Spiritual Life Committee

A commitment to a love relationship with Jesus as an essential element of the life of a Missionary Servant of the Most Holy Trinity. ---Acts of the XII General Cenacle of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, 2003.

If by our vows and our profession as religious we are to have a love relationship with Jesus, that should be evident in our lives so that an observer should recognize me as a person who loves Jesus and for that reason I have left home and possessions to follow Him. My life should preach the Gospel that I have accepted. That is the external sign that I love Jesus. It serves to identify me and identify me as a Missionary Servant.

What has gone on and is going on within me to inspire a love that leads to an ever-growing commitment? Is that grace? Is there a certain type of knowledge that can lead me to Jesus and solidify that relationship? From whence does it come? What is the nature of that relationship with Jesus that has moved me to continue that commitment and to grow into a deeper and ever more personal relationship with Jesus?

We are talking here of trying to bring to light an essential element of our identity as Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. It is something —could it be some special kind of knowledge that has formed me?— that identifies me personally as belonging to a group? Is it a knowledge that is deeply personal and at the same time a knowledge that I share with my brothers in community and that serves to identify us as a group? Whatever it is, certainly whatever is a part of our Missionary Servant spirituality plays a large part in our identity.

Years ago, before I realized that such "spiritual identifiers" would be discussed in the public forum, a religious asked me what was our —meaning S.T.— spirituality? Meaning I should have been able to come up with an answer in a phrase or two that would describe to her what was S.T. spirituality. I was speechless. She got me. I had no idea what to say. But today I would have a reply for her —and I believe it would be an authentic response. It would be that a key to our spirituality is that we strive to have a devotional knowledge of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And that knowledge leads us to be better missionaries.

This devotional knowledge comes to us through prayer. It is born of meditation, of reflection, of prayerfully pondering over the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. This knowledge does not ordinarily come to us through study, unless it be that we have reflected on the observations of others who have come to this knowledge through prayer and reflection. It is to this devotional knowledge of the mysteries of faith that Father Judge has called us, and he calls us to this devotional knowledge from within that deep personal relationship that he had particularly with the Holy Spirit and with the Incarnate Word. It is in this devotional knowledge that we will meet our Founder on common ground. It identified his relationship with God and it should identify us with him and identify us all together as Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity.

In this whole matter of identity it is not that we should be seeking to define ourselves anew. It is seeking to adapt our individual and corporate selves to what is our identity . The Declarations of the fourth General Cenacle in 1968, the first of our series of renewal chapters, initiated the search for our identity and stated what should comprise our identity as Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity:

Since renewal is, first of all, a sincere and prolonged look within under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must begin by a searching examination into ourselves in order to discover our identity. Adaptation, which is the logical consequence of true renewal, will take place only after this necessary process. The principal tools for our renewal are: a continuous return to the sources of all Christian life; a constant examination of our religious community's original inspiration, including our founder's basic insights and the valid traditions that grew out of the institute's original thrust; contemporary scriptural and theological development; and the changed and changing circumstances in the world. (italics mine) Declarations, 1

A key word in the above is adaptation, which is a personal response to the call for renewal. It is in the members of the group that renewal takes place and for that renewal to take place there must be adaptation in the membership.

Father Vincent Fitzpatrick in his Monthly Reflection in January, 2004, dealing with the issue of our Missionary Servant identity states,

Since Vatican II we have exhausted everything which had to be said about what is called ‘charism.' Identity is the expression of charism in the life of the individual and the Community...

What we search for in questions of Identity is not so much the essentials already adequately expressed in our documents. How are these essentials upgraded in the newer applications demanded by the changing times and circumstances in the life and mission of the Missionary Servant ? Liquid plaster poured into a mold does not undergo an essential change. It adapts to the form of the mold.

Part of the issue of Identity is not to be looking for a new identity but to adapt ourselves to Missionary Servant identity. E.g., I don't identify myself as a chaste man by seeking to redefine chastity. I try to become chaste by imitating the chastity of Jesus and adapting myself to the model He gives me. Nor do I become a Missionary Servant by searching endlessly for something new, but by accepting what identifies me as a Missionary Servant and trying with all my heart to become, more and more each day, what the Rule of Life and Constitution, and yes, the Directory, calls me to be. The General Cenacle of June 2003 calls me to this identity, describes elements of it and enumerates the things that make it difficult to practice in our time. It does not call me to reinvent what it is to be a Missionary Servant. One of the essential elements of my identity which the Acts of the Twelfth General Cenacle enumerates is to have a love relationship with Jesus.

What is this love relationship for a Missionary Servant of the Most Holy Trinity? And, how can I come to possess it, and have it to possess me?

Father Judge felt that wanting to have a devotional knowledge of the Incarnation would have led us to reflect on Bethlehem and to have had a personal encounter with Jesus' birth —his existence with us as a child— and that this, in turn, would lead us as Missionary Servants to be concerned about children and their spiritual welfare. Father Judge was a dreamer of dreams but he had the heart of a missionary and he applied the fruits of his meditation to the practical reality surrounding him.

I mentioned earlier that our devotional knowledge leads us to be better missionaries. As we reflect on the missionary purpose of our religious institute we resonate, hopefully, with the third paragraph of our Rule of Life which defines who we are, in the sense of our purpose, "we seek first to glorify the Triune God." Then the Rule goes on to say that we "follow in the footsteps of the Apostles who filled with the Holy Spirit went forth from the cenacle to spread everywhere the knowledge and love of Jesus."

