FOI Magazine - 34 - The good wine of Cana by Communauté du Chemin Neuf

y t i n U r o n f o i s s a P A

mmun o C f u e N Chemin

ity

a SPECIAL report

The

GOOD WINE

of CANA

r o f s g n i g d o l r g a n e i y d c n i i F m e d a c a the new

h a Yout

FOI A quarterly publication No. 34 - September - October - November 2012 - 5â&#x201A;Ź

I FO

hed by the lis b u p e in Magaz

VIE Contents

Editorial by Father Laurent FABRE Special report

The GOOD

WinE of Cana

Ecumenism

14 • Pastor A. Birmelé: A protestant perspective on the ‘real presence’ 16 • Reading the Magnificat with Martin Luther 18 • Prayer

Christian training

Youth

20 • Bible: Back-to-school with a biblical figure 22 • Prayer: An icon that helps us to pray as a family 24 • Testimony: Psychological health and our spiritual lives

26 • Finding lodgings for the new

academic year 28 • Testimonies

Life in the Community

Young talent

30 • Saragossa... chronicle of a calling to Spain 32 • Community parish week 34 • News – Photographs from Trévi and Kinshasa

35 • Baptiste Plantin

FOI magazine (Fraternité œcuménique Internationale, International Ecumenical Fraternity) is published by the Chemin Neuf Community-10 rue Henri IV-69287 Lyon cedex 02 Publication director: P. Laurent Fabre Executive director: Jean-Charles Paté, Editor in chief: Pascale Paté, Editorial committee: Franck Démaret, Blandine Lagrut, Fr. François Lestang, Véronique Pilet, Adam Strojny, Marion Tissot Graphic design: Annick Vermot (06 98 61 98 76), Photo credits: Cover:CCN / Central pages: CCN / Others: fotolia.com – angelo.gi, Andres Rodriguez, kasiap, herreneck, Eisenhans, Kurhan / Special report:CCN / Ecumenism pages: P. Mansfeld Subscriptions: Marie-Thérèse Subtil, Nicole Zébrowski, Administration-Management: AME, Production: Sandrine Laroche, Printing: IML - 69850, St Martin en Haut, Registration of copyright: December 2010, CPPAP : 0310 G 83338, ISSN : 1770-5436

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

Editorial

“T Father Laurent FaBRE Founder and head of the Chemin Neuf Community

We produce a film every month, translate it into over 20 languages and send to groups in 72 different countries throughout the world. This has created a network of prayer, the International Ecumenical Fraternity. NET FOR GOD.

he Chemin Neuf Community was founded on 1 October 1973 on the Fourvière Hill at 49, Montée du Chemin Neuf, between the Cathedral and the archbishop’s palace, not far from the Roman theatre. So a small new community started up and grew, with all the associated joys and sorrows, defeats and victories, close to these places marked by the blood of martyrs (Saint Pothinus and Saint Blandina … and many others) or by the memory of some great Saints and Church Fathers like Saint Irenaeus, not far from the footbridge named after Paul Couturier, a prophet in the cause of the Unity of Christians. Forty years later, I don’t know if we can still call it a”new community”. On the other hand we must recognise that our community is still going, and in many ways represents the newness of this third millennium. Whether you consider the extent of the membership mix, the fellowship between members in different life situations, the level of the place of women in the Church, the responsibility given to lay-people and to couples or its commitment to ecumenism, our community remains truly “new and almost strange”, among the other communities in the Church, the older and the more recent ones. In short it seems to me that we are living up well enough to the name of our street, Chemin Neuf. Sometimes, when I am gladdened by all the apostolic fruit borne by the Cana Sessions in the 40 counties where they are held or the many missions for young people, or saddened by the many serious trials that have beset other new communities, I ask myself how it has happened that we have been spared or, in some way, protected. Sometimes I think about the witness of that slave Blandina, our young neighbour of 1835 years ago, as if it is the blood of our Lyon martyrs that is protecting us. As a matter of fact, the other and correct address of our community is 20, Montée du Gourguillon. One explanation of the name of this other hill is that the plentiful blood of the martyrs, “Gurges sanguinis”, of the first Christians ran down from the Roman theatre to the bottom of the hill. Blandina, a young slave was martyred in 177 under Marcus Aurelius with some forty other Christians from Lyon and Vienne among whom was Saint Pothinus, Bishop of Lyon, and many others. Their martyrdom was related by eye witnesses who wrote a “Letter from the Churches of Lyon and Vienne,” addressed to the Churches of Phrygia and Asia; this was transcribed in the IV century by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History. So we are talking about events with a reliable historicity. Blandina displayed such extraordinary courage that some of her companions who had renounced their faith under torture then retracted their renunciation and suffered martyrdom. She was delivered to the executioners who admitted that they had never seen a woman suffer with so much courage, and she remained faithful, repeating to every question «I am a Christian, and we commit no wrongdoing.» I believe in the communion of saints.

Père Laurent Fabre.

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

The

GOOD WINE

of CANA 6

EVERYDAY LIFE

Kevin and Agnes Lai from Hong Kong

PRAYING TOGETHER

Alexander and Olga Chukanov

BEING RECONCILED

Anna and William Mwesigye

BEING CALLED

Fabienne and Renaud Michaille

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

special report

“Blessed are those couples who discover through tenderness, through God’s forgiveness, that each of them is just one poor person in front of another poor person.” Father Laurent Fabre

This film will take you to Gainazzo, in northern Italy, to discover the importance of the work that God is doing during “Cana” sessions. These are run by the Chemin Neuf Community and are for the evangelisation of couples and families. In fact, it was after three sessions had been held in France in the early 1980s that the Cana mission took shape and it has spread throughout the world, reaching churches of all Christian denominations. Today, Cana can be found in 40 countries in five continents. Thousands of couples and families have attended one of these sessions and have had their lives transformed by Christ, poor and humble. On the occasion of the World Meeting of Families in the spring, 65 couples, leaders of Cana in 34 countries, met in Gainazzo to celebrate this new Pentecost together, Catholics, Anglicans, Reformed, Lutherans, Evangelicals and Orthodox. We heard some amazing testimonies. These couples have discovered that the source of their unity and joy in being missionaries was in the acceptance of the power of God’s forgiveness. FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

The 4th International Meeting of Cana

The good wine of CANA “Changing the water of our everyday lives into wedding feast wine” “We are presenting here the testimony of six couples who have attended a Cana session, in countries as different as China, Russia, Latvia, Uganda, Italy and France. Nevertheless their language and their experience are universal. ‘We all have the same essentials in our lives.’ Married life, with its joys and its difficulties, needs to be re-immersed in the wellsprings of love.”

Kevin and Agnes Lai from Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China “We had a very miraculous meeting. ... But when we entered marriage, the first ten years were really very difficult for both of us.” Agnes Lai: “We were living together all the time, but things were really, really empty on the inside. Kevin got the habit to watch television all the time that he was in the house. And I’m working, I was a working parent, and I’m very busy at work. And when I was at home, the children played on their own, but he watched television or went to sleep. Sometimes I got irritated with him.”

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

Kevin Lai: “We longed to improve our marriage relationship; But we did not know how to; until last year. I saw an advertisement for a Cana session. I was really struck by what was written on that poster. It said, “It’s the time for God the creator to help couples to get out of their daily routine, and to change the water of their every day lives into wedding feast wine.” I was struck by the words “water” and “wine”. This is what we were experiencing in our marriage: water. Our marriage was as still as water, though sometimes we had a cold war or quarrels. Sometimes there was waves, sometimes things were calmer. “Calmer” means routine: school for the children, the household, the bills, who was going to pay them, things like that. We didn’t have time to sit down together, to have any depth to our meeting or to communicate. So this is why I suggested to her that we should do

special report

A festive meal, Cana Hong Kong, July 2011

this Cana session, and to ask for six days of holiday to be able to go.” NFG : And so after twenty years of marriage, Agnes and Kevin joined some other couples at a Cana session in July 2011 in Hong Kong. At the time, Agnes was a housewife with two children; Kevin was working full time for the Catholic diocese of Hong Kong. Kevin : “During that week, for the first time I had a personal experience of the Holy Spirit.” NFG : In fact from the second day of the session, the exercise that was proposed to the couples was to write a letter to one another. They were each invited to share what had brought them most happiness in their marriage. Kevin : “So without any hesitation I wrote that the thing that gave me the most happiness was that Agnes was my wife, and that she looked after our two boys so that I could spend as much time as possible doing my

work for the Church, which was very significant. Then when I had given her my letter and we were in the sharing time, she said to me, “Your happiness is exactly the thing that has been causing my suffering during twenty years of marriage.” At that moment I did not know what to say. I felt guilty for not having known her – regarding this point – for twenty years. The thing that I thought was the greatest happiness was exactly the cause of her suffering. Why?” NFG : Agnes and Kevin are now members of the team running the Cana mission in Hong Kong, a work of evangelisation for couples and families run since 1980 by the Chemin Neuf Community, a Catholic community whose vocation is to pray and work for the unity of Christians. In fact it was through three sessions in France in the 1980s that the Cana mission first took its shape and then spread through the world, touching churches of all Christian denominations.

