CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED
LIFE AND SOCIETIES OF APOSTOLIC LIFE
THE
SERVICE OF AUTHORITY
AND OBEDIENCE
Faciem
tuam, Domine, requiram
Instruction
INTRODUCTION
“Let your
face shine upon us and we shall be saved”
(Ps 79:4)
Consecrated Life as a witness
of the search for God
1. “Faciem tuam, Domine, requiram”:
your face, O Lord, I seek (Ps 27:8). A
pilgrim seeking the meaning of life, enwrapped
in the great mystery that surrounds him,
the human person, even if unconsciously,
does, in fact, seek the face of the Lord.
“Your ways, O Lord, make known to
me, teach me your paths” (Ps 25:4):
no one can ever take away from the heart
of the human person the search for him
of whom the Bible says “He is all”
(Sir 43:27) and for the ways of reaching
him.
Consecrated life, called to make the characteristic
traits of the virginal, poor and obedient
Jesus visible,1 flourishes in the ambience
of this search for the face of the Lord
and the ways that lead to him (cf. Jn
14:4-6). A search that leads to the experience
of peace — “in his will is
our peace” 2 — and which underlies
each day's struggle, because God is God,
and His ways and thoughts are not always
our ways and thoughts (cf. Is 55:8). The
consecrated person, therefore, gives witness
to the task, at once joyful and laborious,
of the diligent search for the divine
will, and for this chooses to use every
means available that helps one to know
it and sustain it while bringing it to
fulfilment.
Here, too, the religious community, a
communion of consecrated persons who profess
to seek together and carry out God's will:
a community of sisters or brothers with
a variety of roles but with the same goal
and the same passion, finds its meaning.
For this reason, while all in the community
are called to seek what is pleasing to
the Lord and to obey Him, some are called,
usually temporarily, to exercise the particular
task of being the sign of unity and the
guide in the common search both personal
and communitarian of carrying out the
will of God. This is the service of authority.
A
path of liberation
2. The culture of Western Society, strongly
centred on the subject, has contributed
to the spread of the value of respect
for the dignity of the human person, positively
fostering the person's free development
and autonomy.
Such recognition constitutes one of the
most significant traits of modernity and
is a providential given which requires
new ways of conceiving authority and relating
to it. One must also keep in mind that
when freedom tends to become arbitrariness
and the autonomy of the person, independence
from the Creator and from relationships
with others, then one finds oneself before
forms of idolatry that do not increase
freedom but rather enslave.
In such cases, believers in the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the God
of Jesus Christ, must embark upon a path
of personal liberation from every idolatrous
cult. It is a path which can find its
motivation in the Exodus experience: a
path of liberation which leads from the
acceptance of the common scattered way
of thinking to the freedom of adhering
to the Lord and from the monotony of one
way of looking at things to itineraries
that bring one to communion with the living
and true God.
The Exodus journey is guided by the cloud,
both bright and obscure, of the Spirit
of God, and, even if, at times, it seems
to lose itself down paths which do not
make sense, its destiny is the beatifying
intimacy of the heart of God: “I
bore you up on eagle wings and brought
you here to myself” (Ex 19:4). A
group of slaves is freed to become a holy
people who know the joy of free service
to God. The Exodus events are a paradigm
which accompanies the entire biblical
reality and is seen as a prophetic anticipation
of the same earthly life of Jesus, who,
in turn frees from slavery through obedience
to the providential will of the Father.
Addressees, intent and limitations
of the document
3. The Congregation for Institutes of
Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic
Life during its last Plenary Session,
which took place 28-30 September 2005,
turned its attention to the theme of the
exercise of authority and obedience in
consecrated life. It was recognized that
this theme calls for careful reflection,
first of all because of the changes that
have taken place in the internal lives
of Institutes and communities in recent
years, and also in light of what more
recent Magisterial documents on the renewal
of consecrated life have proposed.
The present Instruction, the fruit of
what emerged in the above cited Plenary
Session and in the reflection of this
Dicastery that followed, is addressed
to members of institutes of consecrated
life who live a community life, that is
to all men and women who belong to religious
institutes, to which societies of apostolic
life are very similar. However, other
consecrated persons, in relation to their
type of life, can also cull useful information
from it. This document hopes to offer
help and encouragement to all those, called
to witness to the primacy of God through
free obedience to his will, to live their
yes to the Lord in joy.
In confronting the theme of this Instruction,
it is well recognized that its implications
are many and that there exists in the
vast world of consecrated life today not
only a great variety of charismatic projects
and of missionary commitments, but also
a certain diversity of models of governance
and practices of obedience, differences
often influenced by the various cultural
contexts.3 Moreover, one must keep in
mind the differences that characterize
also under the psychological profile,
communities of men and women. In addition
one must consider the new problems which
the numerous forms of missionary collaboration,
particularly those with the laity, pose
to the exercise of authority. Also the
different weights, attributed to local
and central authorities in various religious
institutes, determine ways of practicing
authority and obedience that are not uniform.
Finally one must not forget that consecrated
life commonly sees, in the “synodal”
figure of the general chapter (or of analogous
gatherings), the supreme authority of
the institute,4 to which all the members,
beginning with the superiors, must make
reference.
To all this one must add the realization
that in recent years the way of listening
to and living authority and obedience
has changed both in the Church and in
society. This is due to, among other things:
the coming to awareness of the value of
the individual person, with his or her
vocation, and intellectual, affective
and spiritual gifts, with his or her freedom
and rational abilities; the centrality
of the spirituality of communion,5 with
the valuing of the instruments that help
one to live it; a different and less individualistic
way of understanding mission, in the sharing
of all members of the People of God, with
the resulting forms of concrete collaboration.
Nevertheless, considering some elements
of the present cultural influence one
must recall that the desire for self realization
can at times enter into conflict with
community projects; the search for personal
well-being, be it spiritual or material,
can render total dedication to the service
of the common mission difficult; visions
of the charism and of apostolic service
which are too subjective can weaken fraternal
sharing and collaboration.
Also not to be excluded is the recognition
that in some settings the opposite problems
are prevalent, determined by an unbalanced
vision on the side of collectivity and
of excessive uniformity, with the risk
of stifling the growth and responsibility
of the individuals. The balance between
the individual and community is not an
easy one and thus neither is that between
authority and obedience.
This Instruction does not intend to treat
all the problems raised by the various
elements and sensibilities just cited.
These remain, so to say, at the base of
the reflections and those directions which
are proposed. The principle intent of
this Instruction is that of reaffirming
that obedience and authority, even though
practiced in many ways, always have a
relation to the Lord Jesus, the obedient
Servant. Moreover, it proposes to help
authority in its triple service: to the
individual persons called to live their
own consecration (first part); to construct
fraternal communities (second part); to
participate in the common mission (third
part).
The considerations and directives which
follow are proposed in continuity with
those of the documents which have accompanied
the path of consecrated life in these
past not easy years, especially Potissimum
institutioni of 1990,6 Fraternal Life
in Community of 1994,7 the Post-Synodal
Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata
of 1996 8 and the 2002 Instruction, Starting
Afresh from Christ: A Renewed Commitment
to Consecrated Life in the Third Millennium.9
FIRST
PART
CONSECRATION AND
SEARCH
FOR THE WILL OF GOD
“Because
freed we can serve him in justice and
holiness”
(cf. Lk 1:74-75)
Whom are we seeking?
4. The Lord asks the first disciples,
who, perhaps, still uncertain and doubtful
begin to follow a new Rabbi: “What
are you looking for?” (Jn 1:38).
We can read into this question other radical
questions: What does your heart seek?
What concerns you? Are you looking for
yourself or are you looking for the Lord
your God? Are you pursuing your own desires
or the desire of the One who made your
heart and wants to bring it to fullness,
as he knows and understands it? Are you
running after only passing things or are
you seeking the One who does not pass
away? “In this world of dissimilarity,
with what do we need to be concerned,
Lord God? From the rising of the sun to
its setting I see men overwhelmed by the
turmoil of this world: some look for riches,
others, privilege, others yet again the
satisfactions of popularity,” observed
St. Bernard.10
“Your face, O Lord, I seek”
(Ps 27:8) is the response of the person
who has understood the uniqueness and
the infinite greatness of the mystery
of God and the sovereignty of his holy
will but is also the response, even if
it is only implicit and confused, of every
human creature in search of truth and
happiness. Quaerere Deum has always been
the quest of every being thirsting for
the Absolute and the Eternal. Many today
tend to consider any kind of dependence
humiliating, but the status of creature
in itself implies being dependent on an
Other and, therefore, as a being in relation,
dependent on others.
The believer seeks the living and true
God, the Beginning and the End of all
things, the God not made in his or her
image and likeness but the God who made
us in his image and likeness, the God
who makes known his will, who indicated
the ways to reach him: “You will
show me the path of life, fullness of
joys in your presence, delights at your
right hand forever” (Ps 16:11).
To seek the will of God means to seek
a friendly and benevolent will, which
desires our fulfilment, that desires,
above all, a free response in love to
its love, in order to make of us instruments
of divine love. It is along this via amoris
that the flower of listening and obedience
blooms.
Obedience as listening
5. “Listen, child” (Pr 1:8).
First of all, obedience is an attitude
of a son or daughter. It is that particular
kind of listening that only a son or daughter
can do in listening to his or her parent,
because it is enlightened by the certainty
that the parent has only good things to
say and give to him or her. This is a
listening, full of the trust, that makes
a son or daughter accept the parent's
will, sure that it will be for his or
her own good.
This is most completely true in regard
to God. In fact, we reach our fullness
only to the extent that we place ourselves
within the plan with which He has conceived
us with a Father's love. Therefore, obedience
is the only way human persons, intelligent
and free beings, can have the disposition
to fulfil themselves. As a matter of fact,
when a human person says “no”
to God, that person compromises the divine
plan, diminishing him or herself and condemning
him or herself to failure.
Obedience to God is the path of growth
and, therefore, of freedom for the person
because this obedience allows for the
acceptance of a plan or a will different
from one's own that not only does not
deaden or lessen human dignity but is
its basis. At the same time, freedom is
also in itself a path of obedience, because
it is in obeying the plan of the Father,
in a childlike way, that the believer
fulfils his or her freedom. It is clear
that such obedience requires that persons
recognize themselves as sons and daughters
and enjoy being such, because only a son
or a daughter can freely place him or
herself in the hands of his or her Father,
exactly like the Son, Jesus, who abandoned
himself to the Father. Even if in his
passion he gave himself up to Judas, to
the high priests, to his torturers, to
the hostile crowd, and to his crucifiers,
he did so only because he was absolutely
certain that everything found its meaning
in complete fidelity to the plan of salvation
willed by the Father, to whom, as St.
