Sr. Inigo, SSA
PHILIPPINES
CONSECRATED LIFE Called to Move Beyond Copyright Š 2019 by Sr. Inigo, SSA Text design: Hinga Kashong, FSP Published under arrangement with Pauline Publications, 143 Waterfield Road, Bandra, Mumbai, India All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher. Published and distributed by Paulines Publishing House Daughters of St. Paul 2650 F.B. Harrison Street 1302 Pasay City, Philippines E-mail: edpph@paulines.ph Website: www.paulines.ph Cover design: Ann Marie Nemenzo, FSP 1st Printing 2019 ISBN 978-971-590-886-3
at the service of the Gospel and culture
CONTENTS Foreword
7
Preface
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1. Consecrated Life Today: Called to Move Beyond
13
2. Revisiting Religious Life Today
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3. Jesus, Model of Religious Life
48
4. Called to Be His Disciples
67
5. Self-Awareness
89
6. The Fig Tree: A Metaphor for Religious Life Today
105
7. The Three Evangelical Counsels
116
8. Religious Community Life
165
9. Consecrated Life and Leadership
196
10. Discernment
215
11. Spiritual Accompaniment
229
12. Formation – A Call to Wholeness
241
13. Gender Justice: Issues and Challenges
260
14. Empowerment of Women in Church and Society
272
FOREWORD It is with great joy that I express my deep appreciation to Sr. Inigo on the occasion of the publishing of her book, Consecrated Life: Called to Move Beyond. Sr. Inigo belongs to the Congregation of St Anne’s, Chennai and has dedicated her life to meet the needs of the weaker sections of Indian Society. As head of her congregation for twelve years, she directed the activities of the Institute and got involved in important humanitarian causes. For 14 years she had worked at Tihar Prison, touching the hearts of the inmates by her very presence and involvement in different welfare activities. Over the years Sr. Inigo has been the facilitator of General and Provincial Chapters of various congregations and has gone around the world proclaiming the urgent need for a new way of being religious that would be relevant for the 21st century. She made no secret of her option for the poor especially the women. Her communication skills, critical views and eagerness to contribute made her a natural choice to address international gatherings. She was one of the representatives of South Asia at the Synod of Bishops on Vita Consacrata in the Vatican in 1994. She has addressed numerous groups of Religious in the last 15 years and had conducted workshops, seminars and retreats. She has the gift of being able to speak in simple terms and to touch the hearts and minds of the participants. And now she puts down her
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years of experience, thoughts and reflections in this very thoughtprovoking and challenging book. I am glad to introduce this book which are her Reflections on Religious Life after years of prayer and contemplation. Consecrated Life: Called to Move Beyond is a book that explores the movements in religious life today and the currents that are emerging among the cohorts of the mainstream communities of women religious. Sr. Inigo traces the history of religious life, including the impact of Vatican II, and examines some of the theological sources for the reinvention of religious life today. She explores the current situation of women religious, re-imagines the meaning of vows, community, and mission, and examines how the religious life will fit into an emerging Church. At the core of religious life, Sr. Inigo finds the “Abba Experience—a mystical allegiance to the divine mystery at the heart of all existence.” Religious are meant to be effective catalysts of those values which carry deep meaning for all people, irrespective of time or culture. The role of religious communities is to live those deepest values and to “radiate” them, to bring them into life. Sr. Inigo re-imagines consecrated life as a process of evolution. She paints a positive picture for the future that will be different from that of the past, but with the power to transform itself and flourish into the next century as something just as fresh and as daring as the founders’ visions. The reinvention of religious life for today involves renewed commitment to the choice of a radical Christian community that inspired, attracted and sustained the religious of every age. This book is packed with food for thought and conversation. She draws attention to the prophetic calling of Religious Life, reimagines and reemphasises Religious Vows, and addresses
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Foreword
issues of Religious Leadership and Community Life. Each chapter includes a helpful study guide for group study and individual reflection. This thought-provoking book about Religious Life invites us to a disposition to receptivity and encourages a sense of hope for the future based not only on the lessons of the past, but on faith in God’s ongoing purpose for Religious in our changing world. In this regard, I am confident that this book by Sr. Inigo will benefit innumerable people and promote the sacredness and inviolability of human life in society. Invoking God’s choicest blessings on her. My Hearty Congratulations to Sr. Inigo! Oswald Cardinal Gracias Archbishop of Bombay and President, CBCI & CCBI November 20, 2018 Archbishop’s House, Mumbai