Flyer for the Cana session which took place in Hong Kong in July 2011

Today, Cana has spread into 40 countries on five continents; thousands of couples and families have experienced this session and have seen their lives transformed by Christ. >>> continued on p.8

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

Jihad and Claudine Nasr, Lebanon

Setting off for Milan

Milan 2012

World Meeting of Families From 30th May until 3rd June 2012, the city of Milan opened its

doors to hundreds of thousands of families from 154 countries. They met Pope Benedict XVI in Bresso Park.

Benoît XVI, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church - Saturday 2 June 2012 – Milan: “In the marriage service, the Church does not ask ‘Are you in love?’ but ‘Will you ...?’ ‘Are you determined?’ In other words, being in love has to become ‘true love’ by involving the will and the reason on a progressive journey. I often think of the wedding at Cana. The first wine is very good; it represents the time when you fall in love. But this does not last. We need a second wine, the first wine must ferment, grow, and mature; we need permanent love that really becomes the second wine, more wonderful, better than the first. And this is what we have to search for.”

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Stephanie and Alan Richardson, Great Britain

Laurent and Corinne Bohoussou, Ivory Coast

special report “Our hearts opened” ‘Lord, make him behave differently towards me’ ” Alexander : “And I said, ‘Lord help me to keep calm because my wife makes me angry’.”

NFG : Alexander and Olga Chukanov are from Moscow and head the Cana Mission in Russia. Olga : “At the beginning of our relationship, there were no particular problems; we were a really harmonious couple. Our first problems appeared after the birth of our first child – it was a critical situation. There were sparks flying between us. It became so difficult to be together.” Alexander : “We were well aware that nine couples out of ten divorce because they can no longer stand one another. We were in that same situation but we didn’t want to get divorced. We didn’t know what to do.” NFG : It was when they saw a poster advertising a Cana session in their Orthodox church of Saint Cosmas and Damian in Moscow, that they decided to take some time away together. They went to the Cana session in February 2010 with their two children.

Olga : “We finally managed to come express what was so difficult to say, and then our hearts opened. I could pray with my own words, it was a prayer straight from the heart. For the first time, I felt that God entered my heart, it was my first encounter with Him. I felt as though my heart had grown bigger. On the day when some proposals for reconciliation were suggested, we could lay down all the burdens of our tensions, all those little reproaches that we had against one another. We could lay them all down, simply handing them over to God. And all this was possible thanks to the fact that we felt completely forgiven.” NFG : Father Laurent Fabre is the founder and head of the Chemin Neuf Community. Following a year of prayer and reflection together with three couples from different Christian denominations, the first Cana session was held in 1980 (in Les Pothières, France).

Fr. Laurent Fabre : “If there is one thing that is essential in the world, it is love. Love is the most important thing. When you have left this life, something of you will remain if you have loved. Everything else will disappear. But the love that you have given will remain. You must be prophets of married love, prophets for the family. This is essential for our world. And we had an image right at the beginning of the Cana sessions – an image of a big city like New York when there is a power failure. Little by little every household goes dark, they have no more light. Well, our world is going through a huge power cut; households are being left in the dark, there is no more light, couples are separating and it’s a catastrophe! So the treasure which we’re carrying is this light for the family. You know very well that in the book of Genesis, we find the words that say it all, ‘Male and female he created them, in His own image he created them’. If you love, you are the image of God on the earth. A man and a woman who truly love each other form an image of God on earth. So it’s worth the effort of reconciling ourselves with one another to find the light.”

Alexander : “There were miracles every day during the session. One day we sat down side by side in the woods and we prayed together. We committed our problems to God and we told Him what we hoped for from Him.” Olga : “We didn’t know how to pray together. And at first, I said to God:

Fr. Laurent Fabre

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The mystery of marriage... Anna and William Mwesigye, the Cana team, Uganda Anna : “Today we have ten children who are not our own children. Most of them are orphans. We could not have children ourselves, and this is a great dishonour in our African culture. In Africa, after you are married, the first thing that you want is a child. Our families gave us their advice; they even tried to separate us. This caused a lot of tension between us, really a lot of tension”. William : “A lot of people were talking about us. As a result, we began to have conflicts. Anna said to me, ‘Perhaps it’s you who’s got a problem’, which troubled me. But while we were at a Cana session, during a time of dialogue together, we had to put our cards on the table and we said to one another, ‘This is our marriage, just for the two of us, not for the members of our families’. And we forgave one another.” Anna : “As our sharing proceeded, we were led to share our inner injuries and the suffering that had been caused by the frictions between us. And then we could forgive one another for these. Thanks to a continuing dialogue we are now able to tell one another everything, to let go.”

Fr. Laurent Fabre : “Jesus said to all his disciples “Blessed are the poor”. Well, blessed are those couples who discover through tenderness, through mercy, that each of them is just a poor person in front of another poor person. This is the mystery of the couple. When Christ is present in a couple, He saves the couple, He is the saviour of the couple. And if anyone is a master in love, it’s Christ.” Aldo and Elena Rabellino from Italy – Leaders of the international Cana mission since 2004 Aldo : “Daily life sometimes tough weighs you down. We always do the same things, we go to work, we’re at home... So we say to ourselves, ‘But where is the love of God? Where is He at work?’ But the Holy Spirit shows us the life of Christ. And Christ’s life wasn’t simply three years of public life. There was ten times more than this, thirty years of hidden life. That’s thirty years of ordinary life. And it was there that the Holy Spirit transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary.”

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

“Blessed are those couples who discover through tenderness, through mercy, that each of them is just a poor person in front of another poor person.” Elena : “In fact, Christians have this secret:; they know how to live ordinary lives and to fill them with love because they have learnt this from Christ.”

Photograph left: Aldo and Elena Rabellino with Fr. Christophe Blin

special report Reconciliation in the Churches Fr. Laurent Fabre : “This is a great opportunity for us to see that since the beginning of Cana, there has been this dimension of reconciliation between the different Churches. We walk together, with the aim of working for the family. By the way, show me one institution in the world that really fights for the family. In Africa, Asia, Europe, worldwide, the Church is the bulwark that protects the family.” Rinalds Grants, pastor of a Lutheran Church in Riga, Latvia “What we are experiencing in particular here in this gathering is seeing the Church of Christ in its greatness and its diversity. At the same time, we sense that we are all filled with one Spirit, and that the most important things in our lives are the same for all of us. I find the highly respectful attitude to our differences very touching. Unfortunately, the Body of Christ is still seen to be wounded all the time in the world, and these are painful wounds. But we can show respect for our differences. I have the impression that if we want to put ourselves above the others, we shall only make the wounds in Christ’s body worse.

The places where we can meet together so that the families of different churches can find healing, and the places we all pray together for our different countries are small signs of hope, that are telling us that God is healing this body.” Ieva Grants : “For me this is a revelation; no denomination can hold onto one of the persons in the Trinity. The Trinity is essential for all of us. It’s the Trinity that unites us.” John Baguma, Ugandan Cana team: “Here I’m seeing Christians of different denominations praying to the Lord, all together, in unity. This has surprised me because in Uganda there is a great diversity of churches, and a lot of conflicts between them. I am Catholic and I work in an organisation which is principally Anglican. And at Cana we pray for the unity of Christians, but at home I had no hope that one day we would be able to pray together the way that we have done here. I have been greatly moved by this. The way forward for me now is to take the first step, to move towards my brothers in a more understanding way, to pray more for our unity so that we will be able to have times of prayer together.

Rinalds and Ieva Grants, Latvia

John Baguma, Uganda

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

Renaud and Fabienne Michaille with their daughters, France

The call to couples Fr. Christophe Blin, from France – A member of the Cana International team: “What am I called to? What are we, as a couple, called to? The call is for everyone. If God has put you together as a man and woman, it is for a reason. So what is your calling, as a couple? What is the spiritual soil in which you will be planted?” NFG : In the early 2000s, Fabienne and Renaud had a personal encounter with Christ. Responding to his call, they joined the Chemin Neuf Community and were active in a parish in the Paris region. Then in 2003, the boss of Renaud’s company offered him a lucrative promotion, but it involved a move for the whole family and they were expecting a third child at the time.

