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Letters of Fr. General |
Holy Trinity 2008 |
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The Vocationist Parish and
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To all the members of the Vocationist Family Beloved, May God the Holy Spirit unite us ever more with the Son to the Father God Trinity is the most real and the most perfect community of love. In his reality as the image and likeness of God and in his social nature, man is called to live in a community and cannot live without belonging to one or more communities. We are born in the community-family, we belong to the ecclesial community, we grow in the community of neighbourhood, we mature in the scholastic community, we incorporate ourselves in a religious community, we work in civil, political, economic, business, academic, charitable communities etc. No man is an island, no man is self-sufficient, no man can survive on his own. No wonder, at the beginning of creation, God said: ‘it is not good for man to be alone’(Gen. 2:18) No one can speak of the history of humanity if not in the associative historical context of communities, tribes, states, associations, societies, confederations, affiliations and religions in which man has lived and continues to live in time. One of the etymological significance of the word religion, from re-ligo, means to bring together, to acquaint oneself with something or somebody. Religion is no other than our relationship with God and with the neighbour in view of God. The very word Church means: Assembly, meeting, community. The word parish also is characterised by its meaning of a well determinate community of the faithful…is formed by the faithful who live close to the Church to which they are assigned and who form a community’(cf. Concise Glossary of Christianity). One of the models of the postconciliar parish and one that better expresses the Vocationist culture is that of Community of communities. More than a community of individual faithful, the parish is seen as a community of groups, societies, associations, movements. This model is mostly visible in large parishes in which the committed faithful live their faith and carry out their apostolate as members of a group and identify themselves with the same group. Fr. Justin says: The Congregation assumes the pastoral care of the parishes and consider them centre of permanent catechesis and place of encounter of the various ecclesial groups, precious instruments of accompaniment for priestly and religious vocations (Constitution, 19). The vitality of a parish can be easily measured by the number of groups (committees, societies, associations, movements) that exist in it and by their capacity to work together as parts of the whole. During the Christmas period of 1935-1936, without specific date, Fr. Justin wrote in the Book of the Soul, thus: Here is the Congregation of the Divine Vocations, inspirations, ascensions, etc. This work of the most holy Trinity must be like the soul in the already formed body. In the parish, in the diocese, in the seminary, in any organization, it spreads itself out unnoticed, not to form new organs when they are already there, but to vivify, to nourish, to bring to fullness of life, development, blossoming and production of groups for the glory of God’. On January 5, 1936, with greater emphasis, he adds as direct word of God : Again, you and the Congregation must be all, all soul. You must enter (and immediately) in every organ and function of the body of the Church, not to make it, but only to vivify it as its soul. The Vocationists, therefore, more than animators, moderators or spiritual assistants of the various groups or ecclesial movements must become the soul of these groups. More than to tolerate and assist the groups that they find in a parish, they must multiply them, convinced that the good or the apostolate that the individual does, ends with his sickness, death, defection or transferr, while that which is done by a group will continue and will survive the individual components of the group. Ecclesial Movements Ecclesial movements are those groups of faithful that work within the church and the society, putting themselves at the service of the Gospel and tending to render the society more fraternal and solid with a mature Christian testimony. Movement is a term used in a wide sense. More precisely, in the ecclesial language today, we tend to distinguish between associations, movements and groups. The associations are those aggregations that have an organic structure, of institutional character: for example, the Catholic Action. The groups are aggregations of much reduced dimensions, characterised by spontaneity of adherence and by great liberty of configuration. The movements are those aggregate realities in which the unifying element, more than an institutional structure, is the vital adherence to some ideal-force and to a common spirit: for example, Communion and Liberation, the Focolares, the NeoCatechumens, the ‘Renewal in the Spirit’, the Cursillos etc. The various ecclesial movements are a concrete expression of the various schools of spirituality. As Vocationists, we accept all the schools of spirituality and would like to be their synthesis, so we should accept to be the synthesis of all the movements, groups and ecclesial associations. Whoever joins an ecclesial movement, sets