I have just returned from India
after officiating 8 Provincial elective Chapters. During these chapters the
desire to live the Gospel and the charism of the Capuchin Order was very clear
and evident. The young and old friars spoke and demanded that we need renewal
and return to the spirit of the founder, return to the Capuchin life and
traditions. The desire to live the charism anew and to read it in the present
cultural, religious and political context is must on the part of every member.
The provincial chapters celebrated every three years is a reminder that we
belong to the universal church and the charism of the Capuchins is entrusted to
us and we have no monopoly over it. But we have to take up the task of living
it in a vibrant and active way. The chapter of a province, therefore, is not a
private affair which concerns only the members of province. It is an ecclesial
event which is of interest to the Christian community as a whole. It is normal
that this should take an interest in it and be concerned about its
orientations. For a province, it is the occasion par excellence to become newly aware of its links
with the Church in whose mission it plays a part, and with the world to whom it
has been sent by Christ.
At the time of a chapter a province places itself in a situation of
listening. Listening, first of all, to the Word of God. This Word comes to it
through its own tradition, and also through what its members are experiencing,
perceiving and saying. It comes to it also through what the Spirit is saying to
the Church today as well as through the signs of the times, that is, the
contemporary social and cultural context.
In times of profound and rapid
cultural change such as these which we are experiencing in our day, religious province
can, through their chapters, bring to society their reading of human situations
such as, for example, the massive displacement of peoples, the ever widening
gap between rich and poor, the massive encounters of cultures and religions.
The chapter has not only to be
concerned with the quality of the religious life of its present members, but
also with the quality of the province itself, which has as its mission to keep
alive its charism and hand it down to future generations, through a well-knit
complex of doctrine, traditions, observances and rites.
Through the chapter, an institute
is called to cast a look of love and compassion on the world around it, in
which it lives and to whom it is sent in mission.
A chapter cannot be simply the
affair of a group of people chosen for this task. It is the affair of all the
members of the institute. The capitulars are the "delegates" who
exercise their function in the name of all the members of the institute. A
chapter is a collegial and community act. Collegial
in its functioning, which means that the decisions taken in the chapter are
taken by the college of participants legally designated. Community, since it is
the expression of the life of the whole community of communities which is the
institute.
No comments:
Post a Comment