Final Eucharist for Heritage 2013

Happy St. Joseph Feast Day , Bonne Fête !

At this, our final Eucharist together, we have many reasons to be grateful to God!  Why?  First, as we hear proclaimed in our Gospel today, you and I are nothing less than branches of the vine of Jesus Himself –His life runs through our veins – so that wonderful things can happen in our own times just as it did for Paul, Barnabas and those first evangelizers in the first reading.  My brothers, let us never forget that you and I are so special, so loved by God!  Besides having been given the great gift of life (our first taste of mystery!), each of us has been given our faith and identity through Baptism, and, as Vincentians, our special calling as missioners to follow Jesus Christ, Evangelizer of the Poor.  And we have credible models of what our own lives can mean for others - - first in our spiritual father Vincent de Paul, whose experience-rich 80 year journey brought him face-to-face with God through the very people he had at first endeavored to leave behind.  And today we remember Joseph, a faithful Israelite yet quiet and fearless in his obedience to God's voice in his life and his trust of Mary, even when it went against his religious instincts. Finally, today we express our gratitude for four weeks of Vincentian Heritage together, a pilgrimage together as many of you have noted.  And clearly a gift from God and our Congregation, to nurture and refresh us, but even more, to encourage and challenge us.

 During these four weeks we have experienced a CIF "formation program" designed for Vincentians who have many years of life experience.  And whether  or not we cherish those long ago memories of seminary days, CIF has been clearly a different kind of formation experience.

Like the young, ambitious Vincent, we spent our early formative years concerned with personal success, gaining knowledge, developing skills for pastoral ministry, becoming excellent priests and effective missioners.   But as appropriate and necessary as that time in our lives was, CIF is different and meant to be so.  Instead of acquiring new skills and concepts, we have tried to deepen our understanding of that call and identity we’ve committed to for years.  Instead of competing for good grades and earning degrees, we have allowed ourselves to stumble a bit, to struggle to listen when it may not have been easy, to share time and life with our brothers from other provinces, languages and cultures, to be in someone else’s world.  It's likely that we felt uncomfortable or uncertain here in Paris, as strangers in a strange land, but these experiences can also open us to the reality "away from the center," to those people and realities that, as busy pastoral workers or educators, we tend to not see and appreciate in our own more comfortable cultures.  I hope so.

Years ago, Fr Hugh O’Donnell described CIF as “moving forward to basics.”  I think this means that we should be deeply open to who we are called to be, and to our life-companion, the true, living God whom we tend not to notice in our busy lives, but who seems to be always pushing and pulling us where He would like us to go.  Even after years of experience and ministry, we know we have stumbling blocks – such as being tempted to gaze backwards – to our accomplishments (or our failures), to keep repeating the same patterns and struggles we had as young men, or to be frightened of aging, of declining health, of becoming “less important” in the eyes of others.   But instead of feeling that we must continue to fight same old battles in our lives, perhaps we can better see how our future as seasoned sons of Vincent could be truly satisfying and even bright : Why not "give ourselves away , completely" to others, why not gratefully receive more and be more willing to listen than  be limited to deciding what must be given, and being in charge?  Why not explore new reasons for hope as we age, rather than slide into self-preoccupation or even cynicism and despair ?  Our father Vincent is such a good model for us as we become more seasoned !

Thank you for your willingness to live and work with us, with each other.  Let us continue to pray for each other, hoping that our lives be marked more and more by the Life coming from that Great Vine that we have helped to form, so that we produce even more fruit as mature branches!

dpb, CIF 2013

January Days Past...

In Paris, from mid-November through January it seems as if we’ve suffered through ever darker, cloudier, colder days, which may account for my dour mood these days.   This is a dark season, short-days and long nights, cold and colder temperatures, sleeting when it’s not raining…

This "season of shadows" is better suited to staying inside seeking warmth and light.  In fact, any little bit of light (even if artificial) goes a long way!  With Christmas still a fresh memory, only a week ago we celebrated the “Feast of Lights,” the ancient feast of the Purification; soon we Christians embark on our 40 days journey towards the great mystery of life, death, and resurrection of our Lord.  Yes, at our best, this is what followers of Jesus do – look for the light!

