In the centuries after Saint Paul, the spiritual concept of a \u2018father\u2019 was used for those who had administered baptism to the new Christians. With the rise of monasticism, and from the time of St Jerome onwards, the commitment to this way of life came to be called a \u201csecond baptism\u201d. Thus the one responsible for the religious life of the monks was an \u2018Abbot\u2019 \u2013 a father.<\/p>\n
For four years Eugene had lived a community life with the monk Brother Maur, who had given him an appreciation for some of the values of monastic life. In 1815, for instance, Eugene was hesitating between entering a monastery or dedicating himself fully to the apostolic ministry. Some traces of this monastic influence can be found in the Rule of the Missionaries. So Eugene was fully aware of the richness of the concept of spiritual fatherhood in relation to the members of the Missionary group he had brought into existence. In this spirit he wrote about his religious family to the young members who were studying at the Aix seminary:<\/p>\n
\nHow happy we are to have such brothers! \u2026 Since this is so, our work will go forward. You are destined, my dear children, to perfect it, so make yourself more and more worthy of your great destiny. I will never be grateful enough for the grace the good God grants me in giving me children such as you all are; I feel it keenly, quite deeply and I thank him for it every minute of the day. Grow, my dear friends, in grace and virtue, in the love of Jesus Christ, in union, in the most intimate charity.<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Letter to the young oblates in Aix, 29 November 1820, O.W. VI n. 57<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIn the Church’s tradition religious profession is considered to be a special and fruitful deepening of the consecration received in Baptism, inasmuch as it is the means by which the close union with Christ already begun in Baptism develops<\/em> in the gift of a fuller, more explicit and authentic configuration to him through the profession of the evangelical counsels.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Vita Consecrata<\/em> n. 30, 1996<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe church is not a business with consumers and customers. We are a family with a cause and need those who are willing to die for it.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ryan Hairston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the centuries after Saint Paul, the spiritual concept of a \u2018father\u2019 was used for those who had administered baptism to the new Christians. With the rise of monasticism, and from the time of St Jerome onwards, the commitment to … Continue reading