Renaud and Fabienne Michaille, Members of the Cana France Team: Renaud: “Discovering God’s love is one thing; giving him every part of my life... I was not ready to take that step. There was an area of my life that I was not yet prepared to give to the Lord. I was really very proud that my boss had offered me this promotion. When I announced what for me was great news, the reaction was cold and silent.”

“The call is for everyone. If God has put you together as a man and woman, it is for a reason.”

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

Fabienne : “For me it was inconceivable, because we had started to journey with the Community. I wanted to stay in a place where the Community was present. Besides, I loved evangelising. Moving was therefore simply not an option for me.” Renaud : “It is important to mention that it was Friday evening and I had to give an answer to my boss on Monday morning.” Fabienne : “And what did your boss say?” Renaud : “He told me: ‘if you do not take this promotion, you are, (and I quote) ‘finished’ in my company’. So that put me under pressure to say the least! Immediately, Fabienne told me we had to put this decision before the Lord, because it was a decision that concerned the whole family and not just me, and it would mean uprooting and moving our family.”

special report NFG : It was then that Fabienne and Renaud went to pray, but separately, in different places. Renaud : “I had let Fabienne go on ahead, because I had trouble telling myself that the answer I was going to give on Monday morning was going to be given to me through prayer with others and by opening my Bible. I felt a lot of inner resistance to this”. Fabienne : “I prayed with my Bible and came across a verse from Psalm 137: ‘How will we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?’ and guess which verse Renaud received at the same time?” Renaud : “The same one!” Fabienne : « ‘How will we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?’ It’s unbelievable. And so for me it was very clear. The Lord told us, ‘the land where I call you, is the land of Community’. And ‘sing the Lord’s song’, for me meant truly proclaim it.

So to leave for a foreign land would mean we could no longer sing the wonders of God. For me, the Lord said, ‘No, you must turn down this offer’.»

“Basically this is the secret of love, it’s giving your life for the one you love.” Renaud : “I tried to make a very personal interpretation of the text, telling myself that there might be a way out which was more favourable to me, but obviously it did not work. Then I felt that despite everything, there was a great peace in our marriage. And the Lord had to work very deeply within me to make me understand that there was also an issue that went beyond my simple professional career, it was about us as couple, as a family, and ultimately it was about our closeness to Him.” Fr. Laurent Fabre : “Basically this is the secret of love, it’s giving your life for the one you love. This is what all couples need to learn again and again: love is giving your life. And when as a priest I celebrate a wedding, I am very moved when I hear this wonderful phrase, ‘I give myself to you forever’. I think fundamentally, if what they say on their wedding day is true, if they truly live it in their lives, happy are the children whose parents have made a definitive, radical covenant, not through their own strength, but through Christ’s presence in their midst.”

The Wedding at Cana On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

John 2, 1-11

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VIE Ecumenism

Ecume

A protestant perspective

The “real presence” At the symposium on ‘The Lord’s Supper’ held at Bose in Italy in May 2012, the Lutheran pastor André Birmelé spoke about the ‘sense and the non-sense of the expression ‘real presence’. What is the Eucharistic faith of those Churches affected by the Reformation? In the final analysis, do they believe in the ‘real presence’? Do they reject it because it goes against their understanding of the material world? We are grateful to the author for allowing us to reproduce an extract of his lecture.

André BIRMELE

Honorary Dean of the Protestant Faculty. Faith and Constitution. University of Strasbourg

The Lord’s supper, Pentecost 2009, Tigery

“The presence of Christ during the Eucharist is stressed by all the Churches affected by the Reformation. Acknowledging the real presence signifies that in the bread and wine of the communion believers share the body and blood of Christ, made available for our salvation. This assertion must be distinguished from any misunderstanding about the physical nature of the elements which would explicitly identify the host with the body and the wine with the blood of Christ. These Churches stress the fact that the real presence is to be understood in a broader sense and involves the celebration in its entirety.This broader understanding of the Eucharistic presence of Christ does not lead to relativism, and certainly not to the denial of the close bond between this presence and the elements. On the contrary, it allows it to be defined within a calmer context, which is no longer held prisoner by

FOI • N°34 • September - October - November 2012

“These Churches stress the fact that the real presence is to be understood in a broader sense and involves the celebration in its entirety.” the old and passionate debates which marked relations between reformist traditions. Christ offers himself with the bread and wine. The very act of participating in this meal is to enter into communion with God and into communion with believers. In and through this celebration, Christ is present in the midst of his own. That is the etymological meaning of the idea of consubstantiation, a term which those involved in the Reformation did not use,

nism Ecumenism

Ecumenism

but which was subsequently common in Reformed Churches. Luther and his friend Melanchton used the image of an incandescent iron. The iron could not be separated from the fire, but each remained a separate reality. This image has often been used by the Fathers of the Church. They, however applied it in the first instance to the union in Jesus Christ between the divine and the human. Extrapolating from the eastern Fathers, the orthodox churches have always drawn on this image to explain both the union of the divine and human in Christ and the presence of Christ in the elements of the Supper, the two unions springing from the same theological intent. After long years of dialogue, giving pride of place to a broader understanding of the real presence allowed a fundamental agreement to be reached, as demonstrated in the terms of the Leuenberg Concordat (LC) which in 1973 established communion between Lutherans and European Reformed Churches: In the Lord’s Supper the risen Jesus Christ imparts himself in his body and blood, given up for all, through his word of promise with bread and wine. He thereby grants us forgiveness of sins and sets us free for a new life of faith. He enables us to experience anew that we are members of his body. He strengthens us for service to all men. We cannot separate communion with Jesus Christ in his body and blood from the act of eating and drinking. To be concerned about the manner of Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper in abstraction from this act is to run the risk of obscuring the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. (CL 15 et CL 19) This common conviction does not reduce the real presence to a simply symbolic presence. The crucified and risen Christ in reality offers himself with the elements and thus allows believers to participate in his reign. This presence is not the fruit of the faith or the subjectivity of the recipient, but the fulfilment of the promise of the Word of Christ. He offers himself with the elements to all participants, to believers who receive it in faith for their salvation.

Ecumenism

The Lord’s supper, Sablonceaux 2010

To signal their understanding of the real presence of Christ in the celebration of this meal, the Churches affected by the Reformation nowadays increasingly emphasise anamnesis and epiclesis. Exactly as with the preaching of the word, the Lord’s supper is anamnesis, a memorial of the death of Christ in the light of the faith of Easter day morning. This memorial is closely

“We cannot separate communion with Jesus Christ in his body and blood from the act of eating and drinking.” Leuenberg Agreement, 19 linked to the request through the Holy Spirit for the presence of Christ, which fulfils, here and now, the promise made in the words of institution. Anamnesis and epiclesis are both ways of expressing the presence of Christ and expressions of grace by the celebrant community which praises God for his work of salvation and for this meal which is, in the here and now, a sign of the kingdom of God which is to come. This emphasis on the anamnesis separates the question of the real presence of Christ from just the elements of bread and wine. Anamnesis makes real the presence of what is being remembered. Past history, that of Christ, becomes our history. Believers are invited to participate in a reality which is not their own, which is external to them and which precedes their faith. This reality is the death and resurrection of Christ for the

benefit of all. It must be added that, in doing this, the Lutheran churches and Reformed churches sharply distinguish themselves from Zwingli’s option, for whom the sacraments were instants in which faith is confirmed, with Christ giving himself to his own purely and simply through his proclaimed word. This option remains a very real one for the so called free Churches (Baptist, Pentecostal, or Mennonite) with whom dialogue on this subject remains delicate. Towards the end of his lecture, referring to the outcomes of ecumenical dialogues and to the evolution within each of the ecclesiastical families (including Catholicism) André Birmelé formulated three conclusions: “In the 16th century, debate was dominated by schemes of thought which have falsely been made absolutist and built up into uncrossable barriers. The theological evolution of all Churches allows us today to distance ourselves somewhat from this debate. Attempts at explanation put forward in the 16th century served only one cause: to affirm the mystery of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, a concern common to all. Affirmation of the real presence is not a question of focussing on the nature of the presence but on its finality: the gift of Christ to his own through his blood and his body in the bread and wine, through the power of the Holy Spirit. v * The Leuenberg Agreemment can be read in French in: Accords et dialogues œcuméniques bilatéraux, multilatéraux, français, européens et internationaux. Ed. par A. Birmelé et J. Terme, Lyon, Olivétan, 2007 (CD ROM). It can also be read in English on the internet at http://www.leuenberg.net/node/642

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A reading of the “Magnificat” by Martin Luther

In the “Magnificat” Mary sings of Salvation How did Martin Luther perceive the Virgin Mary? Why is the “blessed mother of God” still a difficult topic in theological debates and in discussions about our shared faith between Christians of different Churches? AnneCathy Graber turns to Martin Luther’s commentary on Mary’s Magnificat to make us more aware of the issues at stake in the “Marian question”, especially the fundamental point concerning salvation.

