Growing up and growing in humanity the sister and brother in our world is a path of holiness.
I may speak all the languages of men and angels if I[…] miss the love I am only a brass that resonates – 1 Co 13 , 1
However, three temptations of human nature, described by the theologian Xavier Thévenot, are still relevant:
Temptations
- The temptation of a flawless world, which leads to the inability to accept failure, death, to live with humility and to take patience with its limits. We see this in this time of pandemic! There is a real risk that our individualistic society will become truly liberal and over-consumerist for the "rich".
- The temptation of indifferentiation, in opposition to otherness and the promotion of the other. Otherness means recognizing that the other is distinct from me, different and unique. It is important in the Cor Unum Family (FCU), in the Society of Evangelical Life of the Heart of Jesus (SVECJ) to take this dimension into account. Here we are already living in different states of life. This particularity is experienced with respect for each and every one. With our international dimension, we meet a great diversity of cultures. It is the same in our own country with the presence of migrant populations.
- The temptation of omnipotence that leads to the refusal to live in reality as it is given to us. Let us add the question of this world that is happening to God…
Discernment
Let us denounce and fight this reality. Let us fight, with great discernment, against all that demeans man, despises him, makes him lose his dignity, uses him as an object, diverts him from his nature.
Let us also reveal to each of those who act in the service of others, the need for personal and collective conversion. Let us learn from the other to grow in humanity. The others help us move forward in this call.
Conversiondisceration
This urgency of conversion concerns all places and areas of life Whether it is emotional, family, conjugal, sexual life, spiritual life, education, the world of work, that of health, political life, culture, science.
Holiness
Making man grow in humanity is a path of holiness!
Holiness means being firmly rooted in its culture, its country, its identities opening up to the outside world, that is what makes it possible to become oneself. Fraterlli Trutti – Francis
Isn't that our mission? We have to exercise our gaze in the quality of that of the other and in the contemplation of our world. We will then see in the other not evil but what makes him a loved one of God. This love is expressed concretely through and through that of the other.
What is holiness? It is to move towards the meeting of God and the service of the brother, through the testimony of our life. It is to open man to a loving relationship with God. Together, let us walk towards holiness. She is an act of love with the other, who is my fellow, my brother, my sister in humanity.
Marc-Nuno FERNANDES.
General Manager SVECJ