Report of Sr. Christiane Mégarbané, Fmm Gen. Sup

Following Christ …

Report of Sr. Christiane Mégarbané, fmm Gen. Sup.

Introduction

1. Five years ago, on 25th March 2003, Sister Philomena Fogarty and Sister Lucie Kristofik of the United States Province were taken hostage by a young man, an event which cost Sr. Philomena her life. She forgave her assassin according to his own testimony, when he admitted that he would never be able to do that.[1] The mystery of this violent death remains unresolved, like the mystery of that forgiveness lived even to the very gift of self, the gift of her life. How is it possible to pardon such a cruel act? Perhaps Philomena did not die for a cause, yet was not the pardon she gave the same as that which Jesus gave on the Cross? “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”[2] The new fraternity which was re-formed in autumn gave concrete form to this forgiveness. By the very fact of its presence, it manifested the pardon of God who “in Christ reconciled the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”[3]

2. What is it that throughout the history of the Institute and still today gives meaning to our lives and enables us to live that? Belonging to 81 nationalities and inserted in 77 countries, however diverse we are, whatever the situations in which we find ourselves and the commitments we undertake, we seek to incarnate the charism of the Institute, a gift for the world, a ‘treasure’ offered and shared in many ways, in the ordinary lives of so many of our sisters, in daring responses … even to the gift of one’s own life.[4]

3. “Franciscan women, called to live the kenosis of Christ (Ph 2: 5-8), in creative fidelity and solidarity with our suffering world” is the theme of the General Chapter which we will celebrate this year. The responses of all the provinces to its preparation give us a rich and solid documentation, complementary to this rereading that we have made in the general council and which we offer you. The choice of the formula of the vows, as a main thread, can enable us to see how in the concrete reality of our life – personal and community life, the life of provinces and of the Institute – we live the following of Christ. In fact, as Mary of the Passion reminds us, “To go to Jesus, Source of grace, we must follow the path that He followed, and this path, from Bethlehem to the Eucharist, is completely made up of poverty, chastity, obedience, charity, love.”[5]

4. To reread our journey from the last General Chapter, a journey marked by the beatification of Mary of the Passion, and by multiple events in the world, the Church and the Institute, will invite us to recall the Lord’s actions in us and through us, while looking honestly and justly at our shadows and limitations, so that “He who began this excellent work in us will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”[6]

I – Following Christ, in the Spirit

- a call

5. At the source of our faith and of our Christian life, no matter what our state of life or our vocation may be, there is before all else this call of Jesus addressed to each person, “to come follow Him”, to become his disciple. The 5th General Conference of CELAM which was held last year at Aparecida (Brazil) reminds us of this: “Called to follow Jesus, ‘they came, they saw where he lived and they stayed with Him.’ (Jn 1: 39). The first invitation that Jesus addresses to every person who meets Him is to be his disciple, to walk in his footsteps and be part of his community. Our greatest joy is to be His disciples! He calls each one of us by name – knowing our history in depth (cf. Jn 10: 3) – so that we may live with Him and continue His mission (cf. Mark 3: 14-15)”[7]

6. “But religious especially, who have left the world, are bound to do more and greater things without however leaving these undone.”[8] This recommendation which Francis gives to religious is found in other words in Mary of the Passion. “I always remember with great consolation the words of one of my confessors. (…) he told me: the life of saints should be a long series of conversions, from good to still more perfect. Take these words for yourself, and let every day of your life be a day of conversion from good to still better. Our Lord wants it like this, He is always knocking at our door to receive something more than we have already given.”[9]

7. At our last General Chapter, after becoming conscious of our “lack of radicality in the following of Christ”[10], we chose for the next six years to “live as women disciples passionately in love with Christ”[11]; an invitation to “allow ourselves to be seduced anew by Christ.”[12]

At the meeting of the General Council with provincials and novice directresses in June 2004, an insistent call to a commitment to a greater radicality and a better quality of life[13] was heard again.

The Enlarged General Council of March 2006[14], which had as its theme: “Franciscan women called to live the radicality of the Gospel”[15] finally indicated an important step on this path. It was the call to follow Christ which became more and more insistent. It invited us to have the same sentiments which were in Him (Ph 2: 5-11)[16]

8. Our journey was confirmed by the reflections made at the International Congress of the Consecrated Life, in November 2004. The final document, “What the Spirit is saying today to consecrated life”[17], confirmed us in our desire to set out and ‘be born anew’, fulfilling the implications of the Incarnation (cf. NMI, 52) and entreating the Spirit for the grace of re-founding. It emphasised the fascination exerted over consecrated life today by the person of Jesus who loved us and gave Himself for us. His passion precedes our passion. His passionate love for his Abba is translated into passion for humanity.[18]

9. The transmission in the provinces of the reflections made at each of these meetings contributed much to making this journey together[19]as an Institute. Annual retreats and sharings were organised around the themes of “disciple”, “Franciscan identity and radicality” and “the kenosis of Christ”. Testimonies of life, taken as much from the present day of the Institute as from its history, accompanied this deepening. The province bulletins as well as that of the Institute, “Meeting Space”, brought us the echoes.

- an identity

10. When He invites us to follow Him, Jesus gives us a name which is at the same time an identity and a mission. “Jesus looked at Simon and said, ‘You are Simon, son of John; you will be called Cephas’ which means Peter.”[20] “Then Simon Peter answered: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ In reply, Jesus declared: (…) I tell you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.”[21]

11. We all know sisters, many FMM of all generations who, by their lives, write beautiful pages of our community and missionary history; sisters with whom we daily rub shoulders at the heart of mission, or in the community services, retired sisters as well as those who bear the burden of the day. By their lives, each one in her own way, they tell us something of Christ. Because they have learned to know Him and to meet Him, they reveal to us some of his traits; sisters who live the following of Christ with joy and openness, in spite of dark hours when their faith can be put to the test; sisters who certainly can say with the Apostle Paul, my life is Christ.[22]

12. To be a disciple is not in the order of knowing, but of meeting, a meeting which transforms individuals to the point that those with whom we live become capable of SEEING God – an expression very dear to Mary of the Passion – and of experiencing Him in us and in others. “If God is in me without my knowing it, without seeing and loving Him, He will not live in me. But if I have God in me, see and love God within me, I will be consumed by the desire that He be, that I see Him and love Him in all creatures. This is heaven’s desire, after all, and it is in us through grace.”[23]

13. Nevertheless, we recognised on various occasions that: we do not always have a clear identity. Our convictions are not very solid, our priorities are sometimes confused and our criteria ambiguous. We share with the world of today a serious identity crisis and we have a tendency to want to dilute our values. If our life no longer recalls the exigencies of the Gospel, a certain radicalism, if we live exactly as the world does, how can we offer it an alternative form of life which witnesses to the Good News?[24]

14. Already in her time, Mary of the Passion expressed this same preoccupation. “Since we entered religious life, have we firmly believed in true wisdom? Or rather, have we gradually slipped? Has human nature claimed its rights and have we given it some concessions? Let us not forget that no one can serve two masters.”[25]

15. Today we suffer from having too many “exterior securities”, guarantees. They leave us in a sort of apathy faced with the demands of our vocation. Have we not, in some measure, lost the taste for risk, the taste for staking everything on Christ? This situation poses a serious challenge for us and urges us on to recuperate our identity so as to be a reminder of the Absolute in the world and in the Church, and witnesses of the divine Love which is revealed to us in the passion of Christ for his creation.

16. It happens during visits that we hear sisters deploring the loss of our initial enthusiasm. It is true that during the course of our lives, we can experience lassitude, discouragement, even disillusionment. That is the time when the following of Christ is most difficult and “we lose something of the fervour we had when we first entered”, as Mary of the Passion noted. Later we would like to recover it but we say to ourselves ‘It is too late now (…) I have no more time.’ So we remain indifferent, perhaps even unfaithful…”[26]

17. At the hour of the Passion, Peter himself knew a moment of denial. For him, however, it was not the hour of failure, of giving up, but rather the hour for a new choice matured in suffering and he would follow Jesus right to the end of love. Thus, in our lives, as in that of Peter, there may be a new “follow me”, if we are convinced that “it is time to begin … (And we) take the resolution to correspond with grace, whatever may be our age and our difficulties.”[27]

18. To find again our vitality and our relevance is to allow ourselves to be grasped anew by an irresistible passion for Christ and for his mission, in order little by little to give Him the whole of our life. Is there not a fundamental relationship between love and the vocation of a disciple? Who is Christ for us at the heart of our daily lives, in moments of joy as in moments of emptiness and anguish, in the monotony of daily life as in our solidarity and our commitments at the heart of the world, in the difficulties and dead ends of our lives, as in fraternal gestures and signs of hope?

- in the Spirit

19.It is the Spirit that the Father sends us in the name of his Son[28]who works in the very heart of each disciple – of each one of us – to enable us to understand, in the concrete reality of our existence, the extent of the love with which we are loved.

