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Who are the prophets? The word prophet comes from the Greek noun prophetes from the verbal root pro-phemi, which means “to speak on behalf of/before/for someone.” A prophet of God thus speaks on behalf of God and communicates God’s message. Prophets are therefore filled with the spirit of God and they speak with God’s authority. For example, the prophet Micah speaks of himself: “But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:8). The prophets revealed God’s radical concern for social justice and righteousness and the integrity of the universe (e.g., Hosea 12:6; Amos 5:15, 26; Isa 10:14; 11:9; 14:7). Just as God is passionately concerned about and deeply affected by the suffering of the poor and needy, prophets spoke for the powerless and oppressed with passion and integrity (e.g., Amos 2:7; 5:11; 8:4-6). They experience a dynamic energy from within to communicate God’s message with conviction and commitment. Prophets are men and women on fire. For example, Jeremiah speaks of his inability to be silent: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jer 20:9).

The mission of the prophets was to remind the people of Israel of their covenantal relationship with God and to restore their status as God’s consecrated people whenever they failed to remain faithful to God. Prophets brought the challenges of God into the history of Israel, generating a powerful movement of renewal and social reforms. In the words of Walter Brueggemann, “the task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.” The mission of the prophets was to restore Israel to God by condemning idolatry, social injustice and exploitation of the poor and the marginalized (Isa 58:6-7; Jer 2:20-28; 22:13; Hosea 10:13; Amos 2:6-9). Prophet Jeremiah describes Israel as a lost sheep: “My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains; from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their fold” (NRSV: 50:6). The passion to create a new community in conformity with God’s dream for humanity was the hallmark of their identity as consecrated people and prophets of the Lord.

Mission is the life-breath of every form of consecrated life. Pope John Paul II said it with great force in Vita Consecrata: “A sense of mission is essential to every Institute [every form of religious life], not only those dedicated to the active apostolic life, but also those dedicated to the contemplative life” (No. 72). The document continues to underline the prophetic dimension of consecrated life. “The consecrated life has the prophetic task of recalling and serving the divine plan for humanity, as it is announced in Scripture and as it emerges from an attentive reading of the signs of God’s providential action in history” (No. 73). The whole-hearted commitment to be at the service of God’s mission is the hallmark of consecrated life. Like the prophets of the Lord, consecrated men and women are called to be at the service of God’s mission, to be a sign of hope for the people who have lost hope. We are called to offer the foretaste of God’s reign here on earth today.

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A legal expert clarifies some key legal issues affecting the running of orphanages. We need to know what the laws require, and what they do not.

“Orphanages, though a sad reflection on our society, all the same function unselfishly to look after orphans and other destitute children; who, otherwise, would be thrown to the streets and turn into vagabonds, harmfully exposed to the vagaries of a cruel life,” said Justice K. Vinod Chandran.[1]

Perhaps Justice Chandran echoes the attitude and concern of the Christian Churches for orphans.  For Jesus, the Kingdom belonged to little children (Matthew 19:14).  In the Bible, God has a compassionate heart for orphans.  God is their help (Psalm 10:14) and their holy habitation (Psalm 68:5) who ensures them justice (Deuteronomy 10:18).  So, God commands His people to be gracious to the orphans (Exodus 22:22).  Hence, the people of God will visit and care for orphans (James 1:27) and will share their time, energy and resources with orphans (Deuteronomy 14:29).  In response to this call, the Churches have invested their time, energy and resources for the welfare of orphans.

Before the advent of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act (JJ Act) in India, orphanages carried on their services under the Orphanages Act[2].  Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Model Rules, 2016 (MR) under the JJ Act prescribed norms and standards for the management of ‘child care institutions’ (CCI).  Hence, it was mandated that all institutions housing children in need of care and protection must obtain registration under the JJ Act.  The Supreme Court upheld the same by ordering the compulsory registration of all Child Care Institutions by December 31, 2017, for the purpose of ensuring general supervision and implementation of the other regulatory measures, so that the state can ensure the safety and welfare of the children in such institutions.  The JJ Act enables even the state to take over the management of orphanages that fail to meet the standards under the Act.

In 2016, when Government was contemplating to take over the management of orphanages which failed to meet the standards laid down in the MRs, some orphanages and charitable institutions approached the Kerala High Court.  In its judgement delivered on 20 December 2017, the High Court reiterated that those charitable institutions which are not established or maintained by the Government will have to apply for registration under the JJ Act, and the registration will ensure the due supervision of the institutions by the authorities constituted under the JJ Act.  At the same time, they cannot be categorised as a CCI under the JJ Act.

Orphans are not “children in conflict with law.”  The orphans, from families which do not have means to provide for their needs, find a shelter in orphanages.  The phrase children in need of care and protection in JJ Act had to be read conjunctively with children in conflict with law, which means only those children who became in need of care and protection owing to their conflict with law.  The Supreme Court[3] had given an illustrative definition to ‘children in need of care and protection,’ including children who are the victims of crimes and atrocities.

CCIs are different from orphanages.  As defined in the JJ Act, they must come under one or more of 7 categories, namely, Children’s Home, Open Shelter, Observation Home, Special Home, Place of Safety, Specialized Adoption Facility and Fit Facility, as specified in the JJ Act.  The orphanages run by private individuals or organizations without any aid from the government are not under the obligation to satisfy the requirements of MRs framed under the JJ Act.

The Court observed that the MRs are not realistic for the private orphanages.  How is it possible for the charitable institutions, without any Government sponsorship, to provide the same facilities for housing orphans and destitute children who need care and protection?  Charitable institutions, set up purely on charitable considerations without any Government aid, cannot be directed to provide for the facilities prescribed in the MRs.  The obligation to provide such facilities to the ‘children in need of care and protection’ is on the Governments.  “It would be disastrous to take a view that if the charity does not extend to such standards as prescribed by the Government in the MRs, then, such institutions would have to be closed down and the children thrown to the streets.”

Registration cannot be declined for reason of lack of facilities.  If the facilities are found inadequate, then, it is for the Government to set them up, within a time frame, in accordance with CCIs of the standards prescribed under the MRs, and shift the children into such homes.  There cannot be any immediate closure of the institutions, with the consequence that the children are sent out of the institutions on a closure.  The Government is obliged not only to provide institutions of the standards as prescribed in the MRs, but also to transfer the children to such institutions, and, if the registration is declined, to take over the children and house them in appropriate institutions.

The orphanages cannot claim any right over the children housed in their institutions, who ultimately, for reason of being deprived of parental care, are the responsibility of the State.   The JJ Act essentially is an enactment where the legislature reaffirms the traditional role of the State, the guardian of persons under legal disability.

“To take over the management by the Government of the institution as in MRs” means facilitating the takeover only of the children to be housed in places with standard facilities as prescribed.  Hence, the state can only take over the control of the children and not the management of assets and properties of the private orphanages.  The Court said, “The institutions are run in property owned by the managements or leased out by them and when such management committees take over the institutions, it infringes the valuable rights available under Article 300A of the Constitution of India”

[1]Judgement dated on 20 December 2017 in W.P(C) No. 14858 of 2016 (F), The Secretary Calicut Orphanage, Kalathara, Calicut &Anr Vs. The Union of India & 3 Ors

[2] The Orphanages and Other Charitable Homes (Supervision and Control) Act, 1960

[3]In Re Exploitation of Children in Orphanages in State of Tamil V. Union of India. 2017 (5) SCALE 787

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In this issue and in the next, we highlight a terrible scourge: Child Sexual Abuse in India. The Government study shows that the rate of sexual abuse of minors in India is much higher than the world average. And most of it happens in the home.

This month’s cover story by clinical psychologist Father Jose Parappully SDB will help readers become more aware of the problem and its disastrous consequences. In the next issue, he will indicate paths of healing. Victims need not remain broken and desperate. They can find avenues of healing.

Let us look at the issue in the face without flinching. That is what the cover story does.

A new feature: Special Days. To make us all aware of crucial issues affecting the human race, the UN and other agencies have declared certain days as “Special Days” devoted to a theme or a group of persons. Schools, churches and other institutions in touch with large groups of people will do well to celebrate these occasions meaningfully. Awareness is one of the best helps for improvement—whether personal or societal.

Some of our “homes” for the poor—whether they are called orphanages or homes or shelters or whatever—have faced legal problems. Whether these problems stem from our mistakes or are a form of harassment, we need to know the law. An experienced priest-lawyer explains some of the crucial rules affecting these institutions. We cannot plead ignorance, nor neglect the implementation of government regulations. Laws are, after all, meant to protect citizens, not to harass those who work for the poor.

Our popular regular features continue: What a wife and mother learns about spirituality from her experience with grand-children; books and movies that have become hit classics; making Lent meaningful; inspiring persons of the month; ways of dealing with employees; the key role of contemplation in our life; the right understanding of exclaustration; moving from meanness to meaningfulness; the lessons an Indian sister learnt while working in a very secularized Europe; the meaning of prophecy in the Bible; the wisdom of a famous Church Father; the difference a super-wealthy woman makes in the lives of the poorest; how nursing students see their life and work; a programme to support young women theologians.

In the midst of the serious reading, try the Fun Page, too. Doing puzzles is not only fun. It stimulates the brain and keeps us mentally alert and young.

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Have you heard of the Olympic runner who was given the title, ‘The Greatest Last Place Finish in Modern Olympics’? Here is his touching story.