Martin Luther’s commentary on the Magnificat (1520-1521), written at one of the most tormented times of his life, was addressed to the young nephew of, and designated successor to, Prince Frederic the Wise. In the dedication, Luther points out the greatness and the dangers attending those who hold authority. He denounces excessive power as the greatest threat to the human heart in that it breeds a false sense of security. God is thus forgotten, subordinates are despised in a process of dehumanization transforming the ruler into animal. This is why he proposes that the prince should reflect upon the Magnificat : “I know of nothing in all the Scriptures, more useful to this purpose than this holy song of the blessed mother of God (1).” The central theme of the commentary lies in the opposition between the work of God and the work of man. One (the human) looks only to what is above whereas the Other (God) is not afraid to look below, towards that from which we turn away: they are in complete opposition (“moving in opposite directions” Luther repeats)...

Anne-Cathy GRABER,

CCN, member of the Groupe des Dombes, Itinerant Pastor, Mennonite Evangelical Church.

The Reformer constantly reminds us that the acceptance of salvation and the good that God bestows constitutes the basic issue in the life of the believer. On this crucial point Mary is given as example – perfect in her reception of the work of God, because she attri-

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“Mary sets her self aside and ascribes everything to God alone, from whom she has received everything. She was no more than a joyous abode.” butes nothing to herself but, through her faith, points to God as the unique origin of the gift: “(Mary) casts her self aside and ascribes everything to God alone from whom she has received everything (….) She was no more than a joyous abode and a willing host for such a visitor (2)” or again, putting words in Mary’s mouth :“I am only the workshop where his work is accomplished; but I have had no part in it; this is also why no one must praise me or honor me for having become the mother of God (3).”

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The act of receiving God’s gifts is considered to be fundamental in determining the life of the believer because it reveals, in a specific way, either sin (pride, appropriation, selfishness) or resistance to sin (acknowledging the Giver with thanks and praise). Certainly there is a passivity in reception constantly stressed by Luther, but it is a creative passivity, notably expressed by praising and glorifying. Facing the grandeur of the gift (that of being “Mother of God”), Mary’s response by her song of praise is so in accordance with God that Luther sees in it a miracle as important as the incarnation itself! Therein lies the purity of Mary: she acts as if she did not see the grandeur and honor conferred upon her. For Luther, honoring Mary can only be envisaged in the form of a recognition of the personal relationship established between God and Mary, cwhich means that it is only possible to consider her facing God (coram deo), in the typical position of a believer : “Therefore, whoever would honor her correctly must renounce placing her alone before his eyes, but must place her before God

Ecumenism

and far below God; there, he will divest her of self and contemplate her nothingness (see her words) (4).” Let us be clear about what Luther means. For him, refusing to contemplate an individual independently of the action of God manifest in that person makes it possible for the believer to truly believe that the work of God can also be carried out in him/herself.

The important point, for Luther, is that one should never transfer on to Mary that which belongs essentially to Christ. The important point, for Luther, is that one should never transfer on to Mary that which essentially belongs to Christ. His concern is that Mary’s action should not be confused with that of God, which leads him to say: “For so much as one attributes merit and dignity to Mary, so much one detracts from Divine grace and one diminishes the truth of the Magnificat(5)” or again “Mary gives nothing; God alone gives(6).”

The Catholic reader on reaching this point might well be startled and begin to question the argument. Is not Luther unduly confining the effects of salvation in man? Does salvation through grace really transform human beings to the extent of producing co-operation and mediation? We realize then how much we need to clarify these topics between our different church families! But we must take a leap in time, leaving the 16th. century for the 20th. to hear the question posed by Cardinal Walter Kasper which sums up what we need to clarify in our different Churches : “Is the Church (but we could also say “Mary”) sanctified to the point of becoming itself/herself a sanctifying subject?”. It also invites the reader to a re-examination of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification made by the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation (1999). It is evident then that the “Marian question” is by no means a marginal or peripheral theme in the history of salvation. Reflection about Mary involves more than simply discussing Mary herself! Cardinal Ratzinger, writing in 1981 sums this up clearly: “Mariology can never be exclusively a study of the Virgin Mary, it is part of the totality of the fundamental ensemble formed by Christ and the Church; it is the most concrete expression of this ensemble (7).” We must allow the “Marian” question to perform a transverse role, questioning, modifying and displacing the articulations between different theological fields (ecclesiology-soteriology, anthropology-Christology,…). v 1 - LUTHER Martin, Commentaire du Magnificat, Genève-Paris, Labor et Fides-Nouvelle Cité, trad. A. Greiner, 2nd edition, 1983, p. 28 2 - Ibid., p. 54-55 3 - Ibid., p. 100 4 - Ibid., p. 86 5 - Ibid., p. 85-86 6 - Ibid., p. 97 7 - Cardinal RATZINGER, Marie, première Eglise, Paris, Apostolat des éditions, 1981, p. 32

Icon of the Visitation Centre Marie de Nazareth

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Prayer

Prayer PrayerPrayer Prayer Prayer

Prayer

The master of the banquet said to the bridegroom: “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” John 2:10 (New International Version)

God of life God of life, This morning you renew Your breath upon the earth, We praise you. Let your creation be born again today Through the Holy Spirit. God of salvation, This morning you renew Your tenderness for us, We praise you. If our hearts are humbled You are bigger than our hearts. God of love, This morning you renew In us your covenant, We praise you. Make us faithful in your service And to walk in your footsteps. (The original is on CD ‘Chants d’assemblé No 11’)

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Christian Training

Bible : The Gospel of John

Back-to-school with a biblical figure After the summer, a new school year begins… Even for those no longer at school, it is often a time for returning to a rhythm and reality after the vacation period. Therefore, to begin this famous month of September, I propose to consider, welcome, discover a figure from the New Testament who appears in the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

Corinne Charriau, ccn

A minister in the French Reformed Church

Oh, he is not the best known of the disciples! Very little was written about him in the Bible! He is not the most predominant type of disciple! He is not the one we think of first! So take that much more time to read these few verses from the beginning of John’s Gospel, allowing yourself to be attracted to this secondary figure: Andrew, even if a multiplicity of things are jostling and colliding in your head and your heart in this post-vacation period:

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. (John 1, 35-42, English Standard Version)

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Interesting, this figure, Andrew, in this passage from John’s Gospel! Indeed, let us pause simply at what he does and what he says. Andrew hears John and he follows Jesus. After being a disciple of John, Andrew becomes a disciple of Jesus. What happens then? Then, Andrew goes and finds his own brother Simon and tells him that he has “found the Messiah”. He sets out. Note in passing that no verbal reaction from Peter has come down to us! No reaction from Peter chronicled but an “Andrew” who brings his brother to Jesus! A short sentence, just a few words to record a key moment: “And he brought Simon to Jesus”. It is with that Andrew figure that we too can set out. To that end, I would propose two words:

Andrew, a disciple of Audacity A fine example of a disciple is Andrew! He went to see where Jesus lived and, after that, he stayed with Him. And it is that Andrew who comes to say “We have found the Messiah”, and thus brings another person to Jesus. I like to think that the figure of Andrew is like a figure of audacity. Indeed, yesterday as today, it is not so easy to witness to that meeting with God, that meeting with Jesus the Christ, especially among one’s own, in the family, with certain friends or colleagues. And so I find Andrew rather courageous.

an training training an training This word is pronounced to another that it may circulate and communicate. What about each one of us on the subject of “speaking our faith”? Besides, he even finds the Messiah before Peter, he whom we are accustomed to seeing in the forefront, often “spokesman” for the group of disciples… Yes, this figure of a disciple is not insipid in this episode.

