Religious life and Apostolic charism of San Guido Conforti

Conforti's crucifix at Mother house of the Xaverian Missionary in Parma

 The reality of the mission in the era of Conforti was favored by a strong idea that the identity of the mission is "to go away and for a long time." These actions, of the so-called mission in a foreign country, are often treated with the proper identity of the missionaries. It is an undeniable fact that the missionaries have given a great contribution not just in the mission. The same antithesis is also true with regard to 'burn-out' of the missionaries. Despite the very context define the way of the mission, the danger remains behind the door in the mix of the nature of the charism and the ways of expressing it, or between the orders with the hierarchical structural conditions of the state of life. The open trap of this concept is when you reduce the mission only as the "go," reducing the "live-in"; or when the existence of missionary be reduced only in the "land of mission at foreign", rejecting the Church which sent him as a missionary. The imbalance the way of thinking threatens the emptying of interiority which coincides to the person. This language pessimist does not seek to give a justification behind the crisis of the mission or the forfeiture of the missionary vocation today, but go to see the core of the mystical experience of Conforti with Jesus Christ crucified so that you may keep alive "the Christ's love that imples us forward" (2 Cor 5:14).

San Guido Maria Conforti

The Crucifix speaking from the silence of the oratory of Peace, increasing the listening heart of the young Conforti to understand "et omnia in omnibus Christus."The heart of this man is to small, called by Cardinal Angelo Roncalli as "a shepherd and two flock," but "the holy shepherd of the only flock in the Church of God," to hold the love of the cross that leads to totality of the gift of self for the consecration and mission of the Father. That love of the Father does not stop in the life of Jesus Christ, but overflows through his death, dripping from his side (cf. Jn 20:27). Only the grace of God and the generosity on the part of man can welcome him intimately, sharing it with all those who do not know and still love the One who gave His life for all, even unto death on a cross (cf. Phil 2:8 ). Contemplating under the crucified Jesus ensures the perfect setup and balanced between the state of election, of consecration and that the mandate of the mission in Jesus Christ, the Father's missionary par excellence.

At first reading of the Xaverian charism and the current phenomena that affect the religious-apostolic life, no one thought a reading so structured and well-articulated being discovered little by little along the way. There is no novelty, nor last word presented in this article, because all the spirituality are rooted in Jesus Christ and his Gospel. It is when it comes to the ways in which a child of Conforti, after a century, try to understand the mystical intuition of its founding father. Reading his writings and comparing them directly with the context of today, I try to capture in this present work, a creative reading to extract the charisma of Conforti.

The experience gained during the arrangement of the work has become an opportunity to learn the spirit that animate the religious - apostolic life of Conforti. It is the gift that is always free and in order to build up the community. First, i feel that it is the gift of God for the whole Church through the docility of Conforti to let his life formed and transformed by the Holy Spirit who inspires to relive the experience "et omnia in omnibus Christus" (Col 3:11). Another gift comes from my confreres who share their life, work, thought, and their fraternity. Thanks for all. May our Lord Jesus Christ, be the heart of the world.

Fr. Alfonsus Widhi, sx

Xaverian Missionary in Jakarta