 “PERSONS WHO UNDERSTAND THE PAULINE
FAMILY
AND HAVE WITH HER UNION OF SPIRIT AND PURPOSES…”
Carla Romano
The Cooperators
are “persons who understand the Pauline Family and have with her
union of spirit and purposes... – They follow these two goals:
sanctification and apostolate”.
THE PAULINE
COOPERATOR in the idea of Blessed James Alberione is one called by
God to accomplish a particular apostolic mission. The one of the
Cooperator was the firsr vocation characterized by the Founder of
the Pauline Family: the lay person actively committed in an
apostolic work that fully corresponds to the times.
The sign of
membership for all is the assumption of the Pauline charism that the
Cooperators, associated to the Society of St. Paul and to the
Pauline Family, share with the consecrated brothers and sisters.
The apostolic
vocation of the Pauline Cooperator, due to the profundity and
specificity of his calling, makes him particularly inclined to
develop the apostolate in all its expression: catechesis of the
family, editorial work, spread of the Catholic press and of any
other language capable of communicating the Gospel message.
But in order to
operate in an apostolic way it is necessary to think in an apostolic
way, with Saint Paul as model. It is the Apostle who forms his very
own disciples like a true Master, preceding them with his example
even before his teaching, so he can say to them: “Be imitators of
me!”. And the Cooperators are in the Pauline Family what they were
for Paul: chosen, associated, formed, guided.
Therefore –
before everything else – the Cooperator must be aware of what
he/she is: a Christian, a follower of Christ, a continuer of the
same mission as his, a co-saver of the world. He is a true apostle
because a Christian. And a true Christian cannot feel himself exempt
from apostolic commitment. A Christian truly aware of his calling
and responsibility and therefore for the same reason, a witness. And
we know that witness and apostolate are a spontaneous reflection of
firm convictions and interior wealth.
In light of the
teaching of the Council, facing the new and strong needs of the men
of today, before the many possibilities of apostolic intervention,
the Pauline Cooperator must note as his vocational “duty” that of
taking in his hand the decree “Apostolicam actuositatem”. It
is a document much like a “vademecum” for lay people and in
particular for those who are spiritually adults (or ought to be!)
like the Pauline Cooperators.
If every Christian
has the duty to evangelize by force of his Baptism and Confirmation,
the apostolate is particularly proper for the lay person
called by the Lord to a specific commitment. And the Pauline
Cooperator has received from the Lord a calling and a mandate: a
calling that he must answer and a mandate that he must live with
love and dynamic fidelity.
Thus he will
answer the call through the authenticity of his life, with stylish
conviction and with a mind open to the evolution of the times. And
so his will be a credible witness and an incisive apostolate.
Only in this way
the Pauline Cooperator will give an answer to his Lord and will
fulfill the mandate received from him. In particolar, he must
assimilate the two points of the Conciliar Decree (mentioned above)
that talk about the interior life and apostolic action.
Two dimensions that cannot be separated because one is in the
other. It is contemplation that guides action just as action
receives continuous nourishment from interior life and from
contemplation. In this way, the life of the Pauline Cooperator can
be said to be full and answering effectively his vocation. The
Cooperators – as Fr. Alberione says – are “persons who understand
the Pauline Family and have with her union of spirit and purposes...
They desire to have the spirit for their sanctification and in order
to advance with their zeal the Pauline apostolate, through their
contribution of prayers, offerings and works.” From this, therefore,
two goals follow: “sanctification and apostolate” of which there is
so much need… today more than ever… in the third millennium!
As integral part
of the Pauline Family, the Cooperators share with her the apostolic
ideal of "living and announcing Christ, the Way, the Truth and the
Life” to the men of today and with the means of today. As "laypeople
straining in advance", they share the spirituality based on Jesus
Master Way, Truth and Life in that it commits the
totality of the human person in his modes of being: mind
(truth), will (way) and heart (life); based on
Mary, Mother, Teacher and Queen of the Apostles, the one who
inspires, enlightens and guides at the school of Jesus Master for
the apostolate; and on Saint Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles,
chosen to announce the Gospel, as Father, because of his great love
for Christ: the Pauline letters testify to this love, besides
inspiring the Cooperator in his vocation and mission.
On the other hand,
it is not insignificant that the Association of Pauline
Cooperators, assimilated to an Institution religious in
character, has been approved by the Holy See through Decree of the
Congregation of Religious and of the Institutes of Apostolic Life,
associated to the Society of St. Paul, exactly for its high
commitment of spiritual and apostolic life. Being aware, therefore,
of the great value of the Christian presence in the world, the
Cooperators are called ever more and ever better to live their lay
vocation – as the Founder said - "at high tension": to be "salt of
the earth", “light of the world” and "ferment in the dough".
DECALOG OF THE
PAULINE COOPERATOR ACCORDING TO FR. ALBERIONE
THE PAULINE
COOPERATOR
l. Attends to his
greater sanctification according to his state, as disciple of Jesus,
the Divine Master, the Way, the Truth and the Life, under the gaze
of Mary, Queen of Apostles and in the spirit of Saint Paul.
2. Reads, meditates, lives and
spreads the Gospel.
3. Has the same sentiments of Christ:
knows, believes, and loves as He does.
4. Proclaims and gives witness like
Saint Paul: “It is not anymore I that lives, but the Christ
that is in me”.
5. Lives the
Eucharist and pours out the loved received into every form of
apostolic activity.
6. Stands out for
his deep love for the Church: lives the commitments of his Christian
community.
7. He is in union
of mind and heart with the Pauline Family, with whom he prays,
offers and collaborates.
8. Attentive to
the signs of the times, he lets the Word of truth reach everybody,
employing the instruments of communication.
9. Like Mary,
Queen of the Apostles and first Collaborator of the Redemption, he
gives to the world her Son, Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the
Life, the Master and Shepherd.
10. In intimate
union with Christ, he faces with courage and hope, like Saint Paul,
the sacrifices of the mission.
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