Andrew, a Relay disciple It is a relay who witnesses saying “We have found the Messiah”. Certainly, we may hear in this plural, this “we”, a trace of the faith of the primitive church; but I would like to keep in mind that this word is pronounced to another that it may circulate and communicate. What about each one of us on the subject of “speaking our faith”?

With what words do we witness to our faith in Christ, in him who opens the way to life forever with God? Andrew is a relay to bring another, in this case his brother, to Jesus. What about each one of us? To bring to Jesus today, what might that mean? It could be to make known to someone else that irreducible place near Him that God offers to each one through Christ. So, in this back-to-school period, with the example of Andrew, I invite you to be disciples of audacity and relay through being a witness to your faith, in everyday life. Of course, we must first welcome the living Christ, Word of God, into the most intimate part of our being. For it is from that point, renewed and with others, in a “we” which we have joined, that we shall be carriers of the Good News and that we shall proclaim with others, “We have found the Messiah”! These are Andrew’s words to express his faith…do not hesitate to find your own. v

Biographie 5 septembre 1832 : Naissance d’Alcide Lataste à Cadillac (Gironde). Le jeune homme travaille comme contrôleur des impôts à Privas, Pau et Nérac et participe aux Conférences de Vincent de Paul. 4 novembre 1857 : il entre au noviciat dominicain de Flavigny 1860 : expèrience mystique à St Maximin, à l’occasion du transfert des reliques de Ste Marie-Madeleine . TRAIN AT THE I.T.D. 8 février 1863 : il est ordonné prêtre et réside auofcouvent deofBordeaux. The Institute Theology the Dombes septembre 1864 : il est envoyéNeuf prêwas founded in 2001 by the Chemin Community. It offers, in partnership cher une retraite aux détenues de la with thedeCatholic prison Cadillac. University of Lyon (UCLy) instruction in Holy Scripture, été 1865 : il est nommé Père-maître theology, philosophy. An agreement has also also with the Faculty des been frèressigned étudiants au couvent de of Protestant Theology of the University Flavigny. of Strasbourg (UdS). mars 1866 : il publie une brochure Les réhabilitées. The courses are given at the Abbaye Notre-Dame desavec Dombes Lyon 14 août 1866 : l’aidenear de Mère and Bourg-en-Bresse. Attached to Henri-Dominique, fonde la maison the Chemin Neuf il Community, this de Béthaniecentre à Montferrand (Doubs). respected for prayer and ecumenism allows participants to Carême 1868 : il est atteint de pneucombine studies, prayer and a fraternal monie et meurt le 10 mars 1869 lifestyle. Week-ends offered in the 1st term Philosophy. “From dialogue to dialectic: (re)discover with Plato what it is to think.” 20-21 October. Jean-Noël Dumont, professor of philosophy, Collège Supérieur, Lyon. History. “Church-State Relationships in France and England from the XIXth century on.” 17-18 November. Tim Watson. Professor of Church History. Exegesis. “Chapter I of the Gospel of Luke: beginnings of a “happy announcement”. 15-16 December. Anne Pénicaud. Theology Faculty UCLy Information and registration: Tel: +33(0)4 74 98 33 67 itd@chemin-neuf.org on line:www.chemin-neuf.fr

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Christian training

Spiritual life: praying as a family

An icon that helps us

to pray as a family Praying as a family is always a challenge, and we need help. Stéphane Ancel, who, along with his wife, is in charge of the ‘Cana for families’ sessions, tells us about this icon made by Kaspar and Ruta Poïkans, and encourages us to pray with it. He also gives us some vital tips for the spiritual life of the family.

Stéphane ANCEL, ccn

Married and father of a family.

As a family, we can admire this icon which is composed of nine images of people from the old and new testaments and of saints, a sign of the presence of God in our lives. It’s like a window with lots of colour but also a sort of strip cartoon with stories that we’ve read about or heard. The icon captures our attention and helps us to be silent. Praying with all these families and contemplating the events that we see here, we come to realise our own vocation to become “a domestic church”. In addition, we can be in communion with all the families that have preceded us.

is never easy in a family. In fact, we’ve been able to experience forgiveness of people outside our family, but what about in our home and between ourselves? Forgiveness is the fundamental experience of the love of God which gives us unity and makes us a Christian family, living and radiant. We see it in the radiant faces of these people. God can lead us in our desires and our steps on the way of forgiveness just as he was present with Joseph and his brothers. In the centre, we see the Holy Family, with Jesus accompanied by Mary and Joseph taking his first steps. This is the hidden life in Nazareth: the simple everyday family life being lived out each day. On first sight, we see Mary and Joseph each holding a hand of Jesus. But afterwards we are struck as we notice that Jesus seems to be guiding and ‘leading’ his parents, as in the moment of the reunion in the temple, among the doctors of the law.

We can concentrate our attention on one of the images. At the bottom of the icon, the story of the reconciliation of Joseph with his brothers: this image reminds us that we have to persevere in seeking love and truth at the heart of the family and experience forgiveness between spouses, between parents and children, and between brothers and sisters: it’s the cement of our family.

We can imagine the quality of the relationship between each member of the family: Mary and Joseph with God living within them and Jesus God himself. Jesus has been a child and has been able to grow each day in wisdom, in this family in Nazareth. We realise that God knows family life very well. He really is close to us.

It’s also a call, because reconciliation

This icon is also a call to contemplate

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an training training an training and also offer ourselves to God in our role as parents. On the right, we can see how God is in a relationship with all men and women, great and small. These images remind us that each child, each one of our children is in a direct relationship with God and this does not necessarily pass through us. God called Samuel, Jesus saved the daughter of Jairus, The Holy Spirit inspired Tarcisius with immense courage to become a martyr in order to save the Blessed Sacrament, the body of Christ.

everyday life: to rejoice in being together and to give thanks for all that is happening in our family even without our knowledge. Above, we see Abraham’s three visitors and Sarah, signs in the old Testament of the Holy Trinity and His life-giving in the heart of our families, but also of our limitations...At the heart of the family, we can welcome God in all his fullness and his mystery: this has been a deep calling for generations and forever. Abram and Sarai, the first family to whom God was revealed, left their land and welcomed the unexpected. We can give thanks for the plans that God has to make a covenant with the family. We can make links between certain events we have experienced such as forgiveness or a healing in our family and what is written in the Bible and shown

on this icon. We can invite him into our home, into all that we are going to live through, for the coming week or year.

The three images at the top of the icon are a representation of the communion of saints. We see all these shining haloes, like a reminder of our vocation to holiness. We can pray with the saints who are particularly committed to families such as Elisabeth of the Trinity. She sought to give witness to a Trinitarian life by writing letters to those close to her, sisters and mothers of families.

On the left, we can see three scenes of offering. Parents presenting their child to God across the ages: Anne and Joachim, Mary and Joseph and the Martin family, the parents of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus.

John Paul II is also represented: he was deeply committed to couples and families as a young priest and throughout his pontificate. (cf. The Theology of the Body, which he developed particularly in the encyclical Familiaris Consortio).

All of us parents are invited to be holy and to take the place of parents entrusted by God who is Father of all creation. We can give thanks for each of our children, who have been entrusted to us, thanks for their talents, their characters, some things that they have shown us of themselves and which have touched us and maybe even to tell them this during this time of prayer. We can entrust each one of our children to God,

“We realise that God knows family life very well. He really is close to us(...) We can invite him into our home, into all that we are going to live through, for the coming week or year.”

Finally Saint Theresa of Lisieux and her parents represent a holy family from the last century, closer to ours. We can be touched by the spirituality of the ‘little way’. It’s an invitation to say the ‘Our Father’ as a family, which by its ‘our’ makes each of us, parents and children, the children of the one same Father. v

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Christian training

Testimony: Psychological health and our spiritual lives

“At the centre of this downward spiral...

there was a Presence!” A Symposium was held at Montagnieu from 14th to 16th June on the relationship between psychological health and our spiritual lives. A psychiatrist, a psychotherapist, a philosopher, a priest with an exorcism ministry, a chaplain at a psychiatric hospital as well as the director of a rehabilitation and art therapy centre, all shared their convictions with a view to helping their fellow men and women. Some 230 participants from various backgrounds enjoyed a time of deep fellowship and sharing on this delicate question of finding the right balance between the psychological and the spiritual in the field of psychiatry.

Pasquale Bourgeois

A participant at the Siloé Symposium.

