CHOOSING THE WORST PART

Fr. Edward Lucnees, CICM

PART 1

Religious Life as Prophecy

Religious life is not a ‘superior’ way of life, nor a privileged vocation or a better road to ‘perfection.’ It is a special way of discipleship, the way of evangelical radicalism in living out particular gospel values. Religious life is not a flight from the world or from history, but a particular kind of presence in the world, a special way of incarnation and of ‘being with Jesus’ (Mk.3:13-14). In the past, religious life has been tainted with the old Greek, thus pagan, concept of perfection: the presence of all virtues and the absence of all defects. The quest of perfection focused on moral aesthetics and on attaining spiritual beauty which sometimes degenerated into a kind of ascetic narcissism of a religious elite.

Since Vatican II new insights have arisen which help us to understand better that perfection is not the highest degree of spiritual virtuosity, but the highest degree of commitment. The perfect disciple is the one who, in the footsteps of Jesus, goes the farthest possible in the search of the ‘lost sheep,’ the one who penetrates human reality very deeply. To follow Jesus means to become truly human nurtured by a deep and ongoing God-experience, to reach out to others inviting them to discipleship, and to be ready to give up our lives for the sake of the Kingdom. To pursue this radically, not spiritual perfection, is the goal of religious life. Its quality lies in the quality of the commitment of religious persons and communities.

“Founded on Jesus and his Gospel, religious life wishes to express… the enormous paradox that God’s reign has already come, promoting forms of liberated life whereby the desires to have, to dominate and to enjoy earthly goods in a possessive way no longer reign… Therefore, religious life is preserved if it is eccentric, if it seeks what is radical, if it is different from more ‘normal’ lives in this world and if it calls attention to Jesus and his Gospel.” (X. Pikaza)

Here we touch the prophetic character of religious life. (cf John-Paul II, Vita Consecrata, ##84-85). At heart religious life is prophecy, it is a prophetic charism in the Church, and as such the Church’s ‘dangerous memory.’ In the line of the prophets of Israel, the religious are to be God’s people in times of danger or infidelity, to remind them of God’s word, and to call them to conversion. ‘Built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets’ (Eph.2:20) they should be daring and passionate servants of the people’s life and hope, persons who kindle the fire of Jesus’ Spirit and keep the memory of his ‘utopia’ alive. Religious life should challenge the surrounding culture at the deepest levels and try to respond to its true hopes, fears and hungers, by making Gods word heard as good news and by making visible his love and compassion for all. How sad is it then to see religious who lost their enthusiasm for the Kingdom, locked up in fear or blocked by obsolete structures!

Becoming the Periphery

If religious life is to be understood by people as an alternative way of life, as something they can take hope from, it should become not only a symbol of a new existence, but also creatively prospective by showing and living what it pretends to be: a gift to the world and sign of the Kingdom.

“Religious life is to be a living picture of the world for which the people wait, the model of what must be but is not.” (J.Chittister)

This can only be realized in close touch with the needs and reality of people. Therefore, religious life must be enfleshed at the periphery of what is human, and religious persons should become a sort of periphery.

“They cannot be in safe places where life seems already established. They must offer their communion on the border, precisely where human lights ar eturned off, where the voice of the Gospel (good news) odes not reach and many run the risk of being lost, under the influence of fear, injustice and neglect.” [X. Pikaza]

“… by the Profession the Vows”

The three classical vows were not an essential element of early religious life. Though they gradually gained importance, they are not the foundation of religious life, but only a mans to realize this radical way of discipleship. As such they became the distinguishing feature of Christians who committed themselves to give public witness to Gospel values they found in some specific evangelical counsels.

After Vatican II many people, even religious, started questioning the content and the raison d’être of the vows. Whether the vows have nay meaning at all for today’s world, depends on how they are understood and, above all, lived. If they are seen and observed as a series of prescribed or forbidden behaviors, as restrictions to life, they will have no witness-value. If they are understood as challenging attitudes towards life and culture, they will be what they were always meant to be: beacons in a world full of selfishness, violence and despair, signs of hope pointing to the Kingdom which is both already taking shape in history and promised as fullness of life.

But why of all things do we vow chastity, poverty and obedience, things nobody really wants or cares about, things that are not perceived as values but rather as problems and obstacles to a happy life? The ideal of people is to live happily as man and woman and build a family, to have access to the goods and the benefits of the world, and to be free and able to decide for oneself. The vows will therefore not be understood as “ideals of life.” If religious life is not to be seen as the search of spiritual beauty but as commitment to the coming of God’s reign, then the three vows define a style of commitment imitation of Jesus. They have to do with the cross Jesus accepted and carried as a sign of solidarity with suffering people, and as a sign of hope, salvation and new life.

“…of chastity, poverty and obedience”

The vow of chastity is in the first place a call to become fully human in solidarity with the bitter solitude of countless people who are not loved, not wanted, degraded in their human dignity or desperate. Celibacy sets us free to love without limitation and to commit ourselves with passion and compassion to more than those who love us. The wounded, abandoned and forgotten of the world need religious who live their humanity in solidarity, witnessing to the One who came “that they may have life and have it to the full” (Jn.10:10). This liberating chastity is also a prophetic protest against hedonism and the merciless exploitation of sexuality.

