Fragile but Invincible Hope for the Future

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Fragile but Invincible Hope for the Future

Fernwood 2006!

Tenyears ago this past March,411 of us gathered during Holy Week, for “An Experience ofJesus and His Brothers”, in Fernwood, PA . . . with the metaphor of The Exodus as the guiding theme of our retreat. We gathered then as Brothers from the Districts of Baltimore, LI-NE, New York, and as the Delegation of Toronto in response to our reading of that moment in our history and at the urging of grace to choose life: the future of our Brotherhood and of the mission in Eastern North America.

In his letter to us then, Brother Alvaro spoke of us as “witnesses of an Institute that is dyingand of a New Institute that is being born.” Alvaro continued, “Brothers, you are invited to take this step, to leave behind one shore, the one on which we have felt ourselves recognized and effective. We are called to cross over to a new shore, one that we can scarcely see.. . to invent, innovate, and go forward without baggage. Searching for something which is possibleand newwill depend on grace but also on our willingness to see with the eyes of faith . . . so that our hearts may be rekindled.”(Hope)

In Easter Hope we pledged with our “dots”on that Holy Saturday to become something new. . .to commit ourselves to be a part of a New Institute that is being born! Threeyears later, based upon that communal discernment to trust in God’s Providence and to open ourselves to new life and possibilities . . .we became DENA!

Faithfully, since our establishment as DENA, we have kept our eyes, our energies, and our resources focused on the Lasallian mission and its future – our raison d'être: announcing the Gospel and making our educational programs accessible to young people from families that are economically disadvantaged. At the same time, we have ensured our ongoing formation, ourpastoral care, and our internal needs without turning inward.

Those religious institutes,and even some of our own Districts, that have given into the“comfort of discouragement” and haveturned inward, whose energies are more about their survival than theirmission, have already sealedtheir future and no longer need to speak of hope and new life.

The Beginnings of Our Retreat

Several months ago when Ed, Charlie, and I first started talking about this retreatusing the themes for the Year of Consecrated Life, Charlie insisted that I speak about the theme of “Hope for the Future” which by then, under Miguel’s influence, had morphed into “The Fragilebut Invincible Hope for the Future”. Having succumbed in the moment to my darker side, all I could think of was “UGH”, but said yes! Honestly, I didn’t feel as if I had won the lottery! Hope can be challenging virtue for me! I sometimes struggle with a sense of hope and often enough, I tend to see the glass half empty.

Having been DENA’s Visitor now for seven years,I knew I couldn’t get away with standing up here, cheerleading a rosy picture of how things are. We continue to grow older, become fewer, and count only a small, though exceptional, number of men as new members. Who of us doesn’t wrestle with the lights and the shadows of life, our personal lives, our life together, the future of our District, of the Institute, and the reality of the world around us?

Looking at the world today,the Reign of God can seem pretty far off, exactly when it most needs us to be men of hope and to act on its behalf, especially, to be signs of hope to a generation of young people in a culture of unbelief,and devoid of sufficient witnesses of enduring hope!

Over these past several months, as I thought about what I might say, I mindlessly “googled” “hope” in the “hope” that I might be inspired. In .37 seconds Google indicated 1 billion and seventymillion references for hope – clearly a hunger of human hearts – but little that inspired or rescued me from my assigned task… Why did Charlie ask me to speak about hope;I can be sogiven over to the dark-side and so depressing!

And Then, Unexpected Light in MyDarkness:

This past Easter I was home in the hills of Western Maryland and our parish, Our Lady of theMountains, which is actually a parish made up of five parishes held together by Capuchin Franciscans -truly living the mendicant life, travelling from village to village each weekend, preaching the Good News.

At the early Easter morning Mass, at the site of my family parish, an ancient Capuchin whom I had not seen before, and whose name was unpronounceable,began his homily with a warm smileand,dare I say it, a twinkle in his eyes at Eastertime:

“Who here believes in the Risen Jesus,raise your hand? That looks like a good number of you! Good!”

“Who here believes He rose from the dead,raise your hand? Okay, that’s most of you!”

“Who here believes Jesus is near to you at every moment of your life,raise your hand? Pretty good!”

“Okay, I think we are done here!”

In thatEaster-instant, I recalled what is already in our heart-of-hearts! The Risen Jesus is the source of our invincible hope;hope in God’s power to bring life out of death; hope that all our darkness and fears can be brought to light and to courage.

