Claretian Missionaries

1
Booklet for Better
Understanding
and Reception of

‘Querida
Congregación’

General Government

ROMA 2021
[I] A somewhat different Chapter

[1] What approaches have prevailed in the Chapter?

[2] The experience of the conversations
[3] A celebration that was also somewhat different: its phases
[4] An unfinished Chapter

[II] “Querida Congregación,” a new document to continue walking

with fidelity

[1] Three keys that help to understand the exhortation

[2] Three proposals to welcome the exhortation
[I] A somewhat different Chapter
Our Congregation has celebrated General and Provincial Chapters for many years.
This has generated in us a certain “culture.” Each religious family has its own. We have
had different experiences, and some have been consolidated as more appropriate
for us. Since 1967 the General Chapters have developed in a certain way and have
helped the Congregation to move forward. We thank God for this.

But in our last General Chapters the impression grew stronger that some elements of
this way of celebrating had to be improved. In those of 2003 and 2009, different ways
of approaching pre-Chapter discernment were suggested, we considered how long
the Chapters should last, we dialogued about what kind of texts they should offer to
the Congregation....

These dialogues, present in the evaluation made at the end of each Chapter, crystallized
in the General Chapter of 2015 in a resolution: “We will explore new methods and ways of
organizing both our general and provincial chapters in its different phases (preparation,
implementation and evaluation) as well as the inter-provincial conferences” (MS 72.3).

The General Government welcomed this resolution and wanted to make it a reality:
some of its members studied the subject, participated in courses and seminars, and
investigated how other religious families proceed. After several experiences with new
methods in some Chapters and Provincial Assemblies, the General Government, after
listening to the Major Superiors of the whole Congregation in the meeting held in
Talagante (Chile) in January 2020, decided to make a new methodological proposal
for the preparation and celebration of the XXVI General Chapter, scheduled for 2021.
These changes have given rise to a Chapter journey that has taken into account the
positive aspects of the previous Chapters and has been characterized by a somewhat
different method and its celebration in five well-connected phases.
[1] What approaches have
prevailed in the Chapter?
Any reading of a reality involves an approach or a
process. In analyzing the life of a country or of a
family, we can focus our attention on the economic,
on the political, on the religious… we can give more
or less importance to the fate of the poor, the role
of consecrated life, of the school or the parish, the
experiences of women or of the sick. Every reality
allows for different approaches.

With these expressions (approach, process,

perspective) we refer to a way of contemplating
our missionary life, analyzing it, casting light on it,
and projecting its future. As repeated in various
documents published by the Congregation in 2020
and 2021,1 the XXVI General Chapter wanted
to look at reality with a synodal, narrative and
appreciative approach.

1
Cf. General Government CMF, The Conversations along the Way: Itinerary of
Preparation for the XXVI General Chapter, Guide for Animators (Rome: 2020);
Mathew Vattamattam, Circular Letter Announcing the XXVI General Chapter
(Rome: May 31, 2020); Circular Letter of Convocation of the XXVI General
Chapter (Rome: February 2, 2021).
The synodal approach
In the words of Pope Francis, “the path of synodality is the path that God expects from
the Church of the third millennium.”2

To speak of synodality is to refer to the co-responsibility and participation of all the

People of God in the life and mission of the Church, a Church that undertakes an
intensely synodal process to which the Claretian Missionaries, as every baptized
person, should feel actively called to.3

To speak of synodality in the Congregation implies “walking together” to discern what

the Lord may be asking of us at this moment. Echoing what Pope Francis has said
about the Church, a synodal Congregation is a Congregation of listening: a family in
which we all listen to one another because we all have something to learn, and we all
want to listen together to the Holy Spirit.4

Synodality5 is not just about answering a few questions. It implies taking charge of
the life of the Congregation and assuming the responsibility that we all have in its
animation and government, respecting the principles of subsidiarity, subordination,
collaboration, and fraternal correction.

