102 – 116 R E L I G I O U S LIFE ASIA: SR. JOSEFA S. ALDANA, SFIC
RELIGIOUS LIFE ASIA • JANUARY-MARCH 2005
How to Enkindle the Fire of Passion for
Christ and for Humanity in the
Formation Process
Introduction
The Congress on Consecrated Life, celebrated in Rome from the 23rd to the 27th of November, 2004, invites Consecrated Life to initiate and continue a new praxis, to take decisive steps forward to translate the Congress implications into attitudes, initiatives, decisions, projects. In the light of this call, I believe that we find ourselves at a
moment of “kairos” urging us to rethink and revitalize our formation process in response to what the Spirit says today. Indeed we need a new formation for a new form of consecrated life. We are challenged to shape consecrated life to be authentically “Samaritan,” that is with a thirst for God and continually moved by compassion.1
Formation is decisive for the renewal of the consecrated life.The Post-Synodal Exhortation, Vita Consecrata, uses a symbolic title for speaking of formation: “Looking to the Future.” Formation is by nature oriented to the future – the future not only for young people who are preparing for it, but also of the various institutes and of consecrated life in general. This is precisely why formation does not only mean problems and difficulties as part of a complex and
demanding process, but it also means hope, youth, creativity, a guarantee, a promise and newness of life. It represents a theological way of thinking of the consecrated life which is in itself a never ending formation “sharing in the work of the Father who, through the Spirit, fashions in the heart the inner attitudes of the Son.”2
If in fact, consecrated life is in itself a progressive taking on of the attitude of Christ, it seems evident that such a path must endure for a lifetime and involve the whole person, heart, mind and strength (Mt.22:37) reshaping the person in the likeness of the Son who gives himself to the Father for the good of humankind. Pope Paul VI, for
his part, reminded religious that whatever the variety of ways of life and of charisms, all the elements of a religious life should be directed toward the building up of the “inner man.”3
In the formative part, the criteria expressed in Vita Consecrata serves as a guide: The primary objective of the formation process is to prepare people for the consecration of themselves to God in the following of Jesus Christ at the service of the Church’s mission. Formation is a dynamic process by means of which individuals are converted to the Word of God in the very depths of their being, and at the same time, learn to discover the signs of God in earthly realities.4
Formation has as its icon, that of Christ who gives himself in love to the Father and to his brothers and sisters in the kenosis of his passion. The young person, in the process, gradually identifies himself/herself with Christ’s attitudes. (Phil. 2:7-9). Today we can say that it is the identification with or transformation in Christ from a specific
charismatic perspective in the Asian context. I would say that formation may be described as a “formation of
the heart” in the biblical and full sense of the word. The heart in the Bible refers to the inner person, the person as God sees him/her. Thus, “man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:17) In this beautiful process, the person discovers the greatness and beauty of the call and the fascination of the living Christ. The formation process will offer an experience of a passionate love for
Jesus and a loving compassion for our brothers and sisters, especially the poor and the deprived. How then do we enkindle the fire of passion for Jesus Christ and for humanity in the formation process?
First of all, I would like to underscore the word Passion and try to explore its meaning in this context.
