INSTRUCTION VII1
THE DIVINE MASTER: WAY, TRUTH, LIFE
Art. 123. Whatever the religious member acquires by his own industry, or because of his being a member of the Society, he acquires for the Society. Therefore, Mass stipends, offerings for the work of the apostolate, pensions, remuneration received for services given, gifts accepted in consideration of the community, and other such offerings must be faithfully handed over to the administrator as goods acquired for the Society itself.
Art. 124. Whatever is acquired by the members according to article 123 must be added to the goods of the Society, and any money as well as all other valuables must be deposited in the common treasury.
Art. 125. Members cannot accept anything for their own personal use, nor give anything away without the permission of the Superior.
Art. 126. All things in the Society shall be in common, even those things pertaining to food, clothing, and furniture; however, everything should be handled under the prudent supervision
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of Superiors, who, with paternal charity, should provide each one with those things of which he might stand in need.
Art. 127. Religious are not forbidden from performing those acts in regard to property which the laws prescribe, including alienations, sale thereof, provided they have obtained permission from their major Superior, or, if the matter is urgent, from the local Superior.
The soul of our Pauline piety
The soul of our Pauline piety is described in article 159 of the Constitutions: 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.
Saint Paul is the foremost interpreter of the Divine Teacher. Jesus taught him without recourse to intermediaries just as was the case when he was converted.
In the twenty or so places where Paul mentions the mystery of Christ he speaks of the relationship between Christ and Christians as members of his mystical Body. In Paul's words we are incorporated in Christ our Head; we are part of the building which is the Church; we are grafted into him, and thanks to a successful graft we, a wild olive, become a new and fruitful olive.
Man, body and soul, is a composite being; but what characterizes him are his three faculties - mind, heart, and will. This graft, carried out on man, must raise his mind, heart and will to produce new fruits
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in accordance with the nature of the graft and of the person grafted. Thus it is that Jesus Truth works on the mind and confers faith; Jesus Christ is Way and works on the will, which then complies with God's will; Jesus Christ is Life and works on the feelings, conveying a supernatural life. If the graft is inserted successfully the Christian will be able to say: vivit vero in me Christus.2
This is the great teaching of Saint Paul.
Christocentric devotion
Man is made in the image and likeness of the triune God. All three divine Persons took part in the work of creation. Man who is one as a person is an image of God who is One; but the three divine Persons have something of their own, and each is represented by man with his three faculties: the Father by the will, the Son by the mind, the Holy Spirit by feelings. Thus man, a little trinity, is an image of the triune God.
Through the fall of Adam and Eve the whole of man was in deterius commutatus;3 his mind tended towards error, his will towards vice, his feelings towards superstition, false worship, and eternal death.
Jesus Christ, sent by the Father, came and restored man, producing a second and much improved copy. Thus man, passing through Jesus Christ the Mediator, will present himself to God purified and holy in his mind, will and feelings.
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This is the sum and substance of Christianity: faith in Jesus Christ; morals in Jesus Christ; worship in Jesus Christ. Here is the whole of our holy religion: dogma, morals and worship.
Man becomes once again the restored image of the triune God.
Devotion to Jesus Master Way, Truth and Life leads to perfect worship of God.
The more a Pauline lives this devotion the more similar he is to the Divine Exemplar, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the vine, we are the shoots: the divine fruit-producing sap comes to us from him. The one who is joined to Christ the Vine hic fert fructum multum.4
The whole man goes to God; God through Jesus Christ becomes one with man.
The study of the catechism and of theology helps us to grasp dogma, morals and worship; it results in an ever better knowledge of Jesus Christ Way, Truth and Life, and of his mystical Body which is the Church.
Study itself is ordered towards piety.
We find the content of theologal prayer, which leads to a theologal life, set out clearly and succinctly in the acts of faith, hope and charity.
Universal synthesis in Christ the Master Way, Truth, Life
As an aid to a deeper study of this topic and a guide for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the other prayer practices, refer to what was published in the San Paolo:5
In following Jesus Christ, man gives perfect worship to God: his mind is faith-filled, his will is submissive, his feelings are love-charged. It is to know, to serve and to love God.
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a) God in himself is Way, Truth and Life.
b) Since he willed to manifest his glory and to have other beings share in his beatitude he revealed himself as he is: Way, Truth and Life.
c) This he did and does in his Son in four manifestations: in creation, in revelation, in the Church, in heaven.
d) Thus Jesus Christ must be considered as Teacher Way, Truth and Life in the four progressive stages.
From creation to glorification in heaven there is a straight line, one style, a project being brought into reality.
He is the one, perfect and eternal Teacher, by rank and by nature.
FIRST MANIFESTATION - NATURAL REVELATION:CREATION
Truth
We arrive at God through the proofs of Saint Thomas, integrated with other human thought (modern philosophy and Saint Augustine).
Creation: the Son of God designer and producer, ex nihilo sui et subiecti6 of the matter and form of spiritual beings, of man, of material things, of all energy.
The world is a projection of God who is One: life, movement, order, unity, beauty, intelligence, raw energy.
