The seeking of the will of God all through one’s life
“Wisdom and upright judgement will guide us, consecrated women and the Directress in our journey of seeking the will of God, a journey which will be lifelong; the seeking jointly, however, can never exonerate each of us from personally assuming our own responsibilities.”
It is necessary to pray God for the gift of wisdom and honesty to seek always the will of God: “it is not enough to begin if not having also persevered; whoever perseveres until the end will be saved “. (Memoirs pr.11)
“Against the spirit of discord and division, authority and obedience shine like a sign of that unique paternity that comes from God; of the brotherhood and sisterhood born of the Holy Spirit, of the interior freedom of those who trust in God no matter what the human limits of those who represent them. (Consecrated Life 92)
The responsibility is always personal. Is it a responsibility that has been checked or is it an obstinacy? Is it a seeking of the will of God or of one’s own interests?
Fidelity to God, to the vocation therefore, could be maintained only if we embrace the necessary means and ways: the observance of the Rule, the listening to the Word of God (which remains our light to be able to discern the deceptions of the devil), to be vigilant and on one’s guard, and to be prudent.
Saint Angela is conscious of the human nature, its fragilities, and its dangers, in which we can fall and she puts us on guard by asking us to be vigilant… “Water, air and earth, with all of hell, will take up arms against us.” (Prologue 20) and at the same time she indicates to us how to come out of them successfully: “It is necessary to be wary and prudent.” (Prologue 18)
Vigilance, being on one’s guard, prudence… human virtues which every daughter of Saint Angela must possess if she wants to be able to avoid the dangers that surround us, remembering that all creation could be a means to go to God, and at the same time it could become an obstacle.
Even if it seems superfluous in being precise about it, we must remember that the observance of the Rule is not the end but the way to reach the end which is and remains the communion with God: “For if you strive in the future, with all your might, to live as is required of the true spouses of the Most High, and to keep this Rule as the way along which you have to walk and as that which has been drawn up for your benefit, I have this firm and unquestioning faith and hope in infinite divine goodness that not only shall we easily overcome all dangers and adversities but also to our great glory and jubilation, we shall defeat them.” (Prologue 23-25)
To follow Christ in the consecrated life implies also poverty, or rather the choice of a poor life, of self-sufficiency in the use of things, of a certain style of a sober and mortified life, of an availability of spirit to accept God without limits.
At times one has the impression that when we talk about poverty, it is emphasized too much the fact of possessing or not possessing, very often at the expense of freedom and the detachment of heart that we must have of all that we possess.
“Finally, we exhort each one to embrace poverty; not only effective poverty … but above all the true poverty of spirit by which man strips his heart of all affection and longing for created things, and of his very self. And in God he has all his wealth.” (Rule 10, 1-6)
The poverty that Angela suggests to us has its roots in faith: the certainty that the destiny of our life is in the hands of God and whoever consecrates themselves to Him “they will never be abandoned in their needs. God will provide for them wonderfully” (Fifth Counsel 31)
The spouse must be always ready, so that the divine Bridegroom would fill her of his fullness, availability, stripping and renouncement of herself, because she could rely only on Him.
“We will know how to accept our limitations, our problems and the sufferings of life serenely as a sharing in the poverty of Christ… We will be always ready to give our sisters and brothers time, advice, prayer, money, and other goods, attentive to the emerging poverties, the demands of the Church and the needs of the Company.”(Const. 21.2)
Poverty as an interior detachment, as a habitual moderation in the use of things, and as an abandonment in Providence is the condition, so that God can enter and take a dwelling in the intimacy of our heart:
An extract on freedom by Bishop Paul Tan, SJ based on notes that I made in 2008
Martin Luther King wrote some famous lines…………. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Freedom is in the heart of man’s desire. Our vows are to free us of ourselves, of everything. Freedom from – this is negative. Freedom to – this is positive. Free to be another Christ. The vow of poverty frees us from attachment to things/people; the vow of chastity prevents us from being enwrapped with an individual so we may love all and the vow of obedience shows us how to do the will of God, not our own will. Freedom is a word that rings in the hearts of young people.
Let us speak of the vow of poverty as a vow to undertake an adventure to achieve the impossible, to be an anawim of God. The young Capuchin in my earlier example had dreams and ideals but he was disillusioned. Our candidates need to know ideals but also the reality, what is good and what is bad. There is no need for me to say that we have a crisis in religious life today. No details are needed. Vatican II invited us to return to the founding charisms of our founders. Persons of consecrated life are to put one leg in the secular world and the other deeply rooted in Christ. This is impossible without the grace of God. It would be like walking in marshland. There is an on-going crisis in religious life.
If the Rule is the masterpiece of the Merician spirituality, the Counsels are the masterpiece of the motherly tenderness of Saint Angela and from them emerge an excellent programme of formation which is suited to all the members of the Company, for the ordinary sisters, as well as for those with work of responsibility and authority. It is true it is not always an easy programme to be realized because it requires lucidity and human maturity, but above all a constant keeping of the presence of God.
