Every so often, there’s a series on TV that hooks people.
For a generation or more it’s been Coronation Street. In more recent years for many (including me) it’s been Prison Break.Why this series attracts me is difficult to explain because basically the story line is simplicity itself. There’s a group of guys who are either in prison or out of it and trying to stay out (which would seem to be the two options); they’re searching for something that isn’t what it seems and mos t of the characters aren’t what they seem either (the good guys often turn out to be the bad guys; the bad guys sometimes become the good guys and so on).
It’s not original; it’s limited in its possibilities – but still there’s a certain fascination in watching it (so much so that the other week when two of us forgot to video an episode there was serious hunting to be done to find a copy before peace and tranquillity were restored in the Community).
Prison Break is escapist in more ways than one – we don’t look for authenticity in it and so we simply enjoy it for what it is. But we wouldn’t want real life to be like it either.
Authenticity is important in real life – and especially for us as Religious.
The second part of the Vision Statement from the 2008 Chapter reminds us of that when it says “By 2012 New Zealand Marists will be living in a way that:
- is welcoming,
- shows we respect, trust and care deeply for each other in all we do and say
- means we are accountable to our community and our province
- allows us to share our resources with those in need, especially the SM internationally
- young people are attracted to join us
As with other aspects of the Vision Statement, we could be tempted to say we’re already doing all that. And many individuals and communities are living out aspects of that call now with great generosity and commitment.
But the Vision Statement isn’t about how we’re living now but how we will live in the next few years – years during which we will change as individuals and as a Province and years which will bring significant challenges to us.
In a real sense we can feel imprisoned even now – by lack of physical or emotional energy; by a sense of frustration that we are not attracting new members; by disappointment as we face moving out of works that have meant much to us as individuals and as a Province; by a loss of confidence in ourselves as individuals and as a group.
The challenge issued by the Chapter is for us to stage, in a sense, our own version of Prison Break – not to escape from reality by becoming inauthentic but precisely to free ourselves by remaining authentic to who and what we are as Marists.
That will involve making choices – both as individuals and as communities.
It will involve a large degree of honesty and self-awareness as to how each of us is currently living: honesty and selfawareness that says I need to build on the good things that are happening now and not retreat into myself as a form of protection or escapism.
It will involve for each of us the asking of such questions as:
- How welcoming am I, not only to non-Marists, but to my confreres? How free am I to accept confreres into my community even when they might disrupt the style of life I currently enjoy?
- How much trust, respect and care do I show my confreres – those I live and work with and those in the Province in general? What can I do to make sure that I am living healthily and positively in an authentic Marist way? How much responsibility do I need to take to ensure that those I live with feel that I am genuinely interested in and for them – not just as people I live with but as people I share the Marist spirit with? How willing am I to be accountable to my community and to the Province for my life-style, my commitment to prayer, my use of money, my availability to my community in terms of how much time I spend with individuals and with the group, my availability for the mission of the province?
- How open am I to thinking differently from the way perhaps we are used to – so that I think in terms of the mission and life of the Society, not just those of the Province, or of my community, or of myself? How aware am I of the realities of the needs of other Provinces and Districts?
- How confident am I in faith that living authentically may attract young people to join us – and conversely, that lack of candidates is not a reason to change or question the necessity to live authentically? There are various studies which we’re all familiar with that young people today are attracted more to authenticity than to power, money or what is called a good life-style. Ultimately, whether or not we are joined by young people who want to live as Marist religious and priests is beyond our control – what is in our hands, and always has been, is whether or not we can witness to them what it means to live as such.
It is always a challenge to live authentically – not least because so much around us , both positively and negatively, encourages us to trust more and more in our own resources and to try and ensure control over our lives. That, in a real sense, is the prison that we can find ourselves in – walls created by our weariness, our fears, our anxieties, our disappointments.
The Vision Statement offers us a chance to escape from such a viewpoint – to keep looking forwards and outwards: not in a way that denies reality but in a way that highlights authenticity and encourages us to remain free in faith and in hope.