In the processes of change, transformations only take place if the persons affected
assume their protagonism. That is why the Major Superiors and the General Government
opted at the beginning of 2020 for a chapter methodology that would describe “a
bottom-up path in which all Claretians would be involved,” and in which the daily life of
all of us who are part of the Congregation would play an important role.

Following this approach, the preparation of the Chapter included conversations at four
different levels (local, zonal, province or delegation, and interprovincial conference).
Despite the pandemic, the Congregation held as many as 418 conversations, involving
even communities of elderly and sick confreres. The whole Congregation prepared
for the Chapter by holding conversations. This unison allowed for the participation in
the Chapter process of all the Missionaries and of those who share the mission with
us. Many communities expressed their satisfaction with these shared encounters with
others.

2
Cf. Pope Francis, Address at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops (Rome: October 17,
2015).
3
Cf. Synod of Bishops, Note on the XVI General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops to be held between October 2021 and October 2023
(Rome: May 21, 2021).
4
Cf. Pope Francis, Address at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops.
5
To understand the depth of this approach cf. International Theological Commission, Synodality in the Life and Mission of the Church
(Rome: 2018).
The narrative approach
By narrative approach we understand that it is important to narrate what we are living,
aware that history is a privileged place of God’s revelation. This can be clearly seen in
Sacred Scripture. Our Father Founder was also aware of the importance of narration
as a mediation of life.

This narrative approach takes into account the fact that language creates reality and
is not limited to describing it. That is why we have to be careful with the words we use
when we narrate what we live: to speak of a situation, however sad it may be, as a
tragedy is not the same as to speak of it as an opportunity.
Narrative practices pay a lot of attention to the cultural presuppositions of the words
we use although we may not be aware of them: What does it indicate when we call a
people underdeveloped? What does it mean to say that something brings “progress,”
or that a pastoral ministry is “maintained”?

The stories with which we narrate our Claretian life are therefore not secondary elements
(and dispensable as well) of who we are and how we live, but primary elements that
realize our identity in the Church. In the pre-capitular conversations we have seen how
very diverse groups of brothers (in age, culture, pastoral dedication) spoke of persons
or communities with very similar characteristics when they wanted to highlight our
“best” stories as a congregation.6

Each narration produces new vocabulary, new synthesis, and gives new meaning to
our stories.

6
The document, “The Conversations on the Way. Vademecum for the ‘Fifth Conversation,’” sent to the capitulars weeks before the
XXVI General Chapter, gathers many of them, referring to them by continents
After prioritizing more abstract or conceptual approaches in the past, the Congregation
has seen fit to take advantage of the renewing power of the concrete-narrative approach,
very present in the Bible. In its day the “stories” lived in Guinea, Chocó, China, and so
many other places impassioned Claretian Missionaries from very distant parts of the
world. These months we have seen that it continues to be so, although in coherence
with current sensibilities, perhaps today the “little story” is more appreciated, the life
of a person, a simple community, a silent commitment. Stories are really “values made
life.” That is why they can transmit life—one of the main objectives of our Chapters.

Narrations, stories also have a strong emotional charge. That is why they touch the
human heart so easily and mobilize attitudes and behaviors. We have all experienced
something of this in our vocation. A good story is not only informative, which describes
something that has happened, but performative—it realizes what it narrates. We could
say in the words of the Pope that our family must also discover the saints next door.
The appreciative approach
In the preparation and celebration of the XXVI General Chapter, we have called the
capacity to discover all that generates life and hope, in our case in the Congregation
and in the Church, the appreciative approach.

We tend to be accustomed to pyramidal approaches (from top to bottom), but there

are many experiences that show the transforming capacity of other approaches that
some authors call circular or heliotropic: plants move towards the light because where
there is light, there is life.

People also change and grow when we enter into relationship with that which produces
light and life, when we drink from the fountains of the Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.
In any process of congregational transformation, it is crucial that we connect with the
original sources of our Claretian Missionary being and feed from them.

