Apostles for Today
Prayer and Reflection
October 2018
After a break for the last few months, this reflection begins a new series of Apostles for Today which has as its general theme, ‘Holiness, a journey made together’, a perspective which reflects something fundamental of our Pallottine charism. The author of each reflection has been invited to begin with a brief testimony about a time when they encountered St. Vincent Pallotti and the Pallottine charism in a way that deeply touched their heart and their life. The series will take particular inspiration from Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate, a document which has a particular resonance with members of the Pallottine Family, being rich in so many themes close to our Founder’s heart and to our own hearts.
United in prayer,
Sr. Lali and Fr. Rory
Holiness, A Journey Made Together
St. Thérèse of Lisieux recommends that we
periodically call to mind in prayer times when we felt the grace of God
touching us deeply, particularly when we are going through periods of dryness
or darkness, so that we can draw life and inspiration anew from such
experiences to help carry us through present difficulties and once again “fan
into a flame that gift of God which is in” us (2 Tim 1:6). Towards the
beginning of Gaudete et Exsultate,
Pope Francis speaks about the importance of the “testimonies that encourage us”
(GE 3), including “the signs of holiness that the Lord shows us through the
humblest members” of His people (GE 8).
When I was a Pallottine
seminarian in Dublin, the then newly-elected Rector General, Fr. Seamus Freeman
SAC, came to speak to us about the Pallottine charism. I don’t remember all the
details of what he said, but I do remember having the sense of a fire being
kindled in me, of feeling that ‘this is something to which and for which I could
happily give my life’. He presented a wonderful vision of Christian life and
community, of all being called as apostles, sisters and brothers in different
vocations yet equal in dignity, to contribute our particular talents and gifts
in communion and practical collaboration with others to help build the kingdom
of God. A vision even reaching beyond the community of followers of Christ,
also seeking to build collaboration with people of good will of all faiths and
none.
While that mysterious fire has varied in
intensity over the years, at times even resembling more a “dimly burning wick”
(Is 42:3), it has never really left me. And it has been and continues to be
nourished and rekindled by that initial experience and by other experiences, including
the simple yet profound witness of word and of life of so many other people of
all vocations, both within and beyond the Pallottine family, who seek to live
their lives with deep faith, humanity, integrity and solidarity in a spirit of communion
and corresponsibility, in generous and humble service particularly of the most
needy and vulnerable.
The Union has so much to
offer our Church and our world. Like life itself, it is fundamentally rooted in
and built upon healthy relationships.
The most fundamental relationship
for each of us is of course our relationship with God. We are each drawn
mysteriously into a relationship of love with Christ and, through him, with the
Father and the Spirit. In these fundamental relationships, we are invited to
‘taste’ the infinite love which is God, to let that love increasingly penetrate
and transform every dimension of our being and every aspect of our person and
humanity, becoming the driving force of all that we are and do, even if it can
be a long and sometimes painful process, each in his or her own way seeking to
discern the path which the Lord is calling us to follow (GE 11).
This unique individual path, if it is to be
truly human and Christian, cannot be individualistic, but is always situated
within a wider web of human relationships, since “growth in holiness is a
journey in community, side by side with others” (GE 141). Just as “no one is
saved alone, as an isolated individual”, so also no one is sanctified alone. “Rather,
God draws us to himself, taking into account the complex fabric of
interpersonal relationships present in a human community” (GE 6).
As members of the Union of
Catholic Apostolate, this is true for us in a very particular way. Our human
relationships are to be permeated concretely by the love which is the very life
and being of the Trinity (cf. GSt 18), as we become more and more the
embodiment of the love described by St. Paul in his wonderful hymn: patient,
kind, forgiving; free from jealousy, arrogance, self-importance, rudeness, self-seeking,
irritability and resentfulness. This love is so essential that, where it is
lacking, the Union ceases to exist, no matter what external structures or works
might be in place (cf. OOCC III, 137-138).
The General Statutes of our
Union and the basic structures outlined in them aim to guide the functioning of a community which in a very real sense
gives concrete expression to these characteristics of love: humility, openness
and dialogue; deep respect for and graciousness
towards others; full participation of all as apostles in their own right; patience
and generosity of spirit; simplicity, transparency and integrity; collaboration
from the beginning and co-responsibility; shared discernment and passion for
mission, tenderness and faithfulness. A community which recognises, embodies
and promotes the fundamental dignity and equality of all the members (GSt 7,
cf. GSt 70), irrespective of vocation or state of life, not ignoring the distinctions between them but, properly
understood and lived, placing each in a broad, healthy, stable and fruitful context
of mutual openness and service which calls each to a new way of relating to the
others.
“Corresponsibility demands a change in mindset
… in the Church”, so that no one is seen as a mere collaborator carrying out
plans decided by others, but rather all are regarded “as people who are really
“co-responsible” for the Church’s being and acting” (cf. Pope Benedict XVI,
Message, 10 August 2012).
A fundamental aspect of our
very charism and mission is to actively work for such a change in mindset in
the Church by promoting the co-responsibility of all the baptised (GSt 1).
We are challenged as a Pallottine family at all
levels to learn to embrace and live this consistently and profoundly between
ourselves in all of our relationships: between individuals of similar and of
different vocations and states of life, in the coordination councils of the
Union at all levels, and within the many different communities of the Union. It
is part of our DNA as Pallottines.
The temptation to treat
others in a manner which does not reflect such a spirit of communion and co-responsibility
is one that can be faced by any member of the Union. This is true, whether or
not we are entrusted with a particular position of responsibility and service. As
a member of one of the communities founded by St. Vincent, I think we need to
take special care regarding how we understand our specific responsibility in
the Union. It is humbling to remember that the first ‘community’ founded
by St. Vincent is the entire Union itself, to which all of its members belong, with
the particular communities founded by him subsequently. This is to take nothing
away from the specific role of these latter in the Union, but does invite us to
appreciate and exercise it with a greater sense of common belonging to one
original family with all other members of that same family, in which the
different vocations are “so interrelated that each helps the other to be
solicitous for continuous growth and to offer its own specific service” (GSt
7).
“The members of the entire
foundation are, despite their variety, not hierarchically subordinate or
superior to one another, but are immediately oriented toward the aim of the
Union as its equally entitled bearers. The ordained and the non-ordained,
individual members and those incorporated into communities have the same
fundamental responsibility in regards to the mission of the Union (GSt. 6, 37)
… In [its] structures, the members of the communities founded by Pallotti
fundamentally have no claim to a leading position, but are equals among equals
(GSt. 29a, 31, 49, 58)” (The Charism of
St. Vincent Pallotti. Origin, Development, Identity, pp. 47-49).
This reflects an essential
element of the truth about our charism as recognised by the Church. In and through
Pope Francis, the Church itself is being called to understand herself in terms
that are not so different: “It does us good to remember that the Church is not
an elite of priests, of consecrated people, of bishops, but that everyone forms
the faithful Holy People of God. The faithful Holy People of God is anointed
with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and thus, as we reflect, think, evaluate,
discern, we must be very attentive to this anointing”. Those who have a
particular responsibility are called always to discern with others and never
for or without them (cf. Letter to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, President of the
Pontifical Commission for Latin America, March 19, 2016).
If the Church had been marked by such a profound
shared sense of discernment and responsibility, surely more Christ-like
responses would have been found to situations which we are seeing once again in
these times have resulted in such terrible damage being done, often to the most
vulnerable. Pope Francis has invited the entire Church to make reparation and
to exercise an authority of service and of love for the good of all. It is
clear that the Union has its own important contribution to make in building a
healthy Christ-centered Church and a better world. Let us ask God, through the
intercession of Mary Queen of Apostles, and St. Vincent, to enlighten the eyes
of our hearts so that we can see what hope his call, as Union, holds for us and
for the Church and the world. May the fire of the charism entrusted to us
through St. Vincent be kindled in us and burn brightly, so that united as one
family we may bear witness to the God of infinite love and together commit
ourselves to bringing that love in every way, particularly to those who are
lost and broken and suffering. May we be delivered from everything in us that
undermines love, mutual respect and affection, and that causes division, so
that our energies may be freed to work wholeheartedly as individuals and as a
family for nothing else but the building up and spreading of God’s Kingdom of
goodness and holiness, of mercy and justice and solidarity.
For personal and
communal reflection and prayer:
1.
When
have you been particularly touched by a sense of the charism? Pray for the
spirit of the charism, which is a gift of God’s Spirit, to be renewed and
deepened in you and in your community and in the Union as a whole.
2.
“By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another” (Jn 13:35). What weakens this witness between us and how can we it be
deepened and strengthened in practice?
3.
In what ways do I
understand and follow my path to holiness in overly individualistic terms? In
what ways have I experienced the richness which comes from journeying together with
others towards holiness?
Fr.
Rory Hanly SAC,
Rome
____________________________________________________
Segretariato
Generale, Unione dell’Apostolato Cattolico
Piazza San Vincenzo Pallotti 204, 00187 Roma, Italia uac@uniopal.org
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