2 ON THE EVANGELICAL USE OF MATERIAL GOODS

Method used by the General Council in reflecting on this subject

This is the method that the General Council used for studying and sharing on the topic of the Evangelical Use of Material Goods. Perhaps it may prove helpful for a community or Province.

SEEING. The following questions helped to guide our deliberations on this subject:
Starting from reality, how do I see the problem as it exists throughout the Institute (your Province)? Am I in agreement with the way that the General (Provincial) Council is handling things in this area, or on the contrary, am I bothered and concerned about something? Keeping in mind that it is our mission as a General (Provincial) Council to animate and govern, what's our position when it comes to this problem. Do we assume an active role or merely a passive one? Do we offer guidance, or do we remain on the sidelines as specta-tors? What are my thoughts and feelings in regard to way in which the General (Provincial) Council is approaching this subject?

Added note: After the intentions at morning prayer, we had time to write down our personal re-flections, and then we shared them later, during our plenary session.

JUDGING. As a second step, we did the following:
We looked for references to shed light on this topic. Council members contributed numer-ous texts from the Gospels and Epistles, stories relating to the life of the Founder and our first Brothers, and excerpts from our Constitutions, General Chapter documents, and documents on the Church and Religious Life. We gave written responses to the following question: Concerning this subject, the evan-gelical use of material goods, what do you think that God is asking of us in our efforts to be faithful to our charism and the process of refounding? Each Brother shared his thoughts on a personal level, as well as at the level of the Institute and the General Council.

Added note: As a result of our sharing all this, we came up with a series of core ideas that we wanted to look into in a deeper way.

TAKING ACTION. The following questions guided our reflection and fraternal sharing:
What are realities and situations in the Institute that are calling for our special care and concern? What standards - taken from the Gospels, Religious Life, the life of our Founder, our Con-stitutions and Chapter documents - do we see as being most important to enlighten our thinking on the evangelical use of material goods? In your opinion, what are the most important guidelines that the General Council can offer to Provinces to stimulate evangelical reflection and action concerning the use of material goods? Do you have some practical suggestion(s) in this regard?