2. Model of Consecrated Life

2.1 - This Congress has, above all, confirmed in some way the existence of a young person’s grasp of the consecrated life, which has rediscovered its central core: the consecrated life is seen as the joyful, free, creative and ever fresh choice of life for God, who leads the person to realize his/her most authentic dimension. In this sense the Congress resounded with the idea or image of the consecrated life as the permanently young soul of the church. Considering the data showing a tendency to the opposite (the progressive aging of members, the decline in vocations, tiredness and routine in the apostolate...), we can see the prophetic implication of what is not simply a statement. Needless to say, the young people reacted enthusiastically to this.

2.2 - In the young people’s model of the consecrated life a single point arose with insistence, and that is the aspect of fraternity. It aroused general agreement in all the talks. Perhaps we may say that it was the true common denominator, the single element receiving the most assent, where all the innovative aspects of the consecrated life are converging. "Community is essential for apostolic religious life and communion for mission": this is fundamental to the young people. Together with this they stress that diversity is a benefit. If one wishes to have unity and communion, it is impossible to insist on uniformity. One must rather remain open to unity in pluriformity and seek communion in it. It is simply not enough to be tolerant or accepting, perhaps with the subconscious belief that someone or some culture is better or more religious than others and that we have only to teach this to the others.

2.3 - Communion is the defining factor of the consecrated life, including that aspect which has been considered the classic goal of consecration. The "dream of Jesus", at the end of the first talk, expressed precisely this desire of the young: that there be not just holy individual persons, but also holy communities. This is yet another new image of consecrated life, which passes from the model of perfection to the model of the gift, of the sharing. This sharing is also a way of being within our fraternities in order to experience the same faith, the same search for God and the path to holiness. In several ways the young people stressed this desire to share, that is, the longing for true and spiritual fraternities.

2.4 - In regard to mission, a noteworthy tendency towards a broader and bolder concept of missionary service surfaced in the congress; it is also to be lived in precarious situations, and in strict faithfulness to the original inspiration of the great majority of religious institutes which were founded to serve the poor. In particular, there was a sense of the young people’s anxiety, which was well stressed by Sr. V. Moreira, of finding themselves in the not too distant future with an inheritance of massive institutions which are difficult to manage and which would consume much of their energy and prevent the development of anything new. With this in mind, the young people spoke of opening up to lay people, of delegating some responsibility so they can truly dedicate themselves to those ministries which run the risk of being neglected in the desert, on the periphery, at the frontiers, as Fr. Maccise reminded them.

2.5 - There were also some opinions to the contrary. According to some young people attending the congress, "Mission and community were discussed in very general terms..., and the critical dimension was lacking ... on some more concrete topics such as women’s status in the Church, the exercise of authority and the sexual dimensions with its many related problems. There were many romantic words and joyful songs but these topics which directly concern us were not dealt with". Indeed, there may have been important omissions or silences but I am not sure whether or not the subtle irony hidden behind the expression of this young person just quoted does not reveal a type of person which is in the minority although present at the Congress and in the world of young religious, a person who is slightly discouraged and not very enthusiastic about the future.

2.6 - Please allow me to make a quick reference to spirituality because Fr. Veilleux will be speaking about it. This topic aroused great interest and enthusiasm from the young religious who clearly have strong spiritual inclinations. There were repeated, heartfelt appeals from them to be, to live rather than to do, to cultivate the life of the spirit and not try to do everything; if not, we run the risk of handing on nothing and identifying miserably with our work.