SPIRITUAL LIFE COMMITTEE 

MISSIONARY SERVANTS OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

Monthly Reflection: February 2004

TOWARD IDENTITY AS A MISSIONARY SERVANT:
Its social contexts, its mystery and the Chambered Nautilus

FR. SHAUN MCCARTY, S.T.

Our identity as Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity is realized by fulfilling the purpose of the Missionary Cenacle Family which is to give glory to the Triune God. XII General Cenacle, Resolution #1.

Introduction.

            Marist Brother Sean Sammon has recently published a book entitled Religious Life in America: A New Day Dawning.  In it he characterizes religious life in the United States as a period of "unraveling," creating an identity crisis experienced since the 1950's  in various religious congregations. The purpose of the book, he states, is neither agreement nor consensus, "but rather to foster further discussion and hopefully action that will enhance the process of renewal."  He poses the question: "What makes our life different from other equally valid ways of living  the Gospel?" The author suggest facing the challenge of forming an identity by responding creatively to the call to live out our passion for Jesus and the reign of God in the midst of diverse  theologies and expressions of consecrated life.

            These reflections are offered with the hope of widening the discussion as it relates to Missionary Servant identity. 

            I begin with the premise that we discover and enrich our identity in relationships.  I continue by exploring some related social contexts and several related terms which might be helpful in proceeding with the quest for Missionary Servant identity.  I will conclude with a consideration of charism as mystery to be lived, rather than a problem to be fixed. 

Social Contexts for Missionary Servant Identity.

            Missionary Cenacle Family:     an apostolic family comprised of four branches (two lay; two religious)  who together have been called by God to be missionaries in the Church ( Rule of Life #2). Father Judge recognized the value of family working in the Church in these words, " I hope and pray that your affairs will be so conditioned that you must depend upon one another, that you cannot do without one another, that you may realize that you need one another." (MF 850-53).

            This relationship appears to be constitutive of our identity as members of the respective branches of the family. Though each branch of the family enjoys its own autonomy in governance, all are bonded by a kindred spirit which has been described as:

"…a Christ-like spirit of ‘faith working through love.' (Gal 5:6).  We are to confess in our hearts the mysteries of faith; the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  We aspire to a devotional knowledge of these mysteries, that is, a deeply personal and interior faith that is restless until it finds expression in good works, in turn, nourish our life of faith and bear fruit in apostolic holiness." (Rule of Life, #9).

             It has been said that each mystery is a revelation of the Kingdom now present in the very person of Jesus. (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginig Mariae, #21.)

            Extended Vincentian Family:   refers to all groups whose life-style and apostolate are inspired by what is today called the "Vincentian charism."  As a Vincentian, in founding the Missionary Cenacle Family, Fr. Judge was clearly formed in his own rich Vincentian heritage and bequeathed it to us which we share as part of our own spiritual legacy.  In his own words:

"St. Vincent's life has a special meaning to the children of the Cenacle…We look to him as our father…Plead with him that in our hearts and the heart of the Cenacle may be that great love of God that distinguished him; that we may hold our virtue in humility, that zeal may inflame our hearts and that our discouragements and the strife with nature may be repelled by an ardent zeal for the poor and those desolate in all things spiritual. What more blessed grace…can I prayerfully wish than that the spirit of St. Vincent de Paul may be yours." (MF-652-653).

             We can describe the Vincentian charism as a style of Christian life in the Church and in the world that fashions relationships and actions of those who receive it. It's a way of being and having a mission (or does the mission move us?).

            Unifying elements in the Extended Vincentian Family include the following:     

            . the centrality of Jesus Christ, evangelizer of the poor: the foundation of the Vincentian mission;

            . striving to live and serve in a simple and humble life-style so as to be close to the poor;

            . serving the poor by direct, personal contact;

            . considering the poor as "our lords and masters; "

            . allowing oneself to be evangelized by the poor;

            . realizing the Vincentian charism is a missionary charism, that is, to go where the needs are the greatest and
               where the poor are the poorest;

            . Availability and mobility are fundamental attitudes of the charism.

            In the Extended Vincentian Family, of course, differences exist. No one association can exhaust the riches of the Vincentian spirit.  The various groups, such as our own, have different histories, different ways of working with the poor, different nuances within their spiritualities.  Efforts to establish the Extended Vincentian Family are not with the intention of homogenizing the various institutions, but of developing mutual understanding, support and collaboration (See address by Benjamin Romo, C.M. entitled "Unifying Elements in the Vincentian Family," and reprinted in Vincentiana 2002.)

Reflection Question: How does membership in the Missionary Cenacle Family and the Extended Vincentian Family affect your identity as a Missionary Servant?

Charism as Mystery.

            In the context of Christian faith, mystery refers to "truth hidden which has been revealed; something unapproachable which invites entry; something unknowable which offers true understanding."  ("Mystery," The New Dictionary of Theology, 688).  More succinctly, mystery refers to the "infinitely knowable;" not by way of intellectual comprehension, but by way of experience.  To "know" mysteries of faith is more than to know about them as spectators. It is to know oneself as drawn into them as participant.