PREFACE For the last 15 years or so I have been busy giving talks on religious life to various groups of men and women religious. I have also preached retreats to some lay groups. I have put in writing some of these talks as requested by friends. The Daughters of St Paul too have been asking me to collect some of these writings into a book so that they may be available to more people who may be interested. So I have made a selection. These are not scholarly essays, but basically conferences. So the style is simple and conversational. These are reflections that come from my own experience of religious life as a simple religious, as a novice mistress and as a leader serving the congregation at various levels. Written texts and talks have also been part of my service to the congregation. So the text has a personal touch. This experience has now been widened through interaction with various groups in India and also abroad in places like Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, etc. I am thankful to all the groups of people who have graciously and appreciatively invited me and listened to my conferences. They have certainly provoked me to think further, especially from a practical point of view. I am grateful for their encouragement and support. I have given talks also on apostolic themes like ecology, prison ministry, etc. but I have not included them here, preferring to focus on religious life. I must admit that I have read and been influenced by what others have written. I owe special thanks to Sr. Sandra Schneiders 11
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IHM, Sr. Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Fr. Albert Nolan and Fr. Ron Rolheiser. I am grateful to all of them. I am particularly indebted to two of my friends who have helped me sharpen the text of these talks: Fr. Michael Amaladoss, SJ and Br. Philip Pinto, CFC. I am grateful to his Eminence, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, for gracing my book with a foreword. He did this so willingly in spite of the many demands on his time. My gratitude is also deeply felt for my Congregation Leader, Sr. Jacqueline SSA, for her personal interest and encouragement. I am thankful to Fr. Joe Mannath SDB, Sr. Sujita SND and Fr. Samuel Canilang CMF (Manila) for their messages of support. I am particularly thankful to the Pauline Publications for publishing it so that it can reach a wider group of religious. May I wish the readers a fruitful reading that may lead them to reflection and personal and communitarian transformation! To this end, I strongly suggest that the questions at the end of each chapter serve as discussion points for community meetings. It is only when we share our spirituality that any real growth takes place. For the sake of emphasis I have conferred different versions of the Bible. Therefore I would like to advise the readers to do the same. Sr. Inigo, SSA
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R
emember the struggles you and I went through on the day we left our home and parents! Why did you and I come running to join this life? What was the price we paid to do something different? What happened to our original zeal and enthusiasm to live selflessly for others? In the light of these challenges I would like to indicate some possible shifts and U turns we need to take if we want to be authentic to what we profess ourselves to be. Religious life is a radical choice. In an age where the primary values are money, power and sex, for someone to choose poverty, obedience and chastity is something of a radical and courageous choice. But today we are at the cross-roads without a clear sign post. Someone said: “Don’t ask what the future of religious life is, but ask what type of religious life we want in the future.” If we let the past control us then there will be no future for religious life. If we are not mystics and prophets, there cannot be consecrated life in the future. The Vatican II Document Perfectae Caritatis mandated the religious congregations to “a constant return to the sources of their foundations and to adapt themselves to the changing signs of our times.” Therefore, we need to change our old mind-set, 13
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thought-pattern and ideology as they are old wine-skins which do not contain the solution for new challenges. There are new roads to walk on, new possibilities to explore, new questions to ask and new strategies to respond to as people are changing, objectives are different and new needs are emerging. We have to re-define our very lifestyle, our ministries, formation and administration to be more relevant to this changing world.
The Purpose of Religious Life
For Christians, religious life is not a renunciation of the world but a deeper immersion into the world as radical disciples of Jesus. It is not a way to self-realisation through isolation but it is a call to live in communion with others and to build communities of freedom, fellowship and justice. In the gospels, the call of the disciples appears as a two-stage process of leaving and following: First of all, come and see—experience the new life, remaining at the feet of Jesus and, secondly, go and share this experience with others and make them disciples of the new kingdom. Make sure of what you are looking for and then follow him. As we read in the gospel account (cf Mk 3:13-15), we note that the disciples were always in the company of Jesus observing all that he did, hearing all that he spoke. There were several occasions when they received special instructions too (cf Mk 4:10-20; 7:17; 9:28). The only time they were away was when Jesus himself sent them two by two for a trial mission (cf Mk 6:7-12). And on their return, Jesus was very particular that they should go back to his company in all earnestness (cf 6:31). Jesus did not seem to consider their achievements during their mission more important than their company with him. Logical priority should be given to being with him (cf Lk 24:29).
