Indications for a theology of initial formation
Stuart
C Bate OMI
Introduction
Initial formation focusses on the preparation of those who feel they
are called to a life style of special commitment to God in Priesthood or
Religious life. This life style will manifest itself in commitment to the
mission and ministry of the Church. The Church is a pilgrim people on journey
and The journey of the people of
God can be understood in terms of three cardinal parameters:
C The goal of the journey: The Kingdom of God
C God’s participation in the Journey which we experience in different ways:
C Call by God (Vocation)
C Sending by God into mission and ministry since the church by its very nature is missionary (AG 2)
C God’s enduring presence on the journey: The presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
C The response to the call and the mission by us expressed as the Christian Life or our spirituality.
My purpose in this article is to indicate some important areas which
should be considered in developing a theology of initial formation. I will
also note the scriptural references which can be helpful for formators wishing
to reflect on these areas.
Initial
Call
Initial call is often interpreted in terms of the calls of prophets and
apostles in the scriptures. The calls of
Abraham (Gen 12), Samuel (1 Sam 3),
Jeremiah (Jer. 1:4-10) Jonah
(Jonah1-2) in the Old Testament are paradigmatic. In the New Testament
reference is also made to the annunciation (Lk 1: 26) the call of the
disciples (Matt 4: 18-22; Lk 5:
1-11; 27-28) and the call of St Paul (Acts 9).
The variety of these calls shows us that call is not something that
follows a strict pattern. Nevertheless there are some elements that can be
discerned from the process. Whilst these do not occur in each case they do
alert us to some parameters of the initial call process.
In the first place we can say that there is often an element of the
ordinary about initial call. It occurs within the ordinary events of human
life: the disciples fishing, Levi in the tax office, Samuel in bed at the
temple, Abraham in his home country, Paul on his horse.
However within this human experience there is also an element of the
extraordinary. This is sometimes experienced as a voice, a light, a
spectacular event like the huge haul of fish the disciples catch after a
barren night, a burning bush, a dream or
just a powerful presence like that of Jesus when calling Andrew, Nathaniel and
Levi.
The call causes people to reflect on their life and to make a lifestyle
change. Their lives are turned around and the decision is made to do something
new.
Finally it also contains an element of doubt: Jeremiah is too young,
Jonah runs away, the rich young man goes away sad for he is very wealthy. Paul
is made blind, Mary questions “how can that be”.
Ongoing
call to the Christian life
Whilst there are many stories and events around the experience of
initial call we should also realise that
it occurs within a much deeper and more permanent process. This is the reality
of the ongoing call that God makes to us throughout our lives “to know him
and to love him”. Some people find it difficult to point to a particular set
of events which make up the initial call to their vocation. For them it is a
kind of natural result of a more gentle leading that the Lord does throughout
their lives. For many vocation comes as a result of ongoing participation in
the life of the Christian community: the church. God often comes not in the
storm nor the wind but in the gentle breeze
(1K19:12).
In our modern society with its emphasis on the individual, a personal
spirituality and a concern with personal salvation, it is sometimes easy to
forget the central communal dimension of the spiritual life and the presence
of the spirit. It is the same Spirit that calls individuals, families,
societies, Religious Institutes and lay people in the Church. The mission of
the Church as well as the mission and ministry of each individual Christian is
sourced in God’s mission which is always linked with promise of the Spirit
(Lk 24.49; Jn 16; Acts 2 Acts 10). Fig 1 illustrates this truth.
God
|
|
Calls (=vocation)
Sends gifts (charisms)
Me
Church Community
(Diocese, Religious Institute, Lay state)
Fig.
1 Individual and Communal Vocation Sourced in God’s Mission
This implies a basic coherence between the call of the individual and
the call of the community within which the individual is called to exercise
ministry. This is a central point for our vocations ministry and the
discernment of our own vocation for a number of reasons.
i. Within this call is the promise of the spiritual gifts required to do ministry for we do not do God’s work merely through our own human effort
ii. These spiritual gifts are always given to the community for its mission. Each institution in the Church is called by God to a specific kind of mission and given the gifts necessary to do that mission
iii. The individual will manifest some of these same spiritual gifts and this is a sign that he is called to the mission of that community which uses these gifts.
iv. For the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, for example, these are gifts like being concerned and committed to the poor, of evangelising: bringing good news, of living and working as a community, of building the local Church; of specialising in difficult missions, of hospitality and so forth.
v. When our ministry as a congregation reflects our vocation as a congregation then our ministry is blessed by the spirit in the outpouring of spiritual gifts for our work. When we do other things, this is not true and such ministries may flounder.
