Does religious life make sense today?

Does religious life make sense today?

Jul 27, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS

We live in times of enormous human possibilities. Even 50 years ago, the current lifestyle of people was unattainable for those times, even in the wildest dreams. Today, thanks to technical inventions and the ever-developing globalization in many areas of our lives, one has the impression that the world is at our fingertips, open to every human being, and what we will do with our lives depends only on our decision. In such a situation, choosing a simple, poor life in a monastery may seem completely absurd to contemporaries. For many people, religious life is losing its value today, becoming a kind of "religious folklore" or a medieval relic. Other roles of consecrated persons are perceived mainly in terms of social activity, which at present, with well-developed social institutions, does not play such importance as before. So, you get the impression that the time of religious orders is slowly coming to an end. In such thinking, the fact of the decreasing number of vocations to consecrated life in Europe can also confirm. However, are we really dealing with a crisis of religious life today, which has become obsolete in the modern world, or is there a world around us in which basic and natural values, such as faith in God, love as a gift of self, truth, goodness and beauty? began to be a misunderstanding? There is no doubt that in today's world, spirituality has become one of the most stunted areas of life for many Christians. On the one hand, the weakening of faith, and on the other hand, the more and more felt, though perhaps not realized, desire of God the Creator - this is the drama of contemporary man. The witness of consecrated life has never been so necessary in history as it is today. It does not lose its sense, but it is much more difficult, because it is to fulfill its role in a culture that has chosen individualism as its hallmark. Consecrated life as a path of service, love, self-giving for the sake of often neglected, difficult and needy people stands in complete opposition to today's mentality. The essence of the vocation to consecrated life is not the activity, but the identity of the consecrated person. A vocation to religious life is a vocation to a unique bond with Christ that cannot become obsolete. Religious community is to show the passion of life for God - this is its task in the world. Of course, this does not mean that religious life would be the best path for all people. However, this life, which some Christians choose by God's grace, helps others not to get lost in the variety of ways and offers that exist in the modern world. Consecrated life should convince you that it is God who gives the experience of happiness that the world seeks and cannot find anywhere else. Money, power, or feelings will not give it unless it is integrated into the experience of faith. It is God who is the Lord of everything, it is up to us to fulfill the task entrusted to us. S.M. Sybilla Kołtan
Poverty

Poverty

Jul 22, 2021 | SPIRITUALITY

Years back I gave a keynote speech on the subject of "Evangelical Council - Poverty" in one chapter. Since the evangelical counsels are  essential basis of our spiritual life, I hope to be able to give one or the other an impulse or a help for their own spiritual life: All three evangelical counsels - and in this case especially poverty - are not an end in themselves, but are an expression of the "life in abundance" promised in the New Testament (Joh. 10,10). This means that, as Sr. Zoe Marie Isenring writes in her book “The Woman in Apostolic Religious Congregations”, they should be “a means to be more and not less human”. This sounded provocative to me at first and raised a few questions:
  1. Material poverty as such is not a value for me to strive for, but an injustice that we are to remedy on God's behalf. God wants abundance for all people, also overcoming poverty. Since we cannot change these injustices with violence - i.e. new injustice - this aspect of poverty obliges us to a simple and undemanding way of life, to a responsible handling of property and becomes a duty of sharing out of solidarity with people, because that is what they do the essentials are missing. Understood in this way, poverty becomes a means of being more human for the community of people - the means of a more just world. Let us ask ourselves as individuals and as a community:
- How simple and undemanding is my lifestyle? - Will my lifestyle and the life of the community become a sign or a stumbling block? - Are we, for the people, the ones who solemnly take the vow of poverty and are now living comfortably, while the people outside are the ones who even have to live poverty?  
  1. Poverty always has to do with renunciation. Conscious and free renunciation are inseparable from poverty. Where this aspect is missing, the vow becomes an empty phrase and our life becomes implausible. But poverty must not be reduced to just doing without. We are created as free and beloved daughters of God and God has given us the things of this world for use. We can use them with joy and responsibility. The vow of poverty does not release me and each of us from our responsibility for our own lives. The superior is not responsible for my life and also not for the fact that I did not get so many things in life or had to do without them! I was created by God in freedom and willed as a free person. Also and especially as a religious. Only when I see myself as loved and wanted and can accept the things of this world as gifts, am I able to let go of myself and everything, to continue to give and to do without. Let us ask ourselves as individuals and as a community:
- Do I experience myself as a daughter loved by God? - Can I enjoy the things of this world? - Can I see it as a gift or do I have to have it all? - Do I know the difference between an insatiable “want to have” and a good “treat myself to something”? - Can I also give something to others, be generous towards them? - Can I do without  becoming bitter or grouchy?  
  1. The vow of poverty only has a meaning and value if it becomes not just an external way of life but an internal attitude. Only when I am not attached to the things of this world am I truly free to follow Christ. But that then confronts me with the question: What does my heart depend on? What do I trust, do I really trust this God or do I have to take care of myself? This is probably the most essential, but also the most difficult aspect of the vow of poverty. Only those who are poor in this sense are always free for God's call and can follow him - without obstructing marching baggage. This is not only about material things, but also, for example, positions in the community, at work or in personal life that you have worked for, but which can quickly become wealth. Let us ask ourselves as individuals and as a community:
- What does my heart depend on? - Do I trust God that He is leading me or am I afraid of Him and his demands? - Do I have to secure my life and therefore have or keep everything? - How rich or poor am I really? - What cannot or do not want to let go: the office or the task that I have held for so long; the convent where I feel so comfortable; the position that made me so respected ...?   There is still a lot to be said about the vow of poverty. But they are only intended to be a small impulse for reflection and help us to understand and live the vow of poverty a new and more deeply. Sr. Petra Ladig
The key to collaboration

