Fidelity to Christ and to the Gospel

13.   The second criterion: fidelity to Christ and to the Gospel---is at the root of the others and

bases formation on the primacy of Christ as a life plan, lived in the dialectic of the “already” and the “not yet”:  “Place nothing  before Christ, before the love of Christ” (S. Benedict).  The Exhortation Vita Consecrata describes it through a series of icons, in order to graft our path on its “natural” foundation: the “cornerstone of every edifice”, Christ Jesus, Lord of history in whom all is brought together, that is, it finds its unity and therefore dynamic fullness. ²⁴  I call attention to what follows:

-         Poverty in Spirit (cf Mt 5:3) which is contrasted with a hardened heart, as interior attitude to nurture constantly.  It is the entrance door for every human, cultural, spiritual reality. Also for the knowledge of Christ, “my Lord” (Phil 3:8). That is to say, to verify if the face of my God is the face of the God revealed to us by Christ Jesus.

-         The option for Christ, as response to the choice by Christ, is the principle of unity of life.

-         The Paschal Mystery as dimension of human life and of discipleship. Human life finds again its fullness.  The spiritual life, in fact, is not one dimension of a person alongside others, but the “new way” of living human life, that is, as the new creatures which we are, guided by the Spirit.

-         To help discover or rediscover the dynamism of the baptismal vocation, which is a vocation to the perfection of love, to communion and mission, according to one’s state of life.  I have often experienced that when one presumes this stage of the journey, and does not revive it with the maturity required, one has difficulty understanding adequately the vocation of consecration in profession of the Gospel counsels. The foundation and the light are missing, and at the same time, the motivation for a decisive and clear effort for human and apostolic formation.

-         The freshness of the evangelical life and the primacy of the Word lived and shared.  “…something that we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands; the Word, who is life…we are telling you so that you too may be in union with us” (1Jn 1:1,3): it is an irreplaceable and fruitful pedagogic principle.