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EX ACTIS MINISTRI GENERALIS<br />
189<br />
another. This is a game of which one is not<br />
always aware…<br />
Formation for consecrated life has to<br />
take into account all this, but not only this.<br />
Formation cannot be satisfied with just getting<br />
through with the challenges which are<br />
presented today to those of us who feel we<br />
are in formation and, perhaps, Formators at<br />
the same time, just to get through. Formation<br />
is called to dare even more and to situate<br />
itself on the “moving” ground, yes, but<br />
also beautiful, that of prophecy. And in so<br />
far as it forms a whole with the journey of<br />
fidelity to the Charism proper of an Institute<br />
in the context of history, it cannot be satisfied<br />
with repeating pre-fixed schema. Formation<br />
is not the possession of the few who<br />
transmit to many, it is not a series of ideas<br />
or of behaviors, it is not subject to what is<br />
taken for granted. Its function is to allow<br />
rays of light present in the night to be foreseen;<br />
to open intuitions, doors and windows<br />
to the novelty of the Gospel; to maintain our<br />
life in an always new response to the<br />
Charism, so that it does not fade in a wearied<br />
repetition; to offer to our brothers and<br />
sisters, to ourselves, sparks of prophecy so<br />
as not to sit down or stand up, so as not to<br />
close up in our tiredness and disillusionment,<br />
but rather so that we can rise and go<br />
towards the novelty which the Kingdom<br />
opens before us.<br />
Our proposal and formative action cannot<br />
continue to offer a “product” already<br />
made and, apparently, ready for each season.<br />
To form others and to form ourselves<br />
has sense if formation is maintained at the<br />
rhythm of life which demands incessant and<br />
– let us acknowledge it – uncomfortable<br />
moments and steps to advance. To form<br />
others and to form ourselves is an act of the<br />
person, of the formator/accompanier as<br />
well as of the person being formed, on condition<br />
that both feel that they are on the way.<br />
To form others and to form ourselves in this<br />
sense does not only prepare the future but it<br />
anticipates it, it allows us to see approximations<br />
and indications or signs.<br />
The time in which we are living and<br />
which we cannot cease loving as the only<br />
space which Providence opens to us to live<br />
fully, provokes us not to stop, not to be satisfied<br />
with what we have received, no matter<br />
how good it is. I think that if something<br />
is lacking in formation for consecrated life,<br />
perhaps, it is this availability to walk and to<br />
look for what is new, allowing ourselves to<br />
be taken up by this search.<br />
FR. JOSÉ RODRÍGUEZ CARBALLO, <strong>OFM</strong><br />
1 Saint Francis of Assisi, Testament 14.<br />
2 John Paul II, Vita Consacrata (VC) 13<br />
3 Potissimum institutioni (PI) 1<br />
4 “The method to prepare oneself for it (consecrated<br />
life) should continue and express the characteristic of<br />
totality. It should be the formation of all the person, in<br />
every aspect of his/her individuality (VC 65; cf. VC<br />
71).<br />
5 VC 65. Speaking about personal accompaniment we<br />
must remember that the “personal colloquy, valid for<br />
initial formation as well as for permanent formation,<br />
is an indispensable mediation in verifying the journey<br />
that is being traveled and the discernment in the vocational<br />
process.<br />
6 PI 29<br />
7 VC 65<br />
8 VC 65<br />
9 VC 69<br />
10 Thomas of Celano, First Life of Saint Francis of Assisi,<br />
103.<br />
11 VC 69.<br />
12 VC 65.<br />
13 VC 69<br />
14 VC 65<br />
15 Cf. VC 66 and 70; CIVCSVA, Fraternal Life in Community<br />
(VFC) Rome 1994, 36<br />
16 Cf. VFC 36. On accompaniment cf. Pontifical Work<br />
for Ecclesial Vocations, In verbo tuo..., 1998, 34ff.<br />
17 VC 70<br />
18 VC 66<br />
19 CIVCSVA, Starting Afresh from Christ, 18<br />
20 Cf. Joao Batista Libánio, Impactos de la realidad sociocultural<br />
y religiosa sobre la Vida Consagrada<br />
desde América Latina, en Pasión por Cristo, pasión<br />
por la humanidad. Congreso Internacional de la Vida<br />
Consagrada. Publicaciones Claretianas, 2005, 171.<br />
21 Idem, 175<br />
22 Working group nº. 9, The search for God and the<br />
search for sense, in Passion for Christ, passion for<br />
humanity. International Congress on Consecrated<br />
Life, Publicaciones Claretianas, 2005, 329-330<br />
23 Franc Rodé, Consecrated Life in the School of the<br />
Eucharist, in Passion for Christ, passion for humanity.<br />
International Congress on Consecrated Life, Publicaciones<br />
Claretianas, 2005, 293.<br />
24 Perfectae Caritatis, 2<br />
25 Passion for Christ, passion for humanity. Working<br />
document, n. 106, in Publicaciones Claretianas,<br />
2005, 64.<br />
26 VC 65
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