As a person discerns her call through her own gifts, she is able to
recognise the community which is given these same gifts. In this way she
recognises her own vocation as a vocation within that community, congregation,
local Church or whatever it may be. And the community which knows its mission
and the gifts it requires recognises the signs of some of those gifts within
the individual so vocation to that community is discerned.
This then gives us some important criteria for the spiritual
discernment of vocation. We can ask questions like:
i
Is the person given some of the same charisms and gifts that are given to the Congregation?
ii
Is the person interested and involved in the mission of the
congregation before being called?
iii
Does the person show a taste for the things of the
community/congregation in the initial orientation phase?
iv
Does the community have an interest in the gifts and talents of this
person? Is it clear how he can contribute to their mission?
The
Role of the Holy Spirit in the preparation for ministry
Initial formation is a preparation for ministry. The New Testament
provides us with ample evidence of the animating role of the Holy Spirit in
mission and ministry. It is the Holy Spirit who guides Jesus’ ministry. Luke
recounts this role throughout his Gospel. The Holy spirit is present in the
form of a dove at the baptism by John (Lk 3,21).
He drives Jesus to the desert (4,1) to be tempted and then to his
ministry in Galilee: “Jesus filled with HS returned to Galilee...began to
teach in their synagogues” (4:14). At Nazareth he recounts (4,18): “The
spirit of the lord is upon me”.
In the Pentecost event the Spirit constitutes the Church and inspires
its mission. The apostles are captured by the Holy spirit and driven out to
preach and heal. It happens to Peter and the eleven in Acts 2, to Cornelius
and his family in Acts 10 and to Philip in Acts 8..
Ministry like vocation is never just a personal thing. It is always
related to the mission of the Church: to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ by
word and deed. For the Church is a People of God on the way to the Kingdom.
And as one church it is a community of communities and a unity in diversity of
gifts for the “building up of the body” Rom. 12; 1Cor 12..
Now the ordinary (ie normative) way of being the church is the local
church: “the fullness of the Church in a place” (Bate 1995:238). “This
universal church is in practice incarnate in the particular churches”
(EN62). The mission of particular churches reflects the context within which
they find themselves and so vocations to local churches will manifest an
interest in the issues of the local context. This is particularly important
for vocations to the diocesan Priesthood. Such people
will exhibit interest gifts and talents in the following areas:
C a concern for their particular church and region and a commitment to it,
C an interest in the ordinary pastoral ministry of the diocese especially in parish work but also in evangelisation and local catechesis.
C a concern for issues of local justice and peace
C An interest in inculturation since inculturation is the emergence of the local church in a place. This implies an awareness and consciousness of cultural and social issues
C A concern for the mission of the diocese especially on a regional and national level.
Religious Institutes (Orders and Congregations) on the other hand are
formed around the crystallisation of a specific charism which is the
Spirit’s gift to the church. Sometimes these charisms may be quite local
reflecting the local church’s response to contextual and cultural issues.
Most however are gifts for areas larger than a local church and reflect
specific ministries required for the building up of the body. Education and
Healing are two of the most common of these.
Discernment requires that Religious communities and diocese reflect
in order to develop criteria which will help formators and candidates
in the journey of initial formation. The charism of the Oblates of Mary
Immaculate (OMI) has been expressed by Fr Jette as “a view, a love-and faith
filled view, of the world and of the church, a view which lets us see things
that others miss and to hear appeals to which they are oblivious” (in
Sullivan ed Oblate Animation Manual:39).Such a charism leads to a spirituality
which has compassion on the poor and their suffering and responds in committed
to them and their needs. It involves a wish to bring good news of salvation
and liberation to them. It implies a vision that sees the Church with the
commission to gather all people in Jesus Christ and is committed to the
Church’s mission. It recognises the importance of priests in that mission since the OMIs are a clerical
congregation. Yet it is also religious and follows the religious life of
prayer and the vowed state. It affirms community, hospitality and mutual
responsibility and finally it is missionary and ready to cross borders of
geography and culture to go to where the needs are greatest in the Church.
Jette’s vision of the OMI charism leads to a specific set of criteria
around the vocation to the Oblate religious life. Vocations directors
candidates and formators may ask questions like:
1. Does this candidate
manifest a gift of the spirit which is compatible with religious life (eg
Apostolic zeal, wish for community life; admiration of the vowed state)
2. Does he manifest a
specific interest and gift: eg: preaching, going outside of his own context as
a missionary, healing ministry; teaching; academic life; contemplative life.
3. Does he have more
concern for mission elsewhere than work within his own culture (NB a person
joining a missionary religious congregation who only got on or consistently
mixed with people of his own cultural/language ethnic group would not be
demonstrating the charism to join a missionary congregation or order.
