1 December 1990 To Each Confrere

My dear Confrere,

May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with us forever!

A little over a month has passed since the conclusion of the Synod in which I was privileged to participate. Throughout the days of listening and discussing I often reflected on the joy the event must have given to the heart of St. Vincent. For three decades of his life he spent himself not only planning and discussing the topic of the formation of priests, but man of action that he was, organizing means and structures to secure that priests be well formed for the task of leading God's people. How St. Vincent would have rejoiced if the Pope of his day had called together a representation of the Bishops of the world and invited them to reflect on the topic of the formation of priests. How he would have rejoiced even more if the Pope of his day had assisted at the general sessions of such a meeting, as did Pope John Paul II at the recent Synod.

The theme of this Synod was linked to that of the preceding one in 1987 on the Christian Laity. Indeed it seems that the strength of the voice of the laity, as expressed at that Synod, influenced greatly the choice of the topic for the 1990 Synod. That in itself is an indication of how central to the life of the Church is the ministerial priesthood. It is the priest who stands at the heart of the renewal of the Church in our day and indeed always, a truth that St. Vincent saw so clearly. Lay people will never come to achieve the full potential of their vocation as laity, if priests are not living to the full their vocation. Within the context of our own Community, we can say that it will be difficult for our brothers to enter fully into the mission of the Community, if we priests are not aware of the dignity of the priesthood, and express that dignity in a life that is distinguished by its humility, its prayerfulness and its loving concern for the poor, oppressed and suffering members of Christ's body. Just as in the Church the vocations of priest and lay person are complementary, so, too, within the Congregation. When as priests or Brothers, we accept, value and appreciate each other's particular vocation within the Community, the life of the Congregation is greatly strengthened and its mission in the Church made more effective.

One day during the Synod, when our language group was discussing a rather lengthy summary of what had been said during the previous ten days in the presence of all the Synodal Fathers, one of the Bishops expressed surprise that no mention had been made of eternal life in the particular position paper. It was an oversight on the part of those who drafted the document. But did it not reflect a way of thinking that makes us sometimes focus our attention on horizons that are too limited?

The Church lives at once on the mountain and in the market place. One could say that during the past three decades particularly she has lived in the market place, where she has been pained by the sight of an increasing number of poor people who are also being made to suffer many injustices. In her loving concern the Church has not only raised her voice in protest, but has encouraged us to translate that concern into concrete actions. (cf. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, p43).

The Church also lives on the mountain from which she can see, though in a dark manner, the vast vistas of eternal life that stretch beyond the frontiers of time. Indeed the eternal life the Church proclaims and to which she calls humanity is more than the perfection of life as we know it on this earth. The life she proclaims and to which she invites humanity to share is the eternal life of God. "The eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us," (1 Jn 1:2) found its fullest and most adequate expression in Jesus Christ, Who was born of the Virgin Mary.

The mystery of Christmas is the celebration of the call of humanity to share that eternal life of God. As we are reminded each day at Mass, the invitation is "to share in the divinity of Christ, Who humbled himself to share in our humanity."

Both from the mountain and from the market place the Church proclaims the good news that all are called to share in the life of God. As Pope Paul VI expressed it: "Evangelization, then, will include a prophetic proclamation of that other life which is man's sublime and eternal vocation. This vocation is at once connected with and distinct from his present state; it is the vocation of a life to come which transcends time and history and all the transient circumstances of this world of which the hidden significance will one day be revealed.... But evangelization will not be complete unless it constantly relates the Gospel to men's actual lives, personal and social." (Evangelii Nuntiandi pp28-29).

Between the mountain and the market place there is the cave of Bethlehem. It speaks to all of us of new life. It also speaks sadly to us of the selfishness of humanity. The poignancy of St. Luke's phrase, "because there was no place for them in the inn", (Lk 2:7) reminds us that, then as now, there is a great gap between the haves and the have-nots in society and among the nations. The celebration of Christmas challenges each one of us to close, even by a millimeter, that wide gap.