Through the internet, the Pauline Family worldwide is
symbolically present today in the Crypt of the Sanctuary of Mary
Queen of Apostles where the Superior General of the SSP, Fr. Silvio
Sassi, presides over the Eucharistic celebration on the occasion of
the Solemnity of St Paul, the Apostle, and the Centenary of the
Ordination to the Priesthood of the Founder, Blessed James Alberione.
This Sanctuary is particularly dear to Blessed James
Alberione considering it as the heart, the place of pilgrim and
ideal encounter, the vital center of all the Pauline Institutes
spread throughout the world.
He wrote:
“This is the head and center Church of the Pauline
Family, the Church of the Congregation, the Church of social
functions, of missions and of co-operators. In it the thoughts, the
desires, the respects of each House, of each land, of each child, of
each family meet” (SP, 1947).
The big architectural complex, containing in its
foundations as in a casket, the urn with the body of Blessed James
Alberione, this great Apostle of the new times that has marked a
century but has crossed it almost without notice. He confided in
himself, with profound humility: The
Lord's will is accomplished, despite the wretchedness of the one who
was to be its unworthy and unsuitable instrument. Both at the outset
and along the way everything came from the Tabernacle: light, grace,
warnings, strength and vocations. … I can assure everyone that everything
has been done, only and always, by the light of the Tabernacle and
in obedience.…” (UPS I,
374-375). |