The appreciative approach reminds us that it is very convenient to act as if what we

desire and intend is already happening. To say, “we are doing this” has much more
force than to say “we are going to do this.” In Spanish we would say, “ponerse manos
a la obra.” An English expression speaks of “walk the talk” (go live what we say).

The appreciative approach is best understood when compared to the so-called “clinical
approach.” The latter seeks above all to discover what takes away strength or vitality
to make diagnoses, to detect “illnesses.” Approaches of this type are especially useful
in times of deep crisis, or when urgent decisions need to be made.
Father Founder speaks of “examining the
illnesses of the social body” before making
new evangelizing proposals. Pope Francis also
sometimes refers to the illnesses of groups
and institutions.
When the Congregation gives priority to
this appreciative approach, it does not
mean ignoring the problems, or denying the
advantages of more “clinical” approaches. The
search for possible “dis-eases” had its place in
the pre-capitular conversations and occupied
quite a few hours of the month shared by the
capitulars. But the appreciative approach,
taking note of these illnesses, emphasizes the
discovery and development of the possibilities
and energies of individuals and groups in order
to foster processes of transformation. Claret
intuited something of this when he invited
the employees of the workshops to improve
by first praising what they had done well and
then calling their attention to what could be
improved (cf. Aut. 33-34).

As Father General and the facilitators

repeated during the Chapter, adopting this
type of approach requires an open mind (to
go beyond previous ways of thinking and
judging), an open heart (to empathize with
people and see things from other points of
view), and an open will (to let go of the old
and welcome the new). As mentioned in the
final evaluation of the Chapter, even if we go
through moments of fear and confusion, it is
only when we distance ourselves from the way
we are used to doing things that we can open
ourselves to new ways, which in this case have
offered beautiful results. Only those who take
risks can discover the new.
[2] The experience
of conversations
At the beginning of 2020, the General
Government invited the Congregation to
understand conversations as “a collective
process of searching through dialogue for the
positive core of the community, Organism or
Congregation; that is, for the resources and
values that keep it alive in its mission.” This
proposal then encouraged the overcoming
of negative language and the development of
“attitudes that entail an intention to progress
and a genuine willingness to learn and
change.”

The proposal was welcomed by the five

interprovincial Conferences (ACLA, ASCLA
West, ASCLA East, ECLA and MICLA) in the
Congregation today. Thirty of its thirty-one
Major Organisms and a very high percentage
of the communities held 413 conversations.
Many of them were participated in by lay
people, consecrated persons and priests.

Those conversations, which many of you will

remember, were prompted by “appreciative
questions” that sought to get the participants
to recall positive stories and memories related
to their own lives:

• Recover positive stories and memories

related to Claretian life.
• Examine their problems as opportunities
for further growth.
• Recognize and reflect on their abilities and
gifts.
• Recreate real stories and life experiences to
discover in them impulses for transformation.
• Share their dreams for the future of the
Congregation in the Church and in the world.
“The conversations,” the General Government said at the time, “are intended to spark
a sincere and profound dialogue on everything that can help the Congregation to
improve the quality of its missionary life based on the seeds of life that the Spirit raises
up.”

Today we can joyfully say that the objective has been achieved. When they were
evaluated, many participants in the pre-capitular conversations showed a more than
remarkable satisfaction. Something similar has been seen in the final evaluation carried
out by the capitulars. The XXVI General Chapter teaches us and encourages us to
detect what seeds of life the Spirit is sowing, so that we may continue to welcome
them and from them begin making our way. What we have experienced has shown us
the transforming power of certain ways of conversing. Like the disciples of Emmaus,
we have felt that the Lord was walking with us and rekindling our hearts. It is now time
to continue to make the most of this experience.
[3] A somewhat different celebration
But the novelty of the Chapter was
not only in the methodology. The
capitulars also accepted the challenge
of undertaking the tasks assigned to the
General Chapter by the Constitutions
(cf. CC 155), modifying somewhat the
procedure of previous assemblies.
Without relinquishing any of its duties,
the Chapter was organized into five
phases or moments.
The discovery phase
In phases normally described by infinitives, the
Chapter set out in this one to discover as reliably as
possible what moment the Congregation is living.