4. does he manifest gifts
which are compatible with the mission of our congregation?
Priesthood
and Religious life as spiritual journey
The Christian life is a journey. We do not journey alone but as a
people walking with God. This paradigm is found throughout the scriptures and
in the life of the Church. In the Old Testament we find it in the Exodus
experience: as the people journey through the desert to the promised land
guided by a pillar of cloud and flame (Ex 13:21-22). In the New Testament we
meet it in Jesus and the disciples journeying from village to town throughout
Galilee and to Jerusalem. We also se it in the journeys of the apostles:
Philip, Barnabas and especially in the Missionary
journeys of Paul God saves people not just as individuals but as a people (cf
LG9ff, Jer. 31:31-34. In the words of 1Pet 2:9-10 we are
“a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation...who in times past were not a people but are now the
People of God”. Because a community walks
the journey, the Christian life is
social; cultural and communitarian. But within the community there are
individuals and so the journey is also personal.
Like all journeys there are stops along the way. Their are difficult
times and good times: joys and sorrows. There is a map for the journey given
by God. We see it both in the OT and in the NT. The initiative in the journey
always comes from God whose presence we need to discern within the events of
our lives. Our role is to respond to that initiative. Such is the life of the
central figures of the Old Testament, Jesus and the apostles. The gospel also
adverts us to two principal motions in this journey. I like to refer to them
as the easy good news and the tough good news. On the surface the easy good
news is a good good news. It is the journey of inspiration, consolation,
healing and .happiness. It reflects the events of the first part of the gospel
as Jesus went around preaching good news and healing: “and the crowds
followed him”. The beginning of religious life and vocation is often like
this. It is inspiring, comforting, joyful and filled with consolations. Many
experience the novitiate in this way. But the good news of salvation is deeper
than this. It has to imply a confrontation with sin and affliction: the
struggle against evil. It is only when Jesus
sees that the disciples have understood the deeper sense of his own mission
(Mk 8 27-30) that he reveals this aspect of the mission. It is the journey to
Jerusalem where he meeting
suffering, being rejected and being put to death (Mk 8:31). It implies the
cross. The cross is central to religious vocation and each who wishes to walk
the journey will have to face it. Without it we remain superficial in our
commitment and unable to witness to the real good news of the Gospel. This
real good news is the paschal mystery, the journey from Friday to Sunday.
Along it, the defeat of the cross is transformed by the power of God into the
victory of the resurrection. It is the paschal mystery that is at the centre
of the real good news and not the healings and the preachings. These latter
are only fruits and that is why the “fathers of the Church constantly
proclaim that what was not assumed by Christ was not healed” (AG3). Unless
people have been through this in their own life they will be unable to witness
this truth to others and will remain poor missionaries and minsters of the
Gospel.
So the centre of the Spiritual life is the cross and the ability to be
lifted onto to it and to go through it. Then comes resurrection where God’s
power enters into our lives to save us, free us, sanctify us. We can only
witness to the cross when we have experienced this resurrection in our lives.
Otherwise the cross is suffering, misery and defeat: a stumbling block and
folly (1 Cor 1:23).
Here we have indicated a major signpost in the journey of formation and
one without which a person will struggle to make a permanent commitment either
in final vows or ordination. Indeed there are many signposts on the spiritual
journey since there are many paths on the journey of life and not all lead to
where we want to be (Matt 7:13-14). Often it is the wide path which leads in
the wrong direction. So we need to see the
signposts and to interpret them in
order to not go astray or get swept away on the journey. Seeing and
interpreting the signs along the spiritual journey is what we call
Discernment.
Discernment
in vocation and during the journey
Discernment is a spiritual gift since it is the Spirit who helps us
discern. Discernment is also a spiritual sense within us which has to be
cultivated. There are Rules for Discernment given by the scriptures and the
experience of the Christian spiritual masters. The ability to discernment the
presence of the Spirit in our lives is akin to the ability to read the
signposts on our spiritual journey. Discernment should occur on many levels:
on our own with the lord, with a spiritual director, in community with our
brothers or sisters, in relationship with authority: a Superior/rector/bishop
and through hearing the teaching of the Church (those who have gone before us
marked with the sign of faith. Two texts of scripture are particularly
important:
C
In 1 Cor 12,10 we read: to
another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to
another the power to discern spirits, to one the gift of different tongues
and to another the interpretation of tongues
C and in 1Jn4 we read
not
every spirit is to be trusted but test the spirits to see that they are from
God...any spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ come in human nature is from
God and every spirit which does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God
Fr Herbert Alphonso SJ (nd) in a popular series of tapes on Spiritual
direction based on the thought of St Ignatius emphasises that discernment
requires practice. This is because it is “an aptitude, acquired through
experience, of recognising the movements that come from God and to embrace
them and of recognising the movements that come from counter spirit and
rejecting them”.
