A word from the Superior General

The Founding Manifesto composed as a Preface to the 1838 Constitutions, gives us a triple offering of Christ, humble and obedient, speaking of himself as a victim: “he took the place of all the victims” “holocausts and victims for sin did not please you, so this is why I said: “Here I am”. From that moment onwards he has assumed the state of victim”.

It is an extract from Psalm 39 (40) which compares the passage as a ritual sacrifice from the Temple to that of a human existence. “Sacrifice and offerings you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said “Here I am”. In the scroll of the book it is written of me I delight to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart.” (Ps 39: 7-10). The offering of the faithful believer for the fulfilment of God’s will now takes the place of sacrifices, holocausts and liturgical victims; from now onwards the law is the one engraved in his heart.

The mystery of the Incarnation is to be explained through the reality of this substitution. The Epistle to the Hebrews refers to Jesus himself quoting this passage of the psalm according to the Septante version. In this translation there is no mention of “you have given me an open ear” but rather “you prepared a body for me” (Heb. 10) and St Michael adds: “you appointed it for me”. From this it can easily be concluded that by becoming man, Jesus entered this world and offered himself to his Father to carry out his will, making all things pleasant. There is no need to offer sacrifices: by offering himself Jesus takes the place of all the victims on the cross, through love, for the salvation of all mankind.

Article 115 of our Rule of Life says: “In men and peoples, marked by all kinds of injustice and poverty, we contemplate the disfigured face of Jesus Christ who “took the place of all the victims”. So far the word “victim” has a liturgical undertone, even if the offering of one’s life by the believer as by Christ assumes a living dimension. In the Rule of Life the meaning of the word has an existential meaning. The victims are individuals and, in his Incarnation, Jesus is one with them, being like them, and being in the same situation.

To understand this better, it might be more profitable to use the meditation which St Ignatius uses in the Spiritual Exercises. There he shows us how the Three Persons of the Trinity view the world:
1) “Contemplate the different persons. Those on earth, with all their variety of dress, and behaviour, white and black, at peace or war, crying or laughing, well or ill, being born or dying, etc.
2) Observe the Three Divine Persons, seated on the royal throne proper to their divine majesty. They are watching the great round of the earth’s surface, with all its people in a great blindness, going to Hell when they die.
3) Contemplate Our Lady greeted by the Angel; reflecting on this, derive some benefit.” (SE 106)

The retreatant is invited to see human nature through the eyes of the Trinity. The Three Persons see humanity in all its diversity, confronted, divided, there are those at peace, laughing, healthy, new born; others at war, crying, ill, dying. Human nature which the Trinity contemplates on the day of the Annunciation is in the same situation as that contemplated by the retreatant today.

In those days as today relationships between individuals demand the respect due to the unique dignity of each one in the heart of their diversity. For those who have faith the source of all this lies in the paternity of God, through which we are all his sons and daughters and consequently brothers and sisters. There can be no excuse for any kind of haughtiness in our dealings with others, any more than in the fact of looks, wealth, power, knowledge, education, standing.

It can happen, in fact it is happening all the time and at every level that the one who feels superior to others, dominates them, looking down upon them, depreciates them and reduces them to subjection (an experience in the life of Jeremiah). Anyone acting like this is a torturer, humiliating whoever is considered to be inferior and consequently feeling destroyed, undervalued, treated like a victim. Such a humiliation is the refusal of one’s dignity, refusal of his human rights, and the limits set to his abilities. It can sometimes happen that an individual treated like a victim can suddenly become a torturer himself. This even happens between nations.

It was this humanity that Jesus chose for himself the day of the Annunciation. He knew it very well and freely offered himself to his Father to be one among many. He ran the risk of being treated like a victim, just like the way so many men and women see their dignity trampled under foot. The Father and the Holy Spirit also knew the situation of humanity created by them in their image and likeness. In their goodness they accepted that the Son should run the risk of being treated in the same way as men were accustomed to act. We know well what the result was: as he was being ill treated he showed the merciful love of the Father – the greatest sign of love there is, namely giving one’s life for the loved one; “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down freely” (John 10.18)

The religious of Betharram are now to practise this in their turn, seeking to be as close as possible to all victims so that they may feel the closeness of the consoling love of God as manifested in the total commitment of Jesus.

Gaspar Fernández Pérez, scj