Roma, 16 October 2005
Prot.
N° 0000 286/2005
To the Members of the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
re: the conclusion of the Jubilee of Saint Gerard Majella
My dear confreres,
1. Greetings in the name of the
most holy and beloved God, who alone gives
abundant Redemption.
This letter comes to all of you, Fathers, Brothers, Students, Novices and
Postulants, at the conclusion of the Jubilee
of Saint Gerard Majella, a year that has marked
the happy coincidence of two anniversaries
concerning one of the best known saints of
our religious family: the centenary of his
canonization (1 December 1904) and the 250th
anniversary of his death (16 October 1755).
2. Marking the beginning of this
Jubilee, the Holy Father John Paul II wrote:
“This year of Saint Gerard constitutes for
the entire Redemptorist family an auspicious
occasion to renew, as individuals and communities,
the commitment to respond to the contemporary
challenges of evangelization with the same
willingness and creativity of Saint Gerard
and Saint Alphonsus in their day”.
Gerard is, in fact, a “radiant example” of that spiritual outlook which
evangelization demands today; hence the Pope
continues “I urge you to follow his own spiritual
journey and, like him, to remain faithful
to your charism without fearing the inevitable
difficulties that any authentic renewal demands”. [1]
3. Beyond being a radiant example
for the entire Congregation, Gerard is first
and foremost an apostolic man who announced
the Word of God with singleness of purpose,
led many hearts to God, spent himself in charity
for others and unfailingly defended the dignity
of every person. The sort of spiritual and
apostolic energy that drove Gerard provides
us real motivation to respond creatively to
the challenges of evangelization.
Returning to our roots certainly means recalling and reexamining how our
own patrimony of holiness has taken flesh
in those who have given their lives to proclaim
redemption. The post-synodal exhortation Vita
Consecrata reminds us that “Holy men and
women have always been the source and origin
of renewal in the most difficult circumstances
throughout the Church's history” (n. 35).
4. The last General Chapter (Roma
2003) in proposing as the theme for the sexennium
“Giving our lives for plentiful redemption”
wanted courageously to emphasize the need
for personal and communal conversion in the
service of an ever more faithful proclamation
of the Gospel according to the original intuition
of our charism, as John Paul II himself invited
us in his message to the Chapter.
As Redemptorists, our particular task is to announce to all people Copiosa
Redemptio; only by embodying that in our
personal and communal lives will we be credible
witnesses of the Kingdom of Heaven. These points introduce our reflection on the spiritual treasure
of Gerard and, above all, how his message
is relevant for us today.
5. The present Jubilee offers an
occasion to give thanks to God for all the
Redemptorist Brothers that he has given us
over the course of the centuries; each, by
following in the footsteps of Christ in his
own way represents our heritage of holiness.
Without the silent yet precious work of so
many lay brothers our Congregation could not
endure, since it would lack a “lung” for our
common mission.
I. The Spirituality of Gerard
6.
A study of the letters of Gerard,
together with the words and deeds of his life,
portray him as an unusual man. His “madness”
for Jesus in the Eucharist, his charitable
works, his silence in the face of slander,
all testify to the image of an extraordinary
person. Glimpsing the image of God in the
face of his fellows, he sought to alleviate
the physical and spiritual suffering of those
he met on his journey. If we want to approach
the spirituality of Gerard, it is absolutely
necessary to begin with his intimate relationship
with God, whom Gerard defines as his most
holy and beloved God. [2]
God is close to him, to be loved with all
his strength and appreciated as a treasure
and the real meaning of his life: a God who
is loving presence, a friend with whom life
is beautiful.
7.
As we study the writing of Gerard,
the image emerges of a spiritual path that
is always more clearly marked by the merciful
closeness of God, flowing from an intimate
inner union that is at the heart of “copiosa
redemptio”. As a result, his relationship
with God becomes for Gerard a bond that produces
fulfillment, joy, and security; a relationship
in which one “indulges” oneself, according
to an expression Gerard uses in a letter to
Sister Maria di Gesù: “I had to restrain myself
while in Naples in order to keep Father Margotta
company but now more than ever I can indulge
myself with my beloved God”.
[3]
Even though he lives in deep communion with
his beloved God, Gerard knows that
he needs specific moments of prayer, silence,
and solitude and cannot ever imagine living
without the Eucharist.
8. The hallmarks of the spirituality
of Gerard are hope, freedom and the joy that
God has opened for us because of his compassionate
kenosis. The beloved God, with
whom he lives in profound communion, is a
loving presence that makes possible greater
freedom and growth while enlarging his spirit.
In his personal Regolamento, he notes
the following words, so characteristic of
him that they can be seen as his spiritual
testament: “Some have the task to do this
or that; my only task is doing the will of
God”.
[4]
9. Gerard is in love with Mary; his
affection for the Mother of God is sincere,
effortless and deeply rooted in the gestures
and language of the popular devotion of his
time. He entrusts himself completely to Mary
and names her, together with the Holy Spirit,
as his protector and consolation. The continuous
reference to Our Lady in his writing does
not betray simply a self-protective purpose
but rather is a guarantee that his love and
communion with his neighbor might be understood
as a “Gospel of life”. [5]
II. The spirituality of Gerard
for us today
10. Even today Gerard carries a spiritual message that is able to sustain
and stimulate fidelity to the Gospel in a
witness of charity that connects with the
needs of the most abandoned. We should see Gerard from
the perspective of a spirituality that is
committed to respond to the contemporary needs
of evangelization in order to highlight the
power of the joy and hope that characterize
his journey and lead inevitably to a mission
of announcing redemption to the most abandoned.
