This was the last day of the 44th General Chapter which, despite all protestations to the contrary by certain members who shall remain nameless, was judged as meaningful and successful by the vast majority of those who attended.
The day started with the perennial shower mystery - why is there absolutely no hot water? When you turn to the knob completely over, it's as if you turned it off... nothing comes out. After five minutes I decided to reschedule my personal duties until later in the day. It was either that or try to wash under a shower that was such by wishful thinking only.
After doing some quick early morning work in the "office" I went
to the 7 AM prayer service (in language groups). Since I came in exactly at 7 AM, I didn't know if anyone had started the service. The Brothers were in there quietly praying; so I joined them. Twenty minutes of silence later I wondered if all this was on purpose or if someone simply hadn't signed up for this prayer service and we were just winging it. Finally, one of the Brother spoke and invited people to mention something that they would bring with them from the Chapter, and it went on from there. An interesting half hour with the Brothers, to be sure.During breakfast, I spoke with Br. Georges Absi about an idea that he'd pitched to me a couple a days ago concerning a thanksgiving prayer that the French group had used in which a prayer was said according to each of the Chapter them groups after which an antiphon was sung. I asked him if he could still do something like that for the morning prayer in the Aula Magna and he began to arrange it right away. With most other Brothers, yo
u would run into reluctance, opposition, or complaint that you'd asked too late. With these guys, if they thought that something could be done, they went ahead and started the process. We had about 30 minutes to go and they were ready when the session began at 8:30 AM. For this last prayer, I had two sections, each of which I introduced. In the first was this thanksgiving prayer, said in French but translated into the other languages (one of the advantages of having prayer in the Aula Magna) with the sung antiphon in between. For the second part I showed the "To Be Lasallian" video by Scott Gibbs as a summary of what it is that we are about here. The thing worked fine until about 15 seconds from the end when the music video came to an abrupt ending - full stop and silence. Such an ending doesn't make for a good transition, but I made the best of it and finished the prayer as I could.This last session included the final consideration of several reports and then went into the thank-you litany. Each of the support staff groups was recognized and thanked. Especially impressive was the large group of translators that worked throughout the Chapter. There must have been twenty of more people involved. As one person said, there seem to be about as many people working behind the scenes of a Chapter as are in it. That's probably true. Freddy and I were recognized also, of course, and given a beautiful bronze medallion of De La Salle.
While these sorts of closing things went on into the next session, I spent my time getting the candles ready for the closing Eucharist and commissioning ceremony this evening. The candles were done, but the labels hadn't yet been made. I went to Br. Jose Antonio Warletta, who is the one who creates all the logos and booklets, etc. here, asking him for help. He jumped right in and worked with me for about an hour until we had a good label that incorporated both the Chapter logo and the "umbrella" theme - Being Brothers today: open eyes, burning hearts. We just took the last piece of that in the three languages and put it on the label.Once the labels were printed I found out that the package of printing paper was itself mislabeled. This was not pull-off adhesive printer paper, just heavy-weight glossy paper. So we looked around for a solution and decided that double-stick tape was our best bet for getting the labels onto the glass of the candle jars. Careful cutting and sticking later saw the completion of the project.
During most of lunch I was busy getting the chapel set up for the evening Mass and for the choir practice at 2 PM. It was an hour-long practice, and we went over everything for the evening's activities, including the commission service. A new song "Jesus Christ, You are My Life" was introduced as the opening song, and we seemed to get it down pretty well after a few tries. The great thing about this choir, beyond the fact that they sound fantastic, is that they respond well to invitations for input regarding how to approach certain songs, the number of verses, etc.
The time after the practice is mostly a blur.
There were many things to do before the Mass: check with Rodolfo about playing the organ (changes were made during the choir practice); see if the Councillors - past and present - were around so that I could let them know about the commissioning ceremony; finalize the programs that Sr. Margaret was putting together (hopefully in time for the Mass); get the candles situated in an artful way in front of the chapel; practice the music; reserve the first row for the procession people; check with Vincenzo about the sacristy; check with Freddy about the offertory procession; and on and on. The difference between five weeks ago and now, as I think I've mentioned, is that it's more of a "flow" now. I don't get as perturbed by last-minute changes of glitches. You just go with it and adapt as needed. I hope that that means that I'm NOT a liturgist, since most liturgists I know would not be as flexible.
In any case, the time for Mass arrived and I spent some time explaining to the Councillors what the plans for the commissioning service after communion were all about, quickly putting together a step-by-step guideline for them. This is what happened: Br. Superior came to the front of the altar and Michael French led the congregation in a "Thanks We Give" chant, naming each of the former Councillors, who each came up to be thanked by Br. Superior. When all were present, the congregation applauded them and they returned to their seats. Then the same song was used to call up the new Councillors. Once these were in the sanctuary, Br. Superior read a short selection from DLS's meditations and this was followed by a "commissioning" of the Brothers. The Councillors, Vicar, and Superior, held out their hands in blessing while reciting a section from Ephesians that was a sort of commissioning prayer. Then they each received a candle (THE candles that we'd been working on weeks ago) which they carried out in procession - while Br. Alvaro brought the 44th General Chapter staff with which we had started this whole thing. The closing song was "We are marching in the light of God..." It all seemed to be very effective.One highlight for all of us was a post-Communion song by Br. Gerard, the young Visitor from Venezuela. His magnificent voice, combined with his very accomplished guitar playing and the choice of the song were truly inspiring, memorable, and moving. It will remain with me for quite a while. The celebrant was Fr. Pascual Chavez, the Superior General of the Salesians. He had a fine, quiet presence and seemed quite accommodating, glancing over at me at all the right moments in order to make sure that we would now go to correct place in the plans - something that I really appreciated. He was also a good friend of Br. Alvaro, which made for a very comfortable relationship during the Mass.
During the Mass, which was the anticipated Mass for Trinity Sunday, we also renewed our vows by language groups, and the Guadulapana Sisters renewed their vows as well. This is the traditional day on which we do so and it was a special occasion to be able to do it as a Chapter.
At the social following the Mass there were lots of comments about the liturgy and how it touched people, which of course was very gratifying since that's the point of all this effort. People genuinely seemed to appreciate the efforts that the whole Liturgy committee put into the prayer activities of the Chapter.
Dinner was a long and joyous affair. By the time the cake and champagne were ready to come out, various tables were already singing a number of international favorites (Guantanamera, Auld Lang Syne, Waltzing Matilda, Santa Lucia, etc. - you get the idea). Everyone seemed to be enjoying the camaraderie that had been created during these last five weeks. Some Brothers had already left for their homelands and others will leave very early tomorrow morning, and so there were many heartfelt goodbyes among the group. It was as if they knew that they might not see some of these true Brothers again, but they had been happy to have been able to spend a number of weeks in their company. I know that these were my sentiments.
Afterwards and through the afternoon, various Brothers were finalizing plans for their after-Chapter activities, booking train trips and the like on their way back. Some Brothers are going right back to work, others are taking the opportunity to visit the Brothers in other counties "on the way" back home.And so the Chapter comes to a close and now the real work begins - implementing it among the Brothers. That will be a longer process than five weeks. But this is good beginning.
I'll keep the blog going until I return to the States on June 6th. For now, however, it's enough.
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More picture from today at http://picasaweb.google.com/gvangrie/ItalyJune2