In the Counsels of Saint Angela, authority is presented as a service compared with humility “do not consider yourselves worthy to be superiors and leaders. Rather, regard yourselves as ministers and servants.” (Counsels 1.2-3) “It deals with being guardians of the spouses of the Most High.”
To see in the other the spouse of Christ: it is a saying for both sides. It applies not only for those who exercise authority, but also for those who obey. It is the secret to be able to estimate, appreciate, love, take care, to have at heart every daughter of Saint Angela, helping her to realize her own relationship as a spouse and to fulfill God’s will.
Jesus is the model for service “who while staying in this world he was for you like a servant obeying the Father until death.”(First Counse1.6)
A point upon which Saint Angela insists very much is charity, because it must be the motive and the style of the promptness and vigilance in the exercise of authority: “Be gentle and compassionate towards your dear daughters. And strive to act solely out of the sole love of God and out of the sole zeal for souls when you admonish and advise them, or exhort them to some good and dissuade them from some evil.”(2nd. Counsel-2)
“That you are moved to this care and government solely by the sole love of God and by the sole zeal for the salvation of souls.” (1 Legacy, 3)
“Charity which directs everything to the honour of God and the good of souls, charity indeed teaches such discretion.” (2nd Counsel 6)
“…Because all your works and actions as governors, being thus rooted in this twofold charity, can bear nothing but good and salutary fruits.”(1st. Legacy 4)
“Hold them all in your heart and bear with them … as for you, do your duty, correcting them with love and charity…” (8th Counsel 5, 7)
So that the mothers could act according to the precepts of Saint Angela, it is necessary that every daughter would be open, sincere, available to the action of God, which passes through the authority, and whoever exercises authority does it in absolute clarity and dependence on God.
As a conclusion for the Counsels Saint Angela recommends concord and unity in charity, “Be bound to one another by the bond of charity, esteeming each other, helping each other, bearing with each other in Jesus Christ, (9th Counsel 1)
To esteem, appreciate, help each other mutually and bear with each other in Jesus Christ does not mean to tolerate but to bring together with the sister her own weights (fragilities, limitations, errors etc.) with charity, love, gentleness, generosity and the strength that comes from Christ.
“See how important is this union and concord. So, long for it, pursue it, embrace it, hold on to it with all your strength.” writes Saint Angela (9th Counsel 10-14) and the Constitutions confirm “united together in the Company … we experience communion and find support and assistance for living our vocation and mission…” (23.1) …together, rich it fraternity and joy, rich in formation and in support, in prospective, and in prayer.
And in the tenth Legacy, almost with an imploring attitude Saint Angela says to us, “I beg you with all my heart, please be watchful and most vigilant … so that no weeds of discord grow up among them…because the more you are united, the more Jesus Christ will be in your midst … (line 9) loving each other and living in harmony together are a sure sign that we are walking the path, right and pleasing to God.” (12)
The Counsels that contain the directives for those responsible for authority, seems to me, that they reveal above all, the face that Saint Angela asks of the Company and of each member who wants to live happily therein.
In conclusion from the fact that God is at the beginning of our journey, is born the confidence of walking this way with Him and the certainty of living it, an intimate encounter without end, for all eternity.
[As taught by Fr Iker]
Jesus’ value is: I have done it; that’s it. Conclusion: His value is to do the will of the Father.
John 3:16 For this is how God loved the world; He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.
John 12:47 If anyone hears My words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world:
Everything Christ does is directed to the salvation of man, that the world be saved. It is His need, almost obsessive. How much I wish to bring fire to this! He accepts everything in His life in order to fulfill the will of the Father. He accepts even death.
Luke 22:43 ’Father,’ He said, ‘if You are willing, take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, let Your will be done, not Mine.’
This poverty of Christ is an absolutely necessary attitude if we want to have this total and unconditional love, if we want to respond like Christ did to our call to become Christian disciples and to bring salvation to the world. Poverty is to do God’s will. It is to save the world. It is absolutely necessary to have total and unconditional love.
When we put a condition we put a choice and we put a value. E.g. I will give you my pen if you will give me your notebook. There is to be no ‘if’. I love you. Period. Love is not an emotion or a feeling or affection. To love is to respond to the person’s basic need for life and happiness. The conditions we put become values. Therefore, all these needs and conditions become important and everything else, including the salvation of the world which is God’s will, becomes subject to those conditions.
In the temptations of Jesus, the devil says,’ I will ….if…’ Jesus says ‘no’. We have different needs in our life. Self-made needs form one group. E.g. I have to live in Chiangmai. No one can send me to Bangkok. These are mostly external needs like study, positions, money, housing, work, persons. They could also be internal such as comfort, attention, affection, having control in your life. We build them up.
The second kind of needs is natural needs which are deeper than self-made ones. They can be material like food and drink, rest, health, care of the body. The will of God goes along with most of these as God wants me to have a proper diet and rest. Spiritually, there are certain needs for affection, attention, independence, control of our situation etc. The point is: if these needs become values, then the whole world can fall apart. They become excessive and we must have them.
