From The Editor

This is the second publication of Volume II of the Congregational magazine "Brothers FIC" reaching you. The theme of this issue is "Community living, prayer and apostolate." We would like to share with our readers how the brothers try to witness to the love of God through thesethreepillarsofourlife.Thesearethreebroadtopics,andwedo not intend to treat them in detail; rather we wish to give you a gist of how we give each a place in our life as there is often tension in bringing a balance among them. There are times our life places an intense stress on community living; at another time we are consumed by prayer; and yet in a certain period, our whole attention is on apostolic work, sometimes to the near neglect of one or the other aspects. The struggle to strike a balance among them has often led to challenges in our living, but we wish to remain faithful to them in order to accomplish the ideals our founders left us.

Articles 6 and 59 of our Constitutions state the importance of these pillars in our life: "In Jesus' name we form a fraternal community; in his Spirit we strive to be brothers to one another and to all humankind. Our Congregation is a pontifical, religious institute for male lay-religious who are dedicated to apostolic works" (no. 6). "Continuous concern for communal and personal prayer is an essential part of our life as religious. We intend to be people of prayer and to interlace our lives more and more with moments of prayer" (no. 59). Thus we intend to pay equal attention to each of them as the essential ingredients of our life as brothers.

Beloved reader, you will be reading about some experiences of our fellow brothers regarding the theme stated above. We know we are still far from the ideal but in various ways we strive daily to reach the ideal as religious. Bro. Augustine, our General Superior, reflects on his experience in connection with the three ingredients. Bro. Raphael gives his impressions on the fundamental elements of these pillars, while Bro. Maarten Bouw shares a compilation of some important quotations on community living.

Dear reader, as usual we present some reflections, experiences and opinions of our brothers around the globe on the above theme. Two Brothers will provide their profiles: Isidore Aabeisie, headmaster of FIC Jubilee School in Nandom (Ghana) and Valentinus Naryo, headmaster of St. Johanes Senior High School in Ketapang (Indonesia). We believe that from their sharing, our young readers will be inspired and further discover the meaning in our life and work. Bro. Basilide Dong shares a brief reflection on "Our call and mission to live the spirituality of the congregation." The rest are news from our provinces and Religious House Netherlands, news in pictures, an article from the Vatican and a short piece about Mary written by Bro. Nimorious Ganee.

In the spirit of living together, praying together and working together, we FIC brothers wish to continue to reflect deeply on the three pillars as an important means of witnessing to the love of God among people. During this special period of Yuletide, allow us to wish you "A Happy and Blessed Christmas!" May the king of peace bring true peace especially to conflict areas of the world and may He inflame our hearts to enable us discover Christ in one another. Thank you for your attention and support to the FIC Congregation.