D'Alzon speaks of the advent of the Kingdom of God in us, In his 1st letter to the Master of novices.
The Letters to the Master of novices
Put yourself back to 1868, the Assump4on
has been in existence for 23 years and has developed,
but the disciples want to know more about the spirit
that animates them and the spirit of the Assump4on.
In September 1868, at the end of the General
Chapter, d'Alzon made a major speech ("Instruction of
1868") in which he set out the purpose and spirit of
the Assumption.
The spirit of the Assumption lies in love of the
Kingdom and the triple love. Following the questions
of the religious the founder undertook to write letters
to strengthen the spirit of the Assumption, and he
writes 4 "Letters to the Master of Novices". Only the
first two will be considered here (the Kingdom within
us / the Kingdom around us). Here are a few quotes.
Sanctification
"I want to dwell today on what concerns our personal
sanctification." This term (sanctification or holiness)
has been very much put on the back-burner and it
would be good for us to understand to why:
1. in the years preceding Vatican II, there was a
renewed interest in the fact that holiness was for
everyone; previously, there was a tendency to
limit it to priests or men and women religious.
Yet religious had already ceased taking any
special interest in it.
2. Holiness ohen evoked a cult of saints or practices of
popular piety some4mes ambiguous, or even
ecumenical discussions
3. Yet it belongs to our genes. The universal call to
holiness concerns us too!
The theme was included in the orienta4on text of the
2023 General Chapter among our priori4es
So how do you become holy? By lekng God reign in
us! Individualized holiness? Is this a contradictory
assertion for religious who live in community, given
the spirit of the Assumption? No: if we let Christ reign
in us, then he will turn us towards others (to our
apostolates) as we shall see tomorrow.
Biblical Quotation and Definition
D'Alzon begins by quoting Lk 17:21: "The Kingdom of
God is within us." (attributing it to St. Paul in a
surprising way).
There is a question of the biblical transla4on: "in the
middle of", can also be translated within (intra in
Latin). This is what guides all of d'Alzon's thought (and
all of the tradition that preceded it, as we have seen
before).
There is a crucial point which, for once, d'Alzon gives
us a definition:
1. "The whole of our being and of all our faculties is
utterly dependent on the in4mate action of God" (p. 152)
2. Everything in us depends on God. Claude Maréchal
said "all the fibers of our being depend on God" (see
the image of fibers that make up a thread, hence the
expression spiritual fiber, missionary fiber). For us, all
our fibers depend on God.
3. Addiction is a word we don't like very much, we
prefer independence. But we must admit that in the
Chris4an life (and in religious life a fortiori), we
choose to depend on God!
4. In the rest of Alzon's letter he develops the paradox
of the Christian life: the more one depends on God,
the more free one becomes! Examining the wisdom
of the ancients, it seems that this is the work of a
lifetime...
The Love of Jesus Christ
In the rest of his letter, d'Alzon gives us a guide for
this path. The guide is Christ:"Jesus Christ, the true
light that enlightens everyone who comes into this
world and manifests the perfec4ons of God in a more
admirable way [...] the soul, recognising that it has
been blessed with the ability to know God here on
earth, to know his perfections, while still desiring to
know more and more, is inflamed with a greater love
to proclaim with ever greater joy God's rights, and
abandons himself more fully to his sovereign empire"
(Isa, p. 151).
Christ enlightens us and enables us to perceive who
God is shows how much God loves us (language of
perfectins). It is as if we are ablaze with love. We
want to know God even more, to know more, to love
Him more, and so to proclaim Him even more.The
spiritual experience that happens when we know God
better can take place through reading the Bible,
studying Christ, or contemplating the world.
So we need biblical scholars, theologians and
journalists (who are defenders of creation) at the
Assumption!
24 авг 2023