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The creation of the sciences, rays of divine light; each science is a chapter of nature, God's book; each reveals something of God; every discovery is a reading of a chapter of the created world.
Epoch of the Father, epoch of the Son, epoch of the Holy Spirit.
Reason and mystery.
Universal order and the order of beings.
The three kingdoms of nature with allusions to astronomy, biology, geology, and so on.
Creation of man and of woman in the biblical narration; responsible beings and associates, made cooperators of God.
Freedom and law.
God's general design for his glory and the good of mankind: creation, elevation, redemption, restoration, glorification.
Some chapters of creation as God's book and their basic unity, by way of its beginning, in itself, and in its purpose.
The traditions of peoples converge and are substantially in agreement with Genesis.
Theories on the genesis of the world and of man.
Man experiences and reproduces bible history in his own self.
Our being and our world reveal God, his perfections and the Creator's goal.
The unity of the human race in its trials.
The goal and the natural means coordinated and mobilized in their realization.
Prehistoric times.
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Way
The Son of God is the absolute author of all the laws of nature.
Biological, moral, social, exact, historical, cosmic sciences.
The finality that rules, moves and coordinates all beings.
Man is ordained to the true, the good and the beautiful; he is God's image.
The world is a projection of the triune God.
Divine exemplarism; the traces of the Trinity in creation.
The imitation of nature; imitation of God.
The fine arts.
Human acts and conscience.
Law and duty.
The commandments of God are a requirement for man, his perfectioning.
Virtues and vice.
The laws of reason: logic and metaphysics.
The Commandments and human society.
Life
Religion is man's greatest need and his basic dilemma as both an individual and as society; the small and great concerns and events hinge on this dilemma.
Geology as history.
Religion as a requisite and natural duty for the individual and for all society: conjugal, domestic, civil, political, international.
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True religion embraces the whole man: mind, feelings, will.
Worship of God must be internal and external, individual and social.
The individual and society: conjugal, domestic, civil and political, and international.
The various civilizations: Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and so on.
SECOND MANIFESTATION: REVELATION IN THE TWO TESTAMENTS
Truth
Revelation in the two comparative Testaments.
Historical religion: story of God's work through man's elevation and redemption.
Doctrine, its crises and its final synthesis.
The natural and historical role of doctrinal, religious and moral conflicts.
Revelation is possible and convenient from every point of view.
Fact: elevation of man, his fall, punishment.
Humanity's hope for the rehabilitation of man in accordance with the original and improved design.
The hope of the Atoner in the Bible and among ancient peoples.
Revelation: nature, fact, notes.
Holy Scripture: inspiration, interpretation, preservation.
Historical, poetical, prophetic and moral books in the Old Testament.
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The Old Testament impregnated with Christ.
Preservation, ancient and modern translations of the Bible.
The New Testament: characteristics.
Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Letters of the Apostles, Apocalypse, Letters of Saint Paul.
Tradition: its functions, its parts.
Physical and moral miracle.
Prophecy: Old and New Testament.
Scripture compared with the religious books of the East.
Scripture compared with the philosophies and moral codes of China, India, Japan, Egypt, Greece, Rome.
Scripture compared with ancient civil history, ethnography, geography, sacred monuments, and so on.
Way
Jesus Christ, the Missus: proofs of his divinity.
Christianity face to face with other religions.
The law of the flesh and the law of the spirit: the signum cui contradicetur7 in the individual and in humanity.
The variety of religions, deviations and corruptions of the one religion.
Positive and negative preparation for the Incarnation of the Word.
The Verbum caro factum est.8
The non solvere, sed adimplere.9
Hebrew monotheism compared with the pagan religions.
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Jesus Christ as a person: holy one, healer, prophet, teacher, God.
Natus, crucifixus, mortuus, resurrexit, ascendit, iterum venturus est.10
The straight line between the Protogospel and the final Venite benedicti.11
God's teaching in the doctrine of the Old and New Testament.
God's teaching concerning morals in the Old and New Testament.
God's teaching concerning liturgy in the Old and New Testament.
Jesus and Mary at the centre of the two Testaments.
Traces and influence of Revelation among all peoples.
The struggles and upheavals of individuals and societies mark the stages of Christ's final victory.
Life
New life: perfection of human life.
Nature and grace.
Mary in the Redemption, in the Church, in heaven.
The life of Christ in two versions: Old and New Testament.
Jesus Christ, restorer of the whole man: mind, feelings, will, body.
How Saint Paul understood Christ.
The change worked by Christ in household, religious and social society.
The new personality in Christ.
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The estote perfecti sicut Pater vester coelestis perfectus est.12
Intellectual, moral and religious deviations.
THIRD MANIFESTATION: JESUS MASTER IN THE CHURCH
Truth
From the physical Christ to the mystical Christ, the Church; established by him; animated by the Holy Spirit.
The Church a perfect, supernatural, visible society; to be Christ's, membership is necessary.
The Church a hierarchical, fruitful and indefectible society.
The Church one, holy, catholic, apostolic and Roman.
The two elements in the Church: one unchangeable and internal; the other changeable and ongoing.
