Dalcides Biscalquin sdb

It is with great joy that I present myself to you, with the sincere intention, first of all, to open to you my heart, to manifest to you my sensitivity and to communicate to you some of my humble reflections in the light of my experience as one of the participants at the International Congress of Young Religious.

From the time I was invited to participate in the Congress right up to this moment, what has struck me deeply is your openness and your sincere desire to understand ever better your younger sons and daughters, that is, each one of us young religious.

It is precisely this that prompts me today to express myself to you with frankness. You have shown yourselves interested not only in knowing but also in dialoguing with us so that together we may discover the principal characteristics and the prophetic signs of religious life of today and of tomorrow. The interest that you have shown in calling for this Congress and in giving us this possibility to meet together as young religious gave the Congress a climate of liberty and honesty, inspired by the very values of the Gospel. And we, young religious, have responded in appropriate measure. Imbued with faith and love, we overcame all fear and every other impediment and sought to live profoundly this unique occasion to encounter the Lord, so as to be able to say: "We have seen the Lord".

At this point I would like to offer you the first challenge (The first humble proposal that I would like to place before you for your consideration is on this point) : do not neglect to create always ever greater space for sincere dialogue with us young religious, your sons and daughters. By means of this dialogue we will discover together the Lord who manifests himself also in our voices. Listen to the young and you will see every time to a greater measure the marvels and the fruit of this experience.

I was asked, as my main task, to report on the (my) (lived) experience of the fifth day of the Congress. The theme of the reflection on this day was " Mission and Religious Life". The conference brought to light the many situations of poverty that are present on our planet, focusing its attention mainly on the present-day condition of many people of Latin America. The words and the images of the slides, used during the exposition, presented to the Congress, almost ‘first hand’, the reality of the suffering of many brothers and sisters who live today in situations that cannot be defined as human. Persons who have been robbed of everything in life, by society, by the political and economic structures, by indifference. Some have been robbed also of the very will to live.

During the exposition of the theme by Sister Vilma Moreira, the whole hall was pervaded by a great silence. Everyone was touched; our sensitivities were awakened before this experience of looking in the face a reality, and considering it with eyes illuminated by the heart. We saw Jesus himself in the faces of the tired and suffering among men, women, children, the old, those deprived of even the minimum conditions necessary for a life worthy of man. We were challenged, not only by the words and the images, because, in truth, the greatest challenge arose from our own hearts, from our evangelical option, from our charisms and congregations.

This is the second challenge that I leave also to you: help us to discover the face of the Lord in these suffering and forgotten brothers. Help us to walk with courage to encounter these situations that call for our loving presence, and that cannot wait for our response any longer. Help us to discover the joy of living our mission with and like the poor.

Once again within this specific aspect of the mission, of prophetic proclamation, I would like to underline the question of communication. The afternoon of that fifth day we also dealt with the theme of how to communicate the values of the Gospel, how to transmit the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that is relevant to the world of today.

How to dialogue with our times, ‘so splendid and dramatic’? This is the question that has stimulated us. We have realized that sometimes our words come out ‘bitter’ from our mouths, and the prophetic nature of our mission stops, at the denunciation of unjust situations, and is not open to the beauty of the proclamation of a news that is truly good. We need to be communicators of hope. Many times we are so preoccupied only with the content that we forget the form of communication. I think without careful and serious attention to the quality of our communication, we run the risk of speaking alone and of not being understood.

This calls to my mind the symbolic episode of the man, filled with the desire to communicate his experiences, who one day found himself traveling in a train along with some youngsters. Practically all through the journey the man read his newspaper and spoke with the youngsters. He made some interesting observations on the principal news stories of the day. He also made a profound analysis of reality. He recounted to them stories of old times. He spoke to them of his preoccupations and his hopes, of his deepest experiences. The youngster next to him, quietly, had his ears plugged with earphones through which he was listening to music on his walkman. At the end of the journey they exchanged friendly greetings, a smile, and a goodbye. The old man went home with the confidence that he had communicated some of his values to the youngster, and he was happy and at peace with himself: mission accomplished.

The two sat next to each other. This physical closeness however was not enough to create a true communication. Communication is not talking ‘to’ but talking ‘with’ someone.

I believe that it is precisely this that is our third challenge. Let us help one another in the search for a true communication, that goes beyond the simple question of using new means and new technologies. Let us respond together to some questions: How can we be true communicators of the ‘Good’ news? How can we, in our mission, create space for dialogue and communication ‘with’ someone? We have ‘the best product’, the most beautiful news to communicate: Jesus Christ. However, it is not enough to have the best subject in the world, we need also to discover the form of communication that does not belittle or betray the value of this subject.

I would like to conclude recalling an aspect that seemed essential to me: communion in diversity. We came from different parts of the world, with diversities of language, of cultural characteristics, with diverse experiences of Church; also our religious habits were different. Nevertheless, on the fundamental aspects we were in agreement: the importance of life in communion, the belief in fraternity, in the testimony to evangelical values, in a mission open to the world, in the challenge of communication in order to bring together.

In this way we gave our humble and at the same time important contribution to the process of construction of a religious life that is ever more open to the challenges of the third millennium that is before us. I end with the words of a sister who approached me at the end of the Congress and said to me under her breath: " This Congress will not have an official text; it will not have a grand impact on the world, it will not even offer a sure passage towards the future… However, it will be a small seed. Hopefully, like that of the Kingdom of God, of which Jesus spoke".

I think that the words of this religious sister, whose name I don’t even know, reflects best the simplicity, the joy, the hope, the faith, which we were able to live these days: "We have seen the Lord".