The three dimensions of the ministry of reconciliation: reconciliation with God, with humanity, and with creation, assumes a new urgency. (GC 36 D1, 21)When we go to heaven the first question St. Peter will ask us is, “Where is your neighbour?” for ‘God does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals. Rather it has pleased Him to bring men together as one people’. (L.G. 9)

Small Christian Communities (SCC) is thus the way of being the Church today. Out of the 200 parishes that we Jesuits administer in Sri Lanka and India today, 123 of them have an SCC way of life and the number is growing, as Jepasa has taken SCC as a pastoral priority.

Now, GC 36 Decree 1, has placed before us a threefold Reconciliation: Reconciliation with God, with humanity and with Creation. I think Small Christian Communities (SCC) is a possible place where we can make this threefold reconciliation a reality.

1. Small Christian Communities (SCC) – Reconciliation with God:
At the SCC meeting we use the 7-Step Gospel sharing method: 1) Invite the Lord; 2) Read the Text; 3) Pick a word & repeat it thrice letting it get internalised; 4) Let God speak in silence; 5) Share what we have heard in the silence of our hearts; 6) Meeting agenda and 7) Pray spontaneously.

Very often it is rushed through so as to carry on with the agenda of the meeting. We forget that this gospel sharing is the very purpose of the community coming together. The most important part of this method is the ‘sharing on what we have heard in our hearts’.

Here is where we can share with our laity, our Ignatian heritage of ‘spiritual conversation’ as each one of us shares how the Word of God really affected us. This ‘spiritual conversation involves an exchange marked by active and receptive listening and a desire to speak of that which touches us most deeply…It creates an atmosphere of trust and welcome for ourselves and others’ (GC 36 D1, 12).

2. SCC to include Small Human Communities (SHC) – Reconciliation within Humanity:
‘In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization…motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions.’ (GC 36 D1, 28) Thus, ‘we need to create networks with church bodies, the media, civil society and other secular forces to promote a pluralistic and inclusive society’ (JCSA Statement: Contesting Hindu Rashtra).

SCCs normally meet once a month. While this meeting among Christians is important, it is suggested that every two to three months instead of the regular SCC meeting, a ‘Small Human Community’ meeting which includes people of all faiths is held, for indeed, ‘the parish should be a meeting place for everybody in the district’ (Some Guidance for The Parish Apostolate – Fr Arrupe, 1979).

I suggest that the meeting could have the following 60 minutes format:
1. Short fellowship over chai (15 minutes)
2. A Bhajan and a verse read from one Scripture, with a 2 minutes input (10 minutes)
3. Silent prayer; At the first meeting an input on how to pray in silence (20 minutes)
4. Prayer, sending peace vibration to the community and the whole world and a closing Bhajan (5 min)
5. Any other business (10 minutes)
There could also be SHC gatherings for National Celebration or other common programmes.

3. SCC to include Small Eco-Communities (SEC) – Reconciliation with Creation:
‘God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement.’ (Laudato No. 89). ‘When our hearts are authentically open to universal communion, this sense of fraternity excludes nothing and no one…which also unites us, with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth.’ (Laudato No. 92)

The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation (GC 36 D1, 30).

Here is where our SCC and better still SHC can now grow in this universal communion. We can have common projects of collection of tetra-packs, used battery-cells, newspapers, plastic bottles etc. for re-cycling. We can start common composting projects, car-pooling and many other creative environmental projects. One Jesuit parish in Mumbai thus collected in a single year 20,000 tetra-packs for recycling.

As our ‘Small Christian Communities’ include ‘Small Human Communities’ and ‘Small Eco-Communities’, may God help our communities become ‘homes’ for the Reign of God.