“The irreplaceable importance of a life of prayer”
Cf. Constitutions, 40
The Directory of Spirituality, quoting Saint John of the Cross, says: “Let those, then, who are singularly active, who think they can win the world with their preaching and exterior works, observe here that they would profit the Church and please God much more, not to mention the good example they would give, were they to spend at least half of this time with God in prayer.”[1]
The capital importance of prayer in the religious, priestly, and missionary life of the members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word is not only deduced from the universal end for which God has gathered us together—that is, “to seek the glory of God and the salvation of souls”[2]—but also from its specific end: “to inculturate the Gospel.”[3] But even more remarkable, the irreplaceable importance of a life of prayer[4] derives from our spirituality, which is centered in the mystery of the Incarnation, and within which our consecrated life is framed, as well as from “our particular way of imitating the Incarnate God, starting with the mystery of the Transfiguration,”[5] since both mysteries—the Incarnation and the Transfiguration—were events of prayer.
Hence, one cannot be a religious, priest, or monk of the Incarnate Word without being a man of prayer who seeks “familiarity with the Word made flesh,”[6] whom he hopes to imitate. This is more important than any other service we can render to the Church. And in this sense, the Second Vatican Council said that religious should “seek God solely and before everything else” and “join contemplation with apostolic love.”[7] Our proper law adds, besides, a connotation derived from the demands proper to the religious state when it mentions “the urgency of prayer and incessant contemplation, and […] becoming conscious of the need to actively and passively purify the senses and the spirit.”[8]
Indeed, given the missionary nature of our Institute, we must admit that the proclamation of the Gospel assumes that one obtains strength, courage, and hope from one’s prayer life, since God communicates numerous spiritual graces especially in prayer, which not only spiritually nourish the missionary, but also, in his turn, he receives there what he will later transmit to souls.
For this reason, the great formator of missionaries, Blessed Paolo Manna, said: “The missionary who wants to live and remain at the height of his vocation must constantly nourish this spirit of faith, enlightening and inspiring himself by meditation […] By continual prayer he must receive from God (whose instrument he is) the grace that he needs for his ministry and without which he can do nothing with regard to the eternal salvation of his own soul and that of the people to whom he has gone to evangelize.”[9]
In this respect, in our Institute, the life of prayer entails four “dimensions,” that is: personal and communal, liturgical and private, and constitutes a fundamental element of basic necessity in our spiritual formation.
1. Private Prayer
Our proper law succinctly expresses the following maxim: “The missionary must be a ‘contemplative in action.’”[10]
Thus, “to perform well our actions, behold our spiritual business, to perform them according to the Rule, behold our sanctification; to perform them in the spirit of prayer, behold our perfection!”[11] said Saint Peter Julian Eymard to his religious. That is to say, “it is not enough to have forms of prayer (fixed times, ways, pious exercises…) but it is rather about arriving at a prayerful attitude (like sinking the soul into God).”[12] Achieving this prayerful attitude is fundamental in order for the religious of the Incarnate Word—whether seminarian, brother, priest, or monk—to reach holiness.[13]
Prayer should permeate all our acts. The Mystical Doctor pointed this out to a religious: “strive to be incessant in prayer, and in the midst of your corporal practices do not abandon it. Whether you eat, or drink, or speak, or converse with lay people, or do anything else, you should always do so with desire for God and with your heart fixed on Him. This is very necessary for inner solitude.”[14]
That is why, from their entrance into religious life, our candidates are encouraged “to get to know and have experience of the genuine meaning of Christian prayer, as a living and personal meeting with the Father through the only-begotten Son under the action of the Spirit.”[15] Here the seminarians and novices of the Institute learn to become familiar with His Person and plan of salvation in order to make it their life’s ideal and the inspiration of all their youthful enthusiasm.[16] Now, for this living and personal meeting with the One and Triune God in Jesus Christ, silence is necessary—it is the spiritual atmosphere that is essential to perceiving God’s presence and letting oneself be conquered by it.[17]
“Another indispensable means for acquiring a spirit of prayer is to zealously cultivate ‘those practices of piety that are commended by the long usage of the Church,’[18] taking care ‘lest the spiritual formation consist in them alone or lest it develop only a religious affectation.’[19]”[20]
Among the many exercises of piety that our Holy Mother Church provides us, our rule prescribes (though without limiting itself to these alone): “daily Rosary, the Angelus, the Way of the Cross, the wearing of the Scapular, etc.”[21] And intrinsically bound to our spirituality and mission is found the dear presence of the Virgin, which inundates the whole realm of our spiritual life and, to tell the truth, over our whole life: in the celebration of the Mass, in the song to the Virgin at the end of events or of eutrapelia, in the missions, etc.