Bernard reminds us, “it is not the
death which was pleasing, but the will
of the One who died of his own accord”.11
“Hear, O Israel !”
(Dt 6:4)
6. For the Lord God, Israel is a child.
Israel is the people whom he has chosen,
begotten, brought up, held by the hand,
raised to his cheek and taught to walk
(cf. Hos 11:1-4), to whom — as the
highest expression of affection —
he constantly addressed his Word, even
if this people did not always listen to
it or considered it a weight, as a “law”.
The entire Old Testament is an invitation
to listen, and listening is a way of coming
to the New Covenant when the Lord says:
“I will place my laws in their minds
and I will write them on their hearts;
I will be their God and they shall be
my people” (Heb 8:10; cf. Jer 31:33).
As a free and liberating response of the
New Israel to the proposal of a new covenant,
obedience flows from listening. Obedience
is part of the New Covenant, which has
obedience for its distinctive characteristic.
From this it follows that obedience can
be completely understood only within the
logic of love, intimacy with God and the
definitive belonging to the One who finally
sets all free.
Obedience to the Word of God
7. The first act of obedience on the part
of the creature is that of coming into
existence in conformity with the divine
fiat that calls one into being. Such obedience
reaches its full expression in a creature
free to recognize and accept him or herself
as a gift of the Creator, to say “yes”
to coming into being from God. This constitutes
the first real act of freedom which is
also the first and fundamental act of
authentic obedience.
Thus, the real obedience of the believing
person is adhering to the Word with which
God reveals and communicates himself,
and through which he renews his covenant
of love every day. From that Word flowed
life which continues to be transmitted
every day. Therefore, every morning the
believing person seeks a living and faithful
contact with the Word which is proclaimed
that day, meditating on it and holding
it in his or her heart as a treasure,
making of it the root of every action
and the primary criterion of each choice,
allowing him or herself to be edified
by that Word. And at the end of the day
placing him or herself before the Word,
praising God as Simeon did for having
seen the fulfilment of the eternal Word
within the small events of the day (cf.
Lk 2:27-32), and confiding to the strength
of the Word whatever has remained unaccomplished.
The Word, in fact, does not work only
by day, but continuously, as the Lord
teaches in the parable of the seed (cf.
Mk 4:26-27).
The loving encounter with the Word shows
one how to discover the way to life and
the way through which God wishes to free
his children, nourishes one's spiritual
instincts for the things which are pleasing
to God, conveys the sense and the taste
for his will, gives peace and joy for
staying faithful, making one sensitive
and ready for all the expressions of obedience:
to the Gospel (Rm 10:16; 2 Th 1:8), to
the faith (Rm 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7), and
to the truth (Gal 5:7; 1 Pt 1:22).
However, one must not forget that the
authentic experience of God always remains
an experience of otherness. “However
great the similarity that may be established
between Creator and creature, the dissimilarity
between them is always greater”.12
The mystics and all those who have tasted
intimacy with God, remind us that the
contact with the sovereign Mystery is
always contact with the Other, with a
will which is at times dramatically dissimilar
from our own. To obey God means in fact
to enter into an order of values which
is “other”, taking on a new
and different sense of reality, experiencing
an unthought-of freedom to reach the threshold
of the mystery: “For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, nor are your ways
my ways, says the Lord. As high as the
heavens are above the earth, so high are
my ways above your ways and my thoughts
above your thoughts” (Is 55:8-9).
This entering into the world of God can
arouse fear. Such an experience based
on the example of the Saints can show
that what is impossible for man is made
possible by God. Additionally, it becomes
authentic obedience to the mystery of
God who is, at the same time, “interior
intimo meo”13 and radically other.
In the following of Jesus,
the obedient Son of the Father
8. On this journey we are not alone: we
are guided by the example of Christ, the
Beloved on whom the Father's favour rests
(Mt 3:17; 17:5), but also he who has freed
us thanks to his obedience. It is he who
inspires our obedience in order that the
divine plan of salvation be completed
through us.
In him everything is a listening to and
acceptance of the Father (cf. Jn 8:28-29);
all of his earthly life is an expression
and continuation of what the Word does
from eternity: letting himself be loved
by the Father, accepting his love in an
unconditional way, to the point of deciding
to do nothing by himself (cf. Jn 8:28)
but to do always what is pleasing to the
Father. The will of the Father is the
food which sustains Jesus in his work
(cf. Jn 4:34) and which merits for Him
and for us the superabundance of the resurrection,
the luminous joy of entering into the
very heart of God, into the blessed company
of his children (cf. Jn 1:12). It is by
this obedience of Jesus that “all
shall become just” (Rm 5:19).
He also lived obedience when it presented
a difficult chalice to drink (cf. Mt 26:39,
42; Lk 22:42), and he made himself “obedient
to the point of death, and death on a
cross” (Phil 2:8). This is the dramatic
aspect of the obedience of the Son wrapped
in a mystery which we can never totally
penetrate, but which for us is very relevant,
because it uncovers for us even more the
filial nature of Christian obedience:
only the child who senses himself loved
by the Father and loves him with his whole
self, can arrive at this type of radical
obedience.
The Christian, like Christ, is defined
as an obedient being. The unquestionable
primacy of love in Christian life cannot
make us forget that such love has acquired
a face and a name in Christ Jesus and
has become Obedience. Therefore, obedience
is not humiliation but the truth on which
the fullness of human persons is built
and realized. Hence, the believer so ardently
desires to fulfil the will of the Father
as to make of it his or her supreme aspiration.
Like Jesus, he or she wants to live by
this will. In imitation of Christ and
learning from Him, with a gesture of supreme
freedom and of unconditional trust, the
consecrated person has placed his or her
will in the hands of the Father to make
a perfect and pleasing sacrifice to him
(cf. Rm 12:1).
However, even before being the model for
all obedience, Christ is the One to whom
every true obedience is directed. In fact,
it is the putting of his words into practice
that renders one a disciple (cf. Mt 7:24)
and it is the observance of his commandments
which concretizes love for Him and draws
the love of the Father (cf. Jn 14:21).
He is at the centre of the religious community
as the One who serves (cf. Lk 22:27) but
also as the One to whom one professes
one's own faith (“You have faith
in God; have faith also in me” [Jn
14:1]) and to whom one gives his or her
own obedience, because only in this does
one carry out a sure and persevering following.
“In fact, it is the Risen Lord himself,
newly present among the brothers and sisters
gathered in his name who points out the
path to take”.14
Obedient to God through human
mediation
9. God manifests his will through the
interior motion of the Spirit, who “guides
to all truth” (Jn 16:13), through
multiple external mediations. In effect,
the history of salvation is a story of
mediation, which makes the mystery of
grace which God completes in the intimacy
of the heart visible in some way. Even
in Jesus' life, it is possible to recognize
not a few human means through which He
became aware of, interpreted, and accepted
the will of the Father, as the raison
d'être and as the constant food
for his life and his mission.
Mediations that exteriorly communicate
the will of God must be recognized in
the events of life and in the specific
requirements of a particular vocation,
but they are expressed as well in the
laws that give order to the life of groups
of people and in the dispositions of those
who are called to lead such groupings.
In the ecclesial context, laws and dispositions,
legitimately given, provide an insight
into the will of God, becoming the concrete
and ordered realization of the demands
of the Gospel from which they are formulated
and perceived.
Consecrated persons moreover are called
to the following of the obedient Christ
within an “evangelical project”
or a charismatic one, inspired by the
Spirit and authenticated by the Church.
Approving a charismatic program that is
a religious institute, the Church guarantees
that the inspiration that animates it
and the norms that regulate it can provide
a path for seeking God and holiness. Therefore,
the Rule and the other indications concerning
the way of life also become means of mediating
the will of the Lord: human mediation
but still authoritative, imperfect but
at the same time binding, the starting
point from which each day begins, and
also for moving forward in a generous
and creative impulse towards that sanctity
which God “wills” for every
consecrated person. In this journey persons
in authority are invested with the pastoral
task of leading and deciding.
It is evident that all this will be experienced
coherently and fruitfully only if the
desire to know and do the will of God,
the awareness of one's own fragility and
the acceptance of the validity of the
specific mediations remain alive, even
when the reasons presented are not fully
grasped.
The spiritual intuitions of the founders
and foundresses, especially of those who
have significantly marked the path of
religious life throughout the centuries,
have always given great importance to
obedience. Already at the beginning of
his Rule, St. Benedict addresses the monk:
“To thee, therefore, my speech is
now directed, who, giving up thine own
will, takest up the strong and most excellent
arms of obedience, to do battle for Christ
the Lord, the true King”.15
It must also be remembered that the authority-obedience
relationship is situated in the larger
context of the mystery of the Church and
constitutes a particular actualization
of its function as mediator. In this regard
the Code of Canon Law recommends that
“superiors are to exercise their
power, received from God through the ministry
of the Church, in a spirit of service”.16
Learning obedience in the
day-to-day
10. Therefore, for the consecrated person
it might also come to having “to
learn obedience” through suffering
or from some very specific and difficult
situations: when, for example, one is
asked to leave certain personal projects
or ideas, to give up the pretext of managing
one's life and mission by oneself; or
all the times in which what is asked (or
who asks it) does not seem to be very
humanly convincing. Those who find themselves
in such situations now should not forget
that mediation by its nature is limited
and inferior to that to which it refers,
even more so if it deals with human mediation
in relation to the divine will; but one
should remember that every time one finds
oneself faced with a command given legitimately
that the Lord requests obedience to the
person in authority who, at that moment,
represents him17 and that Christ also
“learned obedience from what he
suffered” (Heb 5:8).
In this regard, it is fitting to recall
the words of Paul VI: “You must
feel something of the force with which
Christ was drawn to His Cross —
that baptism He had still to receive,
by which that fire would be lighted which
sets you too ablaze — (cf. Lk 12:49-50)
something of that ‘foolishness'
which St. Paul wishes we all had, because
it alone makes us wise (cf. 1 Cor 3:18-19).
