Formation Programme for the Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God
Formation plan of the Order
HOSPITALLER ORDER OF
ST JOHN OF GOD
FORMATION PROGRAMME
FOR THE
HOSPITALLER BROTHERS
OF ST JOHN OF GOD
GENERAL
CURIA
ROME,
24 OCTOBER 2000
But if you come here,
you will have to be very obedient
and work much harder
than you have ever done before:
while always remaining absorbed
in the things of God
and losing sleep
in order to care for the poor.
The door is always open for you:
I should like to see you
go from good to better;
and I say this as to a son and brother"
(From
the Letter to Luis Bautista, 11).
INDEX
ACRONYMS OF THE DOCUMENTS CITED. -6-
PRESENTATION... -8-
INTRODUCTION.... -11-
Chapter one THE IDENTITYOF THE BROTHER OF ST
JOHN OF GOD... -15-
I. CHARISM AND
SPIRITUALITY -16-
1. LIFE CONSECRATED IN HOSPITALITY. -16-
2. THE ESSENTIAL
FEATURES OF THE CHARISM AND SPIRITUALITY
OF ST JOHN OF GOD .. -17-
3. THE PATH OUR FOUNDER HIMSELF TOOK.... -18-
4. THE QUALITIES AND ATTITUDES OF THE BROTHER OF ST JOHN OF GOD .. -20-
5. THE CREATIVE FIDELITY OF OUR CHARISM. -21-
II. TOWARDS A MODEL OF
COMPREHENSIVE FORMATION .. -23-
1. THE COMPREHENSIVE FORMATION PARADIGM -23-
2. THE FEATURES OF OUR FORMATION MODEL.... -25-
Chapter two -28-
THE OBJECTIVES, CRITERIA, MEANS AND
SUBSTANCE OF FORMATION... -28-
III. THE OBJECTIVES OF FORMATION... -29-
1. GENERAL OBJECTIVE... -29-
2. OBJECTIVES BY STAGES.. -29-
IV. GENERAL FORMATION CRITERIA. -31-
1. . PROVIDING FORMATION BASED ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE. -31-
2. FORMATION BASED ON A MEETING WITH THE COMMUNITY -32-
3. FORMATION IN TERMS OF THE MEETING WITH THE HOSPITALLER
MISSION.. -33-
V. FUNDAMENTAL MEANS
USED FOR FORMATION... -35-
1. THE WORD OF GOD... -35-
2. THE CHURCH.. -35-
3. THE LITURGY AND THE SACRAMENTS.... -35-
4. SIGNIFICANT PERSONS FOR THE ORDER.... -36-
5. PRAYER.. -36-
6. THE CONSTITUTIONS.. -36-
7. THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS -37-
8. THE COMMUNITY. -37-
9. FORMATION MASTERS AND EDUCATORS. -38-
10. STUDY AND FORMATION... -38-
11. WORK AS MISSION.. -39-
12. ASCESIS.. -39-
13. ACCOMPANIMENT/SUPPORT -39-
14. EVALUATION -40-
Chapter three INITIAL FORMATION:FORMATION
STAGES... -41-
VI. THE PRENOVIATE. -43-
VOCATIONS PROMOTION -44-
THE POSTULANCY -48-
VI. THE NOVITIATE -52-
VII. THE SCHOLASTICATE -56-
Chapter four CONTINUING FORMATION... -61-
IX. CONTINUING FORMATION... -62-
X. THE FORMATION OF EDUCATORS/FORMATION MASTERS -66-
GLOSSARY -68-
ACRONYMS OF THE DOCUMENTS CITED
Church Documents
AG Ad
Gentes, 1965.
ChL Christifideles
Laici, 1989.
CCL
Code of Canon Law, 1983.
CP Puebla
Conference, 1979.
CSD Santo
Domingo Conference, 1992.
DH Dolentium Hominum, 1985.
DM Dives
in Misericordia, 1980.
DV Dei
Verbum, 1965.
EN Evangelii
Nuntiandi, 1975.
EV Evangelium
Vitae, 1995.
FetR Fides
et Ratio, 1998.
FLC Fraternal
Life in Community, 1994.
GS Gaudium
et Spes, 1965.
Ivt In
Verbo Tuo¼,1998.
LG Lumen
Gentium, 1964.
OPR Ordo
Professionis Religiosorum, 1970.
OT Optatam
Totius, 1965.
PC Perfectae
Caritatis, 1965.
PI Potissimum
Institutioni, 1990.
RC Renovationis
Causam, 1969.
RH Redemptor
Hominis, 1979.
RHP Religious
and Human Promotion, 1980.
SC Sacrosanctum
Concilium, 1963.
SD Salvifici
Doloris, 1984
TMA Tertio
Millennio Adveniente, 1994
UR Unitatis Redintegratio, 1964.
VC Vita Consecrata, 1996.
Letters
of St John of God
LB Luis
Bautista
1GL First
Letter to Gutiérrez Lasso
2GL Second
Letter to Gutiérrez Lasso
1DS First
Letter to the Duchess of Sessa
2DS
Second Letter to the
Duchess of Sessa
3DS Third
Letter to the Duchess of Sessa
Documents
of the Hospitaller Order
C Constitutions of the Hospitaller
Order, 1984.
FCOH The
Formation Community, 1991.
ICOH
The Identity Card of the Hospitaller
Order of St John of God, 2000.
DGCB Declarations
of the LXIII General Chapter, Bogotá,1994.
LLS Let
Yourselves Be Led by the Spirit, 1996.
MDOH The
Missionary Dimension of the Hospitaller Order of st John of God, 1997.
GSS General
Statutes, 1998.
LSOH the
Lifestyle of the Brothers of St John of God, 1991.
FBSJG The
Formation of the Brother of St John of God, 1985.
CFOH Continuing
Formation in the Order, 1991.
BCUS Brothers
and Co-workers United to Serve and Promote Life, 1992.
H2000 The
Hospitality of the Brothers of St John of God Towards the Year 2000, 1986.
HOH Humanisation,
1981.
JGLO John
of God Lives On, 1995.
PUFMOH
Preparation and Updating
of Formation Masters, 1991.
CLP
Community Life Project, 1991.
VPOH Vocations
Promotion in the Order, 1992.
PRESENTATION
It is a pleasure for me to offer
the whole Order The Brothers of St John
of God Formation Project. It is a follow-up and sequel to the present book
entitled "The Formation of the
Brother of St John of God" which we published in 1985, based on the
guidelines issued by Vatican II. We decided to update it in order to meet the
Order's Formation requirements and to comply with the Church's recommendations
as set out in the Apostolic Exhortation Vita
Consecrata.[1]
In recent years, many Brothers
and Co-workers have been hard at work to identify and clarify exactly what the
Order wishes to offer the healthcare world, today and in the future. The
Brothers responsible for Formation have therefore played a very special and
personal role as part of this process. The drafting of an updated Formation
Plan, such as the one set out in this present document, is a clear
demonstration of their interest and concern to share their knowledge and
experience for the good of the whole Order and of our future Brothers.
Let me explain the background to
the drafting of this Formation Project:
A Commission was originally put
in place to draft an initial version after analysing and summarizing various
questionnaires sent out to all the Formation Masters and Brothers under
Formation. A second Commission produced a preliminary draft of the book, which
was once again studied by the Formation Masters, the Provincial Curias and
other Brothers, who revised it and improved the substance and the structure.
After incorporating the contributions that had been received in the meantime, a
fresh version was drafted, translated and published in all the official
languages. Finally, our Formation Project was submitted to the General Chapter
in Granada, on 5-25 November 2000.
In the pages that follow, we have
endeavoured to set down the specific features of our charism and spirituality,
as well as the objectives, criteria, methods and the contents which we wish to
pass on, as the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, to our candidates and to
all our Brothers throughout the process of their Initial and Continuing
Formation.
The General Curia is responsible
for ensuring that the model set out in this new Project is circulated through
the whole Order, and for animating the Provinces[2]
and the Formation Houses to take on and supplement the elements that are
essential to the Hospitaller Religious Life.
I am therefore appealing to the
sense of responsibility of every Province and of all the Formation Masters and
Brothers under Formation, to use the guidelines for action set out in this Book
which will strengthen unity in diversity and prevent voids from opening up
around what we hold to be authentic and necessary in the Formation process.
In view of the increase in the
number of Interprovincial Formation Centres and the cultural differences that
exist, we require common criteria for our work which will contribute towards
unity of our Hospitaller family, with all due respect for diversity.
The opportunity we have been
given by this renewal and updating of our Formation Book has heightened our
awareness of the importance of Formation. At both the personal and the
institutional levels, we must take up this new instrument with a sense of
responsibility. In each Province, and on all the Interprovincial Commissions
and Formation Teams, we must work in unity, and integrate our efforts in order
to hand on its contents to all our Brothers and to future candidates.
I would also like to appeal to
the responsibility of the other Major Superiors, and to the present and future
Formation Masters and to each and every Brother, to make sure that this
document will help us to achieve the central aim of all Formation which is, "to prepare people for the total
consecration of themselves to God in the following of Christ, at the service of
the Church's mission".[3]
We ask the Formation Masters to
be men of integrity, in the spirit of our Constitutions, to help us to become
more thoroughly acquainted with the Order's documents in communion with the
Government and for the Animation of the Order. We urge them, with their sense
of searching and their creativity, to open up new paths for the future of
Hospitality.[4]
We perceive the universality of
the Order to be a source of great riches. We are striving to apply Gospel
values to every situation and environment, acknowledging and acquiring the
cultural elements of different societies that are not in contrast with the
principles of our faith or our religious consecration. In the realization that
we are living in plural societies which different one from the other, as
Brothers of St John of God we do not demand uniformity. We are present in all
five continents and we must embody the consecrated life and foster the growth
of the Order in whatever situation we happen to be. We urge all to bring about
genuine inculturation by applying this Project tailored to meet the specific
needs of each Province and country.
With a sense of Church and the
Order, we have not addressed issues of relevance to Initial Formation alone,
but also to Continuing Formation which is "an
intrinsic requirement of religious consecration".[5]
We appeal to each and every Brother, whatever their age and wherever they
may be, to pursue their Formation. We have also stressed the importance of
accompanying and supporting candidates in the process of vocational discernment
and throughout the whole of the Formation process.
Our Formation Project is designed
to be useful to us as we strive to identify with the merciful Christ whom we
are called to follow, in the manner of St John of God. I hope that it will help
everyone, and particularly those to whom it is primarily addressed - the
Formation Masters and the Brothers under Formation - to acquire a deeper
understanding of what it means to hear the Lord calling, so that they can then
decide to live that calling in joy and
hope in the Hospitaller Order.
This Formation Book is the result
of just under two years of consultation, study and painstaking efforts deployed
by a large number of Brothers, and particularly by the members of the
Commissions who have been working on it under the coordination of the General
Councillor, Brother Luis Maria Aldana. I wish to thank them all for their invaluable
service to the Hospitaller Family.
I would like this document to be
used as an effective teaching aid for the benefit of us all, to help us live
our lives more from conviction and in terms of values than by rules.
It is with a sense of gratitude
that I present this Book to you all on the day we liturgically celebrate St
Raphael the Archangel, who is our model of accompaniment, support and
hospitality.
Rome, 24 October 2000
Brother
Pascual Piles Ferrando
Superior General
INTRODUCTION
1. This document on Formation is an open book which has taken on board the spirit that the Church experienced at Vatican II and which continues to remain as valid as ever, as the Pope emphasized in Tertio Millennio Adveniente,[6] as a response to the need to renew the Religious Life. This new Formation Project has been draughted on the basis of the Order's previous Formation Book, and has been enhanced by drawing on our fifteen years' experience. Its language, style and criteria have been brought up-to-date, taking up the Church's invitation to the Institutes of the Consecrated Life to provide themselves with a complete and updated ratio.[7]
2. The Formation Book is structured into four parts, and comprises a total of ten chapters, each of which are sufficiently comprehensive:
Part one: The Identity of the Brother of St John of God and the Hospitaller Order's Formation Model.
Part two: The objectives, criteria and substance of Formation
Part three: Initial Formation. Stages in Formation.
Part four: Continuing Formation
3. The first Part summarizes the fundamental principles of following Christ in Hospitality, according to the spirit of St John of God. For this reason we have taken up the substance of the Tradition of the Order: the specific elements of its original Charism, its development throughout history in constant contrast to the signs of the times which as we have to live them as the Third Millennium dawns.
4. It takes our Founder as its first benchmark, to enable candidates to become wholly familiar with him, the process of his vocation, his motivations and the broad scope of his apostolate, as the expression of faith and charity to give hope to the poor, the sick and the needy.
5. Secondly, Formation must be provided in the light of the history and tradition of our Order. It is essential to become thoroughly familiar with all the aspects of our past, both individually and as an Institution, in order to be able to respond faithfully and creatively to the demands of our Charism, reaching out to the new times and circumstances in which we perform our apostolate.
6. Thirdly, Formation must always be geared to the conditions of every environment in which the Order is established. These benchmarks must also lead us to rethink our own apostolic dimension: the places and the forms of our presence, new ways of managing our centres, and new relations with our Co-workers. Formation must be a way of preparing everyone to deal with these changing situations in our Order and in the contemporary world. The document containing The Identity Card of the Hospitaller Order of St John of God provides us with guidance to make progress with and to reflect on these issues.
7. Formation to live as a Brother of St John of God today implies, for all of us:
a) A call to conversion in the manner of St John of God. This requires each of us to undergo the same process of change through which our Founder passed, as he was converted from Juan Ciudad into St John of God.
b) Sensitivity to human suffering. So many people are suffering from disease, deprivation and marginalization, poverty, injustice and violence. As consecrated men we are called to embody them, and manifest the sentiments and actions of the merciful Christ, showing solidarity with suffering men and women, placing our lives and our technological and scientific facilities at their service, as signs and heralds of the coming of the Kingdom of God.
c) Siding with the poor. St John of God was known as the Father of the poor because he stood by and showed solidarity with the poor, making them his primary focus of concern.[8] One of the challenges facing the Order in the 21st century will be knowing how to grow in simplicity, solidarity and commitment in order to gain a deeper understanding of their plight.
d) A response to the challenges of Hospitality today: Formation is expected to sensitize us to and shed light on the issues of suffering and marginalization by adopting appropriate methods designed to transform or do away with the personal and social structures that cause them. Through the Pastoral Care of the Sick and our Social Apostolate we have to provide creative solutions regarding the way to address and respond to states of sickness, poverty and injustice. These situations which give rise to exclusion and suffering are continually evolving in an ever-diverse and changing world[9], and are a challenge to us who are called to "foster human development and Christian culture with the New Evangelization"[10] through the New Hospitality.
e) A genuine interest in culture, study and formation. Faithfulness to our vocation involves a powerful call to act with responsibility and to become skilled in our work. Training for the mission means developing and cultivating our personal values and talents.[11] The Consecrated Life demands a commitment to culture, familiarity with different peoples and devotion to study, as ways of enhancing our overall Formation. In his encyclical Fides et Ratio, the Holy Father reminds us of the need to combine progress in philosophy, the human sciences and technology with the axioms of our faith.[12]
f) Applying the Church's social teaching specifically to the world of suffering and marginalization. Having opted to live our lives as Brothers of St John of God we can only cooperate positively in evangelization and remain faithful to the Charism of Hospitality if the Brothers' Formation is capable of measuring up to the demands of our age, and if we are capable of providing pastoral care that is appropriate to deal with all situations at all times. This will enable us to feel united with the evangelizing work of the Church, through compliance with the documents and other instructions of the Magisterium.
g) Preparing candidates to enable them to live the communion of the Order. This spirit of communion not only entails studying the figure of the Founder and history of the Order, but also a basic understanding of:
·the reality and universality of the Order,
·our Constitutions and General Statutes,
·the most significant Documents dealing with our Hospitaller spirituality and mission,
·the values and demands of the mission,
·how to share the Charism with our Co-workers.
h) A vision of the future which will help us to take on new responsibilities. Admitting new Brothers into our Order guarantees the future of our Institute. This requires us to use every means available to foster the development of their vocational project, and it implies the need to provide them with all the practical knowledge they need to train to undertake new tasks at the service of Hospitality.
i) An eloquent presence of the Order based on respect for cultural pluralism. Our Order has been implanted in vastly differing places with plural cultures, and it is in those societies that we have to make the sign of St John of God present. The type of Formation provided by the Order should lead us to question the meaning and the way in which to exercise the Hospitaller Charism in the contemporary world, and must constantly prompt us to question what being a Brother entails, and what is the novelty that we are being called to bring to the world, to society and to the Church.
j)Communities which express the essential values of the life consecrated to Hospitality. The raison d'être of our Communities is to perform evangelization in terms of our Charism. They are the places in which we learn how to live the hospitaller charism and to hold it up against the teachings set out in the documents of the Church and the Order. It is the community that every Brother, including those under Formation, learn to live with those whom God has placed by our side, with their qualities, their differences and their limitations. [13]
8. In short, providing Formation to become Brothers of St John of God in the 21st century entails taking on these commitments in order to avoid the risk of losing the richness and fruitfulness of our charism, creating a split between what is taught and what is experienced, between theory and practice, and between what we desire and what we actually achieve.
Chapter one
THE IDENTITY
OF THE BROTHER OF ST JOHN
OF GOD
THE
FORMATION MODEL
OF
THE HOSPITALLER ORDER
I.
CHARISM AND SPIRITUALITY
9. Our Formation Project, whose inspiration comes from the Charism and the history of the Order, is based on the discipleship of Christ in the manner of St John of God. Drawing on our spirituality and mission we therefore offer the Brothers and those under Formation the elements that we deem to be essential in the Order's Formation process.
1. LIFE CONSECRATED IN HOSPITALITY
10. The evangelical counsels are an essential part of the consecrated life, "a gift of the Holy Trinity".[14] God the Father, the Creator, calls us to follow his Son, embodying his thinking and way of life through the Holy Spirit who leads us towards freedom and self-giving.
11. The vocation to the consecrated life is an initiative taken entirely by the Father. [15] Based on the calling of our Lord and the response made by those who are called, the life of the consecrated person is gradually transformed to become similar to Christ's own being. This gift of the consecrated life can only be taken up in response to a vocation, which is a free gift of the Spirit.
12. The primary purpose of our life which is consecrated in Hospitality is to follow Jesus of Nazareth. His life and his person were delivered for the salvation of humanity and they be urge and invite us to imitate his deeds in his attitudes of service on behalf of the poor, the sick and the needy. Our Founder was enriched by the Holy Spirit with the Charism of Hospitality. He was invited to follow Christ and was sent out to place his whole existence of the service of the Gospel of life,[16] bringing into being the Hospitaller Family.
13. The Order, rooted in the theological-Trinitarian perspective underpinned by the dimensions of consecration, mission and communion, maintains its vitality and its fidelity to the Charism when the Brothers:
a) lead a simple way of life, harmonizing activity and contemplation;
b) reproduce and manifest on earth the deeds and the attitudes of kindness and self-giving of "the compassionate and merciful Christ of the Gospel";[17]
c) proclaim the Kingdom and create forms of brotherhood at the service of the poor, the sick and needy, based upon the practice of evangelical counsels, adapting to the circumstances and to the urgent needs of every place and time.
2. THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF THE CHARISM AND SPIRITUALITY OF ST JOHN OF GOD
14. One of the essential features of our identity as Brothers of St John of God is the Charism of Hospitality which prepares us to serve for the good of others, as Good Samaritans.
15. This being so, the poor and the sick are an essential feature and the embodiment of our spirituality, because for us they are the living sacrament of the suffering Christ; at the same time we are the sign of the merciful love of God for them, which we manifest through the deeds and skills of John of God in the service we perform and through comprehensive care.
16. Our founding Charism has its roots in the spiritual experience of St John of God, a historical fact which is updated and which we bring to life. Through the Charism of Hospitality the Order "keeps the merciful presence of Jesus of Nazareth alive within time"[18] and "We feel that we are the responsible custodians of the gift of hospitality, which gives our Order its characteristic identity".[19] We therefore have the moral duty to live the Charism faithfully, to be its custodians, to be thoroughly acquainted with it and to constantly develop it in the Church in new and different forms,[20] involving our Co-workers, because all of us are called to work together to promote, serve and love life, making present the Kingdom of Jesus in the spirit of St John of God.[21]
17. Within our Formation process we must follow a spiritual path along which we gradually discover what is essential in life according to the Spirit, in order to live our lives centred around God, who alone is necessary and to be preferred "above all the things of the world".[22] During the stages of our Formation, the Spirit prepares us to be anointed and sent, like John of God, to perform the Hospitaller mission. These experiences and stages, which our Founder integrated and passed through himself, constitute the basis of the spirituality of our foundational Charism which still retains the same spiritual dynamism which it has always had, and which we must take up and live as our vocation and mission.
18. Spirituality is the way we are and live according to the Spirit, who assists the Brothers to undergo an interior transformation and helps them to embody the attitudes and the deeds of Christ, who cared for the sick, helped the media and announced the Kingdom of God to the poor.[23] One of the key features of our spirituality is found in one of the letters written by St John of God: "if only we were to realize how great God's mercy is, we would never cease to do good so long as we are able".[24]
19. From the beginning of the Formation process, the spiritual life requires Brothers to become aware of what and who they are, taking on and embodying the values of the Charism. In its daily dynamic, spirituality incorporates and cultivates "the silence of adoration before the infinite transcendency of God".[25] One of the fundamental values of our Consecrated Life is our intimacy with our Lord. Through prayer we integrate the interior life and apostolic work, to live our love of God in harmony with our service to our Brothers. [26]
3. THE PATH OUR FOUNDER HIMSELF TOOK
20. The Hospitaller Order draws its inspiration from its Founder, St John of God, a man who was filled with the Spirit to be a healing and liberating presence in his day. [27] He has left us his own manner of being and acting, charism and his spirituality.
21. John of God was a traveller who was intensely seeking interior harmony, and when he found it his whole existence was converted into a life-giving for all those who met and came into contact with him. That spiritual strength is also our heritage today. In his process of transformation John of God was certain that it was God himself who was calling and leading him to total self-fulfilment as a person, as a Christian, and as a consecrated man.
22. The path that he took is the model or paradigm that we Brothers and those under Formation are also called to take. These are some of his outstanding features:
a) He was a man like us, struggling and making the effort to live, not seeking to excel, with qualities and limitations, who experienced failure, but who never gave in.
b) He was receptive and outreaching, with the ability to change, with moments of dissatisfaction, but seeking a different horizon for his life.
c) He welcomed and accepted the love of the Father which was poured out abundantly on him, transforming him and leading him on to offer himself wholly to the service of the poor, the sick and the needy.
d) Moved to the depths of his being by the mercy of God, a new period opened as a unifying experience of his life to enter the process of his conversion, as a personal meeting with Christ and with his fellow men.
e) His direct relationship with the poor, the sick, the displaced and the downtrodden prepared him so that through the work of the Spirit, and by carefully listening to the Word, the preaching and the support of John of Avila, he felt the urge to dedicate his life to the salvation of others, driven on by the charity of Christ.[28]
f) He had a hard and intense experience in the Royal Hospital in Granada, sharing the pain, the marginalization and the inhuman treatment meted out to the patients with whom he showed solidarity. It was under those circumstances that his Hospitality project began to take shape when he expressed his desire, which was also a prayer of supplication: "If only God would give me the grace to have my own hospital where I could look after the sick, in the manner that I want".[29]
g) The social plight and needs of the poor and the sick in Granada moved St John of God, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to prepare himself for the mission, and led him to open his first hospital in Calle de Lucena, which was subsequently enlarged in order to be able to meet the needs, before eventually moving to Cuesta de Gomeles.
h) St John of God practised his Hospitality in a constant relationship with those who suffer and whom he sought to incorporate into society.
i) He was passionately dedicated to the mission as the expression of the charism he had received, leading him to say: "Here I am a debtor and a prisoner for Jesus Christ alone".[30]
j) His earthly life ended on 8 March 1550 when, on his knees and embracing the crucifix, he committed his soul to his Creator.
k) It was from his life that the Hospitaller Order came into being, to announce and make the Gospel of mercy present in the world.
23. The same Spirit who anointed and prompted John of God to undertake the mission continues to offer us his charismatic action today, consecrating us in hospitality, preparing us and sending us out to proclaim the Gospel of mercy to the poor, the sick and the needy. The greatest contribution we can make to society as a response to the signs of the times is to manage to boldly reproduce the courage, creativity and holiness of our Founder, today.[31]
24. The Formation process must therefore give both the candidates and the Brothers under Formation considerable space to internalize and reflect on the Order's Charism and spirituality in the light of the path that our Founder took. It is a challenge to the Order educate, form and train the Brothers, to bear witness to the Gospel of mercy in contemporary society with creative fidelity.
4. THE QUALITIES AND ATTITUDES OF THE BROTHER OF ST JOHN OF GOD
25. The configuration of the Hospitaller Brother, in the manner of St John of God, is a dynamic process and the challenge that we take on and which we continue completing and perfecting throughout our lives. We believe in the permanence of the Charism which the Spirit keeps alive in his followers according to the times and the places in which the Order is established.
26. The attitudes, deeds and qualities which St John of God performed and expressed form part of the identity that we are called upon to embody. As Brothers of St John of God we must therefore be:
a) men of faith and prayer, signs of the presence of God in the world, reproducing the life of Jesus who lived chaste, poor, obedient and hospitable;
b) men who are poor in spirit of and committed to the cause of the poor, as prophets of Charity and solidarity, and a language that all can understand;
c) men who are fraternal and a sign of communion, who live as Brothers distinctly marked out by their Charism and spirituality;[32]
d) Hospitallers in the manner of St John of God, to perform a comprehensive service, with acts and deeds of mercy, with an outreach to life, defenders of human beings and their dignity in every situation;
e) men who live in communion with the Church, bearing witness to our living membership of the Church as an attitude that was faithfully maintained by St John of God.[33] Our love for the Church of Jesus requires us to take on the duty of inviting her, on the basis of our Charism, to be authentic and to demonstrate a predilection for the poorest, and those who are ignored and excluded;[34]
f) men who are committed with our co-workers to work together in unity to perform the mission as a Hospitaller Family;
g) men who integrate life and prayer as the expression of their spirituality as Brothers of St John of God;
h) men who identify with the Hospitaller vocation and animate the Charism in order to discover and to live what is essential to the Consecrated Life and to be fruitful inhospitality, with creative fidelity.[35]
5. THE CREATIVE FIDELITY OF OUR CHARISM
27. The power of our Charism has sustained the Brothers in their exercise of Hospitality throughout history. Order, reaching out to the Third Millennium, remains faithful to the Charism by supporting all the Formation it has taken on in hope and is implementing in terms of the contemporary world, in the certainty that "the future is germinating in the present".[36] Thanks to this creative fidelity we can rightly say today that "John of God lives on". [37]
28. Fidelity to the Charism, which is simultaneously faithfulness to God, to history and to the beneficiaries of our vocation and mission, requires us to reach out to the future and to make our Hospitaller life "a fervent expectation of Christ"[38] going out to meet the poor, the sick and the needy as John of God did. Creative faithfulness also requires us to prepare the Brothers to practise the New Hospitality and "re-found" the Order, responding to the demands of today's society.[39]
29. The future of the Order will largely depend on the response we make to the new challenges which are being thrown down by the internationalization and globalization, ecology, inculturation and the New Evangelization, embodied in the New Hospitality. We are called to be animators of a hospitality project, to share it with our co-workers and parted on to the new generations.
30. Formation must to the Brothers and those undergoing formation, in terms of the local culture, to discover authentic Gospel values, objectively judging counter-values, taking a critical, committed and prophetic attitude to these. From this in cooperation and inculturation in the world of health care and social problems, we try to make appropriate and effective responses to deal with the problems of our environment, seeking to the by the side of the poor, the sick and the needy who come within the scope of our Charism, in order to announce to them the Gospel of Mercy, bearing in mind the missionary dimension of our Order and a sponsored we are called to make in society and in the Church.[40]
31. When the Order proclaims the primacy of evangelization over all other tasks,[41] it also takes on the commitment to promote Formation in the missionary spirit, in the light of the Decree Ad Gentes, the encyclical Redemptoris Mission and our own documents such as the Missionary Dimension of the Hospitaller Order of St John of God and the Identity Card. The contents of these documents show the way to embody our spirituality in the world and in the Church today.
32. In the Formation process, the charism and the mission must be communicated using the language of hospitality which all can understand, through actions, needs and attitudes of solidarity and mercy, supported by science and technology.
33. In our Consecrated Life and the performance of the mission throughout history, there have been certain fundamental values that guarantee our faithfulness to Jesus Christ, to the Charism and to the spiritual heritage of the Order. These include the following, which are part of our philosophical, cultural and hospitaller tradition:
a) The Good Samaritan, the icon of our Hospitality[42]
b) Communion with the Church
c) The centrality of those who suffer
d) The inculturation of the Charism
e) Responding to the new times.
II. TOWARDS A MODEL OF COMPREHENSIVE FORMATION
1. THE COMPREHENSIVE FORMATION PARADIGM
34. Throughout this Formation Book frequent mention is made of the concept of comprehensiveness. The Formation model on which we are relying is based on the Comprehensive Formation Paradigm[43] which hinges around the experience of God through three angles or 'encounters' in which we attempt to harmonize:
a) experiencing God in our own person: the experience of sonship.
b) experiencing God in the community: the experience of fraternity.
c) experiencing God in the mission: the experience of the Kingdom).
35. This model encourages the harmonious development of every aspect of the human person at all times, and the assimilation of all the different contents of Formation. Its main characteristic is that it is integrated and comprehensive Formation, part of an ongoing process which is personalized, liberating, inculturated and universal. Around this paradigm general and specific proposals for our Formation must revolve relating to criteria, objectives, means, and contents.
36. Our Formation model sets out to integrate the various "encounters": personal, communitarian and hospitaller/missionary, which configure our experience of God, as a process in which we gradually assimilate the attitude of Christ, the Good Samaritan.[44]
a) experiencing God within one's own person: we contemplate our individual existence as a gift, and we contemplate the person as being receptive to the will of God.
b) experiencing God within the community: we contemplate the community as an experience which configures life and the person himself, feeling called to be a brother of the Brothers, through the sonship that has been given to him.
c) experiencing God on the mission: we see the mission as the project of God who calls together the brothers to complete the development and practice of their vocation. This mission can only be understood among us when we stand by the poor and sick.
37. God comes to meet us from any one of these three angles: the experience of God affects and fully imbues the reality of the mission, the community and our inner being.
38. According to this view of the Consecrated Life, the central core is passion for God, the attraction of the man Jesus, and solidarity with the poor,[45] living a personal and community life based on mutual interdependence and in a given historical context, taking on and manifesting the attitudes of Christ.[46]
39. Initial Formation based on the Comprehensive Formation Paradigm is viewed as a process in which the Brother under Formation, beginning with the person in relation to his environment and in the light of the Spirit, opens up to the experience of initiation shared with the other Brothers in order to discover his vocation and the sense of the Consecrated Life to which he feels called, in a specific family, namely, the Hospitaller Order, and with a specific charismatic inspiration, which is the inspiration of our Founder, St John of God.
40. The comprehensive perspective is open-ended, flexible, interdisciplinary and interrelated: it has a theological dimension, in addition to comprising the human sciences and culture; it commits both the Formation Masters, those under Formation and the Community.
41. The whole community is called to take on the task of providing Formation, because all the Brothers, in different ways, accompany and bear witness; the function of the community is important because it is a socialization structure in which those under Formation learn to refer to the Order and their membership of it.
42. The Formation Master, through his personal support and company, viewed as a personalization process, helps the Brothers under Formation to discern the will of God in their own lives.
43. The attitude of the Brothers under Formation must not merely be to assimilate knowledge, but to open up and reaching out to others, to life and to God, to discover themselves and to allow themselves to be met by our Lord, preparing themselves to focus all their energy on building up the Kingdom.
44. In short, the Formation of the Brother of St John of God sets out to ensure the harmonious and balanced development of all the dimensions of our specific vocation: union with God, the central position of Christ, outreach to the Spirit, fraternity, and apostolic work. Harmonizing these facets makes unity of life possible, which leads us to personal maturity. Humbly and objectively recognizing our limitations and our capabilities enables us to be complemented by others, and to give the best of ourselves in jointly building up the Kingdom.
45. The Formation plan must rank the key elements or most significant features of our formation and educational process set out in the Formation plan. These essential features must be tailored in the later stages, and adjusted to suit the pace of each person. In the next section we list and develop the main features of the formation process we intend to pursue.
2. THE FEATURES OF OUR FORMATION MODEL
46. Those of us who are responsible for Formation proceed by integrating the Gospel ideal as St John of God lived it and taught it to the first Brothers and to each of his followers, on anthropological and Christological bases. To carry through this process of internalization we must bear in mind a number of characteristic features that form part of he Formation model we are proposing, that we must strive to embody and hand on. These are the features that we believe to be the most important according to our Constitutions.[47]
a) It is comprehensive
47. A type of Formation based on the Comprehensive Paradigm involves all the postulates of Christian anthropology and the essential elements of the Consecrated Life. A vocation can only be lived in a balanced and harmonious fashion if the person concerned is capable of discovering that God indwells and loves him. It is through our vocation that we discover the power of our calling so that we can reach the point at which we can say for certain "I am called, therefore I am". All the dimensions of the personality (corporeity, affectivity-sexuality, sociability, psychology, spirituality, worldliness...) are integrated, developed and analysed in the light of God's call and in terms of the fullness to which we aspire as persons in the Formation process.
b) It is an ongoing process
48. Throughout our lives we develop our vocation through a gradual process in which we integrate all the experiences and dimensions that foster personal maturity and growth.
49. Our Formation model is based on the model of the person of Christ, the "free man" who, throughout the whole of his earthly life knew that he had been called, wished to do the will of the Father, and gave himself up to fulfil His Father's plan for the salvation of mankind. Like the Good Samaritan "he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil".[48] Christ, as man, underwent a growth process in his own life from his Incarnation to his glorification.
c) It is an experience
50. In the Formation process experiences are brought out which must be enlightened by the Christian vision in order to be able to respond to God's call, freely and responsibly. Formation in the order is based on the example of the teaching given by God the Father in the life and history of his people, in the path which Jesus followed with his disciples and in the action of the Spirit in the Church and in the world. Each Brother and each person under Formation must know how to integrate and experience all positive or negative events as a part of their own history of salvation on the basis of which God speaks to us and leads us.
d) It is personalized
51. The personalized Formation process is tailored to each person viewed as an individual, appraises that person in every aspect of his being, respecting and stimulating his pace of growth.
52. Those under Formation must be aware of their own identity and of the gift they have received from God in order to develop all their human and spiritual potential to the full. They must also be capable of gradually taking on the values and the culture of the Order, responsibly, dynamically and creatively.[49]
e) It is a gradual and differentiated process
53. While preserving its basic unitary character, our Formation must be geared to make allowances for differences between people in terms of their age, culture, mission, roles, communities, Provinces, and the different situations that exist within the Order. It must also takes account of their individual features and their socio-cultural background. It also demands a continuous critical self-assessment, re-reading our lives in terms of reality and in terms of the other people with whom we relate.
f) It is liberating and prophetic
54. Formation educates to make free choices for authentic motives, so that we can gradually take on the attitudes of Christ as a sign of the freedom of the new man, overcoming fear and the constraints that prevent us from living in freedom.