The Meaning of “Passion”
The word passion comes from the Latin passio and the Greek pathos, meaning suffering or intense feeling. In the early Christian times, and frequently since then, apatheia was considered to be a prerequisite for a mature spiritual life.5
A woman author defines passion as: “an intense form of affectivity, especially of love and desire between God and the human person. In addition to the descriptor ‘intense’ one thinks of ‘strong,’ ‘vehement,’ enthusiastic,’ ‘ardent,’ ‘zealous’…6 Passion is identified as one of the features of the feminine.7 The emerging feminine consciousness, struggling with the apatheia of the past, strives to reassert the wholeness of the body, the sacredness of the Earth and the power of creativity. It is passionately committed to the unfolding of human and earthly potentiality, with the pain, suffering and death (on the one hand), and ecstasy and rebirth (on the other) that are involved in the process. It strives above all to restore emotion and feeling to their lawful place, reminding us that we cannot be people of heart in a heartless world unless and until we can share the anger, rage and pain, along with the eros, ecstasy and joy that
characterize our world. The feminine refuses to subvert feelings, even if they are too painful to endure. The feminine adopts a more receptive and contemplative stance, exposing the self to the unfolding experience of life in all its untidiness and creativity. It is the unfolding and mysterious process that fascinates the feminine participant. Human passion is born in creative dialogue and tension. It is a mysterious impulse toward human wholeness and freedom. The passionate experience has the potential to open up one’s personality, to lead one toward fuller self-knowledge, and to contribute to a new self. Passion functions to organize every aspect of an individual’s life.8
Ultimately, we might say that passion is a gift from God, infused by the Holy Spirit in the heart of every person, and within the heart of the world. The Judaeo Christian tradition reveals a God who is passion.9 God is not the passionless and omnipotent abstraction of the philosophers. God is tender, angry, jealous and seems to be hopelessly
in love. God is so “out of control” with this love that he makes unilateral promises and covenants that we cannot break or change. God is apparently willing to wait around for centuries for a believing response, and puts up with all kinds of abuse in the meantime. God is not going to change. God is always with us – EMMANUEL!
How then do we enkindle that fire of “God’s love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us?” (Rom.5:5) How do we enkindle the fire of passion for Christ and for humanity in the formation process?
Transformative Formation
In the light of this Challenge, I would like to propose a transformative formation which is:
• wholistic, integral, contextualized;
• anchored in the mystery of the Trinitarian communion;
• which embraces the four fidelities:
o Fidelity to Jesus Christ and the Gospel
o Fidelity to the Church and Her Mission
o Fidelity to Religious Life and the Charism of the Institute
o Fidelity to Humanity and the Signs of the Times
• patterned after the Integration model of formation; and
• premised with the quantum theory: the whole is greater than the sum of all the parts.10
The quantum theory seeks to draw attention to the complexity of life and reminds us that our world is animated by an evolutionary design in which all the parts serve the greater whole and only find their true meaning in cooperating with the whole. In this formative process, everybody’s participation is needed to integrate complexity.
All are formators and formandi in the formative interaction, with the Holy Spirit as the Formator par excellence. To form from this perspective is to perceive the formative processes in their impressive interrelationship within the eco-system or environment. For the quantum theorists, the fact that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts underpins all reality. For everything in life, there is more to it than meets the eye. The real essence, the real meaning is deep within, which in practice, often means inside and outside the object we are observing. I would say that the first challenge in the formative process is to help our young people discover the real essence, the real meaning … that “SOMETHING MORE,” which is expressed in a song with this same title.
“SOMETHING MORE”
Beyond my eyes can see
There must be something more
Beneath the surface rush of things
There’s something else in store
Beyond this daily strife
There must be more to life
An underlying rhyme in things
I must have known before
Before the seasons changed
Before I grew too wise
I watched the passing clouds
In search of meaning in the skies
I read between the lines
But the verses lost their rhymes
And though the truth has long been told
I’m still waiting for a sign
Where are you
You whom I seek to know?
Are you the one I’m looking for?
Show your face
Why don’t you break your silence now?
Tame the stormy seas within me
Name these shadows trapped inside me
Claim this lost and frightened child you see in me
Beyond my eyes can see
There must be something more
Beneath the surface rush of things
There’s something else in store
Beyond this daily strife
There must be more to life
An underlying rhyme in things
I must have known before.
I bear my private pains
I go the extra mile
Will you be there beyond this road
To meet me with your smile
Before my very eyes
You’ll shed your last disguise
And then I’ll realize I need nothing more
than the face I’ll recognize
O my people
What are you waiting for?
Do you want to meet me?
Here I am...