Let the Cross be for you, as it was for
Christ, proof of the greatest love. Is
there not a mysterious relationship between
renunciation and joy, between sacrifice
and magnanimity, between discipline and
spiritual freedom?” 18
It is precisely in these cases of suffering
that the consecrated person learns to
obey the Lord (cf. Ps 119:7), to listen
to him and to remain devoted only to him,
waiting patiently and full of hope for
his revealing Word (cf. Ps 118:81), in
complete and generous openness to accomplishing
his will and not one's own (cf. Lk 22:42).
In the light and strength
of the Spirit
11. One remains devoted to the Lord when
sensing in some way his presence in human
intermediaries, such as in the Rule, the
superiors, the community,19 the signs
of the times, the expectations of others
and, above all, the poor; when one has
the courage to cast the nets on the “strength
of his word” (cf. Lk 5:5) and not
only from solely human motivations; when
one chooses to obey not only God but also
others, but in every case, for God and
not for others. In his Constitutions,
St. Ignatius writes: “Genuine obedience
considers not the person to whom it is
offered but Him for whose sake it is offered:
and if it is exercised for the sake of
our Creator and Lord alone, then it is
the very Lord of everyone who is obeyed”.20
If in difficult moments those who are
called to obey request insistently the
Father for the Spirit (cf. Lk 11:13),
he will give them the Spirit and the Spirit
will give light and the strength to be
obedient and will help them to know the
truth — and it is the truth makes
one free (cf. Jn 8:32).
Jesus himself, in his humanity, was led
by the action of the Holy Spirit: conceived
in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the
work of the Holy Spirit, at the beginning
of his mission, in his baptism he receives
the Spirit which descends upon him and
guides him; risen he pours forth the Spirit
on his disciples that they might enter
into the same mission, announcing the
salvation and pardon which he merited.
The Spirit who anointed Jesus is the same
Spirit who can make our freedom similar
to that of Christ, perfectly conformed
to the will of God.21
Therefore, it is indispensable that all
open themselves to the Spirit, beginning
with superiors, who properly receive authority
from the Spirit,22 and “docile to
the will of God”,23 under his guidance
must exercise it.
Authority at the service of
obedience to the Will of God
12. In consecrated life everyone must
sincerely seek the will of the Father,
because otherwise the reason itself for
this choice of life would disappear; but
it is equally important to carry out such
a search together with the brothers or
the sisters because it is properly that
which unites them, “making them
a family united to Christ”.
Persons in authority are at the service
of this search to ensure that it occurs
in sincerity and truth. In the homily
at the beginning of his Petrine ministry,
Benedict XVI affirmed significantly: “My
real program of governance is not to do
my own will, not to pursue my own ideas,
but to listen, together with the whole
Church, to the word and the will of the
Lord, to be guided by Him, so that He
himself will lead the Church at this hour
of our history”.24 On the other
hand, it is necessary to recognize that
the task of being a guide for others is
not easy, especially when the sense of
personal autonomy is excessive or conflictive
and competitive in its relations with
others. Therefore, it is necessary on
everyone's part to sharpen his or her
ability to see the encounters of this
task in faith, in order that he or she
might be inspired to have the attitude
of Jesus the Servant who washes the feet
of his apostles so that they might have
a part in his life and in his love (cf.
Jn 13:1-17).
This calls for a great consistency on
the part of those who guide institutes,
provinces (or other sections of the institute)
and communities. Persons called to exercise
authority must know that they will be
able to do so only if they first undertake
the pilgrimage that leads to seeking the
will of God with intensity and righteousness.
The advice that St. Ignatius of Antioch
gave to one of his fellow bishops is valuable
for them: “Nothing is done without
your agreement, but you do not do anything
without God's agreement”.25 Persons
in authority must act in such a way that
the brothers or the sisters can perceive
that when they give a command, they are
doing so only to obey God.
Reverence for the will of God keeps those
in authority in a state of humble seeking,
so that their acting conforms as much
as possible to that holy will. St. Augustine
reminds us that the one who obeys always
fulfils the will of God, not because the
command of the authority necessarily conforms
to the divine will, but because it is
the will of God that is obeyed by the
one who is in charge.26 But those in authority,
on their part, must search assiduously
with the help of prayer, reflection, and
the advice of others for what God really
wills. Otherwise, instead of representing
God, superiors risk putting themselves
carelessly in God's place.
With the intention of doing God's will,
authority and obedience are not therefore
two distinct realities or things absolutely
opposed but rather two dimensions of the
same evangelical reality, of the same
Christian mystery, two complementary ways
of participating in the same oblation
of Christ. Authority and obedience are
personified in Jesus: for this reason
they must be understood in direct relation
to him and in a real configuration to
him. Consecrated life intends simply to
live His Authority and His Obedience.
Some priorities in the service
of authority
13. a) In consecrated life authority is
first of all a spiritual authority.27
Persons in authority recognize that they
are called to serve an ideal that is much
greater than themselves, an ideal which
can be approached only in an atmosphere
of prayer and humble seeking, which allows
them to grasp the action of the same Spirit
in the heart of every brother or sister.
Persons in authority are “spiritual”
when they place themselves at the service
of what the Spirit wants to realize through
the gifts which he distributes to every
member of the community, in the charismatic
project of the institute.
To be in the position of promoting the
spiritual life, persons in authority will
have to cultivate first in themselves
an openness to listening to others and
to the signs of the times through a daily
familiarity in prayer with the Word of
God, with the Rule and the other norms
of the life. “The service of authority
demands a persevering presence, able to
enliven and take initiative, to recall
the raison d'être of consecrated
life, to help the persons entrusted to
you to correspond with ever-renewed fidelity
to the call of the Spirit”.28
b) Persons in authority are called to
guarantee to the community the time for
and the quality of prayer, looking after
the community's daily faithfulness to
prayer, in the awareness that the community
approaches God with small but constant
steps, everyday and by everyone's effort,
and that consecrated persons can be useful
to one another to the extent that they
are united to God. Furthermore, persons
in authority are called to take care that,
beginning with themselves, daily contact
with the Word does not disappear, since
“it has the power to edify”
(Acts 20:32) individual persons and the
community and to indicate ways for the
mission. Mindful of the command of the
Lord, “Do this in memory of me”
(Lk 22:19), persons in authority will
assure that the holy mystery of the Body
and of the Blood of Christ is celebrated
and venerated as “the source and
summit”29 of communion with God
and among the brothers and sisters. Celebrating
and adoring the gift of the Eucharist
in faithful obedience to the Lord, the
community draws from it the inspiration
and strength for its total dedication
to God, in order to be a sign of his gratuitous
love for humanity and an efficacious pointing
toward future goods.30
c) Persons in authority are called to
promote the dignity of the person, paying
attention to each member of the community
and to his or her growth, giving to each
one the appropriate appreciation and positive
consideration, nurturing sincere affection
towards all and keeping reserved all that
is said in confidence.
It is appropriate to recall that before
invoking obedience (necessary) one needs
to practice charity (indispensable). It
is also good to make an appropriate use
of the word communion, which cannot and
must not be understood as a kind of delegation
of authority to the community (with the
implicit invitation to each to “do
what he or she wants”), but neither
as a more or less veiled imposition of
one's own point of view (each one “does
what I want”).
d) Persons in authority are called to
inspire courage and hope in the midst
of difficulties. As Paul and Barnabas
encouraged their disciples, teaching that
“we must undergo many trials if
we are to enter into the reign of God”
(Acts 14:22), persons in authority must
help in accepting the difficulties of
the present moment, remembering that they
are part of the sufferings which are often
strewn along the road that leads to the
Reign of God.
Faced with some difficult situations in
consecrated life, for example, where its
presence seems to be weakening and even
disappearing, the one who leads the community
will recall the perennial values of this
kind of life, because today, as yesterday,
and as always, nothing is more important,
beautiful and true than spending one's
own life in the service of the Lord and
for the littlest of his children.
Leaders of the community are like the
Good Shepherd who gives his life for the
sheep, because even in the critical moment
they do not retreat, but are present,
participating in the concerns and the
difficulties of the people confided to
their care, involving themselves personally;
and like the Good Samaritan they will
be ready to care for any possible wounds.
Furthermore, leaders humbly recognizes
their own limits and need for help from
others, knowing how to turn their own
failures and defeats into rich learning
experiences.
e) Persons in authority are called to
keep the charism of their own religious
family alive. The exercise of authority
also includes putting oneself at the service
of the proper charism of the institute
to which one belongs, keeping it carefully
and making it real in the local community
and in the province or the entire institute,
according to the plans and orientations
offered, in particular by General Chapters
(or analogous meetings).31 What is required
of persons in authority is an adequate
knowledge of the charism of the institute,
making it part of themselves, in order
then better to see it in relation to community
life and in relation to its place in ecclesial
and social contexts.
f) Persons in authority are called to
keep alive the “sentire cum Ecclesia”.
Persons in authority have the task of
helping to keep alive the sense of faith
and of ecclesial communion, in the midst
of a people that recognizes and praises
the wonders of God, witnessing to the
joy of belonging to him in the great family
of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic
Church. The task of following the Lord
cannot be taken by solitary navigators
but is accomplished in the bark of Peter,
which survives the storms; and consecrated
persons contribute a hardworking and joyful
fidelity to good navigation.32 Persons
in authority should therefore remember
that “Our obedience is a believing
with the Church, a thinking and speaking
with the Church, serving through her.
What Jesus predicted to Peter also always
applies: ‘You will be taken where
you do not want to go'. This letting oneself
be guided where one does not want to be
led is an essential element of our serving
and precisely that which makes us free”.33
Sentire cum Ecclesia that shines in founders
and foundresses implies an authentic spirituality
of communion, that is “an effective
and affective relationship with the Bishops,
primarily with the Pope, the centre of
unity of the Church”.34 To him every
consecrated person owes full and confident
obedience also in virtue of the vow itself.35
Moreover, ecclesial communion demands
a faithful adhesion to the Magisterium
of the Pope and Bishops as a concrete
witness to love for the Church and passion
for her unity.36
g) Persons in authority are called to
accompany the journey of ongoing formation.
A task always to be considered most important
today on the part of persons in authority
is that of accompanying the persons for
whom they are called to care throughout
their lives. This they do not only by
offering help in resolving possible problems
or in managing possible crises but also
in paying attention to the normal growth
of each one in every phase and season
of life, in order to guarantee that “youthfulness
of spirit which lasts through time”37
and that makes the consecrated person
ever more conformed to the “sentiments
which were in Christ Jesus” (Phil
2:5).