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It is an experience which can only be learnt by remaining with him and cannot be expressed. The following of Jesus introduces the disciple to a certain kind of open communal life. No one is a follower in isolation; she/he is supported and challenged by others with a similar commitment. I consider the following points as some of the distinguishing characteristics of consecrated people: Called to be committed God–seekers The first and most essential purpose of consecrated life is to be committed God-seekers. Without a committed pursuit of God in contemplation, all kinds of good service activities lose all purpose and relevance. In John 1:35-52, John the Baptist points out Jesus to his disciples. Andrew, after living with Jesus for a day, goes and brings Peter to Jesus. Philip after having encountered Jesus invites Nathaniel to come and experience the life of Jesus. Ultimately, it is the search for God in the daily-ness and the daily search for God in everything that marks the person a ‘religious’. This all-important purpose of a single-minded search for God is beautifully expressed by Joan Chittister when she says: “For the person who cannot find God here, staying here is a mistake. For the person who does not seek God here, leaving here is an imperative. For the person who can seek God better someplace else, leaving here is grace.” To be Prophets and Prophetesses When we love everyone in compassion, we want to do justice to them. When we see tyranny and injustice, not questioning them is not possible. Being quietly pious and holy within ourselves is not possible. Our seeking God and sharing our God-experience will not alienate us from responding to human concerns. Through meditation, our ideas of truth, justice, love and compassion get recharged and we begin to question reality. To be a prophet is not an option but the imperative need of the hour for a God-seeker.
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We become the conscience of society. The prophets—like Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena—were the voices calling the Church to be truthful to the gospel and they even challenged the Church. The task of the prophet is to criticise, enable, empower and energise people to rise above their human and spiritual plight. It is her/his task to read the signs of the times which implies a critical evaluation of what is unjust, oppressive, manipulative, and consumeristic. Religious life is primarily a call to prophetic ministry. The religious are called to be ‘shock therapists’ for political structures, economic systems, ecological concerns, enterprises pertaining to health and education, scientific pursuits and ecclesial institutions. A perennial challenge facing religious life throughout the world is to explore an alternative context for its life and mission. To be Pioneers Religious are not meant to be builders and maintainers of institutions but are to be pioneers of new approaches, responders to new needs and developers of alternative ways to meet those needs. Consequently, it is clear from the history of religious life that various religious founders at different historical periods initiated something new. They did not give old and ready-made answers to new challenges. They did not copy the answers which were relevant for monastic religious life. They were pioneers in many fields being creative, innovative and taking risks to walk on the road less travelled. To be Pilgrims We are called to move on not only geographically but also from our ideas and traditional mind-sets. The New Testament speaks about the stand of Jesus: “Let us go to other villages” (Mk 1: 38). “Let us go down to Jerusalem” (Mk 9: 9).
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Paul’s missionary journeys too show that after establishing the churches and appointing trained leaders in Corinth, Galatia and Rome, he too moved on without settling down comfortably in the known places. Having seen the meaning and purpose of religious life let us now move on to look at certain internal and external challenges, as well as at some positive trends in consecrated life.
Internal Positive Trends
1. Looking at the rate of growth of vocations to religious life today in proportion to the number of Catholics, one has reasons to be hopeful about the future. There is an increase in the number of international congregations in our continent, especially within the past three decades, as well as local congregations. Of course we cannot deny the new problems that accompany them. 2. We have responded to the call of Vatican II very enthusiastically and made lots of efforts to contextualise and to radically interpret the founders’ charism. This has resulted in greater involvement of their members in social and frontline ministries. In some congregations, this has put a few religious in a position of conflict with their congregational leaders and with certain members in the Church and in government. In general, many religious congregations have taken seriously the continuing renewal of their members, investing much time and resources. 3. A new development in the history of consecrated life is the growth in the number of Asian religious missionaries being sent on mission outside the continent to work courageously, irrespective of their cults, colours and cultures. There is a
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tremendous growth in being committed missionaries to other non-Asian countries. 4. The Church acknowledges in a special way the contributions made by women religious for the growth and renewal of the Church. The recent themes of the meetings of Church-related organisations and the presence of women and the laity as special guests and resource persons are signs that augur well for the future of consecrated life. Women are also gaining confidence in their own abilities and they are coming forward to accept responsibilities in the Church. In spite of tensions and oppositions they begin to re-read, re-conceive and reconstruct the way of seeing and interpreting the social realities, theology and mission. They realise that ultimately, it is women who must determine what a woman’s worth is and refuse to be the silent and the silenced half in the Church and claim their rightful place. 5. Another positive trend is an increasing number of members joining from “minority cultures”, tribes and other groups. It is seen as enrichment to live in multi-culturality, though it poses some major challenges in their ministries, community life, formation and administration. The “new poor” created by the recent financial crisis, persons with AIDS/HIV, child prostitutes, street children, child labourers, refugees, undocumented migrants, prisoners, and the ecological balance have certainly affected consecrated life especially for the past three or four decades. This situation has become the signs for many congregations for re-interpreting their charism and renewing their life in Chapters and renewal sessions.
