communities who were admired and identified by their fraternal love-- “see how they love one another”—and by the sharing of their possessions. (Acts 2:42-47;4:32-37)

In Chapter 2 of our Constitutions entitled, “Community Life”, numbers 25 to 36 invite us to live “united in Christ” and therefore to respect the dignity and the equality of all and to accept every person in his uniqueness and to value him as a gift of God. To esteem others more than ourselves and to help each individual to develop his own personality and his own gifts and to rejoice in each person’s charism demands human maturity and faith and interior development, conscious that the Holy Spirit is manifested in each of us.

If, in our everyday relationships, we consider each other to be brothers in Christ, we will avoid criticism and complaining and we will be solicitous toward each other. (Cfr. Mt.23:8) Mutual esteem will draw us to seek the companionship of one another and will enable the development of true and enduring friendships. If we have true charity any possible misunderstanding or quarrel will be positively resolved. Furthermore, respecting the dignity of one another as if it were Christ who was living with me, will lead me to be well-mannered in speech and behavior; to respect those places and times of silence and to seek forms of recreation that are helpful to life in common. Respect will lead us to be attentive even to the small things that can be annoying to those that are studying or resting. I will try not to isolate myself or to isolate others so that our life in common does not become individuals living in solitude. The same means of electronic communication, the Internet, the cell phone, etc. that can become intrusive in everyday life and can intensify isolation, should be used or employed in harmony with times and places for our common life. External communication should not jeopardize or become a substitute for internal dialogue: “Community life flourishes when its members are careful to maintain and foster fraternal personal relationships.” (Const.27) In fact, community is characterized by hospitality, listening, dialogue, goodness and mercy, pardon, reconciliation, fraternity and joy. Community is family.

The Constitutions remind us to be particularly attentive to those religious who are ill, those who “share in the Passion of Christ at a deeper and more personal level”, an attitude that we must also have toward the elderly. (Const.29 and 30) And in order to be an evangelical community in the wider sense, we must live in a “culture of charity” both within the community itself and outside of the community realizing that we are part of the local Church and are open to sharing life in solidarity with those who are “’crucified’ as they are by injustice”. (Const.65)

A task of particular importance is entrusted to the superiors, in their role of pastor and father, whether they are Provincial Superiors, who should “have at heart a deep care for all the religious” and should “bind them together in genuine brotherly unity.”(Const.124); or the local Superior who is not “set above or apart from his community…[but] ought to see himself as one who serves. He therefore exercises his authority in a spirit of service for the brethren and manifests thereby the charity with which God loves them.” (Const.120)

The true measure of our life together is expressed in our capacity for living charitably. What took place at the Last Supper between Jesus and his disciples, the teachings that He gave in his farewell address, the Eucharist and the washing of the feet can serve as models for us. These become the key to understanding the extreme service that he will offer to the Father and to the world by means of his death in which “Jesus shows us in particular the truth about love which is the very essence of God.” (Sacramentum Caritatis,#2)

“Love one another as I have loved you” is the true context for verifying the authenticity of our religious consecration and our interpersonal relationships in community. The process of Restructuring itself is a way of seeking greater truth and authenticity in our life and in the mission of the Congregation in today’s world. Above all, authenticity and identity must be present in our communities. “The local community is the living cell on which depends the vitality of the entire Congregation.” (Const.119)

The “Preferential option for the young” is translated as the reclaiming of livable and true community areas. And as I wrote in my address to the General Chapter on the State of the Congregation: “Were no change to come about they[the young] fear a future ever more limited and difficult. Young men deprived of any interesting vision for the future and under the impact of a difficult and unmotivated community and apostolic life, soon lose their enthusiasm and not infrequently leave the Congregation. It is precisely this which is causing worry as well as open and painful wounds in various Provinces…. A lot of the crisis among our religious can be attributed to shortcomings in this sector. Hence it behooves us to be particularly careful in our Provinces to get rid of those elements which impede communion and fraternity.”

However, we must have faith and cultivate hope in a new life that is characterized by the sign of the empty tomb and the face of the Risen Lord. And it is upon the Crucified and Risen One, who in his apparitions to his disciples possessed his visible and tangible wounds, that we project and base our hope, and shun pessimism and grief so as not to remain prisoners. Christ is our Passover and our freedom and we await his return, with a changed heart, witnesses of his passion, death and resurrection and we proclaim: “The Lord is truly risen.” (Lk.24:34)

I send Easter greetings, also on behalf of the General Council, to all the religious of the Congregation and to all those who are part of our Passionist Family. In particular I wish to especially remember with particular affection the sick and elderly among our men and women religious and the laity of the Passionist movements that are associated with us by the same charism and the same Father, St. Paul of the Cross. “Happy Easter” to his Holiness the Pope, Benedict XVI and to Fr. José Agustín Orbegozo, ex-Superior General; to the current General Consultors and those of the past six years; to those who assist the Curia and to the Major Superiors who share with us the responsibility and service of leading the Congregation. I send Easter greetings to the religious and to the lay collaborators of the community of Sts. John and Paul of which I am a part. And finally, to those who have a special place in my heart, “Happy Easter” to the young who are the beating heart of the Congregation: May you trustingly look ahead and dream of a new world into which you will be sent as missionaries in the sign of the Risen Christ. May Mary, the most pure icon of consecrated life, protect your vocation and be near to you in your formation in community with her attentive maternal heart, as she was present as the Child Jesus who matured together with her and Joseph in the home of Nazareth.