The vocation and life of the Missionary was presented in glowing terms in the first paragraph of the Foreword, and the members were exhorted to allow themselves to be totally transformed by these great ideals. Now Eugene continues to show that it is a gift that does not just fall from heaven, but that it is necessary to work towards this state. The route is clearly and unmistakably mapped out in the Rule:
To attain this so desirable an objective, they must apply themselves as well with the greatest care to adopt the most appropriate means to lead them to the goal they have set before themselves and to never depart from these prescribed rules to ensure the success of their holy undertaking and to maintain themselves in the holiness of their vocation.
Becoming fully what the eight points of the “identikit”of the opening paragraph hold out is the aim and result of living fully according to the Rule. Not only individually, but the Rule gives clear identity, unity and strength to the whole body of Missionaries and assures its continuation and fruits in the lives of those they minister to.
The example of the saints and reason itself make it clear that it is necessary, in order to maintain good order in a Society, to establish certain rules of life that unite all its members in a common practice and a common spirit; it is this that gives the body its strength, maintains its fervour and insures that it endures.
Avant propos, Règle de 1818, Missions, 78 (1951) p.11
“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer