July 30, 2010

Some Time With The Novices

Our novices have been staying with us this week, having finished the novitiate program. They take their temporary vows tomorrow morning. In your charity offer a prayer of thanksgiving for their vocations, and for their courage as they go forward in our formation program.

Their presence reminds me of one of the ways I have changed my mind in the course of my religious life. In the community, we always make much of the young. Candidates and applicants are paraded around, and their 'vocation stories' get published in our newsletters. Brothers in formation are celebrated and treated quite well most of the time. I used to think this was a symptom of an unhealthy community; I worried that we were looking for our own validation through the young guys who were entering. It is they who should be excited about our life and work--presumably this is why they seek to join--rather than us finding our comfort in them. The classic tradition of religious life (across religions even) teaches that candidates should be discouraged in order to test their desire and resolve. Such was my worry.

I've changed my mind. I realize now that this behavior is the natural way families behave. As a sort of family in the spiritual order, the community makes a big deal about its babies, showing them off and trying to give them every good gift. Perhaps this is helpful and supportive for those who are going through the stresses of being formed into the community, but I now realize that it's mostly for us who are 'grown up' in the Order. To encounter and celebrate the guys who are younger in religion is just spiritually healthy. One sees their zeal and simplicity, and is reminded of these things in himself, before all of the internal compromises and friendships made with various forms of laxity and conformity to the spirit of this world. You are reminded of how you were once that way, and the desire to be so again peeks out from the stresses and details and all the anxieties of daily life and ministry.

So, as I've grown up a little bit in the Order, I realize now that we make a big deal about the new brothers at least in part because they minister to us, reminding us of how undivided our own hearts used to be in our desire for God in this life, and presenting a living invitation to accepting that zeal and simplicity once again.

5 comments:

Tom said...

I think one of our guys, Liam Quinn, is doing his novitiate with your novices so say 'Dia duit' from the guys in Ireland. We just had our chapter and the changes are coming into effect in the next two weeks. Sound of shattered plans and dreams all over the province. I, on the other hand, am like the soldier who alone survives a bombardment untouched. Liam, please God, will return to a province much changed.
keep up the good work!

Paul A. Zalonski said...

How many novices will be taking vows for the St Mary Province? The other Provinces?

Blessings!

Brother Charles said...

Two for our province here at SH tomorrow; not sure about other provinces.

Mark D. said...

Funny, I often feel the same way about young lawyers...

Julia said...

That was a nice post.

The thing that worries me when a lot of public attention is paid to the newest members of a community, especially postulants, is that it seems like it must put a lot of pressure on them. I can think of a couple of communities that have stopped naming names upon entrances in their newsletters or blog posts at least in part because of the questions that come up when someone leaves. It's harder to handle a departure quietly when an entrance is made so public.

My other concern is when new members are doing things like writing spiritual reflections in newsletters and so forth. Young religious can say things that are correct and even wise, of course, but I think in the first years they should be able to focus most of all on their own spiritual development without having to think about sharing their thoughts with the world. It could also be an occasion of spiritual pride.