by Fr. Carlos del Valle, SVD

There are too many judges and a lack of friends of the soul. There are too many teachers and not enough disciples. Religious who have ideas, institutions, fears, not people in their hearts. Focused on the role, not on the mission, they turn the task into an office, becoming sacral functionaries, and even pragmatic functionaries, placed in life according to the sun that warms the most. People sitting in the chair of Moses, rusted by the system that no longer responds to humanizing requests for change. There are communities where consecration is lived as a status, as a separation from life in general, from the laity and the poor in particular. Religious Life is perceived as tired, unconcerned about being life, no matter how religious it may appear. Out of focus in the face of the profound transformations of history. Touched by the leprosy of dehumanization, it needs to feel the hand of the Healer of tenderness.

There is no shadow without light, and no light that does not cast a shadow. The testimony of many is lost because of the incoherence of some. Today, there is no time for what is unnecessary. “This is no time to deal with God about matters of little importance,” says Teresa of Avila. The relationship between the Church and the Gospel is fundamental. 

The Gospel is not theory, doctrine, religion; it is a way of life. It is the raison d’être of consecration, of men and women of faith, oriented towards the Mystery, called to transform life according to the heart of God, being wholeheartedly in each thing.