6. Prospects and Challenges

At first sight it seems that the postmodern era brings only problems and insurmountable obstacles for the Church with her important and inalienable values of solidarity and generosity, of obligations and long-term personal and corporate choices. Through the foregoing theological interpretation of the signs of our times, I wanted to express the expectation that modern and postmodern times also offer new possibilities for the Gospels, the Church and the sequela. Our question is this: how can the religious institutions, whose lives are ruled by the gift of self, generosity and solidarity, inculturate themselves into a context of extreme individualization, digitalization and globalization? Inculturation of the Gospels and the various charisms of the VC in the modern and postmodern world is, in my opinion, just as feasible and just as difficult as in other periods of history. In order for this to succeed, and despite the negative and ambivalent signs often associated with it, we must also identify what signs may particularly challenge the Gospels and the sequela. I will try to list a few:

6.1 The current desire for freedom and autonomy, even in questions concerning ethics, morals and religious lifestyles, has often been deplored as threatening. I would ask you to consider this desire for once as a positive challenge to the consecrated life. We all know that strongly authoritarian and paternalistic models characterized "community life" in the past and how necessary, and painful, the conciliar and post-conciliar process of renewal has been and still is. It is a fact that one cannot talk of true inculturation of the Gospels and the sequela into modern and postmodern society if our contemporaries’ experiences of freedom, emancipation and autonomy are judged only in a negative light, or indeed completely rejected. One aspect of the present crisis in the VC, at least in Europe and North America, stems, in my opinion, from the fact that we have not yet succeeded in making the themes of emancipation, of equal rights for women, of freedom and autonomy of the individual a positive part of the theology and practice of the sequela in the postmodern age. This deficiency, which undoubtedly exists in this sphere of the Church, has negative repercussions on the whole of the pastoral, and especially on religious vocations. If there were no point of contact between (post)modern culture and the Gospels, but only a total abyss, inculturation, dialogue or evangelization would be completely impossible. Nonetheless, evangelization is and remains our task.

6.2 Sociology describes the concrete form of the consecrated life, especially in its great monasteries, charitable and other activities at the beginning of the modern industrial era in 19th century Europe as "total institution": its nature encompassed all aspects of the religious life. How the life operated was defined down to the tiniest details. Individual development was not a desirable goal. The wishes of the individual had to be subordinated to the aims of the institution. Postmodern culture, on the other hand, as demonstrated above, does not understand, rejects and is opposed to all institutions and traditions that make any claim to "totality". There can, nor should there be, any "restoration" or way back. For the consecrated life and the vocational pastoral that could mean that we will have to take leave, more finally than we would like, of the image of the VC as a "great organization" and provide our contemporaries who are seeking a way with other images, for example the small group, actively seeking and hoping, when "two or three" are gathered in the name of Jesus; the young men at Emmaus who walked with Jesus; the men and women who persevered in praying with Mary in the Cenacle in Jerusalem, confidently waiting for the Paraclete. In my opinion, the search for new forms of community in the VC should be three-fold: the search for new geographical areas where the Gospel (as an answer to postmodern problems, e.g. loneliness, cultural alienation, poverty) can be received; the search for small communities which offer space to the desire for individuality and personal experience of God and of faith; the search for renewed, i.e. personal relationships between the members, in sharing, openness, hospitality and "no-ties relationships".

