We Are Missionaries “Our whole existence is to expand the Kingdom of God”

Editorial

July, 2014 No. 13

AA AA Newsof the Assumption

Religious and laity

the same mission

July, 2014 No. 132

>> Official

AgendaOrdinary General Councils

•11-22September,2014•10-14November,2014

Agenda of the Plenary General Councils

•December1toDecember11,2014

Benoît

•AssumptionistNationalPilgrimagetoLourdes•August 22 to September 3 :CanonicalVisitationtoVietnam

•September 26 to October 23:CanonicalVisitationtoDRCongo,TanzaniaandKenya

Emmanuel

• July 22 to September 4 inRDCongo• October 1-2 inParis:Inter-AssumptionCommissioninParisfortheNairobiprogramof2015

•October 8-23:inNairobi(Kenya)

John

• July 7 to September 4:triptotheUnitedStates

Didier

• July 4 to August 10:triptothePhilippinesandVietnam

• September 26 to October 20:GomaandButembo(RDC)

•October 21-22:Paris• October 22 to November 3:triptotheUnitedStatesandMexico

Marcelo

• July 8 to 20:SessiononEasternEuropeinRumania• July 25 to September 4:inChile•September 24 to October 8:inMadagascar• October 24 to 31:inFlorence(Italy)

Other meetings

• LocalChapteroftheRomeCommunity:Sunday,September 22, 2014

■ Rome telephone numberThetelephonenumberfortheGeneralHousehaschanged.Itisnow:(0039) 06 66.01.37.27

Father José Miguel DIAZ AYLLON Provincial for a second term

AtthemeetingoftheOrdinaryGeneralCouncilonJune24,FatherJoséMiguelDiazAyllonwasnamedProvincialSuperioroftheProvinceofNorthAmerica-Philippinesforasecondterm.Thisthreeyear

termbeginsonJuly1,2014.TheterritoryoftheUnitedStateshasjustbenefittedfromtheCanonicalVisitationoftheSuperiorGeneralandlastMarchFatherBenoîthadgonetoManilainthePhilippinesforthemeetingoftheAsianCoordination.FatherJoséMiguel,55,wasborninMexicoCity,madehisfirstprofessioninSantiagoafterhisnovitiateinChile,andwasordainedapriestin1995.TheProvincehastodayfourverydifferentandfar-flungterritories.FatherJoséMiguel

hasworkedtoassureagreatercoherenceoflifeandagreatercommunionamongverydifferentrealities.TerritorialAssemblieswilltakeplaceinthefall.MiguelsaidthattherehadnotbeensufficienttimetoforgeacommonidentityasaProvinceandthemobilityofthereligiouswasnotsufficient.TodaywelooktoamoreintenselocalanimationwhichwillperhapshelptoanimatetheentireProvince.

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Editorial <<

We Are Missionaries

I like the idea that we are considered missionaries. The Assumption is resolutely an apostolic Congregation

and as our Founder said, “our whole existence is to expand the Kingdom of God.” The Assumptionist religious deploys his energy for the cause of the Kingdom, the proclamation of the Gospel. There are many ways of being missionary and we must continue to deepen the call of Jesus who asked us “to go to the whole world”. As Pope Francis strongly invites us to, we must explore the peripheries of our societies to meet those who are far from the Gospel.The missionary, for a long time, was seen as the one who traveled afar. The mission was already the mission ad gentes, among those who had not received the Good News in faraway countries: Africa, Asia, notably. It was thus that numerous missionary institutes saw the light of day in the 19th and 20th centuries. In Rome we are the neighbors of the White Fathers, the Missionaries of Africa, and we have sometimes the occasion to dialogue between our respective curiae I must admit that I am interested by their dynamism and their activity. Marked as we are by the diminishment of our numbers, the White Fathers retain despite everything a strong dynamism. Their vocations are essentially African and they are trying to constitute international and intercultural communities in many places in the world. For a few years now that are founding in new territories such as Brazil, Mexico, India, and the Philippines.In the Assumption, we are all missionaries. I have just returned from the United States where I made the canonical visitation of our five communities and I discovered a little better our College in Worcester. I

sincerely believe that our brothers engaged in education at Assumption College are missionaries. For them it is a question, through teaching, of witnessing to the Christian faith. The context is not easy for indifference, unbelief and ignorance mark the world of the young Americans, but the Assumptionists try to proclaim the Good News. They do so firstly in doing their profession seriously, and also in living in an apostolic community. The presence of the chapel in the heart of the campus with the animation of the Prayer of the Hours and the Mass is a good witness to the students and the professors. I can say the same thing for the religious who work at Bayard or in the other works of the Congregation. We are missionaries wherever we are sent.I would like to remember three brothers, still young, who have died recently: Father Charles from Madagascar, Father Chuvi in Manila and Father Roger in Kinshasa. Two of them died brutally from malaria, an often deadly disease that affects millions of people annually. They were missionaries. Father Chuvi was a member of the group of the founders of the mission in the Philippines. He incarnated gentleness and welcoming. We miss his smile. Father Charles was pastor in a parish in the bush. He was simple and available. Thanks to the Lord for having given us these brothers. We have just received the gift of the Spirit on Pentecost. The Spirit is certainly the one who makes us act according to the will of the Father. He makes us able to dare, he gives us audacity. The Assumption is not made up of famous or illustrious people. We are weak and limited, but the Spirit is there and he allows us to act for the mission. So let us not be afraid! n

P. Benoît Grière

General Superior of the

Augustinians of the Assumption

July, 2014 No. 134

>> Official (cont’d)

FatherBenoîtGrière,SuperiorGeneralWithhisCouncilhascalled

■ tO PERPEtuAL PROFESSION

1. Bro. MuMBERE MuPAYA, Jacques(Africa)(06-24-14)

2. Bro. NSENGE MPIA, Héritier Stanislas(Africa)(06-20-14)

3. Bro. KIM MYOuNG-HO (Vianney)(Europe)(06-26-14)

4. Bro. DEFEBVRE, Geoffrey-Kames(Europe)(06-23-14)

5. Bro. PALuKu tSONGO, Constantin(Madagascar)(06-24-14)

6. Bro. MuMBERE BuNDuKI, Patrice Emery(Madagascar)(06-28-14)

■ tO ORDINAtION tO tHE DIACONAtE

7. Bro. BWAMBALE KALIPI, Dominique(Africa)(06-24-14)

8. Bro. KAMBALE KOMBI, Innocent(Africa)(06-26-14)

9. Bro. KAMBALE WAtEVIRWE, Faustin(Africa)(06-225-14)

10. Bro. KAMSELE AGBAKA, Bienvenu(Africa)(06-26-14)

11. Bro. KASEREKA SINDANI, Edmond(Africa)(06-26-14)

12. Bro. KIARIE NDuAtI, John(Africa)(06-20-14)

13. Bro. Kolela, Venceslas Quentin(Africa)(06-23-14)

14. Bro. MuMBERE NDALEGHANA, Gaston(NorthAmerica-Philippines)(06-25-14)

15. Bro. NGuYEN CHI, Ai Joseph(NorthAmerica-Philippines)(06-28-14)

16. Bro. KAKuLE MuNDuVuYIRA, Joseph(NorthAmerica-Philippines)(06-20-14)

■ tO ORDINAtION tO tHE PRIEStHOOD

17. Bro. KAKuLE KYAHWERE, Jeurie-Bertrand(Africa)(06-28-14)

18. Bro. KAMBALE LIKO, Athanase(Africa)(06-24-14)

FatherBenoîtGRIERE,withhisPlenaryGeneralCouncilhasnamed

AsRESPONSIBLE FOR FORMAtION,Father Michaël KAKuLE tSONGO(Emmanueld’AlzonCommunity,Kinshasa,RDC)