The world has witnessed thirty Modern Olympic Games so far since April 6,1896. Its motto, Citius, Altius, Fortius (Latin for ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’) has challenged the world’s best athletes to compete against one another for Gold, Silver and Bronze. Records are broken. New Champions emerge. Higher highs and faster speeds are set.

Among the thousands that have braved the stiff challenge of ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’, few have really made a difference on the Olympiad stage. Marathon runner John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania was one who did. At the Mexico Olympic Games on October 20, 1968, he left a legacy that gave him the title, ‘The Greatest Last Place Finish in Modern Olympics’!

Seventy-four athletes took part in the gruelling forty-two-kilometre marathon race, the final event of the Mexico Olympiad. Only fifty-seven of them finished the race. Seventeen did not cross the finish line. John Stephen Akhwari didn’t want to be remembered as the eighteenth. Less than half way through the race, running in high altitude conditions with the glaring sun on his back, he stumbled at the nineteen-kilometre mark. The fall resulted in a badly dislocated right knee and several injuries on his head and shoulders.

The pain was excruciating. He still had twenty-three kilometres ahead of him. Exiting the Marathon was never on his mind. He received medical attention while runners passed him by. He was Africa’s Marathon Champion and his gaze was on the finish line, no matter how far! The rest is history. He limped, he staggered, he crawled, he jogged. Inch by inch, step by step, he arrived at the stadium an hour and five minutes after Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia crossed the finishing line. The games were literally over, the awards given out, the Olympic Flag lowered, but John Stephen Akhwari kept to the course. The few remaining spectators and television crew clapped their hands as he entered the stadium. All along the race, he was asked on several occasions to quit. He kept going. Finally, when he was asked why he didn’t quit, he candidly replied, “My country didn’t send me 5000 miles to start the race; my country sent me 5000 miles to finish the race!”

Today, nearly half a century later, John Stephen is known as the ‘Father of the Spirit of the Modern Games.’ The title, ‘Greatest Last Place Finish’ was worth every ounce of pain.

In a world surrounded by too many quitters, the life of John Stephen challenges us to never give up. The sands of time have gifted us another year. The new year 2018 is here for us. We have 365 days to complete the race we have begun. Like many in the past, quitting is an option we often encounter. The race is not about competing with others, it’s about bringing the best in each one of us. Problems are only disguised opportunities. Every minute is a valuable sixty-seconds-pack with infinite possibilities. But somehow, though surrounded by infinite possibilities, we restrict the circle of our life. How do I make the most of this year 2018? Here are some simple ways:

Six Life Skills to Finish Better:

1. Slow Down, don’t Speed Up:

We are created as human beings—not as Ferrari speed cars. Our pace in life is rhythmic, though not always smooth. It was never meant to be a hurried routine. Somehow, many of us are constantly in a hurry. We seem to have in our DNA a ‘perpetually-late-syndrome’ that tries to catch up on lost time.  Velocity more than direction can become the norm of life. How far we go seems more important than where we arrive. We lose sight of our goal when we set our gaze only on the clock. At the start of the New Year, let your first resolution be to reconstruct your broken compass. Being on the right track, even if you are the ‘greatest last place finish’ is better than being first on the wrong track. Gold medals are never awarded on the wrong track!

2. Celebrate Life; don’t just Survive it:

Caught in the web of daily struggles, we sadly journey through life on ‘Survival mode.’ We dread another day. We wish the sun set earlier and night cover us in darkness. Twenty-four hours is a long wait on our bed of pain and misery. And yet, we feel content and comfortable in our survival mode. We were never created for mere survival. “Get up and Walk” is the call for the New Year 2018. Celebrate Life is all its fulness. It is so sad to see young people display their Facebook status as ‘saaaad’, ‘booooooring’, ‘lifeleeeeess’, ‘anooooyed.’ The list goes on and on. Start the year by changing the status of your life to something positive and celebrative.

3. World as Home, not as Battle Field:

Battle fields smell of blood, and are defaced with broken bodies. Home is scented by love, friendship, acceptance and forgiveness. Battle fields are high combat zones, where there is no place for error and forgiveness. Competition rules the terrain. The best and strongest survive; the weak are eliminated. When we view the world as a ‘battle ground,’ we are all losers’; we eliminate ourselves. Religion, politics, economics and cultural platforms are our new battlegrounds. We need to see the world through the ‘prism of home.’  Home unites us, home is where we all belong as family. Can this be your new resolution for 2018?

4. Being First is not the Reward:

In Mitch Albom’s famous book, Tuesdays with Morrie, we discover the richness of ‘being second.’ In his conversations with his favourite professor, who is now dying, Mitch recalls a basketball game in 1979 in the Brandeis University stadium. His team is doing extremely well and they all chant in unison, “We’re number one!” Their celebrations are interrupted when Professor Morrie stands up and shouts, “What’s wrong with being number two?” We have been educated to believing that ‘being number two’ is being a loser! In life, being first is never the reward. Being Yourself is the greater achievement. How about this as your resolution for 2018?

