COMMUNION
FOR ECCLESIAL TEAMS
Sections
Introduction
This third part of the document on ecclesial teams brings
us to a deep understanding of the goal or end of the ecclesial
team, its 'raison d'etre' - it is none other than the very
vision of the Society - union with the Trinity.
We
are led in this document (or rather teaching), to see
the depths of the call for each individual, each team
and for the whole Society. It is a call to a true and
deep communion which shares in and reflects the very communion
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in their communion
in the Trinity of Persons.
This
third part of the document is of a more abstract nature
than the first two parts, because it deals less with experience
of the Society up until now and more of where she is heading
to, that is, the ideal to be reached for, not yet the
lived experience.
It
tires to show the heights and depths of the call we have
and basically deals with Communion on three levels: Communion
of Persons; Communion of the Church in ecclesial teams
and Communion of gifts.
These
three sections make up the bulk of this teaching, with
the section on the Communion of Persons making up by far
the largest section. This is itself seems to suggest that
this communion of persons on the team is the most important
aspect.
The
whole of this third part reflects deeply the truth that
it is the Trinity who is the source and cause of this
communion - not just in a general way by our imitating
their life together, but also very specifically in that
they are at work to bring this communion about in the
lives of the individual members and in the team as a whole.
While it is the work of the Trinity to bring about this
communion, it also demands our wholehearted cooperation,
as individual persons, as teams and as a Society. As we
draw closer to this communion we are enabled to give the
gift of ourselves totally, which is the aim of our lives
as members of the Church. This total gift of self becomes
interaction on the teams, bringing us to be Church, to
live Church and to spread the Kingdom of Christ throughout
the world.
SECTION 1. The Vision of the Society - Union with the
Trinity
The
whole reality of the Church has its permanence, source
and origin in God who reveals Himself. Our lived faith
is to respond to God. Our response is expressed in our
minds, hearts and lives. The ecclesial reality of the
Church for our team is first of all rooted in the reality
revealed by God, who in a free act of love turns to man
in the world. The Church is for us in Our Lady's Society,
a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father,
Son and Spirit. This union we have with the unity with
the Trinity finds its counterpart in God's covenant with
us, not only individually but as an ecclesial team and
as a Society.
SECTION 2. The difference between Community and Communion
- and how it affects the person on the team.
As
we begin this teaching on ecclesial teams as communion,
I wanted to stress the difference between community and
communion. I think this is a very significant consideration
due to the reality of what Jesus has spoken to us in the
Word of God. For the members of a community render one
another mutual service in the measure of the different
gifts bestowed on each. The ecclesial team, however, goes
beyond community, it goes deeper than community and possesses
the nature of a communion, in which, by means of their
mutual services and varying relationships, the persons
on the ecclesial team give the very gift of themselves.
In
communion they fully discover their own true selves. In
the Body of Christ, their communion is such that they
are all called to their own personal dignity and to the
discovery of themselves by means of sincere self-giving
to others. Our Blessed Lord said, "By this will all know
you are my disciples, by your love for one another." This
manifestation of self-giving fits entirely into the reality
of the communion of the ecclesial teams. There must always
be present in the mind and heart of each disciple on the
team the ultimate reality and model of communion of the
Trinity of Persons in God. For there is a certain parallel
between the union existing among the Divine Persons and
the union of the sons and daughters of God in truth and
love on their teams. There are three considerations of
communion that I would like to stress with you: First,
the communion of persons; second, the communion of Church
in ecclesial teams and third, the communion of gifts on
ecclesial teams.
SECTION 3: Communion of Persons on Ecclesial Teams
1.
Our dignity as revealed to us by faith, reason and sacred
Scripture. As a person on the ecclesial team it is important
that reason and faith complement and confirm each other.
For faith throws a new light on all things and makes know
the full ideal that God has set for us. Our reason, on
the other hand, guides us to the human dignity that is
present in our nature and creation. Sacred Scripture teaches
us that we are created in the image and likeness of God,
able to know and love our Creator, set by Him over all
creation to rule and to use all creation to glorify Him.
2.
Our call to live in community. From the beginning man
has been called on to live in community. For by his inmost
nature he is a social being, and if he does not enter
into relationships with others, he neither lives nor develops
his gifts. As a person on the ecclesial team, he or she
is helped to recognize what constitutes the depths of
each person. The mystery of each one, wherein lies the
destiny that is present for them in the sight of God,
is gradually revealed.
