May 5th and 6th were two days of retreat in the well-known Columns’ Hall at the Generalate, with a visit on Wednesday to Saint Paul Outside the Walls for a morning together with the abbot. The first part was on Tuesday with Father Fabio Ciardi, who helped us “feed on the Word” for a deep encounter with Jesus, the root and purpose of our missionary life.
By Gigi Anataloni *
Wednesday morning, Dom Donato Ogliari, the abbot, set us on the road to Damascus and into the world together with Saint Paul. In the afternoon, Sister Simona Brambilla, our Consolata missionary sister, sat us around the “fire,” reminding us that Saint Joseph Allamano told us that “fire is needed to be apostles.”
The Word of God as a Guide
We began Tuesday morning with Father Fabio Ciardi, OMI, professor of theology of consecrated life at the Claretianum in Rome and very active in ministry among men and women religious in Italy and abroad, and well known for his numerous publications. For many of us, the most delightful discovery was finding out he was at the same age as us and fellow student of theology at the FIST in Turin. He stayed with us all day, offering two deep meditations and then sharing the Eucharist with us.
The central point he presented was to emphasize how the only true rule of every form of religious life is the Gospel alone. This was understood very well from the very beginning, when Saint Anthony of the Desert began to embrace Jesus’ invitation: “Leave everything and come and follow me.” And he lived with a heart full of the Gospel.
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The same holds true for countless other holy founders, from Saint Benedict to Saint Bruno, from Saint Francis to Don Orione, and all the others in between. And — we would add — also Saint Joseph Allamano, who summed up this same principle of finding in the Gospel the true root of missionary commitment as a creative response of love to the world’s needs, with the motto: *”First saints, then missionaries.”*
All of this is because consecrated life is the Gospel lived in the Church, and the Gospel generates life.
Consecrated life, then, is a matter of expressing the Word of Jesus in today’s reality, so as to make known the true face of God who is Father and loves us.
But in order to bear this witness, the missionary must listen to the Word, contemplate it, savor it, and let it become the life of his very life.
Living the Word of Life
The missionary disciple becomes one with Jesus by receiving the Eucharist and the Word. In listening to the Word, the disciples become one with Him and become a community, a family of God.
Listening. It is a term found more than a thousand times in Scripture. Listening is obedience, which springs from reading, passes through meditation, contemplation, and prayer, and then becomes action carried out in collaboration – not by lone individuals, but united to the whole Body of Jesus which is the Church.
A community that, even amid the normal difficulties of life – which are never absent – finds in feeding on the Word the strength and energy to walk together, to love, to be in the world a witness to the true face of God who is Love, carrying Jesus like Mary – the Word of the Father – so that all may one day know Him and call Him *”Abba,”* our Father.
Saint Paul the Missionary
Wednesday morning we faced Rome’s incredible traffic and made our way to Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the ancient abbey built over the tomb of Saint Paul. There the abbot himself, Donato Ogliari — already known to many of us from our youth — welcomed us as brothers. After a brief tour of the basilica and its history, we gathered with him in the chapel dedicated to Saint Benedict and listened with open hearts as he guided us to rediscover that first great missionary, Saint Paul.
We began with Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, journeyed with him to Jerusalem, followed him all the way to Macedonia, and shared in the labors of proclaiming the good news to all.
The abbot guided us, through Paul, to rediscover the centrality of Jesus in our lives – to Him we are called to conform ourselves, He is the center of our missionary proclamation. With Paul we also rediscovered the deep bonds with the Church and the power of the Spirit, who always pushes further – not toward a solo mission, but toward a journey undertaken side by side, knowing we are the Body of Jesus, radically united to Him, and that He identifies Himself with His disciples. Still with Paul, we saw that mission is not monologue and imposition, but incarnation in the reality of people’s lives – something that requires discernment, openness, creativity, and inculturation, without fear of questioning ourselves or allowing life to challenge us.
Finally, Paul helped us understand the meaning of “toil” in living the mission, reminding us that we are like “rowers” who keep at their task even in a stormy sea. Paul understood that nothing would “separate him from the love of Christ,” for He has loved us, and this makes us “conquerors” even in the greatest difficulties and persecutions.
Rekindling the Fire
In the afternoon we met with Sister Simona Brambilla, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and former Superior General of the Consolata Missionary Sisters.
She chose the image of fire to help us remember and relive our missionary experience and to reread it, savoring the presence of the fire of the Spirit in our lives.
She opened by citing: “I have come to bring fire on the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Lk 12:49), recalling the words of both Saint Joseph Allamano and Pope Leo. And then came the question: are we truly bearers of this “fire”? Does it truly burn within us, and how do we let this fire transform us, pass through us, become part of us?
Then, using the image of fire that melts different things together and makes them one, she recalled the fire of the Spirit at Pentecost – a fire that unites, that enables the speaking of different tongues – asking us how we live this: are we promoters of unity, do we know how to overcome blocks and barriers, or do we remain closed within our securities and habits?
There is also a fire that can destroy – the fire of fear, pride, and individualism. And a fire that purifies, renews, draws out the best in people, and frees them from dross. Which of these fires is present in my life? The fire of Jesus? And in moments of suffering, when fire seems to destroy everything – how have I responded? Has it become an occasion of purification and renewal?
She recalled Blessed Sister Leonella, who felt enveloped and set ablaze by the fire of God’s love: “The fire of your love! I surrender myself to this fire of your love. I have told you that I am not afraid of your love, which will lead me to suffer as you did.” This fire is Jesus Himself, who gave Himself to us by offering His life to the very end, to the cross. We were then invited to reflect on this reality of Jesus who gave us everything and asks everything of us. Do we live this reality?
The final image was that of the “glowing embers,” recalling Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, who reveals Himself to His disciples and prepares food for them around a fire — manifesting once again His true style, which is not that of a master but of a servant. The glowing embers remind us that we too, as missionaries, are not lords and masters, but servants of Jesus’ mission of love, to let all people taste the beauty of being part of the Father’s family.
These were two intense and very rich days. I apologize if I have poorly summarized the beautiful sparks of fire that our three friends offered us. The journey continues.
* Father Gigi Anataloni, IMC, editor-in-chief of Missioni Consolata magazine.