5. Your Timeline is Your Lifeline:

The best way to make the most of life is to invest your time wisely. Reflect for a moment how you spent your 2017. Was it a wasted year or an invested year? It is not going to come back. You can never have 2017 again. All your influence and money and power will never bring it back. It is gone—and gone forever. But, how you invested your 2017 will find its fruits in 2018.  Learn the art of thin-slicing your year, your month, your day. A day with twenty-four hours is a gift given equally to all. Start now. Don’t procrastinate your investment in time. Every second counts, every day matters, every month is special and every year is a blessing. Make your timeline an important lifeline in your journey. This is a resolution easy to preach about, but difficult to practice. Give it a shot—your best shot in fact!

6. Live your Now in the Hope of Eternity:

One day, the heart will stop beating. Death stares us in the face. The earth will engulf us. Was it worth it, after all? Remember the words of the famous song, ‘This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through’? Have something higher to live for, something more significant to make of your life. We are made for Eternity—to spend the rest of our life with an incredibly loving and good God.  Living our Now in the Hope of Eternity is a mantra worth remembering this 2018!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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The candle I would like to offer you at the beginning of a new year – for you to hold aloft and keep gazing at throughout the year – is a priest-friend with whom I love to go for a walk whenever possible. I manage to do this quite often, and every time this happens I feel delightfully energized and refreshed. But this learned friend is no more. He died quite suddenly of a heart attack in 1996.

So what do I mean by ‘going for a walk with him’? Reading one of his nearly forty books and reflecting on his insights. I know I am not the only one who benefits this way. His books have sold over two million copies and been translated into more than 22 languages.

The world-renowned author I am speaking about is Henri J.M. Nouwen—Henri  Jozef Machiel Nouwen. He was born in Nijkerk in the Netherlands on 24 January 1932. Henri studied at the Jesuit-run Aloysius College in The Hague and then joined the seminary.

After his priestly formation Nouwen was ordained a priest on 21 July 1957 for the archdiocese of Utrecht, Netherlands. He studied clinical psychology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen in order to understand himself and those he would serve as a priest and to explore the human side of faith from a pastoral point of view. Later he travelled to the U.S. to study as a Fellow in the Religion and Psychiatry Programme at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. While studying there he took an active interest in the Civil Rights Movement that fought for justice and equality for the Blacks in the U.S.

Then began his celebrated teaching career. He started with the University of Notre Dame where he was a visiting professor and then went back to his country where he taught psychology and spirituality at the Catholic Theological University of Utrecht. For 10 years from 1971 till 1981 Henri Nouwen was a professor of pastoral theology at Yale Divinity School. Soon he became a much-loved writer, as he began to write columns in Christian magazines and publish books. He spent several months at the Abbey of the Genesee. He kept a journal while he was there and it was published in 1976 as Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery. After his mother died, he returned to the Abbey and his reflections during those days of grief became another book called A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee. Although he decided he was not meant to be a Trappist monk, he felt quite at home at the Abbey and this is where he chose to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of his Ordination in 1982.

He left the Yale University in 1981 and went to South America. He spent six months in Bolivia and Peru and the struggles of the oppressed poor of those countries moved him. On his return to the U.S. he was appointed a Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School. But his restlessness and search continued and he resigned after just two years. His friendship with Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche network of homes for the mentally challenged and visits to some of them made him accept the invitation from one such Home called ‘L’Arche Daybreak in Toronto, Canada to be their pastor. The popular professor and speaker who had worked till then with the best and the brightest spent the last ten years of his life cleaning, cooking, washing and caring for the childlike inmates with mental disabilities.

What makes him such a loved and inspiring guide was that he never tried to hide his wounds – like intense loneliness, feeling totally lost and abandoned, depression, and struggles with his sexuality. He showed that wounded as we all are, we can put our wounds at the service of others. As the title of one his most popular books suggests, he assures us that we can be Wounded Healers.

Go for frequent walks with him during the year. Let me assure you, they would improve your spiritual and psychological health.

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16 JANUARY

FR ROBERTO DE NOBILI SJ (1577-1656)

He came from a noble family in Rome. Joined the Jesuits (against his family’s strong opposition). Came to India as a missionary. Noticed that the Portuguese missionaries had a very poor understanding of local cultures and languages, expected the Indian converts to give up their customs, and adopt European ways.

De Nobili studied Tamil and became very adept in that language. Learnt to read Sanskrit texts. Mixing with educated Hindus and reading Indian religious literature, he realized that upper caste Hindu looked down upon the Portuguese (for eating meat, drinking and not bathing regularly) and despised the local converts. He decided to enter into that world rather than remain an outsider. Adopted the saffron robe of a sanyasi, wore wooden sandals instead of shoes, spoke in Tamil and ate vegetarian food.

