An image often coming back clear to my mind, speaking or somehow mentioning fraternal life, is that of a cloudy sunrise over the sea: sometimes black, sometimes light clouds, on whose edge the sun is high, however pressing the horizon, makes a mark golden, leaving signs of a victory that will make bright the coming day.

It is true, our era is marked by various and different clouds: in addition to wars, persecutions, hunger, diseases, there was also a widespread existential fragmentation; prevails a feeling of loneliness; multiply divisions and oppositions. The individualism that is forcing leads to weaken the sense of solidarity in interpersonal relationships, the sense of gestures and choices’ gratuity. It is easy to people feeling alone, that the emotional support is fluctuating, sometimes just in their parental relationships.

The Church, in her maternal solicitude for the consecrated persons, supported, directed, corrected -through a secure teaching- the way of religious persons expressing fraternal communion, as a gift by Heaven (cf Fraternal Life in community). It also becomes the visible sign that you, sharing in the life and ideals, can overcome the current logic, which has as its criterion of choice personal gain, and thus to build a good future for the world and themselves.
Surprised at the possibility of communion, inflamed to the burning bush that is God-Trinity, astonished of the warp/twist that the Spirit weaves in everyday community life, to trust in God- Love in total availability: these are the inner sapiential attitudes for a quality fraternal life, that the Church and our contemporaries are expecting by consecrated people.

Look of the heart on the Trinity

Blessed John Paul II said in his apostolic letter Novo Millennium Ineunte (2001), almost compendium of the teaching contained in the basic documents for the religious life –Fraternal life in community (1994), and Vita Consecrata (1996)- that spirituality, whom the whole Church is strongly called to, is that of communion: "We need to promote -the Pope said- a spirituality of communion, making it the guiding principle of education wherever individuals and Christians are formed, wherever ministers of the altar, consecrated persons, and pastoral workers are trained, wherever families and communities are being built up.  A spirituality of communion indicates above all the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us. "(NMI 43).

The spring of the communion gushes from the heart of the Trinity, truly inexhaustible source of love. The circularity of this love is the very reason for the existence of God, who continually communicated to every creature, since it was created in his image. For this reason the intimate nature of person is communional. Every Christian is called to adhere to God's plan for the world, winning the division that sin has made in relationships at every level.
"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another" (Gv13, 35): the words of Jesus make us well understood that the relationship of communion is really a manifestation of that love, springing from the heart the Father, is flooding us through the Spirit that Jesus himself gives us. Only by making visible this reality, the Church, family of God, is the sign of a deeper union with God and professes herself as the dwelling within which this experience is possible and life-giving for all.

Christ the Lord, calling some to share his life, forms a community that makes visible "the possibility of a community of goods, of fraternal love, of a programme of life and activity which is theirs because they have accepted the call to follow more closely and more freely Christ the Lord" (VFC 10).

How not to be surprised by interior joy, generated in front of the gratuity of communion’s gift? This is placed in the hands of the creatures: the possibility of an existence resting on the communional relationship, which is an ontological requirement. This need creates in the depths of a person a longing for love, placated only if the eyes of the heart are lost in the heart of the Trinity.

The fraternal communion "theological space"

Aware of that communion is a gift, you can not even pretend to understand the religious community by thinking it as a product of merely human efforts. The consecrated life originates from a pure gratuity: Christ wants us in relationship with him, so He gave his life, for this He continues to walk through our daily lives, and so He sees and calls someone. If the heart and life of a person are open to the wonder of this predilection, gratitude flourishes. The mixture of astonishment and gratitude moves toward the other, toward that sister and brother sharing the faith in the Lord, till the call to be with him/her in the same religious Family. Then the community is made up of people who belong to me, and I take the positive of them and enhanced this value as a gift for me. Then there is no space for selfishness, competition, jealousy’s temptation.

The fraternal communion is called "a God-enlightened space in which to experience the mystical presence of the Risen Lord (cf Mt 18:20). This comes about through the mutual love of all the members of the community, a love nourished by the word and by the Eucharist, purified in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and sustained by prayer for unity, the special gift of the Spirit to those who obediently listen to the Gospel."(VC 42).

The fraternal communion is a reflection of the way of God’s being and giving. In other words, you can not love the others without loving them in God and this is the only way to avoid reducing the sister or brother to an object of possession. Only through the heart of God you can accommodate the crucifying diversity of the others and "bear witness to the reconciling power of grace, which overcomes the divisive tendencies present in the human heart and in society." (VC 41b).

Is this utopia? Certainly not, as a reconciled humanity is the sign of recognition that Jesus left for his disciples: Redemption 'becomes' in the ordinariness! It can not be that people with different human backgrounds are together on a stable way, if each of them will not turn constantly to the love of God who first loves and accepts, that forgives, which recreates the heart of the consecrated and enables him of unconditional love, free from judgment.

To build the fraternity

For the time’s evolution, within the consecrated life, the community had to adapt the modus vivendi with the changed social conditions, while remaining still some basic principles: fraternity, who puts an emphasis on interpersonal relationships in the community, and life in common, that is, "living in one's own lawfully constituted religious house" [and in "leading a common life" through] fidelity to the same norms, taking part in common acts, and collaboration in common services" (VFC 3).

It is not easy or obvious as stated above, because the rhythm sometimes frenetic/ pace that life requires, leads to not paying attention to what you can not only preserve, but especially food fraternal life. “From the gift of communion arises the duty to build fraternity, in other words, to become brothers and sisters in a given community where all are called to live together" (VFC 11).

There are a few ways to accomplish this, which are indispensable. “A religious community needs to be watchful and take the time necessary for attending to the quality of its life.” (VFC 13). It is a network of community and personal prayer!

"To live as brothers and sisters, a true journey of interior liberation is necessary" (VFC 21). If we do not want that the old man prevail, you must know and rely on the support of the human sciences for a better understanding of themselves, not forgetting that there is an ascetic path to pursue and which can not be waived. Aware that even in the best community we can not avoid conflicts (cf VFC 26), is equally indispensable to cultivate the human virtues that make pleasant and happy every life of fraternity, such as "respect, kindness, sincerity, self-control, tactfulness, a sense of humor and a spirit of sharing” (VFC 27).

Another important element is definitely the communication, which is sharing of experiences. His lack "strangers to us, and the relationship will become anonymous, as well as create true and very real problems of isolation and solitude" (VFC 32). We must have the courage to tear down our defenses and approach to our sisters and brothers with confidence and in the truth, eliminating judgments and prejudices. In this way we construct a reciprocity, so nobody is a stranger.

The community is not an end/purpose in itself, but for the person. "For religious men and women, fulfillment comes  through their communities ..." (VFC 25). "The path towards human maturity, which is a prerequisite of a radiant evangelical life, is a process which knows no limits, since it involves continuous enrichment not only of spiritual values but also of values in the psychological, cultural and social order" (VFC 35 ). Growing humanly and spiritually is possible if you feel at your place, if you love your vocation, and are willing to sacrifice for her. It's in a fraternity that I self-centered is open to us, that from an individualistic objective converges towards a common project.

The authority guarantees the unity of purpose, that animates the spiritual life and mission, which strengthens the fraternal communion (cf VC 43b). It is not an exercise of power that can lead to dominate people, but the exercise of motherhood and fatherhood of God's own heart, that allows a community trusting each other and with reliance/ relying on Him who is One and with Reciprocity.

This is what we inherited, that is what consecrated life is called to live today because it is the prophecy of the future ... "And the hope is tinged with beauty."

 
Lina Rossi mpda
Via Monte L’Abbate, 39
47924 Rimini