sussidio December 2018

   THE HOLINESS TO WHICH THE LORD CALLS US

From the WORD of GOD

What were once my assets I now through Christ Jesus count as losses. Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ and be given a place in him, with the uprightness I have gained not from the Law, but through faith in Christ, an uprightness from God, based on faith, that I may come to know him and the power of his resurrection, and partake of his sufferings by being moulded to the pattern of his death, striving towards the goal of resurrection from the dead. Not that I have secured it already, nor yet reached my goal, but I am still pursuing it in the attempt to take hold of the prize for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not reckon myself as having taken hold of it; I can only say that forgetting all that lies behind me, and straining forward to what lies in front, I am racing towards the finishing-point to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. So this is the way in which all of us who are mature should be thinking, and if you are still thinking differently in any way, then God has yet to make this matter clear to you. Meanwhile, let us go forward from the point we have each attained. Brothers, be united in imitating me. Keep your eyes fixed on those who act according to the example you have from me. (Ph 3,7-17)

From the DOCUMENTS of the CHURCH
Holiness consists in uniting ourselves to the Lord’s death and resurrection in a unique and personal way (20). In the end, it is Christ who loves in us, for “holiness is nothing other than charity lived to the full.” As a result, “the measure of our holiness stems from the stature that Christ achieves in us, to the extent that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we model our whole life on his”. Every saint is a message which the Holy Spirit takes from the riches of Jesus Christ and gives to his people (21). To recognize the word that the Lord wishes to speak to us through one of his saints… we need to contemplate is the totality of their life, their entire journey of growth in holiness, the reflection of Jesus Christ that emerges when we grasp their overall meaning as a person (22). This is a powerful summons to all of us. You too need to see the entirety of your life as a mission. Try to do so by listening to God in prayer and recognizing the signs that he gives you. Always ask the Spirit what Jesus expects from you at every moment of your life and in every decision you must make, so as to discern its place in the mission you have received. Allow the Spirit to forge in you the personal mystery that can reflect Jesus Christ in today’s world (23). May you come to realize what that word is, the message of Jesus that God wants to speak to the world by your life. Let yourself be transformed. Let yourself be renewed by the Spirit, so that this can happen, lest you fail in your precious mission. The Lord will bring it to fulfilment despite your mistakes and missteps, provided that you do not abandon the path of love but remain ever open to his supernatural grace, which purifies and enlightens(24).
(Gaudete et Exultate, Apostolic Exhortation of the Holy Father Francis)

From the WRITINGS of Blessed A. ROSMINI
I want to write a few lines to you to remind you of your vocation to the holiness that goes with charity. I urge you most strongly not to stray to right or left, but to go straight ahead along the path to which each of you is called — in other words, to reach true sanctity. This does not consist in any intellectual activity, or in any sort of human prowess or glory, or in the successful accomplishment of external enterprises; but rather in practising those virtues that Jesus Christ, the Saviour and model of our souls, showed forth in his own life, above all as he hung from the cross. They are humility, poverty, self-denial, obedience, mortification, patience, and that ardent charity which comprises them all. It never gets lost in subtleties, but walks in simplicity, not seeking its own interests but those of God and our neighbour. This is the foundation of the Institute you have embraced.
(A.L .Vol. III, let.32, p.45, translated and edited by John Morris IC ;
To the brethren of the Institute of Charity in England in the service of God, Calvario, 2 October 1837.)
Keep always before your eyes the supreme rule of your actions – the end of the Institute, which is to bring about the holiness of its members. Govern in all things in such a way that this holiness grows both in yourself and in all those who are dependent on you, in imitation of Jesus Christ who, did not try to teach anything but holiness, and who said that he sanctified himself in his disciples.
(A.L. Vol. V, let. 40, p.63, translated and edited by John Morris I ; to Fr. Peter Hutton at the Calvary of Sileby, Stresa, 13 November1844)

LET US PRAY

How blessed is anyone who rejects the advice of the wicked
and does not take a stand in the path that sinners tread,
nor a seat in company with cynics,
but who delights in the law of Yahweh
and murmurs his law day and night.
Such a one is like a tree planted near streams;
it bears fruit in season and its leaves never wither,
and every project succeeds. (Ps 1)

PASTORAL YEAR 2018 – 2019
ON-GOING FORMATION
INSTITUTE OF CHARITY
ROSMINIAN SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE

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