All the practices of devotion mentioned above “have their meaning in so far as they are ordered to a solid spiritual life. That is to say, [that the members] live ‘according to the Gospel ideal,’ are rooted in the practice of the theological virtues, , ‘in faith, hope and charity,’ acquiring ‘ the spirit of prayer,’ and can thus ‘defend and strengthen their vocation, obtain an increase of other virtues and grow in the zeal to gain all men for Christ.’[22]”[23]
2. Personal Prayer
From the beginning, “the exposition and adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament during one hour each day,”[24] has been a practice of the Institute, since “a pause for true worship has a greater value and spiritual fruit than the most intense activity, were it apostolic activity itself.”[25]
The great promotor of Eucharistic Adoration, especially among his brother priests, the Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen, insisted that it should be “an hour” (thus emphasizing that it should not be shortened): “The Holy Hour must be grounded in Christ and Scripture” […] “Why the Hour? Because Our Lord asked for it. Our Lord made few demands.”[26] And he added that Eucharistic adoration should be a daily event: because our crosses are daily, not once a week; because the children, the sick, the missions, the families, the dying, need our intercession each day; [27] and because the enemy does not sleep.[28] Even more, the venerable archbishop said that fidelity in keeping the hour of adoration with perseverance and faithfulness throughout one’s priestly life is a sign that the priest is a true victim.
Because of our specific vocation, in addition to the daily hour of Adoration, “assiduous and prolonged adoration of the Eucharist,”[29] is asked of the members of the Institute, “as well as Perpetual Adoration in each Province (through turns in each house). ‘Eucharistic Adoration is the holiest of actions. [… It] is the most just act.’”[30]
Such a requirement follows from what our Constitutions declare in their first lines, saying that it is our intention “to give ‘testimony that the world can neither be transfigured nor offered to God without the spirit of the Beatitudes.’[31]”[32] Because we will only give this testimony of the evangelical Beatitudes if we go deep into the contemplation of the word, into intimacy with Christ, and into community life as service and donation. Intimate converse with Christ is for every Christian, and even more for us, like the air we breathe in order to stay alive. To deny oneself air is to die. To forget prayer, to let oneself get swept away by routine, which cools our affection for the closeness of God, is also to die.[33]
We now refer to three “additional” reasons to those already known for not omitting the hour of Adoration, mentioned by the Venerable Fulton Sheen:
▪ The Holy Hour combats sacerdotal fatigue
We must admit, asserted the North-American Archbishop, that “As in marriage, after a few years in the priesthood we lose the sensitiveness of love. A drifting from our course,[34] and neglect sets in. […] We lose our souls not only because we do evil things, but because we neglect to do good things: the buried talent, the unmarked second mile, the passing by the wounded. How often in the Gospel condemnation follows because ‘we did nothing’ [you gave me no food, you gave me no drink, you gave me no welcome, you did not care for me…].”[35] For this reason, he proposed the hour of adoration as a means of combatting sacerdotal fatigue.
