FOURTH DAY OF THE PROVINCIAL CHAPTER

• The fourth day of the Provincial Chapter began with the meditation animated by Fr. Loyola and the Holy Eucharist was presided over by Rev. Fr. S. Francis, SdC, the Provincial Councilor. In his homily he highlighted the three mission aspects of Jesus namely proclamation, reformation and revolution. In the footsteps of our Lord and our Holy Founder, Fr. Francis wished the members that the outcome of this provincial chapter may be revolution, if not at least reformation and that it does not remain only at the level of proclamation. 

• At the start of the office hours of the chapter, invited by Fr. Benson, the moderator of the day Fr. Shantham led the forum with a prayer song after which the members recited the prayer for the 5th Provincial Chapter. Then Fr. Moderator invited Fr. M. Periyanayagam the secretary to read out the minutes of the previous day and it was approved with few clarifications and additions. 

• Then Fr. Moderator let the members know the wishes they have received from the Guanellian family all around the world, reading out their names, after which he introduced Mr. Domnic Tilak, the World Council member for the Guanellian Co- operators and the president of the GC in Bangalore saying that he is of humble and approachable character in spite of being highly professional.

• Mr. Dominic began his talk by thanking the fathers for the opportunity and for their exemplary life he explained the reality of GC, GLM and GYM in India with clear statistical data and narrated the way the lay cooperation has developed gradually over the years. He also clarified the doubts of the members and gave enough explanations too. Fr. Moderator thanked Mr. Tilak for his valuable presence and for having clarified about the functioning of GC and GLM here in India, and invited Rev.Fr. Kulandai Samy and Rev. Fr. Gnanaraj to honour Mr. Dominic with a shawl and a present. 

• Then Rev. Fr. Provincial Superior invited by the Moderator, introduced the theme and the points of reflection for the day to the members. Portraying the exodus Journey of Israel as a model, He said that it is better to walk in wilderness for a better future than to remain tied up in the past and wished the members to come out with concrete proposals to create means to carry out the mission. 

• After the group discussions the secretaries of the groups Frs. Loyola, John Paul, Adaikalam and Samson presented the reports along with the proposals to the floor. The members intervened and clarified over the presented reports.

• Subsequently Fr. Provincial invited by the Moderator announced the proceeding for the next day, the last day of the 5th Provincial Chapter. He proposed a change of schedule with a session from 10.30 am– 12.00 pm for the miscellaneous hours followed by the meditation and the Holy mass and the proceedings of the office hours at 3 pm as usual and added that the members will vote on the proposals and manuals on the last day. 

• Rev. Fr. A. Satheesh Caniton SdC, the Provincial Councilor and the secretary on his part thanked all the members for their sacrifice and accommodating the overseas confreres in the forum. Finally the day concluded with the concluding prayer said by Rev. Fr. A. Adaikalam.

 - Secretaries

LET US WALK WITH THE HOLY FOUNDER TODAY AND TOMORROW!

MESSAGE FROM THE SUPERIOR GENERAL

First of all, I send you my personal greeting and best wishes, together with the wishes of the General Council, to all the chapter Fathers, gathered in the name of Spirit to discern a new path in the light of the witness of our holy Founder Father Luigi Guanella. The chosen theme of your chapter is very evident: Marching with the holy Founder today and tomorrow.

The Church reminds us very often: We are the bearers of the Charism, not of an ancient or obsolete charism, which is out of time. But we have received a charism which is born of the Spirit and alive in every time and place and it is applied to history, involving and promoting people of every time, nation and culture. Today, the Guanellian charism is very active unlike the other centuries and it is necessary for today’s Church and the world. Thus, we have received this gift from those who have preceded us on the journey of life.

This is the question in front of us; How will be the Guanellian charism tomorrow? Will it also be the same for the future? I would immediately answer ‘yes’, if it all and only depended on the Spirit. At the same time, it also depends on us, the privileged guanellians, but not only unique custodians of this charismatic gift. The happy and prosperous future of Guanellian charism will also depend on our way of life today, the way how we live the Guanellian style in first person. The charism will also depend on how we pass it on to the next generation in its integrity, but also in its actualization and conformity to the time and place where we live, which easily and quickly evolves and changes. Then, I would say, we are certainly traveling with don Guanella, but we are not going to do like him!

The Founder lived up to the task entrusted to him by the Spirit, Yes, he was a man of his time, with his skills and his personal intuition. He sanctified himself by living the responsibility of the charism that the Spirit had inspired in him. Our Constitutions number 1 affirms, "The Holy Spirit called the Founder, made him fervent in the charity and sent him to relieve the human suffering and don Guanella responded with the offering of his lifetime" (Decretum Laudis). 

But today’s guanellians must imitate Don Guanella by discerning and applying. The gift we have received today from the Spirit should be applied to our personal mission and that of the Congregation. In fact, today also, as our Founder did yesterday, the Spirit asks for a personal and community response appropriate to the time in which we live, in the human, cultural and religious context in which we are immersed and of which we are an integral part.

Here lies the fidelity, the newness, the beauty, the importance and applying the Guanellian charism in the Church and in the world today! And a Provincial Chapter, like yours, is called to make this reading, to discern the meaning, the charismatic value in the light of the geographical reality in which it lives and testifies to its charism of charity. So, You are capable, in these days, to find some lines of action and paths of life for a creative fidelity, not obsolete, repetitive!

Yes, we have so many references at our hand: first one is the Gospel and then the Constitutions and Regulations, the Magisterium of the Church and even the urgencies that the world around us invoke from us. We may be available to the Call of the Lord with dedication, but without this historical-cultural reading and above all, without personal involvement, like Guanella being faithful to all the trials without criticism and gossip, we would risk to carry on a fidelity to the charism and a mission that says little to the people who live next to us; We would risk to speak a different language to the men and women of our time and then they may not understand our language. So what shall we hand over to the next generation that is true and foundational? 

Remember that the Founder was clear in wishing us with his prophetic words, “It is necessary to give hand, mind and heart, to the point of becoming a victim for the poor of Jesus Christ, because it is written that the Good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep" (R .1905).

This style which needs to be adapted should involve the whole reality of our life: from the moment of Call of God received in our life to share his project of life and to the formative journey towards the great stages of our life. This journey continues until the daily personal update and adaptation that history, the Church, the charism will ask from us.

I wish all the chapter confreres to have a strong experience of communion among you and a discernment that will bring a new creative charismatic prophecy to the whole Divine Providence Province and to the entire Congregation.

I give you my final words quoting number 2 of our Constitutions, "The Spirit also shares with us the grace and the evangelical inspiration of the Founder to carry on his ministry of charity in the Church"(C.2). Therefore, Be responsible for it!

Thanks for listening to me and have a good Provincial Chapter! 

Don Umberto Brugnoni, Superior General

Rome, September 28, 2021