3.
Our call to live in communion with God, and the need to
develop the gift of wisdom. On the ecclesial teams our
minds strive for perfection and we find the wisdom which
gently draws us to look for and love what is true and
good. Filled with this wisdom, we are led through the
visible realities to those which cannot be seen. This
wisdom facilitates a search for that consciousness which
will bring the right solution to the many moral problems
which arise in the lives and social relations of people
today. The more this correct consciousness prevails, the
more the ecclesial team persons move away from blind choice
and follow God's ways.
For
the dignity of us all rests on the fact that we are called
to communion with God. Our dignity is grounded and brought
to perfection in God. We are called to be sons and daughters
of God, to intimacy with Him, to share in His happiness.
Our vocation to communion with God is a participation
in the very life of God. We realize that it is only with
the help of God's grace that we can give of ourselves
and do what is before us.
4.
Call to live in communion with others on the team, so
as to realize our human destiny and foster the dignity
of each one. Our vocation to communion with God is linked
with our vocation to human dignity. This is the intimate
personal vocation which is the main theme of the Gospels,
but it must be realized in communion with others, as on
your ecclesial teams. This communion of persons on the
team calls for mutual respect for the full spiritual dignity
of each, for you are members of a team for personal improvement.
Your person is the beginning, subject and object of each
team. Through your dealings with each other on the team,
through mutual service, through fraternal dialogue, each
person develops talents and rises to destiny. The order
of things is subordinated to the order of persons.
5.
The work of the Trinity to bring about this communion
of persons on the team. This order of persons is formed
in truth, built on justice, animated by love, and grown
in freedom. The Spirit of God in wondrous providence directs
the course of time, renews the face of the earth and assists
in the development of personal communion.
As
members of ecclesial teams you are perfected and fulfilled
in the work of Jesus, for the Word willed to share in
our human friendship, sanctifying our human ties on the
team, clearly commanding us as sons and daughters of our
Father to live as brothers and sisters, to deliver ourselves
up as He did for all.
On
your teams, you preach the Gospel so that all may become
our Father's family,; a brotherly communion in faith and
love, the very Body of Christ rendering mutual service
in the measure of the different gifts bestowed on each.
This solidarity or personal communion must be increased
until the coming of the Lord, when saved by grace, we
will offer perfect honor and glory to God as the beloved
family of Our Father and of Christ, our brother.
We
grow together as a team thanks to the effective inner
working of the Holy Spirit. This union which forms the
ecclesial team is a union in spiritual community; the
content and principle of that community is of God. The
union proceeds from the divine choice shown in Christ's
redeeming acts and from the Spirit who sanctifies.
We
must therefore bear in mind on our ecclesial teams the
great things of God and the rights of our human life,
both personal and common. Thus we see as disciples why
Jesus told us to deny ourselves in our orientation to
God in creation, salvation and redemption while at the
same time the horizontal arm of the cross extends our
minds and hearts and lives to all men in the world whose
nature, personal and communal, are intertwined and complete
each other.
SECTION 4. Communion of Church in Ecclesial Teams
1.
Ecclesial team as model to the Church. Our second communion
is communion in the Church. All men are included in Our
Father's plan, redeemed by Christ and can be sanctified
by the Holy Spirit. The communion in ecclesial teams serves
all. The Spirit brings unity and union in the ecclesial
teams acting through the Apostolic teaching, the breaking
of the bread and the hours of prayer. Christ makes an
ecclesial team a communion of life, love and truth in
His Church (a model to the whole Church which is the instrument
for the salvation of all; He makes us the light of the
world, the salt of the earth.).
2.
The communion of the team serves the Church in helping
to bring all (whoever they may be) to salvation. The Church
is faithful to the divine mission of the Son and the Spirit.
