Tuesday, September 29th
The capitulants are riding in a compact bunch towards the finish line. It appears that no work group has the aim of pressing ahead in order to arrive first at the line with its work completed. In cycling circles, they would say a dead calm reigns in the bunch. But work does not stop. The head of each team makes sure his men are well placed so that there are no surprises at the end of the day.
Progress on work on the fundamental call
The group working on the call of God for the Marist world of today has gone on reflecting, as much on the form which they are going to give their work as on the content they are going to transmit to the Institute at the end of the Chapter. They are making progress in working out the various formulations with which to present the fundamental call: slogans, prayer, message, etc. As the group is a large one, they have divided the task and work in three complementary lines. At present, there is a great unity of thought among the group.
The report presented to the assembly yesterday indicated that reflection on association to the Marist charism was moving forward. They had before their eyes a great variety of expressions of Marist life, some already lived by lay people and others shared by laity and Brothers. The group outlines what has to be done under the charismatic aspect as much as the juridical.
To assist the assembly, they have collected in a draft ten paragraphs, in which they claim to summarize the thinking of the assembly on the subject of the call. Each paragraph ends with a recommendation which the government of the Institute can put into practice in the future. In the summary presented to the assembly, it says that Marist life takes on different expressions. Each of them is an integral part of the charism. The group considers these expressions of life from the point of view of juridical association with the Institute as well as from the vitality and diffusion of the charism.
Some adjustments to the Constitutions
The first session of the afternoon was spent traversing the dry but indispensable ways of the law. Yesterday, the assembly moved along the expressway of the Marist Constitutions and Statutes, submitting them to a work of adjustment and completion. Various articles are unnumbered, since they were added immediately when the great expressway was already laid out, in others there is no agreement between what one signal says and what is said in another place, etc. After this work of harmonization and adjustment, the text of the Constitutions, which can only be changed by the Chapter with the approval of the Vatican?s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, will be reissued with internal coherence and consistency.
Government and animation of the Institute
The group studying the animation and government of the Institute devoted the second afternoon session to determining the number of members of the General Council. The group presented to the assembly for dialogue a proposal consisting of four parts. The working group will work again on the text that should be discuss later by the Assembly.
Such is the progress of the capitular assembly. The holy angels were recalled and invoked at the beginning of the work. A good number of the Brothers present are called Angel or complete their names with the name of one or the other member of the heavenly choirs. While some were looking up to heaven and asking for protection and encouragement, others were contemplating the calendar days left to them. The goal is set: 10 October. Won?t it be necessary to race for the finish?