An aptitude is an habitual attitude. We have to build it up. It is a
kind of Christian sense, a sixth
sense acquired through experience. Discernment is not a theory so it can’t
be developed just by reading books.
The starting point for discernment is human experience. This is very
important. God comes to us through our everyday life and not so much through
mystical revelations. Discernment is the ability to find him in these everyday
events. This means that we have to become conscious of experience, accepting
our experiences and then through our experiences open up to God. Discernment
implies the ability to become conscious of our human experiences by
recognising the interior movements in our life: those from God and those from
the counter spirit. We never directly
recognise the spirit. Rather we recognise and sift through the various
movements that come from God. These are the “spirits” we sift through.
In sifting through our experiences we examine our interior motivations
in order to trace their orientation.
In this way we can conclude to
the origin of the experience either
in God or the counter spirit. Discernment requires
tracing the orientation of experience:
What is it making me want to do? This is a key task.
We should not jump to conclusions from just one or two experiences but
rather reflect on the whole of our human life. Alphonso uses the example of a
melody. We cannot identify a tune from one note. We need more notes to see the
melody or the direction of the tune. One note can enter into many melodies. We
recognise the melody by the succession of notes or the direction that they
take. Discernment is like this. One experience rarely reveals the presence of
the Holy Spirit or the counter spirit. We need more for the orientation and
the key point in discernment is to determine this orientation. In the Ignation
method determining the orientation of our experiences allows us to conclude to
their origins: the Holy Spirit or the counter spirit.
So discernment needs time. Instant illumination is not the norm since
it requires a succession of experiences for us to be clear. Nevertheless such instantaneous experiences of the presence
of God do occur. St Paul is a famous example. These are extraordinary but at
the same time not rare.
Basically, discernment is a sense given in Baptism. It is Christian
instinct. It has to be refined by
use like all senses or it gets atrophied. Because it is a sense, I cannot
discern for another. We each use our own senses. But having said that we must
also recognise that discernment also applies to the community at local,
diocesan, national and international levels. God has to be discerned in all
human experience using this sense. Since all reality is affected by presence
of God. Alphonso gives the following definition of Christian discernment:
spiritual
discernment entails interpreting prayerfully a concrete human existential
situation in the light of the Spirit of Christ in order, through such a
prayerful interpretation, to determine what an individual or community ought
to do concretely in order to follow Christ in the here and now.
The scriptures also help us in providing criteria for verifying the
discernment. Two texts are particularly helpful: 1 Jn 4:1-4 and Gal. 5:22-23.
C On the theological level: all movements from God will affirm the basic Gospel message the kerygma; and be consistent with the lives of the saints (cf 1 Jn 4,1-4)
C On the pastoral level one always judges an authentic prophecy (cf Jer. 28,8-9; Deut. 18:21-22) the same way one judges whether an attractive tree is full of health or sickness: by the fruits (Mt 7,17; Rom. 8,9). Such fruit will include a deepening love for God, others and even ones enemies (Gal 5,22-23; 1 Cor 13; James 3,17-18)
Ministry
and spiritual gifts
The Holy Spirit is the principal agent of mission and ministry and
inspires all that we do in the name of Jesus (RM 21; 24 28). All who minister
receive gifts from the Holy Spirit in order to inspire their work. St Paul in
referring to these gifts or charisms (1Cor 12; Rom. 12; Ep. 4) notes that they
come from the Holy Spirit and their aim is the building up of the body, the
Church.
Firstly we should recognise that there is no exhaustive list. We cannot
limit the gifts of God. Charism is the term
Paul uses to explain particular ministries in the Christian community.
They are many and manifold and given to all Christians including women (cf.1
Cor 11,5; 14.). We find three lists in his letters and all three lists are
different which indicates to us that they are not exhaustive. There are as
many gifts of the spirit as are needed to build up the body. For indeed this
is the purpose of the gifts of the spirit. Not to divide, surprise and confuse
but to unite and build up. Here then are the two major criteria for the
discernment of gifts and spirits:
C Are they being used in the service of the people
C Are they being used to build up the one body, maintaining unity and harmony, since there is one body, one spirit...one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all (Eph. 4:3-6)
The way of the Spirit is to combine with our humanity a taking flesh
which mirrors the incarnation and to recreate us as a new creation (2 Cor 5).
The spirit of God calls us and mandates us to mission making use of us for the
for the common good (1Cor 12,7). In this way we receive gifts for ministry:
gifts which usually build on our human talents.
