Dear Claretians and brothers and sisters of the Claretian family,
On this day as we conclude the jubilee of 175 years of the Foundation of our “querida Congregación,” my thoughts go to a Seminary room of the Diocese of Vic on July 16th in the year 1849. In that room, Father Claret and five other priests began the “great work” which the Lord initiated in and through them. Certainly, 175 years ago Vic was quite another reality. But there is something that all of us in the Claretian family understand and easily vibe with, from that first moment. It is that burning in their interior that moved them to “desire mightily and strive by all means possible to set everyone on fire with God’s love” (Aut 494). Father Claret knew that it was a gift of the Spirit, a charism, for the good of the Church and he testified that the Lord had given his companions the same spirit that motivated him (cf. Aut 489). We too belong to his group of evangelizers as this gift of the Spirit in our lives makes us Claretians. In my Claretian life and in the life of the Congregation, I experience the presence of the Spirit guiding us and the Blessed Virgin Mary accompanying us in our journey. I am sure you do too.
On this day, let us together thank the Lord for the gift of the Claretian charism, the fire of God’s love, that the Holy Spirit has ignited in the heart of our Founder St. Claret and his companions Stephen Sala, Joseph Xifre, Dominic Fabregas, Manuel Vilaro, and Jaime Clotet, which has been passed on to generations of missionaries. On that day Claret was 41 years old and Clotet, was only 26. We gratefully remember and thank God for all those who have, in the words of Claret, “gone to the glory of heaven, enjoying God and the reward of their apostolic labors and praying for their brethren” (Aut 490). Among them are the martyrs and many saintly men and women in the Claretian family who joyfully laid their lives for Christ and His Church. Now it is for us to be “on fire with God’s love and spread its flames wherever we go.”
This Jubilee year has been a time of grace for the Congregation to revive the spirit of our Founder in each of us and our communities to become creative evangelizers in our times. The highlight of the Jubilee year has been the Spirituality Congress which was concluded yesterday during which we reflected on the different dimensions of our missionary spirituality. I thank all of you for participating both in presence and online and benefitting from it. Together we shall dream God’s Dream for Claretian presence in the Church in our time and walk with the Spirit towards realizing it. Let us ask ourselves: What are we “remaining with” at the close of this jubilee year and what are the fruits that we carry with us to nurture our onward journey? In the context of the post-modern world inundated with secular values and global changes, what are the challenges and calls of the Spirit that we discover in our collective discernment during the Jubilee year? Let me highlight some of the important calls we have listened to during this jubilee year.
1. The call to be missionary mystics
Today the Church needs us to be missionary mystics. A missionary mystic is like Claret a weaver of deep relationships in four dimensions: with the Triune God savoring God’s presence and His Word, with oneself being aware of one’s own interior movements, with his brothers weaving and witnessing communion amidst diversities, and with people of God especially the poor, sharing their hopes, joys, sorrows and trials (cf. CC 46). It all begins with our encounter with the Risen Lord whose Spirit in us makes all the difference in life. During the Congress, we heard this call to be mystics many times. Without a “crazy” love for Jesus and his Gospel, we cannot invite people to the fountain of love to quench their deeper longing for love and life. Only a missionary mystic can say like Claret today, “Fall in love with Jesus Christ and the neighbor, and you will understand everything and do greater things.” Jesus teaches us how to be a missionary mystic through the metaphor of the vine and the branches (cf. Jn 15:1-11). We are invited to “remain” in him as a branch in the vine and be pruned properly to bear fruits.
2. A new view of reality from the perspective of Jesus and his Gospel
The specificity of a prophetic missionary vocation is the new way of seeing people and the world. Claret saw his society through God’s eyes and saw the deepest longing of the human heart for the consoling word of God and listened to their cry for the food for the soul. He carefully avoided any adhesion to the polarized political ideologies of his time. Seeing people and the world through God’s eyes and loving them through God’s heart makes a missionary distinct from people who are moved to act by ideologies and partisan interests that thrive on dividing people and generating hostility against one another. Without a contemplative gaze illumined by the Gospel, we tend to see and interpret reality through the glasses supplied by the dominant culture and mundane values. A mystic missionary sees in the face of the other a unique sacred ground of God’s revelation, a temple of the Spirit, even when the other disregards it. Let us, therefore, put on the mind of Christ like Claret and see the true face of others and walk with them to realize God’s Dream for humanity.
