The Chapter of Mats has entered the heart of its journey of mutual listening: the capitulars were involved, with the methodology of the World Café, in dialogue and discussion on the first thematic nucleus regarding the Charism of the Order.
Br. Juan Isidro Aldana, Secretary of the Chapter of Mats, introduced the first moment of the day by recalling some words of the General Definitor Br. César Külkamp, during his reflection in the morning Mass: “We are called to discern the path to renew the charism, without titles or distinctions: we must listen, obey the Gospel and walk in fraternity”.
He then introduced Br. Derrick Yap, Custos of the Custody of Singapore-Malaysia-Brunei and President of the SAAOC Conference (South Asia, Australia and Oceania), called to stimulate those present to reflect on the theme: “Renewing our vision: which characteristics of the charism should we open ourselves to today?”.
Br. Derrick began by showing an image of St. Francis and Brother Leo and asking those present what struck their attention the most: two brothers together, the cross, their hands joined in prayer, the absence of other brothers, the cave... “An image,” said Br. Derrick, “speaks something to our heart and we must know how to listen to our heart.”
A speech that really managed to capture the attention of the capitulars: between the exposition of some key concepts - What is Vision? What and how do we see? Can we see with the eyes of God? - and a bit of entertainment - the phrase You'll never walk alone made football fans smile... - the President of the SAAOC shared some examples of men who were able to embody the Franciscan charism. One of these was Blessed Gabriele Allegra, a Franciscan missionary in China, the first to translate the Bible into Chinese, who was able to read the sign of the times and get close to the last and the poorest: lepers, in his case.
Speaking instead of the writings of Saint Francis, Br. Derrick highlighted how they contain the word "God" 410 times and the word "brother" 306 times: a fraternity capable of living in contemplation - personal and community, priority over many other commitments - in the discernment of how God fills our life. “Initial and ongoing formation must always be centered on Christ: the Gospel must be the center of our life”, said Br. Derrick with great emphasis. Taking example from the Chinese language and the saying “Nourish the body with movement, nourish the heart with silence”, Br. Derrick focused on the importance of listening among brothers and, in these days, also with the sisters and lay Franciscans: a “synodal” journey, on the same road, which must dispose us to act “sicut mater”, like a mother (taking up the letter that Francis wrote to Brother Leo), that is, with love, with compassion, with understanding, in order to transform even pain, physical and moral, into a joyful testimony.
The participants then began the working methodology of the “World Café”: they were divided in rotation into 18 international tables, that is, not by language and always changing the interlocutors, and they answered the 3 questions expressed in the Instrumentum Laboris on the Charism (page 19). The works were then presented in the assembly end-of-day plenary: the secretaries of the tables presented their responses, implementing them with those of other tables. The results of today and the next two days will then be collected in the Final Document of the Chapter of Mats.A curiosity about the international tables: although the capitulars come from about 50 countries around the world, the diversity of languages was not a problem, both because the secretaries of each table spoke several languages, and because - as Br. Cesare Vaiani, General Definitor, said - "the Spirit of Pentecost helped us".
Download Br Derrick Yap's Reflection
