BELOVED BROTHERS IN JESUS

Cardinal E. Pironio, ex-prefect of Congregation of Religious Institutes has published a magnificent meditation on the true sense of a chapter -or‑ in the case of the M.Ss.A.- of a General Assembly. Included here is the text that I offer for your reflexion and prayer.

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and 
fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”		(Acts 2: 42)

Each and every chapter is a salvific, ecclesiastic and family event. But a chapter is always a “paschal celebration” that tends to make us live very fervently two things: a sincere attitude of conversion and a profound and aching search for God’s way. Every chapter has to leave a sensation of freshness in the Church and a healthy dose of paschal optimism. If a chapter has been well celebrated, in an attitude of poverty, of prayer, of fraternal, charity, it is always a re-creation of the institute that makes its spiritual wealth overflow in the Church and the world.

A CHAPTER IS A SALVIFIC EVENT

Three elements have to intervene:

1) Conversion:  through it salvation begins. A chapter is always, by virtue of the Gospel, a call   
  to conversion.

2)	The Word:   the element that should always guide a chapter is the Word of God, meaning
  Christ. In a chapter it is God who has to talk. The privileged moments of a chapter are therefore the intensive moments of prayer.

3) The Holy' Spirit:  a chapter is always a profound work of the Holy Spirit. It is not the task of geniuses, but that of simple men having the faculties of being animated by the Spirit.

A CHAPTER IS AN ECCLESIASTIC EVENT

The first question that imposes itself on a chapter is the following: “What are today’s men expecting from us?” In this case, when we say that the chapter is an ecclesiastic event, we want to emphasize three things:
1)	
The chapter must look to Christ: In what measure is our community or our membership manifesting and communicating Christ?

2)	The chapter must make an act of presence before the world: it must be an evangelical reflection on the needs and aspirations of the Church at the present moment.

3)	The chapter must integrate itself with the local Christian community: the life of an institute does not develop itself “beside” the local community but “within the local community”.

A CHAPTER IS A FAMILY EVENT

Each chapter is a family encounter. Its center is Jesus:

“And the apostles gathered themselves together into Jesus.”	(Mk 6, 30)

This family encounters demands that it be carried out in a climate of extraordinary poverty, of continual prayer and of great fraternal charity.

The mood of a chapter immediately manifests itself “with gladness and singleness of heart” (Acts 2: 47). The seriousness, stability and efficiency of a chapter depend on the profundity of the prayer, that is to say, if the chapter is really a paschal celebration...	.
The chapter really does not need geniuses, it needs poor men, capable of being used by the Holy Spirit, full of docility towards Him and animated by an extensive-spirit of comprehension and of service.

Therefore, a chapter cannot be improvised or celebrated in hiding. It must be known to all, accompanied by the prayer and the sacrifice of everyone, celebrated by all with the responsibility of conversion, greeted by all with hope. We must all celebrate it, with gratitude and disponiblity. Like Mary, the humble servant of God, in whom God has worked marvels, from whom shines forth for all “a dawn from on high” (Lk 1: 78)

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PRAYER FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1985
				M.Ss.A.                                  	

God Almighty,
eternal, just and good,
by ourselves
we are merely impoverished;

but you, because of who you are,
make us do
what we know that you want,
and to always want
what pleases you;

so that we will become capable,
internally purified,
illuminated and embraced
by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
to follow in the footsteps of your son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the manner of the Virgin Mary,
of the Holy Apostles and of Saint Francis of Assisi, 
and by your unique grace,
reach your height and depth,

who, in perfect Trinity
and very simple unity, 
live and reign
and receive all glory, 
God Almighty
for ever and ever.
AMEN.

			* * *

As a suggestion, this prayer may be said privately and/or in community, asking the Holy Spirit to help us before and during our next General Assembly in 1985.

Closely united in Jesus,

				P. Eusebe-H. Menard.