UNISINOS – RESIDÊNCIA CONCEIÇÃO
Residência Conceição 4 September, 2015 XLV:2
UNISINOS
Cx. P. 101
93.001-970 São Leopoldo, RS e-mail: [email protected]
BRAZIL http://www.egfbenya.com
Dear Benefactors, Collaborators, Family, Friends and Colleagues:
September is one of four referential months on this planet, presenting dates that specify the change from one season to another. Here in the southern hemisphere 21 September usually marks the beginning of the spring season while in the northern hemisphere it usually indicates the beginning of autumn. Direct opposites regarding weather, they are also opposites in terms of cultivation. Spring is the season of opening. Hibernating plants emerge from dormancy. Their buds open as they resume growth and reproduction by flowering.
Farmers, gardeners and cultivators open the earth in preparation for planting. Husbandry of livestock, many times involves a grazing or browsing management of plain, prairie and savannah regions in a stewardship that is specific for each land, region and climate. Basic command of these ambient criteria is necessary for any prolonged, sustained and intensive productivity of a region. Short term, intensive degradation management is always possible, but it has its final cost in a diminution or even cancellation of productive capacity of that region.
Thus along with the physical-technical activities of regional husbandry, a sacramental attention to ambiental criteria defines a spirituality that discerns and recognizes specifics of sustained production. That spirituality may be difficult to define and teach, but it is readily recognized, imparted and applied by persons, families and communities having communion with the earth and through the land.
My personal involvement with this husbandry has been broad and varied, especially when I was young. Now in my senior years, that involvement is limited to garden and orchard activities principally in the semi-arid tropics of Northeast Brazil in a spirit of opening that is continuously mysterious and challenging.
That spirit of OPENING continues in life and in vocation. It must! If it ceases, closure replaces it. Temptation to closure is constantly present. Once implanted closure limits an individual and sets in motion a process of diminution; not sacramental diminution, like that of Saint John the Baptist, but destructive diminution of demonic origin. Destructive diminution has plagued me in my life, subtly and insidiously. Yet with the Grace of God, one can overcome such diminution through honest, simple openness in a dynamic that receives the Call and Challenge of Almighty God, failing at times, but recovering and progressing in crucial steps of opening.
I celebrate 31 years of one such crucial step in this season of opening; my ordination as presbyter in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. Many who honored me with their presence at that time have already passed to Eternity. Yet many continue in this life. I remember you with gratitude; gratitude to Almighty God and gratitude to all of you in a spirit of opening that defines our continuing journey to Eternal life, as I remain
Gratefully in Christ
Pe. Ed Benya, S.J.