The Assembly of Provincial Superiors was held in Rome from 23 to 27 October 2023.  As we know, the Assembly is a forum for sharing and listening, for collegiality and synodality, to deal with matters that concern the life of the Hospitaller Family of Saint John of God.  The theme chosen this year is: "Go Forth with Passion to Promote Hospitality” looking ahead to the General Chapter to be held from 15 October to 7 November 2024 in Częstochowa, Poland, under the theme: "Hospitality in a Changing Word".

The Prior General, Brother Jesús Etayo, in his homily on the Gospel of the day taken from Luke (Lk 12, 13-21), focused on the last part where Jesus spoke about the rich man who was accumulating wealth but not for the Kingdom of God: "Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?". That is what happens to people who hoard for themselves instead of being rich for God. The only treasure that counts, said the Prior General, is the Lord and His Kingdom.

However, in his opening address, the Prior General said we had to see the General Chapter as a process of in-depth renewal, which will shield us from the danger of falling into discouragement and seeking comfort which sometimes lead to vocational paralysis and disenchantment. And echoing Fr Gonzalo Fernández, a Spanish Claretian, he thought that given the current state of consecrated life, some people were saying that we may be seeing the final days of consecrated life, and that it will soon be a thing of the past. And if that is our attitude, so be it. There is, however, another line of thought and action in consecrated life, which says that we are in a period of transition, or we are taking the first steps towards a new model of consecrated life. So the question is this: are we the undertakers or the life-bearers of the consecrated life?

The Father General concluded by saying: May the next General Chapter help us to "be life-bearers of the consecrated life", to shed light, because, like Jesus Christ, and with Him, we are being called to bring life to the world and to give it abundantly (cf. John 8:12; 10:10), even though this will often entail having to purify our lives in order to blossom again, with fresh energy.