3. Formator and educational strategy

3.1 Educational style

Clearly the formator is the indispensable and strategic mediation for the faithful passing on of the charism and for the correct understanding of its dynamic interpretation. Strategic and decisive is above all the formator’s mentality, his way of looking at his identity which he discovers again and again in the light of the charism, and consequently his interpretation of his role. He could be that sort of educator who faithfully, very faithfully indeed, transmits the charismatic content simply by repeating, somehow slavishly, everything others passed on to him without further dynamic interpretations. Or he could be a generic and vague sort of educator who forms people towards an ideal devoid of any specific charismatic characteristic, in which case he will not able to prepare or provoke others towards seeking new and personal interpretations of the charism.

The formator should not only limit himself to repeat the charismatic content, but above all to awaken in the young that creative power which is the necessary condition for a correct interpretation of the same. Obviously all this depends on the personal journey of the educator and on the faithful creativity with which he lives his charism.(namely his inner freedom with which he interprets his own permanent formation). Some formators, nowadays, seem to be afraid to provoke this sort of attitude or else they give a formation in which the uniqueness of the charism is almost unrecognisable. In both cases, we can be sure, there will not be any tension in the effort of revitalising the content of the charism.

3.2 A charismatic methodology

Forming in the charism Rc does not only imply knowing some original and sound theological-spiritual content, but also learning an educational methodology which is closely linked with the content and becomes the practical application of it. Only in this way can the charism be learnt and savoured, internalised and lived to the point of instilling in the heart of the young a spontaneous and irresistible desire or a tendency to seek new interpretations, hence of putting him in a condition of discovering new aspects of the same charism.

The problem lies in the Ratio formationis; we would need very good formation programs such that would be able to translate the rich theological meaning of our charisms into authentic and incisive pedagogical itineraries, for the simple reason that a charism Rc does not in itself imply a mystical state but rather a pedagogical journey leading to that mystical state, something which every person is called to, in order to personally experience the gift of the Spirit.

To what extent have our itineraries been able to do this? Alas! How poor and generic are too often many of our Ratio! Consequently they are unclear and devoid of any educative value or simply lacking of any precise itinerary which is genuinely charismatic. There may be people who still believe that pedagogy in somewhat unimportant or unrelated to spirituality (the latter being the noble one). In reality pedagogy is the necessary and concrete partner of spirituality and I would go so far as to suggest that a charism is above all the pedagogy of the experience of God. Therefore, to offer a coherent and well-defined itinerary, would mean not only to present solid practical suggestions, bur most of all to stimulate the young person’s creativity towards a clear goal.

3.3 Sharing and the circular effects of the charism

In order to form a mentality and a culture which are open to the charism Rc, it is important to instil in the formandee the ability of sharing. A style of sharing in the relationships within the community, so as to be able to use the same style outside the fraternal relationships in community. The charism is not the exclusive property of anyone; nobody should expect to understand it alone, merely with his own interpretative resources. It is a gift that comes from Above, it is given to all, it is something that can be understood only together with others, though each person is called to enrich the others with his unique inspiration; that is why the community is the only true recipient and interpreter of the charism. The young must really learn how to receive and to give, hence to savour the enrichment or that new interpretative insight which can only be the fruit of sharing. This is true especially when this sharing has become the style of life of fraternal relationships in community.

Later, as we have mentioned above, this same style can be practised outside the community as one learns to express in easy and simple language his gift and as one allows himself to be evangelised by those with whom he shared his gift; that is, by those lay people who in virtue of their experience and secular culture, and of their personal gift of the Spirit, will be able to reveal to him in a new and unique way, other aspects of the charism. It is the principle of the circular effects of the charism, that whenever a charism is shared with the church or with the world, it is as if it is brought to its roots or as if it were led to its final goal; and thereby returning to us enriched with new wisdom never imagined thus becoming a sure guarantee of vitality of the charism, one such that could renew our institutes.

This is a definite and precious methodological orientation that can very well be applied to our community and apostolic life as well; not only, it is a method from which we could derive other important guidelines for the formation of our young people always in relation to the charism. We shall now briefly mention some of them:

The quality of communication within our fraternal relationships: to what extent, do we enrich one another with the gift of the Spirit in our fraternal relationships where often God seems to be the Unknown? Readiness to dialogue even with different experiences and diverse cultures: the charism, a gift from the Spirit, finds its full meaning when it is exposed and confronted with cultural and existential realities. In our formation houses we do not seem to educate to the value of diversity; there is still a great deal of fear of the other, especially if he happens to be "pagan"…. The freedom and ability to read the signs of the times, in order to form our young people to look positively and not judgementally, at the present historical reality and be able to interpret it in the light of salvation history and discover in it the signs of this salvation.