In the hearts of the sons and daughters of God, the Holy
Spirit dwells as in a temple. Thus we live the commandment
to love as Jesus loves. We are thereby brought to further
the work of the Kingdom to bring it to perfection. The
mystery in the communion of the Church is linked with
God's desire to call all to be saved. There are different
ways of belonging and relating to the Church. Those who
belong to the Church are as follows: a. Those in full
communion and by the grace of God brought to the fullness
of gifts. b. The catechumens, who, moved by the Holy Spirit,
are preparing to be received into full communion in the
Church. c. We are told that all Christians belong in some
way to this communion of the Church. d. Those who have
not yet received the Gospel but are covenanted and promised
in divine choice. e. Those who acknowledge God as their
Creator and adore the one merciful God. f. Those who seek
the unknown God with a sincere heart and by grace try
to do His will according to their conscience, for God
has written the natural law in the hearts of all. g. Those
who strive to live a good life and have good will, cooperating
with the prompting of God, the source of all goodness
and beauty and truth, insofar as they know him.
Communion
in the Church then is based for the ecclesial team on
the accent of God himself in the persons God chooses and
calls, who belong and relate to Himself.
3.
The person and the team called to open themselves fully
to the mystery of communion in the Church - we are called
as a people. Each person on the team God calls separately
and uniquely. Yet He also calls us as a people in His
divine providence. It is the continual realization of
this that becomes present on our ecclesial teams. God
alone has knowledge of this bond, that unites persons
in the communion of His Church. You must open yourself
to the fullness of this communion. God alone is the searcher
of your heart. His revealing of Himself is a mystery and
His Church is a mystery, which will only be revealed in
her glory beyond this earth. In your ecclesial team, you
must commit yourself to enter into God and to know even
as you are known in the mystery of God.
SECTION 5. Communion of Gifts in Ecclesial Teams
1.
Call to universality in communion Finally there is a communion
of gifts, In your ecclesial team you are in communion
with each other in the Holy Spirit. Catholic means universal,
and the team must seek the return to God of all men and
all creation. You must praise the Creator and Father for
making all things new in Christ and then your communion
will bring you to the likeness of the community of the
Trinity. You will find yourselves opening to the complete
gift of yourself.
Universality
is an integral part of your ecclesial team, for there
is a great danger of turning in upon yourselves and forming
some kind of clique, private club or special friendship.
But that is not what God desires. God desires the communion
of gifts in the sincere self-giving of yourselves in universality.
2.
Sharing of gifts brings unity to the team Each person
on your ecclesial team contributes his or her gifts to
the others and to the whole team, so that the team is
strengthened collectively and individually by common sharing.
By the common effort a tem comes to fullness in unity.
This is true also of the union of the different teams
in relationship to the Society as a whole. Each team gives
its gift to the others and all of the teams are strengthened
in the common sharing and by the common effort of the
teams, truly a unity of the Society comes forth. The development
of this unity then reaches to the whole Church. This unity
springs from the Spirit of God and from what is most essentially
personal. It is the gift of yourself so that the good
of one becomes that of all and takes on the universal
dimension. Everybody draws something and shares it precisely
because the good has become a gift.
3.
The diversity of vocations on the teams - how they interact
and become communion. The diversities, which are on your
team are engendered by the duties and vocations that God
has given. The priests preside over the teams in charity.
The religious aim at sanctity on the narrow road. The
laity witness true brotherhood and sisterhood, serving
as Jesus served. Even in this diversity the ecclesial
team has a close communion in sharing spiritual riches,
apostolic work and temporal resources. This communion
which results in the multiplicity of vocations provides
room in which all can be formed and properly developed.
The differing vocations constitute the Church as a community
and yet the Church constitutes each one of them. Communion
is a stable dynamism of the community in the riches of
faith working from their multiplicity to unity in the
Trinity. The community of the ecclesial team asks a free
commitment of each person and an abandonment to God.
4.
It is in serving that the team truly becomes one. The
communion of the ecclesial team has the deep design of
all of the vocations of the Church community, becoming
one in the fullness of serving as Jesus served. Equality
of the team is manifested in sharing the tasks of building
up the Body of Christ. All respond to the divine choice:
the laity in coming to serve and not to be served; the
religious in implanting and strengthening the Kingdom
of Christ; the priests and deacons in teaching, sanctifying
and ruling the communion in order that the new commandment
of love may be fulfilled and bring forth its fruitfulness.
Finally,
the order of grace touches your communion in the reality
of salvation, for all the members of your ecclesial team
will be truly one in the Kingdom of Heaven.
With my priestly blessings,
Fr. Santan Pinto SOLT You may send your prayer or Mass
requests to Fr. Pinto by clicking on his email address:
fpinto@solt.org
