SOMASCAN SPIRITUALITY ON AUTHORITY AND OBEDIENCE

The Lord Jesus Commands the Apostles to Distribute Bread to the hungry crowd

RESPONSES TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE

By the Somascan Community of Aemilianum College Sorsogon City, Philippines – Southeast Asia V. Province

(Canonical Visitation of Fr. General Franco Moscone, CRS)

The Community of Aemilianum College spent one full week of special chapter every afternoon in order to read the entire document The Service of Authority and Obedience and based on which these answers and reflections were made. This is a product of sharing of each and every member of the community. However, this is already the synthesized form of what had been delivered during the meetings.

QUESTION #11: Which motivations of faith can help us in our religious obedience, and which human motivations can hinder it?

Response on Motivations of Faith:

We can be helped in our religious obedience if we will recognize the presence of God in the Church, the Congregation and the Authority given by God through them. Thus, we are sure to be on the orthodox faith if we are faithful to the Holy Father – the Pope and we are sure to be genuinely continuing the faith and mission of St. Jerome Emiliani if we are in communion with our General, Provincial, Local Superiors and with one another.

Our Obedience must not be blind. Thus, one of the proper motivations of a religious is openness to the Spirit active in the Church and in the Congregation and the Authority that God entrusted to each person called to lead. Like the People of God who were Obedient to Moses and even after the death of Moses the Authority of ‘The Seat of Moses’ continued to be effective. The same principle is effective for the See of Peter and for the Office of St. Jerome Emiliani.

As religious and Christians, we must constantly seek the Will of God, not only in the written rules and in the signs of the times but also in the practical decisions of the Superior. Obedience to him is following the Will of God.

The best examples of these are the examples of the Lord Jesus who obeyed the Father until death on the Cross, the Fiat of the Blessed Mother and the total submission to the Will of God made by our founder.

Response on Human Motivations:

Failure or Refusal to recognize the presence as well as the Authority of God in the Family, the Church, the Congregation and even in temporal authorities lead to chaos and divisions.

Selfishness is one of the factors that hinder the religious to obey and see Christ in others, especially in persons of authority. Another thing that motivates us away from the will of God is personal interest that is not attune to the Gospel values and not conformed to the norms of our Somascan Life.

Those who think highly of themselves because of high educational attainments or superiority of age in various circumstances are motivated contrary to the virtue of Obedience. Thus, humility of heart and mind is necessary. Even the Superiors and the leaders must obey and humble themselves and give good examples. None must work for self-glorification but for the glory of God.

QUESTION #12: How can the confreres and community help the superior to act in obedience to God?

The confreres and the community can help the superior to act in obedience to God by their openness and honesty. By openness the Superior is being enriched and empowered by the ideas and suggestions of the confreres while by honesty the Superior could see the real situations and therefore he will find it easier to discern, to decide and to act upon a given situation.

The confreres also must strive to truly obey and the superior must help the confreres by his good examples and manifest love for each member of his community.

The confreres must obey the Superior and by doing so must be convinced that they are doing the will of God. And, the Superior must also see the presence of God in his confreres – To serve the flock is to serve Christ; to obey the shepherd is to follow Christ.

The superior then must be looked upon as the representative of God. Having the representative on God, we must work collectively and must do things collaboratively. The religious must share joyfully their time, talents and ideas with the Superior. Active cooperation is necessary and imperative for a harmonious community life.

The confreres must not forget also the fact that even though we are called to collaborate and to decide collectively, final and definitive decisions belong to the superior.

QUESTION #13: Which are the standards of worldly mentality in promoting the dignity of the persons? And which are according to the Gospel?

In response the Community Members

The Worldly Mentalities:

Excessive Possession

Way of Life contrary to the Gospel and /or the Constitution

Improper motivations for High Educational Attainment

Improper use of the entrusted Positions or Power

The Gospel Mentalities:

A life of poverty and simplicity

A heart that is pure and chaste

Having an obedient mind

Respect of others

Understanding of others’ weaknesses

Sense of Encouragement

Forgiving attitude

QUESTION #14: Which are the roots of an effective dialogue in a religious community?

• Dialogue must be founded on Charity, not on pressures or threat.