55. Education in and for freedom means preparing the candidates and Brothers to be sensitive to contemporary signs, to denounce situations of injustice, poverty, and marginalization, which are detrimental to health and life. This Formation in freedom trains us to announce the Good News and to be a prophetic presence, living in the manner of John of God in different times and places, with the courage, fidelity and confidence of our Brother Saints and Martyrs who have gone before us.
g) It is universal
56. Providing Formation with a universal and ecumenical vision means that we must be capable of looking beyond our own borders, of broadening the geographical, conceptual, structural, dynamic and spiritual horizons of the Order, acting with universal attitudes according to a conception of globality.
57. The Order is present in
many parts of the world, witnessing to the universal nature of our Charism.
This stimulates us to respect the values of all different races, cultures,
specific human groups, religions and languages, so that we can try to embody
the Charism and the spirit of John of God.
Chapter two
THE OBJECTIVES, CRITERIA,
MEANS AND SUBSTANCE
OF FORMATION
III. THE OBJECTIVES OF FORMATION
58. Our identification and our sense of belonging to the
Hospitaller Family and our faithfulness to the Charism of the Order urge us to
take on and pursue the following objectives:
1.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
To accompany the Brothers and
those undergoing formation in their human, Christian, vocational and
hospitaller growth, making them capable of consecrating their lives to God,
following Christ and living the Charism of the Order in the manner of St John
of God.
2.
OBJECTIVES BY STAGES
A) VOCATIONS PROMOTION
To make our Charism known
throughout the Church and accompany those who feel called to follow Jesus in
the manner of St John of God
B)
THE PRE-POSTULANCY
To help candidates clarify and
discern their vocation in the Church, offering them appropriate human and
Christian Formation, in contact with the mission of the Hospitaller Order.
C) THE POSTULANCY
To foster the growth of the
postulant in terms of his personal maturity and life of faith, and accompany
him as he discerns his vocation as a Brother of St John of God.
D) THE NOVITIATE
To live the profound experience
of a personal encounter with God, the community and suffering mankind; to grow
in self-knowledge and discern one's vocation in order to be able, freely and
responsibly, to respond to the call to following Christ.
E) THE SCHOLASTICATE
To heighten the experience of
life consecrated to the discipleship of Christ as a Brother of St John of God,
through a process of personal integration, equipping the Brother to consecrate
himself definitively to God in the Order at the service of the mission.
F) CONTINUING FORMATION
To refresh and update every
dimensional of our lives, in order to be able to make an adequate response to
the specific mission which the Church has entrusted to us.
G) THE FORMATION OF THE FORMATION MASTERS
To prepare ourselves and remain
up-to-date on specific issues relating to formation in order to be able to
properly take on and perform the responsibility entrusted to us by the Order.
IV. GENERAL FORMATION CRITERIA
59. The criteria that we are proposing to guide our Formation
process are determined by the features of the comprehensive Formation model which
is described in chapter two. As a consequence of, and in correlation with the
way we understand the vocational path, and we indicate the importance of
contemplation and work during Formation based on the experience on an "encounter".
60. This experience, as an existential reality, enables us to
provide formation in terms of an encounter with ourselves, with the community
and with the sick and needy. These experiences given rise to the formation
criteria that are set out below as a benchmark and to provide general guidance
for reflection and discernment.
61. The experience of God, who is the Centre and the ultimate
purpose of all Formation, his head in each one of the three encounters made by
the individual. This encounter with God is the central core of the consecration
which is experienced and lived in the depths of the individual person, in the
community and in the mission.
1.
PROVIDING FORMATION BASED ON
SELF-KNOWLEDGE
62. John of God, drawing on the experience of his own values and
his own limitations, found himself and found God dwelling within him, and felt
called to exercise and practise mercy towards the least in society, whom he saw
as the beloved of God.
63. Faithful to the same process through which our Founder passed,
we desire our Formation to help us discover and experience the presence of God
in the depths of our being and become aware of our dignity as sons in Christ.
The Brothers under Formation must be helped to seek the truth, to live in
freedom and act responsibly and autonomously.
64. This implies that:
a) all
of us, those under Formation and every Brother, have to play an active role in
Formation and take responsibility for our response to our calling;
b) we
must constantly work knowing and accepting ourselves as we are, and move
forward in the process of
reconciliation with our personal history: values, sufferings, "lights and
shadows". This is a demand that extends throughout our whole life and is
geared to the pace and the features of each individual person;
c) we
must consider Formation to be a dynamic, flexible, ongoing and complete path at
the human, cultural, spiritual and pastoral levels;
d) we
must clarify and purify distorted images of God in order to encounter the God
revealed by Jesus Christ.
e) ends
and means must be adapted to suit the real-life situation of each person,
bearing in mind the continuity and complementarity between the various phases
of Formation;
f) we
must awaken and arouse the evangelical and critical awareness of the Brothers
undergoing Formation to the values and the counter values of culture, and to
their own personal situation;[50]
g) we
must place great stress on the support and accompaniment of the Formation
Master and the Formation community, particularly during Initial Formation, in
order to enable Brothers to acquire the identity and sense of belonging to the
Hospitaller family;
h) a
climate of mutual trust must be created and encouraged between the Formation
Masters and Brothers under Formation to enable them to conduct their vocational
discernment not only during Initial Formation but also at important moments
throughout their lives.
2.
FORMATION BASED ON A MEETING WITH
THE COMMUNITY
65. St John of God discovered God in all the people he met: the
poor, the sick and the needy. He welcomed the Church of his time, with which he
established bonds of deep communion. Around him a "group of
followers" sprang up, to whom he bequeathed his spirit and Charism, and
whom we can consider to be the co-founders of the Order.
66. In the Formation process we strive to ensure that the community
becomes a privileged place which enables all to experience God and which
stimulates them to communicate that presence to others.[51]
67. We must discover new sense of community which ranges further
than identification with a physical reality. Our communities must be committed
to performing the mission and the open to take in those who wish to live the
experience of the Christian community. Our community boundaries can never be
fixed, but must be open and welcoming, particularly with to those with normally
share our mission because every community is a theological place, "in
which the Trinity dwells",[52]
and the place of fraternal communion for all those who have gathered together
in our Lord's name.[53]
68. In terms of the communitarian dimension of our life, the
Brothers are invited to:
a) cultivate
fraternal life in the community in a broad and inclusive sense;
b) be
schools of formation in our Communities, particularly for new vocations, where
fraternity, joy and friendship are experienced, together with the way of life
lived by consecrated men and the values of the Order;
c) educate
and form, in order to maintain an attitude of outreach and openness that will
encourage friendship, dialogue, brotherhood and solidarity as elements which
strengthen Community life;
d) enhance
our awareness of being members of the People of God, accepting the consequences
and the commitments that stem from our decision to opt for the Church of
communion and participation;
e) feel
a sense of deep communion with the Order, sharing its joys, sufferings and
hopes;
f) share
the Charism and mission of St John of God with our Co-workers.
3.
FORMATION IN TERMS OF THE MEETING
WITH THE HOSPITALLER MISSION
69. St John of God went out to meet the sick and needy with whom he
shared his life. In them he saw the suffering God, and helped them to recover
their dignity, and welcomed them in as his Brothers.
70. This way of going out to meet the needy is an invitation to
each Brother and those under Formation to:
a) show
solidarity with the world of the poor, the sick and the needy[54]
whose plight calls out to us and spurs
us on, beginning with the Formation process;
b) incorporate
ourselves into different cultures in the countries in which we live;
c) be
attentive to the signs of the times and the needs of present-day society,
interpreting states of poverty and sickness in the light of the Gospel, in
Hospitaller and liberation terms, in the knowledge that we have been sent by
our Lord to proclaim the Good News to the poor, the sick and the needy;
d) stake
our lives on humanization, focusing it on the persons to whom we minister and on promoting and defending life, and the
rights and duties of men and women;
e) commit
ourselves to the evangelization of all those who, through Hospitality, come into
contact with us, and allow ourselves to be evangelized by them, truly convinced
that "the poor evangelize us".
V. FUNDAMENTAL MEANS USED FOR FORMATION
71. The Order proposes a series of means to be used to dynamize the
Formation process, in accordance with the values that we wish to pass on. These
means must be used in terms of the situation in which the individual Brothers
live, and the environments in which the various phases of Formation are experienced,
in order to gradually achieve the purposes and objectives proposed along the
path of their vocational development.
1.
THE WORD OF GOD
72. The Order provides us the opportunity to read, study and
reflect on the Word in the light of the Charism. That is to say, in terms of
liberation and salvation as John of God understood and embodied it. The Word of
God, when read and meditated and lived, is the daily bread of each Brother,
from the moment he begins his Formation process, because the Word is the
treasure of revelation entrusted to the Church"[55]
which needs not only to be understood, but also made present and active in
daily life.
2. THE CHURCH
73. Our vocation has a sense and meaning within the Church. We
form part of the Church's charismatic riches and we share her creed and her
mission. Throughout the whole Formation process we continue to discover and
become more thoroughly acquainted with the mystery of the Church as the
Sacrament of Salvation, the People of God, Church-Communion. Our love for the
Church reflects the attitude of St John of God, who was always ready to
"accept and believe whatever Holy Mother Church has and believes".[56]
3. THE LITURGY AND THE SACRAMENTS
74. Liturgical celebrations and the sacraments are an essential
part of the Consecrated Life. Superiors and Formation Masters must help the
Brothers to play a part in them particularly when they are undergoing periods
of Formation, avoiding formalism, routine and compliance for its own sake.
75. The liturgical prayer of the Church and the Sacraments must be
lived and celebrated in our centres and communities as sources of healing and
liberation. In order to be able to assimilate, live and celebrate their
theological, spiritual and pastoral richness, we must foster study of an active
participation in liturgical celebrations".[57]
4. SIGNIFICANT PERSONS FOR THE ORDER
76. The Virgin Mary is always for us, as disciples of Jesus, a
model and the stimulus in every stage and at every age in life. [58]She
played a major part in the life of St John of God and in the history of the
Order. This is why the Patronage of Mary has been solemnly proclaimed as the
sign of filial veneration and gratitude.[59]Her
maternal presence brings us close to Jesus and helps us to discover the sense
of sonship, brotherhood and communion with those who suffer.
77. St John of God and the other Saints and Beati of the Order are
true examples of inspiration for all the Brothers to encourage us to follow
Christ. They and many other Brothers have already gone along the path of
Hospitality, giving dynamism to the Charism of Mercy.
5.
PRAYER
78. Prayer it is an encounter of friendship with God, a time of
intimacy with "the one whom we know loves us";[60] it is a source of personal, community and
apostolic growth and development, which helps us to integrate life in all its
dimensions and discover the presence of God in people and in our specific
mission. Our prayer as Hospitallers is fuelled and nurtured by life and leads
us to Life.[61]
6.
THE CONSTITUTIONS
79. The Constitutions are the immediate benchmark to be used for our
Formation process and constitute the educational summa of our Charism. In view of their importance to the process of
Formation they must offer a simple and practical methodology for studying,
assimilating and living them. When we study and pray with the Constitutions we
discover the essence of the Charism, the spirituality and the apostolic mission
of the Order.
80. Our Constitutions help us to:
a) discover
the values and the riches of the Gospel in order to be able to live them as men
consecrated in Hospitality,
b) renew
our spirituality and fidelity to the Charism, clarifying for the benefit of the
Brothers and those under Formation the criteria which help them to embody the
Charism in the manner of st John of God,
c) become
more closely configured with Christ, the Good Samaritan, by meditating and
reflecting on them.
7. THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS
81. These are the expression of the discipleship of Christ, which
is the paramount purpose of the consecrated life in the Church and a prophetic
sign to the Christian community and to the world.[62]
The Brothers of St John of God are called to live our consecrated life in terms
of hospitality. Each one of evangelical counsels expresses our self giving as
free, poor and chaste men, and the service of suffering humanity and of the
Kingdom, has St John of God himself served.[63]
8. THE COMMUNITY
82. Our Religious community is the special place of brotherhood and
the experience God, in which we live the social dimension, the riches of the
Charism and the Tradition of the Order.[64] For these reasons, by 'community' we mean
the Order, the Province and the local Community, open to all those have
relations with us.
83. The Community, as a place of fellowship, prayer and
co-responsibility on the mission, fosters the Formation process and is a school
for new vocations. Formation is therefore the responsibility of all the
Communities.[65]
84. The
Formation Community has been given the specific task of educating Brothers
through its moral and spiritual strength, by bearing witness to fellowship and
Hospitality. The purpose of the Formation Community is to:
a) foster
growth in the life of fellowship and apostolic work,
b) stimulate
the sense of identity with and membership of the Order,
c) create
and enhance interpersonal bonds and relationships based on friendship,
d) strive to help us to mature affectively,
e) help
us to grow in responsibility through personal service,
f) accompany
those under Formation through personal and community dialogue and discernment,
g) accompany
the candidates' and the Brothers' experience of prayer and the spiritual life,
h) enhance
personal aptitudes and skills, encouraging creativity and unity in diversity.
9.
FORMATION MASTERS AND EDUCATORS
85. The Brothers who are responsible for providing Formation
participate in the work of the Father who, through the Spirit, imbues those
under Formation with the inner attitudes of Christ.[66] They are also special agents in the
Formation process and are called and trained to accompany those under
Formation, helping them to discover the value of the Charism of St John of God.
Major Superiors are vested with the important responsibility of carefully
choosing and preparing those responsible for Formation because they have the
mission of directly accompanying people along their vocational path and passing
on the Charism.
10.
STUDY AND FORMATION
86. We have a life-long need for Formation and every Brother is
therefore responsible for gradually acquiring a comprehensive Formation: human,
cultural, spiritual, professional, theological and pastoral.[67]
87. Thanks to study and appropriate Formation in the signs of the
times, we contribute to developing our own vocation and we are better able to
respond to the demands of our Hospitaller and ecclesial mission. Study and
Formation are interrelated, and they are processes which we must carefully
cultivate, opening up our hearts and minds to the Spirit. We are duty-bound to
acquire the habit of study and taking responsibility for our own Formation.
11.
WORK AS MISSION
88. Our work on behalf of the needy becomes a Mission through our
witness and by proclaiming the Good News to the sick and the world of health
care.[68] We draw close to the sick, the poor and the
needy who demand and ask us to defend their rights, appealing to our dedication
and way of style.
89. The whole rationale of the Community in our apostolic Centres
is the mission, as St John of God himself said: But if you come here, you will have to be very obedient and work much
harder than you have ever done, while always remaining absorbed in the things
of God and losing sleep in order to care for the poor.[69]
12. ASCESIS
90. Ascesis in the spiritual life is not an end in itself, but is
the means whereby we are able to follow Jesus who invites us to take up our
cross and be ready to serve him.[70]
We understand it to be a constant conversion to the Gospel and as a call to be
more free in our discipleship of Jesus Christ, living and transparently
witnessing to the demands of the Kingdom.
91. Throughout our Formation, we Brothers need wisdom in order
to perceive the calls and the demands of ascesis, and the courage to give up
and break away from whatever our vocation, Charism and mission demand of us.
13.
ACCOMPANIMENT/SUPPORT
92. The vocation must be supported, accompanied and discerned
throughout the whole of our lives, particularly during Initial Formation.
Allowing ourselves to be accompanied involves an unconditional attitude of
obedience to the project of God and the quest to discover his will. One
important instrument in the accompanying process is personal dialogue[71]
The Brothers responsible for Formation, through the ministry of accompaniment,
educate, train, and strengthen discernment, as a method of helping candidates
and young Brothers.
14.
EVALUATION
93. Evaluation
enables us to judge whether we possess the capacities and the qualities
specific to our particular stage of Formation, to see whether we have achieved
the objectives and whether the means proposed for them have been appropriate.
In the early phases it also enables us to see whether those under Formation are
ready to move on to the next phase. In the Formation programmes and in the
personal and community projects it is important to specify the evaluation
criteria and timing. Much of the evaluation work here forms part of the process
of accompaniment-discernment and revision of life.
Chapter three
INITIAL FORMATION:
FORMATION STAGES
94. This chapter proposes the pedagogical guidelines for fostering
ad developing the vocation in the stages of initial formation. Bearing in mind
everything that has been said previously regarding the Formation model that has
been adopted, each stage has its own general objective, definition and specific
objectives, together with its means, contents and criteria.[72]
95. The stages which make the Formation process in our Order
organically and gradually operational and effective are:
a) The Prenoviate
·
Vocations
Promotion
·
Postulancy
b) The Novitiate
c) The Scholasticate
d) Continuing Formation
e) Formation of Educators/Formation Masters
VI. THE PRENOVIATE
"What do you seek?" ...
"Where are you staying?"
..."Come and see."
They came and saw where he was staying;
and they stayed with him that day.
(Jn 1,39)
96. The Prenovitiate comprises two major phases in the process of
discernment and Formation of new vocations: Vocations Promotion and the
Postulancy.
97. Bearing in mind certain realities, the proper law of the Order
empowers the Provinces to have a Prepostulancy, if they consider it necessary.
This is a stadium formation and vocational discernment preceding the Postulancy
without a time limit and organized in accordance with the circumstances of each
place and at any given time.[73]
VOCATIONS PROMOTION
"Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest
to send out labourers into his harvest."
(Mt 9,38)
1.
DEFINITION
98. It is a induction or initiation stage, in which the candidate
and the Order become acquainted with each other. What we have freely received
and live as an authentic gift, we
offer to others and share with them so that they can accept it if they feel
called to this particular manner of following Jesus Christ as Brothers of St
John of God. No-one can choose or even
desire what they do not know. It forms part of our mission to pass on our
Charism to others.[74] Vocations Promotion comprises two areas of
action:
a) To familiarize candidates with the Religious Life and
specifically our Hospitaller Order of St John of God;
b) To offer vocational support and accompaniment to those who
show an interest in and a sensitivity towards the Order with the desire to
consecrate themselves in it.
99. Each of these areas in which vocations promotion is practised
is limited to the groups of young men and adults in which were able to make our
charism present. Part of vocations promotion is an integral part of the broader
Pastoral Ministry of young people.
2.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
100. To familiarize candidates with our Charism in the Church and
accompany those who feel called to follow Jesus in the manner of St John of
God.
3.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
101. Vocations Promotion is directed towards two specific objectives:
a) To present in intelligible language the values, attitudes and
way of life that is entailed by deciding to follow the vocation as a Brother of
St John of God.
b) To enable the Order and the candidate to perform an initial
vocational discernment, based on mutual knowledge, and jointly analyse the
motives for the vocation, identifying expectations and ascertaining the
candidate's readiness to take the decision.
4.
MEANS OF DISSEMINATING FAMILIARITY
WITH THE CHARISM OF THE ORDER
102. The Brothers responsible for Vocations Promotion have the
following actions or tasks to carry out or promote;
a) helping those under Formation to become familiar with and to
understand our mission and way of life: "sowing" the seed of
Hospitality;
b) motivating the Brothers to be present in youth and Church
organizations and environments;
c) participating in inter-Congregational Vocations Promotion
groups;
d) disseminating our Hospitaller mission by whatever means is
most appropriate in each locality;
e) involving each Community and each Brother in the pastoral
ministry by virtue of our status as mediators for other vocations.
f) offering a fraternal welcome and hospitality to all, whether
or not they are potential vocations;
g) preparing a specific provincial vocations plan, linked to the
parish, diocesan and/or inter-Congregational Vocations Promotions ministry;
h) creating and animating parish groups or movements of
Hospitaller spirituality and the Pastoral Ministry of the sick.
5.
MEANS FOR PROVIDING VOCATIONAL
SUPPORT AND ACCOMPANIMENT
103. Here are some of the appropriate means for accompanying and
supporting vocations in the initial period of discernment:
a) applying pedagogical vocational criteria: sowing,
accompanying, educating, forming and discerning;[75]
b) using the religious and professional resources that are
recommended or required by the Church and by the Order;
c) providing candidates with the opportunity to experience one
of our Communities to be able to see first-hand how we live our lives";
d) providing personal support, through the Brother or some
another person responsible for promoting vocations;[76]
e) praying to Our Lord for vocations, privately and in
Community.[77]
6.
CRITERIA FOR ADMISSION TO THE
PREPOSTULANCY
104. At the end of Vocations Promotion stage and before setting out on
the Formation process in the Postulancy, the Formation Master must be
adequately acquainted with the family and the socio-cultural background of the
candidate. Additionally, the candidate himself must:
a) understand that the vocation is a gift that he has received
from God, and that he has the duty to develop and practise it throughout the
whole of his life;
b) be aware that it involves taking a decision which involves
every aspect of the person, and that the decision can only be taken to its
conclusion with the help of God and the Church, through the Order;
c) be ready for and receptive to Formation, and to acquire the
intellectual education needed in the Order, in order to be able to live up
responsibly to his vocation and respond to the demands of the contemporary
world;
d) be sufficiently aware of what the choice of the Consecrated
Life entails, and how it is lived within our Order;
e) perceive the sense of the mission of service to the sick and
needy as the way in which we specifically perform our vocation and mission in
the manner of St John of God;
f) possess the ability to reconcile himself with his personal
history and his own family and social environment;
g) demonstrate the psychological, intellectual, moral and
spiritual qualities and have attained an adequate level of education to be able
to embark upon this Formation process. This requires an appraisal of the
candidate's maturity, health, affectivity, autonomy, self-acceptance and
acceptance of others, his ability to live the Community life, and his
experience of faith, his prayerfulness and his sensitivity to the Charism.[78]
THE POSTULANCY
"Jesus said to them, "Follow
me..."
And
immediately they left their nets and followed him."
(Mk 1,17-18)
1. DEFINITION
105. This is the stage prior to the Novitiate, directed towards
continuing discernment and embarking on the Formation process proper.
106. The length of the Postulancy stage depends on each individual,
even though the Order's legislation lays down the minimum and the maximum.[79]
The form it takes will depend on the personal situation of the candidates and
the possibilities and the organization of each religious Province.
107. During this period, a comprehensive and personal Formation
process begins, to enable the candidate:
a) to continue clarifying and discerning the motivations for his
vocation;
b) to begin an extended experience of what Religious
Consecration entails in terms of prayer life, community life and apostolic
mission;
c) to enhance his experience of God, based on his calling to
Hospitality;
d) to be accompanied and supported by a community and an
official who will help him discover, analyse, and plan his choice of life;
e) to internalize the criterion that "no-one can be admitted without suitable preparation"[80]
and that "a minimum of necessary
maturity is required"[81]
to enter the Novitiate. Particular care must be taken to ensure that this
maturity is acquired and/or enhanced in the Postulancy.
2. GENERAL OBJECTIVE
108. To foster the growth of the postulant in terms of personal
maturity and the life of faith, and to accompany him in his discernment of his
vocation as a Brother of St John of God.
3.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
109. The specific objectives of the Postulancy are to enable the
Postulant to experience:
3.1 An encounter with himself:
to make progress in
self-knowledge to make it possible to gain a clearer understanding of the
motives for taking up his vocation, discovering his personal potential and his
limitations;
3.2 An encounter with the
Community:
to begin the experience of
Community Life as a vital place of reference, reaching out towards others and
sharing his new life with the others;
3.3. An encounter with the
mission:
to gradually take part in
performing the ministry of service that is specific to the mission of St John
of God, as a response to the demand of the faith that the acceptance of the
vocation entails.