Upper caste Hindus started listening to this learned foreigner who could read, speak and write their languages, and had adapted their ways. He not only dressed and ate like a Hindu sanyasi, but he demonstrated a deep, scholarly understanding of Hindu religious texts, and presented Jesus as a guru. A number of Brahmins and others who had earlier shunned the Christians joined the church. Several influential people within the Church, however, were shocked at his “strange” new ways, and thought it a foolish aberration They influenced Rome to stop this “crazy” experiment. A local synod condemned him, but a decision from Rome later exonerated him.

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23 JANUARY

MARY WARD (1586-1645)

Many founders and other pioneers faced opposition, misunderstanding and official disapproval, but Mary Ward’s case was particularly hard and unfair.

Her story in brief:

She was born into an aristocratic family in England at a time when Catholics were persecuted, priests travelled in secret and there were no convents. Her family wanted the good-looking and smart Mary to get married, but she wanted to become a nun. With no such chance in England, she went to Belgium, and joined the Poor Clares, who took her as a lay sister (meant to do manual work).

Left the order, with the dream of not only being a nun, but of starting an order of nuns who could work outside a traditional monastery—to do as women what the Jesuits were doing as male religious. This sounded like heresy in those days, and she faced fierce opposition, both from the church authorities and from society, which did not see women as equal to men. She suffered much for her convictions and her fidelity—contempt of influential people, imprisonment, and seeing the order suppressed. She later faced the further humiliation of having the order restored, provided she was not mentioned as the foundress.

As it happened with other heroic figures, the same church that gave her such a hard time in her life time later changed its perception of her, admitted her heroic holiness and declared her venerable.

She is the foundress of two congregations of women—the Loreto Sisters and Congregation of Jesus.

May what we understand as fidelity not only make us preserve what is old and valid, but also be open to the new ways in which God speaks to us.

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24 JANUARY

ST FRANCIS DE SALES (1567-1622)

His is the inspiring story of an unusual bishop who could never enter the city of which he was bishop, but wielded tremendous influence. One of his books became what we today would call a bestseller.

In a time of bitter antagonism among Christian churches, Francis de Sales decided to tread the path of gentleness.

Coming from a wealthy family that wanted him to become a lawyer and work in government service, he studied law, but chose to be a priest. He volunteered to work in Geneva, then a Calvinist stronghold that would not tolerate any Catholic presence. There were attempts on his life. He lived in poverty, relying on alms.

When he was appointed bishop of Geneva, the authorities would not allow him to enter the city. He administered the diocese from Annecy. He used love and gentleness to win over the people. More than two thousand families re-joined the church.

Bishop Francis became a famous preacher and a sought-after spiritual director. His book, An Introduction to the Devout Life, became widely popular. It presented holiness as something meant for everyone, not just for monks and nuns. He explained the way to God in simple, earthy examples which anyone would follow. Here are of three of his best-known sayings:

In a time of moral rigidity and religious wars, he said, “We can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a barrel of vinegar.”

When preachers thundered on God’s punishments and on the need for physical penance, his stand was: “I would rather be judged by God than by my own mother.”

In the midst of bitter antagonism from other denominations, he once told an opponent, “Even if you pluck out one of my eyes, I will look at you kindly with the other eye.”

What an example!

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28 JANUARY

THOMAS AQUINAS (1125-1274)

He came from a noble family in Southern Italy, which kept him with the Benedictine monks of Monte Cassino for studies. That monastery was influential, and his family would have liked it if Thomas had joined this politically powerful group. Instead, they shocked him by wanting to join a new group of “begging (mendicant) friars,” the Dominicans. To make him give up his idea, they locked up in their castle for a year, but finally relented.

Quiet and corpulent, Thomas was at first ridiculed by his fellow pupils at the university as a “Dumb Ox.” But his professor, the erudite Albert the Great, saw his pupil’s acumen and predicted, “One day this Dumb Ox’s bellowing will be heard all over the world.”

Thomas Aquinas was an exceptional genius who could dictate to four secretaries simultaneously on different topics, wrote on a vast number of topics and impressed his contemporaries for both his towering intellect and his holiness of life.

He was open to the secular learning available at the university, namely, the vast corpus of Aristotle’s writings. Some church people were scandalized that Thomas used the philosophy of this non-Christian thinker as a tool for his theology. His writings were condemned twice by the bishop of Paris. Later, he would become the best known and most quoted Christian theologian of all time.