AsMAStER OF NOVICES,FatherHenri Kizito VYAMBWERA,atKizitoHouse-Arusha(Tanzania)

AsPROVINCIAL RESPONSIBLE FOR FORMAtION,Father Yves NZuVA KAGHOMA, Sikiliza(QuenardCommunity,Butembo,RDC)

AsSuPERIOR OF tHE INtERNAtIONAL HOuSE OF FORMAtIONofEmmanueld’AlzonHouseofNairobi(Kenya),Father Jean-Marie MESO PALuKu

■ OPENING OF A COMMuNItY

FatherBenoîtGRIÈRE,withthePlenaryGeneralCouncil,approved the OPENING OF tHE

COMMuNItY OF VINH (Vietnam).

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9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16

17 18

1 2 3 4

Calls, Nominations, Adjustments...

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Spirituality <<

A vigorous precedentWe know that the hesitations of his Bishop, Mgr. Cart, obliged the Founder to prolong this exercise until December 1850, when the Bishop of Nîmes authorized a first public annual profession2. This trial of five consecutive years undoubtedly allowed him to evaluate with depth and discernment the quality of his first excellent companions: Fr. Henri Brun, Bro. Victor Cardenne, Fr. Étienne Pernet, and Fr. Hippolyte Saugrain, all obliged to carry on at the same time the requirements of the college responsibilities to make a school run smoothly. It is not then at all a “hot house” novitiate even if this situation

had in itself inconveniences and its own advantages. What is certain, is that they came out of it with the indelible characters of a well-marked spirit, that of frankness, integrity, audacity, disinterestedness and supernatural zeal to repeat the familiar terms of Fr. d’Alzon and of the original Assumption.

A 35-year uninterrupted exerciseThe Founder was not without knowing that in the beginnings of a religious family the grace of an original stamp could preserve it from the drifting inherent in the long term. That is why in some way he made himself a sort of perpetual master of novices in the cradle itself of the foundation, the college, despite all the inconveniences that could undermine his undertaking. It

was not without some grasping about or failures. Mother Marie-Eugénie de Jésus did not hesitate to repeat to him that in the Assumption of Nîmes they did not make a serious novitiate, that is: regular, without bruising regularity, one hundred percent monastic in its forms every day as it undoubtedly was in the Gothic monastery of Auteuil.Fr. d’Alzon, overburdened and scattered, did not take umbrage at these criticisms that in conscience he admitted as his fault, but he also measured this superior reality that in the matter of formation of men, initiative, audacity, inventiveness, the personal values override the regularity of lives in slow mode, of bandy-leg or extra-canonical situations. He was primarily interested in well-tempered souls and found for particular

Fr. d’Alzon in the Novitiateby Jean-Paul PÉriEr-MUZEt

like all apprentice religious, Fr. d’Alzon, priest Vicar General, began his religious life with a period of novitiate in december, 1845 with five companions1.

1 Four teachers of the Assumption High School, diocesan priests: Fr. Henri SURREL, Fr. Eugène HENRI, Fr. Elphège TISSOT, Fr. Charles LAURENT, and a then lay professor, René Eugène CUSSE.l, diocesan priests: Fr. 2 The following year on the same date took place the perpetual profession of the first professed religious: Fr. d’ALZON, Fr. Henri BRUN, Fr. Étienne PERNET, and Fr. Hippolyte SAUGRIN. Bro. Victor CARDENNE had already died. The young François PICARD made his first profession.

July, 2014 No. 136

situations the necessary accommodations required by needs. He often relied on trustworthy subordinates, first-hand companions: Frs. Picard, Saugrain, Galabert, who in their posts, relayed him, be it at Mireman, Auteuil, Clichy, Vigan or yet at Andrinopolis.Even if the functions were shared, Fr. d’Alzon always kept a jealous eye on the novitiates and the novices, throughout his thirty-five years of apostolic religious life, despite all of his multiple activities, his innumerable travels and his preoccupying functions. After laborious efforts to count and recount , I estimated at some 69 religious the number of committed Assumptionists on November 21, 1880 (the 11 novices not counted), present or not in Nîmes at the bedside of the Founder . Just as his work as Vicar General, the novitiate was the work of his entire life I needed a bit of mathematical insolence to jump into the list of the some 350 names of young

men mentioned alphabetically as possible postulants-novices in reading the correspondence of Fr. d’Alzon . I will conclude this laborious exercise by a quotation, quite in the Alzonian spirit and full of spiritual optimism: “We have for the moment, all of one novice, but it is not impossible that we could have several; without mentioning all those who should come and have not come, that is quite a nice number. And that is how we can be satisfied at a cheap price.” (Letter of November 15, 1858, to Etienne Pernet, tome II, p. 561)

The strengths of a fool-proof optimismAt the sight of such numbers we might be frightened at such a vast expense of energy and resources for such a thin final tally. Undoubtedly the simple quantitative reading does not exhaust the reflection of a spiritual being such as Fr. d’Alzon. The interior life, the solidity of a vocation and the

3 According to the inflexible steel law of numbers!4 Refer to the well documented and detailed article written by your servant in tome XIII of the Lettres du P. d’Alzon, pages 427-470: Les Religieux de l’Assomption au 21 novembre 1880.5 We find the alphabetical list either by family names in Lettres d’Alzon t. XV, pages 497-529, or by given names in tome XVI, pages 59-65 (Prosopography).6 This spiritual classic written in Latin is generally attributed to the Rhenish mystic Thomas a Kempis (v. 1379-1471). Lamennais made a translation very much used and appreciated in the 19th century. We find no fewer than 29 mentions of this title in the correspondence of d’Alzon who highly recommends its meditation: “This Latin, I don’t know why, in thinking of you, I remembered the Imitation that I gave you…” August 31, 1830, to d’Esgrigny, t. A, p. 127.

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fruitfulness of an evangelical existence, according to him, is not measured by simple mathematics. Fr. d’Alzon appreciated the apostolic dynamism of his religious thrown, as he was, into more works than they were able to detail or carry. He did not fear burn out, he especially detested laziness, inertia, immobility, and cowardice: “working like four” is an expression that is part of his vocabulary and of his favorite expressions. He left the pride of numbers to others! He did not like to tarry by counting the men in the ranks (“our little Congregation”, he discerned the leaders, the head men, the top of the line men who pull the small group to the heights and on the battlefields where orders and counter orders and undoubtedly disorders multiply.Even so, he did not spare his efforts to recruit vocations and those who followed him all through their lives kept an unequalled imprint of his voice, his look and his call. We do not have a refined and adjusted picture of each of the personal relationships of Fr. d’Alzon with his religious. There could be estimated at its just value the weight of the tenderness and attention but also the vigorous reprimands from the one who to the very end and unchallenged kept the image of the venerated and dear father, as Fr. Galabert liked to call him in his correspondence. In contact with him, the religious breathed in what is attractive in a beautiful soul: the breadth of vision, the generosity of heart, the intuition of intelligence, the nobility and the purity of intentions, a faith to face the worst storms. That is why

they were ab le to forgive him his occasional moments of anger, his eruptions and authoritarian moments, his accents of chaffing banter, his mocking words erupting from the Meridional temperament that served as a safety-valve in the overload of ordinary preoccupations and the weight of the unforeseen disappointments.

