Fr. Alberione our
Founder let himself be inspired by Saint Paul and he has always
exhorted us to do the same: “Saint Paul: the saint of
universality. His admiration and devotion began especially from his
study and meditation of the letter to the Romans. From then on
[Paul’s] personality, sanctity, heart, intimacy with Jesus, his work
in dogma and morals, the mark he left in the organization of the
Church, his zeal for all peoples, were the subject of his
meditation” (AD 64). The universality of the apostle refers to the
twofold sides that are interior life and apostolate. The Primo
Maestro furthermore affirms that Saint Paul “was the most
accomplished and faithful interpreter of the Divine Master; he
understood and gave the whole Gospel with its application worked
out by his strong synthesis and strict logic, in such a way that
pagan humanity found what it was unconsciously looking for.” (DF, p.
63).
As a matter of
fact, we cannot separate the apostolic spirit of saint Paul from the
doctrine that he has formulated; this applies also to Fr. Alberione
when he narrates his experience of God in Christ Jesus that is
closely connected with his activity as apostle and founder. It is an
experience of “apostolic mysticism”: as in Paul, even in him there
is no distance between his mystical perception of God, understood as
direct intervention of the Lord in his life and the call to the
apostolate. Enlightened faith is a form of life in the Spirit and
its function is to be both a principle of sanctification and a
spring of apostolic dynamism.
The mystical life
includes a particular sense of God, as perception of an absolute
reality the salvific love of which embraces all reality. This
personal experience allows the Apostle Paul to know the mystery
hidden in the heart of the Father and now manifested in Christ by
the power of the Holy Spirit. Such knowledge is dynamic, in the
sense that the Apostle is pushed to the mission of sharing with
others the gift he received. In truth, the push received by St. Paul
is often accompanied by particular motions that lead him to where
the Spirit wants. Even in this area Paul feels that he is “passive”
and answers with a faith that obeys.
Observing the
experience of some action mystics, the Jesuit scholar P. Bernard
says that a prolonged mystical experience prepares for an apostolic
commitment and that the knowledge coming from prayer gives light to
the action to be undertaken. Even the apostolic action of saint Paul
is in fact subject to the motions of the Holy Spirit. It is the same
Holy Spirit that guides the Founder in accomplishing some choices
according to the project of God, during the night of faith and in
the thrust of hope, according to the needs of the Church and of the
cultural context in which he lives; but always starting from the
initial impulse. In fact, to talk of “apostolic mysticism” it is
necessary that the initial commitment entail a reference to Christ,
and a spiritual impulse received passively. The forms are
innumerable.
For what refers to
Fr. Alberione, the details we know are few because it was not his
custom to take down notes and he did not know what to say about many
things: he would prefer to leave everything to God who knows well
all things. Like generally the mystics dedicated to the apostolate,
Fr. Alberione found neither pleasure nor time to talk about himself
and to consider in detail the trajectory of his spiritual life to
put it in relation with intuitions had in prayer. To be in Christ
and the desire to serve the Church was felt by him as a sufficient
guarantee of the spiritual value of the apostolate.
From Abundantes
divitiae there emerges the type of rereading that he makes of
his personal and apostolic life: and therefore sometimes some
enlightening connections between his interior life and his apostolic
and founding activity are possible. And in this text some events
emerge that help us to get the importance of his mystical
experience.
Since his infancy,
at the age of 6 or 7, answering to the commonplace question of his
teacher… “he felt enlightened” and answered: I shall be a priest.
This offered him a particular burden afterwards.(AD 9). As for other
apostles, coming soon to light is the need for unfailing coherence
between interior inspiration and comportment, because
spiritual dynamism is mobilizing.
A second event
takes place in the night between two centuries (1900-1901): during
prolonged prayer he becomes aware of his mission. The event was
prepared by the conferences of Toniolo who showed the need for a
society watered by the springs of the Gospel and by the Encyclical “Tametsi
futura” of Leo XIII in which the Pope said that the new century
was to be seen in the light of Christ “Way, Truth and Life”. In this
context should be situated the mystical experience of the
sixteen-year old James Alberione: “A special light came from the
Host…” (AD 15). This apostolic light is accompnaied by another light
about his nothingness and by the unfailing assurance that came to
him from Jesus-Host. The light came from the Eucharist but although
it did not stop his mental activities, it developed in his
meditations and led to the idea of an apostolic organization. The
impulse that had been given to him gradually matured within him and
totally influenced him: “Since that day…” (AD 21). The realization
will follow the natural order of things (AD 22) and without
forgetting the natural conditionings of the apostle himself.
However, this confirms that the apostolic impulse is inseparable
from a certain perception of the world.
The spiritual
light looks for its external expression. In the case of apostolic
light and the light of charity, it is action that constitutes its
expression. The apostle and the mystique of charity are always
postponed to the analysis of the concrete realizations, something
that causes the continuity between inspiration and actuation to be
imperfect and uncertain. However, this does not weaken the validity
of the mystical impulse nor the value of the apostle in his
commitment. Every apostolic commitment simply requires an incesant
verification. In the case of Fr. Alberione the realization of the
initial thrust involves an extremely complex ramification as to make
the dynamic continuity appear to be risky.(AD 59).
The lived
experience of apostolic commitment and the sense of creativity are
born from immersion in concrete reality that imposes itself on the
Founder as an intervention of the Providence of God. Fr. Alberione
shows an acute awareness of God’s demands in his life and sees in
persons and in events of interventions a guide of the Providence of
God oriented to the apostolate (AD 58-59). This perception requires
looking interiorly. In particular he perceives that all the forms of
ministry that are entrusted to him are dispositions of God (AD 78);
in this the authority of the Church represents a visible mediation
(AD 80.82). Fr. Alberione has experienced the action of Providence
as a constant experience (AD 82); it is the typical attitude of the
apostle who experiences “fortiter et suaviter” (strongly and
sweetly) the action of God within history (Sap 8,1; cf DF, p.19; AD
64. 69). This action of God is perceived in patiently waiting for
his hour (AD 43-44. 106). This involves an aspect of passivity: “it
is sufficient to watch, to let oneself be guided” (AD 44). But this
“passivity” is not indolence, rather it implies petitions and the
offering of life itself (AD 161). And to allow oneself to be guided
by Providence is not possible without faith in the Lord who disposes
all things in the order of nature and grace (AD 43). This principle
is without restrictions and tends toward the development of the
whole personality: natural, supernatural and apostolic (AD 146).
This implies the correct use of freedom in time and in eternity (AD
150. 148).
For Fr. Alberione
the basic support is in the Eucharistic presence wherein he
finds the source of every apostolic inspiration (AD 29) and the
springhead of the unity of the PF (AD 34). By living in twofold
obedience (Eucharist and superiors) a continuity between Christ
and his mystical Body is established. Also because of his experience
during the night between the two centuries, Fr. Alberione, is
especially attached to Eucharistic adoration. The mystical character
of recourse to the Eucharistic Presence is in the fact that he was
not capable of making a choice or an apostolic initiative without
basing it on interpersonal encounter with Christ and on the light
that comes from it. This enlightenment implies a transformation in
Christ as to be its prolongation through apostolic action (Apostolato
Stampa, pp.54-56). For him the Eucharist is inseparable from the
Word of God, especially the Letters of St. Paul. All this is much
recommended by the Founder to the Pauline Family; and it is a secret
for the apostolic life of all. |