11. An immediate and generous solidarity with people in need is a fundamental
mark of the spirituality of Gerard Majella
and an invitation to reflect on our Redemptorist
identity. For Gerard, solidarity with the
poor is, first and foremost, faithfulness
to the Redeemer and to his choice to share
human reality. The words and deeds of true
charity are always based in the needs of others.
Gerard is faithful to the way Christ himself
came to us: he is incarnated in the real circumstances
of his brother’s need in order to help him
effectively. In this way, charity is always
full of sincere respect and becomes for others
a proclamation of redemption.
12. Popular devotion names Gerard as the protector of expectant mothers,
an identification that was established already
during his lifetime. This appreciation became
strongly rooted after his death, has continued
uninterrupted even to our day and has been
sanctioned to some degree by the Church. The
birth of any child makes present the great
event of Bethlehem
and, in the hands of God, every mother has
the opportunity to welcome this great mystery
(cf. Evangelium vitae, n. 1). John Paul II
reminds us in his letter for this Jubilee:
“This typical mark of his charity encourages
Redemptorists and the faithful always to love,
defend and care for human life”. [6]
13. On the occasion of the Year
of the Eucharist, we should not forget that
the spirituality of Gerard, like any authentically
Christian spirituality, is centered on the
Eucharist. He invites us above all to wonder
at the “madness” of a God who gives himself
freely and unconditionally: he becomes bread
not only to stay with us but to remain in
us and transform us into himself. For this
to happen, it is necessary to entrust ourselves
to the Virgin Mary and allow ourselves to
be guided by her, the “woman of the Eucharist”. [7]
III. A consistent vocational
refrain in the message of Gerard
14. It happens in daily life, often even in our communities, that relationships
are dominated by a logic of opposition and
circumscribed by fear: we do not have the
courage to take the first step; we wait for
the other to stretch out his hand. We forget
that only an advance of trust makes the other
capable of trusting. Above all, it should
be worrisome the way fear can lead us to view
the poor and those who are different: no longer
as the bearer of an ethical claim that should
be welcomed but rather as an enemy against
whom one must defend ourselves. Such an attitude
makes us counter-witnesses to a “Gospel of
life”. In this context, the invitation of
Gerard is more relevant than ever: Joyfully!
And with greatness of spirit! There is
need to make room for hope in both our personal
lives and in the life of our communities and
apostolate. We can do it because God is writing
with us a story of liberation and fulfillment.
It is essential for our apostolate
that we always possess a “greatness of spirit”
in God in order to become spokesmen of redemption
and true witnesses of our vocation. Should
the young people we meet “ask the reason for
our hope” (1 Pt 3, 15), we should be able
to show them that the reason is Christ in
us.
It is essential to rediscover the role and dignity of every vocation, particularly
that of Brothers. Throughout our history Brothers
have been a bridge towards the world in which
we live, allowing the Congregation really
to take flesh in the fabric of society. With
simplicity of language and by sharing daily
in the joys and sorrows of people, Brothers
have always known how to appreciate deeply
the needs of the abandoned.
15. The spiritual
experience of Gerard centered in God, a loving
presence that is able to “indulge” the human
heart, is a source of encouragement and support.
Over the last years we have felt a growing
need for the ongoing formation of all Redemptorists
in order to refocus our evangelizing mission;
today, more than ever, we need to provide
such formation to all the members of the Congregation,
especially to lay brothers (Gen. Stat. 084)
and to groups who are inspired by our charism,
such as Redemptorist lay associates. In the
context in which we live, work and witness,
we are called to elaborate with the creativity
of the Holy Spirit new paths that lead to
true life.
16. It is urgent that we design our apostolate to be a liberating message
for the whole human person. True pastoral
planning always has a vocational component.
We are called to design an apostolate that
has as a central point the promotion of vocation,
for both Brothers and priests. The absence
of vocation promotion betrays the fragility
and weakness of our manner of living as an
apostolic community. The contemporary shortage
of vocations, caused by a number of factors,
is also brought about by our lifestyle, which
may be neither authentic nor attractive. We
are called as communities and as individuals
to be a presence that is appealing, provocative
and unambiguous in its witness.
An effort should be made to strengthen those forms of the apostolate, such
as vocation promotion, Redemptorist lay missionaries
and other lay associations, that in the past
were a source of discernment and Christian
formation for so many people we met along
the way. Our heritage of holiness, with “vocation
promoters” like Gerard, is a valuable stimulus
and, with the help of God, a support for undertaking
new paths of hope that find their true meaning
in evangelical charity.
17. The proclamation
of “copiosa redemptio” will be credible
only if it clearly displays the fullness of
life that Christ came to give: “I have come
that they might have life and have it in abundance”
(Jn 10,10). In just 29 years, Gerard demonstrated
that it is possible to live in fullness of
life because God is a presence that attracts
and satisfies, giving life and meaning to
the whole of existence.
In the name of the General Council,
In Christ the Redeemer,
Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R.
Superior General
The original
language of this letter is Italian.
