SSVP Singapore FORMATION SESSION SENSUS CHRISTI (THINKING AND ACTING LIKE JESUS) 28 MARCH 2015

FOLLOW CHRIST VERSE 1 Follow Christ and love the world as He did, When He walked upon the earth. Love each friend and enemy as He did; In God’s eyes we have equal worth

FOLLOW CHRIST VERSE 2 Follow Christ and serve the world as He did, When He ministered to everyone. Serve each friend and enemy as He did, So that the Father’s will be done.

FOLLOW CHRIST VERSE 3 He said: “Love each other as I love you, By this all men will know you are mine. As I served you so must you do, This new commandment I assign”.

FR ARRUPE’S PRAYER FOR COLLABORATING WITH CHRIST Lord, meditating on our way of proceeding, I have discovered that the ideal of our way of acting is your way of acting. Give me that Sensus Christi that I may feel with your feelings, with the sentiments of your heart, which basically are love for your Father and love for all men and women. Teach me how to be compassionate to the suffering, to the poor, the blind, the lame, and the lepers. Teach us your way so that it becomes our way today, so that we may come closer to the great ideal of Saint Ignatius [of Loyola]: to be companions of Jesus, collaborators in the Work of redemption.

The Christian Disciple is called to be like Jesus To think and act like Jesus

Jesus says: “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Mt 11: 28-30

To think and act like Jesus We must have a deep familiarity with Jesus

With the relationship and familiarity with Jesus We begin to discover his heartfelt concerns We begin to think and respond like Jesus did

The Core heartfelt concern of Jesus The Rule/Reign of God An era of equality, abundance (Lk 2:51-53) and brotherhood, of which the only King and Father will be God Himself. It was a change in the course of history in the form of a new human society

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it is written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”. Lk 4: 16-19

Jesus Holds A Radical Position The roots of the troubles of humanity lie in the very foundations of the institutions it has created: In the striving for money holding rivalry Desire for prestige Thirst for power climbing commanding hatred violence

Jesus Holds A Radical Position –Jesus proposes to create a new society where all can be free and happy (Mt 5:3-12) –To attain this men and women must voluntarily renounce the three false values: Money (Thirst for Riches) Glory (Ambition for Recognition) Power (Desire to Dominate)

Jesus Holds A Radical Position Instead of: hoarding ambition domination Where there was: rivalry hatred violence sharing equality solidarity and humble voluntary service There should be: fraternity love life

How did Jesus respond? Unconditional love Selflessness Total self-giving Generous Service Always “other-centred” Available Compassionate, merciful, forgiving

FR ARRUPE’S PRAYER FOR COLLABORATING WITH CHRIST Lord, meditating on our way of proceeding, I have discovered that the ideal of our way of acting is your way of acting. Give me that sensus Christi that I may feel with your feelings, with the sentiments of your heart, which basically are love for your Father and love for all men and women. Teach me how to be compassionate to the suffering, to the poor, the blind, the lame, and the lepers. Teach us your way so that it becomes our way today, so that we may come closer to the great ideal of Saint Ignatius [of Loyola]: to be companions of Jesus, collaborators in the Work of redemption.

GROUP DISCUSSION 1)The way we run our Conference Meetings at the moment, are we honestly thinking and acting like Jesus? 2)How can we make all our Conference Meetings be “a thinking and acting like Jesus”? 3)How can we use our Conference Meetings to help each member to grow in “thinking and acting like Jesus”? 4)Should we have regular Conference Meetings for building up our “Sensus Christi”?