3.4 An encounter with God:
to make progress in the
experience of God based upon his own life experience in order to reinforce his
decision to live as a Brother of St John of God.
4.
MEANS
110. On the basis of a comprehensive Formation plan, the means that
are used apply to each dimension of the individual Postulant. They may differ,
depending on the way in which this phase is structured in each particular
place. But it order to achieve the objectives of the Postulancy, we propose
that:
a) a sufficiently long period should be devoted to acquiring a
familiarity with our daily life, through contact with and direct experience of
it;
b) the Postulants should write their own autobiography to help
them re-read their lives;
c) a psychological study of the Postulant should be done, and
counselling given to facilitate the work of support and accompaniment;[82]
d) systematic support should be provided, cultivating each and
every dimension of the Postulant;
e) Postulants should be given basic Formation on the Consecrated
Life and the Order, and undertake other types of study;
f) basic guidance should be given for drawing up the
Postulant's personal life project;
g) the Postulant should gradually be given direct experience of
our Hospitaller mission in the
Formation Centre or in other apostolic Centres.
5.
CONTENTS
111. The contents of this stage of initiation/induction must be
directed towards learning and assimilating the following:
a) self-knowledge and identity techniques;
b) initiation in the Personal and Community Life Project; group
behaviour, discernment, revision of life, etc.;
c) affectivity: sexuality, interpersonal relations, friendship,
group psychology;
d) Biblical vocations and their features;
e) methods of personal prayer: learning and practising prayer;
f) introduction to the biography of Our Founder;
g) introduction to the Constitutions and the culture of the
Order;
h) the Hospitaller Apostolate and Mission: contact with the
world of pain, suffering and deprivation, analysis of this world and
interpreting it in terms of the Gospel;
i) the basics of the Christian life according to the Catechism
of the Catholic Church: the Creed, Sacraments, Moral Theology, Liturgy, etc.;
j) discovering and becoming familiar with the Bible and the
Liturgy of the Hours, as prayer books;
k) the basic theology of the Consecrated Life.
6.
CRITERIA FOR ADMISSION TO THE
NOVITIATE
112. We consider that the Postulant who applies to enter the Novitiate
must possess the following features:
a) he must have clarified his vocational decision and have
adequately examined himself in terms of the Hospitaller life, feel identitified
with it, and sincerely desire to develop it responsibly;
b) he must demonstrate sufficient aptitudes and attitudes for
living Community Life;
c) he must be sufficiently acquainted with his own personality,
and be capable of living in a group, and be affectively balanced and
integrated;
d) he must have completed the necessary religious and secular
levels of education to guarantee a sound understanding of what he has to learn
in the Novitiate;
e) he must have acquired a sufficient experience of God and of
prayer, and have taken a well-thought-out decision to follow Christ. He, the person accompanying him and the
Formation Community must have discovered evident signs that the candidate has
the necessary aptitude to live and practise his vocation as a Brother of St
John of God;
f) he must have been initiated into the Charism and mission of
the Order and possess the necessary qualities to be able to participate in its
Hospitality project.
g) he must have experienced the Formation process through the
various "encounters", and have come up to expectations as indicated
in this inititation/induction phase;
VI. THE NOVITIATE
"If
any man would come after me,
let
him deny himself
and
take up his cross daily and follow me."
(Lk
9,23)
1.
DEFINITION
113. The Novitiate is a fundamental phase in which the Novices
experience a personal encounter with God,[83]
discerning, clarifying and becoming more thoroughly imbued with the Lord's
calling, in order to be able to take their decision freely and in full
awareness to follow Christ the Good Samaritan in the Hospitaller Order. It is
also a time in which their human and spiritual qualities become evident, and
their intention and suitability to profess the evangelical counsels are tested.[84]
114. This period is designed to enable the Novices to live their
vocation in the spirit of the Constitutions and practise the evangelical
counsels and experience Community and Apostolic Life according to our founding
Charism.
115. In this stage the Novice must experience the specific and
continuing character of his Formation. This requires him to experience his
human and spiritual development with realism, stability and balance.
2. GENERAL OBJECTIVE
116. To have a profound experience of a personal encounter with God,
the community and suffering humanity, to grow in self-knowledge and to discern
his vocation, in order to freely and responsibly take up the call to follow
Christ
3.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
117. In the Novitiate stage, the Novice should strive to have:
3.1
An encounter with himself:
work on his own vocational
identity based on an adequate acceptance of self, with his qualities and his
limitations.
3.2
An encounter with the Community:
develop the attitudes needed to
live with others and take joint responsibility in the Community. The Novice
must be helped to appreciate his personal talents, to be able to place them at
the service of others and actively cooperate in building up the community.
3.3
An encounter with the mission:
internalize the spirit of the
Order, with faithfulness to the Charism, and becoming incorporated into the
Hospitaller mission; being ready to serve the sick and needy, by accepting
responsibility as a herald and builder of the Kingdom of God.
3.4
An encounter with God:
have a deep experience of both
personal and community prayer, and of an encounter with God in terms of the
specific spirituality of the Order.
4.
MEANS
118. The most appropriate means proposed to attain the objectives of
the Novitiate are:
a) the Personal and Community Project of the Novitiate, which
includes every aspect, properly harmonized, such outreaching while breaking with
the past, an interior life while being able to relate to others, freedom and
responsibility, prayer and work, study and practical and recreational
activities;
b) cultivating moments of solitude and silence which foster
prayer, and sharing the Word and the liturgical celebrations;
c) fostering interpersonal relations in Community Life, sharing
the celebrations and the joy of the Hospitaller vocation;
d) being receptiveness to the environment and gradually being
incorporated into it;
e) regularly meeting the Educator/Formation Master, and giving
spiritual support;
f) continuing to practise the techniques of self-knowledge
techniques, in order to achieve better self-acceptance and become thoroughly
imbued with the Religious identity;
g) following the Formation plan with all the contents planned
for this stage;
h) attending the daily Eucharist and frequently partaking of the
Sacrament of Reconciliation;
i) devoting time to personal and community prayer, and
spiritual reading;
j) looking to Mary, the model of consecration, Hospitality,
simplicity, and listening to the Word;
k) becoming acquainted with the programmes of the Centre and the
social environment of which the Novice forms part, learning team work and how
to relate with the co-workers;
l) spending time on working where Hospitality can be practised.
5. CONTENTS
119. The themes for the Novitiate period fall into the following
areas: human, theological and Consecrated Life Formation, and the studies
specific to the Order.
a)
Human Formation
·
identity,
friendship and affective-sexual maturity
·
theory
and practice of Christian discernment
·
theory
and practice of spiritual accompaniment and support
·
theory
and practice of the Personal and Community Life Project
b)
Theological Formation
·
personal
and group prayer, methods
·
introduction
to Holy Scripture
·
theological
anthropology
·
the
theology of God
·
ethical
and moral formation
·
Christology
·
introduction
to the Liturgy
c) Formation for the Consecrated Life
·
introduction
to the Consecrated Life: history, consecration, charism, spirituality and
community life
·
Vocation:
the anthropological, theological and psychological aspects
·
The
evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity and obedience
d) Hospitaller Formation
·
The
Rule of St Augustine
·
The
Constitutions and General Statutes of the Order
·
The
documents of the Order
·
The
Charism and the evangelical counsel of Hospitality
·
The
history of the Order
·
John
of God: his life and his letters
·
The
theology of suffering
6.
CRITERIA FOR SIMPLE PROFESSION
120. To proceed to Profession certain criteria are adopted to appraise
the novice's aptitude. He must:
a) have made progress is self-knowledge and self-acceptance:
self-control, maturity and the capacity to take on permanent commitments;
b) be capable of maintaining mature interpersonal relations:
c) freely express his decision regarding his vocation and be
able to perform the Hospitaller mission;
d) have achieved an adequate level in his prayer and spiritual
life, and in the faith;
e) have the ability to live a Community Life;
f) understand, assimilate and love the Order's life project and
accept the spirit and the demands of the Constitutions;
g) have shown that he is capable of meeting the demands of the
evangelical counsels in terms of Hopsitality.
VII. THE SCHOLASTICATE
"You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you
that you should go and bear fruit
and that your fruit should abide" (Jn 15, 16).
1.
DEFINITION
121. The Scholasticate is the stage in Initial Formation covering the
period from First Profession to Solemn Profession. In this stage the aim is to
consolidate the decision to respond to the calling, "to reach a level of
human and spiritual maturity which makes it possible to understand and live
consecration in the Order as a true good for self and for others".[85]
It is therefore a stage of personal maturity and of taking the Formation that
began in the novitiate one step further[86]
in which the Brother must consolidate and enhance the growth of every dimension
of his personality.
122. It is a very important period in which the Brother continues to
pursue his human, professional, theological, spiritual and pastoral Formation,
harmonizing vocation and mission,[87]
preparing to make his Solemn Profession through which he will consecrate
himself totally to God in the Order.
123. The scholastic is required to harmonize the time spent on work
and the time devoted to cultivating his spiritual life. This period of the
Scholasticate takes the form of the practice of the vows of chastity, poverty,
obedience and Hospitality, as a way of participating in the discipleship of
Christ. It is a special time in which the Brother takes his decision to devote
himself to the Kingdom of God in Hospitality.
124. The Scholasticate stage, as the Order's documents state, offers
us a wide variety of possibilities which can be tailored to the specific
features of the places and the individual persons concerned.
2.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
125. To deepen the experience of the Consecrated Life by following
Christ as a Brother of St John of God, through a process of personal
integration which will prepare the Brother to be able to consecrate himself
permanently in the Order at the service of the mission.
3.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
126. The specific objectives of the Scholasticate are to enable the
Scholastic to experience:
3.1 An encounter with himself
To consolidate his personal
identity as a Brother of St John of God, gradually incorporating work, the
mission and the theological, professional and pastoral studies into his life.
3.2 An encounter with the Community
To heighten his sense of
belonging to the Order, and to become committed as an active member to building
up the community, in terms of the pluralism and universality of its members.
3.3 An encounter with the mission
To perform the mission of the
Order in the Church, through specific formation and training, to become
incorporated into and committed to the world of the poor and the needy.
3.4 An encounter with God
To consolidate his experience of
God in the discipleship of Christ, and to interpret life and history in terms
of the Gospel of Mercy.
4.
MEANS
127. Suitable means of attaining the objectives proposd for this stage
are:
a) The Formation Community in which the Charism is practised and
where there is brotherhood according to the spirit of St John of God;
b) Sufficient and appropriate information given to the
Scholastics to encourage them to accept and take on the specific reality of the
Order, the Province and the Community;
c) Spiritual support and accompaniment, as a means of
stimulating the comprehensive growth of the Brothers.[88]
d) Internalizing the values and the substance of the Charism of
the Order;
e) practical working experience in hospital, depending upon the
possibilities of each Scholasticate, taking part in had been committed in the
apostolic Centres and with the Co-workers;
f) Jointly reflecting on the present and future challenges, in
order to be able to respond in terms of our Charism;
g) Community meetings to foster personal growth and group
growth, in terms of different realities;
h) Drafting the Community Life Project, as a means of creating a
climate of dialogue and communication;
i) Meetings between Scholastics at the Provincial or
inter-Provincial level, to discuss issues of common interest;
j) Setting the pace of personal and community prayer to enable
the Scholastics to interpreting their lives in terms of the faith;
k) Drafting the Personal Life Project, to be verified by the
Formation Master;
l) Acquiring adequate training and study relating to the
Charism, obtaining official qualifications to be able to perform the mission.
5.
