THE CAPITULAR’S TEN COMMANDMENTS

This text was written by Fr Juan Carlos Martos cfm for the capitulars of the 2019 General Chapter. It can be a good spiritual help to prepare us for the upcoming Chapter.

1. Love the Lord with all your heart because the Consecrated Life, which is your specific path for following Jesus Christ, is an extreme way of living your faith in God. A Chapter must never lose sight of this horizon.

It follows from this that a Chapter IS NOT:

Like a parliament that elects representatives and enacts laws, even though it is the organ of government which represents the whole Hospitaller Family of St John of God.
Like a company Board of directors, seeking competitive leaders and profitable strategies, even though the economic dimension is important.
A purely fraternal meeting to tighten bonds of friendship, even though human relations run through everything that happens there.

Above all, a Chapter IS:

A confessional community, which always bears in mind its "first love": the experience of God who drives forward everything and towards whom everything is directed.
A prayerful community which sets out to obey the the chief commandment; it is a Chapter convened by the "Shemá" of God (cf Deut 6,4-5).
A synodal community (which moves forward as a body) towards the One whom we can love "with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength ".

2. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain. The Chapter discerns and elects its new government team without spiritualistically painting over human realities. We are not justified in calling on God to evade our responsibilities or allow ourselves to be carried along by trickery. Our experience of God is the source and the objective of all human realities, but it does not deprive us of our autonomy. Doubts and bewilderment require more careful discernment. Elections must be approached realistically, tactfully and with common sense (cf Mt 7,21).

3. Sanctify celebration and beauty. The Chapter must not ignore the playful and gratuitous dimension of the Consecrated Life. Therefore:

It will pause, from time to time, to take a break from whatever it is reflecting on, and will set aside time for prayer, meetings, celebrations and leisure (cf Mt 6,25-34).
It will discover that there are aspects of the Consecrated Life which are only accessible through contemplation and beauty.
It will humorously analyse and deliberate matters without dramatising situations, and without messaianisms which lead nowhere.

4. Honour your fathers in the faith and in your vocation. This General Chapter is not the beginning and end of the Order’s life. It is therefore advisable:

To remember the path we have travelled along together, the progress made (how often have we discovered continents that had already been discovered by others!).
To give thanks for everything that the Brothers who have preceded us have done to enable us to reach where we stand today (cf Heb 13,7-9a).

5. Do not kill your dreams and visions (cf Joel 3,1). Do not turn the Chapter into a meeting dealing purely with practical matters. By not dreaming, you bring death closer, even if your lack of vision is expressed in realistic language. If the Chapter merely manages "what we already have" and does not expand the room for the tent (cf Is 54,2) it cannot sense the life being given to it. The believer "counts the stars" when, in human terms, we only see sterility (cf Gen 15,1-6).

6. Do not commit acts that damage the integrity and purity of fraternity at Chapter.

Therefore:

Do not create divisions or factions that threaten our unity.
Do not invent pathways without making a contribution to travelling along them.
Do not criticise others to protect yourself.
Do not be fawning and obsequious with the powerful and harsh with the weak.
Do not drop important things like a hot brick and waste time on minor and unimportant issues.

7. Do not breach the peace or stifle joy. Neither the peace needed for discernment in the Spirit nor the joy and courage needed to second the will of God. Therefore, throughout the Chapter:

Examine your inner promptings, to see whether they proceed from the Holy Spirit or your own sinfulness: fear, aggressiveness, narcissism etc.
Do not speak merely to let off steam, but to contribute to joint discernment, but working together with your Brothers to create God’s dream for everyone.

8. Do not bear false witness or lie, by stating what you do not really think or voicing untruthful hasty judgements or views. Take special care to avoid hurting people’s feelings and making judgements only to suit your own interests. Bless others, and avoid cursing them (cf Rm 12, 14-21).

9. Do not indulge in impure thoughts of wanting an easier life, greater institutional security, a post with fewer worries and responsibilities. Never forget that whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus’ sake will find it for ever (cf Mt 16,25). Strive to ensure that the Chapter goes “a little further” than what is humanly reasonable. Bear in mind, above all, that we have received the gift of being “men who have consecrated their lives and ideas to God”.

10. Do not covet the goods of others, disparaging the charism which has been given to you, and constantly drawing comparisons with other ways of life, in other ages, in other places. Remember that:

You have been called to experience the discipleship of Christ today, in this present year.
Our Lord happens to have placed you in the very place in which you now live.
Your Christian vocation is only fulfilled by virtue of your membership of the Brothers of St John of God, with all their upsides and downsides.
You have been given all you need to be happy in your discipleship of Christ, by making yours a life of love.