Two instruments were particularly relevant at this

stage. On the one hand, the vademecum in which
the main content of the pre-capitular conversations
held in the Congregation was summarized.7 On the
other hand, the set of reports (memoirs) prepared
by the General Government on the basis of these
conversations and the responses of the Major
Organisms to the questions that the Government
sent them.

The purpose of the discovery was also to evaluate

the life of the Congregation. The analysis asked
about both the elements that infuse life and
those that impede growth. There was thus talk of
“seeds of life” and of “weeds” (the post-chapter
exhortation also does this). As usual, there was
time for questions and clarifications. Consistent
with the approaches taken, the Chapter community
focused more on the potentialities and germs of
life, while still addressing the “diseases” or brakes
to growth.

To achieve this, the Chapter devoted time to

personal reflection and reading, and to dialogue in
various types of groups, aided by questions aimed
at achieving the objectives of this phase. The group
reflections were then shared in plenary meetings,
enriching the dialogue and exchange with their
contents.

7
Claretian Missionaries, The Conversations on the Way. Vademecum for the
“Fifth Conversation” (Rome: 2021).
The dreaming phase
In the history of salvation, God has made use of dreams to reveal himself. In them he
has shown his will and we human beings have been able to intuit what his plan was,
even if it seemed very difficult to realize.8 In this second phase, while trying to perceive
what God’s dream for the Congregation might be today, the capitulars spent time
trying to glimpse that future: What Congregation would we like to find at the end of this
six-year period when the next General Chapter will be held? Everything that had been
discovered in the previous phase helped to define the dream.

The idea was to fix our gaze on the seeds of life that had been detected: What
Congregation could be born from them? Why not imagine a future in which all that
strength could be harmonized, assisting grace in a common project? All the capitulars
had time to answer this question: What would be the characteristics of such a
Congregation? The intuitions of each one was shared and dialogued with others. Each
group then formulated what they believed to be God’s dream for the Congregation.
Later, after a careful listening exercise, the Chapter expressed this dream in words.
“Querida Congregación” has collected all these in its 43rd redaction.

8
In his Apostolic Letter Patris corde on St. Joseph (2020), Pope Francis cites nine biblical episodes as proof that the Bible sees dreams
as one of the means through which God manifests his will, and comments on four dreams of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
The election phase
The time that the capitulars devoted to electing the Superior General and his Council
was declared open once the Chapter had defined its dream for the Congregation. As
has been said, the capitulars had asked themselves based on what they had discussed,
prayed and discovered what the Lord might be asking of us as a Congregation of
Missionaries. It was then time to discern who could be the persons the Spirit was
inviting to be entrusted with the animation of the Congregation in order to make this
dream come true.

The coordinating commission exhorted the capitulars to live this phase in the greatest
possible harmony with the Spirit in an atmosphere of prayer and discernment. The
Chapter community intensified its prayer meetings during these days. First, with the
help of the facilitators, the capitulars discussed the type of people (without naming
names) who seemed most suitable for the services required. In a second step, with
an invitation to extreme delicacy and charity, the door was opened to dialogues about
particular persons. For these dialogues posed as “confidential conversations” with
an invitation to keep their content discreet, the capitulars met in pairs to discuss who
could be the Superior General, and in fours to talk about possible consultors and
prefects. The procedure, which invited a change of interlocutors every few minutes,
allowed the capitulars to listen to each other attentively. After the usual polls were
taken and before voting began, the Chapter was still able to hear how some confreres
felt about the possibility of being elected (cf. Dir. 354).
The design phase
In this phase the capitulars focused on discovering what concrete features could help
make the dreams a reality. With a comparison often used in the chapter hall, the dream
presented the kind of temple or dwelling we wanted to build. The so-called “designs”
helped to gauge how we wanted the main door, the windows, who would occupy
the altars, where the choir and the baptismal font were to be located... Without ever
forgetting what had been evaluated and discovered, the Chapter tried to make its
dream more comprehensible and realizable.