The vow of poverty is above all a call to solidarity with the degrading poverty and the humiliating misery which is the curse and yoke of most people on the earth. The vow of poverty summons the religious to advocacy: to stand for justice, to unmask and denounce the causes and effects of misery, to point to the dangers of globalization and to defend its victims. This liberating poverty is also a protest against greed, selfishness, exploitation and wastefulness.

The vow of obedience is primarily a call to solidarity with the countless people and peoples who are not allowed to decide for themselves and to be the authors of their own destiny. It has to do with the millions who are denied autonomy and are condemned to subservience. The vow sets the religious free to listen to the voiceless, to give them voice, and to facilitate ways to choose and be fee. Liberating obedience is also witness against all forms of oppression and domination.

In a talk to religious life during the 1985 General Assembly of the CLAR (Confederation of Latin American Religious), Fr. E. Delaney, CP, said something that since has stuck in my mind: “Those who go this road of radical discipleship have not chosen the better part for themselves. By opting to be marked with the stigmata of the world they chose the worst part for themselves, but at the same time they made the best option for their brothers and sisters in need.” Do we dare to subscribe to that and see it as an integral part of our charism?

PART 2

Missionary Kenosis

The first part of this reflection tried to stress the prophetic dimension of religious life as a radical option and an alternative way of life pointing to the Kingdom. The religious are called to be at the peripheries of human reality, to be counter-cultural and creatively prospective. In this context an important dimension of the religious vows was brought into focus: they are to be understood and lived primarily as a style of commitment in imitation of Jesus and as signs of hope in an increasingly difficult and complex world.

Religious Life and Mission

This approach to religious life and particularly to the vows does not of course exhaust their meaning, but may help us to value and live them better in connection with our missionary charism.

“Over the years of renewal there have been many redefinitions of the vows, and innumerable attempts to explain what they are and what they are not. A new approach to the vows is needed, one that will go beyond redefining words. It is too soon to say what the new vows will be, but already there are some hints of areas where they may emerge. The vows, to be life-giving, must capture the essence of what committed life is and the mission it is working toward.” [Catherine M. Harmer, MMS]

If this is true, then a religious missionary institute like ours should dare to have a closer look at how religious life and the evangelical counsels could inspire our missionary commitment, and how missionary reality should enrich our religious commitment. While the religious are supposed to be the cutting edge of the Church’s mission to the world, religious missionaries could render a particular service to religious life. Being the first ones who are called to keep the fire of missionary dynamism kindled in the Church, they should – from the challenges of the field, and from their commitment at the frontiers of faith and society – remind consecrated people of what is at stake in mission today.

One of the points of contact between religious life and mission is prophecy. As was said before, prophecy is at the heart of religious life. Likewise, modern theology of mission underlines that mission is at heart prophecy: it reminds people of God’s saving will and faithfulness, calls them to conversion, and summons them to a new way of being and relating with God and neighbors.

Kenosis and Mission

Religious life as a special way of discipleship (‘sequela Christi’) “for the sake of the Kingdom” (Mt. 19:12), and mission as the continuation of the prophetic mission of Jesus, are the two components of our CICM charism. The way we live the charism – and in particular the vows – should therefore reflect as much as possible the style of commitment of Jesus the missionary. At the same time it should be nurtured by a spirituality modeled on that of Jesus “the faithful witness” (Apoc.1:5).

One of the key notions that help us to read the Gospels and to understand Jesus’ commitment and spirituality, is “kenosis,” a word forged by theologians from the Greek verb ‘kenoun’ (to empty) in Phil.2:7.

“When Paul, or an ancient hymn quoted by him, summarized the mystery of Christ Jesus by the greek verb ‘ekenosen’ – literally: ‘he emptied himself,’ he had in mind the cross that showed this attitude of Jesus brought to its height: “even to death, death on a cross.” But the cross only revealed the ultimate reality of the mystery of Christ and the kenosis of the cross can be found at the heart of all that Jesus was, did and said… A reflection on Kenosis and Mission should take into account this kenosis which is constitutive of Jesus’ mission and can be found in all forms of his activity.” (L.Legrand, in Spiritus, n.142, pp.40-41)

In Jesus’ missionary kenosis we can distinguish three moments or dimensions which could offer both a framework and an inspiration for a missionary understanding of the vows. These three dimensions are not to be considered chronologically but simultaneously, as aspects of one lifelong process.

The Kenosis of Incarnation

It is the kenosis of entering human reality very deeply, of going to the very depth of human existence, of becoming and being totally and truly human (Phil.2:6-7; Lk.2:1-20; Jn.1:14) through participation in what is weak, oppressed and poor. This kenosis brings us close to people, and especially to sharing the life of those for whom Jesus opted (Lk.4:18; Mt.5:3-12). It calls us to solidarity and ‘insertion’ into the reality of people in need of light and liberation.

