CHARISM
Charism is a free and supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit for the building up of the body of Christ.
The Charism of an Institute, which is inherited from the founder, is manifested and exemplified in the life and witness of its members.
The significance of religious life consists in personalising such charism in individual lives. Such charism makes us accept other persons as vital to the growth of the community.
It is an attitude and an aptitude
COVENANT
Covenant is essentially an inter-personal relationship.
In covenant we receive and respond freely and voluntarily to the call and mission. In covenant God asks us to take a risk and make a capital investment, in place all that we have, and all that we are into God’s care, into God’s hands.
The strength of any member in a community is determined only by the willingness of his or her commitment of a covenant relationship. We have to sacrifice certain things, certain manners or view points, to establish a covenant.
COMMITMENT
Commitment involves a willingness to render service with enthusiasm.
What is significant in a commitment is not what we give, but how and why we offer something. Commitment looks for long-term perseverance and contribution to the community.
COMPASSION
Fellowship and compassion create community in Christ. Compassion is a mystical yet concrete and dynamic experience.
It is an end in itself rather than means. A religious community has relevance only in relationship with a charism lived in the fraternal way of compassion.
COMMUNION
A healthy community involves individuals who are willing and able to establish communion with others and have the ability to elicit form others and share their deeper ideas.
The strength of a community depends on the sharing and communication among its member. Without implicit and explicit faith sharing the community acquires the loneliness f a crowed and is reduced to a ‘club’.
COLLABORATION
A community is not a private affair; it is public and involves us in the task of sharing our common wealth, our common stock, by contributing our individual and personal lives.
A healthy awareness of our strengths and limitations, our adequacies and inadequacies, leads to a healthy collaboration. A collaborative attitude welcomes the active involvement of every member, because we are all called to reach out in mutual trust forgiveness and dialogue believing in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
COMMUNICATION
Communication generates community. In communication individuals trust each other without fear of being vulnerable.
Communication is crucial to community living because it nurtures other Christian virtues. Communication builds trust. It involves sharing and tenderness. The mood of attentive and empathetic listening to the community and to its members is a contemplative attitude enabling us to perceive the divine inspiration.