6.3 It is important to see man within the context of his search for "integrity" (wholeness, holistic living), his search for a "homeland" or for "fellowship" and respect different lifestyles, different approaches to faith and different forms of faith. This seems to me another of faith’s answers to the signs of our postmodern culture, which ought to have particular consequences on the ‘accompaniment’ of those who are interested and on the formation of candidates. I increasingly ask myself to what extent the classic "seminary" can or ought still to be the primary model for basic formation in the VC, that is to say, a model very much associated with "uniformity", whether in management of daily life or, still more problematically, in the "curriculum" assigned to each candidate. If it is true that each person’s path is a secret known to God, that the charisms and the boundaries on the road of faith and of the sequela present themselves in a thousand different forms, and if it is true that in our Church increasingly diverse ministries are becoming necessary, then we are not talking about a concession to postmodern permissiveness, but perhaps about a new and legitimate path, if the institutions of the VC offer future candidates a greater variety of approaches, types of ‘accompaniment’ and curricula. The problem, however, lies in the fact that many of our members and houses are not prepared for this varied and "personalized" mode of formation. Instead of considering the prospect of more varied formation (in different places, at different rates of progress, if possible involving the whole community), quite a number of brothers and sisters seem to think that formation and ‘accompaniment’ must remain a "special task" for just a few, and expect that our novitiates and the other formation centers will one day again be full of larger or smaller "groups".

6.4 Another aspect of the postmodern age, in itself very ambivalent, may invite us to an interior renewal: I go as far as to say that the majority of young people today are not simply a-religious and do not become so. The often-quoted and blamed "secularization" of modern and postmodern times also does not automatically lead to putting religion at a distance, as is often seen in western societies. Certainly, "official" religion on a social basis is losing its dominant role amongst us. Other great religions (or at least some of their elements) and esoteric forms of thought are progressing. In some western countries (especially Spain and Italy) "secularization" does not mean the rejection of the Catholic Church in principle, but only of certain concrete ways of being a Church; it is often a simple case of "anti-clericalism", whilst retaining one’s sympathies for the fundamental values of the Gospels. The literature, however, talks in quite a different way about "new forms of religiosity". Indeed, there is a growing diagnosis of a "religion-friendly atheism" (Metz). It seems that many people no longer see or practice religion, even Christianity, primarily as a system of universal relationships, or as a single, demanding "life plan", or as a "fundamental choice", but as a catalogue of spiritual "consumer goods" which, chosen "à la carte" at the right moment, can make life better, more meaningful and, to some extent, more "efficient". Our answer to such a "patchwork religiosity" cannot be to reduce the importance of the New Testament image of God and Jesus Christ and the true elements of our spirituality. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to assume that postmodern religiosity had nothing to teach us. Certainly it invites us to practice more strongly what the "postmoderns" rightly want from us, but perhaps can no longer find: they are looking for a spirituality that is life-friendly, able to relate to human feelings and not totally ritualized; a liturgy with the "feel" of beauty, esthetics and style; communities that appeal to all sides of a person’s nature.

6.5 The Church, theology and the consecrated life should counter the widespread trend of postmodern acceptance of "religion" with God, in particular the Christian God, the Father of Jesus Christ, in second place, putting forward a clear and purified image. It is no good continually complaining about postmodern religiosity and repeating how dangerous a number of New Age trends could be. The VC should re-think its own image of God in the sense of a radically trinitarian perspective and free it from all distortions, not least patriarchalism and ritualism. VC communities are, in fact, called to be signs of "the transcendent", of what or who God is, and what God intends for history. Despite their dependence on the era, they are "eschatological" signs that interpret the age and, at the same time, straddle it, leading forward and reminding us that the history of humanity and the cosmos is essentially a story of salvation and continuing liberation that is still waiting to reach its end; a story not only of tragedy and guilt, but also of forgiveness that has been granted, of new horizons and the new incarnation of the Gospels. Who reminds postmodern man of these perspectives?

6.6 The meaning of the VC is not in what it does, but in what it is or should be: a place where God is experienced, a "witness to God in the world of today". In the purely historical or sociological view, this aspect may become marginal. I think that in the postmodern era nothing is more important for the VC than "opting for the living God". On the threshold of the new millennium nothing is more important for religious communities than creating times and places for experiencing God, for meeting, for quality of life and for discernment in His spirit. However, I am afraid (and in my ministry I have often had to suffer it) that until now we have far too often trusted in peripheral choices. But these will not last and will not "bring fruit" if we do not first remind ourselves of the foundation of our existence and if we do not become ever more aware of it. Then courageous options, for instance in the evangelization of cultures, in dialogue with the younger generations and in the social diaconate will easily result. Such deeply anchored plans will last and will produce fruit.