But, assuming that at times we all do struggle to discover the hidden light hidden in darkness, what is it like to think, to reflect as a Christian today (i.e. critically, consciously, as a follower of Jesus)?  Such a person might be better able to see, judge, and act (ver, juzgar, actuar) just as Vincent de Paul clearly did in his own time (arguably, a very dark time indeed!)?  Is this kind of reflecting helpful or even realistic, or is it just another kind of escapism, a flight from our dark, shadowy times?

In this, our fifth (and last) “ordinary Times” Sunday before Lent begins, there may some indications for Christians on what to look for and “how to be disciples”, if we are to stay with the One we want to follow.

Gospel (Luke 5:1-11) :

Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.  When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.   When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

Peter and his companions, "busy with their nets", were likely mildly interested in what Jesus had to say but suffered from the illusion that they were not his “flock” i.e. those who made up the throngs of this new wonder-worker’s listeners.  However when Jesus asked to use their boat in order to teach more effectively (and only that!) they complied –  it was but a small gesture of hospitality.  Then when Jesus asked Peter to “put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch,” he was now asking for an act of faith from professionals who knew better.  Surprisingly, Peter agreed and, during that momentary lapse of incredulity, was “caught” himself!  Along with some of his companions he recognized his own hunger and thirst for what Jesus promised and immediately they agreed to leave all that they had known to follow Jesus.  This seems a rocky beginning for what our Church was meant to be!  Still, Jesus’ invitation then (and now?) was simply to decide how to live then and there, a choice based neither out of fear of God, nor of shame in oneself, but rather on finally “seeing” God’s actual work in us and around us.  We Christians were always meant to be people of miracles, i.e. people of faith.

Well, it’s one thing to grasp this truth from time to time during the liturgical season; it’s quite another to develop and nurture the habit of thinking, judging, and acting like Jesus’ followers or like the “Jesus-images” we try be, such as Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, and (thankfully) many, many other heroes, heroines, and saints.  Where do we begin?  particularly in a world so seemingly battered by rapid change, mass migrations, a growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots, random violence, and on and on?

Kenya Vincentian Family: CM priests, seminarians, and DC sisters and candidates discuss case studies.

Priests, Seminarians, Daughters work out Case-Studies for Intercultural living

Perhaps we can learn where to start, such as in our own lives and neighborhoods.  For that is where we live, where we most affect and are affected by others.  Indeed, this was the starting point for a mixed-group of the East-Africa Vincentian Family members gathered in Nairobi, January 25-26.  In offering one CIF module (of many) developed around "the Signs of the the Times and Perpetual Renewal," I was able extend our program beyond our usual locations in France.  So, instead of celebrating our Founders’ Day with a day of rest and recreation, the Kenyan Vincentian Family prayed, listened, studied, shared in groups, even did some writing.  The topics were intercultural communication and critical, pastoral reflection; the theme “Be-friending Diversity.”

Over 95 Vincentian Family East Africa members at Nairobi workshop.

One could hardly think of a better “laboratory” than this group – 95+ men, women, professionals, students, each representing one or more ethnic groups: African tribes, European and American cultures, older and younger generations… but all trying to live and work together harmoniously and effectively!

Fr. Dan Paul Borlik, CM facilitating. 

Fr. Dan Borlik guides the workshop

Who can tell where such efforts and good may end up?  It is difficult enough to grasp how so much of today’s violence is born out of  (often unconscious) misunderstanding, cultural-religious conflict, deeply felt historical wounds – and so much of this at work in us without our knowing or wanting it!  If grasping that cultural diversity is challenging enough, it is still not enough – it takes years of effort (and many setbacks) to develop new "skill-sets" for communicating with and living with people from other countries, cultures, language groups, politics… in ways that are gradually marked by mutual respect and shared purposes, even love.  However, what better group to face these challenges than those who already have vowed to "follow Jesus Christ, evangelizer of the poor."

Meanwhile, we can (and do) always hope that, like Peter and his companions, we may have taken the first of many more steps of putting our lives in the hands of the One we trust the most!  And, perhaps, already sensing some new light in our sometimes shadowy existence.

dpb cm / 10 février 2,013