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Gem of the "Foyers de Charité"
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Gem of the "Foyers de Charité"
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In the 1960s, Marthe speaking to Fr Livragne, a priest of the Oratory who used to come and preach here in Châteauneuf, said, "Every Christian must have a share in the Passion of Christ, in order to complete in his body what is lacking in the Passion of the whole Christ. I am only a sign, a reminder for all Christians." This "reminder" is what we now call the Fundamental Retreat. Father Finet used to call it a "Retreat of Christianity" in order to bring out the fact that it is meant for all Christians. The meaning of the word "Christianity" has evolved and narrowed down. Today we prefer to talk of the "Fundamental Retreat" in this sense, that it gives the basics, the foundations for the entire Christian life; it is the equivalent of what the first Christian generation used to call the kerygma; it is the contents of the Catechism of the Catholic Church-which the Holy Father presents as a "work of reference for the Christians of the third millennium"-delivered in five full days. Among the Fathers of the Church I consider St Irenaeus, in his Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching and in chapters 3 and 4 of his Adversus Haereses, as a model and a master. He knew well how to give to the Church, to Christians torn apart by the gnosis, what he himself called "the symphony of salvation". I usually present this fundamental retreat to Christians also as the "backbone of the Christian," both strong and flexible, holding together all the dimensions and the principal demands of the Christian life in the world in response to the call of the Gospel: "You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Mt 5:48) In Africa many bishops are proposing this retreat for all their catechists and for prospective seminarians.
It is above all Father Finet whom I will allow to speak, so that he may himself present this retreat, which he preached for over fifty-three years, from the first one in September 1936 down to the very last one in January 1990. (He died on the 14th of April 1990). Since we have many things to be say, here is the plan:
1. Sources
and development of the Fundamental Retreat,
2. Its characteristics,
3. Contents and coherence of teaching
My intention is to show that this retreat is a fitting means of responding to the great needs of the Church for forming apostles in the world. This is needful for the mission, everywhere, in every social context and in every country. "The proclamation of the Gospel implies a faith that is more personal and mature, enlightened and convinced. Christians are called upon to have a faith which enables them: to face present-day culture in a critical manner, resisting its seductions; to effectively influence the cultural, economic, social and political areas of life; to show that the link between members of the Catholic Church and other Christians is stronger than ethnic ties; to hand on the faith with joy to younger generations; to build a Christian culture capable of evangelizing the wider culture in which we live." (John Paul II, Ecclesia in Europa, n. 50).
I. Sources and development of the said retreat "of Christianity"
We have in
our possession six retreats preached by Fr. Finet, recorded almost
in their entirety, in 1965, 1968, 1973, 1978 and the last one
in 1981.
We must add to these several cassettes or magnetic tape recordings
of conferences delivered to the [Foyer] Community, to the students
and to the parents of the students.
We also have, from as far back as 1940, notes of retreatants and
of Foyer Fathers who took down the essential message in his conferences.
Fr. Finet also drew a lot from his own personal notes as a retreatant-notes
written in his beautiful and regular handwriting-as well as from
his reading, particularly from the texts of the Magisterium and
the teachings of popes and bishops. For him this was a way of
giving a teaching "of the Church, of the Church, of the Church,"
and not personal opinion or the opinion of a group. In order to
relax his audience he also drew a lot from his journeys or from
small events in his family life, even if this meant slightly amplifying
the memories and his retreatants would never forget the small
phrase that finally put everything together: 'the joy of love
is the joy of sharing,' 'truth without love hardens the heart;
love without truth corrupts,' 'friend, do not stop your desire,'
'to live is to receive in order to give.'
We can say Father never stopped working on his retreat; he never
stopped improving upon it. From 1936 he used to refer back to
the Ignatian thirty-days retreats, which he had followed, for
example at Notre Dame d'Ay. Gradually, his retreats began to take
certain directions and developments due, in particular, to the
questions and things confided to him by many retreatants and penitents,
not forgetting his daily meetings with Martha, who also made her
own remarks, points of emphasis, agreement or disagreement, so
much so that we can say the teaching comes from both of them even
if it is impossible to say what comes from the one and what comes
from the other.
Upon this framework obtained from the Exercises of St Ignatius
Fr. Finet gradually built his retreat. He had the vocation of
a builder. In order to build you need materials, and you need
a goal. His goal, as we shall see, was that "the faithful
should become apostles." These were the words of Martha during
their first and decisive meeting on the 10th of February 1936:
« During the second hour she [Martha], changing her tone
of voice spoke to me of the sad and happy events which were to
come. I leave aside the sad events. This is what she told me concerning
the happy things to come. She announced to me notably a New Pentecost
of Love, which would be preceded by a deep renewal of the Church,
and marked by a great missionary movement in which many lay people
would engage themselves in this apostolate.
"Who would form these lay people?" I asked "They
will be formed," she replied, "in many places, notably,
in the Foyers of Light, Charity and Love." For the first
time I heard this name. Later on I understood that the light was
the teaching of the priest, which was to lead people to the God
of love. But for this to happen we must first of all practice
brotherly love. This is what we have summarized by calling them
'Foyers of Charity'.
By now it was 4p.m. Martha, looking at me with assurance said,
"Reverend Father, I have something to ask of you, coming
from God: you are the one who must come to Châteauneuf to
found the first Foyer of Charity." In my surprise I answered
her, "But I do not belong to this diocese." "What
does that matter, since God wants it." "Ah! Forgive
me, I hadn't thought of that. But, what would I have to do?"
"Many things," said she, "notably preaching
retreats". "I don't know how to preach retreats."
"You will learn." "Three-day retreats?"
"No," she replied, "for in three days you
cannot convert a soul. The Blessed Virgin asks for five full days."
"But to whom shall we preach these retreats?"
"You shall begin with the women and young girls."
"Then between the conferences," I said to her, "I
shall organize workshops so that the retreatants can share their
impressions?" "No, no," she said to me, "the
Blessed Virgin asks for complete silence." "How could
I ask women to keep silence for five days?" She said to me,
"Because God asks for it." "Ah! Forgive me,
I hadn't dreamed of that." And so I had to accept.
"Where shall I be preaching these retreats?" "In
the Girls School, to begin." "Has it been prepared for
that?" "No," she said to me, "it will
have to be fixed up quite a bit." "Who will do this
work?" "You yourself." "With what money?"
"Don't worry, the Blessed Virgin will see to that."
"How shall I make retreatants come to this unknown village?"
"It's the Blessed Virgin herself who shall send them
to you." "On what date shall I have to begin the first
retreat?" "On Monday the 7th of September (1936)
to end on the following Sunday." "I can't refuse, but
I shall have to ask the authorization of my superiors."
"Ah yes! You have to put yourself under obedience."
As I left Martha's room I thought to myself: "What an adventure!"
But is the faith not often an adventure? »
Right up to the end of his life Fr. Finet used to come back to
his first meeting with Martha as one comes back to an inexhaustible
fountain.
In the retreats
he preached, he knew how to make good use of all what he got.
We can point, in particular, to the contributions of:
1. Father Babolat, whom he got to know in 1925 during a
retreat at the Carthusian monastery of Sélignac, in the
Ain. Together they would later write a little masterpiece, "Doctrine
Catholique", in 1938 during the holidays, that is to say,
at the time when Father Finet had started preaching here. I think,
therefore, that the writing of this work greatly stimulated him
in his first retreats.
2. Father Monier, a Jesuit who came to preach here from
1948 to 1968. He was a sort of a prophet, a very open-minded man.
One finds here and there with Father Finet statements, which open
one up, such as: "You have not come here to remain shrivelled
up in your little habits, you have come here to breathe in the
open ocean, to discover how wide, deep, sublime is the Love of
Christ. The Church is not a shop, nor is it a back shop. You don't
get into the Church to shelter yourself. You commune with Christ,
and Christ tells you that he is the way, alive and true."
