Words of the Superior General during the celebration of the 204th anniversary of the Institute
Thinking about the brothers of today and the future recalls five key words:
SPIRITUALITY
On several occasions I have been able to express: I believe that our rebirth as an Institute and its future will have much to do with the concrete commitment of each one of us to take seriously the journey of our own interior and spiritual life. This together with the commitment to encourage each other in this process and in this effort, so that it becomes a common search and not just an individual one.
How is your thirst? Do you perceive a living Jesus in you?
VULNERABILITY
The pandemic has made us experience the vulnerability of the world and our own vulnerability. Perhaps it is time for a change of perspective: to connect with the vulnerability, weakness and fragility of others and discover that it is from there that our strength emerges. To feel that we are not alone, and that alone we cannot… that we need each other and we embrace the strength of God. Christmas speaks to us of a God who showed himself to be fragile and vulnerable. Called to be reborn from what is small, from fragility and simplicity.
How do I situate myself before my own vulnerability? How do I situate myself before the vulnerability of others?
FRATERNITY
Making community, and walking together brothers and laity … I can not imagine a brother wanting to go alone, the call is to live the mission as a team, accepting and welcoming the differences, valuing them as a richness and not as an obstacle. The home of light is a communitarian one. Walking together calls for open dialogue, unconditional and empathetic listening, as well as openness of mind and flexibility…
How do you value your experience of internationality? What do you do to overcome individualistic attitudes and actions?
DARING
To go beyond our comfort zone, to respond to the emerging needs, which are so many. We are living in a period of great uncertainty and this can lead us to experience fear, to have defensive and protective reactions (which would seem normal, natural…), but we are precisely called to go beyond these fears to launch ourselves into serving the most vulnerable and those living in poverty.
How do you see yourself in the face of uncertainty? What stops you, to launch yourself into responding?
INTEGRITY
The fifth word, I take it from Pope Francis’ answer when at the USG Assembly I asked him about some key to the future of religious life. And he answered: INTEGRITY. An integrity that becomes necessary not only with personal testimonies of balanced and unified life, but also with community options. We must understand that coherence of life does not mean perfection, but transparency and authenticity. Young people do not want us to be perfect, they want us to be authentic.
What areas of your life do you perceive as most coherent? Which ones do you perceive as incoherent?
We entrust this work to Mary, our Good Mother, in her 204 years… Let us begin in 2021, with an attitude of hope. Hope that is not naive optimism but welcoming the presence of God and giving ourselves to building a better future. Marcellin has marked us from the beginning by his audacious and confident response. Also, with his attitude of welcoming his own vulnerability. We count on this heritage and this gift. A gift that is updated and becomes an inspiration in our days.
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Br. Ernesto Sánchez, Superior General
2 January 2021