ENTERING THE 21^ST CENTURY..............

 - Br. P.S.Francis, svd

Vth SVD Brothers Convention, India

When we speak about Brotherhood, two types of brotherhood come to our mind. One is the Universal Brotherhood and the other is the Religious Brotherhood.

“Br. Gabinus Rauschen Paul SVD, has been declared as the Man of the Millenium among the Indian SVDs.” Are you surprised to read this? Well! If it were to be declared thus, there is nothing to be surprised about. If we were to name an outstanding SVD in India for his holiness, for his hard work and commitment, for his ever willingness to serve with a smile, name anything for that matter, I am sure all would vote for Br. Gabinus. I could similarly name a number of Brothers who could be held up as exemplary Religious. To name a few, we have the late Br. Cunibert a medical man with a healing touch, by whom people from far and wide longed to be touched. Then the late Brother Anthony Thottan, who played a vital role in the formation of Brother vocation here in India, stands as a model of honesty and hard work, simplicity and prayerfulness. We have the living witnesses of Brothers Andreas Kiro, Boniface Bilung, Sushil Soreng and Herbert Raich for whom age is no bar to smile and work and be inspiring models for the rest of the confreres. What makes these men Christ – like? That’s what makes us ask the following question as we step onto the threshold of the 21^st Century.

Who is a Brother? What is Brotherhood?

Church Canon. 573.1 reads, “Life consecrated through profession of the evangelical counsels is a stable form of living in which the faithful follow Christ more closely under the action of the Holy spirit, and are totally dedicated to God who is supremely loved. By a new and special title they are dedicated to seek the perfection of charity in the service of God’s Kingdom, for the honour of God, the building up of the church and the salvation of the world. They are splendid signs in the church, as they foretell the heavenly glory.”

                Again in Vita Consecrata No. 60, Pope John Paul II says, “…..We consider that the term ‘Brother’ suggests a rich spirituality. These religious are called to be Brothers of Christ, deeply united with Him the first born among many brothers.” (Rom 8:29) What better explanation can one give to highlight the Brother Vocation! When we speak about Brotherhood, two types of brotherhood come to our mind. One is the Universal Brotherhood and the other is the Religious Brotherhood.

The Universal Brotherhood or the ‘Brotherhood under the Fatherhood of God’

The gospel of Matthew 23:8-10, says, ‘for you have only one Master and you are all Brothers….For you have one Father, and He is in heaven’. John the evangelist in 20:17, says “Jesus said, Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ God is the foundation, the one Father of all human beings. Christ came not to form a group of good people, or to save the chosen ones, but to gather the whole humanity into one large human family of brothers and sisters under the Fatherhood of God. Christian thinking for the last two thousand years has nurtured this concept of relationship. It opens the door for every human being to live in peace and harmony, love and fellowship as brothers and sisters. Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the best model for this relationship.

Religious Brotherhood

The Religious Brotherhood is a model life, a witnessing community of the above large family relationship. Brotherhood is God’s foundational gift to humanity. It is a call ‘to live and to provide’ a powerful sign, witness for the Universal brotherhood. Jesus came to establish the universal human brotherhood. The Religious Brotherhood is the continuation of that mission of Jesus. If the universal brotherhood is the ‘ideal world, the ideal way of life’ then the Religious Brotherhood is to serve as the yeast of this Ideal world. The Brothers are called to be that salt, that light, that yeast of the world which Jesus speaks of, in Lk.13: 20-21 and Mt.5: 13-14. Certainly, everyone is called to be the light of the world. But the mode of living of it varies. In the case of Brothers, it is his choice of life. It is his vocation. To live a virtuous life, striving to be perfect, as the Heavenly Father is perfect, and to proclaim, to witness to the paternity of God as Jesus did in his life and mission, is the essence, challenge and purpose of Brotherhood.

Why are you a Religious Brother?