That is why it is very convenient that, as it is done in “Querida Congregación,” we

read each of the elements of the dream together with the design that describes it and
makes it concrete: what do we understand by a Congregation “that treasures, fulfills
and proclaims the Word of God,” and by a Congregation “committed to universal
fraternity”? The seven designs approved try to provide that help. Following the
suggestions of those more accustomed to working with these methodologies, the
Chapter has formulated its designs in the present tense. The Congregation speaks as
if it has already achieved what it designs. Hence the recourse, repeated in the text, to
the expression “As we reach 2027...” (cf. QC 45, 52, 57...).
The phase of commitments
The method adopted by the Chapter
reached its final phase. Its English name,
destiny, is not easy to translate into Spanish.
It was time to make a commitment, to
decide what steps we were going to take to
move the Congregation from the present
situation to the one we want to characterize
it in 2027. More than approving proposals
for the dream to become a reality, it was a
matter of agreeing on what we were going
to do to bring about the transformation and
change. In a synodal spirit, we expressed
our co-responsibility.

Each capitular had the time to personally

delve into the dream, its components and
the approved designs, and to ask himself
based on them what commitments could
be adopted and what he was personally
willing to assume or propose to his Major
Organism. As the Superior General and
the facilitators recalled more than once, it
was not a matter of making decisions for
others to execute them.

Calmly, although in intense days, the

proposals of commitments formulated and
dialogued in small groups were brought to
the plenary, where opportunity was given
to discuss them, improve them, and finally
vote on them in secret. All of them received
the express support of more than 80% of
the capitulars; in many cases more than
90%.
[4] An unfinished Chapter
Doubtless that the capitulars with a
unanimous vote decided to formally
close the Chapter on the evening of
September 11, 2021. But they did with
the awareness that the Chapter was not
over. As in the experience of the disciples
of Emmaus, the encounter with the Lord,
the discovery of the dream of God that
we wish to continue to make real—the
“great work” began by Father Claret
and companions—must continue to
become life in each of the communities
and apostolic platforms linked to the
Congregation.
It will be up to each Claretian Missionary
and each Major Organism to decide how,
but the Chapter exhortation is a call to be
welcomed, deepened and put into practice
in an ongoing process of transformation.
As “Querida Congregación” affirms in its
last numbers, convinced that Jesus and
Mary continue to walk with us, we are
invited to continue walking in synodality,
collaborating with the Spirit to convert
into life the seeds that he is sowing in the
world, the Church and the Congregation.
Conversing with the Risen Christ in our
midst has done us good. Let us continue
to do so.
[II] A new document
to continue walking with fidelity
As in previous General Chapters (1997, 2003, 2009, 2015), the one celebrated in
2021 also asked itself what kind of text should be addressed to the Congregation. The
capitulars, aware that they had decided to celebrate a somewhat different Chapter,
understood that what was offered to the Congregation should also be different.
Several of the last Chapters addressed a “declaration” to us. This time, wanting
to accentuate the synodal approach and imitating the Church in her post-synodal
exhortations, “Querida Congregación” presents itself as a “post-chapter exhortation.”
And, expressing the narrative accent that has permeated the whole process, it adopts
the tone of a letter that wants to be written with the affection shown from so long ago
by Father Claret, Fr. Xifré, and our brother Martyrs (cf. QC 1).
[1] Three keys to understand
the exhortation
As “Querida Congregación” affirms from the beginning (QC 10b), we Claretian
Missionaries welcome the service of Pope Francis, successor of Peter, as light and
grace. If in Missionarii sumus—the fruit of the XXV General Chapter (2015)—the
influence of Evangelii gaudium and Laudato si’ is clear, in the General Chapter of
2021 our deep communion with the life and magisterium of the Church is clearly
perceived. The exhortation refers to this by citing the impact that texts such as Fratelli
tutti, Gaudete et exsultate and Christus vivit have on the life of the Congregation.
Pastoral conversion and processes of
transformation
As a kind of echo of Evangelii nuntiandi, which so influenced
the life of the Congregation and “The Mission of the Claretian
Today,” fruit of the 1979 General Chapter, the insistence
of Evangelii gaudium on pastoral conversion marked the
resolutions of the 2015 General Chapter.

