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Shaping Miles Jesu's Future
Guidance from Rome If you have visited the Miles Jesu website (milesjesu.com) recently you have already seen the announcement that Miles Jesu has been appointed a Commissary (an office which encompasses the responsibilities of the Miles Jesu General Government). Fr. Barry Fischer, C.PP.S., has been jointly named Miles Jesu’s Commissary by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Vicariate of Rome after a canonical visitation ad referendum et inquirendum which was concluded on March 25, 2009. As a result of its in-depth study of Miles Jesu, the Vatican has directed that Fr. Fischer and the members of Miles Jesu work together to revise some points of our constitutions, including areas involving acceptance of candidates and their formation, ongoing formation for the members, and internal government structure and community practices. Fr. Fischer is an American member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, an international society of apostolic life composed of priests and brothers. He was assigned to the missions of Latin America for 26 years, including as a formation director of his society’s seminarians. He served on the General Council of his Congregation for six years and from 1995-2007 he served two terms as the Moderator General of the society. Now based in Salzburg, Austria, Father Fischer is the director of the International Center for Spirituality of the Precious Blood. Although he had never heard of Miles Jesu until approached as a candidate for Commissary, Father Fischer has generously accepted that position, in an authentic spirit of availability, to work with the members of Miles Jesu for our institute’s best possible future and effectiveness at the service of the Church and for the salvation of souls. Reunion in Czestochowa As Miles Jesu sets out on this new phase of our history together with Fr. Fischer, the first order of business has been for the Commissary to spend some time getting to know Miles Jesu. He is spending the first weeks in his new position traveling to meet as many members as possible. On Mothers' Day weekend, 25 members representing nine countries gathered at the Polish shrine of Czestochowa for an all-Europe regional gathering with Fr. Fischer. The weekend was a time for formal and informal discussions about hopes and plans for Miles Jesu’s future, with participation from both longtime and newer members from various parts of the world.
It was a great opportunity, too, not just for Fr. Fischer to meet many of the members, but for members living in far-flung locations to get together and enjoy each other’s company. We were able to share information among ourselves about various activities in Miles Jesu-Europe, and even Miles Jesu India was represented by Fr. Tom Cahill, who traveled to Czestochowa from our Home for underprivileged boys in Sirsi, India, via the men’s communities in Rome and Banska Bystrica (Slovakia). The sharing came down to very practical levels, too—from the Rome community bringing bagsful of pasta and cheese for each community attending the meeting, to the Lublin (Poland) community bringing an extra sewing machine to pass on to a community with a greater need for it. The ladies from the Brno (Czech Republic) community brought stuffed animals for the Ukrainian communities to take back to their two orphanages, and women members from several communities went out together during a break and bought some dolls for Fr. Cahill to take back to the little “rag picker” girls (who are known by a better name in our “Little Angels” program) in the slums of Mumbai. And all around there was plenty of laughter and joking passed back and forth. The first common meal—a simple breakfast of bread and coldcuts—lasted for more than an hour in a room buzzing with chatter and conviviality…with only an occasional momentary hush when the voice of someone famous for good anecdotes or clever wisecracks caught the attention of the whole room. A standard joke during the weekend was that it was an excellent environment in case anyone got sick—four of the members on hand (one Czech man, one Slovak man, one Czech woman, and one Slovak woman) were doctors…and if worse came to worse, there were also four priests attending. Other “experts” among us were a nutritionist, several teachers and future teachers, and a computer engineer. From the beginnings of Miles Jesu branching out from the United States and becoming truly international we have always put a strong emphasis on teaching all non-English speakers English (as the language of the country where Miles Jesu was founded as well as an all-around international language). The time and effort spent on English lessons were rewarded at the Czestochowa meeting: though citizens of many countries, the members present were able to communicate easily thanks to their good command of a common language.