There’s nothing more
It’s all in me
Paradoxically, the search brings one to a personal encounter with JESUS himself, who calls and invites in a mysterious way, to follow Him and to participate in His mission. It is also an invitation to participate in the unfolding of universal life centered in JESUS CHRIST. We are co-creators of a creative God who has endowed us with the inner strength and outer resources to grow beyond our destructive tendencies and become enlightened,
liberated and compassionate persons. This is the task of an entire lifetime, a spiritual journey we share with the whole creation unfolding into the eternal destiny of God. In the midst of a fast-changing world, we look for a center which
holds everything together in all its seeming polarities and contradictions. Another challenge in the formation process is to help our young people discover the center of their being the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. In other words, it is an invitation to discover the secret beauty of one’s heart. The heart is a universal unifying and basic symbol that speaks of the person in the depths of his/her interiority and in his/her abiding
attitude to God and fellow human being. To live with the heart is to live from the depths of oneself a life of abiding love.11 It is to fall in love and to live as a lover. Thomas Merton describes it beautifully in this account:
… At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point of spark which belongs entirely to God… This little point is … the pure glory of God in us. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely…12 “It is with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” (from The Little Prince). It is from this center where passion for Christ and humanity is born. We need a model of
formation to facilitate the formation process.
III. Integration Model of Formation13
The integration model of formation follows a strategy which implies the presence of a center capable of gathering the surrounding reality around it, attracting it and giving it meaning, purifying it and enriching it, giving it new direction and valuing it to the maximum.
Integration is a complex phenomenon which involves variety of operations; to complete and fulfill, to attract, perfect, create unity around a center, gather and put together, correct and re-direct, but also to enlighten, signify, vitalize, warn, strengthen and heal. It has a two-fold movement: from the center to the periphery and from the periphery to the center. At the center, always to find one’s identity in that vital point that has power to attract and give meaning to everything, and at the periphery, in order to draw every fragment ever nearer to one’s being and living at that vital center. In this reciprocal dynamism, the principle of interrelatedness is at play. Anchorage to the end and transcendent value frees the person to accept other dimensions of his/her being; the vitality that he/she
receives from it becomes the means and instrument to live the central passion of his/her life more intensely.
The decisive element in a formation plan based on the integration model is obviously formed by the central pole, by that value idea, experience and conviction that the person has internalized and is
making more and more his/her own and which at the same time inspires his/her conduct and aspirations.
Concretely, it is the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, his death and resurrection mystery, his Passover, his sentiment, his heart of Servant, Prophet, Good Shepherd, because, thus it pleased our Father-Mother God, to make of Christ the “heart of the world, the center not only of the cosmos, but also of the life of every living being. Because in him he chose us, blessed us, redeemed us, reuniting in him all things, reconciling all reality through the blood of his cross.” (Eph. 1:3-10; Col. 1:15-20) For he came that we may have life in its fullness. (John. 10:10)
Having established a formation model centered in Jesus Christ, our next task is design a formation toward a “Passion for Christ and Humanity.” I would like to offer some proposals for the formation process in this last section.
“Passion for Christ, Passion for Humanity” in the Formation Process
The tradition tells us that someone asked Abba Anthony, “What must I do to please God?” “And the old man replied, “Pay attention to what I tell you. (1)Whoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; (2)whatever you do, do it according to the testimony of the holy scriptures; (3)in whatever place you live, do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will be saved.”14
The story captures the dimensions of religious life which captivates our hearts, focuses our mind and stabilizes our soul for the single hearted search for the living Reign of God. My first proposal is formation for single-hearted centeredness.
a. Formation for Single-Hearted Centeredness:
A Contemplative Stance
A contemplative stance of presence to God involves contemplative listening and seeing. The English word listen is a derivative of the Anglo-Saxon hlosnian which means “to wait in suspense” to turn toward another with such
intense expectation that our whole being is on alert.15 At the heart of total listening is a clear decision to sharpen our focus, toward self, others and toward God. It means embarking on a journey past the ears to the heart. The gift of a contemplative stance is the fruit of a long process of developing the capacity to listen with love and to see with the eyes of the heart. To see with the eyes of the heart is to see things, people and events with the eyes of faith… with the eyes of God. And I believe that the secret of seeing with the eyes of God is to see things, people and events with love. The capacity to love is born from the beautiful experience of being loved… of being loved by God unconditionally. Therefore our love is a response of love to God who has loved us first and identified himself as LOVE. To live and respond with passion is to make God the center of our lives, to love him with all our heart,
with all our soul, with all our mind and strength and to love our brothers and sisters as God has loved us. This mysterious process of contemplative listening is described by Julian of Norwich in this simple way: “I look at God, I look at you, and I keep on looking at God.” The consecrated life proclaims what the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit, brings about by his love, his goodness and his beauty. Formation for consecrated life invites us, to take up the path guided by the contemplation of Christ with a gaze “fixed, more than ever, on the face of the Lord.”16 But where does one concretely contemplate the face of Christ?
