VIATOR WEB No.

80 October, 2017

My Joy and My Hope:

in Jesus Christ, I am a mission on this earth;
that is the reason why I am here in this world.
(Pope Francis)

My mission of being in the heart of the people

is not just a part of my life or a badge I can take off;
it is not an “extra” or just another moment in life.
Instead, it is something I cannot uproot from my being
without destroying my very self.

Evangelii Gaudium, 273

“My Joy and My Hope” is the theme that has been chosen for the General Chapter that will
bring together forty Viatorian religious next July. The program of questions has already been
distributed to the Provinces and to the Delegation of France, all of which are now called upon
to see to it that those questions are studied everywhere that Viatorians are present. In total,
there are forty-three questions, which, since they come from the grass-roots level, certainly
reflect genuinely-lived thoughts, convictions, and concerns. May our work of reflection and
international solidarity help us to prepare well for the 2018 General Chapter, which will be a
summit moment of orientation for all of us!
And so the mission of Viator Web continues! From the beginning, our goal was not to publish
a “newsletter,” since news items are communicated directly via our website. Nor is our
electronic publication the means chosen to communicate the pastoral orientations or
reflections of the Superior General and his council. Not only does the Superior General publish
a Pastoral Letter every year, but there are also other communications that respond to that
mission. No! Viator Web constitutes a crossroads that makes it possible for all Viatorians,
religious and associates alike, to speak out and to share their convictions. That mission will
continue during the coming year and will correspond to our responsibility of preparing well
for the 2018 General Chapter.
The last Pastoral Letter of the Superior General (dated May, 2017) revealed the theme of the
General Chapter and, in conjunction with the document recently received from the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, specified
certain inevitable challenges. Those orientations are a crack of the whip! We must provide
new wineskins for the new wine of the Gospel. This is certainly a call to new adaptations,
boldness, faithfulness, and certainly multiple conversions!

Over the course of the coming year, we will call upon Viatorians to react to extracts from that
document. We would like to already thank them for helping us, as a community of Viatorians,
to reflect upon the future of the consecrated life and, in that way, to strengthen one of the
essential components of the Community that we constitute.

Enjoy your reading!

Viator Web No. 80 – p. 2

All three Synoptic Evangelists find it impor-
tant to underline the newness of the style
in which the Lord Jesus, while revealing the
merciful face of the Father to the world, pla-
ces himself at a critical distance from the
simple observance of customary religious
schemes. Forgiving sins and embracing
every person in the mystery of suffering, and
even, of errancy, is a radical change. (…)

The style in which Jesus proclaims the

Kingdom of God is based on the law of
freedom (cf. Jm 2:12) (…)

This style has all the color and flavor of a

new wine that, however, risks tearing the
old wineskins. This image clearly shows how
institutional, religious, and symbolic forms
must always be gaining flexibility. Without
the necessary flexibility, no institutional
form, no matter how venerable, can
withstands the tensions of life or respond
to the appeals of history. (pp. 12-13)

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 Diego Mauricio Ríos,
Viatorian Associate of Colombia

CHALLENGES OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE

One of the challenges of religious communities in this modern world concerns the changes
in thinking that have taken place within them, which therefore permit them to survive in the
face of present changes, in the majority of cases, “they come together without knowing one
another, they live without loving one another, and they die without crying for one another”; it
is for this reason that I feel that the religious life will always be important in our spirituality
as the Catholics who we are and will have its mission within the Church. Thus, the crisis that
is being experienced because of the shortage of vocations could make it disappear and it is
our work, as committed laypersons, to contribute with evangelization so that new young men
draw near to it and thus do battle for, and help with, its continuity.

Pope Francis in his exhortations always invites us to search for new paths that make it possible
to revive religious communities, but what must be done in order to bring about important
changes in structures and in ways of life that will constitute a meaningful contribution for
the Church and for society today? Must we look for religious communities that are more lay-
oriented, less clerical, more committed to the poor, less comfortable, that live a mystique of
community and solidarity love, less lost in ecclesiastical functions, more centered on Jesus
and on service? But, how can we discover that path?