Nihil dat quod non habet. Since we cannot give what we do not have, it stands to reason that every Missionary Servant must commit himself and dedicate himself to grow in a knowledge and love of Jesus.

I have always been intrigued by the cyclical emphasis which we find in our Missionary Servant call to prayer and meditation, a prayer and meditation that should engender devotional knowledge; that these would lead us to apostolicity and that, in turn, our apostolic efforts would lead us back to prayer and meditation from which we would gain the force and energy for apostolate. (Rule of Life, paragraph 9) Father Judge, himself, bears witness to this dynamic relationship between prayer and apostolate. He teaches us that the movements of heart and mind found in prayer are not meant for us alone, but to move us to apostolic initiative and application in the concrete apostolic works to which our knowledge and love of Jesus have inspired us.

"The Cenacle spirit is a Christlike 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; our good works, in turn, nourish our life of faith and bear fruit in apostolic holiness." Rule of Life, paragraph 9

"You have been so much more enlightened in the mystery of the Incarnation. You have been instructed so long and so frequently in this manifestation of divine love. You have, in fact, been brought so intimately into a knowledge of God's plan in the redemption of the world and as it were, taken into the Holy Family itself. We can take holy joy in this thought, that a devotional knowledge of a mystery may be considered a sign of God's favor. I said a devotional knowledge; that is a knowledge that begets fruit, that works in charity.... Knowledge, however, is not enough, for the rebellious angels knew and are lost. We pray further therefore, "Kindle my affections." In other words, arouse my will, make it seek Thy ways that I may do good. This then is what I would call devotional knowledge. Let us be concerned that this knowledge will bear fruit for remember, our Lord cursed the barren fig tree. Thomas Augustine Judge, C.M. Letter Conference to Missionary Servants-Undated-MF 2395-2397.

Where, then, does devotional knowledge and a consequent love relationship with Jesus lead us? Father Judge responds to that question:

Thanks be to the divine mercy, this grace, a devotional knowledge, is abundant in the Cenacle for first of all, it has been given to us to cherish this mystery (of the Incarnation.) This is a trust of our Holy Mother Church, it is true, a thousand times true, that we are unworthy of such a heavenly work but nevertheless one of the very particular ends of our institute is to cherish a love and devotion to the mystery of the Incarnation. We speak it this way: to extol the Holy Name of Jesus, which means that with whole heart and soul, in every way possible, we will cherish a love of Jesus in our own hearts and strive to enkindle a like love in the hearts of others by spreading a knowledge of our Saviour, our Lord, our King and our God. Letter Conference to Missionary Servants - Dec. 15, 1926-MF 8629-30.

For you in the Missionary Cenacle are in the family of the Incarnation. Your Constitutions commit you to a very particular devotion to this mystery, and this commitment means that of all, you must take this mystery most earnestly and seriously to heart. You are trained to adore the mercies, the wisdom, the love of the Triune God in this mystery, to thank Him for it, to extol the Holy name of Jesus and to felicitate His Immaculate Mother Mary and to be eager for the privilege with her of adoring the Word made Flesh... What is the big thing you are going to do this coming year for your Saviour? The thing is so big, it may hurt you to do it and demand a large draft of self-sacrifice. Do not generalize, because those generalizations may mean nothing but platitudes. Do not merely offer soul elevations. Letter Conference to Missionary Servants-Undated-MF 2395-2397

If we would do something to please Him... then hold the child in your affection and for the sake of the Divine Child of Bethlehem minister to that little one according to the mind of Jesus. He wishes the child protected, sheltered, instructed, safeguarded above all in the interests of its soul... Resolve either yourself to help them or to help someone else to bring them to the Christ Child. Article-the HOLY GHOST Magazine-Dec. 1929-MF 11637-38 Who could fail to find a kinship of thought and concern between what Father Judge calls us to and what John Paul II calls us to in his Lenten Message of 2004?: "This year's theme -- 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me' (Matthew 18:5) -- invites us to reflect on the condition of children. Today Jesus continues to call them to himself and to set them as an example to all those who wish to be his disciples. Jesus' words call upon us to see how children are treated in our families, in civil society, and in the Church. They are also an incentive to rediscover the simplicity and trust which believers must cultivate in imitation of the Son of God, who shared the lot of the little ones and the poor. Saint Clare of Assisi loved to say that Christ, "lay in a manger, lived in poverty on the earth and died naked on the Cross" (Testament, Franciscan Sources, No. 2841).

Jesus had a particular love for children because of "their simplicity, their joy of life, their spontaneity, and their faith filled with wonder" (Angelus Message, 18 December 1994). For this reason he wishes the community to open its arms and its heart to them, even as he did: "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me" (Matthew 18:5). Alongside children Jesus sets the "very least of the brethren": the suffering, the needy, the hungry and thirsty, strangers, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. In welcoming them and loving them, or in treating them with indifference and contempt, we show our attitude towards him, for it is in them that he is particularly present."

In this day, particularly for the male members of the Missionary Cenacle, apostolic efforts with children can appear more a mine-field than a field to be harvested. Yet we have the Holy Father calling us to what our founder asked us to be prepared to do, "Save the child and you save all." We may well ask ourselves, what can we do as Missionary Servants for the children of today?. That, among other challenges, would be a practical application of our identity as missionaries who have a devotional knowledge of, and a love relationship with Jesus that leads us from prayerful consideration to apostolic application.