I have very few memories of my early childhood. My father’s death when I was eight wiped out all previous memories. When he died, I lost all my bearings. My mother had to go out to work to bring up her eight children. I became completely withdrawn, and the violent deaths of several people who were very close to me, within a very short space of time, only heightened my dreadful feelings of isolation. During that same period, I was repeatedly raped and subjected to the most degrading insults. I already wanted to be «clean» so I could be everything for my Lord. I saw then - and still see - my First Communion as one of the most beautiful days of my life - like a mini-wedding! That day, I wanted to give my entire life, soul and body to the Lord. While I was grieving and being subjected to the rapes, I surrounded myself with a wall of silence. I lost all perception of myself, cut off psychologically from everything that was most essential, most intimate within me, from my deepest desire. I went into «survival mode»; the mental suffering became increasingly unbearable, but I suffered in silence. The only outward signs were the symptoms of bulimia, for which I saw a doctor. But at that time, no one talked about the psychological side of it. What should have helped me only served to

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encourage me to conceal even further my increasingly harmful bulimic behaviour and violent treatment of my body. But right at the centre of this downward spiral, there was a Presence! A Presence that had been there since the day I was born. It was the Presence I had sensed the day of my First Communion. The Presence in whom and for whom my desire had not died. This Presence fed by the Eucharist, by the Word of God in the Bible, continually read and reread, as well as by a living dialogue with «Him». I felt I was being born through this dialogue. I couldn’t imagine any area of life, from the most material on the one hand to the most immaterial on the other, without that dialogue with God... In light or darkness, in good or evil, in calm or suffering, even in the storm that was raging deep within me, His Word was there, alive, active. Today I think of the man possessed by the devil in the Gospel of Mark. In vain his family tried to bind him with chains to restrain him... and I tell myself that

“Be it in calm or suffering, and even in the storm that was raging deep within me, His Word was there, alive, active.”

an training training an training the Lord has bound me to Him with His Word far more powerfully than with the strongest chains! He has helped me, restrained me, brought me back again and again to the gate of His Presence, His desire that I should live. There are certain words which come back again and again entering into my distress and my wounds: “beyond”, “in spite of everything”, “the hope beyond despair” … as well as the words from Ezekiel 36, 26: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws”. I have always been amazed by «what God can do»! Cut off from myself, cut off from others, increasingly unable even to live, I felt I was completely falling to pieces. But everything that was impossible for me, HE offered me! And the Gospel! And Jesus, the Christ! He came to save the lost, came to search for the lost sheep, looking deeply into the most intimate secrets in the silence of each! Jesus! The one who opens our eyes, who restores speech, who brings truth. Jesus! Better still!!! Jesus who descends into hell! And that last cry from Revelation «Come, Lord Jesus!» I am a Bible story. The Bible reveals to me my story in all absolutely all its reality. I was 27 when I first tried to commit suicide. And that first attempt was followed by many others. I had reached such a point in my suffering and exhaustion that I could go on no longer. I had spent five years in a psychiatric hospital. Drugs, electro-shock therapy, isolation... it was no longer a question of «keeping myself alive as far as possible». I thought I was «mad». But what was this madness? I was condemning myself. But God was there beyond, in spite of everything! I had lost my memories, could not move around, had no social life, no experience of love... and yet, and yet! Others were there - those I cal-

led «the ones who’d been sent». JeanClaude Sagne, who I had met at the beginning of the Renewal, prayed at my bedside during my nights in a coma. I’d asked my mother to pray with me because I no longer knew how to pray. We said the liturgy of the day - we clung to it. And these prayers who I met when I wandered from my true path, they were all of them - the voice in the dialogue when I no longer had any words within me. The communion of saints above all, I had been given the grace never to be separated from that communion. I had begun to be healed through the Word. When I eventually uttered a word during my first coma, it broke down the wall of stony silence that was imprisoning me! When my mother and a psychiatrist took me to a psychoanalyst saying: «If only you can keep her alive in between two spells in hospital», this lady welcomed me when she first saw me, not as a patient, but as a human being: she held out her hand to me. Really! She called me by my name! I no longer knew what that was! The road had been so long, so difficult … First then, I began a whole course of therapeutic work. Each tool allowed me to take one step more, to know myself, to recognise myself. I took up creative artistic activities again. They had already had a place in my life. My first autonomous act of healing had been... to cook an egg! I no longer knew how to do anything and so I no longer dared to do anything. Each daily task was an immense effort, a risk! It proved difficult to get rid of the things I had been holding onto in my suffering when I had been in survival mode -- my

Mandala painted by Pasquale Bourgeois

only guarantee of forgotten memories. The thought of re-establishing contact with an identity that desired and was desired had become almost unbearable. And I do not know what would have become of me if I had not been intimately, in the depths of my being, deeply aware of God’s desire for me and my desire for Him. Then I rapidly embarked on professional rehabilitation and my life began to move forward again. For 15 years I have been living “normally”. What does that word mean? Having a social circle, being autonomous, able to adapt! No longer seeing a psychiatrist or having to take the drugs he prescribed. On the other hand, I have gone deeper into everything which can feed my knowledge of myself, of being a human being, but also my spiritual life, listening to the Word of God who is the foundation for my existence. My story -- the trauma I have been through -- has left its mark. The consequences are there, in my daily life even if that life has been delivered from its wounds. My journey has become a source of richness and has become my teacher. Today, it is a great joy to give thanks. “Yes, come Lord Jesus!” v

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Finding accommo when Uni goes back Their place, my place, or us together ?

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odation A most legitimate desire: « Having your own place » “Having your own place”: living in a place which is ours and which, in one way or another, allows us to be ourselves. And it’s not first and foremost a question of square metres or furnishings, as every student well knows. It’s not so much the space that matters – be it a family apartment or a 5th storey attic – but the way in which we will fill it, the rules we will choose to follow, the “lifestyle”. For anyone studying, the question of accommodation concerns every dimension of existence: it touches upon the relationship with parents but also the manner of facing the conditions fixed by the world to “live well.” It can change relationships via the possibility of inviting or welcoming others. In short, it’s not just a question of having a roof over one’s head and a bed to sleep in! Your housing is loaded with meaning because it is the space for transition between the exteriority of a world which is always too big, and the intimacy of the soul. The bedroom: Oratory and laboratory In the family home or the student residence, there is another threshold, still more decisive, that of the bedroom. Virginia Woolf laid claim to “a room of her own”, that is, a land reserved for and consecrated to the growth/development of what goes on inside, within the invisible things of the heart. Because it can guarantee a minimum of solitude, the bedroom is par excellence the place of study, the space for dreaming, for creating, for prayer. You could say it is halfway between the oratory and the laboratory. The laboratory because in study (labor

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in Latin), it is the whole personality which is discovered and strengthened: tastes, talents, weaknesses, fears. In the intimacy of the bedroom the whole gamut of desires and dreams which deep down work unseen on life allow themselves at length to be discerned. Others are no longer ‘on the screen’, I can finally come to silence and perhaps begin to understand myself. The oratory, because the bedroom is the metaphor of the heart. Therein is the relationship with God built: “And when you pray, go into your private room, and pray to your Father who is in that secret place” (Matthew 6:6) Independence tempered with realism The period of studies also coincides with a reorganisation of the rhythm of life. For those who remain at home, it’s a question of reaching agreement with their parents about presence at mealtimes, how often they go out, participation in household tasks. Those who leave the family home will have to work out how often they return home. A word of advice to students: be careful of the “back-up hotel” effect where you pass through like a current of air, just to do some washing, hardly taking the time for a family meal… Independence, yes, but tempered with reality! Living together: Flatting or student residence? And now, how to make the right choice? Obviously, the financial situation of the parents is a deciding element. However it should not become the ultimate criterion: under the guise of economy, you can risk making life impossible for yourself (for example: living in shared accommodation with complete strangers on the pretext that the rent is thus divided up; or again, four of you living in a 3 bedroom flat and thinking that the last arrival can sleep in the sitting room!) Flatting together is a style of living which is more and more widespread, but it goes beyond the idealised representations (who has never dreamed of living in the loft from the TV series “Friends”?)… Sharing an apartment

presupposes establishing a few rules. How to divide up the household chores? How to manage expenses in common? Organising a party, but till what time? It is advisable to keep one evening in the week when the flatmates can come together for a meal. Besides the convivial side, you can, if necessary, catch your bearings.