20. To listen to the One “who educates us”[29] is the only path in order “to follow Christ”, because we know from experience the extent to which we go astray. “It is from the Holy Spirit that we expect the gift of counsel to know what we should do.”[30] He will help us to be faithful to the vocation to which we have been called, responding to the question that Jesus addresses to us personally: “What do you seek?”[31]

21. That implies an attitude of conversion, in order to discern under his direction, whatever in our relations, our attitudes, our behaviour, our motivation, our choices, is not compatible with the fact of being a disciple. Do we give the Holy Spirit his place in our lives? Only He can grant us to be in harmony with the thoughts of God.[32]

22. True conversion is that which starts concretely from the real self and not from the ideal person that we dream of being. It invites us “to recognise in our deep encounter with Christ, the beautiful and good in ourselves, as well as the truth of our fragile, vulnerable human condition and, like the women disciples in the Gospels, allow ourselves to be healed and sent anew to give life.[33] Francis asked his brothers to remain very realistic. “He admonished each one to consider his own strength in the service of God.”[34] “My brothers, I say to you, let every one of you take his constitution into consideration.”[35]

23. The Spirit who “comes to help us in our weakness”[36] is at the source of all transformation. He commits us to the following of Christ, usually by successive stages, sometimes painful and never acquired once and for all. Nevertheless, He who called us to follow Him is He who shared our humanity. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born subject to the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive filial adoption. And the proof that you are sons, is that God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying: Abba, Father!”[37]

II – I, Sister…

24. Each one of us has her own history, with its riches and limitations. Our sensitivity, our intelligence, our natural qualities, our shortcomings, our social milieu, our cultural world, all that each one is, is the first soil which will receive the call of God to follow Christ.

- those who have heard the call to follow Christ

25. The young people who respond to this call are the fruit of the world of today which is marked by:

• continual and rapid mutations, where everything is moving and changing;
• great inequalities; because globalisation has divided the planet into the economically favoured and the disadvantaged, accentuating the social gap between those who have all and those who have nothing;
• wars and ethnic conflicts, also serious natural disasters of which many countries are the victims;
• the digital, the Internet and their multiple resources make communications very easy but perhaps make interpersonal relations more complex;
• advertising, which models life and becomes a reference (the importance which is given to “brands” of clothing, of shoes etc.)

26. They are aware of their frailties;

• some have lived through family instability: a limited or non-existent family life, fragmented or broken; on the contrary, others have had the privilege of a family surrounding them;
• many have lived traumas due to violence, insecurity, divisions, tribalism, nationalism or regionalism…
• confronted with splitting up and dispersion, taken up with the immediate and the temporary, they have grown up with an egocentric, relativistic and materialistic mentality;
• they are searching for reference points, models, for an identity and a meaning to life. They fear long-term commitment; the future appears to them to be very far away and uncertain.

Confrontation with fragility is sometimes for them a very strong moment of maturing and of discovering their vocation;

27. They are attracted by:

• the message of the Gospel, the person of Jesus, even if their journey of faith is different, a number of them having grown up far from Christianity, with tendencies to religious syncretism;
• life in groups, different groups, prayer groups, charismatic groups and others. They like big gatherings, contacts, relationships, forming networks…
• values and radical choices: solidarity, truth, a sense of responsibility, of equality. They are sensitive to the problems of the world and commit themselves to great causes such as the struggle for justice and peace, the battle against torture, hunger and all kinds of discrimination, help for the most disadvantaged …
• consistent and authentic testimony; and they need to be understood with regard to what they think and say about life, the world …

- initial formation

28. Those who ask to live the FMM life have different motivations: the desire to give a deep meaning to their lives by responding to Christ’s call, the discovery of the Gospel and the desire to share it with others; the meeting with an FMM who enabled them to discover our charism; the attraction of Francis and of his evangelical project of life; adoration; community life and missionary life…

the experience of God

29. However, no matter what the origin of the call, Mary of the Passion situated it starting from its first aim: to become true disciples of Our Lord.[38] And to Marie de Ste Cecile she wrote: “It is a great grace at the beginning of the religious life, when we are taught to become true disciples of Jesus Crucified.”[39]

30. To attain this end, it is indispensable to centre our life on the Essential, without which we run the danger of building on sand. Following Jesus Christ cannot be lived without a deep personal experience of God, knowing that we are loved by Him and wanting to love Him without reward. If God is the ultimate reason why we follow Him, we can then consecrate our lives to Him, not by our own strength because his call is far beyond all our means, but because “God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.”[40] Should the process of formation not facilitate this experience, the personal meeting with Jesus, a living and deep friendship with Him which turns the whole of life upside down?