Formation processes

Presentación

Rome, February 15, 2019

To my brothers and sisters of the Vincentian Marian Youth,

The peace and the joy of Christ be always with you.

Fourteen years ago we presented a guide for the Formation of Formative Processes and Transitions so that the National Councils could use them in their countries as the fruit of VMY Assembly in Rome. The members of the Association with the Formative Processes have a good direction for the formation of their members.

We present a new edition: revised, updated, and contextualized with regard to the previous one. We hope it will be very useful for Formation in the different countries.

We have participated in an ecclesial event: the synod of bishops celebrated in Rome in October of 2018 with the theme “Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment” which spoke about the value of listening, diversity, progress, commitment, migrants, the marginalized and the vulnerability, participation and responsibility of young people, and above all of the action of the Holy Spirit who guides the church so that every person follow Christ in the particular mission to which Christ is inviting them. Young people must feel accompanied in order to be able to discern well what God offers them in each moment.

In World Youth Day in Panama we heard the Pope: “Peter and the Church are walking with you and we want to tell you to not be afraid.” “Finding yourself is a call and an invitation to keep alive our common dream.” The dream for which Christ gave his life for each and every one of us. “It is the hour of young people.”

Cultivating a spirit of prayer is very important to hear what Jesus wants to tell us, and to continue to bring the gospel to daily life.

We all have many challenges in the XXI century. Many young people look for models of youthful authenticity in today’s world. This document can be useful to them as young people committed in the church and in society, together with the poor, in the VMY. And thus be able to discern what is the personal vocation to which Jesus Christ is calling each member: to be a Christian living the gospel as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ as a layperson or as a person consecrated as a priest or a consecrated man or woman.

May our Lady of the Miraculous Medal continue to guide our lives and our participation in the mission of Jesus Christ, evangelizer of the poor.

Your brother in St. Vincent,

P. Tomaž Mavrič, C.M.
Director General VMY

  • General objective: To discover and assume a personal identity, human values, the need to grow as a group, the need to grow in one’s faith.
  • Specific objectives:
    • To know oneself, to come to know others, the Church, God and Mary.
    • What is the VMY?
    • To organize and establish the group.
    • Accompaniment and development of personal plan.
  • Thematic axis:
    • The human and Christian person.
  • Time:
    • Approximately one year.
1. I am a human being
  • Objective: To learn how to attain self-knowledge, creating an identity through an analysis of one’s qualities and limitations in order to be able to value and accept oneself and in order to respond to God’s call (a call that is made to every person).
    • To learn how to attain self-knowledge.
    • To create a personal identity.
    • To analyze one’s qualities, gifts and limitations.
    • To deepen one’s understanding of human values.
    • To work at self-acceptance (self-esteem).
    • Social abilities (assertiveness, communication, empathy).
    • Affectivity and sexuality.
2. Reality of youth
  • Objective: To understand that we need the other in order to form a group.
    • To analyze the personal and social reality that surrounds young people.
    • To discover the values and the counter-values of that reality.
    • To discover oneself as one reaches out to encounter others.
    • What and who helps me to grow and what and who hinders my growth.
3. Made in the image of God
  • Objective: To enable the young persons to recognize and affirm their God-given dignity and at the same time discover their virtues and defects so that they might come to know themselves as children of God.