“Who has never dreamed of living in the loft from the TV series ‘Friends’?” One last remedy against naivety, even if the practice seems to be becoming normal: sharing a flat with your boyfriend/ girlfriend is for starters a danger to the relationship itself. Precious things require a necessary minimum of care and attention – and here too, certain precautions are necessary. Another “group” option: “flatting for God”. In this scenario students, put in touch via a chaplaincy or parish, can choose to have times of prayer, of sharing or even of mission together. Finally, student residences allow a gentle transition. They have the advantage of offering a certain number of services which help you to devote yourself wholly to your studies. By placing the accent on fraternal and community living (times of discussion, of celebration, of formation), the horizon of the inhabitants can be broadened: when you come home in the evenings, you meet people who come from other countries and who are studying other courses… over the course of several months a network of friendship and fraternity is woven which will last for many years. v

Sr Blandine LAGRUT, philosopher

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Spotlight Rue de Pressensé…My flat sharing with Jesus! 7 young people, aged 19 to 27, who did not know each other, chose to share a rented flat together. They reduced not only their rent, but also their stock of food and their noise between 10 pm and 6 am, despite night-time snacks. In exchange, they’ve gained a life in community with sharing of household tasks and some helping out in the parish. After several hours’ discussion, they were able to arrange a time each week to all dialogue together with their 8th flatmate: Jesus, who lives, among others, in the lounge room.

s old Alice, 24 year

Michal, from the Czech Republic Postgrad, 27 years old.

Michal, Sophie and Fantine

“Why choose this sort of flat sharing? Last year I was in student accommodation. Here, we are numerous, all different, but we pray together. Even if we don’t always understand each other, the main thing is learning to love each other in every circumstance.”

4 girls and a shared flat When I started this year in shared accommodation, I really thought it would be great, but I have been surprised far beyond my imaginings. All four of us decided, not only to live together, but also to live some form of fraternity life, so we could feel good at home.

At the start of the year, we spoke about what we wanted from this flat. So that we could make it a place which was a bit ‘family’ and fraternal: do the shopping for food in common, in rotation. So as not to have to worry too much about housekeeping: take turns each week. So it could be a welcoming place: widely invite our friends to eat, to sleep over, have extra mattresses and sleeping bags, and from time to time throw a party at our place. And then to decide, in spite of our rather full student lives, not simply to run into each other in the apartment, but to take the time see each other: we decided to reserve one evening a week for ourselves, to have dinner together, talk about our days, and from time to time, to share about our

Where has my yoghurt gone?

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inner and spiritual lives (along the lines of the fraternities which three of us had known via the Chemin Neuf Community), and to pray together. As all of us are Christians – three Catholics and an evangelical Protestant - and desirous of growing in our faith, we had some riches to share. Of course, once we had put these basics in place, everything was not so easy!

We all had such different characters! I often said to myself that even if you did it deliberately, you would be hard put to choose four girls as different as we were. Certain more or less concrete things in the life of our flat didn’t have the same importance at all for each of us, and it was good to be able to say that to each other. Certain of us hardly knew each other at the start of the year, and at times it took a while to appreciate each other… but what an immense joy when we could feel loved and capable of loving in return, in the heart of our little flat. And what beautiful friendships this brought about! I now believe that we have learned so much from each other, and that the Lord was working on us in secret. Prayer was our foundation, sometimes alone, other times two by two, morning or evening, sometimes all four. No doubt there are still piles of fruits to gather from this year which is so rich!

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Diego...

18-30YEAROLDS

14-18YEAROLDS

A year in a student hall of residence

• STUDENT RESIDENCES: for students 18 to 25 years old – in Paris, Lyon, Chambery, ClermontFerrand, Grenoble, Lille, Nancy, Nantes, Reims, and overseas. Places to live that focus on a framework of working, fraternal life and Christian formation.

• MUSIC WEEKEND - 14-18 year olds: 27-28 Oct at Tigery (SE Paris) – For all those who want to learn to play and sing the 14-18 years songbook! Workshops avzailable: song, music, dance…

This year in the Henri Planchat Student Residence (Puteaux, Dept. 92), I felt I was at home. In the beginning I decided to come to the Residence because I didn’t want to be alone any longer. I wanted to experience something else than living my ‘narrow life’ in an apartment. In the Residence, I met people who mean a lot to me today. When I came back from lectures, there was always someone to talk with, to share with or to ask for help when I needed it. I really managed to discover a true fraternity. Mealtimes were an opportunity to share with different people. As regards my studies, I found that I had almost everything I needed to succeed: a room to work in, internet and tranquillity in my room, and what helped me a lot as well was the support and the motivation of each of the others. The brothers and sisters of the Community were always there to advise me and accompany me in my spiritual life. Thanks to the weekends and retreats available, I was able to learn to know the Lord even better. This has been a year when I was able to live a fraternal life rich in sharing with my friends in the Residence.

At weekends we always cooked together – a very important moment of sharing and social life. I remember one story: one day, with my new friends, it was the first time we had cooked together, all beginners of course. We were all talking and joking, and without our realising it, the chicken burnt! In the end, we spent a great time together and we ate well in any case. I don’t regret any moment of the life I was able to discover in the Residence. Now I keep in touch with my friends, I find that we’ve formed a real family together and I give thanks to God. Diego, cinematography student, originally from Bolivia

• WEEKEND - “The Father seeks worshippers”: 13-14th October at Tigery (SE Paris) - A weekend of prayer and discovery! After a summer rich in experiences and discoveries… take time to give thanks and place Christ once more at the centre of the incoming year. • EMOTIONAL LIFE WEEKEND: 17-18th Nov at Tigery (SE Paris) and 24-25 Nov Hautecombe Abbey (Savoy) – “From flirting to marriage…”: I love you! Are you sure of your choice? (also at Angers on 20-21st Oct). “The challenges of a pure heart!: indepth follow-up on “purity”, for those who have already done the weekend. • JERICHO RETREAT: « “Get up, he’s calling you!”: 27th Dec – 1st Jan. At Tigery and at Hautecombe Abbey. 5 days of prayer, of sharing and of celebration to discover God’s love for us. Get to know God better, learn to pray with the Word of God, share with other young people… and celebrate the New Year together! • Numerous other proposals on the website: Youth Masses, Prayer & Praise evenings, Fraternities for Young Professionals, “Call” Group, etc. jeunes.chemin-neuf.fr Contact : +33 1 47 74 93 73 or +33 6 30 14 06 96 jeunes.france@chemin-neuf.org

• ALL SAINTS 2012 - “Happiness under Construction”: 29th Oct – 2nd Nov at Tigery (SE Paris). 4 days to reflect together: Is there a method for being happy? Does happiness have something to do with God? Talks, sharing, prayer, relaxing and celebration!

• TALENTS TO DEVELOP! 14-15 year olds: 13-14th Oct in Lyon, 20-21st Oct in Paris; – 14-18 year olds: 20-21st Oct Western Region, 24-25th Nov in Nice, 17-18th Nov Eastern Region, 17-18th Nov in Brittany. How to recognise my talents? How to make them bear fruit? - A weekend to know myself better and to discover those around me, To discover what God has put within me. • BECOME WHAT YOU ARE! 16-18 year olds: 24-25th Nov in Lyon, 8-9th Dec in Paris. Becoming what I deeply am, is firstly learning to listen to myself and deciding on a direction for my life: choosing to accept that I am a child of God. • Secretariat for 14-18 year olds: +33 4 78 15 07 98 or +33 6 61 61 02 72 14-18ans@chemin-neuf.org Enrolments on line at: WEBSITE: chemin-neuf.org/14-18ans

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Saragossa... Testimony: chronicle of a calling to Spain August 2011 Sablonceaux. The desire to make oneself available. In Sablonceaux, Father Laurent Fabre suggests that those who wish to should come forward to express their availability to serve the Community and the Church. Véronique and I, desiring in particular the creation of a foundation in Spain following on from World Youth Day in Madrid, go forward. 16 August 2011. Grenoble Charterhouse. An incredible proposition. At virtually the very same moment, the Reverend Father of the Charterhouses, in the course of a friendly conversation with members of the Community, raises the possibility of giving the Community a Charterhouse in Spain. Laurent Fabre and the council take away the proposition to give it due consideration. October 2011. The Saragossa Charterhouse. Doubt and faith. With our family, along with Father Fabre and other brothers, we come to visit the location. The welcome we’re given by the three Carthusian monks present is very touching... but it’s cold and grey and the corridors are interminable, not to mention the amount of money needed to rehabilitate the place. However, we all sense an imperious call to faith, like Abraham and all the great believers who answered “yes” by accepting that

their reason and their own plans be subjugated to something bigger than themselves. Signs and words of confirmation. Our family’s “yes” begins to take shape, other members of the Community visit the site and a general consent emerges despite, at the same time, some doubts being expressed. For our family, concrete signs of encouragement appear: our three children get places at the French high school, despite heavy demand. In May, Daniel gets paid training leave. We are also surprised to discover that St Paul himself considered coming to Spain: Rom 15, 23 - 28. It encourages us. February 2012 Switzerland. Bethanien Monastery. Véronique, of Spanish origin, is quickly won over. For Daniel, adhering to the project is a slower process. During a retreat, some of Father Lacordaire’s words particularly speak to him: “I go where God leads me, uncertain of myself, but sure of him.” July, August 2012. We leave Lyon, our family, our friends, the Marist brothers, our home and arrive at this enormous open air work site, where a large number of people come and go: members of the Community and Communion, friends, willing volunteers, Spanish workmen from all building trades, neighbours, local lay and church folk. In the midst of all this work, the Lord is also