CONTEMPLATING THE FACES OF CHRIST
Holiness is the fruit of the encounter with Jesus Christ in the many presences in which we discover his face as the Son of God, a suffering face and at the same time the face of the Risen One. Recognizing him requires a gaze of faith which is acquired through the habitual reading of the Word of God, through prayer and above all through the experience of charity because the mystery can only be fully known through love.17
PASSION FOR THE WORD OF GOD
Following Jesus being the nucleus of formation, one should know him to cherish a passionate love for him. The mystery of Christ is known only through the Word of God which is Jesus himself. Therefore, a passion for the Word of God has to occupy the heart of the formation process and consequently, one grows in conformity with Christ, moved, animated and shaped by the Holy Spirit who is the principal formator.18 In Novo Millenio Ineunte we read: “It is especially necessary that listening to the Word of God should become a life-giving encounter… which draws from the biblical text the living Word which questions, directs and shapes our lives.19 It is there, in fact, where the Master reveals himself and educates the mind and heart. It is there that the vision of faith matures, learning to look at reality and events with the eyes of God, to the point of having “the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor.2:16) If Jesus is to speak to the formand in private and reveal the secrets of the Kingdom (Mk. 4:11, out 13:11) “there is need for a
protracted period of relative withdrawal and of quite solitude, sufficient to contemplate the One so loved.”20 In my Congregation our Novices are provided with this opportunity through the Advent and Lenten Desert Experience.
b. The Eucharist, a privileged place for encounter with theLord
The Eucharist, the memorial of the Lord’s sacrifice, the heart of the life of the Church and of the Lord’s sacrifice, the heart of the life of the Church and of every community fashions from within the renewed offering of one’s very existence, the project of community life and the apostolic mission. Here the fullness of intimacy with Christ is realized becoming one with him, total conformity to him to whom consecrated persons are called by vocation.
In the Eucharist all forms of prayer come together, the Word of God is proclaimed and received, relationships with God, with brothers and sisters, with all men and women are challenged. It is the Sacrament of filiation, of communion and mission. Clearly it is “The source of spirituality both for individuals and for communities.”21
Pope John Paul II’s invitation extended to consecrated persons is particularly vibrant: “My dearest ones, encounter him and contemplate him in a very special way in the Eucharist, celebrated and adored everyday as source and summit of existence and apostolic action.22 In the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, he called for participation
in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and assiduous and prolonged Eucharistic adoration daily.23 Why is adoration so important in the formation process?
c. Eucharistic Adoration
In his April 2003 encyclical on the Eucharist, Ecclesia De Eucharistia, John Paul II claims that the worship of the Eucharist outside of Mass, as linked to the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is of “inestimable value for the life of the Church.”24 The Pope is trying to strengthen the Church by encouraging the practice of a new reverence
and openness to Christ, Christ as really present among us. He seeks in this way, to re-centre, as it were, the Church around him who is her centre, bringing her back to her source, so that she can find there reason, motivation, strength and in a word, life. In the formation process for single-hearted centeredness, the young person will find in Christ her/his reason, motivation, strength and life. Time spent in adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament
is a time of opening oneself to the gift of life in the Eucharist. Influenced in part by the ground breaking work of Henri de Lubac, SJ, the Church has rediscovered the social dimension of the Eucharist, namely, that this powerful sacrament is not only an encounter with the divine, but also a means of fostering unity in the Church and among human beings generally.25 Rightly understood, Eucharistic contemplation could deepen one’s relationship with Christ made present under the appearance of bread and wine and also with the assembly of the faithful, the Body of Christ.