If one asks you Why are you a brother?’ the usual safe answer is, to do the will of God, to serve God, to serve the poor and needy and to preach the gospel. Now the question is ‘do you mean it or are you convinced of your answer? If yes, then to what extend do you live a meaningful life and find fulfillment in it? How do you do the will of God serves God, serve the poor and the needy and preach the God News? Is it really a Good News for the poor and needy? St. Augustine once was asked by someone, “Augustine, why are you a Bishop?” He though for a while and said, “Like you I am a human being, with you I am a Christian, and for you I am a Bishop.” According to the new understanding of the Church, the Religious commitment is for the mission. Our life as Religious Brothers is meant to be at the service of others. Hence like St. Augustine can you and me, as a Religious missionary Brother answer, ‘Like you I am a human being, with you I am a Christian and for you, I am a Brother?’

To be for others

As a Religious Brother, wherever you are, whatever you do, it is for others. The profession of vows, our religious commitments are for others. As a human being, as a professional, as a spiritual person, as a missionary you are for others. This is the sum total of the life of a Brother.

What does it mean to be for others? St. Paul in his Letter to the Col. 1:15 says, that Christ being the ‘image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation came to gather all human beings into one family of brothers and sisters’. That is to say Christ is our elder Brother. And so, a Religious Brother is one who reflects that image of Christ is his fellow brothers and sisters.

In the early monastic life, the emphasis was on personal sanctification, personal salvation which gave us the Golden Rule, Ora et Labora, that led us to pray and work concentrating on ones own personal holiness. Today, in the post Vat. II Church, the beauty and greatness of Brother vocation lies in the new paradigm shift, to the new understanding of religious life, that is the Religious life today is for mission, the mission of Christ. It means to be sent to serve the people of God. “His Life is our life, and His mission is our mission” (SVD Const.). The discipleship is meant to carry on the mission of Christ. Our religious Vows have to be understood in terms of relatedness to our fellow brothers and sisters. The religious community is a team whom Jesus gathers to send out on His mission. Hence we are for others. This we do by our:

 Availability

Making oneself a available for others in and through our ministries, whatever it may be and wherever it may be. It is to give oneself freely and fully to the service of others, which makes us cry out ‘I live, not I but Christ lives in me’.

 Adaptability

The ability to change, to fit into a given situation or ‘passing over’ to the needs of the time, peoples and culture. Change, a sign of growth; openness, a way to creativity and integration; these are the boon, the strength and the of success of life. It is taking the ‘Jesus-Way’.

 Acceptability

‘Love your neighbour as yourself. The ability to love and respect everyone as he/she is, And the ability to welcome new people, new situations, new ways and means that make our mission more effective and fruitful. Accepting the Will of God in all things as Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemani. “Thy will be done” (Mt. 26:42).

The Jesus-Model

If we take a look at Jesus’s life, what stands out prominently is the ‘will of the Father’, “My food is to do the will of the Father” (Jn. 4:34). In fact, the yeast that permeated the entire life of our Founder Arnold Janssen is the ‘Holy Will of God’ in all things. ‘Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, is my brother and sister and mother (Mt. 12:50).

The will of the Father is the Mission of Jesus, which is spelt out clearly in Lk. 4:18-19. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has appointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has send me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord.”

This is what we really mean when we say, “His life is our life, His mission is our mission.” A Brother, as Vita Conscrata says, ‘called to be a brother of Christ’, is also called to closely follow Him in being a brother to all, following the example of Jesus.

We the SVD Brothers!

Recently I had been to our novititate at Khurda. One of the novices asked me “why there are very few Brothers?” My answer is this, and I want you to reflect along with me. (Cf. Mt. 13:45) Pearls are precious, valuable and are not as common as iron or silver or even as gold, for that matter. The yeast need not be as much as the quantity – measure of the flour to be leavened. So it is with religious Brothers. It is not so much the number, but the quality that matters to a great extent. I pointed out a few of our exemplary Brothers. They have no followers, but they live in the hearts of many, both young and old. They have lived their lives as light of the world, as salt of the earth. They are worthy to be called precious pearls.

