A personal and community journey of formation that will last a lifetime.
by Rosanna Tabasso
Educating to educate is the spirit of this page of the Rule. Each of us is above all the protagonist of our harmonious growth, from the age of reason to the end of life. Not even one who is part of a fraternity can delegate to others the responsibility of being formed as a person.
Only well-trained people make the fraternity of which they are part solid and complete. To transmit your experience, your knowledge and to be welcomed and listened to especially by the youngest and youngest, you must accept and apply a method: prepare for life, keep your intelligence trained, know how to use the right glasses, have attentive ears , do not get used and above all never feel arrived, satisfied as those who believe they know. The basis of the method is precisely the humility of those who know they don't know, they are not enough for themselves, but they feel they are limited creatures, in constant search. An image of Scripture comes towards me. God as the potter shapes his creature by thinking of it, loving it, giving a body to the soul inhabited by him.
And then let this creature of his complete his work throughout his life, taking care of himself, his body, his heart, his mind; each part has its dignity and it is this wholeness that makes us the image of God, the temple of God. We are often tempted to reduce training to knowledge, to the sphere of knowledge. A good theoretical preparation, time dedicated to study, in-depth study is certainly necessary, because our life is extremely complex and never as in this time are we solicited by new problems.
But that's not enough. Knowledge feeds the mind, but if it does not mix with life, it does not become wisdom. We must also learn to read the signs of our time with the wisdom of the heart. Living the street, the square like a school, learning from the present moment, from the people, from the situations we live in. Learn from everything and everyone. At Sermig we usually conclude our meetings by answering the question "What did I learn today?", So as not to make theory, not to risk letting the moments lived slip on us and learn to remember the teachings collected. Only what we hold will become part of our life and therefore have contributed to giving us a more complete form. Respect for our body is also training: learning to feed ourselves well, not to be spoiled in food but to choose a sober and healthy diet; keep us healthy, respect rest and recreation, without wasting time on banality, but looking for your own rhythm; take care of your external appearance, not following the fashions but letting the inner harmony show with the little you have. But there is no true formation if we do not nourish the soul with times of silence and prayer. Forming oneself in the spiritual life is learning to go down into the intimate, to get in touch with oneself and with the Spirit of God who lives in us. In silence we learn to know who we are, to accept each other, to love each other, above all we learn to feel inhabited by the Presence of God. By praying then we learn to bring our life to God. The most effective tool is certainly the Word of God: in each of its pages the dialogue between God and man, between the Creator and his creature takes shape. The method of this training, 360 ° and throughout life, makes us people open to the new, capable of listening to the other, of confronting ourselves with what we do not know, of dialoguing with everyone. It educates us to live together in fraternity and to form the new generations. But to train one must never stop training.