World Day for Consecrated Life

Circular Letter of the Prior General

   

The talent ofHospitality

2 February 2017

 

To all theBrothers and Communities of the Order

 

Dear Brothers,

 

As we prepare to celebrate the World Day for Consecrated Life on 2 February,I would like to send my best wishes to all the Brothers of the Order and allthe consecrated men and women working on our mission, and forming part of ourHospitaller Family of Saint John of God. This day will give us the opportunityto celebrate our Religious consecration and give thanks to God for our vocationfollowing the charism of Hospitality that we have been given.

 

Over the past two years we have been constantly insisting on the need toconduct a process of discernment throughout the Order, looking forward to thefuture of our Institution. It is certainly very important for us to embark on andcarry through this important process, to be able to keep alive the charism andmission of Hospitality in the manner of Saint John of God. We have to reviewand revise everything: our consecration and identity, our mission, and ourstructures.

 

Above all else, if we are to make the process successful, we have toconduct a discernment of our consecration, our way of life, and our identity asBrothers of Saint John of God. We must also review and revise ourorganisational structures, our Apostolic Centres, our Care Services and so manyother aspects, while never forgetting that these are the means we employ to pursueour vocation and our mission. They are means, and as such, they can change, andindeed throughout our history this has been done many times. Many Centres andServices have even disappeared altogether, and this will continue to happen forvarious reasons. But the mission will always be present, for its essence rangesfar beyond structures at any given time. As I have said on other occasions, theapostolic mission that we are called to perform will continue to remain topicaland relevant in other ways and with other means, even if we have no moreCentres and Services of our own. We cannot enclose the mission of Hospitalityin a few centres and facilities, even though these have always been thepreferred means of performing our mission, but no more than that: just a meansto an end.

 

What will certainly help us to preserve the Charism and mission of Hospitality,and make it live on into the future as we remain faithful to what the HolySpirit and the Church are asking of us, is to bear witness to our consecration,lived with joy, commitment, and self-giving. In this respect, we are really bettingon our future. As consecrated men, we are all called to be prophets, signs of the presence of the Kingdom of God through ourCharism of Hospitality. In a sense, we are provocateursand announcers of God’s love for allmen and women, through Hospitality. Today, this is an urgent mission, which ismuch more than having Centres, and demands simple, but significant, gestures and actions, which tell the world that Hospitality is the only alternative to a hostile, selfish andviolent world. This is the way in which, as consecrated Brothers, we can buildup the great universal brotherhood that God our Father dreamed of, and whichlies at the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

If we are capable of understanding and living our consecration in thisway, my Brothers, I have no doubt that the future of the Order will beguaranteed, in one way or another. I know that sometimes we may suffer fromdiscouragement and weariness. Today, on the World Day for Consecrated Life, Iwould like to encourage all to hold your heads high, to recover the enthusiasmand joy of our Religious vocation and to renew your commitment to our Lord whois certainly continuing to call us. The Church and the world, our Co-workersand the Guests in our Centres, are all placing their hopes in us, anxious tosee us as prophets and witnesses to Hospitality. This is what we are all calledto be, each one of us in whatever situation we live in. It is not so much amatter of busying ourselves by doing many things, but rather of being signs, bythe fact of being present, with each one of us doing what we are called to do, accordingto our age and responsibilities.

 

This will be a year of preparation for the Provincial Chapters. Let usbegin there, Brothers. Let us be bold. Let us put away ourold self, and clothe ourselves with the new self (Cf. Eph.4,22-24). Let us put behind us the attitudes which are holding us up, which aremaking us selfish, focusing only on ourselves; let us shake off fear, and thereasoning we indulge in to justify our positions. The Lord is continuing tocall us and is waiting for us to respond to Him. He has given us the talent of Hospitality (Cf. Mt. 25,14-30)so that we can dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to it, and we must not cheat Him,which would be cheating ourselves.

 

In 2015, we celebrated the Hospitaller Vocation Year, and when it endedI told you that every year should be a “HospitallerVocation Year”. And I want to repeat it again. This year is also one, inwhich we must live our vocation fully and ensure that, with our example and inevery possible way, we will continue to invite others under the motto “Come and see Hospitality”.

 

Once again, I send you my best wishes for the World Day for ConsecratedLife on the liturgical Feast of the Presentation in the Temple, the Feast oflight and consecration to the Father. As Brothers of Saint John of God, may weall enlighten the world by bearing witness to Hospitality, as St John of Goddid!

 

 United in our Lord and St John ofGod I send you my fraternal and Hospitaller best wishes.

 

 

Bro. Jesús Etayo

Superior General 



 

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