How often have we witnessed this: contemplating Christ in the Eucharist, as Model and as Strength, how many of our missionaries, in remote places to which fraternal consolation rarely arrives, undergoing the fatigue proper to unconditional dedication to the mission, maintain the robustness and freshness of their dedication unchanged, ready to give even more.
We have the enormous privilege of having the Divine Presence of our Lord in our houses, and for this reason, a greater responsibility of adoring Him and keeping Him company. Nevertheless, often two main reasons are given to excuse oneself of neglecting Adoration, that is: lack of time and lack of willpower (to overcome laziness or fatigue).
We say “we have not time for the hour. How many wasted hours [in diversions]! The excuses we give are really as silly as those given to Our Lord for not attending the Banquet of the King. One bought a piece of land and he had to ‘go and look it over.’ Imagine, buying land without seeing it! The other purchased five yokes of oxen and he was on his way ‘to try them out.’ Like buying a pig in a poke. The third excuse was, ‘I have just married.’ Why would he not bring his wife? We have no time for the Hour….”[36]
In response to this first “excuse” for not making the hour of Adoration, the Spiritual Father of our Religious Family, speaking to priests, once said: “The increase in work in the vineyard of the Lord, precisely when the number of laborers is diminishing, can make us forget that we have been called, above all, to be with the Lord, to listen to His word, to contemplate His face. The contemplative dimension is inseparable from the mission, because, according to the famous definition of Saint Thomas, used also by the Council, the mission is essentially ‘contemplate aliis tradere,’ to transmit to others what we have ourselves have contemplated at length.
“From this comes the necessity for long moments of prayer, of concentration, of adoration […]. As consecrated persons, not only must we prayer, we must be a living prayer. We could also say that we must prayer without seeming to pray. We must pray without seeming to have time to pray, but we must pray. It is another paradox. Humanly speaking, this is impossible. How can I pray without praying? But Saint Paul said, the Holy Spirit prays within us—then it becomes a little different.”[37]
“The other reason for neglect: weakness of will.
“We live in a world where […] our wills collapse under emotion [… and] we have lost our determination. The self-discipline that is the condition of our victimhood is abandoned; like infants, there is hardly a second allowed between a demand and its satisfaction.
“How do we overcome the time and apathy that increase our neglect? By seizing a segment of time, an Hour, and redeeming the time. This is for the Lord, His Church and the world, not for me. Next, by strangling acedia or spiritual indifference and crowding it out with a new love. […] We cannot drive out vices; but we can crowd them out by a deepened love of Christ.”[38]
▪ The Holy Hour is a sign of our victimhood in the work of redemption
This is because it incorporates us to Christ’s work of intercession. We are bound to humanity, to nations, to missions, to country, to parish, to friends, and to enemies. Our priest-victimhood commits us to interceding for them and their salvation. Christ’s agony continues in married couples going through difficulties, in youth who have lost their purity, in religious who are tempted, in the children of addicts, in elderly who are abandoned, in defections…. The hour of Eucharistic Adoration allows us to practice a sublime act of charity, since “we adore our Lord and God with our whole mind, heart, soul, and being. In adoration one can practice perfect charity toward one’s neighbor by praying for him and acting as mediator and victim for his salvation, obtaining for him the Savior’s graces and mercies.”[39]
For this reason, another motive for the hour of Adoration is reparation. Our proper law says it explicitly: “we adore Jesus Christ for all who do not adore Him, for all who forget Him, abandon Him, scorn Him, and offend Him.”[40]
“Being a priest,” said John Paul II, “means being a mediator between God and men, in the Mediator par excellence, Christ. Jesus could carry out His mission thanks to His total union with the Father, because He was one with Him […]. In order to effectively continue Christ’s mission, the priest himself must also, in some way, have already arrived where he wants to lead others. He arrives there through the assiduous contemplation of the mystery of God, nourished by the study of the Scriptures […]. Faithfulness to the moments and means of personal prayer contributes to sanctifying the priest and to leading him to an experience of the mysterious and fascinating presence of the living God, allowing him to act powerfully on the human environment that surrounds him.”[41]
▪ Lastly, the hour of Adoration is necessary as a form of authentic prayer