himself out on a journey, in an itinerary of conversion to Christ, whose stages and modalities come gradually discovered in the confrontation with the Word of God and in the fraternal help from the part of the community. This aggregating of themselves by the faithful is an acknowledged right that finds its first foundation in the social nature of the human person and specifically, in the baptismal condition. The apostolic exhortation Christifideles laici has furnished some criteria of ecclessiality for the aggregations and the movements: the priority given to holiness; the responsibility to confess the catholic faith, welcoming and proclaiming the truth concerning Christ, the Church and man; the testimony of a strong and convinced communion with the pope and with the bishops; the conformity to and the participation with an apostolic intent of the Church. One insists on the necessity of avoiding radicalizing one’s own spiritual experience in the movement, as if it were a position of privilege or of something unrepeatable with other modalities. The gifts of the Spirit are indeed much more valuable when they take place as a spiritual experience within an ecclesial movement. In the encyclical, Redemptoris Missio, the Holy Father wrote: In the Church are present various types of services, functions, ministries and forms of animation of the Christian life. Let us remember the novelty that has emerged in many churches in recent times, the great development of ecclesial movements endowed with strong missionary dynamism. When they insert themselves with humility in the life of the local churches and are welcomed cordially by bishops and priests in the diocesan and parochial structures, the movements represent a true gift of God for the new evangelization and for the missionary activity itself. Let us, therefore, recommend to spread them and to avail ourselves of them in order to reinvigorate, especially among the youths, the Christian life and the evangelization, in a pluralistic vision of the very ways the groups associate and express themselves. Movements and new communities, providential expressions of the new spring enkindled by the Spirit with the Vatican Council II, constitute a sign of God’s love which, overcoming divisions and barriers of every kind, renew the face of the earth, in order to build the civilization of love (John Paul II, Homily at the Mass of Pentecost, 25/5/1996). On May 31, 2006, Benedict XVI, in the Message to the movements and the ecclesial communities, said: Evangelize the society, bringing the truth and the beauty of the gospel to the world confused by ideologies. Besides, he exhorted the movements to be schools of communion, companions for the journey, where we learn to live in the truth and in the love of Christ. The ecclesial Movements and the new communities are today luminous sign of the beauty of Christ and of the Church, his bride. You belong to the living structure of the Church (…that) thanks you for your missionary engagement, for the formative action that you develop in an increasing way in the Christian families, for the promotion of the vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life that you develop within you…Beyond the affirmation of right to one’s existence, it must always prevail, with indisputable priority, the edification of the Body of Christ in the midst of men. Every problem must be confronted by the movements with sentiments of profound communion, in spirit of adherence to the legitimate pastors. Let us sustain the participation in the prayer of the Church, whose liturgy is the highest expression of the beauty of the glory of God, and constitutes, in some way, an appearance of heaven itself on earth. It is important for us to note the reference to the ecclesial movements as promoters and cultivators of vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life. The vocations arise where and when there is intense life of prayer, zeal and apostolic fervour. The task to assist and to animate the various ecclesial movements in the parishes should be part of our pastoral ministry. The Vocationist Culture about the ecclesial Movements As Vocationists, we pray: most holy Trinity Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we offer you the most precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in sacrifice of intercession for all the graces necessary to every human association, to enter, to live and to fructify in your one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. We offer you the most precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ so that you may grant perfect conversion to the zeal of faith and of charity to all the associations hostile or neutral, to the holy Church (cf .Devotional, p.738). Again, we pray with Fr. Justin, thus: That you may grant us not to arrive at the end of any day, not to reach the end of life, without having first arrived at that fullness of grace of virtues, of works and of merits that you intend for us, O Lord. That you may grant us to leave on earth behind us and through us many sources of supernatural wellbeing, as many as the atoms of our bodies, as the instants of our time and the acts of our faculties and many more! (cf. Devotional, p.166) Which are these sources of supernatural good if not the Congregations, institutes and associations that bring forward a definite charism, a specific spirituality? In the Vocationist