• There must be openness and sincerity on both sides. There must be no hidden agenda and no mask covering the intentions of each.

• The Superior must be an agent of love while the religious must obey without any preconditions. A dialogue in Spirit of Faith and Love.

• The exchanges must be respectful. Shouting or raising of voices are not necessary because the message is better received in gentleness of speech.

• In dialogue we seek the best of the community and of mission, the welfare of the Church and of the Congregation. The focus must not be on the ‘self’ of either the religious or the superior.

• Understanding and patience are necessary for a meaningful dialogue.

• Both the superior and the confrere must have the courage to approach each other. Refusal to exert effort for a dialogue is hurting the relationships.

QUESTION #15: How must a Somascan Religious witness to the freedom?

Somascan Freedom is rooted in Christ who freely served the Father and the brethren by loving wholeheartedly until the end. And this freedom of Christ has NO LIMITS, NO BORDERLINE. Freedom then is to give ALL in service... to respond to the love of God who freely loved and served.

A Somascan Religious gives witness to freedom by living his vows “freely and voluntarily’ because we chose and professed this life “freely and voluntarily”. He must be a JOYFUL GIVER [cf. 2 Corinthians 9:7] of his time, talents, and his person for the good of the children, the poor and of the entire Church.

A Somascan is a witness to freedom when he LOVES his obedience, his assignments, his duties, the persons assigned to him and with him and gives his best in everything that he does. Those in school must love administrative and teaching duties, those in orphanages must love the orphans and the needy children and those in the parish must love pastoral activities. In all these, we must love our confreres living in the same community with us... seeing them as blessings.

We witness to freedom by being responsible:

• Living our Christian Life faithfully,

• Enjoying the opportunities to proclaim the Gospel,

• Loving the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Holy Eucharist,

• Enjoying living together with the community as a witness of charity.

We are free when we have the courage TO CHOOSE what is RIGHT rather than WRONG. By being New Man [cf. Ephesians 2:14-15] and not Man of the World like the St. Jerome Emiliani. Our good examples shall be like perfumes that will attract people to God.

QUESTION #16,17,18: Which are the foundations of a fraternal community in Christ?

The First and Ultimate foundation of our Fraternal Life is of course CHRIST Himself: God is the Source of our Life, Unity, Charism and Mission. And this God is a OUR FATHER. Thus, communion is rooted in recognizing the Fatherhood of God and the fact that the Church and our Congregation is for us the Kingdom of God on Earth.

The foundation of our Christian Life is Christ who is the perfect image of the Father. Jesus manifested the Fatherhood of God. St. Jerome Emiliani on his part imitated Christ and therefore became a shining example of the Fatherhood of God shining on the face of Jesus.

The foundation guide, then of our fraternal communion are the Gospel and the Holy Eucharist, which are both crystallized in our Constitutions and Rules.

The foundation of our life is Charity-Love. If there is love there will be meaningful living together in the Community. Next is Obedience. If the religious obeys in love there will be harmony, respect and fraternal unity. There must be the spirit of sharing by which each have a common goal: the good of the community.

The religious must be bound by the common law of charity and of the constitution. Without a practical law there will be disorganization and therefore the Constitution must be upheld. The superior must be obeyed and is also the first to show example of obedience. The superior must unify the community by the witness of his actions.

The bond of unity of our Community must be the Holy Spirit and therefore docility to the Spirit must be enhanced by prayers and constant reflection of the Word of God as well as the writings of the founder. The community must be praying together, worshipping together and eating together.

Even though we are different persons with various talents and skills our unity is founded on our COMMON CALL which unites us with one another.

QUESTION #19: What is the meaning and value of “the spirituality of communion”? How can the members of a religious community become the sacraments of Jesus?

The Spirituality of Communion is the faith of the community that its binding force is Christ, as beautifully declared by St. Paul: “... striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and is in all.” [Ephesians 4:3-6]. That is the best explanation of what Spirituality of Communion is.

It also means the spirit of being together, not just common activities and life, but also sincere acceptance of one another in Christ and having the same spirit in the sense that we build common aspirations and vision; and will work toward the same end in the same apostolate.

Concerning becoming Sacraments of Jesus

Sacrament is usually defined as a visible sign instituted by Christ in the Church to give grace necessary for Salvation.

