Center for Redemptorist Spirituality

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Need for a Vision

A few years ago the Union of General Superiors in Rome described the present process of religious life in terms of re-founding. Each Institute, in continuity with the fundamental charism as lived in its history, is re-thinking and expressing in new ways its reason for existing in the Church and its Mission. There had been elements, practices, etc. assumed throughout history that obscured, or even confused, the particular charism. There have been attempts at leveling out all religious life along the same criteria and values. Religious life lived stages of uneasy and dangerous (for its charism) accommodation to values and realities that tended to empty it out of meaning and significance. In some Institutes Mission (charism) and ministry became almost equivalent.

Considered from the point of view of re-founding, each of us, each community, then, is a founder: we all participate in the process that the Spirit is generating. Each of us has something to contribute to this process. This is not the time for individualisms, isolationism or self-centered heroism. It’s the time for radical commitment to the Congregation’s process in docility to the action of the Spirit. The founding the Congregation in 1732 was bitterly difficult precisely because of the lack to this commitment: those present did not share a common, shared vision.

Our present world-wide situation requires of us a process of discernment that makes it possible to listen to what the Spirit is saying to us. This discernment, in turn, demands a spirit of conversion that generates the openness and the freedom we need to respond to the challenges of the world today. Through these means we will come to share the vision that is essential for bringing about the new that the Spirit wants bring about.

In the opening homily of a meeting of Provincial Superiors in Rome in 1999, Father Joseph Tobin reminded us of something quite significant. He asked superiors to listen to the Spirit in obedience:

The Chapter could speak with such conviction because it was obedient. The members tried very hard to listen attentively to the many ways in which God makes his will known. The Holy Spirit urged us to look beyond whatever problems might beset the Congregation in order to glimpse what we are called to be.

The Holy Spirit will help us see and understand more clearly the road to follow. All renewal in any Institute is the fruit of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.

It is important to develop a shared vision in the Congregation. Let’s reflect on this with an illustration. Consider the present as a specific point on a flat surface or table. We become aware that the present, for many reasons, has to change. After much reflection we begin to see what, how and where we should be. We acquire an image, a vision, of a goal to be reached. This would be a second point, usually at a significant distance from the present. Let’s imagine a rubber band stretched between them, an end anchored at each of the two points. The rubber band will reflect the tension generated between them. As long as the vision remains anchored, the tension will be creative, leading the present towards that which we have seen, discerned, that the Spirit wants of us. But if, because of the tensions and difficulties, we begin to adjust our vision and bring it more and more closely to the present, the result will be inevitable: we will end up living in a present ever more and more out of tune with the will of God. We can become managers of sheer mediocrity, simply doing nothing or too little.

Another image may help us clarify the significance of developing a vision. Let’s consider the athletic competition of the long jump. The athlete runs a certain distance and, reaching a line drawn on the ground, takes a leap. The objective is to jump as far away from the starting line as he or she can. There are three elements worth noting here: (1) the line drawn on the ground – it marks the point at which the athlete must initiate his leap; (2) the goal the athlete sets for his or herself – it is interesting to see the athlete, just before making the run, just standing on that line and trying to define the point at which he wants to arrive; (3) finally, the precise distance back from the line that will provide the necessary space to get the maximum out of his or her physical capabilities in order to reach the objective.

The prophets of the Old Testament follow a similar dynamic as they face the challenging problems of their times. They have a sharp and penetrating view of the present – the line which defines the leaping point towards God’s future. In order to understand more deeply the present and to define more clearly the future God has for the people, they look to the past. They look for specific points of reference that open up new visions of the present and the future. The past, in this sense, truly configures the present with all the potential for the eternal newness of God. In this perspective the past helps us recognize the future already contained in the present. The sacred "place" for the activity of the Spirit is always the present, the here and now of the kairos, and yet it is but the beginning of the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.

We must try to understand, as best we can, our present in all its dimensions, without fear. As we try to clarify a vision for the future we will find that it will be necessary to reach into the past. We need to have clear and solid points of reference that define the orientation of our Spirituality and Mission. Our vision is rooted in the Gospels, in the spirit of Alphonsus and in the lived Redemptorist experience. It is important, however, to realize that we cannot remain in the past or, much more dangerous, attempt to reproduce the past in the present. The process should lead us towards fresh and creative expressions of fidelity to our charism.

What does it mean to be a Redemptorist today? Where does our vision come from? Fundamentally we look to our Constitutions and Statutes. The General Chapters that led to their final approval undertook the task of aggiornamento. In response to the Second Vatican Council’s call, they returned to the Gospel, to the spirit of our Founder and to our Redemptorist tradition, in order to define and describe for us today, in broad strokes, our charism and spirituality.

The significant challenge before us is to preach and become the Good News, both personally and as communities. God’s presence so often seems hidden or distant in the midst of historical events. Everything can seem pointless or sense-less. It is precisely there, in the midst of what is actually happening, that the Church has perceived the need for a new Evangelization that is capable of revealing God’s presence. We must look for new ways for all to see that our faith is not lived in vain. Who we are and what we do must seek to proclaim this presence and to become a prophetic appeal to listen to God’s voice.

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