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The Rule: A Way of Life - Another boring set of rules?
There is nothing more boring than rules, no surer recipe for glassy-eyed boredom than a review of “handbooks” or organizational “by-laws.” So if you’re tempted to get a severe case of the yawns as you think about reading or studying the Missionary Cenacle Rule of Life, don’t be surprised. But we would invite you to stifle that yawn for just a moment and take a second look. It might be a lot different than you think!
First, the Cenacle Rule of Life lays out a way to holiness based on experience. It does not present so much “rules” as a spirit. The Rule offers a concrete, practical way to live the Gospel today – an apostolic or missionary spirituality for men and women in every walk of life. The prodigious apostle Paul clearly saw the need for such aids and did not hesitate to recommend himself and other “successful” Christians for imitation:
My brothers and sisters, be united in following my rule of life. Take as your models everybody who is already doing this and study them as you used to study us (Phil. 3:17). [2]
Second, the Rule synthesizes the shared wisdom of thousands of men and women, lay and religious, living as missionaries in the midst of the world. Preeminent among them were people like Father Thomas Judge, Mother Boniface Keasy, and Doctor Margaret Healy who laid the foundations of this way of life in the early part of the twentieth century. But others – homemakers, elderly, young adults, business people, carpenters, laborers, sisters, brothers, priests – have built their lives on this foundation for almost ninety years. It has borne fruit in countless acts of love, faith, and goodness in service to the abandoned and marginalized people of our society, the “little ones.” Each phrase of the Rule reflects some facet of this collective experience.
The Church’s “Seal of Approval”
How did this Rule of Life come into existence? The history of its development is somewhat complicated. The Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s mandated communities of sisters, priests, and brothers to review and revise their Constitutions. The bishops wanted to help religious look for ways to be even more faithful to the Gospel, the original vision of their founders, and the conditions of the modern day.
As the religious of the Missionary Cenacle – Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity (sisters)and Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity (brothers and priests) – embarked on this process, they eventually concluded that they shared an identical vision and spirituality. Father Judge saw the Missionary Cenacle as a closely interwoven network of women and men, lay and religious, at the service of the mission of the Church. Although the details would be different for each group, the basics were indistinguishable. And so the sisters, brothers, and priests formed a “Joint Constitution Committee” to revise the original Constitutions and present the revision to the Vatican for the Church’s approval. They envisioned not two Constitutions but a single Constitution – or governing document – for both the women’s and the men’s communities.
The Sacred Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes (SCRIS) was the group in Rome responsible for reviewing all the revised Constitutions submitted by religious communities from around the world. SCRIS agreed with the Joint Constitution Committee that the overall vision for the Missionary Cenacle was the same for both communities. However, they did not feel that it was possible to grant one single Constitution for both women and men according to the Canon Law of the Church. They did, however, propose a solution to the dilemma: a “Rule of Life”.
Unlike a Constitution with legal, binding force, a “Rule of Life” is a spiritual document. It summarizes the fundamentals of a certain spiritual vision and way of life and offers them to others for inspiration and emulation. SCRIS felt that such a “Rule of Life” would be the best way to express the commonality of spirituality and mission that supported and united the Missionary Cenacle. The Church’s approval of such Rules is rare; there had been no new Rule of Life sanctioned since the 1500s and relatively few before that. Nonetheless, in 1985 the Sacred Congregation on behalf of the whole Church officially ratified the Missionary Cenacle Rule of Life.
While the religious congregations were proceeding with their process in Rome, the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate engaged in a year of study and consultation regarding its own guiding documents. Father Judge’s vision – “every Catholic an apostle” – and the fundamental elements of a spirituality to support such an ideal were in place before the religious communities of the Missionary Cenacle came into existence. And so it was a simple step to adapt the Missionary Cenacle Rule of Life approved by Rome for the religious congregations to the Cenacle Lay Missionaries as well.
On October 13, 1984 – even before the official approbation of the Rule of Life by the Vatican – the Missionary Cenacle Apostolate General Council adopted the Rule of Life as its own with some modifications. There now existed one fundamental norm or model for living the missionary life in the Cenacle both for lay and religious missionaries.