culture, therefore, we don’t only revere, promote and assist the various associations, inspired by the Holy Spirit for the sanctification of the souls, but we initiate, institute, found these associations to leave behind us as a continuation of our mission. In preparing the list of the heavens of our work and the teams of our workers, Fr. Justin creates a new word, a new title for those who work among the lay associations: Communionists = ministers among the various catholic lay associations always aiming at creating communion. Or better, those that work in the various associations, are the servants given to divine communion (cf. Book of the Soul, January 13, 1940). The following teaching can be of great help to us in comprehending the Vocationist culture about the groups and ecclesiastical associations: ‘The temple and the school are no longer enough, other places are needed so as to make every house, road and square, the temple and school of the Gospel. It’s true! The exercise of the sacred functions and administering of the holy sacraments to those who ask for them is not enough, but it is necessary to win people back to Jesus, soul by soul. Yes, it’s true! And so? The priest does not live to entertain, but to convert. The priest does not go out to please men, but to be of help to the souls. It is necessary for the Gospel to be integrally known, integrally observed, integrally propagated. If we set ourselves to entertain people, we may whet their concupiscence of pleasure and they will end up going where they can find a greater and, maybe, also illicit pleasure. For us, Vocationists, the new apostolate is that of holiness in charity with the Society of the Divine Union. The souls are made for the Lord and the love of Jesus is all the stimulus and amusement, pleasure and advantage, reason and ultimate aim, means and end, way and home of every human life in every age. In every parish, there should be a crown of at least twelve organizations, sources of fervour, like the twelve stars of Mary to make of every soul the saint wanted by the Lord (cf. Book of the Soul, June 27, 1952). Oh, if everyone of our confreres would set out to convert one of the three hundred and more protestant sects, beginning with the gathering of all the fragments of truth and of goodness that they present and uniting them, purifying them and making them, as though they were garland of gold, to attract them gently, with esteem and supernatural love, to the holy catholic Church. Every Christian sect is almost like a religious order born outside the garden of the Lord and withers before long, due to the climate of errors; yet, it seems that there are many features of accessibility and convertibility to the truth in charity for unity. (I read with much satisfaction, although with pain, of the new protestant movement of Buchmanites with all their devotion to the inspiration of the moment, to confession and spiritual direction, to the mission of the Holy Spirit, etc, Great fragments, splendid fragments of truth and of charity, that must neither pass unobserved nor go lost in the gloomy and muddy spheres of errors)’(cf. Book of the Soul, January 15, 1938).(Buchman Frank Nathan Daniel(1878-1961), Pennsylvania, was first a protestant pastor and later became promoter of the movement of return to Catholicism that took its name from him.) Every association contains great, splendid fragments of truth and of goodness; we would wish to fish them out and save them all for the good of the souls. We must not and we cannot be inclined to condemn or reject this or that association only because it does not correspond to our tastes and views. The following writing of Fr. Justin may serve as inspiration to us; asking special graces for the Congregation, he places on the same level the members of the Vocationist associations and the consecrated members of the community: With the expression ‘all ours’ we intend explicitly those of the male and female branches, those internal and external, the congregates and aggregates, in every way and degree, associates, benefactors and protectors. We mean all the members, collectively and distributively. So it is! So may it be! Amen! How I wish that every internal and external Vocationist, without leaving the Congregation, may become father of a holy and lasting organization in the Church! Oh! That every internal and external member of our community, may succeed in forming the group of 72 disciples. That every internal and external religious, may succeed in forming and leaving behind him the college of twelve seraphs and apostles of the divine union. Amen. That he may have a special grace to transform all the associations , hostile and neutral to the Church, into forces of good in the Church. For example, the masons, the militant atheists, every faction and every party dedicated to the service of the enemy. Amen. (Book of the Soul, January 12, 1939). For himself, for me and for you, on February 27, 1945, Fr. Justin wrote, in his Book of the Soul, thus: ‘Commit yourself to bring to Jesus the twelve and the seventy-two in every parish and in every social class; he will then do the rest.’ That is all the forms and works of apostolate necessary in the modern times, in Pianura and everywhere. Deo gratias! Alleluia! (To the soul conscious of its own physical and moral incapacity to the modern, parochial and modern pastoral apostolate). Vocationist Associations and Groups Canon Law recognises the right of the faithful to form private and public associations with or without legal status (Can. 299). Canon 312, paragraph 2, establishes: ‘The written consent of the diocesan bishop is required for the valid erection of an association or a branch of an association in a diocese, even if this is done in virtue of an apostolic privilege; however, the consent given by a diocesan bishop for the erection of a house of a religious institute also allows for the erection in the same house or church attached to it, of an association proper to the institute’. In virtue of this canon, in the Vocationist houses and churches are approved, and, therefore, permitted, the associations proper of the Congregation. Canon 311 reminds us that ‘Members of institutes of consecrated life who preside over or assist associations in some way united to their institute are to see to it that these associations give assistance to the works of apostolate in the diocese, especially cooperating, under the direction of the local ordinary, with associations which are ordered to the exercise of the apostolate in the diocese.’ As with our presence and our ministry, so with our associations, we don’t want to compete or to create obstacles or competition; we want to offer always service to the local church, promoting diocesan initiative and programmes. The associations erected, approved and united in some way to our family are: The Charismatic Renewal of the Servants of Cristo Vivo, the Friends of Fr. Justin, the Vocationist Missions Co-operators, Fr. Justin’s Prayer Groups, and the Vocationist Charismatic Fraternity. ‘Commit yourself to the formation of the various spiritual families of the Society of Divine Vocations’, said the Lord to Fr. Justin on December 24,1941. He repeats the same thing to me and to you today. Consequently, I strongly believe that in everyone of our houses and in everyone of our churches, must be formed, cultivated and developed the Friends of Fr. Justin, the Vocationist Mission Co-operators and the Fr. Justin’s Prayer Groups, in order to vocationistalize the environment in which we live and our every field of work. To establish and promote these Vocationist associations does not mean to dismantle, discourage or abolish other associations or ecclesial movements present in the parish. Like all other ecclesial movements, the Vocationist associations demonstrate the richness of the Church and the multiplicity of divine gifts for the good of the souls. Reading this pressing invitation to institute and develop the Vocationist groups, some of you will undoubtedly say: ‘it is not easy!’ Yes, it is not easy and must not be easy, but it is possible and feasible in everyone of our churches, in any part of the world! For me it is a true joy to have met small groups of Friends of Fr. Justin in Palisades Park and in Florham Park, at Maasin, Mati and at Davao, at S. Juan, at Medellin and at Antananarivo, besides those at the Vocationary in Pianura, Altavilla, Quarto and Bellavista. ‘It has been given to me to understand, to strongly feel that the search and the formation of external religious is our work aeque principalis (equally important) as that of vocations’(Book of the Soul, January 7, 1942) It seems clear that the animation of the Vocationist associations and groups is part of our charism, since Fr. Justin considers them as important as the search and culture of vocations! I repeat to you and to me what God the Holy Spirit inspired in Fr. Justin: ‘You must elevate yourself to consider this so sublime work of the Divine Vocations, of the divine union and to consider it from the side of God, from the part of God, from the thought, from the heart, from the action of God; not from your side, thought, heart and action or worse, of those of other men. No. In this work, many, very many will take part and great part: bishops and popes, roman congregations and diocesan curia, the clergy and the laity. You will also take some part, a small part. Handle it well, do well your personal duty and that of your office. God will do the rest in others, for others. Peace. (Book of the Soul, June 27,1935). On June 17, 1934, always in his Book of the Soul, Fr, Justin wrote: Practical note for the Congregation.-- It is good for our Congregation to establish as many groups as are the Sacred Roman Congregations in order to receive, study, transmit, apply, do and observe all the prescriptions, dispositions and instructions of the Holy See. The multiplicity of groups does not hamper or complicate our work, but facilitates it and assures its perpetuity. The Friends of Fr. Justin The association, Friends of Fr. Justin, originates from the experience of some faithful of Pianura, who, from 1976 to 2001, had operated as Committee of Fr. Justin, promoting, especially, the local celebrations in honour of the Father Founder. From the ashes of the old committee, after two years of Vocationist formation and information, came the association, Friends of Fr. Justin.
The Friends of Fr. Justin Association is an international institution willing and ready to cooperate in every Vocationist community and parish. Like every international organization or movement, the association has a central government that animates, directs and coordinates the general programme and the local government that animates, guides and accompanies the various local groups.
