18th December…

The Constitution as a way forward: The path is not there, it is to be made by walking’

The 18^th of December is an extraordinary day for the Apostolic and Contemplative sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux. On this day, we commemorate the Holy See's approbation of our Constitutions.  It was in 1851 that the Founder wrote his last General Rules. The first approbation of the Constitutions was on 18^th December 1903. This was revised and reformulated at the 1987 General Chapter and then Holy See’s approbation was received on 18 December 1988. The Constitution is not only a guideline for us to be witnesses in the present context, following the footsteps of the Holy Family of Nazareth and the First Christians, but also a prototype of the Dream and Desire of the Founder for all his daughters and sons: journeying together as ONE Family with five vocations. 

A rereading of the Constitutions portrays, not merely as a set of cannons but rather how the Founder re-visioned a synodal journey, a journey of walking together in faith, listening to each other, and discerning the will of God in a given context some centuries ago.  The Constitutions paint a picture of a shared God-experience: although drawn from the past they pave the way for the future journey of finding “God the Other” amongst “the Others”.  The shared God-experience creates a sense of belonging, uniting members across the globe irrespective of differences while respecting cultural heterogeneity.  This has become the call of the Church choosing the synodal path. 

Today, Pope Francis, while emphasizing one of the most important aspects of the Second Vatican Council, has set the next goal for the whole Church, a synodal journey for herself and her mission in the contemporary world.  He calls for a return to the model of the “People of God” journeying together, with a new model of governance, which engages the People of God in listening, discerning, and being involved in decision-making. The synodal journey is continuous. ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission’ is the title of a journey begun in October 2021.  Hence, this “synodal journey” means the discernment of the will of God as a Christian community.  Francis claims, “The path of synodality is the path that God expects from the Church for the third millennium.¹” The missionary dimension of synodality appears in a special way in Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (2021), in which he calls for universal fraternity; a synodal Church is “a listening Church,” and every synodal praxis begins by listening to the people with the purpose to form a people, a fraternal and missionary community at the service of the common good and the care of the common home.

Through Baptism, we are called upon to participate fully in the life and mission of the Church.  We, as consecrated women have freely committed ourselves to give ourselves totally to God and the people of God; to follow Christ and share his mission of salvation, establishing the reign of God. Reading and discerning the “signs of the times”, as our Founder did by listening to the people who were struggling for life, demands finding the vocation within a vocation.  As we are living in a world that is torn apart due to economic, ethnic, religious, social and cultural divisions, we the members of the Holy Family are invited to build communion wherever we are and in whatever we do as we all are part of the WHOLE. It is also a call to be reconnected to the self through which we are interconnected to the whole Universe.

The Founder’s desire for the Family was expressed through the Constitutions and approved by the Holy See. In them, we hear the voice of God, who calls us through the cry of our people and Mother Earth for a better life. As we extend our gratitude to our Founder, whose vision is relevant even in today’s context, may we hear the invitation to journey together with ALL, sharing the dream that communion is possible.

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