A SHARED HEART

The whole good of our Congregation is in our hands, for on the good observance of the rules depend the religious spirit, the perfection of its members and the vigour of the whole Institute. Let us therefore act in such a way that the work we have accomplished may truly be for our Congregation like a fountain of life, like a fountain of water springing up to eternal life (Father Jules Chevalier, 1898).

In the following lines I will try to give a short historical overview of the shaping of the different documents, up to the experience of the MSC International Initial Formation meeting held in Rome, Italy.  As is known to many, the General Administration carried out a laborious work during five long years with formators and trainees, with and by means of: interviews, meetings at the level of Entities and Continents, among others. All this work was called “Accompaniment of the Initial Formation MSC”. In addition to the above, more than 90 formators participated, without counting the superiors, from which came the document called “Instrumentum Laboris”, it should be noted that this first stage was called “Co-Initiate”.

With all this information gathered, the second stage began. In a similar way to the previous one, it was called “Co-Feeling”. On this occasion, the formators and superiors of each continent, the novice masters and the Continental MSC Entities of: CA-MSC, UAF, PEC and APIA. The purpose of these meetings was to extract the richness of the document of the first stage, from which was born a new document called ¨Instrumentum Laboris part II¨. It should be noted that this document together with the document of ¨Valladolid¨ are the two great treasures for the development of the third stage ¨The Witnessing¨.

Finally, we met in Rome, Italy, for our International MSC Initial Formation meeting, which took place from the 16th to the 29th of May this year, with the participation of our Superior General, secretary, facilitators, translator, logistic corps and formators from Africa, the Americas (CA-MSC), Asia and Oceania (APIA-MSC), and Europe (PEC-MSC), all supported and sheltered by the spirituality of the Heart of Jesus.   

It was truly a very enriching experience; the academic, cultural, social and spiritual aspects of all the meetings made us contemplate the Heart of Christ, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and the spirituality of our founder, Father Jules Chevalier.  It should be added that in addition to the academic formative spaces, there were other spaces for prayer, meditation, contemplation, individual and group work, by country and region. It is also worth mentioning the unforgettable community outings and the bohemian evenings. In short, there was enough time to do everything. 

In conclusion, I cannot overlook the fact that the study and deepening of these two treasures: the “Instrumentum Laboris II” and the document of “Valladolid” were the basis for the new decision making, obviously in the light of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, the sum of all the forces not only of those who were present at this meeting, but also of the Provincials, Superiors, Seminarians, MSC Lay Religious, Parishioners and in general the whole Chevalier family, made it possible for the Heart of Jesus to be present in the four movements inherent to our MSC spirituality, that is to say: Encounter, Intimacy, Conversion, Intimacy and Conversion: Encounter, Intimacy, Conversion and Mission. 

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart accompany and enlighten you at the next General Chapter. 

Miguel Piamba, MSC (Colombia Section)