Every local group of the Friends of Fr. Justin tends
to render itself useful in every possible way to the Vocationist Fathers
and Sisters developing the talents of the members; in order to achieve
this, every group is divided into areas of interest, so that every
group can have various sectors. For example, the sector for
celebrations, the sector for Justinian Devotion, the sector for
Justinian literature, Vocationist historical sites, programmes,
Vocationist promotion, Vocationist vocational prayers, songs, music,
culture, etc Every good Christian desiring to become a saint and interested in the promotion of the devotion, spirit and work of Venerable Fr. Justin can and should become a member of this association that should be present in every Vocationist residence and parish (Cfr. Atti del XIII Capitolo Generale). For information and assistance in forming local groups call the President: Dr. Emilio Tamburino, Tel. 320 6538581 or Vincenzo Forino, Tel. 338 37419984. Fr. Justin’s Prayer Groups for Vocations With the expression Fr. Justin’s Prayer Groups for Vocations, we refer to a movement of prayer and evangelization of the vocation to universal sanctification, aiming to put at the centre, the prayer for vocations to consecrated life and to the priesthood, converging the efforts to stimulate and to sustain with every energy the prayer to the owner of the harvest to send workers to his vineyard. The journey of the small Groups of Prayer for Vocations is a journey that began in June 1997, in concomitance with the first years of priestly life of Fr. Vittorio Zeccone, sdv. In those days, Fr. Vittorio was the animator of the aspirants at the Vocationary in Pianura and, he, giving voice and concreteness to various lay members that wanted to pray in constant and committed way for vocations, began assembling them, first in the chapel of the third floor of the Vocationary and later, at the crypt in the same Vocationary. Fr. Vittorio proposed that they gather themselves every week in the small cenacles of their houses for prayer for vocations. Conscious that the Church of the third millennium has need of pastors always more prepared and courageous, the small groups humbly want to see themselves as apostles of prayer, ever-burning flames to support the perseverance of the called ones and those who may be called in the future to the priesthood and to consecrated life. The small groups are structured in a simple manner: Spiritual Assistant (a Vocationist Priest), Coordinators (can be a consecrated or a lay member who has the task to open other small groups, to transmit the communications of the Spiritual Assistant and the monthly informative paper called Grazie) and the Group-leader (the person that welcomes the group in his/her own residence and has the task to call them to prayer, keeping alive, at every moment of the year, these moments of prayer) (cf. Acts of the 13th General Chapter, p.311ff.). For information and assistance in forming Fr. Justin’s Prayer Groups contact Fr. Vittorio Zeccone, Tel. 340 36110300. Vocationist Missions Co-operators ‘The Vocationist Missions Co-operators are groups of lay people united by the purpose to promote and sustain, with prayer, sacrifice and donation, their commitment in favour of the Vocationist missions. The first group began to form at Pianura in May, 1984 around Sr. Anna Frieri and the first two lay persons Carmela Mele and Maria Di Fusco who were enthused by the missionary ideal and by the possibility of helping the work of Fr. Justin in the mission countries. Fr. James Capraro erected the first formal group of Co-operators in 1990 when he was the Superior General, he also began to publish the monthly pamphlet, ‘Il Cooperatore’. The Co-operators have a brief statute that spells out the three daily tasks: a prayer for vocations, a sacrifice in favour of the missions, and a donation or small offering, visible sign of love for the missions. They also promote and sustain the Vocationist Missions by promoting spiritual adoption, scholarships, bequests, enrolments in our perpetual holy masses and discernment in reading the signs of vocations in the youths for a vocational proposal.(cf. Acts of the 13th General Chapter, p.321ff.). Is it a pure coincidence that the expansion and great growth of our missions coincided with the foundation of the Vocationist Mission Co-operators? For information and assistance in forming new groups of Vocationist Missions Co-operators, please contact Fr. Antonio Do Nascimento, sdv Tel 348 7035254 Identification and spirit of the Vocationist Groups What Fr. Justin says of the Congregation, must be said of the Vocationist Associations. They are very useful in the journey towards divine union, but are not essential to salvation. Therefore, there is need always to respect the liberty of conscience to belong or not to belong to a group. It is incumbent on us, as Vocationists, to make such organizations available for the people of God and to inform the faithful, without, however, compelling anyone to be part of them. ‘You are not God. The Congregation is not the Church. Miracle is not habitual. To want to welcome all, to satisfy all, to be all for all, this is of God, it is not of man. Also being the living image of God, is not being God himself. The image is image, not more. The Congregation is not the Church. In the Church all must enter; all belong to the Church. It is a necessary society. Not so, not so the Congregation. Therefore, she can well and must well send away those who might not be worthy of her without worrying much of their condition. Outside the congregation does not mean outside of the Church. They can and must find their redemption and sanctification in the Church. Even, that redemption and sanctification that on account of their sins they will no more find in the Congregation (cf. Book of the Soul, March 5, 1935). All Vocationist groups must be inclusive and nor