Gifts or charisms of the Holy Spirit are then given for ministry in all
its many dimensions. Ministry will always have universal and contextual
dimensions as human needs have human and contextual dimensions. The Holy
Spirit blows in a variety of ways and gives a variety of gifts. All this
implies that ministry will be diverse. Theologians identify at least four
important dimensions of ministry (O Meara 1983; Mc Brien 1987)
1)
Ministry is rooted in Holy Spirit and the gifts of the spirit
2)
There is a distinction between general ministry that all Christians are called
to and particular ministry which
is structured, ordained and mandated
3)
All Ministry is functional
i.e. it is service for others and not a status for the benefit of
Minister.
4)
All Ministry serves The Kingdom of God.
Whenever
ministers do other things, and they do, that is not ministry. This too
provides us with some criteria for discerning those chosen for ministry by
God. It helps us to recognise those in initial formation who are growing in
the presence of the Lord and the vision of God’s kingdom. The are the ones
who are orienting their lives to the service of Christ in the Holy Spirit.
Presbyterorum Ordinis
deals with priestly ministry indicating, in chapter II, criteria for Priestly
ministry. I conclude with a simple assessment sheet of how such criteria could
be applied to those preparing for Priesthood. Clearly it can be adapted for
other forms of ministerial service.
Assessment
Questions for Discernment of
Priestly vocation
General
Question
1. Have you noticed in this person any signs of a call which is rooted in God and is expressed in terms of an interest in the mission of a particular ecclesial community: diocese, religious institute, other?.
Subsequent
questions will be posed in terms of vocations to the diocesan clergy and can
be adapted for vocations to religious life.
Commitment
to the Catholic church
1. Has he shown a commitment to the life an practice of the Church for a significant period of time before asking to become a Priest/religious. (Baptised, Confirmed and regular communicant)?
2. Does he demonstrate a reasonable knowledge of and commitment to the teaching of the Catholic Church?
3. Is his behaviour in conformity with Catholic teaching or does he have lots of issues with the church’s teaching?
Commitment
to the local community he will be part of
4. Is this person interested in the work and ministry of the diocese especially parish work?
5. Does he demonstrate any talents or gifts for being a missionary outside of his culture or region?
6. Is he interested in the social and cultural issues of the people in his local church?
7. Does he show an interest in mission to the poor and abandoned?
8. Is he motivated by a sense of commitment to the diocese and its success in its mission?
Leadership
9. Does he show signs of leadership ability
10. Does he demonstrate the emotional maturity in dealing with conflict situations that leadership requires?
11. Does he view ministry as service or is he looking for status, the good life, control and power?
Sanctifying
role
12. Does he show a love for and a commitment to participation in the Eucharist?
13. Does he demonstrate gifts and talents with regard to liturgy preparation?
14. Is he a person who receives the sacraments often and demonstrates a belief in their efficacy in his own spiritual journey?
15. Does he pray without being required to by a programme?
Prophetic
role
16. Does he demonstrate any signs of a gift for preaching: speaking well in public, convincing use of words, other?
17. Is he concerned about the deepening of the faith of Christians through catechetics, youth work and adult education?
18. Is he concerned about issues of justice and ready to speak up on behalf of the poor?
19. Has he had any involvement in community organisations?
20. Does he believe in and stand for the social and moral teaching of the church?
Relationships
(Please
note that in this section cultural factors will play a large part. The
director/formator needs to be aware of accepted behaviour on these levels
within different cultural systems).
21. Is he a respectful person with a sense of his own worth?
22. Does he relate well with his peers?
23. Does he relate well with authority or is he too critical or too submissive?
24. Does he relate well with those younger or junior to him or is he dismissive and autocratic?
25. Does he demonstrate a hospitable nature?
26. Does he relate with people of other races, cultures or keeps very much to his own group? (Please note that this is a critical question for those with a missionary vocation. It is impossible to be a missionary without the faculty or openness to cross borders of language, race, culture and society.)
Bibliography
AG
Ad Gentes Divinitus. Decree
on the Church's Missionary Activity. Vatican II.
Bate,
S C 1995. Inculturation and Healing: Coping-Healing in South African Christianity.
Pietermaritzburg. Cluster (Chapters 9 & 10)
EN
Evangelii Nuntiandi
.Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI, December 8 1975.
McBrien,
R.P 1987. Ministry. San Francisco: Harper and Row.
O'Meara,
T.F 1983. Theology of Ministry N.Y.: Paulist.
Sullivan, J & Elizondo, R 1985. Oblate Animation Manual. Maseru: Oblate Provincial House