Several doctrines that form the bedrock of Catholic theology go back to the approach Thomas Aquinas took: A positive view of human nature, trust in reason, the autonomy of the human sciences,  the healthy role of passions in life (they are to be tamed, not despised or discarded), the importance of friendship, the central role of creativity in ethics (since we are the image of the Creator), personal responsibility in moral judgements, the right everyone has to enjoy the goods of the earth, the focus on the learner in education, and a humble recognition of our ignorance of God (“This is to know God, that we are aware that we do not know God”) which saves us from arrogant claims or narrow rejection of others’ religious views.

Aquinas’ reputation has been damaged by a number of mediocre “Thomists,” who quoted him without understanding him, and tended to impose “Thomism” as an answer to all questions, which is in sharp contract to his own spirit of inquiry, openness and awareness of limit.

That, unfortunately, happens to many first rate minds who become victims of their third rate followers!

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Here is a true case.

Sr Scholastica is suffering from a severe skin disease. With her provincial’s permission, she stays at home while receiving treatment. Realizing that she would have to be away from the community for over a year, her superior asks her to request for exclaustration.  But, with the advice of a canonist, Sr Scholastica applies for a leave of absence.  What is the difference?

Leave of absence is permission granted to a religious by the major superior with the consent of the council to stay outside the religious house.  It means a prolonged absence from community life or a temporary suspension of the obligation to observe community life granted to a religious.  There should be a just cause to grant such a permission.   Major superiors can grant this permission only for one year—unless it is for the purpose of: (i) getting medical treatment, (ii) pursuit of studies or (iii) apostolate exercised in the name of the institute (CIC c. 665, CCEO cc. 478, 495, 550).

Those members who are on leave of absence are part of the institute and the local community to which they are assigned.  They are obliged to wear the religious habit.  They continue to be full members of the institute, enjoying all the rights and privileges, including active (the right to vote) and passive voice (the right to be voted) in elections.  Even if they are not members of the chapters, they can be elected or nominated to any office subject to their acceptance.

Exclaustration is permission granted to a perpetually professed religious to stay outside the enclosure or to stay away from the religious house.  There should be a grave reason to grant exclaustration, for instance, to contemplate on and discern one’s vocation or to care for an ailing parent.  There are two types of exclaustration: voluntary and imposed (CIC cc. 686, 687; CCEO cc. 489- 491, 548).

Voluntary exclaustration is granted at the formal request of a religious.  If the religious is a cleric, he requires the prior consent of the bishop, where he intends to reside.  While CIC gives the right to grant the permission to the superior general with the consent of the council, CCEO states that only the Holy See or diocesan bishop, to which the institute is subject, can grant exclaustration.  The maximum period:  three years.  A religious seeking it for more than three years need to appeal to the Holy See, if it is a pontifical right institute and to diocesan bishop in a diocesan right institute.  However, only the Holy See can grant the permission in respect of cloistered nuns.   Even if it is granted for three years, the religious in voluntary exclaustration may return to the religious house, with the permission of the superior, if the reason or reasons for exclaustration have already ceased.

In imposed exclaustration, the superior general takes the initiative.  After obtaining the consent of the council, the superior general is to make a formal request to the Holy See (for a pontifical right institute) and to diocesan bishop (for a diocesan right institute).   It is exercised in order to protect the rights of the institute against the aberrant behaviour of a member, who, despite the advice of the superior general, is not willing to apply for a voluntary exclaustration on their own. While imposing exclaustration on account of a grave cause, superiors must observe equity and charity.

Effects of exclaustration: During the period of exclaustration, although the religious remains a member of the institute, there are certain limitations in their relationship with the institute: The person is: (a) dispensed from those obligations that are incompatible with the new condition of life, e.g., obligation to common life. The vows of obedience and poverty are relaxed to a certain extent; (b) dependent on and under the care of the superiors of the institute and the local ordinary; (c) allowed to wear the religious habit unless the indult specifies otherwise; (d) without active and passive voice.  According to CCEO, the religious is obliged not to use the habit (CCEO c. 491) and is subject to the diocesan bishop rather than to the religious superior.  Although regular communication is expected between the religious and the superior, it depends on their mutual agreement.

Sr. Licia MSI

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Thriving Despite Adversity

Mr. Rajan’s story in the previous column was not just about hope; it was also about resilience – the capacity to thrive despite adversity, to bounce back from setbacks, from trauma and tragedy and being able to live at even greater levels of wellbeing and satisfaction than before, that is, to flourish.

Resilient people, like the proverbial phoenix, are able to rise up literally from the ashes of their destructive or painful experience and thrive again.

The remarkable restoration and growth of the city of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and the resulting fires which gutted almost the entire city, and the ability of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to rise again from the ashes of nuclear devastation are classic examples of resilience.