In the midst of a technological culture that fosters noise, clutter, information overload, and in a world culture that is permeated with violence and war, I believe that we need Christic contemplation and silence. Our world not only needs silence, but also hungers for silence. One can commune silently with Holy Mystery in nature or in one’s room, but our sacramental tradition provides us with a special quiet encounter with Jesus.
Eucharistic adoration may also foster the contemplative dimension of a concern for social justice… a passion for humanity. A hallmark of the theology of Johannes Baptist Metz, famous for his spiritual classic poverty of spirit, is what he calls dangerous memories.26 One encounters dangerous memories in the Eucharist. As Pope John Paul has insisted, the Eucharist makes sacramentally present again the horrible sufferings of Jesus, himself a victim of injustice.
In the light of the dangerous memory of the cross, Eucharistic adoration provides, if well understood, the opportunity to become conscious of and to lament the terrible suffering of God’s children in our present day. We are given a chance to commune with the One who gave us these haunting words: “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do to me.” (Mt. 25:40) Christ-centered contemplation leads to Christ-centered action.
This brings us to my next proposal which is an integral part of the formation process, especially the novitiate. This is the “exposure-immersion” period which would provide the chance to call forth their (novices) hearts an even greater generosity, and refine further the quality of the relationship with Christ. The aim here is to help the young persons test the sincerity and authenticity of their attachment to Christ, to become more aware of what it means to be with him in sharing his attitudes and concern for people. It can be realized by exposing them to situations and circumstances where the capacity to love can express itself in new and much more demanding ways.27 We call it a charism journey, a process that will facilitate formation to the triple dialogue: with the poor, with culture, and with religions.
d. THE CHARISM JOURNEY
Please allow me to share the process as described in my congregation’s Guideliness.28 Our SFIC charism of loving surrender to the living God challenges us to an on-going conversion of opening our eyes to the needs of the people around us: the poor, the little ones and the powerless. This on-going conversion is a journey, a gradual dying to self in order to live for, with and as the poor. It is our charism journey. The 1992 Provincial Chapter clearly stated that in all levels of formation, various efforts to internalize and live out our charism journey towards being church of the Poor be facilitated through exposure immersion programs. Charism journey helps us encounter the poor and suffering Jesus among the poor, the dispossessed and the marginalized sectors of our society. The locus of the poor is a potent climate for this encounter. The charism journey takes place on three levels: an inner charism journey, the actual exposure-immersion among the poor and the actual experience of St. Francis’ total poverty. Vita Consecrata reminds us that “through the witness of countless consecrated persons, there will be a renewal of that dedication which was characteristic of the founders and foundresses who spent their lives serving the Lord in the poor. Christ is poor on earth in the person of the poor… as God, he is rich, as man he is poor. “(Vita Consecrata, 108). It is in this spirit that the following principles and guidelines for our charism journey are given for our serious consideration.
Principles:
1. In every charism journey we undertake, let us be reminded of the following quotation from Bishop Kenneth Cragg: “Our first task in approaching people especially the poor, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes for the place we are approaching is holy, else we find ourselves treading on people’s dreams. More seriously still, we should not forget that God was there before our arrival.”
2. Since it is a faith journey, not an apostolate, it is basically a learning process from the situations of the poor.
Guidelines:
1. Check your motivation in undertaking a charism journey.
2. Take with you only what is necessary for the day’s journey.
3. Be very sensitive to the given situation of the family/community. Listen to what they say and share. Take note in your heart of special issues related to gender, children, ecology – its relationship to socio-economic, political and cultural realities.
4. Listen to the people’s hopes and dreams, pains and anguish as you would with you own families. Take time to know the values that keep them going, the faith that sustains their life in spite of poverty.
