Claretian Formation

1. Perpetual Profession

1.1. Objective

137. To provide an intensive time of contact with the Word of God in order to deepen the living of one’s religious commitments with a view to definitive incorporation in the Congregation, as a response to one’s own vocation.

1.2. Formative orientations

138. To sum up and evaluate what role the presence of the Word has played in one’s personal process.

139. To update one’s own vocational discernment based on biblical texts in view of one’s definitive commitment.

140. To intensify personal and group reflection on Claretian life, spirituality and mission, on the basis of selected vocational texts from the Bible which speak of radicalism and fidelity in following Jesus Christ.

141. To delve deeply into Marian texts that show Mary as a hearer of the Word and as a Teacher in the life of the Church and of our Congregation.

142. To recognize the challenges that reality poses to our vocation-mission as evangelizers, through a reading of the Word of God that illumines events and spurs us on to a concrete commitment in the transformation of structures.

2. Preparation for Ministries and Holy Orders

2.1. Objectives

143. To throw light on the preparation for Ministries and Orders from the standpoint of the Missionary Service of the Word, which is our specific charism in the Church. Concretely:

a) For the lectorate: to love and know the Sacred Scriptures, to listen to and meditate on the Word and make an effort to witness to it with our own life; having a will to serve God and his people by means of a faithful announcement of the Word.200

b) For the acolytate: to know and deeply live the mystery of the Eucharist and its relationship with the Word of God as aspects of the sacrament of the living Christ.201

c) For the diaconate: to evangelically serve the People of God and one’s own community in the ministry of the Word, of the liturgy and of charity, and principally in social service and helping the most abandoned.202

d) For the presbyterate: to prepare our students to become fitting priests, particularly dedicated to the service of the Word, and of the most urgent and pressing needs of the people of God, in the style of Claret.203

2.2. Formative orientations

144. To gain a deeper grasp of the images of the prophets who announced and denounced, of Christ the evangelizer and priest, of Mary at Pentecost, of Paul urged on by charity and of Claret, apostolic missionary.

145. To have some peak moments of sharing the Word from the horizon of the Claretian mission.

146. To lay the groundwork for ecclesial ministries and holy orders from a study of the Word.

147. To intensify the knowledge of the Claretian charism by way of biblical sources, historical events and the patrimony of the Congregation which throw light on our missionary being and on the exercise of the different ministries.

148. To become qualified for the future exercise of the different ministries and orders from the standpoint of the Service of the Word.

149. To listen to and perceive the voice of the Christian community and of their situation in the world as a word of God.

150. To exercise oneself in the assessorship and leadership of groups and communities, keeping in mind the explicit announcement of the Word.

151. To keep in mind the different ways of setting of the ministries conferred, according to the lay, diaconal or priestly vocation, and of the ordination to the diaconate, insofar as it is to the permanent diaconate or to the priesthood.204

152. Fundamental Experience: to prepare for and carry out the reception of ministries and of holy orders with sufficient time and intensity, so that they may be experiences that leave a deep imprint on the person.

3. A period of Five Years (Quinquennium)

3.1. Objective

153. To animate and qualify the new stage of young Claretians in the missionary service of the Word in relation to the community and to the People of God to whom they are sent.205

3.2. Formative orientations

154. To cultivate an awareness of being a disciple, envoy and servant of the Word in the exercise of one’s own ministry.

155. To attend to the Personal Project and assure that it includes a daily period for reading and listening to the Word and to evaluate it in accompaniment with a spiritual counselor.

156. To give life to the Word through liturgical celebrations, particularly the Liturgy of the Hours, and to strive to make one’s life consistent with the Word he proclaims.

157. To care for the biblical content of the different ways of announcing the Word, by sharing it with our brothers in community.

158. To keep updating one’s biblical knowledge, taking advantage of the available means for doing so.

159. To enhance the carrying out of the Word-Mission Project as a meaningful experience, by actively sharing it in community.

FOOTNOTES

136 Cf. GPF 325.

137 Cf. CC 59; GPF 328, 337.

138 Given the situation of the candidates, it is importnt to work on the human base that allows them access to the Word of God, especially in this stage. Hence it is presented in a specific section of its own. In the other stages, this must continue to be cared for, and objectives and means for doing so are offered, though not in a special section.

139 Cf. GPF 330.

140 Cf. GPF 330.

141 Cf. GPF 331.

142 Cf. GPF 331.

143 Cf. GPF 337.

144 Cf. GPF 203.

145 Cf. Appendix n. 5.

146 Cf. GPF 339 and Appendices nos. 3 and 4.

147 Cf. GPF 336.

148 Cf. Appendix no. 7.

149 Cf. SW 7, 21; GPF 25.

150 Cf. CC 34.

151 Cf. GPF 338.

152 Cf. GPF 337.

153 Cf. GPF 335.

154 Cf. GPF 352-353.

155 Cf. CPR 6; GPF 56-58.

156 Cf. GPF 352, 355.

157 Cf. GPF 357.

158 Cf. GPF 357.

159 Cf. Dir 195, 196; GPF 358, 361.

160 Cf. GPF 355.

161 Cf. GPF 355.

162 Cf. Appenix no. 5.

163 Cf. CC 61; GPF 357.

164 Cf. CC 65; GPF 357.

165 Cf. Appendices nos. 3 and 4.

166 Cf. GPF 360.

167 Cf. Appendices nos. 3 and 4.

168 Cf. Appendix no. 5.

169 Cf. GPF 388.

170 Some guidelines for this analysis can be found in Appendix no. 7.

171 Cf. Dir 234; GPF 396.

172 Cf. GPF 380, 387.

173 Cf. CC 37.

174 Cf. CC 34.

175 Cf. MCT 144; GPF 387.

176 Cf. GPF 388.

177 Cf. GPF 388, 398.

178 Cf. CC 72; GPF 387.

179 Cf. CC 65, 73; SW 16.

180 Cf. Dir 234.

181 Cf. GPF 396.

182 Cf. Dir 234.

183 Cf. CC 37; SW 13.1; GPF 387, 398.

184 Cf. SW 16.4.

185 Cf. Appendices nos. 3 and 4.

186 Cf. CC 37; GPF 397.

187 Cf. CC 37.

188 Cf. Dir 144.

189 Cf. SW 16.1.

190 Cf. Dir 144.

191 Cf. GPF 428.

192 Cf. SW 16.1.

193 Cf. SW 16.1.

194 Cf. Dir 234; GPF 408.

195 Cf. SW 16.

196 Cf. SW 16.3.

197 Cf. SW 20.

198 Cf. GPF 419-420 and the following chapter.

199 Cf. the following chapter.

200 Cf. GPF 438.

201 Cf. GPF 438.

202 Cf. GPF 443.

203 Cf. GPF 449.

204 Regarding the conferral of ministries on brothers, cf. GPF 434-439; regarding the diaconal ordination of future priests, cf. GPF 540.

205 Cf. GPF 508.