Our hope is not in a cultural notion oreven in the wisdom of the ages,but in the person ofJesus. He is the foundation of our hope. He is the one who first actively showed hope in the darkness of salvation history . . . and, Jesus himself was no stranger to doubt and darkness.“My God my God why have you forsaken me?” Yet, in the end, Jesus faced his darkness and fears, “hoping against hope” in his “Abba”, into whose hands Jesus commended his Spirit.

This is what real hope is about for us as men of faith: letting go of a world in which we were comfortable and had some sense of control, and opening ourselves to the mystery of God’s Providence -ready or not!

And for us as brothers of Jesus and De La Salle, it always means opening ourselves to the world of young people who are poor, at the margins, and far from salvation.

Our Historic Moment

In these days together we have sought to face our present “historic moment” and our call to personal and institutional conversion. In prayer,through critical reflection and dialogue,we have sought to discern what God requires of us at this present moment of our history, a moment of great consequence not unlike the unprecedented moments which De La Salle had to face in his own time, a moment where time matters and action is called for. A rich example of which we recalled in the short but powerful letter written by the principal Brothers in 1714 to De La Salle again ordering him to take up the leadership of the Society and to give up his own “comfort ofdiscouragement”.

Monsieur, our very dear Father . . . we are convinced that God has given you and continues to give you the grace and qualities necessary . . . this is why, Sir, we beg you very humblyand order you in the name and on behalf of the Society . . . to take up responsibility again immediately.

Miguel, in guiding us in the development of this retreat, helped us to understand that the concept of our “historic moment” is more than just a snap-shot of the “here and now” but also about the living memory of the people and events of the past, and about the future to which we are called.

Ourmemoryshould lead us to the origin of our Lasallian mission: Jesus and the Gospel on the one hand; and, St. La Salle, the first Brothers, and the charism that they passed on to us, on the other hand.

Our call to the future is informed by our careful reading of our current reality,andinformed by all those who have a claim on us and our gifts: the young, the poor, our Partners-in-Mission, the world, and the Church. They are convinced that God has given us and continues to give us, the grace and qualities necessary . . .

Our call to the future is not about remembering and “holding on” but rather about hopeful anticipation. We anticipate in the present what we hope for, for the future. It is the same hopeful anticipation that Alvaro called us to in his letter to us at Easter ten years ago of an Institute that is being reborn!

According to Miguel, memory and hope become momentous forces that drive our decisions and move us to respond, individually and institutionally. When past and future coincide in the present, we understand and act. Just as in De La Salle’s life, through the ups and downs he knew so well from his life’s journey, we, like De La Salle, trust in God’s Providence and have hope for the future which gives life and courage to us in “this historic moment” to act. There must be action.

Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter on the Year of Consecrated Life tells us that, “It is precisely among these uncertainties, which we share with so many of our contemporaries, that we are called to practice the virtue of hope, the fruit of our faith in the Lord of history”.

Brothers, we cannot foresee the future,or look over the Holy Spirit’sshoulder to see what she has in mind for us. Nor can we just lie back and wait for answers . . .we must simply venture out, trusting in God’s Providence as De La Salle, and as our first Brothers did. Pope Francis calls us to this courage “to go forth”in his reminder of our identity from The Joyof the Gospel: “I am a mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world” (EG 273).

Brothers, each one of us is a Mission in this world and became Brothers in response to a call to make a difference in the world of young people, to go forthand in the process, to become better men and brothers to all God’s people.

While I hope with all my heart, for many more young Brothers,and am confident yet in this hope, we are blessed abundantly with many Partners-in-Mission that we must value and cherish as one Hopefor the future of the Lasallian Missionalready bearing rich fruit!

Do not their faith and zeal for the Mission, their friendship and gospel witness, already manifest to us that God-is-with-us, nourishing our desire to promulgate the mission?

The Vision Has Its Time

Bob Schieler, in his Pastoral Letter to us at Christmas 2014, and again in his closing remarks to the “Jurassic”Visitorsin Rome last month, challenged us to take to heart the prophecy of Habakkuk:“The Vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late.” (Habakkuk 2:2-3) The Vision, Brothers, is a manifestation of hope which requires our trusting in Providence and seeing with the eyes of faith. It requires both the living memory of the God in whom we believe and the future vision which is pledged.