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It has given rise to a new Integrated Spirituality, a genuine hunger for God in realities—from working for the marginalised through institutions to being with, being evangelised by and working with them.
Internal challenges
It may not be an exaggeration to say that religious life is going through a period of profound transition. While appreciating the many positive changes in recent years, we cannot deny the fact that there is an erosion of credibility in the way religious life is lived in India. Absence of a vibrant spirituality can be sensed everywhere. Often the deliberations of general and provincial chapters which reflect a high degree of radicalism and hard options remain so only on paper. The vast majority are cocooned in comfort zones of security. This has resulted in a lot of cynicism and disillusionment both within and outside religious life. The widespread malaise of individualism, consumerism and careerism has considerably weakened the spirit of commitment and availability among many religious. 1. Cultural Alienation. There can be no authentic Christian consecrated life without its being rooted in the gospel and in the culture of the people. Consecrated life continues to be of predominantly Western expressions. It remains very much foreign. It is an imperative that consecrated life needs to be inculturated. Asia is known for its spiritual experiences and wealth. It has developed a style of consecrated life many centuries before Christianity. Yet, it is unfortunate that Christian consecrated life in Asia has largely ignored the religious traditions of this continent. Deeply religious values like simplicity, hospitality, silence, a sense of sacredness, contemplation, community, etc.
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have not yet become the indigenous expressions of consecrated life for us in Asia. 2. Community life. Community is for mission. The religious are inspirations and supports to each other. The Community is the place where we release our tensions and are energised for our mission. In our house meetings, we share our successes and failures and we celebrate our joys and sorrows. Celebrations and picnics reduce our tension and break the monotony. But today community life itself has become a tension. Many communities appear as unrelated parts patched up. In religious communities, there is often only a business-oriented, I mean, merely functional, relationship. There is rarely a deep, sincere, trusting and intimate relationship among the members but only an apparent cordiality. One’s presence is felt more in the field than in the community. Over-involvement or work forces the members to avoid sharing in community responsibilities and being accountable to others in the community. We keep ourselves simply busy. Ministry is an excuse not to meet others. It is only in communion that we have life, life in abundance. That is why we religious are abnormal and unnatural, arrogant, rigid and narcissistic. To the broken families and the divided world, ours must be a counter-cultural witnessing life. The God whom we worship is a community. Jesus established a community to carry on the mission of Yahweh. Individually we are successful but we fail in our ‘being’. Showing ourselves too busy can be a need for something else. With such obsessions, there is no time in our life for relationships. Jesus, with his entire obsession for mission, was human, had time to meet friends and participate in meals (time for fellowship experience), relaxed and found time for prayer.
