This morning I made sure to get up early, since I would be accompanying the English-language group at our 7 AM Mass. It was only a couple of songs, but I wanted to make sure that I was ready with my guitar, the music, and all the rest. It was a Mass for peace. Two Brothers had been asked to talk about war and peace in the areas with which they were familiar. One Brother spoke about the wars in Africa, listing more than ten during the last twenty years. The other Brother spoke about Bethlehem University and the kinds of challenges they have, operating within a virtual war zone. It brought the prayers and intercessions down to earth. We also prayed for Scott Gibbs, who I'd found out had died last Saturday. He was a wonderful man, a good friend to many Brothers, and a real artist when it came to video production, having filmed and produced virtually all of the key videos for the District over the past ten years or so. They will be a great legacy for him, and I hope that he will intercede for the success of this Chapter.
Today included two major components. The first of them was in the morning, when Br. Alvara, Br. Bill Mann, and the group of Councillors each met with one of the three language groups for 45 minutes in order to address sets of questions that had been submitted and also answered any other questions that might be in the group. I sat in on the English-speaking group's meetings with Br. Alvaro and Br. Bill Mann. The conversation was very good, I believe, with lots of substantial topics being addressed - Lasallian formation, vocations in the future, governing structures, priorities for the future, etc.That activity took up all of the morning. At noon, the whole group met in the Chapter Hall for a full session during which we addressed Phase 3 of the Chapter process, as proposed by the Preparatory Commission. Any or all of the plans could be accepted or rejected by the body of the Brothers gathered there. They are, in effect, the sovereign authority for the Chapter. And there was a bit of discussion regarding the length of the Phase 3 Discernment Phase (5 days), which will include lots of time for re-reading documents, praying and reflecting about our future, writing summaries of individual thoughts and group consensus reflections, and the like. Some thought that it was too long, others thought that it was not only the right amount of time but that we would be following the recommendations of many of our speakers last week, and of course the recommendations of De La Salle himself. After 45 minutes of good back and forth on the issue, we came to two possibilities: 1) to keep the days as planned, and 2) to look at splitting the 5 days up into 3 days now and 2 days later in the process. A vote was taken - with some anticipation I must say on my part - and nearly 2/3 of the group was in favor of staying with the 5 days. So that's how we will proceed.
The session had begun with a very nice prayer that was prepared by the French Brothers and was dedicated to Our Lady of the Star, whose feast it was today within the Institute. The Brothers sang a wonderful little chant to Our Lady, which we repeated several times in between short readings and prayers done in the different languages. I was again impressed by how these Brothers can take an idea (the Brother who organized it had only talked to me yesterday about doing this prayer today) and run with it, getting others involved in the process.
I had called a meeting of the Liturgy Committee for 2 PM in order to go over the plans for the prayers and liturgies during these discernment days. The French-language group was organizing the opening liturgy tomorrow; I had heard them practicing in the chapel the day before. I wanted to make sure that they had all they needed. And I wanted to see about the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament periods each evening, plus to look ahead at some of the other liturgies coming up. We decided that we would continue with our plans of having the Blessed Sacramento adoration each evening in the CIL Chapel (where the English-language group had been having its Masses), and invite Brothers to bring the candles that they brought from home to that chapel when they came in to pray.
I went back to my computer to work on the pamphlet editing that I had promised and worked on that until 6 PM, when we had the meeting of the Central Commission to address a couple of procedural and other concerns related to the Chapter proceedings. Those having been addressed, it was off to lunch, which I spent happily chatting away in Dutch with Br. Aad from Holland, and then returned to the pamphlet work until I had finished it around 10 PM. It was clear during dinner that about a third of the Capitulants had taken advantage of the fact that the afternoon had been "free" and had gone off into the environs of Rome. Perhaps this was like a Fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, an outing before the days of discernment began (silence at some meals, lots of reflection quiet time, etc.).I don't know how much "action" there will be during the next 5 days, since they will largely consist of reflection, prayer, and study of various documents. But, we'll see, and I'll let you know.
