Human Formation: Knowing Our Inner Being
(San José Retreat House, Brazil) The human dimension, in the religious life, as consecrated, reveals itself as one of the fundamental pillars of the formation process. It involves the effort to achieve a mature and balanced knowledge of oneself and one’s limits, in order to establish relationships of fraternity and communion. A formation attentive to this perspective makes the religious sign of authentic humanity to better serve the people of God.
In this existential journey, Father Dalton de Barros, from the Province of Rio de Janeiro, helped us between January 18 and 22. With his considerable wisdom and experience, he guided us through the paths of feelings and emotions that populate the life and history of each of us. Father Dalton constantly warned us not to become “professionals of the sacred,” reduced to unbridled, secular activism, but to try, with all our efforts, to put our hearts into everything we do. Our whole life must be an expression of the goodness of God, who chose unfinished and imperfect men to manifest the perfection of his love. The Second Novitiate is, above all, a special moment for the synthesis of the entire formative process, offering paths for a global understanding of existence and vocation.
BR. DIEGO ANTÔNIO DA SILVA, C.SS.R
