The Provincial writes for November 2016...

28th October, 2016

Dear Confreres and friends,

 

As you will be aware, our General Chapter begins at the end of this month and I know that the communities have been praying that the Holy Spirit will be with the capitulars as we review the past sexennium, plan and discern for the future and elect a new General Government. I will try and keep you updated with key moments from the Chapter.

 

As is my custom, I also remind you of the importance of observing the suffrages for our beloved dead. The four Masses that the communities should celebrate in November are: the deceased members of the Province and Region, all deceased Redemptorists, our deceased benefactors, our deceased parents and relatives. This is one way of expressing our deep gratitude for the amazing mission carried out by those on whose shoulders we continue to build and spread the gospel.

 

You will have seen from our web page that Br. Massimiliano Mura wrote an icon of Blessed Maria Celeste Crostorosa for the Clapham community. It was good to have Max with us, and I look forward to continuing our cooperation as he is translating at the General Chapter.

Bro. Chris Reynolds wrote to express his gratitude for the great support he received from the confreres at the time of his grandfather's death. His family felt equally supported; and he wishes you all to know how grateful they are.

 

Please do keep the General Chapter in your prayers. Fr. Raymond will be there from Zimbabwe and I will join him and the other capitulators, leaving Kinnoull today. During the month the Vicar Provincial will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the Province.

 

I want to offer a few words of reflection on my Golden Jubilee of Profession. I have struggled to discern what I should write, as it could be a bit self-indulgent. However, since Profession is a public act, perhaps a. word of thanksgiving might also find its way to the public domain.

 

To reflect during my retreat on my Redemptorist vocation has of course been to enter into the Mystery of God...... why I was called, and what this call means.

 

For me, the starting point is found in Constitution 6: "They proclaim the love of God the Father who first loved us and sent his Son." This is the the basis of any call, and I have been blessed with an assurance from my earliest years that I am loved by God. This of course did not translate itself into organised religion, but was a deep principle of my life.

 

During my late adolescence I could not locate any specific call. Indeed the more association I had with the Church, the clearer it was to me that I had no call to secular priesthood. Reading Thomas Merton, and being struck by his clear call to the interior life, I was equally convinced that I was not called to the monastic life of choral recitation of the Divine Office. However, I knew that I wanted to be a close friend of Jesus.

 

And then I encountered the Redemptorists. The description of their life - prayer, mission, community - seemed to be an answer to my searching. It was, and has remained, like a shirt that fits very comfortably.

 

So, vocation was a bit clearer. Why then Redemptorist vocation? From me our life is summed up in Constitution 74 (quoting Vatican II) which states that our life is simply 'a following of Jesus as proposed in the gospel'. More specifically it is a call to share this immense love of God, which I know is real, with those who feel on the margins, those who feel unloved or distanced from God; or even as we used to call them - 'sinners'. Now we see those sisters and brothers of ours, more as fellow travellers, struggling and falling and seeking a way - and often we Redemptorists can be signposts to Jesus who is the Way.

 

I am always struck by the first words of Constitution 3 which begins, 'The most abandoned to whom in particular the Congregation is sent' as being seminal to my life and to our way of life. And these we encounter in our communities, in our ministry and in our society.

 

So I am very grateful to have been called to participate in this way of life and in this ministry.

 

Why I have been called, remains a mystery. Few of the ministries to which I have been missioned (and I do believe each has been in a sense being sent) I would not have have chosen. However each one has enabled me to fully live my Redemptorist vocation and serve the confreres and the people of God; and for this, I am so very grateful.

 

Just as the Congregation has affirmed me, been immensely patient with me, encouraged and empowered me, I hope that in some measure I have been able to do the same for others.  This is a privilege and a gift; a gift from God.

 

I once asked Fr. Bernard Haring what I should look for in novices. And he said, 'look for men with Eucharistic hearts - that is grateful hearts able to receive and to give love'. I have found this in abundance in our life.

 

I really am very grateful to God and to all my confreres in the Province, in the Region and throughout the Congregation, as well as my friends who have believed in this vocation and have supported it over the years.

 

Profession day, 16th October, 1966: "All this was a long time ago, I remember, and I would do it again". TS. Eliot. Thank you.

 

Birthdays this month: Br W. McDermott 18th, Fr B. O'Toole 18th (80th), Fr F. Kunaka 23rd, Fr B. Russell 24th .

 

May I wish you all very happy feasts of our Foundation day on 9th November and also for our patronal feast of the Immaculate Conception on Sth December. May I also remind you that on that day Br. Charles Randall who is at present working in Bishop Eton as a deacon, will be ordained to the priesthood.

 

With prayers and best wishes,

 

In Christ the Redeemer,

Ronald J. McAinsh, C.Ss.R.

Provincial Superior