There is no one who does not know that our world is incredibly fast. To this should be added the noise that drowns the voice of conscience. We live in a world where activity kills the knowledge of self and of God that contemplation brings. And precisely because of this, today more than ever, “priests and religious must live in close union with their Teacher, striving to become saints as [their] Rule requires, so that [they] will be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and respond better to the world’s appeal. The life of prayer,” observes Saint John Paul II, “does not turn people away: on the contrary, it helps them to perceive more deeply their essential needs which only Christ can reveal to us.”[42] It is true that “it is not easy, especially today when the pace of life has become frenetic and activities are ever more absorbing. Yet we must convince ourselves,” continued the Pope, “that the moment of prayer is that in which the unity of the priest with his faithful is the strongest, in which he is most ‘present’ and effective in his ministry.”[43]
We should not forget that the Constitutions warn us about this: “Pastoral work is a cross for us, not an escape. This is why we must never succumb to unproductive activism, as ‘the activity for the Lord must not let us forget who is the Lord of the activity.’”[44] What is more, and we would like to underline this, our level of pastoral and apostolic performance will always be in proportion with the measure of our faithfulness to Christ, according to the commitments made at our profession of vows, faithfulness that is based on union with God through prayer and the sacraments in order to maintain the life of grace. If there is not a perfect balance between our life with God and the activities carried out in the service of others, not only will the work of evangelization be compromised, but also our personal condition as evangelized. Prayer is the soul of our work for the Kingdom.
“The priest must have an unquenchable thirst for God.”[45] Because “the priest is the man of God, the one who belongs to God and makes people think about God….”[46] The people entrusted to us are looking for the solidity of the doctrine of the faith, absolute values, and that Absolute is God. For this reason, we must respond to their request by speaking about Him, communicating Him and only Him. This is the greatness of our mission, and in order to fully carry it out, we need to nourish and strengthen this faith every day in prayer. Saint John Paul II said that priests ought to be “professionals of the faith” and that assiduous prayer, living our days to a rhythm of prayer, is necessary for this.
In this sense, “A spirit of recollection is absolutely necessary if we are to derive any benefit from what we do. Otherwise our devotional practices are isolated events, oases in the midst of a desert. When it is impossible to keep our mind fixed on God, we must refer all our actions to Him and then everything will become a prayer. This is what a spirit of prayer consists of—it will be supremely helpful for our inner life. Missionaries ought to be capable of preserving a spirit of recollection everywhere; they should be able to move from study or work to prayer; they also are to be close to God through continual or frequent thoughts of Him; in short, they must pray together and be totally committed to prayer. Without this spirit they will never be good missionaries. They may deceive themselves and think they are good missionaries—but they are not. Happy are those who manage to make progress in the interior life with a spirit of recollection and prayer,”[47] said Blessed Allamano.
Benedict XV wrote in the encyclical, Humani generis redemptionem: “For it is not by pouring forth a copious stream of words, not by using subtle arguments, not by delivering violent harangues, that the salvation of souls is effected. The preacher who is content with those means is nothing but sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. [48] What gives a man’s words life and vigor and makes them wonderfully promote the salvation of souls is Divine grace.”[49] And the grace of God is obtained through prayer and a life conformed to His supreme directives.
On the other hand, none of our members should be unaware of the fact that, just as the life of prayer has an irreplaceable importance, so also there is a great “need for active and passive purifications of the senses and the spirit.”[50] When the soul passes for the “treatment of the night,” it should not for this reason leave off prayer, but on the contrary, it should be patient and persevere in it. Because, as Saint John of the Cross says, “they would be very foolish who think that God is failing them because of their lack of spiritual sweetness and delight, or would rejoice, thinking they possess God because of the presence of this sweetness. And they would be more foolish if they were to go in search of this sweetness in God and rejoice and be detained in it.”[51]
3. Community Prayer
Community prayer complements personal and private prayer.