5. Process the charism journey experience in community. Listen to one another in faith, trust and love. Share from the wellspring of your experience that emanates from the heart yet sensitive to the guide questions that are provided for the charism journey.
6. Find out as community what can realistically be done to further build solidarity with the community with whom you have had your charism journey. In this formative activity the focus of the process is on the person and his/her conversion experience – the “change of heart” that happens during and after the charism journey. Conversion happens when Christ is taking shape in us (Eph. 3:14- 19) Conversion means accepting Jesus’ perspective and his worldview. It is looking at the world through Jesus’ eyes and loving and serving our brothers and sisters with the compassionate heart of Jesus… so that indeed, with a passion for Christ and for humanity, we can be His heart today. I would like to end my sharing with a song and a prayer for all of us.
YOUR HEART TODAY
Where there is fear I can allay,
Where there is pain I can heal,
Where there are wounds,
I can bind, and hunger I can fill.
Refrain:
Lord, grant me courage.
Lord, grant me strength,
Grant me compassion that,
I may be your heart today.
Where there is hate I can confront,
Where there are yokes I can release,
Where there are captives I can free and anger,
I can apprease. (refrain)
Bridge:
When comes the day
I dread to see our broken world,
Compel me from my cell grown cold
That your people I may behold.
And when I’ve done all that I could,
Yet there are hearts, I cannot move,
Lord, grant me hope that I may be
your heart today.
Notes:
1 Instrumentum Laboris, “WITH A PASSION FOR CHRIST AND PASSION FOR HUMANITY,” in Religious Life Asia Vol.6 No.2 April-June 2004 p.42.
2 VITA CONSECRATA, 66
3 EVANGELICA TESTIFICATIO, 32
4 Vita Consecrata, 65, 68
5 Diarmuid O’ Murchu, Our World in Transition (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 2003) p.98
6 Elizabeth Dreyer, 1989 Madieval Lecture in Spirituality, Passionate Women: Two Medieval Mystics (New York: Paulist Press, 1990) in THE WAY Vol.35 Oct. 1995 No.4 p. 288.
7 Diarmuid O’Murchu, Our Word in Transition, p.98.
8 The Way Vol.35 Oct.1995 No.4 p. 288.
9 Richard Rohr, Near Occasions of Grace pp.30-31.
10 Diarmuid O’Murchu, Our World in Transition, pp.47-55.
11 Bishop Teodoro Bacani, God’s Heart and Ours (God’s Gift Publications, Manila.2004)
12 Ibid p.46
13 Amadeo Cencini, “Contextualized and Inculturated Religious Formation” in Religious Life Asia Vol.4 No.4 Oct-Dec.2003 pp.50-55.
14 J.Chittister, The Fire In These Ashes (Cromwell Press, 1995) P.90.
15 Taken from: Fran Ferder, Words Made Flesh (Scripture, Psychology and Human Communication) Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 1986.
16 Novo Millenio I Neunte, 16
17 “Starting a Fresh from Crhist” in Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas, Vol LXXVIII, no.833 Nove.-Dec. 2002 pp659-660
18 Ibid. p.164
19 Novo Millenio I Neunte, 72
20 Vita Consecrata, 18
21 Ibid, 95.
22 >From John Paul II’s Homily (2 Feb. 2001): L’Osservatore Romano, 4 Feb. 2001.
23 Vita Consecrata, 95.
24 R. Roseberg, “Eucharistic Devotion in the Rising Generation,” Review for Religious 63.1, 2004 p.53.
25 Ibid. p.55.
26 Ibid. p.56.
27 Sec. Elio Gambari, The Updating of Religious Formation: Text and Commentary on “Instructions on the Renewal of Religious Formation” (Boston: St. Paul, 1969) pp.74-113.
28 >From the SFIC-PP Guidelines 1996 Edition pp.29-31
SR. JOSEFA S. ALDANA is a member of the Congregation of Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception. She received her Master’s Degree at Loyola School of Theology and her Licentiate in Theology of Religious Life at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Madrid, Spain. She is pursuing her Doctoral at the Pontifical University of Sto. Tomas, Manila.
