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INTRODUCTION
"Congregavit
nos in unum Christi amor"
1. The love of Christ has gathered a great number of
disciples to become one, so that, like him and thanks to him, in the Spirit,
they might, throughout the centuries, be able to respond to the love of the
Father, loving him "with all their hearts, with all their soul, with all
their might" (cf. Deut. 6:5) and loving their neighbours "as
themselves" (cf. Mt. 22:39).
Among these disciples, those
gathered together in religious communities, women and men "from every
nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues" (Rev. 7:9), have been and
still are a particularly eloquent expression of this sublime and boundless
love.
Born not "of the will of the
flesh", nor from personal attraction, nor from human motives, but
"from God" (Jn. 1:13), from a divine vocation and a divine
attraction, religious communities are a living sign of the primacy of the love
of God who works wonders, and of the love for God and for one's brothers and
sisters as manifested and practised by Jesus Christ.
In view of the relevance of
religious communities for the life and holiness of the Church, it is important
to examine the lived experience of today's religious communities, whether
monastic and contemplative or dedicated to apostolic activity, each according
to its own specific character. All that is said here about religious
communities applies also to communities in societies of apostolic life, bearing
in mind their specific character and proper legislation.
a) The subject of this document
is considered in light of this fact: the character which "fraternal life
in common" manifests in numerous countries reveals many transformations of
what was lived in the past. These transformations, as well as the hopes and disappointments
which have accompanied them, and continue to do so, require reflection in light
of the Second Vatican Council. The transformations have led to positive
results, but also to results which are questionable. They have put into a
clearer light not a few Gospel values, thus giving new vitality to religious
community, but they have also given rise to questions by obscuring some
elements characteristic of this same fraternal life lived in community. In some
places, it seems that religious community has lost its relevance in the eyes of
women and men religious and is, perhaps, no longer an ideal to be pursued.
With the serenity and urgency
characteristic of those who seek the Lord, many communities have sought to
evaluate this transformation, so that they might better fulfil their proper
vocation in the midst of the People of God.
b) There are many factors which
have determined the changes of which we are witnesses:
Religious life is a vital part of the Church and lives in the world. The
values and counter-values which ferment within an epoch or a cultural setting,
and the social structures which manifest them, impinge on everyone, including
the Church and its religious communities. Religious communities either
constitute an evangelical leaven within society, announce the Good News in the
midst of the world, the here and now proclamation of the heavenly Jerusalem, or
else they succumb by decline quickly or slowly, simply because they have
conformed to the world. For this reason, a reflection and new proposals on
"fraternal life in common" must take this existential framework into
account.
-- Developments within the Church have also marked religious communities
deeply. The Second Vatican Council, as an event of grace and the greatest expression
of the Church's pastoral guidance in this century, has had a decisive influence
on religious life; not only by virtue of the Decree Perfectae Caritatis, which
is dedicated to it, but also by virtue of the Council's ecclesiology, and each
of its documents.
For all these reasons, this document, before addressing its topic
directly, begins with an overview of the changes encountered in the settings
which have more immediately affected the quality of fraternal life and its ways
of being lived in the various religious communities.
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