Father Rogério Gomes: Ongoing training and commitment to respond like Saint Alphonsus to the world around us!
Father General, Rogerio Gomes CSsR presided over the celebration of the closing mass of the Spirituality Course of the Spanish and Portuguese language group, in the chapel of the Doctor of the Church on Saturday 9 September 2023. About thirty confreres – participants of the course – went to Pagani to venerate Saint Alphonsus and visit the Museum which collects many of the objects that belonged to the Saint.
In his homily, Father General focused his reflection on ongoing formation, an element that every year acquires greater importance due to the need that the commitment of Redemptorist missionaries requires.
Ongoing formation is not just remembering some themes from theological studies, but the commitment to increasingly update the attitude of opening up to a formation that renews the life of the Redemptorist in every place of mission.
Then Father Gomes asked to center ourselves on the figure and actions of Saint Alphonsus, under that “responding” to the needs of his time. It is clear that we cannot repeat every word and every concrete action of the saint now, in this world of ours which has changed so much. But we must resume that attitude of “answering” of Alphonsus de Liguori in front of what happens today in our daily life. Only in this way does the charism come to life in us and be effective in our Alphonsian mission, he concluded.
The Redemptorist spirituality course took place over three weeks, the first in Rome and the following two in Ciorani, from 21 August to 9 September. Directed by Father Piotr Chyla CSsR, the course highlighted the need to live this time of formation not only as an academic experience but also as a spiritual one. This is why the visit to the historical places of the Congregation; this experience engaged the senses of the participants and their ability to re-imagine the charism in the places where the Congregation was born.
A spirituality course in the form of a pilgrimage to places linked to the life of the first Redemptorists, enriched by meetings with experts in the history and spiritual heritage of our Congregation, takes place every year during the summer holidays and is organized by the Spirituality Center at the Curia general of the Redemptorists in Rome.
The testimonies of the course participants, reported in the video below, confirm that this ongoing training proposal is necessary and offers an important experience of the beauty and relevance of the Redemptorist charism.
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