Following that definition, each religious is called to be a visible sign of God’s grace for others. We must be seen as persons who bring Christ to our orphans, students, parishioners and one another. Then, our presence must be grace-filled like the Blessed Mother who is ‘Gratia Plena’ [cf. Luke 1:28]. Like Moses, our faces must shine with the presence of God [cf. Exodus 34:35] through our good examples and people must praise God because of our presence, as Elizabeth and John the Baptist did when they met the Virgin [cf. Luke 1:42-45].

As the sacraments instituted by Christ give grace necessary for Salvation the religious consecrated by God must bring people closer to Christ. Each Somascan must realize that his first and final mission is to save souls, all the rest is secondary. In everything that we do, we must bring the grace of God to others, bearing witness to the same spirit as St. Jerome did.

QUESTION #20 (a-b): How can the members of the community help the superior to listen and share? The one who does not speak cannot be listened to.

The religious members must take the initiative to speak to the superior. There is no room for shyness or indifference in the community. Openness must be developed and promoted and practiced by each member. This could be enhanced by regular scheduled dialogue with the superior as well as meetings or house chapters for formative and administrative purposes.

For the young religious who are having difficulty in opening up with the superior, the other members must help him overcome his timidity.

QUESTION #20 (c-d): Why oftentimes we experience difficulties to accomplish our duty to give contribution in sharing and evaluating?

A religious is having difficulty opening his ideas and his heart in dialogue or in community chapters if there is hidden activities and agenda. There is unwillingness to share if the goal of the person is to keep his activities hidden or exclusive, certain that the Superior and the Community will not approve of it.

Another reason is Fear of Failure.

Another reason is the cultural attitude of being reserved and shy to speak, or the emotional imbalance of fear of being rejected. As Fr. John Powell, S.J. wrote in his book: “Why am I afraid to tell you who I am? Because I am afraid that you may not like it.”

Others decided to remain silent because of the previous unpleasant experience. They were laughed at, insulted, shouted at and therefore they prefer to be silent. Or, their previous statements were distorted and were used against them later on so that they don’t want to be in the same ordeal.

The religious, however, are all given training to counter act all these difficulties. They are all given good education. They were given explanations on the spiritual and practical benefits of being open, there is no reason to stay in the darkness of fear and instead must live as children of God, sons of the resurrection [cf. Luke 20:36]. Let us bear in heart the exhortation of St. Paul: “Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light...” [Romans 13:12].

QUESTION #20 (e-f): Which are the motivations and the ways of an authentic discernment?

The motivations and the ways of an authentic discernment is to seek the Will of God. This is reflected by the very reason of Jesus’ Incarnation: TO DO THE WILL OF THE FATHER... “I came down not to do my will but the will of Him Who sent Me” [John 6:38]. St. John the Evangelist added that this is the food of Jesus, to do the will of the Father [cf. John 4:34]. This is so essential in the life of the Master so that even his Agony is to surrender to this Will: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to You. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what You will” [Mark 14:36].

The most perfect religious: The Blessed Virgin also did the same. Her Fiat is a perfect surrender to the Will of God [cf. Luke 1:38]. This is the real religious Consecration... this is the genuine ‘Servant’ of Christ and of His poor.

St. Jerome Emiliani found the will of God by his unending prayers and reflections and deep love of the Word of God. He listens to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and in effect he was able to see the Signs of the Times and act on them.

QUESTION #22: How can a real fraternal communitarian life be an integral part of our mission?

We must have a clear understanding of our missio ad intra [life inside the community] so that we can be ready and effective in our missio ad extra [apostolate outside]. We have To grow where we are so that we can give life where we are send. We must love our life, our rules and our community then we can give love to the children, the students and the people of God.

Prepared and Synthesized by:

Rev. Fr. Abe P. Arganiosa, CRS

Secretary

Approved by:

Rev. Fr. Lino O. Juta, CRS

Superior

House Members:

Rev. Fr. Augusto Dingal, CRS

Bro. Joseph Eugene Libut, CRS

Rev. Fr. Romeo Sabayton, CRS

Rev. Fr. Manny Cuizon, CRS

Bro. Federico Balsomo, CRS

Bro. Roland Manago, CRS