Fr. d’Alzon, Master of Spiritual LifeIt is clear that despite all, the title or contrary pretensions, Fr. d’Alzon never considered, or proclaimed himself, a spiritual

7 The only spiritual author in the French language (1557-1622), declared a doctor of the Church in 1877, celebrated on January 24, also gave his name to the Association founded in 1856 by Fr. d’Alzon and Bishop de Ségur to counter the Protestant influence. D’Alzon had a great admiration and devotion for this saint and went to Thorens and Annecy to venerate him. “As proof of my authority over your will, here is what I require… 5 a pious reading in the Introduction à la vie dévote » to Angelina Chaudordy, March 14, 1865, In Lettres, t. V, p. 270.

July, 2014 No. 138

master, even if, in the end, it would not be wrong to see him as a master of spiritual life. He was a self-taught spiritual man, undoubtedly more prone to action than to mysticism. He only wrote punctual writings, but no explicit treatise on the subject. On the personal level, Fr. d’Alzon used two spiritual directors: as Vicar General he went to his relative, the Abbé de Tessan, and as Superior and Founder of the Assumption, Fr. Picard, his spiritual director and counsellor.To what sovereign authorities does Fr. d’Alzon refer in the art of guiding the novices? Evidently he refers to reading the Bible, especially the New Testament, to the Imitation of Christ6, to Saint Augustine, master par excellence of interior life, to classic treatises such as the Introduction à la vie devote of Saint Francis de Sales7 (1608), to the letters of Bossuet8, to the medieval philosopher-theologian of the Church par excellence, Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)9, patron of universities

and schools, to the works of the traditionalist Joseph de Maistre10, to certain works of the Fathers of the Church, and mystics like Saint John of theCross11, Saint Robert Bellarmin12, Theresa of Avila13, Saint Alphonsus of Liguori (1696-1787), supporter of a less narrow and more flexible moral theology, etc. He can choose to eliminate certain other authors, such as Bérulle14, explicitly, and Fénelon.Another very important question tied to the one we are treating is that of the readings of Fr. d’Alzon and, at the same time, the readings he suggested to the novices and to those to whom he gave spiritual direction. We have retained some by reading attentively his correspondence:Thus in 1846 he wrote: “I have begun the life of Saint Vincent de Paul that I had already read once before (letter to M. M.-E. de J., September 12, tome XIV, p. 245). Undoubtedly it was the one written by Mgr. Louis Abelly (1604-1691) in 1661). Vincent de Paul was the model

>> Spirituality

8 Evidently it was not the Gallicanism of Bishop Jacques Bénigne Bossuet that d’Alzon admired in the great 17th century preacher (1627-1704) but the thoroughbred theologian and writer of the “Great Century”, erudite, with a stunning facility with words, and also preceptor of the Dauphin and Counsellor of the State, great debater in the anti-Protestant quarrels. Despite the polemics, the man of the Church sought above all truth and unity which give to his positions in favor of the privileges of the Gallican Church a moderate tone of compromise. There was however in the 19th century a priest of Besançon, a certain Abbé Bélet, stupid enough to write a book on Bossuet as Ultramontane: Le gallicanisme réfuté par Bossuel à l’aide de textes puisés dans ses oeuvres. Cf. Lettres d’Alzon, t. VIII, p. 60: “And he (Pius IX) who never reads, wrote a letter of praise to the author of Bossuet Ultramontane because reading this work interested him”. There are 53 mentions of Bossuet in the letters of d’Alzon. There is a good edition of the Oeuvres completes of Bossuet by Lachat, Vivès, 31

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of charity for priests and of social action, the Abbé Pierre of the 17th century.What did Fr. d’Alzon recommend as means of sanctification that was not a bit universal? He listed prayer, meditation, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Way of the Cross, the exercise of the presence of God or particular examination, novenas, penance, intellectual work, corporal mortifications, discipline… Fr. d’Alzon spoke freely of the positive virtues of the will with a marked predilection for the active and virile virtues (courage, domination, contempt for self-love, bringing down pride, struggle against the impressions, the sentiments, ill-temperedness, the vapors, gift of self, effort, a regulated life, examination of conscience, desire of perfection, obedience) and a clear call to embrace suffering, an aspect that shocks us today who have been exposed to Freud and who do not like the dolorist terms of immolation, of victim, of sacrifice, etc. On the other

hand, the term of reparation, so popular at the end of the 19th century is not Alzonian.Despite all its weaknesses, the spirituality of Fr. d’Alzon did not lack strong and positive points: firstly the constant call to situate oneself on the level of divine love and to center spiritual life on love (love of God, love of Christ, love of the Church, love of Mary, love of the Pope, etc.) and therefore letting go of other aspects such as fear, scruples, anguish, all negative yeasts that weaken the conscience. What counts is the loving union of the soul to God. Secondly, Fr. d’Alzon did not abuse of particular devotions, so popular in his day. He went to the essentials, to God rather than to the saints! Finally he tied together vigorously the love of Christ and the love of the Church. In the end, Fr. d’Alzon surely belongs to his century but was not its prisoner. His direction has, without contest, an air of freedom and positivity for which we are always grateful. n

volumes (1862-1864); a critical edition of the Correspondence by Urbain-Levesque, 18 volumes, 1909-1925; and also the Oeuvres oratoires by Lebarq, Lille, 7 volumes, 1890-1896.9 There are no less than 108references in d’Alzon’s correspondence.10 Joseph de Maistre was a Savoyard, apologist for the pope and theoretician of Ultramontanism (1753-1821), former member of a Masonic Lodge. He is mentioned 25 times in d’Alzon’s letters. He wrote Considérations sur la France (1796), Du pape (1819), De l’Eglise gallicane dans son rapport avec le souverain pontife (1821), Les soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg (1821, published after his death). « A last word. When in 1820, Mr. De Maistre published his book Du Pape, 4400 copies were printed, among which some remained at the printers for a good while. In 1830, we were more numerous, but just a handful after all. Since two years, however, the infallibility is a dogma”: to Numa Baragnon, February 24, 1872, in Letters t. IX, p. 312. 11 There are 25 mentions. John Yepes (1542-1591) was the reformer of the Order of Carmelites, canonized in 1622, Doctor of the Church in 1926, celebrated on December 14. D’Alzon owned the complete works of this mystical author.12 Theologian of the Counter-Reformation (1542-1621)13 Teresa Cepeda de Ahumada (1515-1582), the reformer of the Spanish Carmelite Nuns, mystic canonized in 1622, proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 1970, her feast is celebrated on October 15. There are 68 mentions in the d’Alzon letters. 14 « At one time I wanted to read the Traité de l’abnégation of Mr. de Bérulle. I admit that he did not suit me and I’ll admit also that each day I dislike Mr. de Bérulle a little more: it is too sublimated. I come back to Bossuet and Saint Francis de Sales. I become a little more averse to Fénelon as a director each day”: letter to Marie-Eugénie de Jésus on July 29, 1847.