Two years earlier Pope Francis had expressed, curiously in

the form of a dream, his desire for the Church to live an intense
process of missionary, pastoral and ecological conversion,
which would place her “througout the world…permanently
in a state of mission” (EG 25). “I dream,” the Pope wrote, “of
a ‘missionary option’… capable of transforming everything,
so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things,times and
schedules, language and structure can be suitably channelled
for the evangelization of today’s world” (EG 27).

The Congregation could not but welcome such a call. The

Congregation felt invited to deal with the three processes
of transformation with commitment and determination that
have illuminated our journey in the six-year period 2015-
2021, processes that sought only to purify our response
to the vocation received: “To keep the inheritance we have
received alive and fruitful, what is the Spirit asking of us at
this moment in the history of humanity?” (MS 34) “What
traits would the Spirit want us to be identified with, especially
in the coming years?” (MS 37)
A reading of the paragraphs with which the XXV General Chapter introduced these
processes of transformation makes it easy to see what it is all about:

“We resolve to be with Jesus a Congregation ‘going forth’ (cf. Mk 1:38) which receives
the call of the Church to the pastoral-missionary and ecological conversion: we
commit ourselves to form, under the guidance of the Spirit, communities of witnesses
and messengers; we will take care to be men of deep spirituality who, open to the
recommendation of Pope Francis to the Congregation, adore our God the Father ‘in
spirit and truth’ (cf. Jn 4:23), and embrace the processes of transformation that the
Spirit grants us” (MS 65).

Three proposals; three processes. But framed in clear references to the Spirit, the
Father and the Son. It is not a matter of deciding which path to take, of putting ourselves
at the head of the task, but of assisting what God the Trinity wants to do in us. The 2009
Chapter statement affirmed this repeatedly; those of 2015 and 2021 do so again.9 If
we are concerned about our dreams, it is because we desire to fulfill God’s dream. We
have professed to “dedicate ourselves fully to Him” (CC 159). We know that we can
only do this by living at the service of the Kingdom and our brothers (cf. MS 2).

In the paragraphs that introduced the three processes in MS we see it clearly: Mary
continues to forge us as disciples called to that profound conversion and transformation
(cf. MS 66, 69, 73).

The XXVI General Chapter did not want to articulate its proposals around the three
processes pointed out by the previous Chapter, but it has clearly stated that all three
continue to be valid to illuminate our journey and to impel our response (cf. QC 9,
10-42). In the coming years we continue to be called to live as a Congregation going
forth, a community of witnesses and messengers of the joy of the Gospel, and men
who adore God in spirit and truth. As we seek to realize the designs that express what
we have understood as God’s dream for the Congregation, we will continue to allow
the Spirit to work in us the transformations that God desires.

9
In its first four numbers alone, Missionarii sumus states it a dozen times: our task is to welcome the gift, to collaborate with the Spirit.
It is not a matter of conquests of our efforts, but of graces to be welcomed, implored, cared form and allowed to grow (cf. MS 69).
Rooted in Christ and Audacious in Mission
The Major Superiors of the Congregation and the General Government have
already made use of both terms. In the “Declaration of Aspirations” of the
Talagante meeting (January 2020) they expressed their desire and goal to arrive
at the General Chapter “affirmed in our charismatic roots” and “encouraged,
together with others, to take bold steps in mission.” The term “rootedness”
already began to gain force. For more than a year we repeated it thousands of
times in the prayer for the XXVI General Chapter, in which we also asked for the
gift of audacity.

Mathew Vattamattam spoke of rootedness and audacity in the light of the image
of the compass used by Father Founder: “ One pole of the compass is fixed at
the center point and the other is free to move around. Claret knew well that,
in the measure that his heart was deeply rooted in Christ, he could freely and
boldly move out to proclaim the Gospel where God sent him.”10 The compass
and its underlying message have also been very present in the dialogues of the
capitulars.