“The Lord’s injunction to always pray and not lose heart,[52] is equally valid for personal prayer and for communal prayer.[53] Both demand faithfulness and perseverance. Both are supernatural means that help community life grow, and that will certainly help overcome, in a creative and prudent manner, the inherent difficulties of some communities, such as the diversity of tasks, and, therefore, of schedules, the absorbing overload of work, and the different kinds of fatigue.”[54]
In our Institute, other than daily Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and the Liturgy of the Hours, the weekly penitential liturgy and the sacrament of reconciliation[55] are also included in communal prayer, whenever possible and pastoral needs permitting.
“Prayer in common is the answer and the foundation of all community life. It starts from contemplation of God’s great and sublime mystery, from wonder at his presence, which is at work in the most significant moments of the life of our religious families as well as in the humble and ordinary realities of our communities. As a response to the admonition of the Lord, be vigilant at all times and pray,[56] a religious community needs to be watchful and take the time necessary for attending to the quality of its life. Sometimes men and women religious ‘don’t have time,’ and their day runs the risk of being too busy and anxious, and the religious can end up becoming tired and exhausted.”[57]
4. Liturgical Prayer
“In this respect, liturgical prayer is invaluable. Thus, all must remain strongly convinced that community is built up starting from the liturgy, especially from celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, and from praying the Liturgy of the Hours in common.”[58]
In this sense, the priests of our Religious Family are asked to celebrate the Holy Mass daily, and, pastoral commitments permitting, to concelebrate as often as possible. Likewise, they should set aside a moment of the day for community Eucharistic Adoration.[59] And, in the third place, “it is also necessary to recognize the importance of the pious and devout prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours […]. The major Hours of the Divine Office are ordinarily to be prayed in community,”[60] establishes our proper law.
▪ Regarding the Liturgy of the Hours
Regarding the recitation of the Breviary, it is important to highlight the “pious and devout prayer” mentioned above. That is to say, in no moment should it be hurried or inattentive, like he who instead of reading, “scans” the page without thinking about what he is saying. It should be a moment of true prayer, of asking something of God and of praising Him, using the same words with which He wants us to ask Him and to praise Him. They are the words of the Holy Spirit! This in such a way that, together with Eucharistic Adoration, the recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours helps to cultivate and maintain that spirit of prayer we talked about at the beginning throughout the entire day. Praying the Breviary should truly be “a source of piety, and nourishment for personal prayer.”[61]
Archbishop Fulton Sheen, nevertheless, wrote with great realism in his autobiography: “Few priests like verbal or vocal prayers. That is a fact. This is not because good priests are unprayerful. But because their prayers are sighs, their aspirations are inspirations. […] They have few petitions. They rarely make a novena for something they want; they set the people to make the novenas. […] Few like to admit that they are bored by something they are expected to enjoy. The breviary belongs to this category. Priests are expected to rave about their love of it, but many of us are like those affected people who pretend to love the opera when they neither enjoy nor understand it. […] Maybe the breviary was meant to be difficult for the average priest. Could it not be a wrestling with God, like that of Jacob? If we learn to see it in this light, it may still be a constant struggle, but it will fall into the category of incessant and prolonged intercession. We pray it then as Our Lord prayed in the Garden, […] as the friend who kept knocking at the door in the night for a loaf of bread, as the widow who was resistless in her pleading to the judge […]. Importunity means not dreaminess, but sustained work.”[62].
“The Liturgy of the Hours should sanctify the different times of the day” says the Laudis Canticum of Saint Paul VI. Therefore, it is important that, before or after the Mass, this be the first thing that we do, that we make sure of it.
Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, on his part, said to his religious: “We should follow the timetable the Church sets out for reciting the Liturgy of the Hours and never postpone prayer because we have too much work. To pray at the appropriate time is a sweet burden. Regarding place—we should if possible recite these prayers in church, the house of prayer. After Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours is the best of prayers. Praising God is one of our primary concerns—it is something we will continue doing for all eternity.”[63]
We should add that “the Liturgy of the Hours, like the other liturgical services, is not a private function, but pertains to the whole body of the Church. It manifests the Church and has an effect upon it.”[64] This in such a way that every time we take up the Breviary to pray, we take up the millions of non-believers in this world, the persecuted churches, the farthest missions, the thousands of Catholics in the world who do not have a regular priest, the thousands of priests in the world who have to exercise their ministry undercover, etc., turning our prayer into a missionary work.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen even offers us some practical recommendations for praying the Breviary:[65]
- Pray it as far as possible in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, a practice for which a plenary indulgence is granted.
- Advert to the fact that most of the psalms confront us with two figures: one is the Sufferer; the other is the King. This helps us to better interpret the psalms.
- Often appeal to the Holy Spirit during the recitation. Not necessarily with a formal prayer, but with a kind of motion asking for help to do it well, with understanding, slowly and deliberately.
- Offer certain hours of the office for specific intentions.
Finally, let us say that the Breviary is not a yoke and burden; rather, it is an obligation, but an obligation of love. If the priest is selfish, praying the Liturgy becomes a mere obligation; if the priest is a person who is conscious that it is the prayer of the Church, this obligation brings love with it; if the priest is a victim, love makes such an ardor of this obligation that he feels no obligation at all.
▪ Regarding the Holy Mass
One of the great loves of every member of the Institute is the Eucharist.[66] Accordingly, we read in our Constitutions: “Participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most important act of our day.”[67] “We have to be characterized by the importance we give to the celebration of the Holy Mass, as well as by our reverent way of celebrating it,”[68] we read in the acts of the 2007 General Chapter, which indicates this as a non-negotiable element included in the charism.
Therefore, we can never insist enough on the fact that it is our responsibility “to be masters of the ars celebrandi, and that of our major seminarians, brothers, etc., to strive, for their part, to live the ars participandi most perfectly.”[69]
“We have to keep in mind that the celebration of the Mass is a thermometer of the priestly life.”[70] This to such a degree that we could say that “a priest is worth as much as his Eucharistic life is worth, above all, his Mass. A Mass without love—a sterile priest. A fervent Mass-—a priest who conquers souls. Eucharistic devotion neglected and without love—a slack priest, even more, a priest in danger.”[71]
The Eucharist, Saint Leonardo Murialdo recalled, is not a rite to be performed but a mystery to be lived.[72]
And if this is a mystery that must be lived, then we should not forget that “an essential part of our charism is […] a style of liturgical celebrations in which the Word is incarnated, and in which He appears—sacramentally—Incarnate. Celebrations which continually emphasize the principal presence and action of the principal priest,[73] celebrations in which it is perceived that the essential attitude of the secondary priest is an attitude of prayer—proper to one who knows he is a mere instrument, inadequate and subordinated to the primary cause and His purposes—in which all the visible elements contribute to the splendorous awareness of the Invisible.”[74]
Concretely: “our liturgical celebrations must be exemplary: ‘regarding not only the ritual, but also the spiritual and pastoral mentality adopted, the observance of the norms and the liturgical texts, and the laws issued by the Apostolic See and the Bishops’ conferences.”[75]
* * *
Finally, praying is necessary in order to live well. The one who prays responds to his vocation and is faithful to it. A priest of the Incarnate Word can never be an “other Christ” for men, if he is not first a “man of God.”