Therefore, it will be the responsibility
of persons in authority to keep a high
level of openness to being formed as well
as the ability to learn from life. In
particular, this is important to do regarding
the freedom of letting oneself be formed
by others and for each one to feel a responsibility
for the growth of others. Both will be
fostered by making use of means of growth
in community passed on by tradition and
that are today especially recommended
by those who have solid experience in
the field of spiritual formation: sharing
of the Word, personal and community plans,
communitarian discernment, review of one's
life and fraternal correction.38
The service of authority in
the light of ecclesial norms
14. In the preceding paragraphs the service
of authority in consecrated life was described
in reference to the search for the will
of the Father and some of its priorities
were pointed out.
In order that these priorities not be
understood as purely facultative, it seems
appropriate to consider the particular
characteristics of the exercise of authority
according to the Code of Canon Law.39
In it the evangelical traits of the power
exercised by religious superiors on various
levels are translated into norms.
a) The obedience of the superior. Moving
from the characteristic nature of munus
of ecclesial authority, the Code reminds
the religious superior that he or she
is first of all called to be the first
one to be obedient. In the strength of
the assumed office, he or she owes obedience
to the law of God, from whom his or her
authority comes and to whom he or she
must render an account in conscience,
to the law of the Church, to the Roman
Pontiff, and to the proper law of the
institute.
b) The spirit of service. After having
reaffirmed the charismatic origin and
the ecclesial mediation of religious authority,
it is reaffirmed that, as all authority
in the Church, so too the authority of
the religious superior must be characterized
by the spirit of service, in imitation
of Christ who “came not to be served
but to serve” (Mk 10:45).
In particular, some aspects of such a
spirit of service are pointed out, whose
faithful observance will assure that superiors,
in fulfilling their service, will be recognized
as “docile to the will of God”.40
Therefore, every superior is called to
bring to life again, brother to brother
or sister to sister, that love with which
God loves his children, avoiding, on the
one hand, any attitude of domination and,
on the other, any form of paternalism
or maternalism.
All of this is made possible by confidence
in the responsibility of the brothers
or the sisters “promoting the voluntary
obedience of their subjects with reverence
for the human person”,41 and through
dialogue keeping in mind that bonding
must come about “in a spirit of
faith and love in the following of the
obedient Christ”42 and not for other
motivations.
c) Pastoral care. The Code points out,
as the primary goal of the exercise of
religious power, that of building “a
community of brothers or sisters in Christ
in which God is sought after and loved
before all else”.43 Therefore, in
the religious community authority is essentially
pastoral by its nature in that it is entirely
in function of the building of fraternal
life in community, according to the very
ecclesial identity of consecrated life.44
The principle means that the superior
should use to attain such a primary end
can only be based on faith: they are,
in particular, listening to the Word of
God and the celebration of the Liturgy.
Finally, some areas of particular care
on the part of superiors as regards the
brothers or sisters are singled out: “they
are to meet the personal needs of the
members appropriately, solicitously to
care for and visit the sick, to correct
the restless, to console the faint of
heart, and to be patient toward all”.45
In mission with the freedom
of the children of God
15. Today, it is not rare that the mission
is addressed to people concerned with
their own autonomy, jealous of their freedom,
fearful of losing their independence.
With their very existence, consecrated
persons present the possibility of a different
way for the fulfilment of their own life,
a way where God is the goal, his Word
the light, and his will the guide, where
consecrated persons move along peacefully
in the certainty of being sustained by
the hands of a Father who welcomes and
provides, where they are accompanied by
brothers and sisters, moved by the same
Spirit, who wants to and knows how to
satisfy the desires and longings sown
by the Father in the heart of each one.
This is the primary mission of the consecrated
person: he or she must witness to the
freedom of the children of God, a freedom
modelled on that of Christ who was free
to serve God and the brothers and sisters;
and moreover to affirm with his or her
very own being that that God who formed
the human creature from clay (cf. Gen
2:7, 22) and knitted that creature in
his or her mother's womb (cf. Ps 139:13),
can form his or her life, modelling it
on that of Christ, the new and perfectly
free man.
SECOND
PART
AUTHORITY AND OBEDIENCE
IN COMMUNITY LIFE
“One among
you is your teacher and you are all brothers”
(Mt 23:8)
The New Commandment
16. To all those who seek God, in addition
to the commandment, “You shall love
the Lord your God with your whole heart,
with your whole soul and with your whole
mind”, there is given the second
commandment “similar to the first”:
“you shall love your neighbour as
yourself” (Mt 22:37-39). Thus, the
Lord Jesus adds, “Love one another
as I have loved you”, because from
the quality of your love “they will
know that you are my disciples”
(Jn 13:34-35). The building of fraternal
community constitutes one of the fundamental
tasks of consecrated life, to which the
members of the community are called to
dedicate themselves, moved by that same
love that the Lord has poured out into
their hearts. In fact, fraternal life
in community is a constitutive element
of religious life, an eloquent sign of
the humanizing effects of the presence
of the Reign of God.
If it is true that there is no meaningful
community without fraternal love, it is
likewise true that a correct view of obedience
and authority can offer a valid help for
living the commandment of love in daily
life, especially when it is a question
of facing problems regarding the relationship
between the individual and the community.
Persons in authority at the
service of the community, the community
at the service of the Reign of God
17. “All who are led by the Spirit
of God are sons of God” (Rm 8:14):
we are, therefore, brothers and sisters
since God is the Father who guides the
community of brothers and sisters with
his Spirit, configuring them to his Son.
The function of authority enters into
this plan. Superiors, in union with the
persons entrusted to them, are called
to build a fraternal community in Christ
in which God is sought and loved above
things, in order to fulfil God's redemptive
plan.46 Therefore, persons in authority
are at the service of the community as
was the Lord Jesus who washed the feet
of his disciples, in order that the community
in its turn be at the service of the Reign
of God (cf. Jn 13:1-17). Exercising authority
in the midst of one's brothers or sisters
means serving them, following the example
of him who “gave his life in ransom
for the many” (Mk 10:45), in order
that they might give their lives.
Only if superiors themselves live in obedience
to Christ and sincerely observe the Rule
can the members of the community understand
that their obedience to the superior is
not only not contrary to the freedom of
the children of God but causes it to mature
in conformity with Christ, obedient to
the Father.47
Docile to the Spirit who leads
to unity
18. One and the same call from God has
gathered the members of a community or
of an institute together (cf. Col 3:15);
one and the same desire of seeking God
continues to guide them. “Life in
community is thus the particular sign,
before the Church and society, of the
bond which comes from the same call and
the common desire — notwithstanding
differences of race and origin, language
and culture — to be obedient to
that call. Contrary to the spirit of discord
and division, authority and obedience
shine like a sign of that unique Fatherhood
which comes from God, of the brotherhood
born of the Spirit, of the interior freedom
of those who put their trust in God, despite
the human limitations of those who represent
him”.48
The Spirit opens each one to the Reign
of God, while maintaining his or her different
gifts and roles (cf. 1 Cor 12:11). Obedience
to the action of the Spirit unifies the
community in its witness to his presence,
makes the steps of all joyful (cf. Ps
37:23), and becomes the basis of community
life in which all obey, each with various
tasks. The search for the will of God
and the willingness to carry it out is
the spiritual cement that saves the group
from the fragmentation that can arise
from the great variety of persons in all
their diversity when they are lacking
a unifying principle.
For a spirituality of communion
and a communitarian holiness
19. In these last few years, a renewed
concept of anthropology has made the importance
of the relational dimension of the human
person much more evident. Such a conception
finds ample confirmation in the image
of the human person that emerges from
the Scriptures and, undoubtedly, has also
influenced the way of conceiving relations
within the religious community, making
it more attentive to the value of openness
to someone other than oneself, to the
fruitfulness of the relation with the
diversity and enrichment that come to
each one from it.
Such a relational anthropology has also
exercised an influence, at least indirectly
as we have already recalled, on the spirituality
of communion, and has contributed to the
renewal of the concept of mission understood
as a shared commitment with all members
of the people of God, in a spirit of collaboration
and co-responsibility. The spirituality
of communion presents itself as the spiritual
climate of the Church at the beginning
of the Third Millennium and, therefore,
as an active and exemplary task of religious
life at all levels. It is the main pathway
for the future of a believing life and
of Christian witness. It finds its uncompromising
reference in the Eucharistic mystery always
seen as more central, precisely because
“the Eucharist is thus constitutive
of the Church's being and activity”
and “it is found at the root of
the Church as a mystery of communion”.49
Holiness and mission pass through the
community because the risen Lord makes
himself present in it and through it,50
making it holy and sanctifying the relationships.
Has not Jesus promised to be present where
two or three are gathered in his name
(cf. Mt 18:20)? Thus, brothers and sisters
become sacraments of Jesus and of the
encounter with God, a concrete possibility
of being able to live the commandment
of mutual love. In this way the path of
holiness becomes a way that all members
of the community follow together; not
just a path for an individual but ever
more a community experience: in the reciprocal
welcoming; in the sharing of gifts, above
all the gift of love, of pardon, and of
fraternal correction; in the common search
for the will of the Lord rich in grace
and mercy; in the willingness of each
one to bear one another's burdens.
In today's cultural atmosphere, community
holiness is a convincing witness, perhaps
even more than that of the individual:
this shows the perennial value of unity,
a gift left by the Lord Jesus. This becomes
particularly evident in international
and intercultural communities that demand
high levels of welcoming and dialogue.
The role of persons in authority
for the growth of the community
20. The growth of the community is the
fruit of an “ordered” charity,
which respects its points of reference.
Consequently, “it is also necessary
that the proper law of each institute
be as precise as possible in determining
the respective competence of the community,
the various councils, departmental coordinators
and the superior. A lack of clarity in
this area is a source of confusion and
conflict. ‘Community projects,'
which can help increase participation
in community life and in its mission in
various contexts, should also take care
to define clearly the role and competence
of authority, in line with the constitutions”.51
Within this picture persons in authority
promote the growth of fraternal life through
the service of listening and dialogue,
the creation of a favourable atmosphere
for sharing and co-responsibility, the
participation of everyone in the concerns
of each one, service balanced between
the individual and the community, discernment
and the promotion of fraternal obedience.
a) The service of listening
The exercise of authority implies that
persons in authority should gladly listen
to those who have been entrusted to them.52
St. Benedict insists: “The abbot
calls the whole community together”;
“all of us have been called to give
advice...because often it is to the youngest
that the Lord reveals the best solution”.53
Listening is one of the principal ministries
of superiors for which they must always
be available, above all for those who
feel isolated and in need of attention.
