General Curia - Rome, 22nd January 2001

a) Every ministry, including that of authority, derives from God and relates to Him. We are chosen and called by the Spirit to this ministry/servantship, this "diaconal" position, not because of our general abilities and talents, but above all to act in areas that directly relate to God and His Kingdom, for the spiritual benefit of the brethren. b) It is a fraternal service: the one who exercises it must himself be a son who is submissive to the Father, a co-worker with the Spirit in the construction of spiritual unity. Hence, it is a ministry that seeks to harmonise the community’s needs with those of the individual; to blend the gifts of everybody into a "unity in diversity". It is a question of working with the Spirit to settle tensions by reconciliation—personal tensions, for example, due to one’s age, formation and so on. It is a ministry that serves a harmonious development of three dimensions: prayer, fraternity, missionary thrust. This, without attempting to gauge results. c) The ultimate aim, therefore, is to create a space for the Spirit’s impact upon the Brothers and upon the Sisters. Authority’s primary task is never simply to talk or shape, influence or persuade people into behaving in a particular fashion; its function is, rather, preparatory for the arrival of the Spirit, Who alone accomplishes the work. d) The exercise of authority is not the imposition of one’s own will on others, nor the issuing of punctilious commands, nor is it to rule by intimidation. The one in a position of authority is above anything else the custodian of the common objective, the one who must indicate to all the road towards that goal. At every level, he must transmit a sense of mission, the meaning of the whole enterprise.

© Macmade on Tue, Jan 23, 2001 at 17:16:45 by John Abela ofm (Communications Office - Rome) HTML 3.0 compatible Java enabled browser required - Best viewed with Netscape at 640x480x67Hz Maintained by John Abela ofm and Gianfranco Pinto Ostuni ofm

---