For this reason, we must consider this exhortation of the Spiritual Father of our Religious Family as personally directed to us: “Learn to pray! [… I]n such a way that you become ‘masters’ of prayer and can moreover teach those entrusted to you how to pray.”[76] Because, being contemplatives of the Incarnate Word, we will gather strength from the mystery we contemplate in order to generously prolong “the Incarnation to all reality.”[77]
Therefore, all the members of the Institute should not only respect the prescribed times of prayer, but also find time to be alone with God, hearing what He has to say to us in silence. Because prayer allows us to put ourselves in God’s dimensions, humbly but valiantly immersing ourselves in the Heart of God Himself, out of which we should “not wish to leave.”[78] We must be souls of prayer, souls of the Eucharist.[79]
Wherever our mission may be, our spiritual mission is everywhere the same: to illuminate with “the dawn from on high” all those who “dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.”[80] This is truly our mission, whether we are priests in a parish in one of the big cities or taking care of a little rural community; whether we carry out our activity as pastors, chaplains, teachers, serving in a home, or are retired for health reasons. “To pray is to recognize that Christ is risen and deserves unconditional dedication.”[81]
In other words: “Take care of your life of prayer and goodness so as to be exemplary ministers and bearers of joy and serenity to all! Cultivate intimacy with Christ through a sincere and profound interior life, always remembering that your mission is to be witnesses to the supernatural and heralds of Christ to the men of our time, who, even when appearances sometimes make us think the contrary, are ever more aware of God’s call and of our need for Him.”[82]
Let us not forget that “to be zealous apostles of God’s kingdom, we must love prayer. [… I]t is necessary to find the time to pray ‘well,’ since the spiritual energy for an effective apostolate flows from a heart immersed in God.”[83]
We conclude, paraphrasing the Mystic of Fontiveros, who wrote in a letter to one of his directees: “Do not be attached to anything, for since prayer is not wanting, God will take care of your possessions; they belong to no other owner, nor should they.”[84]
[1] The Spiritual Canticle, XXIX, 3. Quoted in the Directory of Spirituality, 220.
[2] Constitutions, 4.
[3] Constitutions, 5.
[4] Cf. Constitutions, 40.
[5] Cf. Directory of Consecrated Life, 225.
[6] Constitutions, 231.
[7] Perfectae Caritatis, 5.
[8] Cf. Directory of Spirituality, 22
[9] Apostolic Virtues, Ch. II, 7.
[10] Directory of Missions Ad Gentes, 168; op. cit. Redemptoris Missio, 91.
[11] The Divine Eucharist, Fourth Series, Retreat Preached to the Religious of the Society of the Most Blessed Sacrament, p. 394.
[12] Cf. Directory of Contemplative Life, Appendix, 1.
[13] Cf. Directory of Contemplative Life, Appendix, 2.
[14] Counsels to a Religious, 9.
[15] Cf. Directory of Major Seminaries, 209; op. cit. Pastores Dabo Vobis, 47.
[16] Cf. Saint John Paul II, Mass in Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, Peru (February 1, 1985).
[17] Directory of Major Seminaries, 210; op. cit. cf. 1 Kgs 19:11ff.
[18] Optatam Totius, 8.
[19] Ibidem.
[20] Directory of Major Seminaries, 211.
[21] Constitutions, 136.
[22] Optatam Totius, 8.
[23] Cf. Directory of Major Seminaries, 211.
[24] Constitutions, 139.
[25] Constitutions, 22; op. cit. Saint John Paul II, Discourse to the Superiors Generals of Orders and Religious Congregations (November 24, 1978), 4.
[26] Cf. Those Mysterious Priests, Ch. 12.
[27] Cf. The Priest Is Not His Own, Ch. 15.
[28] Cf. Those Mysterious Priests, Ch. 12.
[29] Directory of Consecrated Life, 226.
[30] Cf. Constitutions, 139; op. cit. Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Obras eucarísticas, ed. Eucaristía, 1963, 763-764.]
[31] Lumen Gentium, 31.
[32] Constitutions, 1.
[33] Cf. Saint John Paul II, Meeting with the Peruvian Religious in Lima, Perú (May 15, 1988).