Incarnation means that we should ‘become flesh at the underside of history,’ and opt for the places where people are suffering or hurt in their dignity. For missionaries it also implies a respectful entering into the riches of other cultures and into the mysterious depth of different God-experiences. It is also expressed in an ongoing readiness and capacity to listen to people’s voices, questions, answers and mysteries. This demands a willingness to give up privileges, pretensions and hidden agendas. For a religius missionary this kenosis requires the sacrifice of certain forms of human love and of building a family, so as to give us more freedom for specific demands of mission. But the call to missionary incarnation is above all the call to encompassing life-giving love of others without necessarily being loved in return. (cf. Jn 13:34; 15:12-13). Could the kenosis of incarnation be a missionary way ot understand and live the vow of chastity?

The Kenosis of the road

It is the kenosis of mobility, availability and provisionality, the kenosis of walking with people, of setting out with people, and of a common search for truth, light and hope. This kenosis will lead us to solidarity with people’s movements and struggles, and with people who are lost or on the run. It will enable us t reach out to all, especially to those to whom the Lord urges us to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom. It is the kenosis of missionary restlessness and daring, the kenosis of the ongoing search of the lost sheep, the kenosis of going “very far,” to the outer boundaries of faith and hope. This necessarily demands a simple life style and the sacrifice of all impediments to this commitment. In imitation of Jesus, a missionary has to give up all ambitions, plans and securities, and rid himself of any feeling of superiority.

This is the kenosis of not-having, of renouncing extra luggage, powerful means and even one’s family (cf. Mt.10:9-10; 19:27.29), and of refusing to settle down, to look back or to compromise (cf. Lk.9:23-25. 59-62; 14:26-27). It is the kenosis of no-installation (cf.Mt.8:20), be it in works, occupations, commodities or ideas. Since we do not know where the Lord leads us nor how long the road is, this kenosis requires trust, patience and the acceptance of weakness and vulnerability. It is also the kenosis of our willingness to share what we have and what we are (time, talents, skills, energy), and of our ongoing readiness to ‘move’: a readiness to respond to more pressuring, difficult or challenging calls, and to follow the Lord to ‘Galilee’ (cf. Mt.28:7), in other words, to the periphery. Only through this self-emptying will the missionary acquire the inner freedom and prophetic frankness he needs for his task, especially in demanding situations (cf. Mt.10:17-20; Lk.21:12-19). Could the kenosis of the road be a missionary way to understand and live the vow of poverty?

The Kenosis of the cross

It is the kenosis of faithfulness to God and to people till the end, the kenosis of the radicalism in going all the way like Jesus did (Phil.2:8), refusing to escape threats, conflict or difficulties. It is the kenosis of going “too far,” of solidarity with the crucified people of today, shown in our commitment to help carry the crosses of the wretched of the earth, and in our protest against the crucifixion and massacres of the innocent. It is also the kenosis of giving up our freedom in order to set others free.

For missionaries, the kenosis of the cross is very often the kenosis of not seeing the fruits of their efforts (cf. the missionary parable of the Sower), the kenosis of having to endure the hardships of mission, even persecution. For some it may be the kenosis of failure, loneliness, bitterness, or doubt. For many others, like for Jesus, the kenosis of the cross implies the experience of fear (Mk.14:33), solitude and abandonment (Mk:15:34). Jesus showed us how to assume it all in total obedience to the will of the Father (Lk.22:42). His final commitment culminated in a kenosis of total surrender in naked poverty as a sign of his love without limits (Lk.23:46).

The kenosis of the cross is that of the sacrifice of our life: we are called to give up our life so that others may live. Yet we know that cross, suffering and death are not God’s last words: kenosis is the way to the resurrection, to the fullness of life (Phil.2:9). Could the kenosis of the cross be a missionary way to understand and live the vow of obedience?

By way of conclusion

Kenosis is not a strategy or a method, but is part of the mystery of Christ and his mission.

“In Jesus’ ministry it anticipated, and in the mission of his disciples it continues the mystery of a crucified Messiah, ‘a scandal to the Jews and a foolishness to the nations, but to those who have been called,… a Christ who is both the power of God and wisdom of God. For God’s folly is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength’ (1 Cor.1:23-25). Kenosis is this foolishness and this weakness of God who draws all people to himself (Jn.12:32) by the power of a Love without limits.” (L.Legrand, ibid., p.49)

Religious missionaries will benefit from a frequent meditation on the mystery of Christ’s kenosis and its implications for missionary commitment and religious life. Unsettling though a kenotic missionary spirituality may seem, it is not so much a series of impossible sacrifices and demands than an invitation to strengthen our commitment and the roots of our charism. Surely no easy task, but one that will be life-giving, both for others and ourselves, on the condition that it goes with a growing intimacy and identification with the Lord, which is the goal of all discipleship. “Discipline is not superior to his teacher, nor slave to master; it is enough for disciple to grow to be like teacher, and slave like master” (Mt.10:24-25).