FOCUS: Religious life has a focus. Superiors are guardians and guarantors of that focus. Religious life is a radical following of Jesus Christ. This is true also of priestly life. We become religious and priests in order to follow the lifestyle (chaste, poor, obedient) and mission (establishment of the Kingdom) of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the religious superior is to personally strive to become Christ-like and act as a help for others to become more and more like Christ. To be Christ-like is not something exotic or unusual. It is to be a good human being, to be a person of simplicity and integrity, to be person of joy and hope. The striving to be Christ-like is to be the chief priority of religious and priests. The superior and the community make their own the following prayer of St Nicholas of Flue, a mystic and ascetic of Switzerland: “My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you; give me everything that brings me closer to you; detach me from myself to give my all to you.”
CONTACT WITH GOD: We cannot advance in becoming like Christ without continuous contact with God. Therefore, superiors ensure that the community has sufficient time and opportunity for prayer. When there are many things to be done, prayer time does not become the first thing to be sacrificed. St Francis de Sales used to say: “Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy – then we need an hour.”
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Fr Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB
