Letter to the Young Men of our Houses for Formation of Fr. Hubert Goudjinou, M.I., the General Consultor for Formation

Dear Young Men,

Two weeks after the episode of which we are all aware and the developments of which we await in prayer, after a number of nights of insomnia and trouble I want to address a few words to each one of you who are the hope of the sick and of our Order.

Faced with the singular page which forms a part of the shining book of many centuries which so many of our brothers have written in the footsteps of St. Camillus with their measureless dedication at the side of the suffering, certainly very many questions have risen up in your hearts: is it still worthwhile to continue on the pathway of discernment? Is it worthwhile to consecrate one’s life to the sick in our religious family?

Without doubt the quake has been very strong and amongst those people who have been shaken one cannot but think of you. To hear this news during an especially difficult period, which has been characterised by the culture of the provisional and subject to a great fragility at the level of vocations, has strongly increased the risk of allowing oneself to be conditioned by events. ‘A tree that falls in a forest makes more noise than one that grows’.

I believe that at this moment, when we are celebrating the fourth centenary of the death of St. Camillus, even though it is one troubled by regrettable situations, it could be providential to really take this opportunity to examine in a careful way our motivations, to purify them, rediscovering the beauty that lies in following Christ and in embracing the Camillian charism. I am convinced that the Lord does not allow anything to happen without arranging special graces for his sons. The sick and the suffering, who are always many in number, look to you with great hope and continue to offer up their sufferings for you so that that you may be holy workers in the vineyard of the Lord.

Certainly, each one of you is called to commit yourselves to a profound inner revitalisation, always bearing in mind the indicators that are needed for a holy consecrated life and which are sincere commitment in the life of prayer, in fraternal life, and in ministerial life.

Basing ourselves on these pillars of our lives, there is no reason to lose hope. As the Apostle Paul observes: ‘I am believe that he who began this work will bring it to its full completion’.

Dear young men, with courage and enthusiasm, let us receive the events of this moment as a providential sign that invites us to rediscover that essential mission of being yeast, fermentation, sign and prophecy which is specific to consecrated life, and which we are called to bear witness to amongst those of our brothers and sisters who live the difficult season of suffering.

Let us look to St. Camillus! With emphasis he reminds us: ‘Blessed are you! Blessed are you! You who have such a good opportunity to serve God at the bedside of the sick’.

Like him, let us quieten all our arguments and give space to the intimate observations of the crucified Christ: ‘What is troubling you, pusillanimous one? Go on with you work for I will help you, for this work is mine not yours’.

Dear young men, referring to the Instruction Starting Afresh from Christ n. 1, I am certain that the history of the Church is led by God and that for those who love God everything works for the cause of good. In this vision of faith the negative can also be an opportunity for a new beginning if in it one recognises the face of Christ, crucified and abandoned, who made himself at one with our limitations to the point of carrying our sins on his body on the wood of the cross.

Let us go forward! Let us look to the future with hope. Always in the history of salvation the night has its mysterious fecundity.

Entrusting every one of you to the maternal intercession of the Most Holy Mary, the mother of the ‘yes’, I pray to the Lord, the God who calls you because He loves you, that the enthusiasm of your first encounter will be followed by the patient effort of corresponding daily life.

To all those responsible for formation, who through the action of the Father and the Holy Spirit strive to shape in each one of you the feelings of the Son, I renew my deep gratitude.

With a strong embrace for each one of you and constant memories in my prayers!

Fr. Hubert GOUDJINOU

[Rassegna stampa delle attività per il IV Centenario]