So also is the remarkable story of Steve Jobs, an icon in the IT industry. Co-founder of Apple, he was the creative genius behind the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. But many may not know that he was dismissed from the company which he had founded. The experience did not break him, rather it forced him to reinvent himself. He would later say that this was the best thing that happened to him. It forced him to start again from scratch and invent new things.

Soon after, Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which doctors thought inoperable. Against such odds, the man went on to become one of the world’s most admired creative geniuses, exceeding existing benchmarks of performance by miles.

Steve Jobs did not allow setbacks to dishearten him, rather he used them as stepping stones to climb greater heights. He was resilient.[1]

RESILIENCE IS NOT JUST RECOVERY

Resilience is not just about rising from the ashes. It is also about the capacity to maintain high levels of resistance to stressful events. According to psychologist Bonanno, an expert in the study of resilience, it enables us to endure upheavals remarkably well, with no apparent disruption in our ability to function and to move on to new challenges with apparent ease.

According to Bonanno, in contrast to recovery, which connotes a breakdown in normal functioning following trauma or loss, leading to high levels of distress or even psychopathology and then gradually returning to pre-event levels, resilience reflects the ability to maintain a stable equilibrium in the face of adversity.

When we are resilient, even when we experience a potentially highly disruptive event, we are able to maintain relatively stable, healthy levels of psychological and physical functioning. We show resilience through our capacity to respond flexibly and adaptively to adverse situations.

As resilient persons we are not broken by suffering; rather, we experience difficulties and obstacles as opportunities to grow. We not only bounce back from setbacks, we also grow and develop through these experiences just as Steve Jobs and many great artists, were able to do.

CONTRIBUTORS TO RESILIENCE

What leads to resilience?

Psychologists have identified certain areas of competence that lay the foundation for resilience. These are some of the contributors to health and happiness described in previous columns. Among these are: secure attachments; interpersonal competence, including the ability to recruit help; cognitive competence to plan; emotional competencies, especially the capacity to regulate emotions, delay gratification, and maintain high levels of hope, optimism and self-esteem; grateful living, and having meaning and purpose in life.

According to some psychologists, having meaning and purpose in life is the core competency that contributes to resilience. As Nietzsche is said to have observed, “If you have a WHY to live for, you can live any HOW.” That is, if we have a meaningful purpose in life, we can face and triumph over any adversity.

Viktor Frankl used Nietzsche’s words as inspiration to survive the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He kept constantly before him a reason to get out of the camp alive—to  re-join with his wife. As a result, he alone of his batch of inmates survived to tell his story and become a celebrity after the war, while all the others perished in the camp.

A strong sense of purpose helps us face adverse circumstances more positively. According to psychologists McKnight and Kashdan, purpose in life facilitates “psychological flexibility”; serves “as the motivating force to overcome obstacles”; “leads to more productive cognitive, behavioural, and physiological activity” and “lower stress levels and greater satisfaction with life.”

Faith and attendance at religious services have been found to foster resilience. The world views provided by faith contribute to purposefulness and meaningfulness, offer support in difficult times, and the strength to triumph over adversity.

As Emmons, a psychologist who researches the impact of religion and spirituality on wellbeing, has observed, “Religion and spirituality can provide a unifying philosophy of life and serve as an integrating and stabilising force in the face of constant environmental and cultural pressures that push for fragmentation, particularly in post-modern cultures.”

MENTORS AND ROLE MODELS

Every research that has explored the variables that have contributed to resilience, especially to flourishing after a dysfunctional childhood, has found one common variable that has led to positive outcome. This was the presence of an empathic other, usually a loving aunt or uncle or a dedicated and sensitive teacher, who became a mentor and a role model and whose care and support made up for deficiencies and enabled the individual to find meaning and purpose in life and triumph over tragedy.

One sensitive and caring individual can make a profound difference in the life of another, no matter how dismal or dysfunctional his or her life experiences might have been. Each of us can become that empathic other and transform lives.

Resilience literature shows that many of the characteristics of emotionally healthy persons, some of which we have considered in previous columns, are subsumed under resilience. Resilience can thus be considered a master contributor to health and happiness.

For reflection

• How resilient are you? 

• How do you generally handle adversities? 

• Have you been able to thrive after some tragedy? If yes, what helped you? 

• What is the level of meaningfulness you experience in your life? How can you enhance meaningfulness in life? 

• Can you recall an empathic other who has touched your life profoundly?

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[1] You can read Steve Job’s Commencement Speech at Stanford University in which he shared stories of adversity and resilience at : http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

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CRYSTAL

For me, turning the page of the calendar to 2018 brings a rush of varying emotions…excitement over some new possibilities, determination for implementing resolutions for improvement, as well as allowing myself time to grieve over what is no longer possible for my life. Each of these could hold great potential for making my life and the life of those I love better in the coming year. For example, in my excitement over the new possibilities for my life such as going on a vacation to a place that I have long wanted to visit, there will inevitably be choices that need to be made in order to have things work out successfully. Money needs to be saved and calendars need to be freed from other commitments. Taking care of all the details of the vacation will make the time spent with Kevin a more joyful and restful adventure.