Father Monier was very Pauline and this helped Father Finet to
deepen his knowledge of St. Paul to the point where he used to
say often: "You have to use Paul to throw light on John,
and John to throw light on Paul." Father Monier brought him
the radicality of the Sermon on the Mount.
It was during a retreat, which Fr. Monier was preaching in 1952
that Fr. Finet got and later developed an insight, which had struck
him very much. I will cite Fr. Monier as quoted in the notes of
Fr. Finet: "We must meet God in his thought, in his divine
Will, in his divine activities, otherwise we will be acting in
a void. We have therefore, to freely enter into the thinking of
God, his plan for the world. There is only one plan, that of God,
as St. Paul has exposed it in his letter to the Ephesians."
From that day on, in 1952, Father Finet built and developed his
retreat beginning with the Plan of God. He would comment word
for word, and sometimes develop at great length, the hymn at the
beginning of the letter to the Ephesians.
3. The Council, another great period, beginning from 1965:
Father welcomed the Council with joy and even with enthusiasm,
as an answer to his prayer and that of Martha. He followed its
work with great interest. The Council, in a way, consoled him
in his thought and in what the Foyers were living, particularly
the vocation of the laity in the Church. That is why from 1966
on, right from Tuesday morning, he would start talking about the
vocation of the laity in the Church according to "Lumen Gentium",
drawing from an article "Le Peuple de Dieu", which had
appeared in the review Missi. In 1967 he made his own the teaching
of Paul VI to the World Congress for the Apostolate of the Laity,
his encyclical on Evangelization, and his Credo. In 1976, he also
made great use of the conference of Mgr Honoré on "The
Spirit of Vatican II."
4. Many other preachers deeply influenced him to the point that
he took over, at times entirely or in great part, some teaching
or other of theirs: Father Varillon, a Jesuit; Father Livragne,
an Oratorian priest; Father Fournier, a Jesuit; Father Marie-Dominique
Philippe, o.p., professor at the University of Fribourg. Father
Finet who was very Johannine, entered very deeply into his thought
and borrowed a great deal from him. When he met Father Philippe
he also developed very much what he called the life context and
the atheisms.
That is it for the sources and development of the retreat of Christianity.
I find that for us Foyer Fathers, we have here a good example
of continuous formation; I admire it and I try to do the same.
II. The Characteristics of this Retreat
I will quote
Fr. Finet the way he addressed himself to retreatants in November
1968. It's Tuesday, therefore we're at the beginning of the retreat.
« This retreat has something a bit special in this sense
that, we will be giving you a synthesis, a synthesis of doctrine.
It is not so much points of prayer that we will be asking you
to reflect upon in your meditations; in the Foyers of Charity
we give more of teaching. The Foyers of Charity are first of all
Foyers of Light, that's to say, Foyers where we teach. We teach
in two ways: firstly by the living witness of a Christian community
of lay people (there are a hundred and twenty here); and secondly
by the teaching which is given by the Father of the community
to those who come seeking to grow deeper into the message of Christ.
This teaching is given in twenty-one conferences, and these twenty-one
conferences are linked to one another, each one calls for the
next. You will well understand that if, for example, I say in
a conference that you need to pray in the recess of your room,
in silence, with the door closed, you would need to wait for the
next conference in which I would tell you that you need to pray
two or three together in the Name of Christ in order to be heard
by the Father. You get the point: we walk on two feet. At one
time I put forward the left foot, and then I put forward the right.
That is why you must understand that it is from the whole that
you will get the full force of the message of Christ. What we
do in this way, as you can see, is extremely important. It is
particularly important at this moment when you have precisely
to think of your great vocation. I shall find time to come back
to this.