It is infallible in matters of faith and morals: it guards, interprets, teaches and puts forward the deposit consigned to it by Jesus Christ.
Teaching bodies: the Pope, infallible as the Church. Councils, Doctors, Priests, Ecclesiastical writers.
Saint Peter and his successors.
Evolution of theological and marian doctrine.
The Christological and Trinitarian questions, grace and free will, rationalism, atheism, modernism.
Apologetics.
Teaching with technical means.
The doctrinal bridge between Christianity and Eastern religions.
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Way
The religion of love: the whole law.
The Church and conduct: moral, ascetical, and mystical theology.
Religious: history, Orders, Congregations, Secular Institutes.
Development of Church and canon law.
The Church vis-à-vis slavery, Islam, humanism, atheism, liberalism, secularism, and so on.
Social questions: Christian, Liberal, Communist solution.
The Inquisition.
The Church and particular moral questions: women, the human person, divorce, freedom.
The Church and Protestantism.
Pedagogy and Christian training.
The work of the Roman Pontificate in the last two centuries.
The Church and the religious, contemplative, active and mixed life.
Life
Internal and external worship.
The centre of worship: the Eucharist.
The channels of grace.
Indissoluble marriage.
Sacred art (music, painting, architecture, sculpture, poetry, literature).
The Church an immense society of spiritual and material beneficence.
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Liturgies compared with the Roman liturgy.
Liturgical evolution.
Influence of Christianity: in popular instruction, in higher education.
The Church and schisms. The Greek Church.
The Catholic Church as a point of comparison for doctrine, morals and worship.
The Church and the individual, the family, the State, the League of Nations.
The city of God. Church militant, purgative, triumphant.
Liturgy and prayer.
FOURTH MANIFESTATION: IN HEAVEN
Truth
The splendor of Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life in heaven: full glorification of his wisdom, holiness, divine life.
His mark on his followers who constitute his victory which he will present to the Father in eternal glory.
The complete restoration: Omnis creatura ingemiscit et parturit usque adhuc. Ipsa creatura liberabitur a servitute corruptionis in libertatem gloriae filiorum Dei13 (Saint Paul).
The glory of Mary as the foremost member of the Church triumphant.
The manifestation in the final judgement and the social duties summed up in charity.
The light of glory reward of the sanctification of the light of reason and the light of faith.
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Breadth of vision, possession, joy in God.
God's possession, the reward of a wholly virtuous Christian will.
The joy of God reward of noble Christian sentiments.
The resurrection of the flesh fulfilment of the Redemption.
Way
The meaning of life.
The Christian meaning of death.
The Christian meaning of the particular judgement.
The Christian meaning of Purgatory.
The Christian meaning of Hell.
The Christian meaning of Paradise.
The Christian meaning of the final resurrection.
Holiness: common, heroic, miracleworking, canonized, beatified.
The meaning of the evangelical beatitudes.
Man builds his eternity in the use of his freedom.
Virtue and vice.
Mary Teacher, Queen and Mother.
Life
The end imposes the means.
Adoption as sons of God, God's inheritance, co-heirs with Christ.
The fullness of life in man's just ambitions as a Christian, a religious, a priest.
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The life of the Blessed Trinity.
Mary and her mediation of graces.
Jesus Master mediator of blessedness.
Glorious life face to face with eternal death.
The vision of heaven in the Divina Commedia.
The present life as preparation for our mind, our feelings, our will, and our body for heaven.
The multae mansiones14 of heaven corresponding to the many mansions in this world.
Eternal life: nec oculus vidit….15
Angelic choirs and heavenly hosts.
Conclusion: Summa vitae in Christo Magistro.16
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1 On Holy Thursday, 14 April, day four of the second week of the gathering, Fr D. Costa gave the morning meditation on “Humility” and the evening one on “Fortitude and Temperance.” The midday conference was given by Fr Aldo Poggi on the “Same philosophy text in the various countries.” The celebrant of the evening Missa solemnis was the Founder, with Fr Borrano as deacon and Fr Ferrero as sub-deacon; Master of Ceremonies was Fr Fedele Pasquero. Altar service was provided by the Brothers present while the Schola cantorum was made up of priests and brothers.
2 “Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).
3 “Changed for the worse.”
4 “He it is that bears much fruit” (Jn 15:5).
5 San Paolo, August-September 1959 (CISP 1230-1237). On the whole topic, cf. CISP 1195-1254 and AD 185-200.
6 It is the well-known definition of creation. It means that God created all things from nothing, making use of nothing.
7 “Sign of contradiction” (Lk 2:34).
8 “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14).
9 “Not to abolish, but to fulfil” (cf. Mt 5:17).
10 “Born, crucified, died; he rose again, he ascended, he will come again” (From the Credo).
11 “Come, O blessed” (Mt 25:34).
12 “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
13 “The whole creation groans and suffers the pangs of birth until now. Creation itself will be freed from the bondage of corruption so as to enter into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (cf. Rom 8:21ff.).
14 “Many rooms” (cf. Jn 14:2).
15 “No eye has seen…” (cf. 1 Cor 2:9).
16 “Summary of life in Christ the Teacher.”