Core needs are the deepest of all and include the need for salvation, life, happiness, to be fully myself in the right understanding. Jesus responds always to the core needs. He rarely responds to the first category of self-made needs. E.g. Jesus did not speak. He did not perform any miracles before Herod.
When one of our needs in the first or second categories becomes important in our lives to the point of becoming a value, then it can become an obstacle to our real happiness.
E.g. I need attention. I make a fool of myself to get attention. I try to assassinate the king. I appear in all the papers.
Poverty frees us from all the needs that do not concern the salvation of the world. St Paul in Philippians 3:8 says
‘But what were once my assets I now through Christ Jesus count as losses. Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For Him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ and be given a place in Him, with the uprightness from God, based on faith,’
Poverty is to have the will of God as our supreme value. The salvation of the world is the will of God. This poverty makes me free to love unconditionally, like Christ. It frees me of all other needs, natural and self-made. All aspects of poverty—having money, the use of money, the style of living, the style of traveling etc are related to the basic attitude of poverty. It has meaning and value through it. It becomes artificial and senseless, otherwise. The spirit of poverty: the salvation of the world. May I live out this spirit of poverty specifically and uniquely in the way God has called me. Poverty is the basic Christian attitude that enables us to love unconditionally.
[As taught by Helene de Beauregard]
VIRGINITY includes celibacy and being single. For St. Angela, virginity is an election, a choice and a vocation. We have been chosen to be virgins. It is sacred and holy. This consists in voluntary sacrifices of our own hearts to God. It goes beyond the physical aspect and it embraces the whole person—spirit, heart, will and conscience. This helps us make ourselves to be one and integrated, given over to God and not scattered or dispersed. Virginity may be defined as having a heart without sharing it with others. It is free and it tends to God and God alone. This is a special union. This is a spousal union with Christ so we must never offend the life of God in us. It is also charity and not envy or jealousy etc. It develops in spiritual maturity. It is not sterile. Spiritual mothers must build others up and reconcile them as well. We are called to be life-giving.
In the Constitutions, we read about embracing chastity in the mystery of the virginity of Christ. This is a response to the love of the Father. We are called to be joyful witnesses. We are to be happy since we have been chosen by God and are living with Him. So we show our joy and gratitude that we are loved by God and that we have given ourselves to God. This is Merician joy. We are also optimistic people. Certain of God’s presence in us, we cannot fall into sadness or discouragement. We belong to Him.
We are open to the values of friendship. We collaborate to sincerely help. We will also know how to value the gift of our feminity. Yes, we are happy and free women. Men are our brothers. We are full of charity, faith and hope, available to all but we are not possessed by anyone.
We are a family able to proceed in moments of spiritual trials and loneliness. We have the means to get out of difficulties. We can seek advice. In the Rule, we read that we voluntarily make a sacrifice to God and we never behave in such a way that is not worthy of being a spouse of Christ. St. Angela with her thoughts was a revolutionary for her time.
Part of the message from Pope Benedict XVI:
Dear brother bishops, dear priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, catechists, pastoral workers and all of you who are engaged in the field of educating young people: I fervently exhort you to pay close attention to those members of parish communities, associations and ecclesial movements who sense a call to the priesthood or to a special consecration. It is important for the Church to create the conditions that will permit many young people to say “yes” in generous response to God’s loving call.
The task of fostering vocations will be to provide helpful guidance and direction along the way. Central to this should be love of God’s word nourished by a growing familiarity with sacred Scripture, and attentive and unceasing prayer, both personal and in community; this will make it possible to hear God’s call amid all the voices of daily life. But above all, the Eucharist should be the heart of every vocational journey: it is here that the love of God touches us in Christ’s sacrifice, the perfect expression of love, and it is here that we learn ever anew how to live according to the “high standard” of God’s love. Scripture, prayer and the Eucharist are the precious treasure enabling us to grasp the beauty of a life spent fully in service of the Kingdom.
It is my hope that the local Churches and all the various groups within them, will become places where vocations are carefully discerned and their authenticity tested, places where young men and women are offered wise and strong spiritual direction. In this way, the Christian community itself becomes a manifestation of the Love of God in which every calling is contained. As a response to the demands of the new commandment of Jesus, this can find eloquent and particular realization in Christian families, whose love is an expression of the love of Christ who gave himself for his Church (cf. Eph 5:32). Within the family, “a community of life and love” (Gaudium et Spes, 48), young people can have a wonderful experience of this self-giving love. Indeed, families are not only the privileged place for human and Christian formation; they can also be “the primary and most excellent seed-bed of vocations to a life of consecration to the Kingdom of God” (Familiaris Consortio, 53), by helping their members to see, precisely within the family, the beauty and the importance of the priesthood and the consecrated life. May pastors and all the lay faithful always cooperate so that in the Church these “homes and schools of communion” may multiply, modelled on the Holy Family of Nazareth, the harmonious reflection on earth of the life of the Most Holy Trinity.