In Evangelii Gaudium the Pope also spoke of audacity (cf. EG 33). He invited the
XXV General Chapter to this and to rootedness.11 He spoke of them again at the
XXVI General Chapter:

“You are Missionaries: if you want your mission to be truly fruitful, you cannot
separate mission from contemplation and a life of intimacy with the Lord. If you
want to be witnesses, you cannot stop being adorers. Witnesses and adorers
are two words that are at the heart of the Gospel: ‘He called them to be with him
and to send them out to preach’ (Mk 3:14). Two dimensions which nourish each
other, one cannot exist without the other.

“This orientation will make you audacious in the mission, that missionary audacity
as audacious was the mission of Father Claret and the first missionaries who
joined him. Consecrated life requires audacity, it needs older people who resist
the ageing of life, and young people who resist the ageing of the soul. To put it
a little in everyday jargon, do not become settled.”12

10
Mathew Vattamattam, Circular Letter of Convocation of the XXVI General Chapter.
11
“When Jesus is at the center of our life, we are able to witness to and communicate the joy of the Gospel”; a joy that must
be “deeply rooted both in our own life and in that of the community,” and that must be proclaimed “without fear.” Cf. Pope
Francis, Address to the XXV General Chapter of the Congregation (Rome: September 11, 2015).
12
Pope Francis, Address to the XXVI General Chapter of the Congregation (Rome: September 9, 2021).
A dream of God that becomes
a project of life and mission
Pope Francis has often spoken of dreams as spaces of God’s revelation. In his
letter of February 2, 2021, Father General alluded to their presence in ninety-five
paragraphs of his post-synodal exhortations. The following ideas from Christus
vivit can help us understand his insistence.13

The prophecy of Joel allows us to understand all this in a very beautiful way: if the
young and the old open themselves to the Holy Spirit, they give rise to a marvelous
combination. The old have dreams built with memories marked by experience. If the
young are rooted—attention to the word, rooted—in the dreams of the elderly, they
can see the future, have visions that open them to the horizon and show them new
paths. “If we journey together,” the Pope points out, “we can be firmly rooted in the
present, and from here, revisit the past and look to the future.… Together, we can
learn from one another, warm hearts, inspire minds with the light of the Gospel, and
lend new strength to our hands” (CV 199).

13
Cf. Pope Francis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus vivit (Rome: March 25, 2019), nn. 192-201. Significantly the last
numbers appear grouped under the heading “risking together.”
“Roots,” he comments, “ are not anchors chaining us to
past times and preventing us from facing the present and
creating something new. Instead, they are a fixed point
from which we can grow and meet new challenges” (CV
200). Rootedness, roots, newness, future.

But the key remains in listening to the Spirit, in discernment.

The disciples must follow his path. With a beautiful image
that quotes a young man from the Samoan Islands, Pope
Francis compares the Church to a canoe in which some
help to keep it on course by judging the position of the stars
while others keep rowing with strength, imagining what
waits for them ahead. Let us, as a Congregation, accept
his invitation: “Let us all climb aboard the same canoe and
together seek a better world, with the constantly renewed
momentum of the Holy Spirit” (CV 201).
[2] Three proposals for welcoming the
exhortation “Querida Congregación”
We offer here three possibilities. The first is intended to facilitate a personal deepening
of the Chapter text. The second invites us to a community moment of transformative
conversation. The third can take the form of zonal meetings that bring together
several communities as well as province or delegation meetings.

The experience of the last two years confirms that in conversation with people who
do not belong to the Congregation our life is greatly enriched. Each community will
assess what kind of meetings can have a special richness if other people are invited
to join. We can share the fruits of the General Chapter with those who helped us in
the pre-capitular conversations as a sign of our gratitude.
Personal Moment
Look for opportune times and places to welcome the Chapter exhortation. The
Congregation wants to speak to you through it. The capitulars wanted to write it in the
light of the Spirit. To ask for the Spirit’s help is the best thing we can do to understand
and welcome it. Call upon the Spirit. If you prefer to have recourse to a ready-made
prayer, the Spiritual Directory offers you some (cf. Spiritual Directory 133, 184).

