WELL-PLACED CHARISMS Resituating charisms:

criteria, perspectives, restructuring

Introduction

Mid-way between the theological fundamentals presented by Fr. José María Arnaiz and the practical proposals of Don Juan E. Vecchi, this paper considers the right place for our charisma, and the connections to be made between the theological words of our religious life and our deeds of witness and service.

The Italian verb "ricollocare" contains the essence of the task before us: it means both to put back in place, to restore (mettere di nuovo a posto) and to place again or put anew, to relocate, to shift, to translate (mettere al nuovo posto). Both "to put back" and "to transfer" make implicit reference to an original, authentic situation.

If thinking about our religious life, what most strikes us is the experience of upheaval, disorientation, the apparent lack of reference-points and criteria, then we might prefer the original intuition like a lighthouse to help us navigate whatever changes come along. Here in "ricollocare", we underline the sense of putting back in place or restoration.

If what most strikes us rather are the changes taking place with such bewildering velocity, the constant and unforeseeable changes both local and global, then the context and its challenges seem to take priority, and our religious life must find new places, new responses. In this case, we mean "ricollocare" in the second sense of moving from an existing to a new place.

In creative fidelity to the fundamentals, we may choose between one and the other sense of "ricollocare"; or, having fixed a certain proportion, we may undertake both; or there may be something else that we must discover and do in order correctly to locate or place the charisms of religious life. And these options themselves rest on a deeper principle or meaning or reason: why does our religious Congregation ¾ founded 50, 500 or 1500 years ago ¾ have to attend to its charisma or founding intuition?

A fake answer to these questions is found in yet another meaning of "ricollocare": "to re-arrange", as in the pejorative expression: "to re-arrange the deck-chairs on the Titanic." Rearrangement poses such a great danger to religious life that an entire Assembly is dedicated to avoiding it!

One way to explore how the basic meanings and values of our religious life get established, undergo change, and therefore require attention, is to consider some concrete experiences and the reflections they have given rise to. I would like to present three of these from the Society of Jesus, with the hope that they shed light on the particular concerns of our many Religious Congregations.

The first is a "parable" to bring our point of view to the fore: where we are and how we listen may affect, or even determine, where we locate our charisma.

The second is about riding a bicycle, with the hope of finding out what it means to have criteria, for valid and useful ones are not just ideas to be discovered by intelligence alone; they are the fruit of insight, prayer, experience, dialogue.

The third is a case study, namely my own as secretary of the social apostolate.

During this Assembly, we look for signs of the human spirit and the Divine Spirit. Inspired and fortified by the Spirit, we may make the needed changes; or the Lord of History may (with more or less force) arrange the changes for us and we, thanks to the Spirit, may discover that it is He. Or the changes may occur without our noticing until we become only history without present or future. This is neither pessimism nor fatalism; though painful, it may be liberating: the coming and the growth of the Kingdom do not depend only on us. Such awareness frees us then to speak of these difficult or problematic things with a certain peace, in a spirit of prayer, and with the hope of cooperating with the Lord and His Spirit.