Dear Brothers,
Every year, we approach the Foundation day of our Congregation with deep love for our Founder and his companions who embarked on a great missionary initiative on July 16, 1849, to proclaim the joy of the Gospel. On this occasion, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at the motivational force behind our individual choices and all our apostolic works.
I remember reading a line from a French poet (Charles Peguy), “Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics”. It is the mystical dimension that makes our Congregation relevant as a missionary community in the Church and in the world. When it gives way to pragmatic and self-referent ends, we tend to exchange our prophetic and mystical way of being in the world with strategies and tactics of success and performance to survive and gain grounds in a competing world scenario. When we miss the mystical sense of our missionary presence in the world, it is easy to feel attracted to conform to the values of the world and avoid the pain of the cross and thereby risk losing the capacity to be prophetic witnesses. Father Claret kept himself connected to the source of his apostolic mission which he expressed in his Episcopal motto, “Caritas Christi urget nos” (The love of Christ impels us).
The decisive test to check if we are mystical or political is to look at the direction of our moves by asking “quid prodest?” (what does it serve?). When our ministry serves to glorify God and bring people to the fullness of life, we are in tune with the spirit of the Founder.
It is important to examine the motives of our missionary actions both at individual and community levels. Many of our members do lot of things without occasionally pausing to ask where they are heading. I am reminded of an amusing conversation of a man who asks his friend who was hastening somewhere on his horseback, “where are you going?” The friend replied, “I do not know, ask the horse”. Do we tend to go where our unchecked impulses and ambitions take us?
Our martyrs refused to let their fears and anxieties to guide their course of life. They kept their hearts tuned to the foundational motive of glorifying God and witnessing the Gospel of love by shedding their blood. As we await the Beatification of our brothers on 21st October this year, I invite you to align our personal lives and apostolates with the foundational mystical spirit of our Congregation.
Happy Foundation day!
