Toward a Culture of Vocations in the Congregation of the Mission

In the original and wonderful work of José Tolentino Mendonça, El Elogio de la Sed [In Praise of Thirst], there is a very interesting and provocative passage: Faith is not a podium, but is a path. I remember the day that a young writer visited me in the place where I was a chaplain and said: “You ought to have the courage to remove the chairs from this chapel where Christians are able to sit in a very comfortable position. On this varnished and solid floor, you should place a thick layer of soil and sand to remind people of the fact that faith supposes searching and a continual journey. Our Christian faith is an experience of roaming. These chairs create a bad habit and Jesus himself gave this warning: ‘The Scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses … do not follow their example for they preach but do not practice [what they preach]’ (Matthew 23:2-3).”

Since faith is an experience of call-response to follow Jesus Christ in the midst of a process of searching and roaming, the mission that is then supposed is one of continual movement, Faith is an exodus experience and requires going out and traveling: Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you (Genesis 12:1); If people wish to come after me, they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me (Mark 8:34); Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). 

[1] At the present time, many people have sounded the warning that a sedentary lifestyle constitutes one of the greatest illnesses of the present era. Seduced by the comforts of modern society, people find themselves living a life in which physical and social activity has been greatly reduced. People are caught up in a routine, closed in upon themselves and their own self-interests. The result is one of physical, human and social atrophy that, in turn, leads to obesity, tension, stress, seeking greater comfort, etc. This sedentary lifestyle is a reflection of the call of this postmodern life which impregnates every dimension of life and leads to spiritual, psychological and social sedentarism. Thus, we find ourselves confronted by a socio-cultural context that leads people to create “comfort zones”. Those zones are grounded on the globalization of indifference which creates and promotes individual consumption, the desire for immediate satisfaction, privacy, and idleness and which also makes people insensitive to others and closed in upon their own self-interest … all of this leads to an identity crisis and a diminishment of missionary fervor.

In consecrated life, this sedentary lifestyle can be identified in two specific elements that interact with one another:

1. First, the persistence of archaic models of consecrated life that have become too institutionalized … such models have created a greater distance between religious and the people, have distanced religious from the Church’s pastoral demands and instead, religious have become caught up in their own “small” world. This rupture (not only theoretical but also quite real and effective) between the gospel ideal and this strong institutionalization tendency is revealed in living the vows and fulfilling the mission in a manner that does not reflect the spirit of the gospel. In this bureaucratic model, many consecrated persons (including young men and women) have taken on a defensive attitude and find themselves involved in endless meetings, reviewing reams of paper work, involved in maintaining ministries and looking for solutions to internal problems … resulting in an atrophy of their missionary spirit and a diminishment of their ability to respond to the cries of the poor. 

2. Second, the present socio-cultural changes have a great impact on the institution and the values of consecrated life. Congregations, charism, spiritualities, structures, and pastoral ministries are seduced by the powerful wave of a globalized culture with its sedentary lifestyle, consumerism and individualism. In this ambivalent and relativistic post-modern society, consecrated individuals find in more difficult to clothe themselves in the sound and perduring values of the Congregation … they have been greatly influenced by logic of the globalization of indifference. The individualistic and subjective tendencies affect community life whose authentic meaning becomes lost and is replaced by persona interests and projects. The sense of belonging is weakened: consecrated members abandoned their state in life; there are unsatisfied and stressed members who take out their resentments on others; many consecrated orient their lives in accord with attitudes and works outside the community/congregation; members affirms their identity and seek security in conformity with the dominant culture or with fundamental  radicalism … one that is in accord with practices and customs of an obsolete past, in accord with a life of appearances, a life that is in search for status and power. It is undeniable that in many congregations there are isolate, comfortable individuals, closed in upon themselves who create conflict, who are inconsistent in their commitment, who are discouraged and suffering.

This sedentary influence on consecrated members (on members of the Congregation of the Mission) weakens their sense of consecration and erodes the meaning of consecrated life that results in a notable loss of the charism and the spirituality of the congregation, leaving many members discouraged and content with a lifestyle that is neither edifying nor missionary oriented.