Fr. Fischer opened the meeting with a reading of the Gospel of Easter Night: “In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’” (St. Jn. 20:19-21) Fr. Fischer called the peace and joy that Jesus brought to the Apostles that evening “the gifts of Easter,” and wished that same peace and joy to all the members. He also took time to introduce himself to us, and then began his task of putting names, faces, countries, and apostolates together as one by one we introduced ourselves to him and gave a short history of our vocations. Recalling that all institutes of consecrated life need to periodically revise and update their constitutions as a means of keeping their founding charism intact, he spoke about his desire to focus on clarifying more concisely Miles Jesu’s charism and spirituality, on the unique identity that is Miles Jesu’s place in the Church. He wants to achieve this with the help of small committees of members each giving special attention to specific elements of Miles Jesu, with the help of overall participation from all the members and with consultation with other experts. In Our Mother’s House Czestochowa is a practical location for Miles Jesu’s European communities to meet, more or less a six hour trip from our locations in Lublin, Brno, Bratislava, and Banska Bystrica (Slovakia); a few hours further for Rome and L’viv, but still reachable by a one-day car trip. But the real attraction for Czestochowa is the famous icon of Our Lady at the shrine of Jasna Gora (Bright Hill). For 600 years the “Black Madonna” has reigned in Czestochowa; her shrine a place of refuge and pilgrimage for Poles as well as many others. Czestochowa is one of Europe’s principal Marian shrines. Centuries of exposure and candle smoke have darkened the Jasna Gora icon and earned her the nickname “Black Madonna.” Legend has it that the icon was painted by none other than St. Luke himself, but the actual history of the icon gets lost in the mists of time after tracing back a few centuries. A very striking trait of the Black Madonna image is the two slash marks on her right cheek. These are slash marks made centuries ago by an invader’s sword, when Jasna Gora was a fortress in a very real sense of the word, and the enemies of the Church had infiltrated all the way to her altar. Subsequent efforts to repair the image were unsuccessful and the slash marks have taken on a deeply symbolic meaning, representing Mary’s full participation in the life and tribulations of her children. Ever since Miles Jesu first sent members to the former communist bloc countries of Eastern Europe in 1990, Czestochowa has been a special place for our institute. It was the starting point for our first travels in these countries, and many times since, has been a place for us to gather for prayer, meetings, and apostolic activities.
Our recent international gathering in Czestochowa included a Mass at the altar of the icon. May is a very busy month at the shrine, the basilica crowded morning till night with groups small and large. We applied rather belatedly to the priest custodians of the shrine and received the much hoped-for but slightly unexpected permission to have a private Mass in English at the very feet of Our Lady. The immediate area of the icon is fenced off from the rest of the church but we were allowed into the small enclosed area for a half hour’s Mass that Saturday evening, between May devotions and a rosary radio broadcast for the general public. That same day, Czestochowa was hosting a pilgrimage from Siberia, a pilgrimage of chauffeurs, and a national pilgrimage of “family members of those who have been called to the consecrated life.” This is in addition to the many people who were there on their own. The shrine of Czestochowa has its own votive Mass with prayers commemorating Our Lady of Czestochowa’s protection of her people, and the gospel of the miracle at Cana, when Mary tells the followers of Jesus to “do whatever He tells you.” Father Fischer presided at Mass, with three Miles Jesu priests concelebrating. We came prepared with Marian songs in Polish, Czech, Latin, and English. We began the service singing a Polish song about Our Lady of Czestochowa which vividly describes the shrine and its atmosphere, and a deep spirit of filial trust in Mary: “There is a corner on this earth which all yearn to re-visit, where her image reigns, with two cuts on her face; her look is concerned, as though she would ask you to put yourself under her maternal protection. ...O, Black Madonna, how good it is to be your child. Allow me to hide myself in your arms.” The crowds shut off behind the grating joined us in swelling the basilica with this touching prayer, and joined us again at the end of Mass when we sang the joyful Eastertide “Queen of Heaven, Rejoice” in Latin. Facing Forward This was the first meeting of a large representation of Miles Jesu members with our new Commissary. As we prepared to depart on our many different ways that Sunday, Fr. Fischer spoke of his enthusiasm in working together, an enthusiasm shared by all present. And the sting of saying goodbye was lessened by the knowledge that the near future holds many more chances to gather and work together in the continuing adventure of our vocation as Miles Jesu. |
