(The Open Road, No. 4, January 1970, pp.1-3.)
Just over two years ago, our provincial chapter set itself the task of implementing the Council’s Decree on Religious Life. The opinions expressed, and the resolutions adopted were marked by a character of transition. This was only to be expected since a full review of the province’s life could not be taken in hand until the publication of the new Constitutions of the Order. These are now available to all and so it is natural that we should think in terms of the next Chapter, and in particular that we should try to evaluate the experiences of the last two years.
Renewal and adaptation of religious life are ideals which demand the understanding and the support of all if they are to be fully realized. However, it is obvious that superiors by their leadership can help a great deal to create conditions in which this can take place. I think it is very much to the credit of the superiors of the province that they have provided this leadership. It would have been easy for them simply to have paid lip service to the ideals of the Council. They deserve credit for having had the courage to shun such “prudence” and for breaking new ground.
However, it should be equally obvious that such practical loyalty to the ideals of the Council must be reciprocated if it is to have lasting effect. This means that the ordinary friar must respond by making his contribution to the betterment of the Province. My own more immediate experience is that this response is generously given.
Of course, it should be surprising if there is a considerable element of diversity in the enthusiasm of any response, particularly when our attitude is influences by the prevailing air of doubt and uncertainty in the Church, when the axiom of today is the fallacy of tomorrow. I think it would not be untrue to say that we have devoted too much attention to the idea of adaptation at the expense of renewal. We may be like the bad workman blaming his tools.
At a time of change and development it always remains necessary to keep priorities right, to keep an eye on the essentials. We could, I think, usefully ask ourselves if the spirit of prayer is all that it might be. External criteria are never an infallible guideline of interior attitudes but nevertheless it is not unreasonable to entertain doubts as to the strength of a conviction whose formal expression is readily diminished even under mild pressure.
The ideal of community life, too, is not one which is amenable to any kind of computerized analysis. Still its interests are not served if a man operates largely as an individual, and speaks of the Order as if it were some kind of impersonal system external to himself.
Neither is the common duty of work met adequately met in a spirit of minimalism, if the approach is simply one of getting it over with, or of doing only one’s own job without reference to the needs of others. Clearly there is something wrong if the introduction of a religious motive into a discussion on work is met with surprise at the apparent naiveté underlying the idea. Surely a spirit of generosity is not an “extra” in Franciscan life, but rather an inseparable part of it.
It is my opinion that our over-riding concern in the next few months should be to find ways – and more importantly – to generate the will to renew ourselves. Nobody but a fool would say that this is easy. On the contrary it is one of the hardest of all tasks – that of coming face to face with ourselves.
Difficult though the task is, it is necessary. We would only be deceiving ourselves if we felt that because of some changes of rule or custom we have fulfilled the duty set before us by the Council.
To say this may seem to labour the obvious, but the obvious is sometimes that which is most easily missed.