This vision/This manifestation of hope orients us outward and toward the future. It is not optimism, but a profound confidence and trust in that which is unseen with our eyes (Rom 8:2-26)and which yet energizes us to act in the present. To trust inthe vision’s fulfillment, we need to see with the eyes of faith and imagination . . . , and – we need to see our hope in Jesus! In order to have hope in Jesus, we need to see Jesus… as Jesus’ followers did when they found his tomb empty(Mark 16:6-8).

Brothers let us see Jesus-Hope in one another, in what is being renewed, in what is new, in the freedom we have to go forth, in the faith and zeal of so many Partners who encourage us with their friendship and who inspire us with their lives...

Let us see hope all around us . . .

• In our ministries as they renew themselves educationally and structurally, and as they increase access for young people from financially challenged backgrounds.

• In our Religious Education and Christian Service programs that give witness to the Beatitudes through corporal works of mercy and through advocacy for those in need and on the margins of society.

• Through the lives and witness of significant numbers of Lasallian Partners who identify as Lasallian and have deepened their vocations through their association locally, and increasingly, through the many grass roots associative groups of the District,organizedby age,by metropolitan area,by ministry type; and interestgroups: Lasallian women; Legacy Lasallians; etc.

• Through the significant resources the District makes available for the formation of faculty, staff, and students from ministries that need assistance; and for students who need financial assistance to have access to a Lasallian education.

Let us see hope all around us . . .

• Through the District’s continued involvement in inter-District relationships (Haiti, LWANGA, Centro La Salle Homestead Fla); its openness to new ministries (Jamaica, Trinity & John Paul High Schools);and in its exploring of new ways to serve the poor with Seton Education Partners.

• Through our Boards’ heightened awareness of their apostolic role and their commitment to mission and access to our ministries for young people from economically challenged circumstances.

• Through the commitment of our youngest Brothers in announcing the Gospel and in their direct service with the poor, through their ministries, their immersion experiences in overseas apostolates, and their missionary service.

• Through the incredible mission energy and witness of our Senior Brothers both in ministry and in our Community life.

And, through countless other examples of Signs of Hope, of openness to the Spirit, and of the in-breaking of the reign of God. We have much for which to be thankful and proud!

Closing Message to the Brothers from the 45th General Chapter

It is clear that we stand at the intersection of imagination and resources. Without turning a blind eye to the scarcity in our human and financial resources, the Chapter Capitulants draw our attention to the abundance. They want us to invest our Gospel energy in what is emerging rather than in a consuming anxiety about what is diminishing.

“They want our imaginations to tap into the courageous response of the discouraged Disciples on the way to Emmaus and the discouraged Founder in the south of France . . . they impel us to respond with the radical hope of the first disciples, the Founder, and the first Brothers.” (10.3)

“Radical hope is apostolic and a characteristic of our Lasallian history. This hope is disruptive and does not tolerate inertia. It calls for mobility and flexibility, for going to the periphery and beyond the border . . . to leave our areas of comfort in order to encounter the poor and the vulnerable.” (10.4)

Brothersour radical hopeis Jesus to whom we are called to conform our lives and to re-present in the worldof young people who are in great need of Jesus-Hopeand of salvation.

Again, in the words of the Chapter capitulants: “We conclude where we always begin: ourassociation for the educational service of the poor . . . In this encounter we are evangelized . . . the poor are “living images of Jesus Christ” (Med 80.3) and they are the living Good News for us.” (10.11)

I’d like to share with you a quote from the immediate past Superior General of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, Philip Pinto, CFC. This quote has great resonance with our own reflection on acting to bring about that New Institute which is being born: “I do not believe that we are living any more in a time of transition. That is too tame a word to describe the upheavals taking place in our world today. I believe we are in a time of chaos, and more than ever, we need to be aware of the action of the Spirit hovering over the waters and calling forth life.

Brothers, a time of chaos demands risking. The only real sin in such a time is that of inactivity, of waiting for the dust to settle before we do anything. The call today is to risk acting to the best of our ability, knowing that only this will allow the future to unfold.

I’ll end with an amazing line from the First Book of Peter (1Peter 1:3-4) which captures well our invincible hope: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading!

Live Jesus in our Hearts!

Dennis Malloy, FSC

July 15, 2016