Before the election, you must adopt certain attitudes in order to live this time in faith, hope, charity and, if possible, peace. “It is up to you to discern what your congregation should become, and this means being open to change. The chapter must initiate a transformation, that is, awaken in the congregation a taste for transition, a taste for Easter (quote from Ms. Béatrice Oiry).”
Election time is a time of trial: ‘Without trial, there is no Passover, neither for the Hebrews, nor for Jesus, nor for us (quoting Mrs Oiry)’. It is a time of great inner movements (fear, anger, jealousy, etc.). It is therefore, overall, a time of spiritual struggle. And there is nothing else to do but to engage in it, to go through it, to live this struggle, because it is the path to inner freedom and truth.
This time is an invitation to take the time necessary to adopt an attitude of inner indifference towards the choices that present themselves. For a moment, to stop wanting one thing rather than another, or, which amounts to the same thing, to refuse one thing rather than another. This will enable us to choose what will best lead the Institute to the end for which we were created, as the Ignatian text says.