In fact, listening means accepting the
other unconditionally, giving him or her
space in one's own heart. For this listening
conveys affection and understanding, declares
that the other is appreciated, and that
his or her presence and opinion are taken
into consideration.
Whoever presides must remember that the
one who does not listen to his brother
or sister does not know how to listen
to God either, that an attentive listening
allows one to better coordinate the energy
and gifts that the Spirit gives to the
community and also, when making decisions,
to keep in mind the limits and the difficulties
of some members. Time spent in listening
is never time wasted, and listening can
often prevent crises and difficult times
both on the individual and community levels.
b) Creation of an atmosphere favourable
to dialogue, sharing and co-responsibility
Persons in authority will have to be concerned
with creating an environment of trust,
promoting the recognition of the abilities
and the sensitivities of individuals.
Moreover, with words and deeds they will
nourish the conviction that the community
requires participation and therefore information.
In addition to listening, persons in authority
will value sincere and free dialogue —
sharing feelings, perspectives and plans:
in this atmosphere each one will be able
to have his or her true identity recognized
and to improve his or her own relational
abilities. Persons in authority will not
be afraid to recognize and accept those
problems that can easily arise from searching,
deciding, working and together undertaking
the best ways of realizing a fruitful
collaboration. On the contrary, they will
look for the causes of any possible uneasiness
and misunderstandings, knowing how to
propose solutions, shared as much as possible.
Moreover, they will commit themselves
to finding ways of overcoming any form
of childishness, and discourage whatever
attempts are made to avoid responsibility
or to evade major commitments, to close
oneself in one's own world and in one's
own interests or to work in an isolated
manner.
c) Soliciting the contribution of
all for the concerns of all
Whoever is in charge has the responsibility
for the final decision,54 but must arrive
at it not by him or herself but rather
by valuing the greatest possible free
contribution of all the brothers or sisters.
The community is what its members make
it. Therefore, stimulating and motivating
a contribution from every person so that
each one feels the duty to contribute
his or her own charity, competence and
creativity will be fundamental. In fact,
all the human resources are strengthened
and brought together in the community
project, motivating and respecting them.
It is not enough to place material goods
in common, but still more significant
is the communion of goods and personal
abilities of endowments and talents, of
intuitions and inspirations, and still
more fundamental, and to be promoted,
is the sharing of spiritual goods, of
listening to the Word of God, of faith:
“the more we share those things
which are central and vital, the more
the fraternal bond grows in strength”.55
Probably not all will be immediately disposed
to this type of sharing. When faced with
possible resistance, far from giving up
the project those in authority should
seek to balance wisely the urgency for
a dynamic and enterprising communion with
the art of being patient, not expecting
to see immediately the fruits of their
own efforts. They must also recognize
that God is the one and only Lord who
can touch and change persons' hearts.
d)
At the service of the individual and of
the community
In entrusting various responsibilities
to members of the community, persons in
authority must take into account the personality
of each brother or sister and each one's
difficulties and predispositions, in order
to give to each a way to express his or
her own gifts, respecting the freedom
of all. Simultaneously they must necessarily
consider the good of the community and
the service to the work eventually entrusted
to them.
Such organizing to realize goals is not
always easy to put into practice. It is
then that the balance of persons in authority,
which manifests itself in the ability
to take the positive aspects of each one
and to make the best use of the strengths
available, becomes indispensable. This
must be done with that righteousness of
intention that makes authority interiorly
free, not too concerned with pleasing
and humouring, but clear in indicating
the true meaning of the mission for the
consecrated person that cannot be reduced
to a simple valuing of the abilities of
each one.
However, it will likewise be indispensable
that consecrated persons accept, in the
spirit of faith and from the hands of
the Father, the responsibility entrusted
to them even when it does not agree with
their desires and expectations or with
their way of understanding the will of
God. For each person, still being able
to express the specific difficulties by
candidly pointing them out as a contribution
to the truth, obeying in such cases means
relying on the final decision of the person
in authority, with the conviction that
such obedience is a precious contribution
— even if involving suffering —
for the building of the Reign of God.
e) Community discernment
“In community life which is inspired
by the Holy Spirit, each individual engages
in a fruitful dialogue with others in
order to discover the Father's will. At
the same time, community members together
recognize in the one who presides an expression
of the fatherhood of God and the exercise
of authority received from God, at the
service of discernment and communion”.56
Sometimes, when the proper law provides
for it or when the importance of the decision
to be taken demands it, the search for
an adequate response is entrusted to community
discernment, in which it is a matter of
listening to what the Spirit is saying
to the community (cf. Rev 2:7).
Even if true and appropriate discernment
is reserved to the most important decisions,
the spirit of discernment ought to characterize
every decision-making process that involves
the community. A time of individual prayer
and reflection together with a series
of important attitudes for choosing together
what is right and pleasing to God, should
never be missing prior to every decision.
Here are some of these attitudes:
– determination to seek nothing
other than the divine will, letting oneself
be inspired by God's way of acting as
seen in the Sacred Scriptures and in the
history of the charism of the institute,
and with the awareness that evangelical
logic is often “upside-down”
in relation to human logic that looks
for success, efficiency and recognition;
– openness to recognize in each
brother or sister the ability to discover
the truth, even if partial, and consequently
to welcome his or her opinions as mediation
for discovering together the will of God
— an openness to the point of knowing
how to recognize the ideas of others as
better than one's own;
– attention to the signs of the
times, to the expectations of the people,
to the needs of the poor, to the pressing
needs of evangelization, to the priorities
of the Universal Church and of particular
churches and to the indications of Chapters
and of major superiors;
– freedom from prejudices, from
excessive attachment to one's own ideas,
from perceptual frameworks which are rigid
or distorted and from strong positions
which frustrate the diversity of opinions;
– courage to ground firmly one's
own ideas while also opening oneself to
new perspectives and to changing one's
own point of view;
– firm proposal to maintain unity
in any case, whatever the final decision
might be.
Community discernment is not a substitute
for the nature and function of persons
in authority, from whom the final decision
is expected. Nevertheless, persons in
authority cannot ignore that the community
is the best place in which to recognize
and accept the will of God. In any case,
discernment is one of the peak moments
in a consecrated community where the centrality
of God, that ultimate end of everyone's
search, as well as the responsibility
and the contribution of each one in the
journey of all towards the Truth, stand
out with particular clarity.
f) Discernment, authority and obedience
Persons in authority will be patient in
the delicate process of discernment, which
they will seek to guarantee in its phases
and support in its most critical steps,
and to be firm in requesting the implementation
of whatever is decided. They will be attentive
not to abdicate their own proper responsibility,
even for love of living in peace or for
fear of hurting someone's feelings. They
will feel the responsibility of not avoiding
situations in which it is necessary to
make clear and, at times, unpleasant decisions.57
True love for the community is really
what makes persons in authority able to
reconcile firmness and patience, listening
to each one, and the courage to make decisions,
overcoming the temptation to be deaf and
mute.
Finally, it must be observed that a community
cannot be in a state of continuous discernment.
After the time of discernment there is
the time for obedience, which is the implementation
of the decision. Both are times in which
it is necessary to live in the spirit
of obedience.
g) Fraternal obedience
Towards the end of his Rule, St. Benedict
affirms: “The brethren must render
the service of obedience not only to the
Abbot, but they must thus also obey one
another, knowing that they shall go to
God by this path of obedience”.58
“That in honour they forerun one
another (cf. Rom 12:10). Let them bear
their infirmities, whether of body or
mind, with the utmost patience; let them
vie with one another in obedience. Let
no one follow what he thinketh useful
to himself, but rather to another”.59
St. Basil asks himself: “In what
way do we have to obey each other?”
He responds: “As servants to their
masters, as the Lord has ordered us: ‘Let
him who would be great among you become
the servant of all (cf. Mk 10:44)'; Then
he adds these words which are still more
impressive: ‘Like the Son of Man
who came not to be served but to serve'
(Mk 10:45); and as the Apostle says: ‘Through
the love of the Spirit, be servants to
each other' (Gal 5:13)”.60
True fraternity is based on the recognition
of the dignity of the brothers or sisters
and becomes concrete in the attention
given to others and to their needs, in
the capacity to rejoice in their gifts
and their fulfilment, in placing at their
disposition the proper time to listen
and to be enlightened; however, this demands
being interiorly free.
Those persons are certainly not free who
are convinced that their ideas and their
solutions are always the best; who suppose
they can decide by themselves without
any mediation for knowing the divine will;
who think of themselves as always right
and do not have any doubts that it is
the others who have to change; who think
only of their own things and do not pay
any attention to the needs of others;
who think that to obey is something from
another era, which cannot be propounded
in a world which is more evolved.
Rather, free are those persons who live
constantly attentive and reach out to
take advice in every situation in life,
and above all from every person who lives
next to them, a mediation of the will
of the Lord, however mysterious. “It
was for liberty that Christ freed us”
(Gal 5:1). He has freed us that we might
be able to encounter God in the innumerable
ways in daily life.
“The first among you
must be your slave” (Mt 20:27)
21. Today, if assuming the responsibilities
proper to authority can also seem a particularly
heavy burden and demand the humility of
being the servant of others, it is, however,
always good to recall the severe words
the Lord Jesus turns on those who are
tempted to clothe their authority in worldly
prestige: “Whoever wishes to be
first among you must be your slave, just
as the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a
ransom for many” (Mt 20:27-28).
Those who seek in their own office a means
of becoming greater or affirming themselves,
having themselves be served or making
others serve them, place themselves clearly
outside the evangelical model of authority.
St. Bernard's words to his disciple who
became a successor of
St. Peter are worth some attention: “Consider
if you have made progress on the way of
virtue, of wisdom, of intelligence, of
goodness. Are you more arrogant or more
humble? More benevolent or more haughty?
More indulgent or more intransigent? What
has developed in you: the fear of God
or a dangerous effrontery?” 61
Obedience even under the best conditions
is not easy, but it is made easier when
the consecrated person sees persons in
authority place themselves at the humble
and hardworking service of the community
and of the mission: an authority that
even with all its human limitations in
its acting tries to present again the
attitudes and sentiments of the Good Shepherd.
“I pray that she who will have the
office of responsibility for her sisters,”
St. Clare of Assisi affirmed in her last
will and testament, “be committed
to being in charge of the others through
virtue and holy behaviour more than by
virtue of her office, in order that the
sisters, inspired by her example, obey
her not so much because of her office,
but for love”.62
Community Life as mission
22. Led by persons in authority, consecrated
persons are called to measure themselves
against the new commandment, the commandment
that renews all things: “Love one
another as I have loved you” (Jn
15:12).