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>> The Session of the Masters of Novices

cient service to the 40 novices of the Congregation. Nothing must be sacrificed for the initial for-mation. It requires a work of ab-negation of every day. The King-dom is often sown in tears. Being Master of Novices is a wearing job, each year everything is to be repeated. The disillusions are numerous. The Master of Novic-es must be psychologically well-armed and supported by a good community.

To put into effect the de-cision of the General Chapter of 2011 ({132),

the session had as its objective “to help the Masters of Novices to better fulfill their mission by looking at the state of affairs and evaluating what is being lived, and identifying actions to be taken.”From the 8th to the 22nd of May 2014, the ten mobilized partici-pants got to work for a more effi-

Prayer, study, meetings, discussionsAsessionfortheMastersofNovicesshouldhavetakenplacein2009.Itwascanceledforbothfinancialandvisaproblems;therewouldhavebeentoomanyabsentees.Wehavetogobackto1988(!)forsuchasessionfortheCongregation.

For the New technologies, see:Du bon usage des nouveaux instru-ments de communication dans les instituts de vie consacrée et dans les sociétés de vie apostolique.In La Documentation Catholique, n. 2514, April 2014, p. 15 to 33.

by YVEs NZUVa KaGhoMa

and BENoît BiGard

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helping the Masters of Novices to better fulfill their mission

The Master and future Masters of Novices met in Rome from the 8th to the 21st of May 2014 with the theme: “The mission of the Master of Novices in the present context.” All the novi-tiates of the Congregation were represented: Benoît Bigard (Togo), Simon Kamula (RD Congo), Albert Emasintsoa (Madagascar), Jean-Claude Erhart (France), Paul Nguyen (Vietnam), Richard Lamoureux (USA), Baudouin Ngoa (Phil-ippines), Joao Gomes (Brazil), Augustin Tasi (RD Congo), and Yves Kaghoma (Tanzania).Without having the pretension of doing a synthesis of the ses-sion, it is a question of echoing the lived experience of these two Roman weeks. Those who visit the web page of the Con-gregation’s site can browse the session at leisure and follow its development.Let us recall the objective of the meeting: helping the Mas-ters of Novices to fulfill better their mission by looking at the state of affairs, evaluating what is being lived, and identifying some areas of concrete actions to take. The enriching of this approach accompanied by an

and Fr. d’Alzon, to speak and to be heard. Considering the geographic and cultural con-texts, it is a question of adapt-ing the forms of transmission of our spiritual patrimony and to assure the continuity of the Assumptionist charism. The transmission passes through the witness lived by the Mas-ter of Novices and of his team if we want to obtain concrete results.We have also seen that the following of Christ is a path full of traps. Nothing is easy. In order to reveal itself each vocation needs spiritual com-panioning. The accompanying of each novice allows the veri-fication of authenticity of the calls received and the choices to make in order to answer. That requires of the Master of Novices that he be accompa-nied himself to see the novices with the eyes of God, that give confidence. That will allow the young beginner to acquire his full human, spiritual and affec-tive maturity necessary for a healthy relationship with God in prayer and a true fraternal and apostolic life.The experience allowed each one to re-read his personal ex-perience of religious life and to retake the measure of his mis-sion.

appropriate methodology, the intervention of three speak-ers, the relationships and the discussions among the partici-pants were precious.Certainly the context of each novitiate is different and it is important to discover that. Today a great variety of situa-tions and styles of youth across all the continents characterizes the Assumption. It is not nec-essary to mention here how much the Congregation counts on these novitiates and our responsibility as Masters of Novices to prepare its future.The insistence for the Masters of Novices was placed on the principles and foundations of formation in the novitiate: that is, to experience Jesus Christ in a fraternal and apostolic community. The impossibility of becoming an Assumption-ist without knowing and lov-ing Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon was underscored. From that we see the important of an integral formation that, on one hand, considers all aspect of the As-sumptionist spirituality and on the other, favors the commit-ment of the novices in their own formation.To accompany the novices on their journey, the Master of Novices must allow our spiri-tual masters, Saint Augustine

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and energy to the detriment of the mission… Surely these new technologies also offer a formidable potential for evan-gelization, the diffusion of the Word of God, youth ministry, vocational ministry, cateche-sis, etc.In this context, the task of the formator consists in learning, accompanying and witnessing. It is not a question of being experts in these new technolo-gies but to know, at a mini-mum, their language and their possibilities. After that it is a question of accompanying the young in the use of the tech-nologies. We must not hesitate to speak of them and use them with them. Finally as forma-tors, it is of import to witness the use of the technologies in a mature fashion, coherent with our Christian and religious life. Finally it is a question of forming them in freedom and responsibilities, to foster a per-manent experience of discern-ment, to promote the forma-tion of a personal identity and individualize the new forms of

transmitting content.

At the end of this conference a few Masters of Novices were convinced of the necessity to learn more about the new tech-nologies but also recognized that Sister Pina was a little too fascinated by the new tech-nologies and that they had to promote also a certain distanc-ing, a certain break from these technologies, notably during the time of the novitiate, not in any systematic way but with an intelligent pedagogy that would allow a true time of break in view of a deeper inte-riorizing and learning a greater mastery of these surely very useful but also quite invasive tools…

ii.- the psychological dimension of the formation to religious life

Concerned for the formation of the Masters of Novices and hearing their requests, the In-ternational Commission on Formation (ICF) invited Fr. Babu Sebastian, Claretian, to speak to us about the psycho-logical dimension of formation to the religious life.He began his talk by a very en-lightening analogy between Pi-casso’s search for the very es-sence of the Bull by going for a drawing ever more simplified and essential and the work of formation that consists in free-ing the young person in forma-tion from all that can prevent him from living what he is in his depths. Contrary to what we might think spontaneous-ly, formation does not consist in “filling empty jugs” with a multiplicity of ideas, but to help the youths to live what is inscribed in them by the Lord.

In the young person

>> The Session of the Masters of Novices

i.- the new technologies and the formation to religious life

During the session for the Masters of Novices, Sis-

ter Pina Riccieri, of the Pau-line Sisters, gave a talk on the impact of the new technolo-gies on religious life and in particular on the formation process. Starting from the established fact that young people know the new technol-ogies well and that they swim in that world like fish in wa-ter, it is not acceptable to cut the young from the Internet and cell phones for these fish would risk asphyxiation… but rather seize this world of new technologies as an opportunity for intergenerational dialogue and an unavoidable space to-day to help them grow in the footsteps of Christ. It is a ques-tion of first of all recognizing the profound impact of these new technologies, in particular the Internet and cell phones, on the life of people today and the youth in particular. They change our relationship with time, our relationship with oth-ers, our way of thinking (much less analytic and linear than previously but more global and partial…) They offer an enor-mous potential in the ser-vice of communication and relationships with the risk of cutting off direct relationships, inhibit interiority, create a life on line disconnect-ed from reality, allow oneself to be dispersed by a lot of use-less, even harmful in-formation, waste time