Suggested Process For Reflection
First, read one or more of the following passages of Scripture:
Phil. 3:17;
1 Cor. 11:1;
2 Thess. 3:7-9;
Heb. 6:12, 13:7;
3 John 1:11
Second, think about what you have read. Is there anything particularly that strikes you? Is there anything you don’t understand? Is there anything that you disagree with or that troubles you? As you think about these texts, here are some questions you may want to ask yourself:
Who has been most influential in the development of my faith life? How did this individual(s) touch or form my life of faith?
Who attracted me to the Missionary Cenacle? What was it about their lives that appealed to me?
As I think of my missionary call, who continues to be a model for me? What qualities in theirs would I like to emulate?
Third, talk to God about what you have read, thought, questioned, felt. Tell God what is most on your mind and in your heart as you read or listen to these passages. Any one of a range of emotions and feelings is possible to express to God: hope, joy, consolation, gratitude, anger, sorrow, adoration. The important thing is to be as honest as possible in opening your heart up to God.
Fourth, sit quietly and do nothing. Many times we are so preoccupied with talking to God that we don’t give God a chance to speak with us. God speaks best in silence and in quiet so don’t be afraid to do nothing for a few moments and then, if there is still time, begin the process over again: read, think, talk, sit quietly.
“An Evangelical Burning”
The Rule of Life, in the first 11 short paragraphs,uses the word “fire” or some term relative to “fire” 11 times: “burning,” “enkindled,” “aflame,” “ardent.” [3] It is a central and controlling symbol for understanding the meaning of the Rule and the type of spiritual vision it presents. It is anything but “laid back”!
“Fire” imagery in the Scriptures
Scripturally, “fire” is a very powerful symbol as well, charged with a variety of meanings. God reaffirms the Covenant with Abraham, giving him the Promised land in the midst of a darkness illumined by “a smoking furnace and a firebrand” (Gen. 15:17). God appears to Moses “in the shape of a flame of fire,” “the bush blazing” (Exod. 3:2) and makes known to him the sacred Name. Moses continues to hear “the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire” (Deut. 4:33) and his face shines dazzlingly with the effects of that divine communion (Exod. 34:29-30). In response to this divine election, a perpetual fire burns in the sanctuary of the Temple: “The fire that consumes the holocaust on the altar must not be allowed to go out . . . An undying fire is always to burn on the altar; it must not go out” (Lev. 6:5-6).
The classical prophet of Israel, Elijah, arises amidst the people “like a fire, his word flaring like a torch” (Ecclus. 48:1). For the prophet Jeremiah, the Word of Yahweh “seemed to be a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones” (Jer. 20:9; see also Jer. 23:29) despite the insult and derision he bore because of it. Yahweh allows the beloved to be tested and strengthened with persecution and humiliation as “gold is tested in the fire” (Ecclus. 2:4; see also Dan. 3). The power of such proven love, however, is invincible; no power or force can defeat the person of tested fidelity:
For love is strong as Death,
jealousy relentless as Sheol.
The flash of it is a flash of fire,
a flame of Yahweh himself.
Love no flood can quench,
no torrents drown. (Song of Sg. 8:6)
Jesus will baptize His chosen ones in this dynamic force of love, the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11f.). He pours forth His life so as “to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!” (Luke 12:49). Pentecost is a manifestation of this outpouring gift. It enlivens, strengthens, tests, and purifies those whose hearts are open to receive it (see 1 Pet. 1:7, 4:12-17; 1 Cor. 3:15). The hearts of those who listen to the Word of the Risen Lord “burn” within them (Luke 24:32). This is the apostolic fire, the prophetic “charity at white heat,” the zeal which is to consume and characterize the apostle and missionary. It is the heart of the Cenacle vocation.
The Missionary Cenacle Vocation: A Total Gift of Self
The Old Testament had many types of sacrifice: the “peace offering” (a type of sacred meal), the “sin offering,” the “cereal offering” and others. However, the most prevalent was the “holocaust” in which the animal being offered as a victim was entirely consumed by fire on the altar of sacrifice: nothing was to remain. First, however, the person offering the sacrifice was to “lay his hands on the victim’s head” to show his oneness with the offering (Lev. 1:4). In this way not only the animal being offered but the life of the individual making the offering were presented to Yahweh. Then, after slaying the animal, the priest was “to burn all of it on the altar. This holocaust will be a burnt offering and the fragrance of it will appease Yahweh” (Lev. 1:9). The total nature of the gift was most characteristic of the holocaust. The fire ever burning on the altar of the sanctuary in Jerusalem was to be a constant reminder to the People of the totality of their commitment to the one and only God (Lev. 6:5-6).