To love each other as the Lord has loved
means to go beyond the personal merit
of the brothers or sisters and to obey
not one's own desires but God who speaks
through the condition and needs of the
brothers or sisters. It is necessary to
recall that the time dedicated to improving
the quality of community life is not time
wasted because, as the late and fondly
remembered Pope John Paul II repeatedly
emphasized, “all the fruitfulness
of religious life depends on the quality
of community life”.63
The tension of making real fraternal community
is not only preparation for the mission
but also an integral part of it, from
the moment that “fraternal communion,
as such, is already an apostolate”.64
In the continuous search for the will
of God, being in mission as communities
that daily seek to build community means
affirming that by following the Lord Jesus,
it is possible to realize human life together
in a new and humanizing way.
THIRD
PART
IN MISSION
“As the
Father has sent me, so I also send you”
(Jn 20:21)
In mission with all one's
being, as Jesus the Lord
23. The Lord Jesus makes us understand
with his own form of life that mission
and obedience cannot be separated. In
the Gospels Jesus is always presented
as the One sent by the Father to do his
will (cf. Jn 5:36-38; 6:38-40; 7:16-18);
he always does what is pleasing to the
Father. It is possible to say that the
entire life of Jesus is the mission of
the Father. He is the mission of the Father.
As the Word came in mission, enfleshing
himself in a humanity that he took on
completely, we collaborate in the mission
of Christ in the same way and we permit
him to bring it to its complete fulfilment.
Above all we welcome him, making ourselves
the place of his presence and, therefore,
the continuation of his life in history,
to afford others the possibility of meeting
him.
Considering that Christ in his life and
work was the perfect amen (cf. Rev 3:14)
and the perfect yes (cf. 2 Cor 1:20) spoken
to the Father, and that to say yes means
simply to obey, it is impossible to think
about the mission if not in relation to
obedience. To live the mission always
implies being sent, and that includes
referring to the one who sends or to the
content of the mission to be developed.
It is for this reason that, without reference
to obedience, the term mission becomes
difficult to understand and is exposed
to the risk of being reduced to something
that refers only to those developing the
mission. There is always the danger of
reducing the mission to a profession to
be done in view of one's own fulfilment,
thereby being managed more or less by
oneself.
In mission for service
24. In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius
of Loyola writes that the Lord calls all
and says: “Whoever will come with
me must work with me, so that following
me in effort and suffering, will follow
me also into glory”.65 The mission
must be measured, today as in the past,
with notable difficulties that can be
confronted only with the strength that
comes from the Lord, in the humble and
strong awareness of being sent by him
and, because of this, being able to count
on his help.
Thanks to obedience we have the certitude
of serving the Lord, of being “servants
of the Lord” in our acting and suffering.
Such certitude is the source of unconditional
commitment, tenacious faithfulness, interior
serenity, disinterested service and dedication
of our best energies. “Those who
obey have the guarantee of truly taking
part in the mission, of following the
Lord and not pursuing their own desires
or wishes. In this way we can know that
we are guided by the Spirit of the Lord,
and sustained, even in the midst of great
hardships, by his steadfast hand (cf.
Acts 20:22-23)”.66
One is in mission when, far from seeking
one's own affirmation, one is, in the
first place, led by the desire to accomplish
the will of God, which is worthy of adoration.
Such a desire is the very soul of adoration
(“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done”) and the strength of the apostle.
The mission demands the commitment of
all one's human abilities and talents
that contribute to salvation when he or
she is placed in the river of the will
of God, which transports passing things
into the ocean of the eternal reality
where God, in unlimited happiness, will
be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28).
Authority and mission
25. All this implies that authority be
recognized as an important task in carrying
out the mission, faithful to the charism
proper to each. This is not a simple task,
nor one without difficulties and ambiguities.
In the past, the risk could come from
persons in authority being directed mainly
towards managing the work, with the danger
of not taking care of persons. Today,
the risk can come rather from excessive
fear of hurting others' feelings or from
a fragmentation of competencies and responsibilities
that weakens the unified movement towards
the common objective and frustrates the
role of authority.
However, persons in authority are not
only responsible for the animation of
the community but also for the coordinating
of the various competencies in relation
to the mission. Thus, they respect the
roles and follow the internal norms of
the Institute. Even if persons in authority
cannot — and must not — do
everything, they nevertheless have the
ultimate responsibility for everything.67
Many are the challenges that the present
time places on persons in authority in
the task of coordinating energies for
the mission. Some important tasks are
also listed here:
a) Persons in authority encourage
the taking up of responsibilities and
respect them when taken up
For some, responsibilities can provoke
a sense of fear. Therefore, it is necessary
that persons in authority convey to their
collaborators Christian strength and the
courage to face difficulties, overcoming
fears and attitudes of giving up.
Their concern will be sharing not only
information but also responsibilities,
committing themselves to respecting each
one in his or her own rightful autonomy.
This involves, on the part of authority,
a patient coordination and, on the part
of the consecrated person, a sincere openness
to working together.
Persons in authority need to “be
present” when necessary, to foster
in the members of the community the sense
of interdependence, as far from childish
dependence as from a self-sufficient independence.
This interdependence is the fruit of that
interior freedom that permits each one
to work and collaborate, to substitute
as well as to be substituted for, to take
an active part and to make his or her
own contribution, even from behind the
scenes.
Whoever exercises the service of authority
will have to be attentive not to give
into the temptation of personal self-sufficiency,
to believe that everything depends on
him or her and that it would not be important
and useful to foster community participation;
it is better to take one step together
than to take two or more alone.
b) Persons in authority invite us
to confront diversity in a spirit of communion
The rapid cultural changes in progress
do not only cause structural transformations
that influence activities and the mission
but also can give rise to tensions within
the community, where diverse kinds of
cultural or spiritual formation cause
members to give different readings to
the signs of the times and, therefore,
to propose varied projects not always
reconcilable. Such situations can be more
frequent today than in the past because
there is a growing number of communities
that are made up of persons who come from
different ethnic groups or cultures, thereby
making generational differences more evident.
Persons in authority are called to serve
with a spirit of communion even these
composite communities, helping them to
offer, in a world noted for many divisions,
the witness that it is possible to live
together and to love one another even
if different. It must then firmly maintain
some theoretical-practical principles:
– to remember that in the spirit
of the Gospel, a conflict of ideas never
becomes a conflict of persons;
– to recall that a plurality of
perspectives fosters a deepening of the
question;
– to promote communication so that
the free exchange of ideas makes the positions
clear and causes the positive contribution
of each one to emerge;
– to help free oneself from egocentrism
and ethnocentrism, which tend to place
the causes of trouble onto others, in
order to reach a mutual understanding;
– to understand that the ideal is
not that of having a community without
conflicts but instead a community that
is willing to confront its own tensions
in order to resolve them positively, looking
for solutions that ignore none of the
values that must be taken into account.
c) Persons in authority maintain a
balance between the various dimensions
of consecrated life
These dimensions can come into tension
among themselves. Persons in authority
must assure that unity of life be preserved
and that the greatest possible attention
is paid to the balance between time dedicated
to prayer and time dedicated to work,
between individual and community, between
commitments and rest, between attention
to common life and attention to the world
and the Church, between personal formation
and community formation.68
One of the most delicate balances is that
between community and mission, between
life ad intra and life ad extra.69 Given
that normally the urgency of the things
that need to be done can lead not to caring
about the things that regard the community
and that ever more often today one is
called to work as an individual, it is
opportune that some inviolable rules that
guarantee simultaneously both a spirit
of brotherhood or sisterhood in the apostolic
community and an apostolic sensitivity
in community life be respected.
It will be important that persons in authority
be the guarantors of these rules and remind
each and everyone that a member of the
community who is in mission or is performing
some apostolic service, even if working
alone, always acts in the name of the
institute or of the community and thus
works thanks to the community. Often,
if some are able to accomplish that particular
activity it is because others of the community
have given of their time for them, advised
them or conveyed a certain spirit. Furthermore,
the one who remains in the community substitutes
in certain tasks in the house for the
persons committed outside the community
or prays for them or supports them with
his or her own fidelity.
And now it is right not only that apostles
be deeply grateful but also that they
remain closely united to their own community
in all that they do. The apostle must
not act like the owner of the community
but should try at any cost to have the
community move along together, waiting,
if necessary, for the one who goes more
slowly, valuing the contribution of each
one, sharing as much as possible the joys
and efforts, insights and uncertainties,
so that all feel as theirs the apostolate
of each one of the others, without envy
or jealousy. Apostles may be certain that
no matter how much of themselves they
give to the community, it will never equal
what they have already received and will
continue to receive from it.
d) Persons in authority have a merciful
heart
St. Francis of Assisi, in a moving letter
to a minister/superior, gave the following
instructions about the possible personal
weaknesses of his brothers: “And
in this I want to know, if you love the
Lord and myself, His servant and yours,
if you have done this, namely, that there
be no friar in the world, who has sinned,
as much as one could sin, that, after
he has seen your eyes, never leaves without
your mercy, if he seeks mercy. And if
he would not seek mercy, you are to ask
him if he wants mercy. And if afterwards
he would have sinned a thousand times
before your eyes, love him more than me
for this, so that you draw him to the
Lord; and you are to always pity such
ones”.70
Persons in authority are called to develop
a pedagogy of forgiveness and mercy, that
is, to be instruments of the love of God
that welcomes, corrects and always gives
another chance to the brother or sister
who makes a mistake and falls into sin.
Above all they will need to remember that
without hope of forgiveness a person finds
it hard to get back on the path and tends
inevitably to add wrong to wrong and failings
to failings. The perspective of mercy,
instead, affirms that God is able to draw
out, even from sinful situations, a way
that leads towards the good.71 May persons
in authority spare no efforts so that
the whole community may learn this merciful
style.
e) Persons in authority have a sense
of justice
If the invitation of St. Francis of Assisi
to forgive the brother who sins can be
considered a precious general rule, it
must be recognized that there can be behaviours
in the members of some communities of
consecrated persons that seriously harm
their neighbour and that imply a responsibility
vis-à-vis people outside the community
and also within the institutions themselves
to which they belong. If it is necessary
to have understanding for the wrongdoing
of the individual, it is also necessary
to have a rigorous sense of responsibility
and charity towards those who are eventually
damaged by the incorrect behaviour of
some consecrated person.