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at work, working on hearts with power and precision; healings take place in secret, lives start to change direction. We benefit from the centuries of prayer of the Carthusian fathers and brothers who have gone before us and from the grace of this new foundation. August 2012. The time has come. There’s a certain urgency for each cell designed for one Carthusian monk to be definitively adapted for families with 3 or 4 children. But we feel this urgency fits into a continuum and a long period of maturation. Indeed, ever since its creation, the Community has been particularly concerned with the vocation of families. We have the impression that today we’re reaping the fruit of those 40 years’ worth of experience. The time has now come... Daniel and Véronique Bossard

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Hélène Guilbaud They’ll soon be here: 25 couples and families and two single people will be following the training course. They’ll be coming from Poland, Portugal, Reunion Island, Belgium, Italy, Brazil, the Ivory Coast, France. Time is short but confidence is high. We concentrate on preparing the cells in time for the arrival of each one. What a unique experience this beginning of the “Cartuja de Aula Dei” (“House of God” Monastery) has been! Over the last seven months what a lot of brothers have passed by! We’ve certainly experienced some marvels of Providence! This feeling of solidarity between one and another has been unforgettable. Paid workmen alongside volunteer workers from all over, speaking different languages, all with the same objective; it’s been a mini-Pentecost on a daily basis. Laurent said that he sensed the genuine joy of the Carthusian monks when they saw us working in their cells. And we benefited from their help in various ways. It was surprising to hear the story of the calling of each of the brothers

who came to help us here. We quickly understood that this is a sacred place. In response to a question about which sin was going to tempt us as a community here, Father Macario joked that the most serious one would be breaking the silence. That’s obvious, what with the diggers, sanders and spray guns! But even once all the tools have been laid to rest, the Charterhouse will never be the same again, and that’s normal. We have something to learn from this calling. Why have we been placed here? Silence, solitude, contemplation, a thirst for God are key words for our epoch... The young people from Chemin Neuf ended their week saying: “When we arrived, we had a cell to work on and, in the end, it was the cell that worked on all of us!” Words to meditate upon!

Photo captions:

p. 32 : The church during the week of work by the Community p. 33 : rom top to bottom, the library (classroom for cycle A); one of the corridors of the cloister; view of the outside; two teams at work in the cells!

« Bienvenidos a Cartuja Aula Dei ! »

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An exchange of ideas

Parish Community Week

Sharing fraternal life in parishes When they assign parishes to the Chemin Neuf Community, the bishops and authorities of the Catholic Church expect them to share the blessings they have received. One obvious fact has emerged: the community’s treasure is a life of fraternity. Nowadays we are urged to “share our tent” with neighbouring parishes who also share our mission.

Sister Corinne Vergnais, Mgr. Philippe Ballot and Fr. Laurent Fabre

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With this in mind, representatives of about 15 parishes in France, Germany and Brazil joined us, at the invitation of Fr Laurent Fabre, for a week of communal reflection at the Abbey des Dombes. A new space within the Abbey grounds was created by tents of all sizes, arranged as a village, with a clearing in the centre. This amazing transfor-

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mation was not confined to the camp! The desire to seek and find the way in which the Spirit leads us encouraged each of us, brothers and sisters of the Community along with guests, to open up to one another. This led us, within a few days, to follow Abraham’s example by taking a ‘new road’, without knowing either where we were going, or exactly the right direction, which proved that we were going in the right direction, to quote Origen’s writing on Abraham. Fr. Fabre’s teaching ‘Doing Work for God, doing God’s work’ * gave us a solid basis for our discussions. Following several suggestions for the name to be given to our communities, a consensus was reached, and the “Chemin Neuf Parish Missionary Fraternities” were inaugurated. Gradually, over several days, the parish fraternities were established, based on the 10 principles of the Community Constitutions. One priority for the Community’s members is training, which brings together spiritual life, reading of the Word, and all disciplines necessary for the mission... Jesus took time for His disciples,

over 3 years of intensive community living . Our parishes are ideally suited to this method.

Thank you Claire

On the last evening, most of the guests along with the priests of the parishes committed themselves to this adventure, in the presence of the Community Council and the Archbishop of Chambéry, who was present for the whole week. The party which rounded off this evening to the rhythm of the tom-tom gave everyone the opportunity to test the 10th commitment- Partying– with great enthusiasm. This small beginning is an encouragement to us to be submissive, available, and more and more ‘in touch’ with what the Spirit says to the Churches. Fr Fabre often says “ the Spirit is equal to the problems of our time”. v Corinne Vergnais, Parish of St Denis de la Chapelle, Paris * A fundamental teaching in the Community. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain.”

Claire Certain left us on Wednesday July 25th. Now she is at peace. Besides what she gave of herself, with her strong and determined character, her ability to listen and the attention she gave to each of us, whoever we were, her sure and living faith, she never failed to trust in God for herself, her family, her friends and the Community.

After 4 years of illness, which she accepted without resignation, with Pierre at her side, and her faithful spirit that said YES to God, she allowed Him to be with her and to bear His fruit. “These years have given a meaning to that ridiculous illness”, as her sons said at the funeral. And many of us could witness to what Claire’s presence brought to the life of our community.

God rest you, Claire, and thank you.

Véronique Pilet

“I will help you, my God, not to let Your light in me go out.”

Etty Hillesum

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Photos... Trevi and Kinshasa Life commitments and ordinations

Editor’s Recommendation “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett

IN TrEvi : from left to right: Gionata Fausone, Bénédicte and Antoine Contamin, Etienne de Beaucorps, Pascale de Beaucorps and the future ordinands: Adonis Bizomenya (Villeurbanne, Parish of Ste. Madeleine), Federico Bertacchini (Paris, Puteaux student hostel).

This book, published two years ago, is fascinating, funny and moving. It opens our eyes and our hearts, as we follow the lives of three women, from widely different backgrounds, who live out a friendship and upset the racial segregation laws. The action takes place in Alabama in the 1960’s, not far from us! The story comes from a small corner of the United States, but it is universal! A book to read, lend, and give. The film is now available on DVD.

CD11...

A must for the new school year!

IN KINSHASA : from top to bottom, Alain Tsiomo (Parish of Isle d’Abeau, France), Gildas Bobongaud (in Lyon, at Rue Henri IV), Jean-Pierre Godding (Kinshasa), Matthieu Wansi (Kinshasa), Benoit et Denise Lokila (Kinshasa)

album photos

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Here’s where you’ll find the songs you learnt this summer, to enrich your masses: in your parish, your student hostel, your chaplaincy, or in the community; but above all, to receive the power of the Resurrection at the beginning of this academic year. With, among others: The Compstella Mass, “Marche avec nous”, “Les cieux racontent” etc. To order the CD: tel +33 4 78 37 45 99

On line: www.ame-boutique.com

Talents

Young talent BAPTISTE PLANTIN “I’m called Baptiste Plantin, I’m 19 and I have a passion for photography, for the circus, but above all, for drawing! I decided to do my studies in the field of the visual arts, and I am now doing a course in computer graphics, with the aim of getting into a school for animated cinema. Being a rather quiet person by nature, I have found drawing to be a new way of expressing myself. What I like most of all is to let my imagination run free in order to let people travel through the worlds that I create. I like it when the border between reality and the imaginary disappear little by little to give way to the magic of drawing. Last year at the WYD in Madrid I had the opportunity to do some evangelisation through painting, and I was able to continue with this at Hautecombe this summer. This is an experience which is very close to my heart. Influencing others, trying to widen their imagination, their heart, to the presence of God, that is a thing which would not be possible without the artistic direction of the Holy Spirit!”

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