The Brothers' Love for and Loyalty to the Congregation.

The New World Dictionary of American English explains loyalty to mean faithfulness to somebody, commitments or obligations. It defines a loyal person as one who is faithful to a person, a cause or some ideals that one is under obligation to defend, support, or be loyal to. Jesus Christ was faithful to God by fulfilling His father's mission on earth through his sacrifice on the cross, as we are told in Hebrew 2:17. Loyalty is explained further to mean enduring commitment to a person or a cause over a long period of time —often with the implication of the commitment persisting in the face of obstacles that threaten the lasting commitment. This is very important for us Christians. Faithfulness and loyalty are virtues required in the performances of roles. Therefore faithfulness in our roles as religious is a direct consequence of our loyalty to each other and the congregation.  

Loyalty does not include giving up our commitments when things get tough, when life begins to make demands on us or when life asks more from us than we are ever expected to give. Our love for and loyalty to the FIC Congregation should be like our love for Christ as described in Romans 8:35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As religious, loyalty to our congregation requires steadfast commitment to those values which direct and define us or which lie at the core of our life. These include all the gospel values that define us as Christians, our constitutions, our vows, our community life, our prayers and apostolate. Following the spirit of our founders, we are called to be faithful to Jesus Christ and His mission - the mission of building the kingdom of God on earth. 

As FIC Brothers loyalty to the congregation means remaining committed to those whom God has brought into our lives and has called us to serve, even in times of difficulty. This is in accordance with the spirit of our founders who, in spite of all the oppositions and obstacles they faced at beginning of this congregation, never gave up. Loyalty therefore calls for our commitments to serve not only our fraternal community, but also those to whom we are committed by our charism, namely the under-privileged of our society. If there is a problem with loyalty among us (brothers), it is because there is a problem with our relationship with God. 

One important point that Bro. Humbertus (now 92 years old) made when he talked about loyalty to the  FIC Congregation is to be open to the Holy Spirit.  He said we have  to spend time to pray for ourselves so as to be able to follow the example of our founders and our fellow brothers who have died before us. When we allow the spirit to direct our lives, we can respond to God's call appropriately in spite of our human weaknesses. All this time I have not said anything about the word "love" as this is part of the topic. Here it is taken for granted that there is no genuine loyalty without love. Loyalty is actually a component of love. No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15: 13). As said in our constitutions, the more profound our lives, and the more intense our quest for the God of Love, the more so everything in our life will come together in love. “God is Love” and in him everything will coalesce in love (Const. art. 34). Love drives everything about our faithfulness and commitment to the things of God. Love directs all the services we give to people. If we have no love we cannot do anything good. "Though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains, if I am without love, I am nothing" (1Cor. 13:2). Read all the verses of 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 and you will see the power of love.

To be faithful to the congregation is to constantly renew our commitment to live its values, two of which are "love" and "loyalty" as referred to by Bro. Humbertus. Renewal of our commitment reminds us of our duties towards the congregation and helps us adjust our lives to changing circumstances. As said by Archbishop Rodriguez "Loyalty does not mean staying in the same place, but where we need to be and if we have to go, we go, always following the breath of the Spirit." This makes a lot of sense to FIC Brothers as is expressed beautifully in our constitutions: 

In our apostolic dedication we are expected to work in whatever way and place the Congregation, through our authorities, requests of us, also when the request is counter our desires, preferences or judgments . This may be extremely difficult, but as religious we make ourselves available, to the full (Const. art. 23).

As human beings loyalty to our Christian calling can be threatened by our human short-comings. We can experience disappointments in our ministry; work itself may become boring and monotonous; We may be overcome by difficulties, fears, threats, boredom, discouragement or hopelessness, and God may appear very far from us, but loyalty demands that we should be willing to endure in any crisis, to see things through or to work things out because working it out is worth pursuing. Our faithfulness and loyalty to the congregation demands that we stick to the mission of Jesus no matter the circumstances. However challenging and tedious it may seem to us, our Constitutions requires us to persevere in faithful loyalty, "for what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake" (2 Cor 4:5). 

Raphael Besigrinee