In order to move forward, we must begin with a common sentiment of reality and of an
invitation to humility. I believe that that is the correct word; they are not as inevitable as I
have heard people saying. Neither from the time when they were born inspired by their
founders [nor from their beginnings] have their charisms and missions been thought of and
projected in terms of being necessary; but certain members have a tendency to believe that
that is the case. That would explain certain symptoms of superiority, improper use of power,

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disdain for and separation from the laity, a sense of comfort with what has gone before and
even regrets or uneasiness for having changed so many things and given up so many things
that happened in times past. However, in spite of the thinking of a certain sector of society,
that does not mean that, for us, they do not have the importance and respect that they
deserve and that they will have only insofar as religious communities strive to understand
the dynamics of this new globalized and diversified world, capable of looking with hope to
the horizons and expectations that are being lived, they must convert themselves into
communities with deep thoughts that permit them to find their orientation and to be faithful
to their foundational and charismatic spirit and not to structures that were constructed in
other times; in a word, who dedicate themselves to searching for a new holiness that will
open the path to new vocations, [a new holiness] that, by their example, permits them to re-
discover the intentions of their founders and to validate them for today’s world, with the
possibility that, in that [process], there will come forth many disagreements and possibilities
of failure.
In a certain way, at the moment in which we are living, human difficulties bring it about that
there exists a crisis of identity (crisis of faith, crisis of belief, religious crisis, spiritual crisis)
and that means that a choice of consecrated life is not attractive, also in those vocations
that already exist doubts are created, which lead religious or those who are in the process
[of becoming religious] to abandon their communities and to put aside that model of fraternal
life. In the same way, the aging and the death of many of the members who remained hoping
for a change in communities.
The result of all of this is that we are faced with a great challenge – how to create a vocation
program that is adapted to these new challenges and new ways of looking at life, which
makes it possible to integrate and to confront the accelerated participation of laypeople
today, but which is not seen as a threat for religious communities, but rather as disinterested
assistance from those who have a vocation of service, always maintaining the charisms and
spiritualties of the founders, guided and formed by those who, truthfully and radically, commit
themselves to live a consecrated life.
In this way, religious can form their collaborators, inviting them to work together to be genuine
witnesses of service to others, to the inherent dignity of the human person, to respect for
values, to a sense of welcoming and inclusion; to be a spark of light in the midst of darkness,
and inviting us, thanks to the love that God has for us, to assume together the problems and
the new challenges of today’s world, and that we be able, in that way, to search for holiness.

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 Michael Rice, c.s.v.
Province of Chicago

“To look to the past with gratitude …”

We are the modern day bearers of Father Querbes’ charism. Viatorians of an earlier generation
played an important role in our lives by influencing and shaping us to become the persons
we are today. Like us, they too were mentored by those men who preceded them. The circle
of past, present and future is intertwined and defines us today and gives us reason to be
proud of our history and service to the Church in the 21st century on the local, national and
international level.
The pathway from present to future should never be static. On the contrary, in order for it to
be fully alive, it must be continually revitalized. Renewed and rediscovered.

“To live the present with passion …”

There is a saying in English, which is very familiar to most of us: when the rubber meets the
road. How might this saying be applicable to us as consecrated religious and associates? A
life worth living needs to have an element of passion. A life lived, where the Gospel message
is the center of our lives and motivates us to practice what Jesus taught and put his words
into action in our daily lives, is a life filled with passion for all of God’s creation. Living life,
like this, is both challenging and liberating. By putting our trust in God and doing what we
can, we have no reason to be fearful. The Lord will always be with us, in good times and in
bad times. We are never alone.

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“The fullness of the law are the Beatitudes …”
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount taught us in proverb like words what it means to be a
disciple. Jesus loves us whole heartedly and he invites us to love all of his creation, even
those who rub us the wrong way and get under our skin. God knows how to love, it is up to
us to figure out how to emulate what God asks of us.
Reading the Beatitudes with open eyes and a heart and mind revitalized can be liberating.
We see and understand better than before what Jesus was teaching and how we can become
His disciple.

The meaning of New Wine, New Wineskins, on a personal level, is a discovery of who Jesus
is in my life over a lifetime. There are many influences in my life that gives this relationship
texture and color. Family, the Viatorian Community, Friends, Co-Workers, etc. Each new day
is an opportunity. What I do with that opportunity and how I live it out in the public square is
my responsibility and challenge. A great help to me along that path is the support I have from
the Viatorian community of Las Vegas and Chicago.

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