What kind of visibility?

But what is this visibility? Today, visibility is conditioned by society’s means of communication; what is visible to people reaches them via television, radio or the Press. In the end, all that is visible is what these media judge as important, or as "news". Of course we ought to know how to make use of these media and we should not remain aloof. However, that is not the kind of visibility we want for the consecrated life. Nor do we want the visibility that people tend to confuse or identify with power, influence, effectiveness, which is closer to the criteria of worldly visibility than the criteria of the fruits Jesus talked about.

For Jesus also spoke about fruits, about apostolic effectiveness; he even criticized the fig tree that could not provide fruit to satisfy his hunger (Mk. 11, 12-14): he conditioned men’s hearts to recognize the visibility of these fruit, "by their fruit shall you know them… a sound tree produces good fruit…" (Matt. 7, 16-20); he states that "a city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden" (Matt. 5,14) and he is pleased when people see the good work of his disciples and give glory to the Father in heaven (Matt. 5,16). However, Jesus was talking about a certain kind of fruit, a certain kind of visibility that does not lead to protagonism or shine with its own light, but with the light which the Gospels bring to the world.

In a culture that praises and rewards efficiency and success, that encourages competition and the ambition of individuals to take first place, the visibility which the consecrated life must seek is the transparency of the Gospels; a clarity in its way of living and acting that makes visible to our contemporaries the values of the Beatitudes and the attitudes of Jesus, which can in no way be confused with the today’s political and commercial publicity campaigns.

This visibility should also express the essence of each religious family, indicate what distinguishes it, its particular place in the Church, in following Jesus, i.e. what has been bestowed upon it as a charismatic gift of the Spirit and what, throughout its history, it has actually achieved. To sum up, a kind of visibility that demonstrates a way of life consistent with the mission of each Institution; i.e. the coherence between what is stated in the constitutional principles, in the programs of the General Chapters and what can be seen every day in the reality of our communities and our apostolic works.

Finally, it must be said that, in order to understand the visibility of the consecrated life in its totality the surrounding cultural environment must be taken into account.

How then, in what aspects of the consecrated life, is, or should, this evangelical visibility be present: the kind of visibility truly able to promote vocations by ‘contagion’ and help in the desired renewal? I will deal with only a few of the elements of the consecrated life, those usually considered most significant.