exclusive, open to all and not restricted to an elite. Besides aiming and aiding personal and universal sanctification, divine union and vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, they live a live of humble service within the Church and especially within every parish. In their own ways they espouse and live the Vocationist charism and spirituality; that is why Fr. Justin often refers to the member of our groups as external religious. All the members of the various branches of the Vocationist family use the emblem of the Congregation as their badge An Invitation (or a Challenge?) Often in his writings, Fr. Justin laments the lack of a true and sincere friend and turns himself to the future friend, speaks to the future friend as the one who would understand his thought, marry his passion and transmit his teachings to the future generations. I confess, with much internal confusion, to have desired and to desire to be one of his future friends! Did I succeed? To what extent? Will I succeed? Brother and sister, who read this, I address to you this urgent invitation to become the friend of Fr. Justin. To be a friend of Fr. Justin, we must listen to him, understand him, assimilate his spirit, charism and passion for universal sanctification, implement it in ourselves and transmit it later to souls thirsty for the love of God. Fr. Justin wrote The Society of Divine Union, The Sodality of divine union, The Apostles of Universal Sanctification and The Three Works, although, with minor variations, they all insist on the same theme: to create an association that involves all humanity in the journey towards divine union. To the best of my knowledge, this association, as such, has never existed. As a future friend of Fr. Justin, why don’t you accept this challenge to form around you a group of divine union and promote it through the Congregation and the entire Church? For your benefit and for the good of those with whom you can share this treasure, I present you a synthesis of this movement or association. The Apostolate of Universal Sanctification This movement wants to promote universal sanctification. All Christians can and must become saints! The apostolate of universal sanctification, promoted by the Vocationists, is a pious association of souls that welcome the call to sanctify themselves and help the sanctification of others through the sovereign means of: 1) fervent Eucharistic communion, 2) meditated spiritual reading, 3) edifying conversation with others, 4) affective habitual prayer, 5) an ascetic reunion with other souls apostles of universal sanctification. The general programme of this association is that of making known to all the essence and obligation of holiness, to transmit to all the vocation and mission of holiness, to bring to all and to make all use the means and the graces of holiness. Every member must be very faithful:
The apostles of universal sanctification divide themselves into three groups: 1) The Children of the light: they occupy themselves with the religious instruction of the younger ones especially through the veneration of Mary, most holy and the teaching of the science of the saints. 2) The Children of the kingdom: Turn themselves to the adolescents and the youths to enlist them in the spiritual battle for the conquest of heaven and the triumph of the Church. They must be trained to the knowledge and to the use of arms to combat the spirit of the world and of hell and of the human spirit through mortification. 3) The Children of the Heart of God: They direct themselves to the adults called to the duty of the exercise of the works of charity of God and of neighbour. They must imitate the kindness of the immaculate heart of Mary through the perpetual visitation to the brother in need, to provide him with what he needs for his spiritual and material wellbeing. For personal sanctification, they must all know and propagate fervently the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to rely greatly on his divine promises. Concise statute of the Sodality of the external religious co-operators of the Society of Divine Vocations (Sodality or Society of Divine Union) This Sodality welcomes the souls that want to share the goal and the spirit of the Society of Divine Union. The Sodality consists of external cooperators that group themselves into:
Not necessarily, but much opportunely, the external religious come distributed and assigned to each of the three great fields of work of the Society of Divine Vocations: parishes, schools(Vocationaries) and missions. Every external religious must transform his own residence into a small religious house , and to have there the possibility to set apart a corner dedicated to prayer. Besides, he can and must consider as his own, all the residences of the Vocationist Congregation, to which he belongs in quality of external cooperator. The Congregation, then, as tangible proof of the maternal care and assistance for her external religious cooperators, offers, in her houses, places for their spiritual reunions, exercises, retreats and courses of formation. The apostolate of the external religious comes distributed in three functions: 1) The Assistants, who must work in the parish and occupy themselves with liturgical worship, especially with Eucharistic adoration. For such reason, they are entrusted with the organization, operation and growth of the Confraternity of the most blessed Sacrament, the annual (forty hours) parish Eucharistic congress, and all Eucharistic worship whether it has to due with daily communion or with the perpetual adoration. For this, they found a group of adorers that can take turns in adoration, at fixed hours, until to possibly cover, without interruption, the whole day. They will do it in such a way that every family may, every day, or at least, every week, have her own representative among the Eucharistic adorers. Every adorer, after having chosen the day and the hour of his sacred service, should think to have others substitute him when he is unable to make it. 2) The Vigilantes, who work in the fight against every form of evil through the preventive method applied to individuals or to the community. Their preventive method consists in a siege of good works that reduce evil. They will commit themselves in a particular way in the fight against every form of profanation of the temple of the Lord, of the day of the Lord. They will keep watch on all the forms of the propagation of evil, like the press, gatherings, shows, internet,… to prevent their very sad effects; always, however, substituting it with the propagation of the good, and studying to prevent evil, not limiting themselves to the defensive, but passing over to the offensive. The vigilantes will be entrusted with the spiritual works of mercy. 