CHRISTMAS
MESSAGE
Rome, December 1st , 2004
Prot. N. 377/2004
Dear Brothers,
Advent has barely begun and the Church in the
phrases of its liturgy invites us to unite in expectation and desire,
the deepest known to mankind, making its words our own: “Shower, O
heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down the Just One.”
In a land dried up by egoism and violence, God comes
to be our Emmanuel, God with us. He is one with us, takes upon
himself the burden of our humanity and, like a savior, like rain on
parched soil, makes new life take root in the hardened land of parable
The mystery of Incarnation which we are preparing to
celebrate is also the mystery of Mission. God, who has never identified
with solitude but rather with love and communion, continues to
communicate himself and to be called upon to share love, communion and
solidarity. As Dehonians on mission we receive the Word who was
made flesh and came to dwell among us with a disposition that seeks to
go out of self and onto other, with a heart that is open and united
with others.
As we approach the end of this year, we can only
confess how God has walked with us and made life sprout in certain
furrows of the Congregation that at certain times and in certain
contexts may have appeared slightly sterile.
We would like to point to some of these signs of
life and invite you to a readiness to give thanks to God for his work
among us:
- The Declaration of the Decree on the Miracle Attributed to Fr.
Dehon which has opened the way to the proclamation of his
sanctity. This decree is not just a step in the formal process
but still another confirmation that the Dehonian life is a path to the
fullness of life, a path to sanctity.
- Various new elements of “geography” and Congregational
Restructuring:
- Venezuela has begun
its existence as a Region (January)
- The Congregation has begun a new presence in Angola
and currently serves that church with 4 men responsible for a parish
with nearly 500,000 people (March).
- Two men live in Vietnam now for several months and
have obtained indications and contacts for further steps in light of a
permanent presence there (March)
- Uruguay has become a District and thereby has new
impetus for a meaningful presence in Latin America (August)
- The provinces of Holland and the Flemish have
decided to begin the road to confederation which will lead to closer
collaboration and mutual support (November).
These items are not merely the effect
of an internal change within the Congregation or a juridical
adjustment, but a way of being faithful to the mission confided to us
to assist the growth of the Kingdom of God, a faithfulness that
requires vigilance, newness of life, and a readiness for adaptability
in the way things are set up.
- The first complete year of activity for the new General
Administration. This is a time during which we have learned to plan and
work together, and to get to know the congregation especially through
our visits to the provinces. Beyond the experience of communion and the
opportunity to learn much from all of you, we can testify to the
generosity and love by which so many of our men make their lives a gift
for others.
- The meeting of Major Superiors which took place in Rome during
the month of October and where, in a way, so many contacts made during
the visits and the variety of activities undertaken all came together.
This meeting was made richer by the presence of those in charge of the
new entities that do not yet enjoy the characterization of “province /
region / district” yet constitute an important aspect of the “new and
vital” in the Congregation. During the meeting we enjoyed a rich
experience of “We, the Congregation” and the meeting itself was a time
for co-responsibility, solidarity, and mutual support in the process of
refoundation that at the last General Chapter we decided to do together.
During the course of the meeting:
- We set the time and
place (May, 2006 in Poland) for the next General Conference which will
have as its goal a reflection on our mission and a new impetus to our
missionary activity.
- The elements for a course for SCJ formation
personnel were listed, a course that will begin in Rome in October,
2005 and last for the period of one year. It will include an
experience of SCJ community life over and above a systematic
approach to our spirituality. The course is designed to be a welcome to
life and trust in our future, given that nearly all the anticipated
participants will be coming from those areas where our presence is
relatively recent and where vocations to the religious life is
flourishing.
- The preparation and realization of this course for
formation directors requires a systematic reflection on our
spirituality and a commitment to assimilate it so that it becomes our
life: this path to enrichment involves us all. For this reason we
have sought the assistance of the recently named theological commission
to collect and discover wyas of teaching the spiritual riches left us
by Fr. Leo Dehon.
- We agreed to even greater sharing of persons and
resources among us.
- The SCJ Memorial Day celebrated throughout the Congregation for
the first time several days ago. In holding this memorial, we
recalled those who constitute our “roots” and especially those who shed
their blood in witness to their consecration to God and the Kingdom. To
memorialize does not mean looking back; it means believing and feeling
ourselves nourished and sustained by the faith of those who preceded
us, a celebration of life, the life that the God-with-us came to share
with us and which, for Him, is not limited by Time.
The collection of events and initiatives which we
referred to above is by no means exhaustive; an elenchus of the signs
of life that God has raised up among us could be much larger. We
need to recall: the provincial chapters held in several provinces, the
apostolic undertakings or very special on-going formation programs. We
should remember the 46 men who professed their vows in the Institute or
the 102 who entered the novitiate this past year. Every province,
every community, everyone of us is called upon to contemplate
what God has rained down upon the earth and express thanks.
In all the events that affected the life of our
Congregation, we have received signs of the presence of the Christ of
solidarity, God-with-us, and through this experience our lives as
Dehonians find deeper roots which we, in turn, wish to express through
a solidarity with the brothers and sisters who share the same thirst
for justice, peace, goodness, and God.
A new year is about to begin, a year that the Church
wants us to live with a eucharistic spirit. The invitation
is to come to a richer appreciation of this most important gift for the
life of the Church, but particularly to contemplate it and allow
ourselves to be as “broken bread”. As SCJs we welcome, in this
appeal aimed at every Christian, a plea to allow ourselves to be
penetrated by a eucharistic dimension such that to speak of Dehonian
spirituality without it would be meaningless. In our daily celebration
of the Eucharist and our daily adoration of the Eucharist we find a
source that enriches our lives, our communities, our apostolic service,
and our love.
In the next few months we have to have the grace of
celebrating the beatification of Fr. Leo Dehon. This is a grace
that requires our hearts to open to a personal acquiescence of God’s
plan for the Congregation, a plan that will certainly take it onwards
and that will discover new motives and energies in the forthcoming
General Conference on the Missions and in the work done in preparation
for it.
The God who comes to “visit us from on high like the
rising sun” (Lk 1:78b) is the One who will bring to pass the wishes for
peace and fullness of life that we have for you and for every man and
woman on this earth.
Merry Christmas
Fr. José Ornelas Carvalho, SCJ
Superior General
and his council