Riflessioni ad alta voce

From the writings of Don Orione Fidelity to the Pope Our Creed is the Pope, our moral life is the Pope; our way is the Pope; our love, our heart, our reason for living is the Pope; for us the Pope is Jesus Christ: to love the Pope and to love Jesus is the same thing; to hear and follow the Pope is to hear and follow Jesus Christ; to serve the Pope is to serve Jesus Christ; to give one's life for the Pope is to give one's life for Jesus Christ! Our submission to the Pope is not then restricted to ex cathedra definitions: it is not restricted to a sincere submission to his teachings however they are imparted, whether by him direct or through the Sacred Congregations, Nuncios or Apostolic Delegates, Bishops or others sent by him; it is not restricted to obeying his orders promptly and cheerfully, nor to ensuring that they are carried out; but the Sons of Divine Providence must make it their law just to live, and to cause souls to live, with a life of the stricte...

Fourth vow: community life and apostolate This vows touches both the communities and the members. The members are asked to know better whatever the Pope says or writes and also to spread it among people. The community is called to make this possible, making the documents of the Pope accessible in any possible way and facilitating as much as possible whatever the confreres do in this matter. We must make sure that we participate as community to all the events happening in the Church. We are also called to celebrate in a special way the feast of the Pope, especially the feast of St. Peter (29 June). While speaking about Don Orione we said that his aim was to serve the Pope, and that Charity was the way chosen to do it. So we can say that in our Congregation there is no apostolate unless it is done at the service of the Church. This mean: Whoever approaches our work must understand that we are Catholic and love very much the Pope. We follow strictly the Doctrine of the Chur...

The Pope at the time of Don Orione Just before Don Orione was born two episodes took place which would eventually influence his way of thinking. Until 1860 the Pope was also the political leader of a state called “State of the Church”, which had Rome as capital and covered the central part of Italy. In 1860 the Italian army conquered Rome and annexed it and all its territory to the kingdom of Italy. The Pope became a sort of prisoner and remained only the spiritual leader of Christians with no political powers. The Italian government at that time was very much anti-christian and against the Church. In 1869 there was the Vatican I Ecumenical Council in which the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope was declared. Infallibility means that whenever the Pope would declare something in matters of faith or moral, and it does it officially as Vicar of Christ, we can be sure that what he says is true and mistake is not possible. These two episodes created a big division among people...

The Church as Jesus set it up While studying the vow of Obedience we have seen that Jesus built a Church which was a community of which he was the head. During the three years with them, Jesus often relates to Peter in a special way. Peter is the only one to whom he changed the name (from Simon to Peter, which means “rock”), he uses the boat of Peter to preach, to Peter he shows the miraculous catching of fish, Peter is the one called to walk on the water, to him he says “I will make you a fisher of men”; he sends him to catch the fish with the coin in the mouth; several times Peter speaks in the name of the others. In a few occasions Jesus chooses only three apostles to come along with him (Transfiguration, resurrection of a young girl, prayer in the Gethsemane, etc), Peter is always one of them. There are three episodes particularly important regarding the relationship between Jesus and Peter. The faith declaration at Caesarea Philippi (Mt 16,17-20). After Peter declared...

The vow of fidelity to the Pope What is a forth vow? All the religious congregations must have the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. These are called evangelical counsels because they are based on the life of Christ and his teaching. Each congregation has developed an answer to a particular call of the Holy Spirit, which is called “Charism”. Each charism is different from the others and makes the congregations different one from the other. Through history some congregations decided to have a fourth vow in order to stress the peculiarity of their spirituality. From the very beginning don Orione had a clear idea of doing something special for the Pope and for the Church, and in a few occasions he expressed the desire of having a forth vow. Unfortunately, at that time the Church did not allow any new forth vow, so Don Orione died without seeing his wish fulfilled. Our forth vow was introduced for the first time in the constitutions prepared by the general chap...

Passages useful for a meditation on Obedience -) The example of Christ: Phil 2: 5-11 -) Jesus in the Gethsemane: Mt. 26: 39-44 -) My bread is to do the will of my Father: Jn 4: 34 -) God’s plan: Eph 1: 4-10 -) The will of God is understood only at spiritual level: 1 Cor 2, 8-12 -) VC 91,92 Questions for reflection How active am I in the community? How busy in my life? Do I consider the community as my family, and the house as my home or do I have more a feeling of being in a hostel? What are the things I want to fulfil in life? How do I consider the work of God in my life, my society etc.? Is there something more I could do for the betterment of my community, and for the Congregation in India? How do I relate with rules and regulations? How do I consider our Constitutions: lax, strict, possible, idealistic? How much am I willing to sacrifice in order to remain faithful?

From the writings of Don Orione Obedience Religious obedience is holy, as it has God as its foundation: its granite base is faith in Divine Providence: obedience sees and follows God. It consists in a habitual disposition to submit to the orders of one's superiors, the legitimate representatives of God, and interpreters of His will. And, so that it can be called a virtue, it must be intelligent and free: and, so that it can have merit, it is necessary for the will to carry it out as a sacred duty. The obedient religious sees in his Superior the person of Christ Himself: for him the voice of the Superior is the voice of Christ, the will of the Superior is the will of God. .............. Religious life is only possible through faithful and fully obedient practice; this is why it is a fundamental virtue. We cannot give to God anything that is greater than our will, because, says St. Thomas, it is through that that we use and enjoy everything that is good. And, as all s...

The obedience in Don Orione Don Orione, following the culture of his time, used very strong words about obedience. He tells us that we should be like rags in the hands of the superiors, fully open and available for whatever the superiors want. In telling us that, he wants to teach us to become humble, to trust more in God and to be real family. But he himself showed us what obedience meant when, in several occasions he had to obey to the Bishop who was putting obstacles to his work. One day, when the bishop ordered him to close a house, he answered: “Excellency, I now go and close that house, but I think that in conscience tomorrow you should not celebrate the Holy Mass”. The courage to talk but also the readiness to obey made the bishop to understand his mistake and retract the order. The house remained open. We have to be rags but in the hands of God, willing to do any service needed in silence and humility, but also with hard work, happiness and commitment. He wanted us to...