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who comes to the novitiate, we will seek the limitations that prevent him from becom-ing what he is: possessiveness, self-centeredness, etc… It con-cerns taking away all that is not essential to allow the beau-ty that configures Christ.Before getting into the use of the psychological tools, Fr. Babu underscored the impor-tance of distinguishing among the schools of psychology compatible with a Christian vision and those that are not. For example the psychology of self-realization (Rogers) is incompatible with a Christian psychology which must make place for transcendence and grace…The Master of Novices must have a precise roadmap of the young person’s personal-ity in which there are a few elements: his way of remem-bering and reconstructing his

past in raising his capacity to accept God’s plan, the red line of his history; the level of the integration of his own past: helping the young person to live a positive and reconciled relationship with his past; the content of his affective mem-ory: verifying the evolution or regression with which the young person gives meaning to the events. If the interpretation is regressive, it is oriented to-wards the past with the desire to repeat that which was grati-fying or to demand that which was not satisfying… “I try to relive my past or to live what I did not have to occasion to live…” If the interpretation is progressive, it is open to a con-tinuous movement towards an auto-transcendence, towards that which is beautiful, good and true.Beginning there, it is possible to distinguish that which is

based on psychological needs to be satisfied from that which is based on the desire to walk in the footsteps of Christ; the natural values of the youth and his spiritual values – we some-times make the error of seeking only to foster the natural values (aptitude for music, animation, etc.) to the detriment of Gospel values (gift of self, accepting the other, etc.). One must also be attentive to the divergence between the asserted idealized values, and the values lived in reality. For that, the Master of Novices must be attentive to all the small elements of daily life.Finally the speaker summa-rized all that by asking the formators to identify the main inconsistency of the youth: that which focuses his energy, what is his contradiction between values and needs. For example it could be an affective depen-dency, a search for security, a recurring aggressiveness, etc. It is beginning with this psychological roadmap of the youth that the work of accom-paniment can be done.The talk was very rich but much too short for Fr. Babu to be able to transmit all he had to share. His intervention was able to comfort most of the Masters of Novices in what they already practice – in giv-ing words to their work of ac-companiment – and invited us all to continue our formation in this area. Surely we also took up the question of knowing when to refer to a professional psychologist because the Mas-ter of Novices, even if he must have some notions of psychol-ogy, must beware of taking himself for a psychologist! And, thank God, that is not his job description ! n

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July, 2014 No. 1314

>> On the Bosphorus

part from the Asian shore and links the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea. Since my arrival in Istanbul, I was impatient to see how the city appeared at the time of the pilgrimage of Father d’Alzon and without doubt, the historical distance in time added more to the mys-tery of the Bosphorus that our Founder contemplated then.The noise that rises from this city of more than 15 million inhabitants fascinates and wor-ries. The youth of the popula-tion impresses but its commer-cial activity also… I have never in my life seen such a concen-tration of stores, markets, and restaurants! I was wondering

During my childhood, they often told me fan-tastic stories that nour-

ished my imagination, but I never imagined that one of them would become true. My first contact with Turkey was abso-lutely marvelous. I felt trans-ported on one of those magic carpets of legend to a new re-ality, totally external to me and mysterious in all its aspects.The Assumptionist community is situated in the Asian shore of Istanbul. After a long tour of the city we crossed the Bospho-rus that separates the European

Yes, Flying Carpets Exist! if there were enough people to buy or eat everything in the stalls… I don’t have an answer.Our arrival in the community was done in the greatest cor-diality. But before speaking of the more important things, I would like to share my first im-pression of the house. It is very ancient, noble in its general as-pect, but I realized it concrete-ly, when I saw the stairways, the room or the great library. I imagined myself entering in the décor of one of those fantastic movies. Certainly it is not the décor of a horror movie, but everything is a bit mysterious and one never knows what he will find: all is possible.

by Marcelo MarciEl

15

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The Canonical Visitation of the Superior General in Istanbul was not only a fraternal mo-ment but also the discovery in all sincerity of the frailty of our presence today and at the same time the prestigious richness of a mission founded in the very origins of our religious fam-ily and shared in the same area with the Oblates manifesting welcome and availability.Our church has nothing to envy of those of Rome even if the parish assembly is mod-est, the efforts of insertion and the proximity of the Turkish population are undeniable and the learning of the Turkish language is not the least. The Turks we meet are of unlimit-ed graciousness and very wel-

coming; among them a young couple, having recently dis-covered Christian life, Helena and Augustine spared no effort to make us feel at home.For the Assumption, the Church has a great symbolic value; it is on one of the side altars dedicated to Saint Leo that Fr. d’Alzon celebrated Mass. Our church receives not only the Catholic community but also opens its doors to the Syriac Orthodox community.Fathers Xavier Jacob, Michel Derache and Jules Nguru ful-fill this mission so prestigious for the whole Congregation according to their capabili-ties. The “Mission d’Orient” remains a priority and we must be conscious that today more

than ever we need this supple-mentary soul to renew our-selves and continue our work for the extension of the King-dom in a difficult environment and where the newness and joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to touch hearts. “The Church does not get tired of calling us to continue our work here,” underscores Bishop Louis Armel Pelatre speaking of the value of our presence there. “Whom shall I send, who will be my messenger?” says the prophet (Is. 6, 1-2). The Sublime Door remains open. A flying carpet would suffice to attain it if necessary! n

July, 2014 No. 1316

>> Canonical Visitation

The Gershwin music of an American in Paris re-mains celebrated. The

one played by Father Benoît Grière during his visit to the United States could be entitled “a Champenois in New Eng-land”. For a month, the Supe-rior General made a Canonical Visitation of the American com-munities of the Congregation with their accents and rhythms. He was able to visit personally each of the five communities that compose the Territory of the United States. All the while having the opportunity to prac-tice at leisure the language of Shakespeare, he was also able to visit Harvard, MIT, BC, and STM.

Just as in other parts of the Con-gregation, the Superior General sought to revive the ardor of his religious, exhorting them to al-ways greater fidelity, to a com-munity prayer ever more regular and to meals taken together in a true fraternity. He encouraged them all to give more time to brotherly sharing. He also met the lay people of the Alliance who join in the evening prayers and at meals, happy to see that the Alliance is taking root and invited them to continue to pur-sue the deepen the promises of their baptism in the light of the charisms and the spirituality of Father d’Alzon. This visit was also the occasion for the territorial assembly that

gathered the whole of the reli-gious. As Father General recalls in the Visitation Letters that he addresses to the communities that are a reminder of their situ-ations, the threats that weigh on religious life are a call to vigi-lance notably against individu-alism and the missions that are conceived on a too personal level. The religious as a whole show a great courage in the mis-sions where they are invested. The influences of the civil soci-ety remain strong. In the United States, perhaps more than else-where, people position them-selves in the Church according to very theological-political cri-teria (the role of women, homo-sexuality, etc.). The criticisms

A sparkling GershwinA Champenois in New England

of the exercise of authority are ferocious. For certain people, disillusionment occupies the field of hope and they see religious life as having no future. The USA find themselves in an unheard of situation. In most of our communities the young are not Americans and their path is atypi-cal. Often, then, they lack homogeneity and are marked by individualism.Two major mobilizing works are in this territory: Assumption College and Bayard. These develop fruitful collaborations with the religious men and women. It is obvious that the Assumption is loved in the diocese. The reception of students in Brighton would undoubtedly need more strin-gent requirements. But the major question re-mains that of the future of the Assumption with the ageing of the religious. Only some new blood could revive the community life. n