    • I am a son/daughter of God
    • I am made in the image of God …
    • … in order to respond to God’s call.
    • I have been called for a mission and called to be a reflection of God.
    • To enable the young persons to deepen this understanding of Christian values.
4. Free
  • Objective: To help the young men and women understand the true meaning of the freedom to which they have been called.
    • What is true freedom?
    • Everything is lawful, but not everything is beneficial (1Cor 10:23).
    • Freedom and responsibility (accept the consequences of one’s action).
    • Internal and external freedom.
5. Mary in the Gospel
  • Objective: To relate the person of Mary as seen in the gospels to the life of the young person.
    • Young people and Mary.
    • Mary and accompaniment (Jn 2:1-12, the wedding at Cana, Pentecost, Mary at the foot of the cross).
    • The meaning of the Hail Mary.
6. Personal Plan
  • Objective: To develop a plan for life that enables the young person to concretize ideals, goals, objectives, dreams and desires (appendix 1).
    • To understand the decisions that are made during the course of one’s life.
    • To understand the aspects that enslave one.
    • Where do I place God in the decision-making process?
    • Where do I want to go?
7. We rely on you
  • Objective: To help young persons feel committed to their formation in the VMY and committed to their transformative-evangelization task in the Church.
    • We are members of the VMY in the Church in order to be “yeast in the mass of dough”.
    • In imitation of Saint Vincent de Paul, we are called to serve (appendix 2).
8. Evaluation
  • To evaluate our pilgrimage up to this point in our life.
  • Questions are asked in accord with specific objectives (a form of self-evaluation).
  • General objective: To discover the call to change one’s life as the result of a personal encounter with Christ and with the group and with the poor.
  • Specific objectives:
    • To be initiated into the life of prayer in order to discover and assume (with the group) the demands of the Christian life.
    • To know the history of the VMY and the Saints (Blesseds) of the Vincentian Family.
    • To engage in some apostolic experiences (in a Vincentian manner).
    • To suggest the possibility of spiritual accompaniment.
  • Thematic axis:
    • Christ and the poor.
  • Time:
    • Approximately two years.
1. Seduced by charity
  • Objective: To present the journey of the Vincentian Family.
    • The events of Folleville and Chatillon.
    • Saint Louise de Marillac.
    • Frederic Ozanam, Rosalie Rendu, others.
2. Messages from heaven
  • Objective: To know the life of Saint Catherine Laboure and the history of the apparitions (appendix 3).
    • Catherine Laboure, the saint of silence.
    • July 18, 1830, yesterday and today.
    • November 27, 1830.
3. I am part of a community
  • Objective: Strengthen the unity of the group and thus create a process of greater openness and dialogue in the group.
    • I am a person, but I am a person in relationship with others.
    • I am a member of a family by birth and a member of another family by a personal choice.
    • I am a Christian (a form of life that gives potential to all that is human): life in community.
4. Foundations of our faith
  • Objective: To know this matter in order to form oneself and form others.
    • Catechism of the Catholic Church.
    • YOUCAT.
5. Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • Objective: To present the young men and women with the concept of the Church as the sacrament of Christ.
    • Baptism.
    • Confirmation.
    • Reconciliation.
    • Eucharist.
    • Anointing of the Sick.
    • Orders.
    • Matrimony.
6. The Church that I am invited to build up
  • Objective: To know, discover, encounter and follow Jesus Christ.
    • Jesus: a friend who gave everything for the Kingdom and who is Good News for the poor.
    • Jesus: called others.
    • Jesus: calls us by name.
    • The meaning of the Our Father.
    • Jesus as evangelizer (Mt 25).