May he or she who errs know that he or
she must answer personally for the consequences
of his or her acts. Understanding for
the confrere cannot exclude justice, especially
in the face of vulnerable persons and
victims of abuse. To accept and recognize
the real evil and to assume the responsibility
for it and its consequences are already
steps on the path that leads to mercy:
as for Israel who distanced itself from
the Lord, the acceptance of the consequences
of evil, that is, the experience of the
Exile, is the first step in once again
taking up the path of conversion and of
rediscovering more deeply that real relationship
with him.
f) Persons in authority promote collaboration
with the laity
The growing collaboration with the laity
in the works and activities conducted
by consecrated persons raises new questions
that require new responses both on the
part of the community and on the part
of authority. “The participation
of the laity often brings unexpected and
rich insights into certain aspects of
the charism,” given that the laity
are invited to offer “religious
families the invaluable contribution of
their ‘being in the world' and their
specific service”.72
It was fittingly recalled that in order
to reach the objective of mutual collaboration
between religious and laity, “it
is necessary to have: religious communities
with a clear charismatic identity, assimilated
and lived, capable of transmitting it
to others and disposed to share it; religious
communities with an intense spirituality
and missionary enthusiasm for communicating
the same spirit and the same evangelizing
thrust; religious communities who know
how to animate and encourage lay people
to share the charism of their institute,
according to their secular character and
according to their different style of
life, inviting them to discover new ways
of making the same charism and mission
operative. In this way, a religious community
becomes a centre radiating outwardly,
a spiritual force, a centre of animation,
of fraternity creating fraternity, and
of communion and ecclesial collaboration,
where the different contributions of each
help build up the Body of Christ, which
is the Church”.73
Furthermore, it is necessary that there
be a well-defined description of the competencies
and responsibilities of the laity as much
as of the religious, as well as of the
intermediate entities (administrative
councils and the like). In all this, the
one in charge of the community of consecrated
persons has an irreplaceable role.
Difficult obedience
26. In the concrete development of the
mission, some instances of obedience can
be particularly difficult because points
of view or means of apostolic or diaconal
action can be perceived and thought of
in different ways. In the face of certain
difficult situations of obedience, to
all appearances absolutely “absurd,”
there can arise the temptation towards
distrust and even abandonment. Is it worth
continuing? Could I not realize my ideas
better in another context? Why get worn
out in pointless conflicts?
St. Benedict already confronted the question
of an obedience “very burdensome
or positively impossible to perform”;
and St. Francis of Assisi considered the
case in which “the subject sees
things which are better and more useful
for his soul than those which the prelate
[superior] orders him to do”. The
Father of monasticism replies, asking
for a free, open, humble and trusting
dialogue between the monk and the abbot,
though in the end, if requested, the monk
“obeys for the love of God and confiding
in his help”.74 The Saint of Assisi
invites the person to implement a “loving
obedience,” in which the friar voluntarily
sacrifices his views and carries out the
command requested, because in this way
he “pleases God and neighbour”,75
and sees a “perfect obedience, there,
where even not being able to obey because
he is being commanded “something
against his soul”, the religious
does not break unity with the superior
and community, and is also ready to bear
persecution because of it. “In fact,”
observes St. Francis, “whoever chooses
to suffer persecution rather than wish
to be separated from his brothers truly
remains in perfect obedience because he
lays down his life for his brothers”.76
This reminds us that love and communion
represent supreme values to which even
the exercise of authority and obedience
are subordinated.
It must be recognized that it is understandable,
on the one hand, to have a certain attachment
to personal ideas and convictions, fruit
of reflection or of experience and matured
over time, and it is also a good thing
to seek to defend them and to carry them
forward, always in the perspective of
the Reign of God, in a straightforward
and constructive dialogue. On the other
hand, it is not to be forgotten that the
model is always Jesus of Nazareth, who
even during his Passion asked God that
his will, as Father, be done, nor did
he pull back from death on the cross (cf.
Heb 5:7).
When requested to give up their own ideas
or projects, consecrated persons might
experience loss and a sense of rejection
of authority or to feel within themselves
the “loud cries and tears”
(Heb 5:7) and pleading that the bitter
chalice might pass. But that is also the
time to entrust oneself to the Father
in order that his will might be done,
and thus to be able to participate actively,
with all one's being, in the mission of
Christ “for the life of the world”
(Jn 6:51).
It is in saying these difficult “yeses”
that one can understand in depth the sense
of obedience as a supreme act of freedom,
expressed in total and confident abandoning
of oneself to Christ, the Son freely obedient
to the Father, and one can understand
the sense of mission as an obedient offering
of oneself that brings the blessing of
the Most High: “I will bless you
with every blessing...(and) all the nations
of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves,
because you have obeyed my voice”
(Gen 22:17, 18). In that blessing obedient
consecrated persons know that they will
again find all that they left with the
sacrifice of their being detached; within
that blessing is also hidden the full
realization of their own humanity (cf.
Jn 12:25).
Obedience and objections of
conscience
27. Here one could ask: Can there be situations
in which a person's conscience would not
seem to permit following the directives
given by persons in authority? Can it
happen, in short, that the consecrated
person must state in relation to the norms
or to their superiors: “It is necessary
to obey God rather than men” (Acts
5:29)? This is the case of the so-called
objection in conscience of which Paul
VI spoke,77 and that should be considered
in its authentic meaning.
If it is true that conscience is the place
where the voice of the Lord resounds,
the voice that indicates to us how to
behave, it is also true that it is necessary
to learn to listen to this voice very
attentively in order to know how to recognize
it and distinguish it from other voices.
In fact, it is necessary not to confuse
this voice with those which emerge from
a subjectivism that ignores or disregards
the sources and criteria that cannot be
given up and are mandatory in the formation
of judgments of conscience: “It
is the ‘heart' converted to the
Lord and to the love of what is good which
is really the source of true judgments
of conscience”,78 and “freedom
of conscience is never freedom ‘from'
the truth but always and only freedom
‘in' the truth”.79
The consecrated person will then have
to reflect long before concluding that
it is not the obedience received but what
is sensed within him or herself that represents
the will of God. He or she will also have
to remember to keep the law of mediation
in force in all cases, guarding him or
herself from making serious decisions
without any examination and verification.
It certainly remains indisputable that
what counts is to arrive at knowing and
fulfilling the will of God, but it ought
to be likewise indisputable that the consecrated
person is committed by vow to accept this
holy will through determined mediations.
To say that what counts is the will of
God, not the means, and to reject them
or to accept them only on the basis of
what is pleasing, can take away the meaning
of the person's vow, and empty his or
her own life of one of its essential characteristics.
Consequently, “apart from an order
manifestly contrary to the laws of God
or the constitutions of the institute,
or one involving a serious and certain
evil — in which case there is no
obligation to obey — the superior's
decisions concern a field in which the
calculation of the greater good can vary
according to the point of view. To conclude
from the fact that a directive seems objectively
less good that it is unlawful and contrary
to conscience would mean an unrealistic
disregard of the obscurity and ambivalence
of many human realities. Besides, refusal
to obey involves an often serious loss
for the common good. A religious should
not easily conclude that there is a contradiction
between the judgment of his conscience
and that of his superior. This exceptional
situation will sometimes involve true
interior suffering, after the pattern
of Christ himself ‘who learned obedience
through suffering' (Heb 5:8)”.80
Difficult kinds of authority
28. But persons in authority can also
become discouraged and disillusioned.
In the face of the resistance of some
members of the community and of certain
questions that seem irresoluble, he or
she can be tempted to cave in and to consider
every effort for improving the situation
useless. What we see here then is the
danger of becoming managers of the routine,
resigned to mediocrity, restrained from
intervening, no longer having the courage
to point out the purposes of authentic
consecrated life and running the risk
of losing the love of one's first fervour
and the desire to witness to it.
When the exercise of authority weighs
heavily and is difficult, it is good to
recall that the Lord Jesus considers such
a task an act of love towards him: “Simon,
son of John, do you love me?” (Jn
21:16). And listening again to the words
of Paul becomes beneficial: “Rejoice
in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere
in prayer, contribute to the needs of
the saints” (Rm 12:12-13).
The silent interior struggle that accompanies
fidelity to one's own task, marked at
times by solitude or misunderstanding
of those to whom one gives oneself, becomes
the way of personal sanctification and
a means of salvation because of what he
or she suffers.
Obedient until the end
29. If the life of the believer is entirely
a search for God, every day of life becomes
a continual learning of how to listen
to his voice in order to do his will.
It is a question certainly of a demanding
school, almost a struggle between that
I who tends to be in control of oneself
and one's history and that God who is
“the Lord” of every history,
a school wherein one learns to entrust
oneself so much to God and to his Fatherhood,
as also to trust in men and women —
his sons and daughters and our brothers
and sisters. In this way the certitude
grows that the Father never abandons anyone,
not even when it is necessary to entrust
the care for one's own life into the hands
of the brothers or sisters and to recognize
in them the sign of his presence and the
mediators of his will.
With an act of obedience, even if unaware
of it, we came to life, accepting that
good Will that has preferred our existing
to non-existence. We will conclude our
journey with another act of obedience
that hopefully would be as much as possible
conscious and free but above all an expression
of abandonment to the good Father who
will call us definitively to himself,
into his reign of infinite light, where
our seeking will have found its conclusion
and our eyes will see him in a Sunday
without end. Then we will be fully obedient
and fulfilled, because we will be saying
“yes” forever to that Love
that has made us happy with him and in
him.
Prayer for persons in authority
30. “O Good Shepherd, Jesus, good,
gentle, tender Shepherd, behold a shepherd,
poor and pitiful, a shepherd of Your sheep
indeed, but weak and clumsy and of little
use, who cries out to You.
“Teach me, Your servant, therefore,
Lord, teach me, I pray You, by Your Holy
Spirit, how to devote myself to them and
how to spend myself on their behalf. Give
me, by Your unutterable grace, the power
to bear with their shortcomings patiently,
to share their griefs in loving sympathy,
and discretely to help them according
to their needs. Taught by Your Spirit,
may I learn to comfort the sorrowful,
to strengthen the weak, to be weak with
those who are weak, to be indignant with
those who suffer scandal, to become all
things to all in order to save all. Place
true, just and pleasing words in my mouth,
so that they all may be built up in faith
and hope and love, in chastity and lowliness,
in patience and obedience, in spiritual
fervour and submissiveness of mind.