The key to collaboration

Jul 16, 2021 | POSITIVE IMPULSES

The key to collaboration is not always the understanding of everything. The key to collaboration with the Grace of God or with the good will of others is your heart and the longing of your heart to love and to contribute. It is desirable that you know everything but your obstinacy to know everything can ruin everything. Because in every situation there are lots of know and unknown factors present, some you can know, and you can never know. So, both your craving to know everything or the posturing that you know everything will ruin the web of collaboration and interaction. Grow in trust by giving space to unknow factors in each situation and enjoy the beauty of life. Don Giorgio
Saint Joseph’s friend from finances

Saint Joseph’s friend from finances

Jul 14, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS

Since this year is proclaimed by Pope Francis "the Year of Saint Joseph", I would like to share with you my friendship with this saint. Devotion to St. I have always had Joseph, before I entered our Congregation, I knew the litany to St. Joseph by heart. I always tried to entrust many things through his intercession, especially ... financial matters ... He never refused to help me. I remember two specific situations in my life. While I was in Bardo Śląski, the whole community of sisters knew that I had a special devotion to St. Joseph. I was the supervisor then. The house was very large and constantly something broke or needed renovation. Unfortunately, there was not enough money for it. I prayed to my Friend, St. Joseph to help us with these financial matters. One morning, when I was going down to the chapel, I saw in the corridor in front of the entrance to the chapel that there was a statue of St. Joseph with an envelope in his hand. (I will just add that this figure has never stood there before). I well remember the words I said aloud then: "Oh, its and you, how did you get here?" After a while as I spoke these words, from down the hall, I heard the laughter of the sisters who hid around the corner. It was the youngest sisters in the community who put this figure. As I mentioned, Joseph had an envelope in his hand and, as it turned out, there was money in it. I admit that I was very happy because we were able to renovate such a large room, which we could allocate for a retreat for pilgrims coming to our house and for joint sister meetings. I never found out where the money came from and who gave it to us (the sisters never told where it came from). However, I believed that it was St. Joseph took care of it. The next situation happened when we needed money to renovate the kitchen. Trusting in the help of St. Joseph, I entrusted the whole matter to him and finding money for its renovation. One day there was a retreat for pilgrims in our house. Then I helped the Sisters in the kitchen and I remember that we were talking about the renovation. At one point the priest who was preaching a retreat with us (now he is a bishop) entered the kitchen. He greeted us, approached me and the kitchen and hands me an envelope, saying: "This is from St. Joseph for my sister ”. The envelope contained enough money to renovate the kitchen. I remember these two situations in a special way, although there were still many of them. I love St. Joseph very much. I also call him diminutively "Józefek, help", I am asking him to come up with "something" and save it. And he has always helped and put wonderful people on my way of life. And it helps to this day. He is reliable in helping. In some matters he works right away, in some you have to wait longer for His intercession, but He always helps and intercedes, you just have to really trust Him, believe and ask for His help. S.M. Borgia Drobina