7. Pastoral accompaniment (how and why is this accompaniment done? Who does this?) (appendix 4)

  • Objective: To look for meaning in our life by building up the Kingdom of God.
    • Jesus, the companion of every believer.
    • How can I accompany another?
    • To whom do I open myself as a person?
8. Evaluation
  • A retreat during which there is dialogue about one’s personal progress and the progress of the group.
  • General objective: To discover the community, ecclesial and Mariological meaning of the VMY in order to make all this a part of one’s life through an evangelizing commitment in the parish community.
  • Specific objectives:
    • To help the group consciously integrate itself into the parish (ministries: word, cult, charity).
    • To deepen the understanding of Mary’s role in the Christian community and in the VMY.
    • To become more involved in service.
  • Thematic axis:
    • Vincentians in the Church.
  • Time:
    • Approximately two years.
1. Ministry in the parish community
  • Objective: To know and to become integrated into the parish community (word, cult, charity, liturgy).
    • To draw nearer to the parish.
    • To know its various ministries:
      • Prophetic (word).
      • Liturgical (cult).
      • Social (charity).
    • To integrate the members of the group into a parish apostolate.
2. Documents of the Church
  • Objective: To know and to be able to differentiate the documents of the Church.
    • Documents of Vatican II.
    • Encyclicals:
      • Evangelii Nuntiandi
      • Cristi Fidelis Laici
      • Catechecis Tradente
      • Redentoris Mater
      • Marialis Cultus
    • Social Doctrine of the Church.
    • Documents of the Local Episcopal Conference.
    • Apostolic Exhortations.
3. God has looked upon the lowliness of his servants
  • Objective: To deepen one’s understanding of the Magnificat as a source of our spirituality.
    • Spirituality of the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55).
4. The Wedding Feast at Cana (Jn 2:1-12)
  • Objective: To present the Blessed Mother from the perspective of the plan for salvation.
    • Mary on Calvary (Jn 19:25-27).
    • Mary on Pentecost, in the upper room with the Apostles (Acts 2:1-13).
    • “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5).
5. The Symbols on the Miraculous Medal
  • Objective: To distinguish the various elements on the Miraculous Medal and to understand their importance for the members of the Association.
    • The Immaculate Conception.
    • Why is the medal called the Miraculous Medal?
    • The meaning of the various symbols on the Medal.
6. The Vincentian Charism (appendix 5)
  • Objective: To instill in the young men and women a desire to live as Vincentians and to do this with an awareness of their great mission.
    • Living our charism.
    • A spiritual family.
    • Renewing the charism.
    • Working together as a team (collaboration).
7. “What you did for one of these least brothers or sisters of mine” (Mt 25:40)
  • Objective: Reflect on the service/apostolate of the Association in order to come to an understanding that in serving the poor, one is serving God.
    • What is an apostle?
    • What is an apostolate?
    • What are some of the various forms of the apostolate?
    • What is the apostolate of the Association?
8. Young men and women as Vincentian Leaders
  • Objective: To help young men and women mature in their faith and, with the assistance of pastoral accompaniment, help them to take on a role of leadership.
    • Formation.
    • Celebration.
    • Service.
    • Identify one’s qualities.
    • Serve the community.
9. Evaluation
  • Engage in service/apostolate and how do we choose such service/apostolate?
  • General objective: In accord with the Vincentian charism and one’s vocational option, to assume a commitment in the Church and in the world.
  • Specific objectives:
    • To give witness to the faith in the various situations in which one finds oneself.
    • To make the Marian Consecration.
    • To clarify one’s vocational option through living various experiences of service on behalf of those persons who are poor.
  • Thematic axis:
    • The Church.
  • Time:
    • Approximately one year.
1. No caminho de Emaús (Lk 24:13-35)
  • Objective: To update one’s personal plan for life and to do this in light of all that has been newly discovered.
    • The companion helps me:
      1. To know myself and to understand the reality that surrounds me.
      2. To deepen my encounter with the living Christ.
      3. To give witness.
2.The Christian life lived in community
  • Objective: To promote those values that will enable the members to become disciples of the living Christ in the midst of their community (to do this through the development of personal relationships with others and through various experiences of their faith).
    • What are values?
    • What are gospel values?
    • How can one live the gospel values in community?
3. The Church in its origins
  • Objective: Through a discussion of its history to reveal to the young men and women the face of the Church. Therefore, aware of that reality to help the members realize that they are members of this Church.
    • The first Christian community (Acts 2:42-47).
    • Apostles-Disciples.
    • The martyrs give witness to the community.
    • Paul, a faithful witness of the community.
    • The saints as witnesses.
4. The Creed, a symbol of our faith
  • Objective: To help the young men and women deepen their understanding of the Creed so that they can better understand their faith.
    • Belief in the Father.
    • Belief in the Son.
    • Belief in the Holy Spirit.
    • Belief in the Church.
5. To live as children of the light
  • Objective: To make the young men and women aware of sin as a limitation to their personal development, something that prevents them from living in the freedom of grace.
    • To maintain a life filled with light (Rm 12).
    • To love the light and to walk in the light (1Jn 1:5).
    • Love as a reflection of the light.
6. To make the Marian Consecration
  • Objective: To understand the Marian Consecration as a true characteristic of the Christian life and a vital element of the Association.
    • Elements of the formation process with regard to the Marian Consecration.

I. To live our baptismal commitment.

II. My life plan.

III. Evaluation of my journey in the Association.

IV. Renew my Marian Consecration.

7. The missionary task proper to Jesus
  • Objective: To discover that Christ defined himself as the One sent by the Father in order to reveal God to humankind and thus reveal God’s merciful love.
    • What is the mission?
    • How is the mission accomplished?
    • Attitudes of the missionary.
8. Service and mission in the VMY
  • Objective: To commit oneself to the mission and to do this in a joyful and enthusiastic manner (characteristics of the commitment of a young person who is a member of the VMY and who trusts in the Lord).
9. To continue to build up the Kingdom of God
  • Objective: To discover the different ways in which the Kingdom of God can be built up in the midst of the situation in which one finds oneself.
10. Evaluation
  • How do we live our Marian Consecration within the Church and how do we give witness to that consecration?

I. Personal Life Plan
II. The Vincentian Process
III. Saint Catherine Labouré and the History of the Apparitions
IV. Pastoral Accompaniment
V. Branches of the Vincentian Family

To access the appendix, please download the full document:

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