Sense, resistance, fear, fascination. Change as a possibility in religious life

Abstract

This article approaches the reality of change within a concrete context: Religious Life. Through the following concepts of meaning, resistance, fear and fascination, we explore the reactions generated at the personal and the institutional levels of consecrated men and women by the idea of confronting change. Along with the particular characteristics of our way of living, contemplating our current reality as a historical moment that functions as a “hinge” permits us to conclude the following: If we do not clarify the “meaning” of the change, or discover in the mission the primary motor which directs the change, it will be difficult to overthrow our “resistances”, to overcome our “fears”, to mold the “fascination” and to discover its true “possibilities”. All of this is asking for an attitude of one who searches, and this requires great faith and great hope so as to remain in the breech even when the fog remains, even when magical solutions do not emerge…persisting in the unknown, in the powerlessness, from an attitude in which one lets go of oneself and becomes passionate about “the rest”…willing to hand over one’s life…and in as such, to hand over one’s life to the change.