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3. Religious Obedience. There is nothing holy about following another’s plan for us than making our own and taking responsibility for them. To call every decision of the superior the will of God is too much to claim. The vow of obedience which is an adult decision to seek and promote the mission of Jesus rather than my glory is very different from the parent-child relationship some religious communities encourage, where adult relationships and independent thinking are frowned upon. Obedience can be trivialised by being reduced to the question of dependence and permissions, rather than of serious adult responsibility in the world. 4. Traditional ministries. Once upon a time we were the owners of schools and hospitals. We were seen as missionaries and not just professionals. But today nobody calls these works as apostolates. They have become money making rackets in some congregations. Every ministry was a response to the need of the place and the people. As needs are changing, our responses should also change. The existing ministries are being done in a new way and there are new ministries to liberate the poor politically, economically and culturally. Excessive institutionalisation has sucked out the spirit and vitality of religious life today. Increasingly, security of the institution has removed the basic insecurity demanded by the gospel. Though religious life is of its essence prophetic, prophecy has become easily institutionalised by achievement. The religious are no longer seen as the people on the cutting edge, but rather are viewed as people intimately connected with maintaining the institutions of society. Unfortunately today, the sense of mission is gradually replaced by professionalism and, worse, by careerism and the pursuit of personal ambitions. Today how many or what
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percentage of religious in India are burning with zeal for God’s kingdom or with passion for Christ and passion for humanity? 5. Piety vs Spirituality. I have no doubt that there is a lot of piety among us but I am not sure whether there is enough spirituality. We are multiplying novenas, vocal prayers and the hours of adorations. We are faithful to a number of external exercises of piety and thereby we are also considered pious and very prayerful. This fidelity may or may not affect the quality of a person’s life. Spirituality has a lot to do with the quality of one’s life. A spiritual person is one who sincerely tries to live by the values of the gospel. We cannot claim to be truly spiritual if the fruits of the Spirit are not visible in our life (Cf Gal 5:22-23). Only a person who has been touched and transformed by the Spirit of God is truly spiritual. Religious life on the whole seems to manifest shallowness of our God experience. Way back in 1975 Vandana Mataji opined that the religious do not have enough spirit of contemplation and serenity to enter into relationship with others and to grasp what reality is. Further she described religious life as a smooth and easy life, an uninterrupted enjoyment of the goods of providence, full meals, soft raiment, well-furnished houses, the pleasure of the senses, the feeling of security, the consciousness of wealth and power. These and the like have choked the spirit of Indian religious today. 6. Commitment. Earlier ‘commitment’ meant a life of renunciation—a life people had chosen to live with a difference in religious houses. Today we see extremely committed and extremely generous lay people around us. People do not expect us to be efficient administrators or competent professionals but ‘spiritual guides’. They want humble, happy and spiritual religious rather than just achievers, specialists or professionals. What Jesus said in the
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gospel, “I will hand over the kingdom to others and they will bear better fruit” (Mt 21:43) is becoming true today. As Saint John Paul II said prophetically, it is the century of the laity. Our life is no more attractive to our young people. They don’t find challenges and relevance unless we radically revise our life style and ministries.
A Call to Make a U-turn
The double gospel icons of the Samaritan Woman and the Good Samaritan can be sources of inspiration and challenge for us religious today. The Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well. She felt an attraction for his person and his message in her heart. She abandoned her water jug, that is, her former life, to follow him and became a witness to the good news (cf Jn 4:5-42). The Samaritan man, who met another human being, half dead, a victim of robbery and violence, felt his heart moved to compassion. So, he changed his plan because of this person; he became his ‘neighbour’ and took care of him with great generosity (cf Lk 10:29-37). Both these gospel characters were ready to make U-turns and they urge us today to make the much-needed shifts and turns in our own life.
External Challenges
Change is the most constant factor in our times. Everything is changing including our family and society. These societal changes have affected congregations and individual religious in different degrees and ways. The more traditional groups who are ill prepared for change suffer the most. Within congregations, different capacities for change have created tensions between groups—the conservatives and the progressives, the young and the old, the reformists and the radicals. A good number of congregations and
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particularly some religious are still struggling to read the signs of the times and implement Vatican II. For many congregations who have a long history of traditions, the process has not been easy. Many religious who want to be truthful to the gospel, have to struggle to break away from their association with the rich or at least the middle class and foreign resources. Vow of Poverty. The Vow of Poverty has no more meaning and witnessing value. Our wealth, comforts, power and position, our lack of sharing, insensitivity and indifference towards the environment, alienate us from the poor to whom we are called to be “Good News”. Even those who initially have succeeded in reorienting themselves towards the poor have experienced difficulty in sustaining this commitment. As stated earlier, our buildings with strong compound walls, high-raised gates and dogs, with lawns and love birds and fish tanks, the latest cars, the type of medical help sought, the mode of celebrations, etc. are a counter witness to the poor man—the Jesus of Nazareth. We are, of course, helping some poor people. But they don’t feel comfortable to approach us and we too find no time to be available to them in their needs. Simplicity is not seen as a gospel value today. There are individual religious who dedicate themselves for the poor. But they are often marginal in their congregations and are marginalised too in such situations. Inter-culturality. More and more, religious find themselves working with various cultural and ethnic groups in their ministries. In many religious communities, many are coming from ‘minority cultures’, ethnic groups or tribes. A major challenge posed by inter-culturality within religious communities is the question of ‘unity in diversity’ and appreciation and lived acceptance of its consequences. Even with this acceptance,