3. Embracing vulnerability to walk the path of conversion
Following Jesus today implies embracing vulnerability in ourselves and in all human realities which we concretely experience in different ways. Denial and defensiveness only complicate life. In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us of the humble origins of Jesus’ followers and God’s ways with them (1 Cor 1:26-31). God has chosen us not on merit. Salvation history tells the tale of God’s choices: God chose Moses, not Pharoah; David, not Goliath; Mary, not Cleopatra; Peter, not Pilate. God chooses the weak to shame the strong. The Lord gave Claret a deep understanding of the mystery of vulnerability likening him to the earth which humbly and silently bears much suffering but is fecund to bring forth life when irrigated with living water (cf. Aut 680). Missionary mystic is not ashamed of humble origins, intimidated by sufferings or discouraged by failures and sins, nor does he remain at home with his addictions and allergies. Rather, he humbly surrenders his weakness to God’s grace and allows the transforming power of God assisted by human sciences to bear fruits to nourish others. By welcoming God’s healing, forgiveness and reconciliation in our own lives, we shall become a healing presence to our brothers and sisters in the broken world.
4. Nurturing our life from the tables that the Lord has prepared and share from there
We have reflected on how important it is for a missionary to be present at the table of the Lord daily to be nourished by His word and the bread of life. Fraternal life in community is the extension of the table of the Lord which is set for us to share life and “carry each other’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). Nurtured at these tables, a missionary mystic finds the inner force to announce the Gospel of joy to his brothers and sisters to whom the Lord sends him. Seeking the Lord is the way to find joy in life. We know from experience that the joy of the Lord is qualitatively different from physical comforts and egoic satisfactions. A missionary mystic is a person whose heart rests in the Lord and finds the overflowing joy that Jesus gives. Feeding which does not nurture integral health is a paradox of our modern society. A missionary mystic nurtures his life integrally from the tables set by the Lord to become whole and holy, avoiding physical, mental and spiritual obesity.
5. Journeying together on the Synodal path
It is the call of the Holy Spirit to the Church today. We need to walk together as brothers and sisters at different levels: as Congregation, Claretian family, the Church, and humanity at large. We walk forth as pilgrims journeying towards the fullness of life and love to which God beckons us. Attitudes of egocentrism, ethnocentrism, and settling on one’s ways will make our pilgrimage cumbersome. We should learn the art of caring relationships, honest conversations, authentic discernment and mutual accompaniment to practice synodality and work together in God’s mission. It is important to be on the path though there is a long way to go.
6. Moving from desire to deed
We become credible when we put into practice what we believe and profess in life. Claret grew into a missionary mystic through the many hours of prayer, practice of virtues, friendships he cultivated, and time spent in preaching. In the post jubilee period, this would be the greatest challenge each of us has to take: Returning to our communities, what difference am I going to make in my personal life, community relationships, and ministry? This Jubilee ushers us to the great jubilee of the Church in 2025. Let us welcome that jubilee as a pilgrim Congregation rooted in Christ, as pilgrims of Hope. We are in the Church to proclaim Jesus and his Gospel. Jesus does not need admirers and defenders, but followers and disciples. We find our place among his disciples. Jesus sends us today as apostolic missionaries as he did with Claret and his companions 175 years ago, with his Mother by our side to form us in her Immaculate Heart and accompany us on the way.
I appreciate all the initiatives and events you have had in your communities and your Major Organisms all through the jubilee year and benefit from the programs offered by the General Government particularly the Spirituality Congress which was concluded yesterday. The best homage we can pay to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Anthony Mary Claret for founding the Congregation is our joyful living of our missionary vocation and bearing its fruits in the Church. Wish you a very Happy Feast of the Foundation of our “Querida Congregación.
Fr. Mathew Vattamattam, CMF
Superior General
16 July 2024