Father Benoît Grière Made Doctor Honoris Causa

During his stay in Worcester, the SuperiorGeneralwasmadeDoctorHonorisCausaof

Assumption College. He saluted this honor bygiving a speech inwhich he saluted the greatfigure of Alexis de Toqueville (1805-1859) bycomparing him to Father d’Alzon “both issuedfromweldedaristocratic,veryreligiousanduni-tedfamilies.”WhatdeToquevillediscoveredinthe United States was the spirit of enterprisethatcharacterizestheNewWorld.FatherGeneralreceivedhishonor“notasaper-sonalhonor,butasanhomagegiventosomanybrotherAssumptionistswho consecrated theirlivestothemissionofhigherCatholiceducationinthiscollegeformorethanahundredyears.”… “Assumption College will be faithful to thevision of Emmanuel d’Alzon and the foundersofthisinstitution,”headded,“insofarasitwilltrulytransformthesoulsandtheheartsofthestudentsandprepare themtobecitizens thatcontributefullytothedemocracyinwhichtheylive.”Afterevokinghisownlifepath,heconcludedbypaying a strong homage to President Cesareoand to theway the College has of fostering agreater collaboration with the other Assump-tionist institutions in the world and recentlywith Romeby opening a university campus atthe General House: “I much appreciated hisleadershipandhisdevotiontoCatholicHigherEducation.IwasimpressedbythewayinwhichhehastriedtounderstandthedreamofFatherd’AlzonofaCatholicuniversity,butalsoofhisconstanteffortstomakethatvisionareality.»

17

July, 2014 No. 1318

In the Cahier du Bicentenaire d’Alzon, n. 5, Father Jean-

Paul Périer-Muzet had published two logos of the Assumptionist ART (p. 4 and p. 38) made by Fr.

Marie-Bernard Kientz as simple illustrations without giving any explanations. The Year of Con-secrated Life of 2015 invites us to go back to the fundamentals of our religious life and what makes it the specific mark of the As-sumption. These two logos can

be presented to us as windows to open on what constitutes the essentials of our Assumptionist life: Christ and the coming of his Kingdom. We have asked Fr. Marie-Bernard Kientz to com-ment on these two logos.

Our Christian life, our Assumptionist religious life, just as the life of Christ, places us at the

center of three essential relationships:Our relation to the Father: we live it in faith under the “species” of obedience (Christ obedient until death). It is in the heart of prayer that we can be-come conscious of it. It is in this relationship that we become conscious of our identity: of son of God and of our vocation or of our mission (ART). We know where we come from: from the love of the Father, and where we are going: to the Father.Our relation to others: in this relation we discov-er our identity as brother for the others (never an

enemy, sometimes as adversary). We live it as in charity under the “species” of chastity. The place where we become conscious of it and where we live it, it is in the “works of charity”. We learn to love in freedom: ours and that of the others: never in servitude.Lastly our relation to the world: we want to live it in the identity of a nomad or a manager, never as owner. We live it in hope under the “species” of religious poverty. The place to live it is the poli-tics, the sharing, and solidarity. We can attach to it all that concerns ecology and the protection of the environment.

>> Points of Reference

The Two Logos of the ARTDeux Logogrammes de l’A.R.T.

by Marie-Bernard KiENtZ

Mar

y ←

Love of Christ →

Church

propteramoremD.N.J.C

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EcumenicalRumaniaBulgariaRussiaTurkey

tHEKINGDOM

ART

IN uS“Monks”

Poverty

HOPE

Chastity

CHARITY

Obedience

FAITH

DoctrinalTeaching-Press

SocialJeSers–Thesick–Prisoners–

Orphanages

AROuND uS“Apostles”

4TH Vow

19

At the center of our lives we place our Passion for the

Kingdom as Jesus teaches us and the motto ART reminds us that we are born to work for the com-ing of the Kingdom, in us (among us) and around us. It suffices to remember the triple love: Jesus, Mary, the Church, and our second motto: “Propter amorem Domini Jesu Christi”.In us: Father d’Alzon wanted us to be “monks”.Around us: Father d’Alzon want-ed to make of us “monk-apostles”.1) Our “mystique” of Assump-tionist religious (the Kingdom in us) is a baptismal “mystique”: we must live the faith, hope, and charity. Like all Christians (and that is what undoubtedly justifies the link that we want to establish with the Lay Associates and live with them the baptismal obliga-tions).

Practically the only difference is that we want to live faith under the “species” of religious obedi-ence; hope under the “species” of religious poverty and charity under the “species” of conse-crated chastity.2) Our “mystique” is also a “mystique” of apostles. That explains the desire of Father d’Alzon to have a 4th vow: the vow to consecrate ourselves to the coming of the Kingdom around us.To balance the schema from top to bottom, les us recall here the three fundamental orientations enumerated under various ex-pression and that we call in our Rule of Life: Doctrinal, Social, Ecumenical (with a few exam-ples as they appear in the origins of the Congregation).

My dear friend,I love these periwinkles!To my eyes they symbolize my ideal of a religious Congregation…»

(Father d’Alzon, Croquis of Chanoine Galeran, p. 309)

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Christ, the Christian

Charity → Chastity

The others as brothersandsisters WORLD, HISTORY “exodus”,“exile

My condition as brother, sister(Neverenemy)

My condition as NOMAD, as MANAGER(neverowner)

ThePlace:Commitments, Works of charity

To love in reciprocal freedomRespect, no domination or submission

Social vision of the Church

ThePlace:Politics, sharing, solidarityThe World is not to be possessed

But transformed and made habitable“Ecology”

Hope → Poverty

My condition as SON-DAUGHTER

Origin, Destiny, Identity, Mission

Theplace: Prayer

Faith OBEDIENCE

GOD asFather

July, 2014 No. 1320

>> Prayer

In our present Rule of Life (1983) we read: (In our prayer) we pray also for

our brothers. For those who are alive (…) and for those who are deceased and for whom we faith-fully offer the prescribed payers (RV 49). These prayers are pre-scribed by the Provincial Chap-ter (see: Capitular Rules, 185).

An Uninterrupted Tradition

The prayer for our deceased brothers is an uninter-rupted tradition in our

Congregation since the time of Father d’Alzon. Already in our first Constitutions, of 1855), it is written: We will have a ten-der affection for the souls of our Brothers that God has called to himself; and every time that a religious dies, each religious priest of the house will say three Masses for the repose of his soul; each lay Brother will offer three communions; we will recite the Office of the Dead three times for him; and in the other houses, one Mass for the Dead will be said for his intention (Chapter 25).The expression: We will have a tender affection…will be repeat-ed in all the texts of the succes-sive Constitutions (1865, 1906, 1923, and 1948). From 1906 on, the formulation will be the one that of Fr. d’Alzon had written in the text of the Constitutions de-posited in Rome in 1863: We will have a tender devotion for the souls of our Brothers that God has called to himself, et we will help them by our prayers and our good works insofar as it de-pends on us.

