Lent: The Season For Renewal
Fr. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
W hat is the meaning of the elusive term, renewal? Or of its correlative, reform?
Especially since Vatican II, many religious orders, dioceses, parishes, have stressed externals. To be more precise, renewal more often than not means revamping of administration. It man revamping discipline, daily schedule, ministries, with a corresponding “theological/ psychological updating.”
Structures, i.e., organizational layouts and processes, must, it is said, be “simplifled,” “non-sexist,” “personalistic,” “democratic,” etc. “Structure” is, therefore, a key word in much of present-day renewal and reform.
Without the slightest doubt, “structural renewal” is a necessity. Over-legalistic forms stifle the growth and vitality of the Body of Christ, the Church.
Fr. de Montfort’s Three Clarifications of Authentic Renewal
However, springing from the writings and life of Saint Louis of Montfort, are three important clarifications of authentic renewal and reform.
First, there are certain structures which Montfort – clearly a reformer – would definitely not eliminate or modify. For example, he insists on strict obedience to the Holy Father; in spite of severe difficulties with some bishops, he never even insinuates that the bishops in union with Rome have not the right to legislate and expect obedience. Community life, for Montfort, implies the necessity of some structure especially in the realm of obedience and community purpose. Essential truths of the faith, like the full humanity and divinity of Jesus, are not negotiable. The necessary – according to God’s plan – role or Mary in the Incarnation is, for Saint Louis Mary, definitely not negotiable. The structure of a daily schedule including the Eucharist, meditation, prayerful reading or Scripture, devotion to Our Lady (especially the Rosary), community prayer, are integral to the rules he wrote for his communities.
Second, when Saint Louis de Montfort explains “reform,” he is – in imitation of Jesus – unequivocally concerned primarily with an interior renewal, the change of heart and not so much change of structure. He calls for discipline, yes; but a discipline imbued with an ever more intense charity. He insists upon obedience, yes; but far more so, on the part of all, he stresses the deepening of love. Renewal means ultimately for this missionary the constant enhancement of the reign of Jesus Christ within our hearts. The reform he envisions for the Church goes to the root of all renewal; the total emptying of self in order to be filled with the divinity of God.
The Resurrection: Dutch painter: Carl Bloch: 1875
Renewal means ultimately for this missionary the constant enhancement of the reign of Jesus Christ within our hearts. The reform he envisions for the Church goes to the root of all renewal; the total emptying of self in order to be filled with the divinity of God.
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True Renewal is Equivalent to an On-going Total, Loving, Surrender to Jesus
Finally, integral to Montfort’s understanding of reform is perfect devotion to Mary which he explains especially in his True Devotion. This embraces, in his teaching, the renewal of our baptismal total surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. As slaves of love of Jesus through Mary, we willingly and formally acknowledge that we are the Lord’s and live accordingly. We pray that the Holy Spirit will wrench from our lives the many idols we have carved: my career, my money, my plans, my determination of what is right and what is wrong.
In other words, true renewal is equivalent to an on-going total, loving, surrender to Jesus who comes to us always and everywhere through the YES of Mary. When the Church becomes more and more “Be it done unto me according to thy word,” it will more and more resemble its Head, Jesus the Lord. That is true renewal.
For Saint Louis de Montfort, therefore, structural renewal without the supremacy of deep, personal interior renewal is only a sham or caricature, and a dangerous one at that. It is the authentic interior reform which governs any needed external or structural renewal.
The great Cardinal de Lubac’s words summarize Montfort’s thought; “… problems of structure are in themselves not the most important. We do not think that reforms of structure . . . are ever the key piece to be considered in any program which concerns itself with the only true renewal, spiritual renewal. We are even afraid that the actual overstress of such projects and discussions may only furnish a too convenient alibi to avoid true spiritual renewal . . . we believe that every shock, every alteration or loosening of the essential structure of the Church serves to put any spiritual renewal in danger.”