6.7 The VC’s fundamental task is included in that of the Church itself, i.e. not to claim to be absolute, but in every situation to be the instrument and sacrament of the salvation brought about by Christ. Walter Kasper once said that the religious communities were "a meaningful and – one could almost say – quasi-sacramental condensation and a prophetic explanation of what the Church is in its essence; of what it is to live according to the Beatitudes and the Holy Spirit; of the faith lived radically, abandoning all to gain all"". The Church, and all that it represents, serves the Kingdom of God, His justice and His peace, and announces in word and witness the God who is life and who wants life (not misery and death) for all He created.

6.8 Postmodern times are just as much God’s as all the preceding ages, and just as friendly or hostile to the Gospel values and inculturation of the Gospel as any other age. Certain aspects of the postmodern appear particularly ambivalent to many people. But they also allow the Church and the consecrated life to hope. I would like to express a fundamental conviction: We, brothers and sisters of the VC in the Latin Church, see ourselves in Europe and the world in a time of "exodus", of "kénosis" and of affliction, but not without perspectives. Our numbers are diminishing. But we must not fear for our mission and for the significance of our life if we hold firm to the "identity" which has motivated and determined life in the sequela and in the Spirit throughout the ages, i.e. the experience of God in the midst of the world, the announcement of God as the friend of man and lover of life, the gift of our freedom (vows) as worship of God and as service for the liberation of others, of a world without peace and of creation. In the postmodern world deep spirituality of the "kénosis" is a better condition for the ability to talk to one another, to be together and to have compassion for the poor and lonely than showing off with large numbers, great works and fine words.

6.9 It is therefore important for our institutions’ path toward the future that they should be places and cells of a living experience of God. The quality of the spiritual life and of our culture should have absolute priority over all "plans". Only when we can mutually recognize the faith and hope that is in us, when we entrust our personal and corporate existence to the Spirit of God that fills not only the Church but also history and the whole world, will we meet God, will we learn to know the Father, will we meet Jesus, will we see His presence in the poor and, in the evangelization of different cultures, will we be able to witness to the universal love of the Creator. Without the culture of spiritual life in the contemplative memory we will be building all our plans on sand, including the vocational pastoral. Ever new, courageous and prophetic forms of life and ministry will arise from the authentic memory, as for instance, "insertion", service for peace and reconciliation, liberation of the poor and service in the "new areopagi" (Vita Consacrata).