In the New Testament, all of this rich, sensual imagery gives way to the reality of the direct encounter of woman and man with the living God. It is no longer a “blazing fire, or a gloom turning to total darkness, or a storm; or trumpeting thunder or the great voice speaking” (Heb. 12:18-19) which we discover. Rather, we have drawn near to “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” to Jesus, the mediator who brings a new covenant. What the holy prophets of the Old Testament knew only in sign and symbol, we have received in its fullness:
We have been given possession of an unshakeable kingdom.
Let us therefore hold on to the grace that we have been given
and use it to worship God in the way that he finds acceptable,
in reverence and fear.
For our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29).
For Father Judge, there were no “half-measures” in our relationship to God. Although he always urged infinite compassion and patience with poor men and women seeking to find their way back to God, nonetheless God was not to be played with. He understood completely the notion of a “jealous God” (Deut. 4:24) who brooked no rivals for our affection, devotion, and love. Like any true Lover, God would never be satisfied with anything less than the full devotion of our heart. The missionary vocation was a call to become a complete gift, a total burnt offering on the altar of Love for the sake of the Beloved. This fire of love consumes the victim, but his or her life thus becomes a fragrant offering to the Divine Heart. Nothing is held back from the Beloved; no sacrifice is too great. Such utter submission is not to be feared, however:
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name, you are mine.
Should you pass through the sea, I will be with you;
or through rivers, they will not swallow you up.
Should you walk through fire, you will not be scorched
and the flames will not burn you.
For I am Yahweh, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your savior (Isa. 43:1-3).
Only in the full and total gift of oneself to Divine Love – hopes, dreams, expectations, fears, concerns, anxieties – will true Life be discovered: “For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mark 8:35; see also Matt. 16:25; Luke 9:24; John 12:25). This is the Life and the Call of the missionary. Like the Master on Calvary, his life becomes an offering, a “victim” totally consumed by the fire of Love, a “sweet fragrance – the sacrifice that God accepts and finds pleasing” (Phil. 4:18).
Suggested Process For Reflection
First, read one or more of the following passages of Scripture:
Exod. 3:1-6
Lev. 1:1-17
Heb. 12:18-29
Isa. 43:1-3
Matt. 16:24-27
John 12:23-26
Second, think about what you have read. Is there anything particularly that strikes you? Is there anything you don’t understand? Is there anything that you disagree with or that troubles you? As you think about these texts, here are some questions you may want to ask yourself:
What is the intensity of my love for God? What is the intensity of my love for others, especially people who are unattractive or difficult to get along with?
What am I willing to do for the love of God? Concretely, how am I living out my service to God and others?
Are there things or people or comforts that I cling to? Who are they? What are they? Do I put conditions on my love for God? What are those conditions?
If I had to take my “spiritual temperature” right now, what would it be? Why?
Third, talk to God about what you have read, thought, questioned, felt. Tell God what is most on your mind and in your heart as you read or listen to these passages. Any one of a range of emotions and feelings is possible to express to God: hope, joy, consolation, gratitude, anger, sorrow, adoration. The important thing is to be as honest as possible in opening your heart up to God.
Fourth, sit quietly and do nothing. Many times we are so preoccupied with talking to God that we don’t give God a chance to speak with us. God speaks best in silence and in quiet so don’t be afraid to do nothing for a few moments and then, if there is still time, begin the process over again: read, think, talk, sit quietly.
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[1] We have approximately 15,000 pages of Father Judge’s writings in the Archives of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity in microfilm format. These include correspondence, numerous conferences, official documents, and other occasional pieces such as seminary papers and personal notes - when referring to these papers we will use the letters “MF:” followed by the microfilm identification number in the archive files.
[2] Scriptural citations are from The Jerusalem Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1966).
[3] See Rule of Life, #1, 6, 7, 8, 11. Beyond these first 11 paragraphs in the Rule, similar images are found in #21 (“ardent followers of Jesus”), #22 (“zeal, the white heat of charity”), #25 (“warm and selfless love”).