Note: Anne Walsh will be the guest presenter at our 2014 conference. She is an associate of the Redemptorist community in St. John's Newfoundland. Anne is currently the Director of Adult Faith Formation in the Archdiocese of St. John's.
by: Anne Walsh
As I write these reflections, I am
sitting in my sixth-floor apartment, looking out over the city of St. John’s as
evening descends and falls. A few moments ago, the rays of the setting sun
caught on a multi-faceted crystal in my window, one of a number of sun-catchers
that I have collected over the years. For long minutes the light hung on first
one facet and then another, moving and dancing on my floor and walls. I was
fascinated. “That’s exactly the image that wish to convey in my writing!” I
thought in grateful amazement. “Charism-- One diamond with innumerable facets.”
Let’s think about that for a moment.
How many charisms are there? That’s a
trick question. We usually think of many charisms, carried and borne forth into
the world by many religious communities. Each community is characterized by a
unique “spirit.” For example, Sisters of Mercy speak about their charism as one
of joyful service of the poor, the suffering, and the uneducated. Redemptorists
speak of their charism as that of evangelizing the poor and being evangelized
by the poor. These “charisms” are obviously related, though distinctively
nuanced or coloured.
Let’s take a step backward. I have come
to believe that there is but one charism, one Spirit. That charism is the
spirit of Jesus Christ. The charism is Love, life-giving, life-enhancing,
life-altering, death-transcending Love. There are many facets of that Love, and
it is these facets that we are usually referring to when we speak of “charism.”
Love is like a diamond. It has as many
facets as there are people, for love is always unique and new, always dancing
in the mystery that is “you” and “me,” always shaped by our shared history, or
by a movement of the heart-- compassion, gratitude, grief, contrition…
Given this reality, human beings share
common interests and motivations. People group together for all kinds of
reasons. Various people, over history, have come together around common
interests, responding to a shared sense of need. Over time, people have heard
the cries of the poor, the uneducated, the dying, the disenfranchised, the
fearful, and have identified in their common sense of call a shared spirit, a
shared sense of purpose. Evangelical “families” have been formed, each facets
of the One Diamond. Once, those families encompassed professed religious.
Sometimes there were priests and brothers in one evangelical family. Sometimes
there were choir sisters and lay sisters. Sometimes there were a number of
institutes which shared a common heritage or founder. Today, we witness the
flowering of other forms of expression of charism. Many religious communities
have begun to walk with “Associates,” “partners in mission,” “lay
missionaries,” etc.
One image for the dynamic relationship
shared by vowed religious and associates is the image of a family. These two,
professed and associates, are really two elements that, together, constitute an
“evangelical family.” Laurent Boisvert, in a short book that changed my life,
describes these as “a community of belonging.” He writes:
The
evangelical family constitutes a community of belonging,
not
in the sense of a life under the same roof, but in that of
interdependent
proximity which is rooted in the welcoming and
implementation
of a particular aspect of the Gospel, of a certain
face
of Jesus Christ... What drives the different ways of living
the
privileged evangelical aspect is to witness, to participate
So, the community of belonging does not
live all together under one roof, but we may nevertheless be united under the
“roof” of a particular manifestation of the Holy Spirit, as it has been lived
out by a particular religious community. I’ve been playing with Boisvert’s
ideas, and his four characteristic dimensions of “charism,” and dhere’s what I
have come up with, a few ideas to share with you.
1. Together,
the members of an “evangelical family” look at the world and people through a
shared lens. All
share a common set of “glasses.” We see the Gospel from one particular aspect.
When Redemptorists look at Jesus in the Gospels, we look for his interaction
with the poor, the disenfranchised, with a particular eye to how they are changed in the encounter with
the poor. For Redemptorists, evangelization is a two-way street.
·
In the case of the evangelical family to which you
have been called, what would this lens be?
·
How does your “family” perceive or interpret the Gospel?
2.
Together, in related but different ways depending on the concrete situations of
our lives, the members of the evangelical family live the Gospel from this aspect. We look at people and needs and the
world a little differently, and this makes a difference to how we live, the
choices and commitments we make, the volunteer opportunities we choose, the
partners we choose, the cause to which we give ourselves.
·
In
the case of your evangelical “family,” what is distinctive about the way the
members choose to live?
·
How
do associates share this way of living?
3. Together, we experience a common sense
of Mission. We bear witness
to the life-changing power of the Gospel in a manner that flows directly from
our gifts, talents, our way of seeing the world, our way of reading the Gospel.
I started out life as a teacher, but from the start, I fell in love with the
poor. They “ruined” me, as St. Paul might say, and forever after I oriented by
life choices toward proclaiming Good News among the poor, whether that meant
the materially poor or those rendered poor because of their age, or where they
lived, or their lack of options or education. When I met the Redemptorists,
with whom I felt so “at home,” I recognized that others saw things more or less
the way I did. It was freeing.
·
How
does the your “family” witness to the Gospel?
·
What
is distinctive and life-giving about this? … for professed members? … for
associates? … for those with and among whom you live and minister?
4. Together, the members of the
evangelical family are Fruitful. Our
common witness and work makes the world a better place, one life at a time. We build up and nurture the Reign of God
through our common call, way of looking at the world and witness.
·
Do
you see the development and flowering of the Professed-Associate relationship
as “new life” for the community? … for the Church? … for the world?
·
How
is the Professed-Associate relationship bearing fruit? What fruit do you
discern is being borne?
One diamond, many facets. It is our
privilege, yours and mine, to live in this exciting time, in which such
possibilities are open to us. This is a time of rebirth and revitalization. God
grant that we will have the courage and the perseverance to grasp the
opportunity presented to us. God grant us willing hands and grateful, generous
spirits to undertake the foundational work that lies before us. God grant us
friends and humour to lighten the loads. God grant us days of sunshine on which
we can observe and wonder at the Light that shines in and through us and our
companions.
