SPIRITUAL LIFE MONTHLY REFLECTION MAY, 2006  INTEGRATING OURSELVES AS AN INTERNATIONAL CONGREGATION  Rev. Domingo Rodriguez Zambrana, ST  Introduction. Referring to Vatican II, the eminent theologian Karl Rahner observed that the Council was as much a dramatic and traumatic experience for the Church as when the Jews began to leave the synagogue and took steps into Christianity. Or when the same Jews had to accept that the Gentiles, like them, were called to the same baptism.  I dare to compare the process from being a Congregation founded in North America to becoming an international Congregation in the same fashion. The trauma brings with it for each Missionary Servant some sense of denial, rejection and resistance to the normal process of integration. This feeling is hardly evitable. What ought be taken into account. The historic moment in which we live as a religious Congregation must be taken into account if we must respond meaningfully. It is the Spirit who guides us, yet not against our will. This, then, demands of us to take a stance of openness, humility and surrender to the call of the Spirit. It means, we should live unceasingly in an attitude toward conversion. The change from being a North American congregation to one with an international character is immediately signaled in the change of membership, the more obvious and immediate hint of change. However, it is harder to grasp and accept that in reality what has changed is the culture of the Congregation. The different languages, faces, groupings, and unfamiliar behaviors bring along ways of thinking, feeling, perceiving, and living different from that one is accustomed to. The anthropologist Anthony Gittins, CSSp says, “Culture is to life as skin is to the body.” The culture of the Congregation thus touches us in a way that we literally feel “skinned.” This is why change is always painful and exacting until we become aware and openly accept it as a process of transformation and growth. Culture encompasses the totality of life. It is manifested more dramatically in what social anthropologist refer to as “ethnocentrism.”   That is, the tendency to view, apprehend, and live life with others from the point of view of your known and lived reality. It is biased on one’s natural acceptance of what is “like me,” and a non-acceptance of what is “different from me.”  This is where all the prejudices and racism that afflict us are rooted. Possible reactions. Granted then this experience of encountering persons belonging to cultures different than our own, and by the working of the Spirit in the manner referred to above, three possible actions are presented to us if we want our life as Religious to be converted.  We can flee or escape in the belief that our present way of living is the “normal” one, and that “if it works, don’t fix it.” In which case, we opt to live in the shadow of others, and from that place of alienation, we justify our position by negative criticisms and judgments of the Congregation which has permitted such an undesirable situation. A second possibility would be to incorporate the “new arrivals” and make demands of them to cater to all our expectations. In other words, we ask them to get assimilated to our culture. There is a third option, trustworthy in advancing the process of internalization that we have begun. We know it as integration. This is distinguished by a posture of openness, reaching beyond the differences between “us/ours” and “them/theirs.” We have to recognize that there are good things in “our” culture, as well in “theirs.” At the same time we have to admit that there are always also negative things in “their” culture as much as in “ours.” We have to identify and surpass these negatives. It is therefore indicated for all of us to walk hand-in-hand in the process of mutual learning and dedicating ourselves to growing together in the experiences of diversity with greater patience and tolerance…and, of course, always with the guidance of the Spirit. Enfleshing the Charism.  It was the black leader Moses Garvey who at the heights of the African-American movement said, “ A people that recognizes not its history is like a tree without roots.” And I apply that wisdom to our Congregation which is in transition. We have to know our history, yes, the history that grounds our charism. Following Garvey’s analogy, a tree that is well-rooted stands firm even in the buffeting winds. Our charism then, if well-rooted in our history, will not disintegrate even amidst the fusion of many cultures. On the contrary, it shall flourish into a myriad of possibilities by receiving “graftings” that shall in the end enrich it. In order to integrate ourselves as Missionary Servants, grafted as it were by the Sprit by way of enfleshing the charism through diverse cultures, implies a docility and “creative learning.” We can only learn how to be an international congregation when we engage creatively. This means we can no longer afford repeating the same style or manner of thinking, feeling, and living that have become infecund over time. To be creative means, to be awake, to be alert, to be adaptable and to be daring! What to avoid.  In order to become an international congregation of the Missionary Servants, we have to change as indicated. It does not happen overnight. The process entails an intentional adaptation with respect to the particularity and peculiarity of each member. For sure, the integration we seek is not “Americanization,” neither the domination by a single group nor a patronage of one group over another. And it can never be a power play. It is rather the appropriation of our Rule of Life which alone gives us the solid power to live our Charism. The Rule is what allows us to embrace the various expressions of that Charism in a manner pleasing to the Spirit. To be passionate. How fascinating it is to live in these times of our history, with all the challenges it brings along! Convinced that it is the Spirit who takes us by the hand, we can yield ourselves fully to a wholesome personal conversion as the only alternative presented to us. Let us try to live passionately the wonderful things that will fashion us to be better Missionary Servants. Let us seize each moment of this process to imbue the Charism  and let us keep whispering to our hearts the words of our Founder: “Do give this much thought; do hold yourselves responsible for the future of the Cenacle; do remember that as you are, so will others be.” Questions for Reflection: 1.  What are some of the immediate reactions you have upon reflecting on this topic? Why do you think you feel that way? 2.  Describe briefly what you believe are some characteristics of the ST culture as North American, Mexican., Colombian, Carribean, Central American, Filipino, etc. 3.  Broaden the concept of “creative learning,” by adding other implications for you.