To Do Something for the People of the New Century

"Outdo Me"

Standing in the Light

Consecrated Life in the Communications Era

A Communication Culture Needs a Pauline Vision

A Spirituality for Communications

A Short History of Pauline Evangelization During Fr. Alberione’s Lifetime

Father James Alberione and the Liturgical Movement

Love For The Liturgy

Lectio Divina on the Biblical Image of Shepherd

We Are Called To A Great Work

Anything Can Begin With A Meeting

Discovery of St. Paul's Grotto in Ephesus

Saint Thecla, Equal to the Apostles

The Disciple and the Master

The Pauline Family

Homily given by Bishop Richard Lennon at the Celebration in Boston, MA of the Beatification of James Alberione

Homily of John Paul II: II Sunday of Easter, 27 April 2003

Blessed Alberione: Mass Communicator

 

 

 

We Are Called To A Great Work

By Jeffrey Mickler, SSP, Ph.D

Seek the Lord while he may be found. Each of us has one life to live. It is a precious gift that has as its ultimate goal to find the Lord who made us, sustains us, and loves us. This is the great work of every human being’s life.

We are convinced that the reason that Jesus became incarnate was to make it possible for us to successfully carry out this great task and to embrace in this world the God we hope to see in the next life. Christ emptied himself of his divinity, pitched his tent among us, and became truly human so that we might share in his divinity.

Our Divine Master in his life death and resurrection bridged the gap between the infinite Creator and the finite universe. He perfectly completed this task and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit has made us, his followers, a part of his body on earth. That body finds its most visible expression in the Church that we are a part of.

Our salvation as Catholics is personal but also takes place within the social and interpersonal dynamics of the Church Christ founded and sustains. We are traveling back to God as part of a universal community that embraces people of every racial, national, cultural and social group.

Christ sustains the Church through the work of the Holy Spirit within the sacraments that Christ left us. These visible signs strengthen us and transform us. The liturgical life we participate in makes us whole and holy. The word "liturgy" predates Christianity and was originally used for any "public work" such as building bridges and walls that would benefit the whole community. Our liturgy however sustains and builds up the kingdom of God and makes us citizens in that realm that will have no end. It is our participation in liturgy, the work of the Holy Spirit in the midst of God's people that makes it possible to carry on our many tasks for the Church.

The Pauline Family has a mission that is exciting, dynamic and challenging. We are to tell the story of Jesus to the entire world in the spirit of St. Paul. The great work that the Pauline Family carries out is sustained by the public prayer and sacraments of the Church, and it is therefore totally appropriate that our public commitments to our task takes place within the context of the liturgy. Our vows as religious men and women and our promises as Cooperators take place within the context of the official prayer of the Church, the Eucharist. We are carrying out the work of God together as we seek the Lord as a family that has God as our Father, Christ as our brother and the Holy Spirit as its binding force of love. That is why our work together is so meaningful in this world and will have repercussions in eternity.

 

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