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however, the slow process towards its realisation has to be worked through in terms of attitudinal and structural changes on the level of persons and institutions. Societies in most parts of the world will be more and more multicultural in the next millennium. It is a reality most religious, especially in Asia, cannot afford to ignore. Inter-religious context. Ninety-nine per cent of the religious work with people of religions other than Christianity. Hence, the possibilities for inter-religious dialogue through ‘dialogue of life’ and ‘dialogue of action’ are immense. Several congregations have happily taken new initiatives to further this direction, e.g., through centres for inter-faith ministries, inter-religious spirituality and dialogue, or courses on them, as part of their formation programmes. We still need a new theological vision of religions, of the Reign of God, of the Church, and of religious life. Given the fact that only 17% of the world’s population is Catholic, and 33% Christian, a future without inter-religious dialogue is unthinkable. Inter-religious dialogue is a dimension of life which is assuming greater and greater proportions in today’s world. Religious plurality, globalisation, justice and peace, and violence underscore its urgency. The followers of various religions have no choice but to come closer to one another, to strive to collaborate more for a better world. Many religious need to awaken to this reality. Technology and the Media. Technology and the Media seem to affect the life of religious congregations very seriously today. Many congregational Chapters and seminars are reflecting continually on their adverse effects on the quality of community life, prayer and spirituality of their members. Particularly in the big cities, we witness the progressive weakening of religious values that are unable to resist the values of modern culture like materialism, individualism, the excessive stress on efficiency and personal talents, legitimate
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comfort and needs, etc. The exaggeration of these values replaces the essential values of consecrated life, like the common good, sacrifice, simplicity, service and community life (Vita Consecrata 38). Between completely rejecting and totally accepting their use, there lies a third way of discernment. At present the formation of discerning men and women will be a permanent challenge for consecrated life. Readable witnessing. This is the challenge that imposes itself on us at the close of this century—a more authentic, a more credible, and a more ‘readable’ witnessing. Religious members are shocked by the personal scandals of those in high positions: money handling, connection to their family members, not being available to the needs of the members, not being accountable, justifying their lifestyle and values, taking undue advantage of their position and freedom. They should find new ways of leading others like Jesus, the Good Shepherd. In a word, our vital question is witnessing (cf Acts 1:8). Witness is impossible without a renewed spirituality, nourished by a continuing experience of God through prayer and daily reading and internalising the Word of God. “We would have a message for Asia only when our Asian brothers and sisters see in us the marks of God-realised persons” (FABC: 5, no. 9.2). Paradigm shift. Our formation needs a paradigm shift to promote a global outlook and solidarity in our formees. To identify the effective formators who have encountered God in their life, who can show the ‘way’ to Jesus and live the kingdom values in their life is a big challenge today. Many are good at giving information rather than formation which will lead the formees to transformation. It has raised the questions: Does consecrated life, the way it is lived today, attract qualified, energetic and committed young
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people? Is it able to hold those who can cope with challenges and changes ‘in the world’? Do religious communities communicate vitality, newness and freshness and bear witness to the people who search for meaning and liberation? The questions vary with different congregations but they remain strong points for on-going reflection.
Conclusion
Though religious life as it is lived today is in crisis, we cannot doubt its relevance in the post-modern world. In Asia, at least at the moment, the continued growth of vocations in many parts of the continent, except in the more developed cities, gives us some signs of hope. We still know our identity and believe in consecrated life. The question rather for us is how to live consecrated life in a way that will impact more on the lives of the billions of people around us—people who are deeply spiritual, from different cultures and religions, affected by globalisation and fundamentalism in varied ways, and whose survival is daily threatened by forces beyond their control. It is the responsibility of each individual consecrated person to make the needed shift in her/his life in order to be an authentic follower of Jesus in the 21st century. My wish and hope is that each of us will make this commitment our own. Let us be present to our people through our very Presence and be Servants, Mystics and Prophets.
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Question for Reflection We are aware that the future is not a mere prolongation of the past. So many of us are caught up with yesterday’s world. Given all that you have read in this chapter, what U turn do you think is being asked of you and your congregation now?
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