The vocation of a Brother is the call of the ‘Spirit to put the Gospel into action, to be a visual proclamation of the teachings of Jesus. Therefore, the Society and the provinces must continue to give priority to Brother Vocation. And Brothers, on their part, spare no effort to be of high quality spiritually, intellectually and professionally in order to meet the challenges of the time, in order to be a living witness to Jesus in today’s world, in the third millennium. In today’s world, following our Founder’s Charism, “Frontier” is the advanced technological world that we are called to serve. Hence spiritual, professional excellence and efficiency must be the criteria of recognition, identity and acceptance of SVD Brothers.

Our Mission is Our Identity

Mission is the centre, the heartbeat of the consecrated life. Making the Brother Vocation vibrant, meaningful and attractive would depend very much on every dimension of his mission, be it prayer, community, commitments, the vows and the professions as the medium of service. Brother Vocation is a call to action, to act for Jesus, Church and the Society in the power of the Spirit. It is a life of being ‘Mother Teresa of Calcutta while being the Teresa of the Child Jesus.’ It is a package of action and contemplation. The Brother as man of mission, must be efficient and excellent in his profession as well as in his spirituality. His intellectual, technical and professional quality must be the fruit of profound God-experience, Word-experience, so as to enable him to be identified as the brother of Jesus. This is the quality that made our Brothers of the past to be become outstanding people before God and men.

Brothers have a decisive role in shaping the Society and building the Kingdom of God by:

• Preaching the Word

• Living examples

• Administrative and developmental activities

Pope John Paul II, often says, “The Church’s road always leads it directly to people.” In this regard, the Brothers are in a better position to reach out to people through their professions and apostolates, which I call creative ministries. By creative I mean, life giving, productive and mission oriented.

Today, the Church in general and our Society in particular, concentrate on mission, the mission of Christ, which is our mission at the service of communion. The Spirit is the Propeller deep within us. Let us take time to listening to the prompting of the Spirit.

Reading the signs of the time

Our founder Arnold Janssen knew how to read and to interpret the signs of the time and responded to its needs. Standing at the threshold of the new millennium, it is our turn to respond to the call of Christ. We must give priority to apostolic activities. We need to use the God-given talents and gifts at the service of the Word, for the people. More than ever before there is a greater need for us SVD Brothers to be the visible witnesses to the Word made flesh in today’s world. “The better trained they are for their professional, social and pastoral activities, the more effectively they can fulfill their vocation”. (SVD Const. 515 & 515.2)

Vita Consecrata No. 61 says (of the mixed institutes of Brothers and Priests) “All the religious would be recognized as having equal rights and obligations with the exceptions that arise from Holy Orders.”

SVD Const. 611.1 points out “all offices in the Society are open to all confreres in the perpetual vows”. It is up to us Brothers to aspire for greater services and witness to make ourselves fit and to bring out the best of us as religious missionary Brothers at the service of people, the Church and the Society.

The Last Word

It is said, “He who does not look back cannot go ahead.” The past had its glory in its own way. The present is rewarding. The future opens up before us greater challenges. Brothers are well known for their dedication, hard work and religiousity, both in the past and at present. The future is of Brothers, calling us to take up the reins of mission in our hands while continuing to be rooted in the charism and values which we uphold all the while.

The world today more than ever needs Brothers. The demand is even greater in the world of Divine Word Missionaries. Keeping this in mind, I have highlighted our strength in the past, the challenging openings of the present and for the future, the need to revitalize ourselves to be frontiers in professional, social and pastoral ministries. Then we will have the joy and fulfillment of witnessing the Prayer close to our heart as Divine Word Missionaries. “May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the Light of the Word and the Spirit of Grace. And may the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all” come true.