3) The Ministers apply themselves to the conquest of every form of good. They must, in every parish, recruit, organize, bring up and educate the younger ones, providing for the parish schools, the catechetical schools, the annual catechetical mission and all the present and future forms of the catechetical apostolate, not only for the younger ones. The external religious must search among the faithful for as many more cooperators, benefactors and protectors as possible. They must look for those who have the means to become benefactors and protectors, while the cooperators are those who may have much free time at their disposal. Also, the diocesan priests can be external religious. All ours, whether internal or external, must be always promoters of the work of the ecclesiastical vocations, in the diocesan seminary, in the vocational culture and discernment, in providing scholarships for needy vocations. How beautiful the desire of Fr. Justin, that in every non Vocationist parish there may be at least an external religious to promote the vocation to holiness and to divine union! The three works of the apostolate of the universal sanctification To whomever has offered himself to the Lord to be Apostle of Universal Sanctification are proposed and entrusted the three works:
Each of these three works requires a concrete task that can so be summarised:
For the work of spiritual ascension:
For the work of divine union: · To receive the Eucharist frequently, until becoming a daily communicant; · To live in company of the most holy Trinity, who dwells in us, doing often acts of union; · To accustom oneself to live recollected and mortified in order to listen and follow the divine inspiration. Make sure to know these three works and enable as many souls as possible to practice them. Offer yourselves to the parish priest to promote parochial, diocesan, pontifical works and increase the liturgical, apostolic and missionary life of your parish. The organ of the three works is the magazine, Spiritus Domini and the spiritual centre is the Vocationist Congregation, in her twofold male and female branches. The Perpetual Prayer
There cannot be a better comment to what has been said above than this teaching of the same Fr. Justin, written in his Book of the Soul on February 6, 1945, thus: Here is the evangelical organization of the external religious. One that attracts and maintains around himself, and cultivates 12 more closely, and 72 more at large. This both for men and for women. They are, in every parish, the centre of the perpetual ascetic mission in all places where they can reach, as good spiritual servants according to the gospel for the daily banquet of the word and the Eucharist. All these pious practices and approved initiatives are elements of these banquet! Without any limitation or exclusion. Especially, with the modern exercise (to be always further modernized) of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.’ In the mind of Fr Justin, these three works are parts or subgroups of the Sodality of the Divine Union. Perhaps, in practical life they may be considered three different groups or three degrees of the same group. To you, future friend, its interpretation and realization. Conclusion The clerical culture wants everything centred and rotating around the priest. The Vocationist culture wants that the priest be the soul of everyone and of everything. He should permit, promote and animate all the groups, so that later they, in their turn, may continue to form, promote and animate other groups….to infinity! May we make ours all the teachings of Fr. Justin and, especially, this one repeated with heartfelt feeling, one year before his death, in all his ascensional–trinitarian-apostolic impulse, thus: Now the soul, your soul, and the soul of every neighbour is the heaven where the Lord wants to ascend and ascends! He, Jesus, the God-Man! Let us receive him in the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the soul! I embrace you with the Holy Spirit! I kiss you with the Father. Take up for yourself, finally, all my sentiment, as well as all my spirit, all my human being! All yours, all you! I will engage every soul in what is your own work, the college of the twelve, the group of the seventy-two disciples. This is the work that you, more than all the others, want, which more than all others glorifies and more than all others sanctifies you (Book of the Soul, May 27, 1954). My beloved Vocationist pastor, brother and sister, internal and external Vocationist, how many groups are present and operating in your(!?) parish? Accept them, animate them and multiply them. Thus, you will do a great favour to yourself (creating for yourself innumerable collaborators); you will promote the sanctification of the souls (be them of those that you know personally, or those that these souls will know), and you will render the greatest possible glory to God, the Holy Trinity (promoting your and their sanctification and transforming every soul into the living temple of God, dwelling