Georges, in the SVECJ team in Lyon, shares with us his rereading of the third stage of our theme, the courage of the future. It allows him to look at how the world can evangelise us
Discernment
Personal life
- I don’t have a companion. For important decisions, the space for discernment is first of all sharing with Brigitte, but friends are often stimulants to take the right path.
- The Ignatian method is very useful, especially the “Ignatian indifference” when a choice that is not easy to resolve arises..
- Travelling with young people”: we are about to embark on a special stage with our two older grandchildren who will be students next term. We can admire the commitment of many young people in beautiful initiatives (L’Ouvre Porte, la Cloche, etc.).
Découvrir le Projet de Vie de la SVECJ
Life of engagement in the world
- Personally, the place where I most practice meeting with the fragile is the Faith and Light Community, and our adjustment to the absence of “face-to-face” meetings.
- With Secours Catholique, I am more at an organisational or institutional level, less often in direct contact with vulnerable people. But with the interest of a more global vision on the stakes, the partners..
- Always starting from gratitude for the life that is given to us at every moment..
- At the moment, in these troubled health times, fear is everywhere and disturbs behaviour, uncertainty about the future, about health… I ask to be “well inspired” in my words, my gestures, to try to soothe, to give confidence.
- It is also interesting to support these initiatives when we are approached (e.g. crowdfunding for the installation of a Comté cheese dairy by nephews in the Bugey).
Life in Church
- This current crisis is no more serious or cruel than many other crises in recent history, either in France or elsewhere: what does the current crisis tell us for the future? What evangelical responses are we giving, or witnessing today or in the past? Do we believe enough in the Church to help us to welcome others, young people, the excluded, those close to us, etc.?
- The institutional and celebrating Church (parishes) seems to me to be very immobile despite the calls of our Pope Francis. Nothing changes in the way it functions and is governed, even though Laudato Si is now 5 years old! The diocese and the parishes appear as “the Church” whereas the Church is a much larger world whose scope is not always recognised by the bishops and parish priests: movements and Church services (such as Catholic Relief Services), monasteries, congregations, spiritual and retreat centres, etc. Not to mention the many committed Christians who “do not practice” (celebrations) but sometimes practice love of neighbour very strongly..
Evangelical responses?
- I have the feeling that the “evangelical” response can also be in close relationships, the unexpected, unexpected calls for help… In fact, letting ourselves be evangelised by the world
- I recently read Urgence pastorale by Christophe Théobald: a book that you have to hang on to, but if you hold on, you will find some beautiful paths of renewal for the Church:
- Be attentive to what the other person believes in, with his or her words, and recognise what God lives in him or her…: allow yourself to be evangelised by people, by today’s humanity, rather than trying to evangelise it from the outside! Set up “hospitality” places for these meetings, small fraternities in the vicinity, etc.
- Remember Vatican II (Gaudium et Spes) at this time: “discern in events the demands and requests of our time”. Need to interpret reality by allowing the Word to be fertilised with these present events (especially in the small “fraternities”)
- Listen to God in prayer
Lire aussi : Le courage de l'avenir
Taking care of “our common home”?
- Try to be more and more “sober” in our consumption
- I realise that I have personally evolved on certain subjects such as nuclear energy: 30 years ago, for me, it was a fantastic invention (capturing the enormous nuclear energy rather than making it an instrument of mass destruction). Chernobyl and Fukushima have shaken me. Either we manage to make progress in waste management, or we will have to give up..
- I don’t regret having built motorways in my professional life (it’s still very practical and safer to travel!). Now that they exist, we must try to optimise their use!
- I don’t regret having been a pioneer since 1991 in the use of bicycles for commuting and shopping..
- At Secours Catholique, we are campaigning with the partners of the Power of Living Pact for public policies to be evaluated on their impact on the poorest 10% of the population…more widely than the gathering of our Christian communities