6.10 The vows as service to the "abundance of life" (John 10, 10) for everyone: VC institutions have always been creators of human culture in the widest possible sense; they loved the situation in which they found themselves in the past, observed it critically and tried to shape and evangelize it. In every case they, like the whole Church, had the task of "transforming" the world towards the final perfection in Jesus Christ, itself a work of the Holy Spirit. In this sense I would like to briefly contemplate the vows, or "evangelical counsels", as service to the life of the world, as vital sources of energy, through which we, the Church and the world can be positively transformed. In short: I think the lifestyle of the evangelical counsels can be understood positively as "service to the abundance of life". The tendency - which is still strong - to consider them above all, or even exclusively, from the point of view of "renunciation" cannot be sufficient; still less can it be convincing in today's world that is so clearly challenging our solidarity. It is pleasing to see that the document, "Vita Consacrata", offers some very valid instruction on this point too (cf. 84-95): men and women consecrated to God should not be distinguished only by the radicality of renunciation, but by radicality in their love, in the risks they take and in the service they give to life. I think that it is the very Spirit of God which guides us towards a concept of the evangelical counsels that is friendly towards life and far from all past attempts to interpret them as hostile to life. Certainly, the evangelical counsels are, and remain, signs of the sequela of Christ the Poor Man Crucified. They lead the Christian who has adopted a form of VC toward greater conformity with Jesus' lifestyle and let him or her participate in His earthly pilgrimage, and in His passion and death. However, the vows have yet more significance: they let us share in the resurrection of Jesus, in His transfiguration, in the outpouring of the Spirit and, lastly, in the transformation of the world towards its final Order. The vows are at the service of perfecting creation and at the service of life. In their own way, they are the "memory" of Jesus and "prophecy" in the Spirit that flows into the world from the Father and from the Son. A fundamental attitude is proper to the evangelical counsels: the freedom and great readiness to put oneself at the service of the Kingdom of God and His justice. Their underlying intention is love and service to life. This intention is not "dictated by law", but can be very spontaneous, creative, intuitive and liberating. Poverty, chastity and obedience are a form of "consecration" to the God of love and of life. At the same time they are the expression of the "mission" that carries a unique love to the whole world so that all can live and recognize that love as the love of God. The lifestyle of the "evangelical counsels" only has meaning, if it is understood as prophetic, i.e. if it directs our sight and that of our contemporaries beyond what already exists and makes us sensitive to the liberation of the poor and of all who are unloved, exploited and ill-treated. This lifestyle is designed to teach us to live in a way that gives life for all and for creation. The logic of renunciation "for the sake of Heaven" is not a logic that rejects life or flees from the world; rather it means welcoming life and showing loving concern for the world. It is an "option for life" and choosing to be committed wherever life is threatened. It is a decisive "Yes" to inculturation of the Gospels in the world as it is.

6.11 The Spirit of God reminds the Church of what makes it live, leading it ever and again to the life and words of Jesus (cf. John 16, 13). For the Church is the way, not the objective. She is the means, not the end in itself. On the way to the Kingdom of God she must "continually evangelize herself". The Spirit at once shows how she can understand, face and transform opposition ("evangelizing other men and the whole of creation") and prophetically anticipates the future in signs and symbols. This "anticipation" takes place less in words and more in examples, in the life culture of individuals or groups, in a liturgical and sacramental way at the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments. The Spirit of God is, finally, also the guarantee (2 Cor. 5,5) that the future will be good. It is not difficult to recognize that the VC must be a privileged place of memory and prophecy: the men and women in the VC live and celebrate their roots in the God who is Love (1 John 4, 26) through the Gospels, in the call of Jesus and in His mission through the Holy Spirit. They must continually assure themselves of their specific charism, which the Founders gave to them not only as their "house rules", but to be passed on to the entire Church and to the world. In our Christian concept, "memory" or "remembrance" is an integral process that means more than bridging past and present with our thoughts: memory is based on the experience of faith, that God’s creation, the incarnation of His Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are not one-off events, but processes that last through history and with which we can come into live contact. And because that is so, true "memory" will always be a meeting with the God of life and of our history; a vital "contemplation" as the expression of our amazement and our thanks for God’s hand in everything, for the coming of Jesus and the sacrifice of His life, for the continuing presence of both in the Holy Spirit, in the Church and also in our orders and institutions, as well as in the world and in other religions, the expression, finally, of the certainty that God will bring everything to a good end.