Read the exhortation calmly. The key points outlined above can help you to study it
in depth. The written notes you take will help you to share your reflection with your
confreres.

[1] Read calmly the dream in number 43. What strikes you most about it?
[2] What do you like most about the Congregation designed for 2027?
[3] What is the dream that God has for your life within his greatest dream for
the Congregation that the Spirit has awakened in us during the preparation and
celebration of the Chapter, and how do you design and commit yourself to realize
it? What can you do to share this dream with other brothers?
[4] What designs and commitments will you consider a priority for you, so that
your life and mission will be more rooted in Christ?
[5] What commitments do you consider important but hesitate to assume? How
can you overcome the fear of these changes?
[6] Which of God’s appeals in the exhortation resonate most strongly with you?
Which two or three seem most relevant to your community and your province or
delegation?
Community time
To prepare yourselves for the community meeting, we invite you to read days before
(together or personally) the complete message that Pope Francis addressed in
audience to the capitulars. You can find the text on the Vatican website (https://www.
vatican.va/content/francesco/es/speeches/2021/september/documents/20210909-
claretiani.html).
We invite you as you gather together in community to begin by invoking the Holy
Spirit and to do a brief exercise of Lectio Divina with Lk 24:13-36, sharing for a few
minutes what the text suggests to you.

Let us together listen to the song, “Rooted and Bold,” composed for the Chapter by
Fr. Luis Enrique Ortiz, CMF (https://youtu.be/Kga7ffmMyN0).
In a first round of interventions, you can share briefly your personal reflection on
“Querida Congregación,” listening to each other without prejudging what one says.
Then you can answer together these three questions:

[1] Which of the Spirit’s interpellations can most affect the community at this
time, and how can you respond to them with audacity?
[2] How can we in our community make the dream for the Congregation our own
and inculturate the designs and commitments in the concrete situation in which
we live?
[3] What will be different in the Church (local and universal) and in the world if
we pursue God’s dream for us and all Claretian Missionaries commit ourselves
to follow the designs and commitments proposed by the Chapter?

The encounter can conclude with a moment of spontaneous prayer and the recitation
of the apostolic prayer of St. Anthony Mary Claret (cf. Spiritual Directory 72).

The shared joy of feeling that we are a Congregation and perceiving the passage
of God in our lives can give rise to a community that celebrates shared joy in some
special way at table or in recreation. You will know how to do it in your place.
Zone or Major Organism Meetings
The format of these meetings will vary according to the circumstances: assemblies, or
in-person, or on-line meetings, etc. Each Major Organism will have to determine the
best way to organize itself.

The meeting can include a simple exercise of Lectio Divina about Joel 3:1-5.14 The
meeting can use the words of Pope Francis in Christus vivit (CV 192-201) in which he
deepens the importance of dreaming together.

It is the moment to share what has been discussed in the communities and to ask
ourselves what could be the interpellations and invitations of God to the Major Organism.

[1] What kind of province or delegation do we envision in the light of the dream
that God dreams with us (somnia Dei) for the Congregation in 2027? What are
you personally willing to do to make it a reality?
[2] What bold actions that can make a difference in your Major Organism would
you like to see realized before 2027?
[3] In light of the Chapter experience, how can the province/delegation design
a process to engage the whole Organism in creating a new future according to
God’s dream?

We hope that “Querida Congregación,” welcomed and interiorized by everyone, the

community, the zone, and the organism, will help us to set out on the journey, like the
disciples of Emmaus, and be witnesses of a missionary life ever more rooted in Christ
and audacious in the mission.

14
In some versions such as the Jerusalem Bible or NABRE, the reference Joel 3:1-5 is correct. But in other versions, both in English
and Spanish, that corresponding text appears as Joel 2:28-32.