[34] Heb 2:1.
[35] Fulton Sheen, Those Mysterious Priests, Ch. 12; op. cit. Mt 25:42-46.
[36] Ibidem.
[37] Meeting with the priests and religious in Reggio Emilia (June 6, 1988).
[38] Fulton Sheen, Those Mysterious Priests, Ch. 12.
[39] Constitutions, 139.
[40] Ibidem; op. cit. Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Obras eucarísticas, ed. Eucaristía, 1963, 763-764.
[41] To the priests gathered in Kinshasa, Zaire (May 4, 1980).
[42] To the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (September 24, 1998).
[43] Saint John Paul II, To priests and religious in Bari, Italy (February 26, 1984).
[44] Constitutions, 156; op. cit. Saint John Paul II, Allocution in Rome to the International Union of Superiors General (May 22, 1986).
[45] Constitutions, 202.
[46] Constitutions, 203; cf. Pastores Dabo Vobis, 47.
[47] Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, This I Want You To Be, Ch. 10, 181.
[48] 1 Cor 13:1.
[49] Benedict XV, Encyclical Humani generis redemptionem, n. 7.
[50] Constitutions, 40.
[51] The Letters, Letter 13, To a discalced Carmelite friar, April 14, 1589.
[52] Lk 18:1.
[53] Cf. Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Fraternal Life in Community. “Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor,” 17.
[54] Cf. Directory of Fraternal Life, 55.
[55] Ibidem.
[56] Lk 21:36.
[57] Directory of Fraternal Life, 51; cf. Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Fraternal Life in Community. “Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor,” 12-13.
[58] Directory of Fraternal Life, 52; cf. ibid., 14.
[59] Directory of Fraternal Life, 53.
[60] Directory of Liturgical Life, 86-87.
[61] Laudis Canticum, 3; op. cit. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 90.
[62] Cf. The Priest Is Not His Own, Ch. 8.
[63] This I Want You To Be, Ch. 10, 178.
[64] The General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours, 20 and 24.
[65] Cf. The Priest Is Not His Own, Ch. 8.
[66] Cf. Directory of Spirituality, 300.
[67] Constitutions, 137.
[68] Notes of the V General Chapter, 13.
[69] Cf. Fr. C. Buela, IVE, Ars Participandi, Ch. 1.
[70] Directory of Consecrated Life, 200.
[71] Saint John Paul II, Meeting with priests, religious and laity in Teramo, Italy (June 30, 1985).
[72] Quoted by Saint John Paul II, Letter to the Congregation of Saint Joseph on the first centenary of the death of the founder (March 28, 2000).
[73] Saint John Paul II, Vigesimus Quintus Annus, 10: “Nothing of what we do in the Liturgy can appear more important than what, in an unseen but real manner, Christ accomplishes by the power of his Spirit.” Directory of Liturgical Life, note 2.
[74] Directory of Liturgical Life, 2.
[75] Directory of Liturgical Life, 3; op. cit. Congregation for Catholic Education, Instruction on Liturgical Formation in Seminaries, 16.
[76] Saint John Paul II, Mass at the Shrine of Mariazell, Austria (September 13, 1983).
[77] Directory of Spirituality, 27.
[78] Directory of Spirituality, 75.
[79] Saint John Paul II, To the priests, men and women religious in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, Argentina (June 11, 1982).
[80] Cf. Benedictus.
[81] Saint John Paul II, To the secular and regular clergy and men and women religious of the diocese of Fano, Italy (August 12, 1984).
[82] Saint John Paul II, To the Clergy of Todi and Orvieto, Italy (November 22, 1981).
[83] Saint John Paul II, Letter to the Congregation of Saint Joseph on the first centenary of the death of the founder (March 28, 2000).
[84] Saint John of the Cross, The Letters, Letter 11, To Doña Juana de Pedraza, January 28, 1589.