“I commit them into Your holy hands
and loving providence. May no one snatch
them from Your hand, nor from the hands
of Your servant's, unto whom You have
committed them. May they always persevere
with gladness in their holy purpose, unto
the attainment of everlasting life with
You, our most sweet Lord, their Helper,
who live and reign to ages of ages. Amen”.81
Prayer to Mary
31. “O sweet and holy Virgin Mary,
with Your believing and perplexed obedience,
at the announcement of the angel You gave
us Christ. At Cana with Your attentive
Heart You showed us how to act responsibly.
You did not wait passively for the action
of Your Son but You anticipated it, making
Him aware of the need and with discreet
authority taking the initiative to send
the servants to Him.
“At the foot of the cross, obedience
made You the Mother of the Church and
of believers while in the Upper Room every
disciple recognized in You the gentle
authority of love and service.
“Help us to understand that every
true authority in the Church and in consecrated
life has its foundation in being docile
to the will of God and help each one of
us become in fact, authority for others
with our own life lived in obedience to
God.
“O merciful and compassionate Mother,
‘You who did the will of the Father,
ever ready in obedience',82 make our lives
attentive to the Word, faithful in the
following of Jesus, the Lord and Servant,
in the light and with the strength of
the Holy Spirit, joyful in fraternal communion,
generous in mission, prompt in our service
to the poor, looking forward to the day
in which obedience in faith will flow
into the feast of Love without end”.
On 5 May 2008, the Holy Father approved
this present Instruction of the Congregation
for Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life, and ordered
its publication.
From the Vatican, 11 May 2008, the
Solemnity of Pentecost.
Franc Card. Rodé, C.M.
Prefect
+ Gianfranco A. Gardin, OFM Conv.
Secretary
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Consecrated Life as a witness of the
search for God
2. A path of liberation
3. Addressees, intent and limitations
of the document
FIRST PART
Consecration and search for the will of
God
4. Whom are we seeking?
5. Obedience as listening
6. “Hear, O Israel !” (Dt
6:4)
7. Obedience to the Word of God
8. In the following of Jesus, the obedient
Son of the Father
9. Obedient to God through human mediation
10. Learning obedience in the day-to-day
11. In the light and in strength of the
Spirit
12. Authority at the service of obedience
to the Will of God
13. Some priorities in the service of
authority
a) In consecrated life authority is
first of all a spiritual authority
b) Persons in authority are called to
guarantee to the community the time for
and the quality of prayer
c) Persons in authority are called to
promote the dignity of the person
d) Persons in authority are called to
inspire courage and hope in the midst
of difficulties
e) Persons in authority are called to
keep the charism of their own religious
family alive
f) Persons in authority are called to
keep alive the “sentire cum ecclesia”
g) Persons in authority are called to
accompany the journey of ongoing formation
14. The service of authority in the light
of ecclesial norms
15. In mission with the freedom of the
children of God
SECOND PART
Authority and obedience in community life
16. The New Commandment
17. Persons in authority at the service
of the community, the community at the
service of the Reign of God
18. Docile to the Spirit who leads to
unity
19. For a spirituality of communion and
a communitarian holiness
20. The role of persons in authority for
the growth of the community
a) The service of listening
b) Creation of an atmosphere favorable
to dialogue, sharing and co-responsibility
c) Soliciting the contribution of all
for the concerns of all
d) At the service of the individual and
of the community
e) Community discernment
f) Discernment, authority and obedience
g) Fraternal obedience
21. “The first among you must be
your slave” (Mt 20:27)
22. Community Life as mission
THIRD PART
In mission
23. In mission with all one's being, as
Jesus the Lord
24. In mission for service
25. Authority and mission
a) Persons in authority encourage the
taking up of responsibilities and respect
them when taken up
b) Persons in authority invite us to confront
diversity in a spirit of communion
c) Persons in authority maintain a balance
between the various dimensions of consecrated
life
d) Persons in authority have a merciful
heart
e) Persons in authority have a sense of
justice
f) Persons in authority promote collaboration
with the laity
26. Difficult obedience
27. Obedience and objections of conscience
28. Difficult kinds of authority
29. Obedient until the end
30. Prayer for persons in authority
31. Prayer to Mary
1 Cf. John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation Vita consecrata (25 March
1996), 1.
2 Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy,
Paradise, III, 85.
3 Cf. Vita consecrata, 42: Congregation
for Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life Instruction
Fraternal Life in Community (2 February
1994), 5; Congregation for Religious and
Secular Institutes, Instruction Essential
Elements in the Church's Teaching on Religious
Life as Applied to Institutes Dedicated
to Works of the Apostolate (31 May 1983),
41.
4 Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 631, §
1; Vita consecrata, 42.
5 Cf John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo
millennio ineunte (6 January 2001), 43-45;
Vita consecrata, 46, 50.
6 Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated
Life and Societies of Apostolic Life,
Instruction Potissimum institutioni (2
February 1990), in particular nn. 15,
24-25, 30-32.
7 In particular nn. 47-52.
8 In particular nn. 42-43, 91-92.
9 Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated
Life and Societies of Apostolic Life,
Instruction Starting Afresh from Christ:
A Renewed Commitment to Consecrated Life
in the Third Millennium (19 May 2002),
in particular nn. 7 and 14.
10 St. Bernard, De diversis, 42, 3: PL
183, 662B.
11 St. Bernard, De errore Abelardi, 8,
21: PL 182, 1070A.
12 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Spe
salvi (30 November 2007), 43; cf. Fourth
Ecumenical Lateran Council, in DS 806.
13 ”More intimate than I am to myself”:
St. Augustine, Confessions, III, 6, 11.
14 Benedict XVI, Letter to the Prefect
of the Congregation for Institutes of
Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic
Life on the occasion of the Plenary Assembly,
27 September 2005, in L'Osservatore Romano,
English Edition, 12 October 2005.
15 St. Benedict, Rule, Prologue, 3. Cf.
also St. Augustine, Rule, 7; St. Francis
of Assisi, Regula non bullata 1, 1; Regula
bullata, I, 1; cf. Vita consecrata, 46.
16 Code of Canon Law, can. 618.
17 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,
Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life
Perfectae caritatis, 14; Code of Canon
Law, can. 601.
18 Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelica
testificatio (29 June 1971), 29.
19 Cf. Evangelica testificatio, 25.
20 St. Ignatius of Loyola, Constitutions
of the Society of Jesus, 84.
21 Cf. Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (22
February 2007), 12.
22 Cf. Sacred Congregation for Religious
and Secular Institutes and the Sacred
Congregation for Bishops, Directives for
the Mutual Relations between Bishops and
Religious in the Church Mutuae relationes
(14 May 1978), 13.
23 Perfectae caritatis, 14.
24 Benedict XVI, Homily during the Mass
for the beginning of his Petrine Ministry
(24 April 2005), AAS XCVII (2005), 709.
25 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to
Polycarp, 4, 1.
26 Cf. St. Augustine, Enarrationes in
Psalmos 70.1.2: PL 36, 875.
27 Cf. Fraternal Life in Community, 50
28 Benedict XVI, Address to Superiors
General, 22 May 2006, in L'Osservatore
Romano, English Edition, 31 May 2006,
13; cf. Starting Afresh from Christ, 24-26.
29 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,
Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, 11;
Starting Afresh from Christ, 26.
30 Cf. Sacramentum Caritatis 8; 37; 81.
31 Cf. Vita consecrata, 42.
32 Cf. Mutuae relationes, 34-35.
33 Benedict XVI, Homily during the Chrism
Mass, 20 March 2008, in L'Osservatore
Romano, English Edition, 26 March 2008,
p. 12.
34 Starting Afresh from Christ, 32.
35 Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 590, §
2.
36 Cf. Vita consecrata, 46.
37 Vita consecrata, 70.
38 Cf. Fraternal Life in Community, 32.
39 Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 617-619.
40 Code of Canon Law, can. 618.
41 Code of Canon Law, 618.
42 Code of Canon Law, 601.
43 Code of Canon Law, 619.
44 In fact, the religious community is
able to follow and manifest the primacy
of the love of God that is the end itself
of consecrated life and, thus, also its
first obligation and the first apostolate
of individual members of the community,
cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 573, 607,
663, § 1, 673.
45 Code of Canon Law, can. 619.
46 Cf. Code of Canon Law, can. 619; 602;
618.
47 Cf. Perfectae caritatis, 14.
48 Vita consecrata, 92.
49 Sacramentum caritatis, 15.
50 Cf. Vita consecrata, 42.
51 Fraternal Life in Community, 51.
52 Cf. Perfectae caritatis, 14.
53 St. Benedict, Rule, 3, 1.3.
54 Cf. Vita consecrata, 43; Fraternal
Life in Community, 50c; Starting Afresh
from Christ, 14.
55 Fraternal Life in Community, 32.
56 Vita consecrata, 92.
57 Cf. Vita consecrata, 43.
58 St. Benedict, Rule, 71, 1-2.
59 St. Benedict, Rule, 72, 4-7.
60 St. Basil, Short Rule Question 115.
61 St. Bernard, De consideratione, II,
X, 20: PL 182, 754D.
62 St. Clare of Assisi, Testamento, 61-62.
63 John Paul II, To the Plenary of the
Congregation for Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life, 20 November
1992, in L'Osservatore Romano, English
Edition, 2 December 1992, p. 2; cf. Fraternal
Life in Community, 54, 71.
64 Fraternal Life in Community, 54.
65 St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises,
95, 4-5.
66 Vita consecrata, 92.
67 Cf. Vita consecrata, 43.
68 Cf. Fraternal Life in Community, 50.
69 Cf. Fraternal Life in Community, 59.
70 St. Francis of Assisi, A Letter to
a Certain Minister Provincial, 7-10.
71 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter
Dives in Misericordia, 30 November 1980,
6.
72 Vita consecrata, 55; cf. Starting Afresh
from Christ, 31.
73 Fraternal Life in Community, 70.
74 St. Benedict, Rule, 68, 1-5.
75 St. Francis of Assisi, Admonition III,
5-6.
76 St. Francis of Assisi, Admonition III,
9.
77 Cf. Paul VI, Evangelica testificatio,
28-29.
78 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis
splendor, 6 August 1993, 64.
79 Veritatis splendor, 64.
80 Evangelica testificatio, 28.
81 Aelred of Rievaulx, Pastoral Prayer,
1, 7, 10. CC CM Vol. I 757-763.
82 Vita consecrata, 112.