The Prescribed PrayersThey were already essentially fixed in 1855: In the house where the religious dies, each religious priest will say three Masses and the non-priests will offer three

communions; the community will recite three times the Office of the Dead. In the other houses, one Mass will be said for the de-ceased.An article of the Constitutions of 1906 (that is found in the text of Fr. d’Alzon in 1863) says: Each General Chapter will set… the prayers to be said (no. 212).But it is probably the Customary of 1898, approved by the Gen-eral Chapter of that same year in the time of Fr. Picard that will set for the future the rather detailed prescriptions of the prayer of the deceased, (See: Customary of 1989, no. 12 and Constitutions of 1948, no. 159-164).The Customary of 1929 indi-cates the practice of naming the deceases religious on the anni-versary date: After the evening Obedience… we will add for the deceased religious, on the an-niversary of their death, after having recalled their name, the Prayer “pro anniversario: Deus, indulgentiarum Domine” (no. 27). The same text is given in the Capitular Rules (no. 110) of the General Chapter of 1964).

A Witness to Our Family SpiritMore than once we have heard

how our visitors who participate in our community prayer were struck by the reading of this list of our deceased brothers recall-ing the anniversary of their death and praying for them at the Eu-charist.It is a beautiful family tradition. It expresses the communion and the fraternity that unites the As-sumption still on pilgrimage on earth with the Assumption al-ready in the heavenly home. That is well-expressed in the text of our 1969 Constitutions (the first version of our present Constitu-tions): We also show the caring for our brothers, living and dead, since the community ties unites us more closely to them (no. 45).Let us always have a tender af-fection for our brothers that God has called to himself.

Julio Navarro Román, a.a.

The Remembrance of Our Deceased Brothers

21

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TotheGentlemenofthe1stDivisionRome,14March[18]78

MydearChildrenI thankyouforhavinghadoneofyousendme some news from you. I prayforyouunceasinglytoOurLadyandtothesaintswhoseshrinesIvisit.Ah!Wemusthurry! Ina fewdayswhereshallwe be?Wherewill the Pope be?Willthe pontifical light go up to heaven?Where will his exile be here below?Unless there is amiracle, you can ex-pect that from one moment to thenext that he is exiled. Leo XIII cannotstay inRome.Whatplaceofexilewillhechoose?IfFrancewereChristian,hecouldrequestasylumfromit.Butinthepresentsituation,whatcanwehope?ItisveryprobablethathewillgotoMal-ta.ThepowersstillconsideredCatholicwouldnotbejealous.Ah!IfagenerousChristianmovement,active, arriving at the practice of theduties as circumstance require of uscouldstartfromtheAssumption!Ifes-peciallywe could formaunionof ini-tiativeso that (we)bealways thefirstforallthatisgood.There,yes,thereiswhatIwouldwantfromtheFirstDivi-sion.Whywould it not form a sacredbattalionthatonedaywouldgiveusaneffective support? See if you are abletodosomethingofthekind.Thenamewould be found quickly. I would callyoutheAssociationofthefirstChairofS(ain)t Peter.Wehave just discoveredtheplacewhereS(ain)tPeterwashed,wherehebaptizedand Iassureyou itis very small. It is lessbig that thepi-ano room, near the small parlor. Thegreatestthingintheworld,theRomanChurchbegantheretoteachusallthatthespiritofGodcandowiththesmall-estofmeans.IwishforyouthespiritofGodandwithnothingyouwillworkmiracles.ThereisinRomeaCanonwhohasdonelikeFr.d’Alzon, he has founded a school andheiscomingtohavemevisitit.ThatiswhyIleaveyouinwishingyouthespiritofourLordandperseveringinitiative.

E.d’Alzon

Another Unpublished Letter

Father Jean-Paul Périer-Muzet is known as a perspica-cious hunter of unpublished manuscripts. His passion goes back to the time when he worked on the index-

ation of the writings of Fr. d’Alzon (1989-1990). The letter he just found by chance at the Little Sisters of the Assump-tion on rue Violet in Paris was in a shapeless pile of docu-ments to be sorted and classified. Today nothing allows us to suppose that more will be found or that no more will be found.This unpublished letter of Fr. d’Alzon dates to his last so-journ in Rome in March 1878 and was not published in tome XII of the letters of the Founder. Fr. Jean-Paul has just sent us a copy of this document through the kindness of Sister Mad-eleine Rémond. This letter is addressed from Rome to the young students of the first division of the College of Nîmes and illustrates the attachment of the Father to the person of Pope Leo XIII elected to succeed Pope Pius IX on Febru-ary 20, 1878. Father d’Alzon had sent a first letter to the students on March 8 in which he developed the same themes speaking notably of a visit to the place “where Saint Peter baptized”, in the underground basilica of the Ostia cemetery, in the crypt of Saint Emerentiana. (Cf. Letters of Fr. d’Alzon, t. XII, p. 372)In this letter he does not mention who was the Roman Cleric, founder, as he was, of a school. It could be Pietro Crosta-Ro-sa (1836-1902) Canon of Saint Mary Major who resided at via Ara Coeli, n. 3, and who one day would be the secretary of the Archeological Commission (op. cit. p.373, note 3).“He is one of those rare men of action in Rome. At the end of the classes of the Roman College, he founded a school where he has 300 externs and it is under his vineyard that the first chair of Saint Peter is found,” he wrote to Fr. Vincent de Paul Bailly.

Bernard le léannec

July, 2014 No. 1322

From the Holy Land where he now resides, Fr. Jean-Daniel Gullung allows us to hear the Word of God beginning with 50 Biblical texts commented be-tween the lines.

Father Jean-Daniel Gullung is a lover of the land of Je-

sus. There could be no one bet-ter suited to shed light on the

inspired text in the various holy places in the Holy Land visited by the pilgrims who go there. His book helps us to approach the sites Bible in hand. Galilee and Samaria, the shores of the Jordan, Je-rusalem and its environs invite

us to listen to the Word.We know that there cannot be a pilgrimage without preaching. This book attests to the expe-rience of preaching of Father Jean-Daniel and gives a con-crete illustration to the episode of Jesus going up to Jerusalem where certain people asked Je-sus to tell his disciples stop shouting and he answers: “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will shout,” (Luke, 19, 39). The book can also be con-sidered a road to Pentecost with its fifty chapters commenting 50 passages chosen in the four

>> Publications

Praying in PlaceAnd Praying in All Places

Jean-DanielGullung,Dieu se dit. 50 textes bibliques commentés entre les lignes.Ecouter la Parole en Terre Sainte, Jérusalem,2013,397pages.

Gospels and which for the most part, follow the missal readings for the Sundays.Since 2011, Father Jean-Daniel is the rector of the Shrine of Saint Peter in Gallicantu where the Assumptionists are pres-ent since almost a century. This place is without doubt one of the places that evoke the tradi-tion of the Holy Land pilgrim-age. Since 1882, the Assump-tionist religious re-launched the tradition, under the impul-sion notably of Father François Picard, first successor of Father d’Alzon. Always an expression of prayer and penance, the pil-grimage finds in the lines of Father Jean-Daniel a precious help for such a trip to the places made holy by the presence of Jesus.The simple presentation of the work uses only the Jerusalem Bible translation and is not en-cumbered by scholarly notes. It seeks only to transmit a lived spiritual experience and make loved the land of Jesus through the content his Word.

Bernard le léannec

Jesus, the Son, the Savior of the World in the Fourth GospelBy Raharivelo Erick, Assumptionist Community of Ampandrana, 2014, 168 pages.