CONTENTS
128. As far as the contents are concerned, the following areas are of
particular importance for work and Formation:
a) complementary theological studies in such subjects are as
Missiology, Liturgy, Italy Ecclesiology, Ecumenism, Mariology and Pneumatology,
and the Social Teaching of the Church;
b) the theology of the Consecrated Life: consecration,
community, the evangelical counsels, the topical relevance of the Consecrated
Life, the spirituality and Charism of the Order. At the end of this stage, the
scholastic must have acquired a sound, comprehensive knowledge of theology;
c) professional studies, with appropriate academic
qualifications according to the chosen career, by joint agreement with the
Order. In this stage the study of other languages should be contemplated, in
order to facilitate communication with the whole Order;
d) studies which will foster the Hospitaller mission: The
Pastoral Care of the Sick, Bioethics, the spirituality of the Order,
socio-political studies of the country's health care, welfare and social
security systems, etc.
6.
CRITERIA FOR SOLEMN PROFESSION
129. Solemn Profession concludes this phase of Initial Formation. We
must pay particular attention to the months leading up to it, and set aside
"a period of more intense preparation withdrawing from the usual
occupations".[89]
Experience has shown the importance of these 'special moments' for a renewed
experience of God and also to take stock of the young Brother's personality, to
channel and harmonize all its dimensions.
130. In order to proceed to Solemn Profession, the following criteria
are to be borne in mind:
a) Their affective and human maturity, to equip them to live
their lives and their definitive commitment with a sense of responsibility;
b) Their ability to live fraternal life in the community, with a
spirit of reconciliation and dialogue;
c) The degree of integration between their prayer life and their
relationship with God in Hospitality;
d) Their predilection for the poor and sick with a sense of
justice and the defence of human rights;
e) Their joyful experience of the vocation before their final
decision, and their sense of belonging to the Church and the Order;
f) The fact that they have devoted sufficient time in
preparation for Solemn Profession;[90]
g) The fact that they have undertaken sufficient training to
undertake the Hospitaller mission;
h) The fact that they are equally balanced in terms of their
technical/professional training and their pastoral/apostolic Formation.
Chapter four
CONTINUING FORMATION
IX. CONTINUING FORMATION
"Be transformed by the renewal of your
mind,
that you may prove what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable
and perfect" (Rm 12,2)
1.
DEFINITION
131. All Solemn Professed Brothers are to acquire this Formation in
each stage in our lives, because we are called to seek and love God with all
our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength, and our neighbour as
ourselves.[91]
132. In our Religious Life we pass through specific important phases
which we must carefully cultivate: the first years of Initial Formation in each
of its stages, the age of maturity, the moments of crisis and then a gradual
withdrawal from the active ministry.
The life of Religious Institutes, and above all their future, depends in
part on the Continuing Formation of its members. It is the duty of every
Institute to find adequate means and set aside sufficient time to enable the
Brothers to acquire adequate Formation.[92]
133. The human being can always be perfected and has to respond to his
commitments in the here and now of his existence. There is no age in which the
person can consider that he has achieved maturity. This is required by the
far-reaching and increasing pace of change, and the need to respond concretely
and effectively to people's needs and of different times and places, as well as
the changes taking place in the health care and welfare. [93]
134. Formation must be systematic, comprehensive, geared to the
capacity of the individual members, spiritual and apostolic, doctrinal and
practical. To achieve this, study must not only be seen purely as a means of
personal enrichment, but as Formation based on the experience of life and union
with the mission in fidelity to the vocation.[94]
2.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
135. To update every dimensional our life in order to be able to make
an adequate response to the specific mission which the Church has entrusted to
us.[95]
3.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
136. Bearing in mind the specific traits and qualities of each
Brother, we propose the following objectives on which to work through their
lives, and which can comprise all the dimensions of the human person. They can
be tailored to each case[96]
3.1 An encounter with himself
Each Brother must be thoroughly
familiar with the existential reality of each moment of their life in order to
achieve the comprehensive development of their personality in order to be able
to accept their personal history as the history of salvation, in the process of
ongoing conversion.
3.2 An encounter with the
Community
The Brother must live in
communion with the Church, the charism, the history and the life of the Order,
committed with our Co-workers, faithful to the manner of St John of God and his
first companions.
3.3 An encounter with the mission
Being present in the world of the
poor, the sick and the needy, discovering in them the presence of God, in order
to be able to carry out the task of evangelization for which we are responsible
by virtue of our commitment to the Hospitaller Order, which demands that we
acquire adequate and continuing professional training.
3.4 An encounter with God
To faithfully respond to the
constant call to follow Christ and respond joyfully to his demands, giving
primcy to life in the Spirit, in the Word, the Charism, the Community and daily
life.
4.
MEANS AND CONTENTS
137. In order to ensure that
Continuing Formation is real and effective, and we must put into practice
adequate means and resources and acquire such specific contents as:
a) Sharing the reality and experiences of each person's life, in
dialogue with society and the values of contemporary men and women;[97]
b) Dedicating special moments to reflection and updating the
cultural and professional dimensions, on a sound theological basis, withdrawing
for some time from active work;
c) Personal accompaniment to help integrate life in all its
manifestations;
d) Reflection on and the study of our Charism and spirituality;
e) Study of and familiarity with the Order's documents;
f) Working out Personal and Community Life Projects;
g) Outreach to and cooperation with other Institutes and Church
entities which help to improve and enhance Formation;
h) Attending prayer group and discernment meetings within the
community and outside the community;
i) Refresher courses on the pastoral ministry, working methods,
objectives, providing assistance, grieving, etc.[98]
j) The Gospel-based reading of life and the mission, in the
light of the Word of God, and in terms of liberation;
k) Knowledge of the language and culture of the place in which
we perform our apostolic mission;
l) Contacting Church and diocesan organizations and agencies
involved in the pastoral care of the sick and social pastoral care;
m) Basic and referesher courses on moral, social, ethical and
bioethical issues.
n) A thorough familiarity with the Bible, theology and the
Magisterium of the Church;[99]
o) Taking spiritual exercises and refresher courses and other
activities on the contemplative dimension of our life.
X. THE FORMATION OF EDUCATORS/FORMATION MASTERS
"Preach the word, be urgent in season
and out of season,
convince, rebuke, and exhort,
be unfailing in patience and in teaching.
(2
Tim 4,2)
1.
DEFINITION
138. One of the responsibilities of the government of any Institute is
to carefully select and train those who have the responsibility to train and
form others, because they are an important and vital form of mediation in
vocational discernment and Initial Formation. For this reason, the Brothers
appointed to this ministery must give primacy to this task over all their other
activites and services.[100]
139. Our Constitutions state the main features that Formation Masters
must possess. The most noteworthy are:[101]
a) they must possess the personal balance and cultural and
theological education necessary in order to fulfil the task entrusted to him in
a proper manner;
b) they must remain open to God's action in his own life,
demonstrating the maturity in faith proper to an adult person, in his
day-to-day manner of behaving;
c) they must foster love for and fidelity to our charism and
mission in accordance with the guidelines of the Church and the Order;
d) they must support the action of the Holy Spirit in
candidates, treating them in the same way in which Jesus treated his disciples:
in a constant spirit of service, trusting in their efforts and understanding
their weaknesses.
2.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
140. To receive training and professional courses on specific
formation issues in order to be able to adequately take on and exercise the
responsibility entrusted by the Order.
3.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
141. Some of the means that help Formation Masters to perform the mission
include:
a) setting up adequate facilities, on the part of the Order and
the Provinces, and attending courses and training meetings for Formation
Masters that the level of the Church and the Order;
b) providing specific and systematic Formation in anthropology,
psychology, education, theology and accompaniment designed for Formation
Masters;
c) establishing contacts with other Institutes to undertake
causes of study and exchange experiences between Congregations;
d) courses or meetings at the General Curia or at
Interprovincial Curias, in order to open up and share new approaches to
hospitality.
GLOSSARY
The purpose of this glossary is
to make it easier to understand our Formation
Project in the various places, with differing mentalities, in which the
Order is established. It is also designed to cater for the different levels of
preparation which the Brothers undergoing formation have reached.
This list is not intended to
provide an exhaustive explanation of the terms defined here, because there are
also other equally valid definitions. The definitions that we have given are
therefore specific to our Formation Book.
Definitions of the terms
and concepts most commonly used
in relation to Formation
Accompaniment/Support:
This is the mission performed by
a person in relation to another person being supported or accompanied to enable
him to make a personal choice in accordance with the project of God
specifically for him.
Accompaniment or support means
standing by someone, sharing their human experience in a dimension of faith,
bearing witness, directing and walking ahead together. As Jesus walked by the
sides of the disciples at Emmaus[102]
the Formation Master accompanies and supports his "younger" Brother,
walking along the path with him to help him discover and become thoroughly
familiar with the reality of his vocation. [103]
Attitude:
The traits and features of each
Brother, manifested in the way they usually conduct themselves.
Aptitude:
Fitness, skill and innate capacity
to do something. It is the capacity which people in Formation and Brothers
possess in order to perform the Hospitaller missionwith all the demands that
are inherent in the Charism.
To take on, or Internalize:
Personalize, make one's own,
experience something from and centred on self. Accepting and profoundly and
responsibly experiencing both the stage of Formation as well as other stages.
Charism:
A gift of the Holy Spirit which
enriches and prepares and equips that person to perform a service on behalf of
others.
The Charism of the Order:
A gift of the Holy Spirit, which communicates to us
the attitudes of kindness and self-giving, and configures us with the
compassionate and merciful Christ of the Gospel, to announce and make the
Kingdom present through our service and ministry to the poor, the sick and the
needy.[104]
Criterion:
This is the guideline or the
faculty for discernment, a rule of conduct which helps us to assimilate and to
decide on policies for action both in the personal sphereand the level of the
order, in relation to the mission.
Culture:
The set of values, beliefs,
models of life and customs which give peoples their particular character
throughout the course of their history.[105]
It is the way in which a group of people live, think, feel and organise
themselves, and celebrate and share their lives. In every culture there is an
underlying system of values, meanings, and views of the world which are
expressed in language, gestures, symbols, rites and lifestyles.
The Proper Law of the Order
The rules of life enshrined in
the Constitutions, General Statutes and the official Documents promulgated by
the General Chapter or the Prior General for the whole Order and by the
Provincial Chapters or the Provincials for their respective Provinces.
Discernment:
An exercise of judgment applied
to the facts that concern us or the feelings that we experience, and which
determine whether or not they are the will of God.
It also means exchanging and
reflecting with other people in order to discover the will of God in relation
to the vocation and the Formation Process which we intend to follow, remaining
open to the Spirit.
Ecumenism:
The work of different religious
denominations for the unity of Christians. It is a joint effort through
interfaith dialogue, to overcome barriers and divisions, and to achieve unity
in truth, justice and charity. [106]
Encounter:
Becoming aware of and
experiencing the closeness and the presence of another person or reality which
affects one's personal existence. Becoming aware of the presence of God in
one's own person, in the community and in the mission.
Ecology:
This refers to the respect,
concern for and the conservation of natural resources in order to foster a
healthy environment, which can be handed down as an enriching legacy to future
generations.[107]
Spirituality:
The way one is and lives
according to the unifying power of the Spirit which facilitates an internal
transformation and directs a person to a form of personal identification with
Christ. Spirituality involves every facet of a person's life.
The spirit of the Order:
Generally speaking, we use this
as a synonym of the Charism and spirituality, but it also refers to the way the
Brothers are and how they act in the manner of St John of God.
Way of life:
This refers to the specific way a
person or group lives and which distinguishes them, in accordance with their
vocation.[108]
Evangelization:
Announcing Jesus Christ and His
Good News, through personal witness, and proclaiming His Word and celebration.
Creative fidelity/faithfulness:
The capacity and commitment to
boldly keep alive the Charism of Hospitality in the Church, according to the
spirit of St John of God in response to the demands and needs of suffering men
and women. [109]
Comprehensive Formation:
The process of formation which
encourages the harmonious development of every facet of the person and the
dissemination of all the subjects being taught. Harmonizing the experience of
God in one's own person (the experience
of sonship) in the community (the
experience of brotherhood) and on the mission (the experience of the Kingdom)
Deeds, Acts:
Specific ways in which a person
does things, externalizing his or her qualities. Acts reveal personality
traits. Acts and attitudes are co-related.