However, right from the beginning of this conference, I would
like to present your vocation the way it is laid out for you in
the Council. This is extremely serious. You know what the Council
is telling you: it really is that the People of God (you are called
the People of God by the Council) has to bear witness to the faith
it professes. Note well this "has to bear witness to the
faith it professes." I will insist on this in the next conference.
I want to add all the same, always along the same lines, something
which is again extremely important: up until now I have been told
that the Church was the body of the faithful, under the leadership
of legitimate pastors. Now there is a term, which the Council
on the one hand, and Pope Paul VI on the other hand, give us:
what are you called? Yesterday, I was called a "believer",
and today you must call me an "apostle". That is perhaps
one of the principal revolutions of the Council.
I am insisting on that point in this sense that "the principle
has been given." I am quoting from the address given by Paul
VI to members of the Apostolate of the Laity, last year (1967):
There we read, "Gathered together in the People of God and
established in the one Body of Christ under one head, the laity-no
matter who they are" (take note of this expression: "no
matter who they are") "are called upon to cooperate,
as living members, to the building up of the Church and to its
continual sanctification." These words have an extraordinary
force. I think it will take almost a century for us to be able
to bring out the full meaning. But right from now we must already
begin to go in this direction. "All the laity, then, have
the exalted duty of working for the ever greater spread of the
divine plan of salvation to all men, of every epoch and all over
the earth." (Const. Lumen Gentium, no. 33) Ah ! the vision
is worldwide. The Pope continues:
"The Church, therefore, recognises the lay person not only
as a believer, but as an apostle." This phrase dominates
our entire retreat. You have come here to discover your vocation
as apostles and to respond to your vocation to be apostles. You
know, we are dealing with a lot more than just "believers".
Or else, then, let us give to the word "believer", if
you like, its full meaning. That is why you have come here, not
merely as believers but as apostles. Therefore, the Church recognises
the lay person, not only as a believer, but as an apostle."
[Continuation of the address of Paul VI] "And by opening
up before him a field almost without limits, [the Church] addresses
[to the lay person] with confidence the invitation of the parable
in the gospels: 'You also, go and work in my vineyard' (Mt 20:14).
The work will be much and diversified. The decree of the Council
on the apostolate of the laity, after having in its turn firmly
established the principle that 'the Christian vocation is also,
by its nature, both vocation and apostolate,' (here again is a
phrase to take note of), devotes two full chapters to spell out
the 'different fields' and the 'different forms' of this apostolate."
(Allocution of Paul VI to the Third World Congress for the Apostolate
of the Laity, 15 October 1967).
It is, now, quite clear, you have come here to be formed as apostles,
that is to say, you will realise more and more your vocation to
the apostolate, to be apostles."
III. Contents and Coherence of Teaching
1. "I
shall give you a synthesis of doctrine."
I
would like to illustrate this statement of Father Finet with a
testimony:
« This week I have found this extraordinary synthesis, so
complete, so balanced and full of peace, the force of your faith,
the soundness of your thought and your marvelous humour. Surely,
all this never leaves you the whole year round, but it is not
the same thing, it is less concentrated.
Every year, I follow a retreat organized for Foyer members. It
is always a new light, and a time of fervour, but it is not the
same thing like a retreat of Christianity.
A retreat of Christianity is much wider. You give us everything:
The Father, the Son, the Spirit, the Church, the brethren, and
you give yourself totally. Your experience and your depth pierce
us so deeply that we are marked for life. »
2. Another major point
on which Father Finet used to insist very much is that the conferences
of the retreat are a living word, since doctrine is for
life.
« It is not doctrine you have come to look for, but a spirit.
Yes, it's life. The message of Jesus is very simple and can help
us to live well. It touches the problems of everyday life. It
is not high theology; it's about extremely vital problems. In
the gospels you will find answers to your daily life questions,
which touch us deeply. In teaching catechism we always have to
give instructions on matters that touch on daily life, which help
us to live well the message of Jesus is essentially alive. To
deepen the message of Jesus is not to make lofty speculations.