Certainly as I contemplate any resolution I make for improvement in my physical or spiritual health, there will be choices I need to make in order to implement them if there is to be any hope for success. I can’t just expect to suddenly become disciplined. I need to set time for exercise and prayer which is both attainable and is suited to my temperament. For example, scheduling a much-desired silent retreat would be a good -jump-start to lifting my prayer routine to a new level.  And in order to acknowledge and accept the losses I have experienced over the last few years, especially the death of my dear friend, I must not gloss over the pain I feel, but choose instead to spend time in prayer in order to see how God is with me even through the feelings of sorrow. Every aspect of my life in 2018 and beyond will be impacted by decisions I make today and each succeeding day. The most important choice will be to remind myself that God is there with me, wanting to bring me His love.

KEVIN

Crystal’s reflection reminds me of the power of not merely making choices but that of making conscious choices.  With each passing year our lives often develop a certain rhythm. Days fade into weeks, weeks into months and months into years. In the context of the Church year, Advent leads us to Christmas and, a short time later, Lent leads to Easter. Unfortunately, as we settle into a rhythm, we can sometimes fall into habits or patterns where our choices are made by default. We continue do what we have always done.  While repeating patterns of the past isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if we have set our sights on developing good habits and practices, it is important to guard against drifting and complacency.

Becoming content with the way things are has always been a danger for me.  When I become satisfied with where I find myself, whether it be in my relationship with Crystal, my health or my prayer life, I stop working for improvement and slowly but surely fall back into old ways.  I guess that’s why I find this time of year so encouraging. As another year ends, I am challenged to look back and see where I missed opportunities to be the kind of person I want to be for myself, my family and the Church.  At the same time, the fact of a ‘new year’ motivates me to make conscious choices for change, which always inspires me to become more like the person God calls me to be.

As I seek to make conscious choices in life, it is important for me to try to first reflect on the person God wants me to be.  I know, in my human weakness, that if I focus only on my wants and desires the result will be many of the same old failed New Year’s resolutions of the past. If I set the agenda, I can change the agenda.   However, if I seek to discern and follow the path to becoming the person God wants me to be, I will be challenged to be working on holiness each and every day of my remaining years.  Only then will my actions become consistent with who I am called to be, a beloved son of God.  So it is at this turning of another year that I seek to reflect on   a passage  from  1 Thessalonians 14-18 to guide my reflection and discernment for the year ahead and to seek God’s will for me. “We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the idle, cheer the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient with all.  See that no one returns evil for evil; rather, always seek what is good for each other and for all. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks.“

God’s desire for us is to be holy and without sin on the day of our judgment.  By virtue of our Baptism we are called to be open to the Holy Spirit always seeking His guidance and wisdom.  We are called to be a prayerful and grateful people.  God knows that we are capable of being holy and acting in a manner totally pleasing to Him if we are willing to proclaim: “I am a baptized Roman Catholic seeking to live a holy life pleasing to God by following the example of His son and with the helping graces of the Holy Spirit.”  God doesn’t care about the same things the world cares about.  He cares about how well we love.  As we endeavor to live a life ever closer to Christ, our primary focus should be on making conscious choice to become more loving and kind.

CRYSTAL

Everything we do in life involves choices. Do I choose to wake up with enough time to prayerfully begin the day, or do I try to eke out every possible last minute of sleep? Do I react to a grumpy clerk with a scowl, or do I force a smile on my face to reverse the negative mood? Do I chat with a co-worker about others who really irritate me, or do I simply focus on the work for which I am responsible? To find answers to these questions I must first ask which of the choices presented will make me more pleasing to God. I believe the answer will always be the choice which is more loving to those I encounter in my daily life.

One final thought: Our lives are never over until they’re over.  I recently watched a movie with my young grandson that began with a short segment of what seemed like an impossibly dreadful end for the hero.  Less than a minute later, the words “Two days earlier” appeared, and the remainder of the movie was spent describing the events that led up to the hero’s apparent demise.  How much this reminds me of how all of our lives will be viewed at the end of our time on earth! We will have the opportunity to look back and see how the choices we made each and every day determined the outcome.  And as I also learned from the movie, don’t think you know the end until the very end! Each minute holds incredible opportunity for change and resurrection. In order to make significant changes in our lives, we must understand that we are in control of our choices of how we will respond to the events in our lives.  Of course, there will be things that happen that are outside of our control, but there are also many choices we make that will affect our future.  The choices we make today may well determine what our lives look like tomorrow. Bringing Christ into my decision-making guarantees a more hopeful and peaceful outcome.

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