[2] In light of this complex and challenging reality, it is necessary to return to Saint Vincent who embraced Jesus Christ, evangelizer of the poor, as the model for his and as his first and definitive love … this Jesus who Vincent loved and serve through a life of total consecration to the mission and to charity on behalf of the poor. That vision of life is the original and innovative inspiration that Vincent has passed on to his followers in the Congregation of the Mission. In his conference on the occasion of distributing the Common Rules (May 17, 1658), Vincent made it clear that the vocation of the members of the Congregation is to follow Jesus Christ evangelizing the poor. Therefore, they are to evangelize, in an unprecedented and exclusive manner the forsaken poor …Vincent repeated that affirmation three times. That manner of evangelization is a gift of the Spirit, a grace and an expression of Vincentian mysticism that ought to animate and shape the life and the ministry of the Congregation (CCD:XI:1). The reason for the Congregation’s existence is to serve Christ present in the poor … to serve the poor not because of some pastoral option but because of a charismatic demand and an expressed affirmation: the poor are our inheritance; the poor are our lords and masters; the poor are our rule.

This unprecedented and exclusive dedication to the forsaken poor endows the members of the Congregation of the Mission with their unique vocation. Saint Vincent utilized two very significant expressions that were intended to characterize the spirit of the Vincentian vocation in the Congregation: state of charity (CCD:XII:224) and state of being missioners (CCD:XI:157). Vincent developed the concept of state that he had learned from Berulle and applied that concept to the mystery of Jesus’ mission, that is, contemplating Jesus as the missionary of the Father, the One sent to evangelize the poor: The state of being Missioners is an apostolic state, which consists of leaving and abandoning all things, like the Apostles, to follow Jesus Christ and to become true Christians (CCD:XI:157). The members of the Congregation ought to make themselves available … a characteristic of their Christian calling that was affirmed at the time of baptism and made more explicit at the time in which they made vows and thus, consecrated their whole life to continue the mission of Jesus and the Apostles.

Vincent added the expression, state of charity, and thus revealed a profound theological vision about the nature and ultimate source of the mission as the fruit of God’s love (1 John 4:16) … Our vocation is to go, not just to one parish, not just to one diocese, but all over the world … to do what the Son of God did … we are not religious, but we can say that we are in a state of charity because we are constantly engaged in the actual practice of love or are disposed to be so (CCD:XII:215, 224). Vincent identified the state of being missioners with the state of charity and both of those realities express an assimilation of the same mystery, namely, Jesus sent by the Father to evangelize the poor. In the Congregation, the priority that is given to the vow of stability is an expression of total consecration to missionary charity as a fundamental element of the Vincentian vocation.

To live in the state of being missioners and in the state of charity is in fact the theological understanding, the source of vitality for a vocation in the Congregation and is the specific nature and priority of the Congregation. A sublime and most demanding priority that Vincent made explicit through various essential elements that comprise the Vincentian vocation: outreach toward those persons who are most poor and abandoned was also intimately related to the mission of formation of the clergy; mission was understood as a service of evangelization, spiritual and material, with words and action, so that all things are related to charity; the missionaries ought to clothe themselves in the spirit of Jesus, evangelizing the poor; they ought to live together in community and embrace the five virtues that constitute the spirit and the methodology of the mission.

[3] In order for the Congregation to continue to exist in the Church in a fruitful and faithful manner, that is, living in accord with spirit of Christ’s perfect charity, it is indispensable to listen to the Lord’s call … a call that is made known in the cries of the poor. In that manner the members of the Congregation are able to live in creative fidelity to their mission. Vincentian missionary vitality requires a Congregation that sets out … set put, you missionaries, set out! You are still here, and there are poor souls waiting for you … (CCD:XI:121). Pope Francis has proposed that the Church clothe herself in an attitude of going forth and abandon the pastoral criteria that proclaims, this is how things have always been done. The process of evangelization needs creativity (Evangelii Gaudium, #20-33). The biblical dynamic of placing oneself in a situation of going forth (a concept that Vincent de Paul was very insistent upon) implies embracing the newness of the Spirit and cultivating an availability and creativity with regard to serving the poor in new ways. Missionaries who are firmly positioned in their “comfort zones” and/in in their own self-interests … such individuals betray the missionary essence. On a personal and a community level, the mission supposes a dynamic of change, an outward movement toward others/toward the poor, and a critical insertion into society … the mission demands putting aside oneself and one’s interests.

The vitality of Vincentian missionaries demands on-going conversion and an intensive search for new attitudes and activities in order to reconfigure our personal and community reality. This reconfiguration can only occur through a profound identification with Christ, evangelizing the poor, an identification that must occur in three closely related dimensions:

1. The mission: Everything must be viewed from the perspective of the peripheries. It is necessary to walk in the peripheries in order to truly know how people live. Otherwise, one runs of the risk of being grounded in rigid positions based on a centralized vision (…) Today, God is inviting us to leave our comfortable nests … I believe that the most important hermeneutical key is found in fulfilling the evangelical command: Go forth! Go forth! In order to embrace the mission as the paradigm of all its action means that the Congregation goes out to the peripheries, discerns and adopts missionary commitments and practices on a personal and a community level … commitments and practices that are in harmony with the cries of the poor. Pablo Suess speaks of mission as a crossing … crossing is a continuous process of engaging in life, without asking permission, without a credit card, without a safe harbor that is clearly indicated on nautical charts. (…) it means going out, departing, and returning. “Success” is an option for the “exodus”. To have “success” in missionary life depends on the capacity of an always new “exodus”: to untie the knots that bind us, to share the goods that fill our house and to go forth once again in order to engage in the struggle on behalf of those who are poor. All of this means that we accept the challenges of the mission as a journey with the poor and towards the poor and that we renew ourselves internally without being contaminated by the sedentary stagnation that stifles missionary ardor. It is worth remembering the prophetic statement of Monsignor Hélder Câmara: Mission is to depart, to walk, to leave everything, to go out of oneself, to break the chains of selfishness that close us in upon ourselves. It is to stop thinking and acting as if we were the center of the world and of life. It is to move beyond the problems of the small world to which we belong and to understand that the problems of humanity are much greater!

2. Renewal of mysticism: this mysticism involves entering into the mystery of the God’s love, manifest in Christ as a result of the Spirit. The functionality of an action depends on the spirituality of the agent — only that which shines forth is capable of providing illumination … now is the time of draw closer to the source and grow in that which is profound. Mysticism is the source and the power that inspires missionary activity. Only in the mysticism of Jesus, evangelizing the poor can one find the newness of the gospel and the joy of proclaiming that same gospel to those men and women who are poor. It is fundamental to develop that mysticism that leads to an evangelical originality (Mark 10:43), of which the consecrated life is meant to be the living prophecy … this evangelical originality comes from practical attitudes and choices: the primacy of service (Mark 10:43-45) and the steady journey towards the poor and solidarity with the least among us (Luke 9:48); the promotion of the dignity of the person in whatever situation they find themselves living and suffering (Matthew 25:40); subsidiarity as an exercise of reciprocal trust and generous collaboration of all and with all.

3. The search for more flexible structures: older institutions, like the Congregation of the Mission, suffer from the weight of the past. Very often they are very institutionalized and are fearful of taking risks. More specifically, the Congregation and the Provinces came into existence within the framework of an historical context and many social and cultural elements characterized and continue to characterize their lifestyle and their manner of acting … and today, those same elements might not be appropriate. It is necessary to discern and provide a dynamism to the foundational objective, offering new forms and structures that respond more effectively to the new demands. Such a process offers many opportunities for creativity and at the same time can involve much suffering and proving. From the perspective of paschal dynamism, many things have to be sacrificed (wonderful and significant works of the past, obsolete practices and customs as well as unsatisfactory structures and behaviors). Many sacrifices must be made in order to give strength and new meaning to the first love that we have received from Saint Vincent.