in them). Only so can we pray and obtain that which we ask many times a day with our ejaculatory prayer: O my God and my All, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, may your will be done, your love reign, your glory shine always more in me and in everyone, as in yourself, O my God and my all! In this letter I did not talk specifically about the Vocationist Apostles of Universal Sanctification because they are a secular institute and because they deserve much more attention and care. Let us be aware and keep in mind what the Lord says to me and to you as he said to Fr. Justin: make all the parishioners external religious, and you will have been a good pastor (cf. Book of the Soul, October 29, 1939). In the love of God Trinity, I greet, embrace and bless you, wishing you an ever more unlimited opening of mind, heart and life. Rome, May 18, 2008 Fr. Louis M. Caputo, S.D.V.of the Blessed Trinity
P.S. 1. With immense joy and trepidation in these first months of 2008 we have opened 4 new religious communities: Vocationary St. Bartholomew in Thalassery, India (March 25th 2008), St. Winifride in Holywell, Great Britain (April 6th 2008), S. Ignace of Loyola in Antananarivo and Divine Union Vocationary in Ambatondrazaka, Madagascar (April 13th 2008). 2. We have exulted of joy for the priestly ordination of our five deacons: Fr. Rodrigo Foti, Fr. Javier Flores, Fr. Firmino Htwe, Fr. Joe Realista, Fr. Calexto Peligrino. The ordination took place in our parish of St. Gabriel in Rome on April 26 for the imposition of the hands of His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. Congratulations to the newly ordained and endless graces and benedictions to all those who have helped them on their way. 3. Thanks to Fr. Salvatore Musella and to the community of Altavilla, on January 18th, 2008 has been published the ninth volume of the Opera Omnia, Walk toward the Espousal Union. 4. On Easter Sunday has also seen the light of the sun the tenth volume of the Opera Omnia, the Book of the Soul, part I. Thanks to Fr Michele Vassallo and to the Servants of Cristo Vivo who have paid the whole cost of this volume. I invite all of you to study, to assimilate and to propagate the writings of Fr. Justin. 5. The General Council has approved the opening of a fourth community in the United States. Upon invitation of the bishop of Paterson, Most. Rev. Arthur Serratelli, in the month of August we will open a community in Paterson, N.J. and we will take the pastoral care of the parishes of St. Michael and S. Gerardo. 6. I hope that for next August 2nd we can set the word "end" to the restructuring of the Vocationary of Pianura and to bless the restructured mother house and to start the activities of spiritual exercises and retreats and reception of the pilgrims. I invite all the confreres to promote and to use the new places so that our mother house becomes indeed a center of spirituality and vocationistality. 7. In order to be able to pay back the contracted debts for the restructuring of the Vocationary (and also because we did not succeed in making it productive) we have put up for sale the hermitage Gaudium of Varenna-Perledo. 8. I invite all of you to reserve the dates of 1 and 2 August to participate in the celebrations in honor of Fr. Justin and for the benediction and the inauguration of the Vocationary in Pianura. 9 Fr. Sante Attanasio, S.D.V. is the new Director of Spiritus Domini. I cordially thank Fr. Lawrence Montecalvo, S.D.V. who has worked with great sacrifices, but also with professionalism, zeal and constancy to regularly publish our magazine for the last twelve years. Spiritus Domini is the voice of the Congregation, let's sustain it by contributing some articles, information and services on the various communities and above all divulging it and economically sustaining it. The readers of Spiritus Domini keep asking news and information about our mission. 10 The Very Rev. Vicar General, Fr. Alfonso Limone during this month of May is visiting our communities in the Philippines and in Indonesia, while Fr. Anthony Rafael do Nascimento is visiting the communities in India. Both in the Philippines and in India there will be admissions to the novitiate, first professions, renewal of the temporary profession and (only in India) 6 perpetual professions. Let's accompany them with our prayers and sustain our missions. 11 I recommend to all the communities to expeditiously compile the financial report of the first semester 2008, (from January first to June 30th, 2008), and to send it to the respective Provincials or Delegates, that will transmit it to the general economo after completing the financial report of the Provinces and Delegations. Let me remind you that the number of the Masses celebrated pro-curia, during the semester, must be reported as part of the financial report. 12 And at last, rejoice and be glad for the priestly ordination of our Deacons, Rijo Johnson and Babu Thelappilly that will take place at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark on May 24 through the laying on of hands by Archbishop John J. Meyers. Best wishes and blessings to them and many thanks to all the confreres who have helped them throughout their formation both in India and in the USA. 13. All newly ordained priests, with the exception of Fr. Realista, will remain in their present posts. |
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The Friends of Fr. Justin wish to be an army of
external co-operators, committed to aspire after holiness, striving
after divine union and committing themselves to promote the devotion to
Fr. Justin and to advance his charism, co-operating, as lay members, in
the various Vocationist activities. In the course of its first years of
activity, the association developed its action with a constant animation
in a perspective not only religious, but also social and cultural in
favour of Vocationist work. 
