Practicing the Rule

Our Rule of Life is the path for every Betharramite. By our thorough acceptance of all its articles, it shows us the way to conform us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Along this path, however, each one of us draws his own landscape, according to the environment where he lives, according to his experiences, his encounters and his own charism. The richness of our Congregation consists also of the variety of landscapes, where each religious lives his efforts and his joy of faithfully practicing the Rule.
For this first contribution, on the article 82, we turned to Fr Firmin Bourguinat who, last September, joined the community of Nazareth in Holy Land.

Article 82 - Daily, the priests will celebrate Mass and the other religious will actively participate. Concelebration as a sacrament of love, sign of unity, bond of charity is always preferable. Each community will regularly celebrate the Eucharist together.

The Eucharist celebrated in community...It is the remembering, the making real of the Lord’s Supper: Jesus with his disciples, «Do this in memory of me»! The community celebrates the Risen Lord together and carries in its prayer the mission entrusted to it.

Here are some experiences of community celebrations of the Eucharist I have experienced:

• In the parish for many years, our community of three fathers used to celebrate together during our monthly recollection. We took the time to celebrate, making the link between the Word of God and our missionary commitments. We were mindful of the action of the Spirit in our brothers sharing with one another our experiences, joys and difficulties. But the most important thing in the Eucharist was not so much our shared lives, but Christ who came to us to embrace everything in our lives: his love constituted our consecrated community. Concelebration has also been a meaningful time of reconciliation: during a day of recollection we cannot share meaningfully on the needs of our brothers, without becoming vulnerable and reaching out to one another.
The Eucharist helps us to be truthful with our God and with our brothers ...

• In the Bétharram retirement home the community celebration for 20 Religious (mostly sick and elderly) took a simpler character; the slow and meditative celebration allowed everyone to find their place and feel that the whole community prayed for each participant there and also for those who remained in their rooms for different reasons. The Eucharist celebrated together brought us together in our humanity, united us in prayer and encouraged us to live more in brotherhood.

• Vicariate Community Celebrations in assemblies of the vicariate ... Here the focus is more on the Betharramite family. These concelebrations effect an encounter between older and younger brothers, coming from very different backgrounds ... The Eucharist brings us together. The Eucharist shows us the Father’s love in his Son the Sacred Heart. Here we are not parish or chaplaincy; we are brothers of one family sharing the same Here I am of St Michael. The Eucharist in such encounters helps us forge a greater sense of belonging to our family.

• At Shefamar (near Haifa in Galilee [current residence of the scj community]) on Sundays all three of us concelebrate together. Here the focus is more missionary:
- This is a district with a Muslim and Druze majority. With other Christians, we participate in their festivals where we are very well received. We try to form in our town one single family with a clear link to the Eucharist.
- We live in the context of violence in the Middle East: in our Eucharist, we take care to pray, and encourage prayer for peace and for the persecuted Christians on our doorstep.
- Mass is in Arabic of course, in the land of Jesus, not far from Nazareth where Jesus lived the Incarnation for 30 years.
- Three of us concelebrating together posed questions to local Christians at first, because they were accustomed to seeing only one priest. We explained that we are a religious community, with different ministries in the parish, in Nazareth, and in Haifa. Concelebrating in the parish showed that our life is rooted in the Eucharist because we come together to celebrate.
- We are happy to live this Eucharist together, not only to say who we are, but to bring together in one celebration, the life of the parish : it is a witness and at the same time an offering to God of our mission with the people of God.
- the Eucharist continues afterwards with a cup of coffee in the big divan (lounge): we greet, we exchange, we pass a pleasant time together: the Eucharist is there, already, the first spiritual fruit of Eucharistic encounter ...

To concelebrate is to be invited by the Lord to the one table: to let oneself be received and loved. We come to Him with our poverty but also the richness of our encounters and our shared life. The Church is born and reborn in the Eucharist. «With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation! »

Firmin Bourguinat scj