Pope Francis stated: We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons … Are we open to “God’s surprises”? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which God’s newness sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new? Paraphrasing the text of José Tolentino that we previously cited, we might say: We need to have the courage to remove the comfortable chairs and furniture from our chapels and our community living spaces and then, intensify our commitments and practices that will lead us to fuller participation in the condition of those persons who are poor. Yes, our Vincentian vocation is essentially a missionary vocation. The comfortable chairs and furniture can create bad habits because we can easily fall into temptation of making beautiful discourses about service on behalf of those who are most poor and not practice the very words that we speak. Only by reaching out to those who are poor, and doing so in a sincere manner, can we exhale the aroma Christ’s missionary charity and thus awaken people to walk in the way of Christ who came to evangelize those people who are poor.

By: Fr. Eli Chaves dos Santos, CM
Belo Horizone

Translated:
Charles T. Plock, CM
Eastern Province, USA

¹ José Tolentino Mendonça, O Elogio de Sede [In praise of thrist], São Paulo, Paulinas, 2018, p. 93-94. 
² Pope Francis, homily of July 8, 2013 during his visit to Lampedusa.
³ Here I refer in a special manner to the reflections of Fqther Getulio Grossi CM, developed in some texts for pastoral use … I refer especially to his excellent work, Un Mistico de la Misión, Madrid: La Milagrosa 2010; there one will find many valuable elements to deepen one’s understanding of what I have summarized here.
⁴ Vincent de Paul, Correspondence, Conference, Documents, translators: Helen Marie Law, DC (Vol. 1), Marie Poole, DC (Vol. 1-13b), James King, CM (Vol. 1-2), Francis Germovnik, CM (Vol. 1-8, 13a-13b [Latin]), Esther Cavanagh, DC (Vol. 2), Ann Mary Dougherty, DC (Vol. 12); Evelyne Franc, DC (Vol. 13a-13b), Thomas Davitt, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]), Glennon E. Figge, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]), John G. Nugent, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]), Andrew Spellman, CM (Vol. 13a-13b [Latin]); edited: Jacqueline Kilar, DC (Vol. 1-2), Marie Poole, DC (Vol. 2-13b), Julia Denton, DC [editor-in-chief] (Vol. 3-10, 13a-13b), Paule Freeburg, DC (Vol. 3), Mirian Hamway, DC (Vol. 3), Elinor Hartman, DC (Vol. 4-10, 13a-13b), Ellen Van Zandt, DC (Vol. 9-13b), Ann Mary Dougherty (Vol. 11-12); annotated: John W. Carven, CM (Vol. 1-13b); New City Press, Brooklyn and Hyde Park, 1985-2009, volume XII, p. 3; future references to this work will be inserted into the text using the initials [CCD] followed by the volume number, followed by the page number, for example CCD:XII:3.
⁵ An expression used by Frei Carlos Josafá, OP, in O Evangelismo Missionário de São Vicente. A opção total e exclusiva pelos pobres, ontem e hoje, São Paulo: E.D.T., 1997, p. 10.
⁶ Translator’s Note: the Spanish text gives a reference to Pope Francis’ Message to Religious on the Occasion of the 82 Assembly of the Union of Superiors General of Men’s Congregations, 2013 … however, those words are not found in that message and I have been unable to find the correct reference)
⁷ Translator’s Note: in the Spanish text there is a play on the words: exito and exodo, and that  play on words cannot be conveyed in English.
⁸ Marián Ambrosio, “Sobrevivéncia da VRC enquanto carisma eclesial na atual conjuntura” in Convergéncia #512, June 2018, p. 31.
⁹ Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, New Wine in New Wineskins: the Consecrated Life and its Ongoing Challenges Since Vatican II, 2017, #31. 
¹0 Pope Francis, Homily on the Feast of Pentecost, May 19, 2013.