At the end of a silent retreat the participants in the FCJ General Chapter celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit to pray for the deliberations and the elections of the coming days. The Eucharist was presided by Fr Brendan Callaghan SJ, who facilitated the retreat. Here are some excerpts of the prayers and the homily.
Utuslah Roh-Mu, ya Tuhan, dan jadi baru seluruh muka bumi (Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth)
Responsorial Psalm (Ps 104) response
Homily, by Fr Brendan Callaghan SJ
We live with the promise of the Spirit, with the promise of hope. We live in a world of exile and fragility and devastation – the real world which we share with all our brothers and sisters – but we live with the promise of the Spirit. It’s not that our living with that promise – our living in that promise – leaves us unaware of the realities and tragedies of the world: despite how some see religion, and how some live religion, our living is not an avoidance of real life but an ever deeper engagement with life at its most real. The Scottish philosopher John Macmurray puts it memorably:
The maxim of illusory religion runs: “‘Fear not; trust in God and he will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you;” that of real religion, on the contrary, is “Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”
The experience of those who live in faithfulness to God is consistent: God is the God of promise, the God of hope. God’s first and always chosen people lived in promise and lived in hope. The power of the Spirit, the power of that promise, the power of that hope, proclaimed again and again by the prophets, was such that the people could live in oppression and persecution, in exile and devastation, and yet live in hope, live within God’s promise, live encompassed by God’s Spirit.
While at some levels our world is unimaginably different from theirs, at the levels at which we truly live our lives, at the levels of our hearts, of our souls, we live as they lived. We too are touched by exile; we too see the fragility of our plans, and the possibility of devastation and collapse lurking below the complexities of our individual and social lives. We see, also, the gap between what we actually accomplish in our living and working and loving and serving of God’s kingdom in our congregations, and what might be the shape of our lives and of our work and of our loves and of our service.
The prophets spoke hope, and those who could listen found within themselves the strength and the capacity to open themselves to God’s promise, to entrust themselves to the God of promises. As people living within hope, living within God’s promise, they in turn became givers of hope, signs of the promise of God, of the presence of the Spirit of God. They became carriers of life and healing, themselves bringing to birth within others that same life, that same power to heal.
So the hope was passed on, the promise was lived within, across countless years, until one day in a synagogue in Nazareth a young man announces that these words have been fulfilled. The promise and the hope have taken tangible form in the person of Jesus: “the promised one of Israel’s story” has come to be with us, to live among us.
He has come to live within the promise with us.
He has come to live within hope with us.
And three years later, as the first followers of Jesus were gathered in that upper room in Jerusalem, struggling with the crucified-and-risen one no longer being mysteriously but oh-so-tangibly in their midst, they were touched with fire and the realisation that in the power of the Spirit Jesus was with them and would always be with them.
The promise and the hope which had taken tangible form in the person of Jesus, “the promised one of Israel’s story”, had come to be with them for ever, to live among them for ever.
The Spirit of Jesus encompassed them, making tangible that promise and that hope through and in each other and their gathering in community and missionary discipleship.
So that hope was passed on, the promise was lived within, across countless years, as Jesus in the Spirit worked in and through (and sometimes around) the wondrous variety of those gathered as church, speaking at particular times to particular people in ways that have in our times spoken to us, and have led us to recognise and accept the particular invitations, the ‘vocations’ that shape each of our lives towards their fullness.
The Spirit of Jesus encompasses us, making tangible that promise and that hope through and in each other and our gathering in community and missionary discipleship.
He has come to live within the promise with us.
He has come to live within hope with us.
And because we live (as best we can) within that promise and within that hope, because we live (as best we can) with the call “to create in ourselves that thirst to receive the Spirit and that thirst to pour [the Spirit] forth”, because we live (as best we can) as Faithful Companions of Jesus, so we in our turn become givers of hope, signs of the promise of God made incarnate in Jesus. We become carriers of life and healing, we bring to birth within others that same life, that same power to heal.
We live with the promise of the Spirit, with the promise of hope. We live in a world of exile and fragility and devastation – the real world which we share with all our brothers and sisters – but we live with the promise of the Spirit.
Our role, then, is so to live that we can set free the men and women we meet so that they may live within the promise of the Spirit, the promise of hope, the Spirit who lives and works in us all.
“Fear not; the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”
Prayer of Intercession
Sr Bonnie Moser fcJ, General Superior, led the capitulars in the prayers of intercession:
Dear Sisters, united in one heart and one desire for the glory of God, we bring our prayers before the Lord. Trusting in the Spirit who breathes through all creation, we pray:
1. That the holy spirit may strengthen the bonds of companionship among us, renew our sense of purpose, and rekindle our zeal for the mission of Jesus. May we be women of hope, rooted in faith and joy, ready to go wherever love and need call us. R.Listen to your people, Lord, listen to your people.
2. That the Spirit who guided our Foundress, Marie Madeleine, may again breathe among us — opening our hearts to listen deeply, to discern together in faith, and to respond generously to the needs of the Church and the world today. May every prayer, silence, and conversation become an encounter with Christ, who leads us ever forward in mission. R. Listen to your people, Lord, listen to your people.
3. That the Spirit of creation may heal our wounded planet and awaken in us a deeper respect and care for all living beings. May our way of life reflect simplicity, gratitude, and reverence for life. R. Listen to your people, Lord, listen to your people.
4. That the Spirit of peace may move across nations wounded by conflict, injustice, and environmental destruction. May world leaders be inspired by wisdom rather than power and may the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth be heard and healed. R. Listen to your people, Lord, listen to your people.
Sr Bonnie: God of love and light, you have poured out your Spirit upon us to make all things new. Hear the prayers we have spoken and the hopes we hold in silence. Continue to guide us with Your wisdom, gentleness, and strength. May we walk forward as faithful companions of Jesus, filled with joy, hope, and courage, building together a world of justice, peace, and compassion — all for your greater glory. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Please continue to support our General Chapter with your prayers.
Find out more about what a General Chapter is or the preparations for our FCJ General Chapter. Follow the Chapter news on the News of our General Chapter page.
