2.         The charism of founders and foundresses, as “Word of life”

Founders and foundresses, even in the desire to live the whole Gospel, generally are struck by

particular Gospel passages, and have laid their foundations for their works on them, and have animated their works with them. This is the fundamental component of their charism.

                  Francis incarnates poverty which is born of love; Dominic, the wisdom which is enlightened by charity; Ignatius the obedience which, out of love, is identified with the needs of the Church; Teresa of Avila prayer which is friendship, becomes service and forms servants of love; John of God and Camillus de Lellis the charity which becomes work of mercy; Eugene de Mazenod evangelization for the poor with the love of Christ; John Bosco pedagogy toward the young, all undergirded by a love that anticipates and draws.

                  The succession of charisms of consecrated life can be read as an unfolding of Christ through the centuries, like a live Gospel which is actualized in ever new forms.¹⁰  Pius XII had already intuitively mentioned it in Mystici Corporis: “Embracing the evangelical counsels she (the Church) reflects the Redeemer’s poverty, obedience and virginal purity. Enriched with institutes of many different kinds as with so many precious jewels, she points out Christ deep in prayer on the mountain, or preaching to the people or healing the sick and wounded and bringing sinners back to the path of virtue, or in a word doing good to everyone…” It is the text taken up again by Vatican Council II:  the Church, through the charisms of consecrated life, works so that Christ can be better presented to the faithful and the unfaithful whether “shown contemplating on the mountain, announcing God’s kingdom to the multitude, healing the sick and maimed, turning sinners to wholesome fruit, blessing children, doing good to all, and always obeying the will of the Father who sent Him.” (Lumen gentium, 46) More soberly, but equally effective, John Paul II writes that the Holy Spirit, “in every age shows forth the richness of the practice of the evangelical counsels through a multiplicity of charisms. In this way, too, he makes ever present in the Church and in the world, in time and space, the mystery of Christ.” (Vita consecrata 5, cf 32)

                  Every charism is born in a definite historical period and in its cultural context; it is debtor to its time and is influenced by the human traits of the personalities who expressed it.  Still, in a profound theological reading, those who have received the charism to give life to a religious family—beyond historical contingencies—have embodied specific “Words of life” in a completely special way. The charism appears in its highest origin: the incarnate Word who manifests himself and is spoken through such persons who are like words of the one Word, particular aspects of the totality of the Gospel.  In their works a mystery of Christ is mirrored, a Word of his, the light which emanates from the face of Christ, splendor of the Father spreads out. “In the unity of the Christian life,” writes John Paul II in Vita consecrata, “the various vocations are like so many rays of the one light of Christ, whose radiance ‘brightens the countenance of the Church’”. (16) Every charism is substantiated by the Word, expression of the Word: it contains it and manifests it.

                  Those who, under the Holy Spirit’s action, are at the origin of a new type of gospel “reading” consider the particular Gospel passages to which they are attracted by the Spirit, as the “precious pearl”, the “treasure” revealed to them in a privileged way. They feel they understand it and are able to examine it in depth and with a new method, perhaps never before reached in the Church.¹¹

                  For this reason every founder and foundress looks at their own work and always see it as the most beautiful. They appreciate the others and maybe even consider them better under many aspects; but in their own they always find something original, which in their eyes makes them see it precisely as the best. St. Camillus de Lellis, for example, used to tell his companions: “Brothers, thank God because you got the great dish of charity for the infirm”, for which “our Religion need have no envy for any other Religion in the world”. In effect, “this Religion precedes the others, because it consists in works of charity ministering and serving the poor and infirm who are children of Christ”. (Testimony given at the process of Naples and that of Rome, reported by Vanti, S. Camillus de Lellis, Torino 1929, p. 380)  “Prefer other orders to yours regarding honor and respect,” St. Francis de Sales said to the Visitations, “but prefer yours to all others regarding love…”¹² Also St. Vincent de Paul asserts: “I do not know a religious company more useful to the Church than the Daughters of Charity.”¹³  It is such “that I do not know any greater in the Church”. My founder, St. Eugene de Mazenod was not afraid to say: “There is nothing on the earth above your vocation.”¹⁴ “There may be stricter orders, but there are not any more perfect.”¹⁵

                  What Von Balthasar writes about saints in general is eminently so for founders and foundresses. He says they are “a new interpretation of revelation, an enrichment of doctrine regarding new traits not much considered until now.  Even though they themselves are not theologians or scholars, their existence overall, is a theological phenomenon that contains true doctrine, given by the Holy Spirit.” They represent “that living and essential part of tradition, which in all times, shows the Holy Spirit in the act of interpreting in a live way the revelation that Christ made in Scripture… They are “the living Gospel”. … “Only one who himself inhabits the space of holiness can understand and interpret the word of God.”¹⁶

                  Yes, truly “It was the Holy Spirit who sparked the Word of God with new light for founders and foundresses.  Every charism and every Rule springs from it and seeks to be an expression of it.” (Starting Afresh from Christ, 24)

                  We could say that founders and foundresses do not practice lectio divina: they are a lectio divina. They do not listen, do not meditate, do not pray the Word of God: they re-live it in themselves and offer it alive and actualized to the Church and the world.  The passage from Lumen gentium previously quoted which describes the multiplicity of charisms is very explicit regarding this: charisms present “to the faithful and the unfaithful” not an action, but a person, Christ: Christ who contemplates and not so much the contemplation; Christ who announces the kingdom, rather than a missionary action, Christ who cures the sick, not a charitable ministry. Necessarily Christ shows himself through a concrete action and ministry. And this is a fundamental element of charism. But the subject is Christ, the Word (Verbo) who is expressed in that word of his.

                  In summary, the life of the Church appears to us like a progressive experience of the Christian mystery, an ever freer and more conscious participation in the life of Christ in the Church, a gradual assimilation of Gospel values and the consequent integral transformation of one’s being into that of Christ.