Opera Omnia

INSTRUCTION III
ZEAL AND DEDICATION
A Note on contributions to the Pauline Fund

The Chapter held in April 1957 had to establish the contribution that the Houses were to send to the General House for general expenses. With all the members present it was decided to put off imposing contributions. The Houses are, for the most part, just starting, and the General House intends this dispensation to be its own contribution and encouragement to every House.
However, what was established is that every House is to send 25% of the offerings for the Masses for the Cooperators Association, and that at the end of every year both Houses and Provinces are to send in full to the General House the Mass offerings that are surplus to requirements.

The virtues of the apostle

Saint Paul writes to the Romans: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his

Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brethren, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles (Rom 1:8-13).
Is not what Saint Paul writes appropriate for our spirit, activity and zeal? To bring to the world the faith of Rome: while our heart and mind are fixed on Rome, centre of Catholicism; on Rome where we have the Father of all, where we have the Rock on which the Church is built.

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Art. 159. Piety must be particularly and continually fostered by the study of Jesus Christ the Divine Master, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is to be done in such a manner that, after His example, all may grow in wisdom, grace, and virtue, worshipping God in spirit and in truth, and sincerely loving Him with mind, will, heart, and deed.
Art. 160. Sacred Liturgy shall be held in proper esteem. Therefore, all Religious should eagerly try to understand its meaning, learn well Gregorian Chant and the sacred ceremonies, and perform them with love, so that through them piety may be greatly fostered.

Art. 161. On Sundays and Holydays of obligation, whenever possible, there should be a second Mass, meditation on the Gospel, Vespers, catechetical instruction or sermon, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.
Art. 162. Superiors shall take care that those Religious who have been unable to attend some exercise in common make up for it in the best possible way.
Art. 163. All the Religious are bound to the common obligations of the clergy outlined in Canons 124-142, unless the contrary is clear from the context or the nature of the law.
Art. 164. All members must hold in great esteem and diligently observe recollection of soul as the most appropriate means of fostering interior life and union with God.
Art. 165. During meals the mind should be nourished for a certain period of time with some good reading. Whenever there is a sufficient reason the Superior, exercising prudent discretion, can dispense from this rule.
Art. 166. Members are forbidden to enter each other's room.

I am not seeking your gifts

Saint Paul writes to the Philippians: For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more,

with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness, which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God (Phil 1:8-11).
These words point to Paul's lively desire that the charity of the Philippians should go on increasing more and more.
He writes to the Corinthians of the sufferings that accompany his apostolate: …in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? (2 Cor 11:27-30).
Two thoughts: 1) the true Religious, and even more so the priest, because of their profession, must love sacrifice and suffering; 2) they must want to do the greatest spiritual and also corporal good for their neighbor.
Saint Paul writes: Non quaerens quod mihi utile est, sed quod multis, ut salvi fiant. In other words, not seeking my own advantage, but that of the many, that they may be saved [1 Cor 10:33].
He goes on: It is you, not your gifts, that I seek [cf. Phil 4:17], I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less? [2 Cor 12:15]. And again to the Corinthians:¹ You yourselves know

how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which befell me through the plots of the Jews [Acts 20:18-19]. Instead to the Thessalonians, he writes: For you remember our labor and toil, brethren; we worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you, while we preached to you the gospel of God [1 Thess 2:9]. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us [1 Thess 2:7-8].

Moral portrait of the Pauline

The Pauline religious has chosen the better part, that is, perfection.
He does not have promotions that allure him; he is not aiming for recognition and titles; he does not have to achieve esteem or distinction; he is not concerned with a salary. He has renounced even the ordinary consolations of the secular clergy; not for him the distinction whether his cassock is black, purple or red. But he does put his trust in the centuplum: to reap a hundredfold more than what he has given up.
If the Holy Spirit enlightens us, and insofar as it is up to us, let us prefer humiliation to praise, poverty to wealth, oblivion to recognition, suffering to consolation and health.
Let us consider ourselves the least; do not expect thanks; take second place to the secular clergy. Convert people, erect parishes, prepare dioceses… to cede them then to the diocesan clergy. When everything is flowing smoothly in the Church let us attend to study, prayer, ministry and apostolate. But intervene, when it is going through bad times, to give our

contribution of action and prayer; to return then to the shadows and be criticized, despised, and judged harshly, because people expected more of us. Demands made without reciprocation; to confess, preach, and supply without recompense; to work for long hours in the editorial office or in our apostolate, at times to the detriment of our health, and to be judged as loafers or money-makers. All this is what the Religious chooses and accepts with his Profession… But there is the hundredfold: and if one is faithful, life eternal.
To obey civil authority invested in unworthy people; to pay non-dutiable taxes; how many times quae non rapui exsolvebam?² At the end of Saint Paul's various missions almost always what awaited him were persecution, false accusations and beatings.
To expend oneself to train young people who will forget the benefits received and put the blame on old-fashioned systems and ways of teaching; fatherly care manifested in total dedication and sacrifice repaid with black ingratitude and perhaps with accusations as well; long hours spent in preparing a publication only to see it flop; to show a special liking for someone and to ascertain that the more you love the less you are loved; to work and to spend your life at the service of many and to reap the whirlwind in old age. Thus Paul in his last letter, from his prison in Rome (second imprisonment), writes to Timothy: Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me… Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me… When you come, bring the cloak… also the books and the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me

great harm… At my first defence no one took my part… [2 Tim 4:9-16].
This reflects what he had already written to the Corinthians about his ministry: In multa patientia, in tribulationibus, in necessitatibus, in angustiis, in plagis, in carceribus, in seditionibus, in laboribus, in vigiliis, in ieiuniis, in castitate, in scientia, in longanimitate, in suavitate, in Spiritu Sancto, in caritate non ficta.³
And the result? Superabundo gaudio in omni tribulatione.⁴

Objective: the greatest good

Bring the greatest good to everyone.
Help everyone with prayer, advice, a word, publications, ministry, example.
A true Religious should resolve not to allow any occasion to pass which the Lord gives him to practise charity.
- The greatest good in school: education and instruction;
- the greatest good with preaching: well prepared and suited to people's needs;
- the greatest good in the confessional: as healer, father, teacher;
- the greatest good in publications: imbued with a pastoral spirit.
Contribute to the Diocese in accordance with our vocation.
Give good example in observance of the law, including the highway code.
Make use of the means available to us to defend the truth, morals, and the Church.

Prepare good citizens and leaders for the country.
Contribute to the formation of wise rulers.
Keep out of ordinary politics, and intervene when it gets involved with the Church.
Cooperate in every apostolate: Conferences of Saint Vincent de Paul, Apostleship of the Sea, the Third Orders, the Cooperators of Religious Institutes, the Marian Congregations, the Protection of Young Women, the Apostolate of Prayer, the Missionary Unions, movements for Christian schools, parish apostolate, lay apostolate, and so on.
As well as for the various, more spiritual, initiatives: Vocation Work for Diocesan Clergy; Vocation Work for Religious; Eucharistic Unions; Legion of Mary; catechetical initiatives; works of charity; the religious Societies of Our Lady of Carmel, the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Sorows; Union for Sudden Deaths, and for the deceased in general, and so on.

On the model of Saint Paul

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith (Phil 3:7-9).

Patientes estote ad omnes⁵ (1 Thess 5:14).
The blessing of Saint Paul be upon us: May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ (2 Thess 3:5).
The conclusion of this instruction is prompted by Saint Paul himself. He writes to Timothy (2 Tim 4:5-8): As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry. For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.