6.12 Integral spirituality: Right here, in the postmodern age itself, with its various offers of contemplation and mysticism, I plead the case for Christian mysticism in the world. I would like to designate contemplation as a part, no, a dimension, of a culture of life and faith that refines the heart and the senses for "what absolutely concerns us" (P. Tillich), for fundamental experiences and values that give meaning and consistency to our life in the midst of all the changes (e.g. being loved and accepted), for priorities (I want to judged by what I am, long for, hope, not just by what I have), for the Christian God, who revealed himself as love, compassion, relationship, approval of creation and all its beauty. Contemplation which, in religious seclusion as in the outside world, is a continual training in faith in the midst of life. I believe that contemplation is not the duty or privilege of the few: it is essentially the sensitive heart, the spiritual and prophetic "flair" of all Christians in the coming millennium for the "signs of the times", for the holy and the unholy, for the beautiful and the terrifying. "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Is. 43, 19). Contemplation in "modern" spirituality teaches us to dig wells before we succumb to thirst, teaches us the penetrating look that, according to an Asian proverb, recognizes "the flower in the seed and the eagle in the egg". At the same time, contemplation is the necessary source of strength for meaningful organization of the world. Jesus himself, after meeting the Father "in a solitary place" (Matt. 74, 23) in the hills and the desert, went back into the crowds, to the poor, the sick and those in need of help. In their turn, in the sequela of Jesus, the Churches will discover their indispensable place in the new society. They should not simply adopt the signs and images of, for instance, the secular media society. They should be a counterpoint: places of silence, of therapeutic language and actions, of friendly communication. The services offered by an inwardly renewed Church and VC will be, or remain, chiefly those for markets commercially considered "unmarketable" (e.g. drug addicts, handicapped, homeless). That means, in a way equally counter to the generally accepted thinking, that the work to be done demands patience, caution, awareness of the weak, poor and those who fall behind.

6.13 "Mission instead of maintenance": on the one hand, in many places it seems as if the consecrated life is condemned to insignificance, banality and a fatal lack of efficiency. In any case, the fact is that many seem to be occupied only with "managing" survival, whereas, historically, almost all institutions appeared as innovators. In this context, there is much talk today of the "evaporation" of the values essential to the Christian life, for example trust, selflessness, generosity, solidarity. The life plan of the sequela - totally unthinkable without these values - also seems endangered by attitudes of subjectivity and individualism which really only manage to ask, "What gives me pleasure and is useful to me today?" In looking at our "fundamental religious values", on which baptism and profession of faith are based, we undeniably live in a climate of relativism and, to some extent, aggression and cynicism; certainly in a profound lack of understanding. Yet our age is still the age of God, today His Son still becomes man. The times are full of more or less hidden traces of His Spirit. But in this "kairós" the VC is too occupied with maintenance, i.e. with itself. So far, it has not succeeded in talking about God in a new and encouraging way, in living and offering a new spirituality that corresponds to the expectations of "experience" held by many people, nor, on the other hand, in helping people to overcome loneliness, encouraging "communio" and solidarity. To overcome the present crisis, the various traditions of the VC must define and courageously live out their "mission": not exist for themselves alone, but for the "life of the world", for the poor, for a kingdom of peace and justice, for God who in Jesus Christ came "out of himself" and into the world.

6.14 Encouraging prophecy: in the confusion of the globalized society we can still perceive a desire, an unsatisfied ancient longing: man wants to live in a meaningful and creative way, to have relationships, and not to feel themselves the playthings of anonymous powers. They want to shape things, not just act as administrators. Personally, I know no more lasting, more persistent medicine for resignation than the attempt to see the future, through prayer and other forms of spiritual life culture: the "contemplative view" can heal and is "life-friendly". It goes beyond secondary, dispensable, superfluous, dangerous, destructive and lethal things to what lets me live in a truly meaningful way, to what deserves to be the center and foundation of my life. The cultivation of "purposelessness", of contemplation, of silence is the music that allows us to turn towards a tranquil rhythm of life and discover new sources. First and foremost, through contemplation a basic dimension of the sequela of Jesus becomes visible. Only those who know how to "give things up", even their own lives, will be able to live meaningfully ("use their lives"). This "giving up" does not mean being completely passive, but includes the active willingness to do everything possible and necessary. Christian contemplation does not lead to fleeing from the world, but to solidarity. Considering the outcome of Jesus’ death, and the weight of one’s own suffering, it gives us the capacity "to become active in a special way, to look at things carefully, to feel deeply, to make contact with ourselves and with the world in a way we have avoided until now" (Ken Wilber).