“EVERYTHING IS HERE: TO LIVE JESUS CHRIST, WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE”
FR. Silvio Pignotti, SSP

The entire Pauline spirituality is centered on the figure of Jesus, the Master. This title frequently recurs in the Gospels. Jesus is called “Master” by the apostles, by the common people and sometimes even by his adversaries. He not only accepts it, but claims it exclusively for himself:  “Don’t let yourselves be called masters – he says to the apostles –, because only one among you is the Master and all of you are brothers “ (Mt 23, 8; cfr Jn 13, 13).

Coming from the Seminary where for many years he filled the task of spiritual director, Fr. Alberione at the start adopted for his foundations the devotions being practiced there, among them the one to the Sacred Heart. In August of 1921 the small Pauline community entered the first house, its own property, and assumed its true name of Pious Society of Saint Paul. During that same year  is the documented appearance of the expression “Jesus Master”.

The choice of the new title to address Jesus answered the need to harmonize spirituality  and mission, the two elements that make up the charism. The Pious Society of Saint Paul, in fact,  intended to spread the Word of God by means of the press, to accomplish, in other words, through technical means, what the priest in care of souls does by means of oral announcement. As later the Founder will explain better, it is a true work of evangelization and, therefore, a teaching or magisterial activity. In such a vision the choice of a devotion and of a spirituality directed to Jesus Master became spontaneous and opportune.

After some years, in 1923, to the title “Master” Fr. Alberione added another espression, also of biblical origin and attributed by Jesus to himself: “Way, Truth and Life”. The integration in his thinking was not a question of secondary importance, as shown by the constant use he made of it  for the rest of his life and reflecting a concern strongly felt by him: integrality.

In  antichity and even during the times of  Jesus, the master did not restrict himself to transfer some doctrines, but his work aimed at forming the whole personality of the disciple. Today, at least in Western society, the situation has deeply changed. The master often limits himself to communicate knowledge, to teach, and his rapport with his students outside the schoolroom is practically non-existent.

The action of Jesus Master in relation to humanity goes well beyond the transmission of a  doctrine. He was a master through the totality of his life, by means of an exemplary conduct from any point of view and he accompanied his teaching and example with the offering of help – grace – so that his teachings and examples could be assimilated and put into practice by his disciples. Fr. Alberione, in joining the term “Master” with the trinomial “Way, Truth and Life” wanted to avoid the danger of reducing the wealth of the teaching role of Jesus.

The sense of integrality is not exhausted in considering the person of Jesus and his work. For Fr. Alberione, an authentic spirituality includes not only intelligence, but must also mobilize the will and include that complex world of sentiments that we are accustomed to express with “heart”. Briefly, a spirituality is authentic when it involves the whole human person. As a divided and fragmented Christ does not save, so a fragmented man is not saved.

The spirituality of Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life is considered by the Founder as the most precious element of the Pauline Family. Several times he has assured his sons and daughters that all that he did and proposed to them does not come from his own personal initiative but from inspiration from above (cfr AD 29; UPS I, 374). The assurance applies also regarding the devotion to Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life. In 1936 the practice of dedicating the first Sunday of the month to the Divine Master was made official. In giving information about it in “San Paolo”, he wrote: “We propose to give the first Sunday of the month to the Divine Master; this practice comes from the divine will; we have a physical sign of it, sensible to the eye, to the hearing, to touch” (SP, 28 October 1936).

1. On the strength of this conviction, he cultivated with intensity the devotion to the Divine Master, Way, Truth and Life in his own life, to which he had oriented himself well before starting the Pauline Family: “There were holy persons in the course of my life since 1902 who guided me decisively. Canon Danusso towards devotion to Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life…” (Notebooks, 1954). – As can be seen from his personal Notebooks, often the resolutions of his Spiritual Exercises and Retreats had as their object the devotion to the Divine Master:

* “Connect Mass, Meditation, Visit to the devotion to the Divine Master…” (1944);

* “Special activities: editorial work, cult to the Divine Master… (1945);

* “Intimacy with Jesus-Host and Master” (1956);

* “Live the “Secret of Success”... so that every hour of study may earn a hundred for one in things that are necessary for me, especially in the study about Jesus Master” (1960).

2. Whatever he strove to live personally, he tried to transmit to his sons and daughters, often calling their attention and showing the importance of such devotion. Concerning this, a meditation he gave to the Roman community on the Christmas of 1957 remains highly significant: “If we love this devotion to Jesus Master, considering him as he is, under all his aspects, we shall certainly make much progress, gain many more merits… Let us be thankful to the providence of God who has granted us the immense riches of understanding better Jesus Christ! Let us accept this devotion with much humility and let us love it ever more... Let us promise what is obligatory, what constitutes the spirit and the soul of the Institute: that is, to live the devotion to Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life: a devotion that is not only prayer, but one that includes everything that you do in your daily life...

“Now God’s will, acquiring truly the Pauline spirit, consists in this, which is the soul of the Congregation. You would not make a true profession, if you don’t acquire this spirit! We would have a body, but not the soul of the Congregation! It is necessary that first of all we have the soul  in order to live as true Paulines and to live our vocation.

“It is not a beautiful expression, not an advice: it is the substance of the Congregation; it is to be or not to be a Pauline. Digressions cannot be made! Our study must be conformed to the devotion to Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life; religious discipline must adapt itself to Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life; and the apostolate must give this. If it does not give this, it is only a source of distraction and it is not blessed; when it gives this, it is on the way, the way of God, and so blessings come after blessings” (Pr DM 72-73).

3. The last words show another aspect of the thought of Fr. Alberione. In more than one occasion he has repeated to his sons and daughters that the doctrine and devotion to the Divine Master, Way, Truth and life was of all good things the most precious that he consigned to them:”I have neither gold nor silver, but I give what I have: Jesus Christ, Way, Truth and life” (CISP 63). This treasure, however, is not reserved to the members of the Pauline Family. It is shared with the entire Christian community and with all of humanity by means of the apostolate. During the launching of the Pauline apostolate in the Congo, Fr. Alberione wrote in “San Paolo” of December 1957: “Everything is here: to live Jesus Christ, Way, Truth and Life; and show Christ’s love to those peoples who are deprived of it and are at the same time hungry, giving in concrete the total Christ, Way, Truth and Life...” (SP, Dec. II - 1957).

His desire that the devotion to the Divine Master, Way, Truth and Life be received and lived  intensely by his sons and daughters and promoted in the whole Church always remained alive in the heart of blessed Alberione, convinced that it corresponded to a real need of the men of our times. To receive that desire will surely be a pleasing homage to our Founder, as we recall the centenary of his priestly ordination. On the other hand, he assures us: “More and more every day I become strong in the devotion to Jesus Master. To all who practice it, abundance of graces and consolations, ease in making themselves saints, and efficacy in the apostolate» (Notebooks, 1946).