Father Erick Raharivelo had brilliantly defended his the-

sis at the Institut Catholique de Paris in 2013. Taken from his doctoral reflection, the short work he has just published is on the salvation offered by Christ to all in the Gospel according to John. The faith proposed to the whole of humanity opens the path to eternal life. The salvation brought by Jesus has a universal value. The author presents here a study on the subject beginning with two particular Joannic peri-copes : John 2, 23- 3, 21 that re-counts the conversation of Jesus with a leading Jew, Nicodemus and John 12, 44-50 that consti-

23

“The one who ascends never stops going from beginning to beginning by beginnings

that never have an end,” says Saint Gregory of Nyssa in this breautiful formula of his 8th homily on the Song of Songs. We could say that this is what proposes Fr. Miche Kubler in his small path of faith. The Director of the Saint Peter Saint Andrew Center of Byzantine Studies and Ecumenical Dialogue ripened his reflection on the occasion of the Year of Faith and translated it in a simple and accessible lan-guage during instructions given in the French-speaking parish of the Rumanian capital.Going back to our sources and our roots, that is what imposes itself in the matter of faith. It is always a question of believing better and more, allowing onself to be unceasingly enlightened by the elaboration of Christian doc-trine and its articulation and to betteer understand all that come from the origins of the sacra-ments to the great principles that guide Christian action and com-mitment. Fr. Michel in this short vade-mecum of the Christian faith reminds us of this move-ment that engenders all conver-sion, orients and directs our spir-itual life. We must put our work on the loom a hundred times, as popular wisdom says following Nicolas Boileau. The author re-calls firstly that the faith is ex-plained from what is said in the Creed and follows the furrow of the Biblical and apostolic expe-rience and the two thousand year path of the life of the Church.

Secondly, it is a question of see-ing how the faith in the Church is lived and cel-ebrated and what is its public and community man-ifestation, nota-bly since Vatican II in the celebra-tion of the sacra-ments. Thirdly, the author shows how the faith must be lived and put into prac-tice in a practical way accord-ing to the counsel of James the Apostle: “What good is faith, if we do not see the works!” Sure-ly the relationship with God is to be lived in the practice of the commandments, but it must also be able to be said in a secular-ized world. Finally what is faith, if not first of all the relationship lived with the person of the liv-ing Christ, gift and aboandon-ment at the same time, collec-tive and personal experience, that manifests itself as the dis-covery that we are all loved by God? That gives the author the occasion to present some of the great spiritual traditions, both historical and geographic, at the same time western and oriental. Without particular pretension, but having the originality of the practice witnessed by a Church breathing with two lungs, this book expresses well the basic orientation that is ours: to be men of faith in a time of crisis such as the one we have at pres-ent.

Bernard le léannec

Believing Better and More

MichelKubler,Petit parcours de foi,BayardCulture,BayardEditions-Croire,2014,157pages.

tutes the epilog of the first part of the Gospel of John in conclu-sion to the public proclamation of Jesus.We note that the first study of the conversation with Nicodemus that corresponds to the liturgy of Monday of the second week of Easter season, coincides with the theme chosen for the retreat giv-en by Father Sylvain Gasser for the first Chapter of the Province of Europe and given on last April 28 at Valpré. The second text studied by our exegete also takes place in Easter season, on Thurs-day of the 4th week of Easter summarizing the entire teaching of Jesus where he manifests him-self as the Light, the One sent by the Father and the One who re-veals the Father. This revelation refers back, according to the au-thor, to the existence of this King Creator at the origin of faith and practice of the “Fihavannana” of the Malagasy people. May this study help his readers to redis-cover this richness inherent to the roots of the Malagasy people.

ChristandNicodemus,1630.PaintingbyCrijnHendrickszVOLMARIJN(1601-1645)

Inserts: sIgns of god, n. 11Plenary general CounCIl, no. 6

Our Deceased Brothers

3 edItorIal Wearemissionaries

2 agenda

4 offICIal

5 sPIrItualIty Fr.d’AlzonattheNovitiate

10 tHe sessIon for Masters of noVICes Prayer,study,meetings,discussions

14 on tHe BosPHorus Yes,flyingcarpetsexist!

16 CanonICal VIsItatIon SparklingGershwin

18 PoInts of referenCe TwoA.R.T.Logos

20 PrayerTheprayerforthedeceasedbrothers

21 PuBlICatIons Anotherunpublishedletter Prayingintheplaceandinallplaces Jesus,theSon,theSavioroftheworld Believingbetterandmore

24 our deCeased BrotHers

FatherCharlesRAZAFINANANTSOADIEDONApril5atTananarive.HisfuneraltookplaceonTuesdayApril8,inTulearwherehewasburied.Hewas50yearsold.

FatherRenéGESTINdiedonApril17,2014atLayrac.HisfuneraltookplaceonEasterTuesday,April22,2014atthePrioryofLayrac(Lot-et-Garonne).HewasburiedinthecemeteryofLayrac.Hewas87.

FatherLeopoldvanBERKELdiedonApril23,2014.HisfuneralwascelebratedonSaturdayApril26,2014inthecommunitychapelofNotre-DamedesVignesinAlbertville(Savoy).HewasburiedinthecommunityvaultofthecemeteryofAlbertville.Hewas93.

FatherJulianWALTERdiedonApril27,2014.HisfuneralwascelebratedonWednesday,April30,

2014inthecommunitychapelofNotre-DamedesVignesinAlbertville(Savoy).HewasburiedinthecommunityvaultintheAlbertvillecemetery.Hewas88.

FatherJean-MarieADUBANGOCHUVIdiedonMay20,2014inManila(Philippines).HisfuneralwascelebratedonMay27.HewasburiedintheLoyolaMemorialChapel.Hewas48.

FatherJandeKRUIJFdiedonWednesdayJune11,2014.HisfuneralwasheldonMondayJune16,2014inthecommunityofBoxtel(Molenweide).HewasburiedinthecemeteryofKarteelStapelenofBoxtel.Hewas87.

FatherJean-ClaudeBRIASdiedonJune17,2014.HisfuneralwascelebratedonFriday,June20,2014atthePrioryofLayrac(Lot-et-

Garonne).HewasburiedintheLayraccemetery.Hewas87.

FatherRogerSYAMINYANGOLOMAdiedonJuly2inKinshasa(RDC).HisfuneraltookplaceonJuly6inKinshasaintheparishofDivinMaître.HewasburiedinthesectionreservedforreligiousmenandwomeninthecemeteryofKinkole.Hewas45.

Agostiniani dell’Assunzione - Via San Pio V, 55 - I - 00165 Roma Tel. : 06 66013727 - Fax : 06 6635924 - E-mail : Assunzione@mclink.it

Assunzione@mclink.it

So that AA Newscan “talk” about you,

please send information about the life

of the Assumption in your countries

to the General Secretariat

bll719@gmail.com before the end of each

General Council. Thanks especially

for sending photos and illustrations.

Translators:Eugene LaPlante, EnglishJosé Antònio Echaniz, SpanishKees Krijnsen, Dutch

Mock-up and page design:

Loredana Giannetti

Composed on 06/30/14.This no. 13 of AA-Newshas 220 copies:

130 in French30 in English30 in Spanish30 in Dutch

And 350 electronic copies

Editor in chief

Bernard Le Léannec, General Secretary