It's much simpler: Jesus teaches us to live a good life in a filial
and fraternal manner, in our families and in a community with
Christians and non-Christians. He sums it up in three inseparable
truths:
God is love
His Father is also our Father
The divine life is a gift that is real. »
3. "You
have come for a personal encounter with Jesus"
«
Our Christian vocation is to discover a living person. I would
like you to be convinced of this right from this evening. You
have come here to meet the Lamb of God in a spirit of poverty
and in a personal way. I want to give you Jesus.
You have not come here to obtain certain "things". Religion
is not an amount of things, which must pass into your life. Religion
is not, in the first place, virtue or piety-this is not to say
that these things do not have their own importance-but religion
is a person. It is the person of Jesus who comes to give himself
to us, who comes to meet us. For you who are more or less marked
by Existentialism, I will give the Person who gave himself to
us, the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. »
4. Silence
Father used to speak of the necessity of silence for love,
« for to love is to listen to someone, it is to be attentive
to a person, it is to pay attention to a heart in order to hear
its slightest calls and to satisfy its slightest desires. The
silence of the soul is not a complaisant listening to oneself.
I'll give you the conclusion: you will have to watch your silence.
You have come here to listen to the Holy Spirit, to listen to
love, therefore you have to observe silence, and it is indispensable.
This call for silence is willed by God. »
5. Prayer
« After each conference you have between one hour and
one and a half hours break. That is the time the retreat takes
place. You need to 'burn time for God'.
During these intervals you will have to set aside for yourself
everyday a time of prayer, of meditation. That means you will
have to take up again some thought or other from the conference,
from the Word of Christ, and to make it the starting point of
your 'ruminations', of your meditation, that's to say of your
prayer. This is extremely important. I will talk to you again
about this, I will teach you how to do meditation during this
retreat, for if you want to be men and women of action, it is
necessary for you to be men and women of contemplation. Today,
we do not say action or contemplation, but we say action and contemplation.
We use the word 'and' not the word 'or'. You are not for either
action or contemplation. You, lay people, you are for both.
A retreat is essentially for prayer. Instructions are useful only
in as far as they prepare one for prayer. »
6. "On
the whole, you are here for a re-birth."
«
You have come here to pick up new beginnings: to renew the dynamism
of your thought, of your intelligence, your vision, your inner
strength, on the whole to be reborn. You always have to be born
again, and that is to start anew. Life is a series of crises that
resolve themselves, of ends and new beginnings. [We know of] the
famous [adulthood] crisis of 18 to 25 years, the [midlife] crisis
of the 40s ("you either break or you bronze!"). We need
to be recreated in order to take off again. »
I would like, in ending this rapid presentation of our primary
mission, to underline how much the bishops whom I visit today
in the different continents, who have a Foyer of Charity in their
diocese, or wider still in their country, appreciate the long-term
fruits of all these retreats. These fruits are men and women who
as Christians, and as formed Christians, are now present in their
milieu of life, their profession, their responsibilities, their
apostolate in the world and with the Church. It is in order that
these retreats with long term fruits may continue that bishops
ask a priest to come to Châteauneuf and to discover, here
and in other Foyers, the particular grace which underlies all
Foyers and their retreats. These fundamental retreats are our
"jewel", like the prophet Ezekiel who saw his wife as
the "jewel of his eyes," like the Lord God himself who
looked upon Jerusalem as "the jewel of his eyes." (Ezekiel
24:16 and 21)
I will end with a prayer of Martha for retreatants, during a week in August 1937:
« My God You have already poured out so many graces and blessings on our retreat. Continue, I pray you, to pour out on all these souls your most celestial favours. Cast once more upon all these souls one long glance of love. May they understand how necessary it is to die several times in order to live fully.
O dear Mother, take all of them up with you into the Trinity. May they, in order to understand fully, understand a little better each day. »
Father Bernard
MICHON
