My dear Brothers,
As we find ourselves entering this holy season of lent, we also find ourselves in the early days of our Jubilee Year. We formally inaugurated the Jubilee Year on December 17, 2012 and so we cannot help but see how our fathers, St. John de Matha and St. John Baptist of the Conception are in the forefront of our considerations and reflections. No day of this year should pass without our turning to them in filial love and heartfelt gratitude. This is the time of a deep recognition of our Trinitarian vocation. This is the time of profound gratitude for what we have received and inherited from our fathers. This is the time of a more conscious presence of God in our lives and ministries. This is the time of an intense redemption of the captives and the loving care of the poor. This is the time of the reckoning of our fidelity to the charism and mission we received from our fathers. This is the time of seeking God’s forgiveness and mercy for our failings and infidelities. This is the time of conversion and renewal.
As the feast of our reformer approaches, I am filled with awe and a tremendous sense of urgency. Awe, because of the marvelous way God’s grace conquered St. John Baptist of the Conception, awe at the power of the Holy Spirit that purified our Saint and challenged him to embrace and carry out the reform of himself and the Order despite the insurmountable difficulties and hardships he faced. This sense of urgency takes hold of me, because I find many parallel situations between the times of the Reformer and our own today.
The Council of Trent sent out a call to the Church and religious institutes to a renewal and a reawakening to the spirit of the Gospel. We have just observed the 50th anniversary of the second Vatican Council, which also asked the Church to be renewed and reformed, exhorting religious institutes at the same time, to return to their original spirit and charism. In both cases, the response on the practical level has been varied in degree and intensity. One of the signs of the effectiveness of renewal in religious life is the fidelity to Christ and the Gospel, which should be reflected in fidelity to the original spirit and charism. Mere external changes are no guarantee to spiritual renewal. Interior renewal asks for a greater and more profound identification with Christ. In writing about our configuration to the Crucified Christ, our reformer remarks: “It means going forward in the footsteps which Christ walked in His passion and humility. More than an external imitation, it is a participation, communion, and vital insertion into Christ’s self-emptying. The Trinitarian is forged in the model of the Redeemer.” Many wonderful ecclesial documents have been issued. Similarly our own religious Order has produced some rich and relevant publications which enshrine the spirit of our fathers. However, the more fundamental question of personalizing and living out those noble ideals and principles takes much attentive listening and collaboration with the Holy Spirit.
Certain Gospel values and religious ideals, such as the spirit of prayer and penance, effective fraternal and redemptive charity, the spirit of poverty and simplicity, the spirit of silence and interior recollection, the sense of the sacred, etc. started to diminish during the times of the reformer and similar trends have become manifest in our own times. The individualistic tendencies of the religious, seeking personal comfort and fulfillment over and above the charism and mission of the community undermines the core of religious life, namely, the following of Christ radically. According to the Reformer, following of Christ is equivalent to allowing oneself to be configured to the Crucified One. It is here that we need to understand our Saint’s insistence on the centrality of the Cross which is intrinsically connected to self-denial. The Trinitarians whose mission is to incarnate the redemptive love of Christ through the ransom of the captives and care for the poor and suffering, cannot be disassociated from the spirituality of the cross and sacrifice. An effective detachment from those things that hinder our union with God and our communion with the poor and suffering brothers and sisters is a necessary step in following Christ closely.
The innumerable and indescribable sufferings the reformer underwent were seen as means to achieve his mission as reformer of the Order. He was intensely conscious of the good that would come about as a result of his configuration with Christ. He realized that the reform of the Order was for the common good and the salvation of souls. He used to refer to the “advancement of many souls,” “the profit for the brothers,” “the salvation of people” and “bringing souls to God” when defining the ultimate goal of the Reform and the reason underlying his sufferings. His awareness of his apostolate as being a personal share in the redemptive work of Jesus gave him courage and strength to endure everything in union with Christ. What an inspiration and model do we have in the Reformer to goad us on to a renewed spiritual life! His personal life, his dauntless courage, unflinching apostolic zeal and the great wealth of wisdom and spiritual nourishment found in his abundant writings are an inexhaustible spiritual and charismatic treasury for us Trinitarians and for others. It would be a great tragedy if we, his sons, did not tap into this fount of grace to be energized to live our vocation more faithfully especially during this jubilee year of his death.
As I conclude this letter, let us remember that the heroic life and the arduous work of the reform of St. John Baptist of the Conception were instrumental in contributing considerably to the great treasury of sanctity of the Order and the Church at large. Fr. Pedro Aliaga, O.SS.T. in his short biography of the Saint has summarized this beautifully: “The best fruit of the origins of the Trinitarian Reform are its saints. Father Antonino of the Assumption (+1943), one of the greatest of experts of the twentieth century in the study of holiness, liked to say that if we had conducted the canonization process of the first generation of the Discalced Congregation, we could count more than forty saints.” What a wonderful tribute to our Reformer! May St. John Baptist of the Conception inspire, awaken and deepen within us the roots of our Trinitarian vocation, so that we may become more Christ-like ourselves, and at the same time, help others grow in holiness.
I wish you all a Happy Feast of the Reformer and a Blessed Jubilee Year!
Fraternally yours,
Rome, January 28, 2013
Feast of Saint Agnes
Jose Narlaly, O.SS.T.
General Minister
Message of the
Minister General for the Feast of the Reformer during the Trinitarian Jubilee Year 2013