To be formed is to be configured to the Heart of Jesus the Good Shepherd
"What's your name? Go to your house, to your people, and tell them all that the Lord has done for you in his mercy" (Mark 5:9ff).
"In the mystery of the Heart of Christ, the Comboni Missionary contemplates, in their fullest expression, the interior attitudes of Christ and he assumes them: his unconditional gift to the Father, the universality of his love for the world and his participation in the suffering and poverty of men" (RL 3.2).
"Formation must work primarily on inner motivations and must educate to face with creativity, competence and flexibility the challenges that emerge from new situations" (Ratio Fundamentalis 113).
Dearly beloved brothers,
In communion with all humanity, this year we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a particular context marked by the COVID-19 pandemic which continues to cause so much tragedy and pain throughout the world. With confidence in God, we invite the whole Institute to contemplate the Heart of Jesus by opening our hearts to the mystery of his love so that this mystery touches us deeply, frees us from all the forces that enclose or isolate us and helps us to be faithful to our consecration and mission.
As missionary disciples, we place ourselves at the school of the Heart of Jesus who, in his humanity, reveals to us the Heart of God - the Heart of the Good Shepherd who goes out, approaches the poor, the suffering and the marginalized, inviting them to come out of their isolation, their incommunicability, made capable of communicating and living a quality encounter with God, with others and with creation. It is a question of participating in the love that is always communicated, that always communicates and that, if received by the loved one, always gives life, makes one grow and educates, in the sense of the Latin « educere » which means to bring out the best in the human being.
It is important to note that this encounter with Christ sets in motion a process of conversion, formation and transformation or, better still, of "Christification" that lasts a lifetime and must touch the heart. The content of our initial and ongoing formation is holiness and the transformation of the person in Jesus Christ through the complementary double orientation of sequela and imitatio Christi. Therefore, conversion to another Christ is for us a privilege of God's mercy and grace and, at the same time, a responsibility that commits us to the coherence of life with the pressing and unceasing question: "What would Christ and Comboni have done in this historical situation of mine? ».
It is Christ with his merciful heart who takes the initiative and comes to us asking each one of us: "What is your name", as he did with the man possessed by the devil in the passage mentioned above. To know someone's name, according to the Jewish mentality, means to enter into the depths of one's personal reality. This question shows his interest in us as persons loved by God and helps us, on the one hand, to re-read what is in us and around us in order to discover what we hold dear, who we really are, and, on the other hand, it shows us the Heart of Christ full of love, compassion, welcome and tenderness.
As Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, in the journey of initial and ongoing formation, cultivating, deepening and contextualising our spirituality of the Heart of Jesus remains the personal and Institute commitment, so that our whole life may adhere more and more to the "programme" contained in our name.
It is Christ who, with his welcoming heart, manifests his full trust in the other, whatever the situation in which he finds himself, values him and returns him to the community, to his home, a symbol of the place of hope, cordiality and human warmth. Life is all about communication and quality relationships. St. Daniel Comboni speaks of the Institute "as a Cenacle of Apostles, a luminous point that sends forth as many rays that shine, warm and reveal together the nature of the Centre from which they emanate" (cf. Writings 2648). The hope is that the Heart of Jesus may truly be the center of communication among all the confreres and that we may make fraternal communication an instrument for building bridges, for uniting and sharing the beauty of being brothers in mission at a time marked by contrasts, division and indifference.
Finally, as we reflect this year on the theme of ministeriality in the Institute, let us pray that the contemplation of the Heart of Jesus may help us to live mission not superficially as a role to be played but as a service to the Kingdom of God and as the expression of a process of kenosis and decentration. Happy Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to all of you!
The Secretary General of Formation and the General Council
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