Center for Redemptorist Spirituality

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Missionary Spirituality 2

The relationship between our spirituality and Mission is underscored by St. Alphonsus himself:

He who is called to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer will never be a true follower of Jesus Christ nor will he ever become a saint if he does not tend towards the objective of his vocation and does not have the Spirit of the Institute, which consists in saving souls, the souls most destitute of spiritual assistance, such as the poor in the countryside.

This was the very reason for the coming of the Redeemer, who said of himself: The Spirit of the Lord... has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor. When he wished to test if Peter loved him, he did not ask but that he dedicate himself to the salvation of souls: Simon Joannis, diligis me?… He did not ask of him, as Saint John Chrysostom says, penances, prayer or any other thing but only that he take care of his sheep: Non dixit Christus, Abjice pecunias, jejunium exerce, macera te laboribus; sed dixit: Pasce oves meas. Jesus Christ proclaimed that he understood as done to himself all the good we did in favor of the least of our neighbors: Amen dico vobis, quandiu fecistis uni ex his fratribus meis minimis, mihi fecistis (Mt 25, 40).

Each member of the Congregation, therefore, ought to nourish to his utmost this zeal and spirit of assisting souls. To this end each should direct his studies; and when superiors require it he should give himself entirely to it with his whole mind and attention. No one can call himself a true brother of this Congregation who, when obedience demands it, will not accept willingly this task and prefers, on the other hand, to dedicate himself exclusively to his own interest by living a solitary and retired life. What greater glory is there for a human being than that of collaborating with God, as Saint Paul says (1 Cor 3, 9), in this great task of the salvation of souls? He who loves the Lord very much will not be content with being the only one in loving him; he will want to bring all to his love, saying with David, Magnificate Dominum mecum, et exaltemus nomen ejus (Psalm 33, 4). Hence Saint Augustine exhorts all those who love God: Si Deum amatis, rapite omnes ad amorem Dei (in Psalm 33, 2).

He who dedicates himself with true zeal to the salvation of souls has thus good reasons to hope for eternal life: Animam salvasti, says Saint Augustine, animam tuam praedestinasti. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit promises us: Cum effuderis esurienti animam tuam. When you tire yourself for the spiritual good of a poor person; et animam afflictam repleveris: and with your efforts fill his soul with divine grace; requiem dabit tibi Dominus semper; et implebit splendoribus animam tuam (Is. 58, 10.11), the Lord will fill you with light and peace. – Saint Paul placed his hopes for eternal salvation in the good he sought for others, which led him to say to his disciples of Thessalonica: Quae est enim nostra spes, aut gaudium, aut corona gloriae? Nonne vos ante Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum estis in adventu ejus? (Thessalonians 2, 19).

We are called to be saints. But we become saints, develop and grow in our Redemptorist spirituality, in the living out of our charism, the spirit of the Institute. Like Christ’s, our consecration is an act of love that is carried out by doing the Father’s will. Our spirituality cannot but be missionary. Our own sanctification is inextricably bound to the sanctification of others. He who loves the Lord, says St. Alphonsus, is not content with just loving him; he will want to bring all to his love.

Our vocation demands total consecration to the mission of Jesus. It is lived concretely in the missionary endeavors of the Congregation. It is a gift of the Spirit who drives us to love as Jesus has loved. Through our consecration we join and participate in the continuing redemptive presence and action of Jesus, the Christ, in the world.

Conceived this way, our Redemptorist vocation is located in that of the Church. Fr. Durrwell beautifully expresses the place of our Mission in the Church:

In the vast holy Church the Congregation has not the place of a side chapel. Its mission puts it in the sanctuary of the Church – the place where the altar is and where the mystery of the Passover of Christ is celebrated for the salvation of the world. The Congregation is called to perform that which is essential, to prolong Christ and the process of salvation which is in Christ. What then is its specific mission within the whole Church? Its specific mission is to carry out the essential mission of the Church, fully and intensively.

In his Communicanda 2 of the previous sexennium, Father General discusses the relationship between Spirituality and Mission, cautioning that the conjunction "and" can adulterate the sense of the relationship. He stresses that our spirituality is intimately related to Mission, to the end or purpose of the Congregation. His remarks in this context can be taken as a succinct commentary of the Alphonsian texts quoted above:

The genius of Alphonsus, an intuition that has been recovered in our renewed Constitutions, is his belief that Mission gives unity to our whole life as Redemptorists. This unifying force is called the "vita apostolica": our way of understanding what it means to be a Redemptorist, comprising "at one and the same time a life specially dedicated to God and a life of missionary work" (Constitution 1). Spirituality is vitally connected to our "preference for situations of pastoral need, that is, for evangelization in the strict sense, together with our choice for the poor". Therefore, strictly speaking, the origin and source of spirituality is found precisely in our Mission, defining it consequently as truly Missionary spirituality (cf. Ad Gentes, 23-27).

The missionary nature of our vocation is not based on specific apostolates but on our insertion into the Mission of Jesus himself. Our participation in his Mission to bring the good news to the poor transforms our lives and constantly leads us to find new ways to bring others to Christ’s love. Constitutions 52 – 55 express it this way:

Const. 52: Apostolic charity, through which the members share in the mission of Christ the Redeemer, is the principle that unifies their entire life. For it identifies them in a certain sense with Christ, who continues to fulfill the will of his Father by carrying on the redemption through them.

Const. 53: Since the glory of God and salvation of the world are one, and since love for God and love for people are the same, the members live their union with God in the form of apostolic charity and, through missionary charity, seek his glory.

Const. 54: In this way pastoral charity gives soul and unity to the life of the members. Community life is really at the service of the apostolate. Continual conversion, the result of their total surrender to God, increases their availability for the service of others. Indeed the very religious bonds, by which the members dedicate themselves to God, necessarily involve commitment to the apostolate and strengthen that commitment.

Religious profession, therefore, becomes the definitive act of the whole missionary life of Redemptorists.

Const. 55: This profession makes all Redemptorists truly missionaries, whether they are engaged in different activities of the apostolic ministry or hindered from working at all, whether they are occupied with various services on behalf of the Congregation or the confreres, or are advanced in age, sick, or incapable of external work or whether, above all, they are suffering and dying for the salvation of the world.

Alphonsus’ relationship to God was characterized by an experience of God’s passionate love for us in Jesus. If faith had not assured us of it, writes Alphonsus, who could ever have believed that a God, almighty, most happy, and the Lord of all, should have condescended to love man to such an extent that he seems to go out of himself for the love of him? Over and over, at the heart of his counsels, arguments, pleas, preaching and exhortations, we find the experience of this love.

This love sows in us the desire to be with and live for the one who loved us first. In our relationship with Jesus, his love moves us to look beyond the status quo to generate a new vision of life and to continually seek to make ever more sincere and generous our response to his love. We just will not be content with mediocrity and injustice.

Our traditional meditations on the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Passion of Jesus, on the Eucharist and on Mary were typical devotions in the Church at the time of Alphonsus. They became in time Redemptorist means to understand more deeply God’s love and its transforming grace in our lives. Redemptorist spirituality manifests itself as a lifestyle that opens up avenues of hope rooted in Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God.

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