Identity:
The characteristic features of a
person or organization without which they would not be what they are. Identity
is the expression of what we are and at the same time it expresses what makes
us different from other people.
Inculturation:
The process of adapting and assimilating
the values, traditions and customs of the society in which we live.
Spiritual path:
The path leading towards an
encounter with God following Jesus Christ and gradually taking on his inner
mind, animated by the Spirit in order to live and embody the faith in a
specific vocation.[110]
Means:
These are the various resources
used to achieve the objectives we have set ourselves.
The Mission of the Order:
Performing the mandate given by
Jesus to announce the Kingdom, in words and deeds, in dealing with the poor,
the sick and the needy, in the manner of St John of God.
The way of dynamizing the Charism
we have received, through which we bear witness to the Kingdom and love of God
and the human person. For the Brother of St John of God, the mission is a
fundamental element of his nature as a consecrated manifesting that the
compassionate and merciful Christ of the Gospel remains alive among men.[111]
Motivation:
The reasons which urge us to take
action as individuals or as a community, in a given situation. Also the reasons
which a person may have to perform an action.
Objective:
The goal or purpose we intend to
reach and towards which we direct a decision or a specific action. It begins
from ideal, which is clearly and precisely expressed, indicating where we wish
to go.
Decision/Choice:
This is the act of free will
performed by a person in terms of on an analysis of reality taking account of
the benefits and drawbacks.[112]
Opting/siding with/predilection
for the poor:
A Gospel-based response which
motivates a preferential action, which is neither exclusive nor excluding,
which leads to a rapprochement with poor people, to show solidarity with them,
to share and live with them.[113]
Paradigm:
This is a model or an example. A
paradigm is a set of articulated ideas which make it possible to interpret
reality. In the Religious Life we use the term 'paradigm' to refer to the
models or pedagogical examples that have been used throughout its history, and
are called: classical, modern,
mission-first and comprehensive.[114]
Profile:
This is an ideal, a goal to be
attained. It comprises a number of "indicators" which are observable,
referring to features, attitudes and values at the human, Christian and
religious levels, which we possess or are striving to obtain.
Belonging:
Membership of an institution or
social, political or religious group. Belonging to the order implies identity
with its values, tradition, Charism and spirituality throughout its history.
Planning:
Elaborating a project bearing in
mind objectives, goals, means, activities and officials, to achieve a given
end.
Pluralism:
An attitude and social method
which accepts a diversity of opinions, creeds, ideologies, cultural and
religious values, enabling them to co-exist and dialogue, remaining faithful to
principles in terms of differences.[115] Pluralism, as an expression of the life and
wealth of the Order reaches uniformity, promotes diversity and reaffirms unity.
Principles:
These are ideals and attending
our thinking and our personal and community conduct. Faced with a variety of
different cultures, opinions and values, we establish an agreement on
fundamental principles for which we express our charism and mission.
Programme:
This is the concrete and partial
implementation of a plan. The programme sets out the specific objectives in
order to fulfil the plan in a given place and at a given time, indicating the
people who are responsible, their activities and the resources to be used.
Personal Project:
The expression of a life
commitment which has previously been discerned in order to respond to a
vocation. It forms part of a plan and is the result of a dynamic desire that
takes account of the situation of each individual person.
Community Project:
The expression of a life
commitment of a Community, which has been previously discerned in order to
respond to a vocation. It forms part of a plan and is the result of a dynamic
desire that takes account of the situation in which the Community lives.[116]
"Ratio Institutionis":
A general Formation plan, taking
its inspiration from the Charism of the Order to strengthen the identity and
spirituality of the Order. The Ratio harmonizes criteria and contents which
fosters universality and unity, consistently with cultural demands[117]
The Kingdom of God:
The plan begun by Christ
according to the will of the Father, according to the will of the Father, which
he announced with his life of self-giving and service to humankind. The Kingdom
is the Good News of Salvation which is expressed through justice, love and
peace. As Brothers of St John of God, and men consecrated to the Kingdom
without cold to build up every journey, by serving the Gospel of life.
Refounding:
Having the courage to question
ourselves enter continuously discover the growth of the charism in its origins,
and to practise it at all times.
Personal pace:
The dynamic possessed by each
person to continue on and to live through the processes of our vocation and
mission.
Signs of the times:
New situations arising in
culture, society and the Church through which God manifests himself, and which
we must interpret in the light of the Gospelin order to adequately respond to
God's plan.
[1] VC 68.
[2] All
references in this Formation Plan to Provinces or Provincial Curias apply
equally to Vice-Provinces and General Delegations.
[3] VC 65.
[4] Cf. C 6.
[5] VC 69.
[6] Cf. TMA 20.
[7] Cf. VC 68.
[8] Cf. PILES,
P, Let Yourselves be Led by the Spirit, 2.4
[9] Cf.
MARCHESI, P. The Hospitality of the Brothers of St John of God Towards 2000,
14.
[10] CSD 25
[11] Cf. VC 37.
[12] Cf. FetR, 68, 69, 76, 81, 89, 98.
[13] Cf. VC 67.
[14] Cf.VC 20.
[15] Cf. Jn 15,16
[16] Cf. EV
27-28; 79-87
[17] C. 2a
[18] C 2c.
[19] Cf. C 6a.
[20] Cf. C 6a, b.
[21] Cf.
Hospitaller Order, Brothers and
Co-workers, together to serve and promote life, 16 and 124; CIOH
4.5.2-4.5.3.
[22] 1GL 1.
[23] Cf. C 2b, 3b
[24] 1 DS 13
[25] VC 38.
[26] Cf. C 28a.
[27] Cf. Lk 4,18.
[28] Cf. 2 Cor 5,
14: "For the love of Christ controls us". PILES, P. The Power of Charity
[29] Cf. CASTRO,
F., St John of God, Ch. IX
[30] 2GL.7
[31] Cf. VC 37,
39.
[32] Cf. VC 60
[33] Cf. 2DS 25
[34] Cf. VC 82
[35] Cf. C 23; C
37
[36] "You
have not only a glorious history to remember and to recount but also a great
history still to be accomplished",
VC 110.
[37] The
Hospitaller Order, St John of God Lives
on
[38] VC 110.
[39] Cf. C 103b.
[40] Cf.
Hospitaller Order The Missionary
Dimension of the Hospitaller Order, Ch VIII; C 48b
[41] Cf. DCGB,
III Lines of Action of the New Hospitality
[42] Cf. Lk 10,
25-37
[43] The
consecrated life has been expressed throughout history in terms of various
paradigms that configure it with specific profiles:
a) The classical paradigm emphasized the
hierarchical dimension of the Church and hence of the Consecrated Life, the
latter being viewed in terms of traditional forms of the monastic style:
reference to God as the Absolute Being, perfection, rules, and the regularity
of the Religious Life.
b) A second paradigm, of a more modern kind
coincides with the theology that has been developed since Vatican II, which
emphasizes the importance of the person and the community group as essential
elements of the Consecrated Life, with the predominance of psychological and
cultural criteria, and of personal and communitarian fulfilment; the figure of
Jesus is emphasized above that of the Church.
c) At the same time, a third model or paradigm
is being simultaneously developed, which attempts to move one stage forward
beyond the previous one, stressing the importance of the mission; the
Consecrated Life is "for the mission": self-giving to Jesus to extend
the Kingdom.
d) Faced with these three models
('classical', 'modern' and 'missionary') which have followed each one and
sometimes co-existed simultaneously, our Project proposes a fourth paradigm,
which we call the comprehensive model. This comprehensive paradigm seeks to
overcome the emphases in each of the previous ones, in order to incorporate all
the elements of the Consecrated Life based on the experience of being called by
God. God is the centre, the hub, and not one dimension on the same level as the
other dimensions - personal, communitarian and apostolic. It demands a harmonious
development of all the facets of the human person, taking account of his
context and his history.
[44] Cf. VC 65.
[45] Cf. VC 64
[46] Cf. Phil 2,
6-11
[47] Cf. C 55 and
56
[48] Acts 10, 38.
[49] Cf. VC 65
[50] Cf. VC 67.
[51] Cf. C 27a.
[52] VC 41
[53] Cf. C 26
[54] Cf. C 40.
[55] DV 25-26, VC
94.
[56] 2DS 25
[57] Cf. SC. 14.
[58] Cf. VC 28;
PI 20; C 25
[59] GENERAL
CHAPTER, held in Rome in 1736, declared the feast of the Patronage of Our Lady
over the Hospitaller Order.
[60] St Thérèse
of the Child Jesus, Book of Life, C
8,5
[61] Cf. C 27-35;
"Community of faith and prayer"
[62] Cf. VC 15
[63] Cf. C 8a; VC
20-21
[64] Cf. C 27a.
[65] Cf. VC 67
[66] Cf. VC 66
[67] Cf. VC 65.
[68] C 12c; 47,
103b.
[69] LB. 11.
[70] Cf. PI. 36,
37, 38; VC 38.
[71] Cf. VC 66.
[72] The contents
give in each stage in Formation are only given for guidance, because each
country and each Formation Centre must adapt the curriculum to suit their own
possibility and study plans.
[73] Cf. C. 66a and
GS 58b and 60. Based on the proper law of the Order regarding the Prepostulancy
we propose the following:
1. DEFINITION: to some provinces
which have vocational counselling Centres. The Order makes provision for the
possibility to set up a Prepostulancy as part of the Formation process.
2. OBJECTIVE: to help candidates
clarify and discern their vocation in the Church, providing them with adequate
human and Christian Formation in contact with the mission of the Hospitaller
Order.
3. MEANS:
a) centres and persons dedicated to
their formation, able to offer them the opportunity to discern the vocation;
b) accompanying and supporting the
candidates by offering them the possibility to continue living in their own
family environment all in some other appropriate place with the help of the
order;
c) setting up Christian support groups
in their places of origin and try to integrate them before admission to the
Postulancy;
d) making them familiar with the order
to give them contact with our mission and with suffering people.
[74] Cf. C 53.
[75] Cf. Ivt. 32.
[76] Cf. VC 64.
[77] Cf. C 53d;
VC 64.
[78] Cf. C 58.
[79] Cf. C 66b;
GS 61.
[80] Cf. CIC 597(2).
[81] RC 4 c,e.
[82] Cf. RC
11.III; CCL 642, 646; PI 43
[83] Cf. C 67.
[84] Cf. CCL 646.
[85] C 69.
[86] Cf. CCL 659
(1); PI 59.
[87] Cf. C 69-71;
GS 75.
[88] Cf. PI 63.
[89] PI 64.
[90] Cf. C 70b
and GS 11
[91] Cf. Dt 6,5;
Mt 22, 37-39, C 72; VC 69
[92] Cf. PC 18;
PI 67.
[93] Cf. CIC 659;
GS 4.
[94] Cf. CIC
660-661; PI 66.
[95] C 72b
[96] For a
broader view, see the document "Continuing
Formation in the Order", 1991.
[97] Cf. FLC 43.
[98] Cf. VC 71.
[99] Cf. PI 68.
[100] Cf. VC 66.
[101] Cf. C 64
[102] Cf. Lk
24,13-16.
[103] Cf. Ivt 34.
[104] Cf. C 2ab
[105] Cf. CP 386;
CSD 226
[106] Cf. UR 4; VC
100.
[107] Cf. CP 1236.
Formation must educate the Brothers to acquire an ecological awareness, one of
whose basic principles is the ethos or value of solidarity.
[108] Cf. The
lifestyle of the Brother of St John of God, Rome 1991, document 4.
[109] Cf. VC 37.
[110] Cf. VC 65;
Ivt 34
[111] Cf. C 2b.5a.
[112] Cf. Puebla
1299.
[113] Cf. CSD 178;
CP 1132.
[114] Cf. Chapter
one, section II, nos. 35-36 above.
[115] Cf. DH 2; GS
74.
[116] Cf. CG
Project of Life, document 3.
[117] Cf. VC 68.
