Secular Institute the Missionaries of the Infirm "Christ our Hope"

The community Institute:
a life in communion, in the diaspora

The missionaries know they have been called by Christ in the Church, and identify themselves in the one and same charism which each of them has received as a gift. Therefore, the Institute expresses and guarantees the calling to live a personal life style according to a community charism. The bond established between each missionary and the Institute is a full and mutual one in the sense that the Institute assumes the responsibility to help us realize our vocation according to the substance and the spirit of the Constitution, and we undertake to take part in the life and formation of the Institute as a whole in a co-responsible manner.

The missionaries do live in a diaspora situation, and yet they live relations of authentic and profound fraternity in a special form of communion. The fraternal communion which makes us a family is a source of strength and support amidst the difficulties of daily life, and commits us, first of all in our respective groups, to be most concrete in living the new commandment (Cf. Jn 15:12) to be peacemakers and forgers of communion.

It is likewise the task of the Institute to assist and assess so our lives may unfold unto the very end in fidelity to the Consecration we make forever. In order to carry out its task of formation, the Institute assigns to each member a personal guide who accompanies us in our quest and collaborates with us in our self-formation to an upright conscience and growth towards freedom. Likewise through the local groups the Institute offers us means of formation which help each missionary to grow in the giving of self to God, in the interior life, in apostolic service to her fellowmen, particularly in the "mission", and in the style of secularity.

For each missionary the Institute is ever like a tree which opens its branches in all directions, almost as if to point the way to the universality of the gift, and which, with its life-giving sap, continues to nourish all those who remain closely bound to it.