Dear brothers,

We are getting ready for an important congregational event, which I consider significant after the last General Chapter.

In our changed times, the Major Superiors of our Congregation, together with the General Government, come together to reflect on the General Chapter invitation and ask ourselves how we can together make the Congregation live its vocation in the church credibly and joyfully. One of the major concerns of this meeting is to tune ourselves to the Dream of God, which we together weaved prayerfully during the General Chapter.

So, one of the questions we were constantly asking was: What is the Lord asking of us in our times? That Dream of God for the Congregation we have woven together was a way of articulating it with designs and commitments. All the processes were based on our desire, our call to be rooted in Christ and audacious in mission. So, to be rooted in Christ audaciously is the first task. How do we live our vocation today, making Christ the center of our lives and making the various commitments to give Him the best place?

And the second thing is to be audacious as rooted persons. Soft-rooted audaciousness and superficial heroism in mission don’t last long. Audaciousness or audacity is of the Holy Spirit. And that needs that we are to be rooted. To live as rooted and audacious missionaries in our times, we needed the grace of God. We must walk the synodal path, listening to one another and the Holy Spirit.

The General Government have made its Action Plan, and these plans make sense only when practised and internalized in the respective Major Organisms. And that will be one of the major discussions for us. The great challenge for us is to walk the talk.

The Chapter Exhortation, the Dream, and signs, etc., give a map. But a map is a map. It is not the territory. We must walk in the territory to reach the goal or realize the Dream. And this is a collective journey. And that’s why this synodal path that the Pope is inviting us is significant for how we move ahead towards the future.

We ask all of you to pray for us and be united with us so that together we make our journey forward, to Dream with God and realize the Dream as Missionaries rooted in Christ and audacious in mission.

God bless you.

Fr. Mathew Vattamattam, CMF

General Superior