            Mysteries of faith are elusive. The God of biblical experience invites our reach, but eludes our grasp.  Mysteries defy domestication. They're not subjects for analysis, control or other forms of manipulation.

            Mysteries demand, on the one hand, that we not make them inaccessible; on the other hand, that we not try to make them more reasonable or comfortable. Mysteries can be revelatory for life.

            Many religiously educated people are quite adept at using the language of rationality; fewer the language of mystery!  We tend to idolize reason. Mystery is at the core of religious belief.  Faith is built on truths  that transcend reason. We approach it best with "learned ignorance."  We've been taught  to theorize, analyze, synthesize, criticize, categorize and, consequently, suffer from the illusion that everything can be understood or explained (a fallacy of the scientific mind-set). This, unfortunately, leaves little space for mystery.

            We struggle with the ineffability of mysteries of faith.  We stumble and fumble and stutter as we try to find expression for things that we can't see, but somehow know; can't explain, but somehow understand; have moments that are real, but which resist articulation.

            Perhaps we need to learn a "second language" of mystery  which includes parable, symbol, ritual, paradox, metaphor, aphorism, art, and ultimately silence:: Few things allow us to live into mystery more than shared silence.  John of the Cross tells us: "The language that God hears best is the silent language of love."

The Chambered Nautilus as Teaching Master.

            American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes captured some of the wisdom of the Chambered Nautilus in verses a century ago. The Chambered Nautilus is a beautiful, yet elusive mollusk that has fascinated people for centuries.  Not just another pretty shell, it has remained essentially the same as its ancestors for millions of years.  It owes its survival largely to its spiral, camouflaged, pressure-resistant shell; tentacles that "sniff out" supper; and an internal design of sirtight chambers that acts as ballast tanks and enable vertical ascent and descent in the sea. Straight out of Jules Verne!

            Its graceful form combines function with beauty.  As it grows, the Nautilus moves forward within its expanding shell leaving secretions that form partitions behind its fleshly organism. Thus it creates a series of ever-larger chambers, each increasing with mathematical consistency.  The final chamber, mysteriously, is smaller.

            A thin tube (siphuncle) links all the chambers in the body like a lifeline. It's thought to control buoyancy by regulating the ratio of gas to liquid in the chambers. One might say the Nautilus stays in touch with its past. When it wants to be alone, it simply draws in its tentacles and drops a leathery hood over its opening like a trap door. One might say it provides for and protects its solitude.

            The Nautilus is both living organism and protective shell. Without the organism, it becomes simply an attractive fossil; without its shell, the organism no longer remains viable. Without the flexibility and adaptability of successive chambers suitable to its life stages, constriction would, at best, stunt growth; at worst, stifle life. It might be said, then, that both living organism and inanimate shell exist in poised tension for the life and growth of the Nautilus.

            I find this marvelous creature of the sea a helpful metaphor in reflecting on the relationship between institutional and charismatic elements in the quest of identity in the life and growth of the Church and ecclesial communities (lay and religious) in the Church.

            The Nautilus senses that movement is life.  Even if perilous, painful, fearful, frightening, it's life-affirming. It shows fundamental trust in the goodness of creation.

            We, perhaps, are tempted to stay with comfort, answers, predictability, security. Much like the Nautilus, we have been extracting minerals from spiritual waters of grace oblivious to the fact that the next chamber has been laid down for us; yet we fear to leave our current place of comfort. Homes'' closing stanza is an invitation to:

            Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
            As the swift seasons roll!
                  Leave thy low-vaulted past!
                  Let each temple nobler than the last,
                  Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
            Till thou at length are free,
            Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

Reflection Question:  Does this metaphor say anything to you about Missionary Cenacle identity?     

Some Related Terms.

            Charisms:  gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to the Church through the intermediacy of a person or a group of persons for the service of the Church and the world.

             Religious (Consecrated) Life:  a concert of different  gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Church, assisting it in carrying out its mission, particularly in terms of the revelation it gives of Christ in his saving mission (extending the reign of God).         

            Identity:  the individual characteristics by which a person or group of persons is recognized as other and unique; knowing who it is and where it's going in life.

            Gestalt:  a configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that it cannot be described as the sum of its parts.

            Crisis:  a situation calling for decision while presenting both peril and possibility.

            Identity crisis (corporate):  uncertainly about how a group is distinct and where it's heading in society.

            Mission: a sending out or being sent out to accomplish a common purpose.

            Liminal space: on the threshold of something new; betwixt and between; a place of "holy discomfort" as a prelude to transformation.

            Culture:  a way of life of a group of people – the behavior, beliefs, values and symbols that they accept generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

            Signs of the Time: historical/cultural events calling for discernment/decision to determine the leadings of the Spirit.

            Prophecy: a gift of the Spirit in discerning the signs of the times implying both affirming what's life-giving and countering what's not.