Discernment with many voices

10 Jul 2018

#action, #community, #prayer, #sharing

On Tuesday, May 29th, I and the other members of the novitiate community lived a day of silence, prayer and sharing.

The day began at 8 with Lauds. At 9:15 am we received indications on how to live the first part of the experience: an hour of individual prayer, sharing in groups, and finally community sharing. We divided into three groups: first year, second year and the formation team. The aim was to identify consolations and desolations, the beautiful and arid moments, the joys and difficulties which the community experienced during the last year. Such as Moses saw the Lord behind him after his passage, so did we reread the year to understand where and when God had given something of himself.

First individually, then as a group. This moment allowed us to notice points in common, and to identify important elements that one group had underlined and the other not. It was enriching.

After lunch the same method: individual prayer, sharing in groups, then sharing all together. But the purpose was different. We did not reread the year, but with what had emerged in the morning review we searched for decisions to recommend. Here too we found convergent points and others less so. Each gave his own contribution, aware of being in search of the common and shared good.

It was something new for me. Prayer and sharing not simply for my journey, but with an attentive gaze upon the experiences of the community and listening to what the Lord wanted to tell me for the best of the community.

There is still a third step: to entrust everything to the prayer of the Novice Master so that the Lord shows us the way to go. This discernment does not want to arrive at concrete decisions by summing up the contributions of individual novices or formators. The exercise aims to identify, with the help of the Lord, recommendations which are deeply shared and community oriented that can show on which steps already made to insist or what new steps to take. The superior then collected and noted the consolations and desolations that had emerged, the proposed recommendations, and now brings them before the Lord with this intention.

The exercise shows the steps of the Ignatian way of proceeding: prayer, sharing, individuals’ proposals; trust in the superior, who receives all this, in turn prays and reflects, and finally decides.

We ended the day with the Eucharist. There Jesus listens and gathers in his embrace the fragility and the resources, the struggles and the strengths of the whole community.

Sullo stesso argomento

Contemplatives in action

by Gianluca Severin

The Jesuits preach the Word and lead exercises, celebrate the Eucharist and reconcile those who repent, walk with the least and the excluded, repair relationships, accompany young people, protect the creation, work in schools, prisons, hospitals, compose songs, they study the universe, they carry out all the works that seem useful to the glory of God and the common good… and, in doing so, they pray.
It is not easy: in the flow of events we struggle to grasp their spiritual meaning, immersed in work and relationships we rarely preserve the interior silence of eternal light in which God lives. This is why we begin the journey along the ways of the world in the quiet of the novitiate.

God called us, in a murmur of light breeze (1 Kings 19.12), to speak to our hearts.
Here the Father welcomes us and guards us, He embraces us, we whisper “Abba…”. The closer and united we become to the Creator, the more we receive His love and grace.
Here the Son saves us from the cold and gloomy boredom of an existence spent on myself, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. (Gal 2.20), He unites us intimately to the desire to save every creature, to be sent into the world with a meek and humble heart, free and generous for every lost brother and sister.
Here the Spirit gives us faith, hope and love, in us flourish both the adoration and the commitment to the world.
Here we enter the mystery, in the intimacy with the Person. Whoever listens to His Word can also perceive His silence, so as to act through His Word and be recognized through His silence; our heart becomes altar of an incessant prayer, our life a living, holy, pleasing offering to God (Rom 12.1).
In the whirlwind of the days this interior silence allows us to remain in His presence and to see Him in all things.

Now the life that blooms, the radiant sun on our skin, the purity of the water between our fingers, the vigorous wind on our face resonate in us in praise.
The rejoicing with those who are in joy, the sadness with those who are in tears (Rom 12.15), the listening and welcoming, living and concrete love for each person, for the whole person resonate in us in serving.
Participating in the hopes and struggles of humankind, we live the desire for His Kingdom to come, for His will to be done.
For every gesture of kindness, for the beauty of every smile, for every glimpse of truth, for every free choice we can give thanks.
For every brother and sister, for those we meet, for those we help, for those who help us, for those who oppose us we can intercede.
For every selfishness, for every indifference, for every closure we can repent.
In the reality that challenges us we can listen and discern, ready and available to the signs of the Spirit.
What previously averted and distracted us is now the horizon in which we can seek and find God: our monastery is the world.

(Whoever wants to join the Company) Also make sure to have God before his eyes as long as he live, before anything else [Formula Instituti]