For the Coming of the Kingdom of God, out of Love for Jesus Christ

This Newsletter wishes to offer and spread information and formation to help us

Create an Alliance between the Laity and Assumptionists, a Lay Assumption.

1. As Assumptionists, we are religious who live in apostolic community.  Faithful to our founder, Fr. D’Alzon, we choose as our prime objective to work out of love for Jesus Christ, for the coming of the Reign of God in ourselves and around us.

These words of No.1, Chapter 1, or our Assumption “Rule of Life”, tell us in a most succinct yet encompassing manner who the Assumptionists are and what their life is to be.  And with few changes they can tell us who lay Assumptionists might be and what their life might entail.

To describe lay Assumptionists we might say:  Lay Assumptionists are men and women, married or single, who live in a spirit of apostolic community.  Faithful to our founder, Fr. D’Alzon, we choose as our prime objective to work, out of love for Jesus Christ for the coming of the Reign of God in ourselves and around us.

Just a few words to explain a bit the meaning of this very short definition.  First of all, our objective would be to work, in the very context of our daily life, for the coming of the Kingdom of God, Kingdom of justice, of peace, of forgiveness, compassion and love…and one that implies defending the rights of God as well human rights.  A very broad objective, for Fr. D’Alzon wanted us to simply live a Catholic life in the fullest sense of the word, with insistence especially on all the essentials of that living.

We are called to, first of all, live that life personally and then to spread it, share it, with all our brothers and sisters.  Fr. D’Alzon, in his own life experience, soon learned that to do that, he needed to be fired by, strengthened by, the love of Jesus Christ.  He also learned that to love Christ meant loving those He loved most, Mary, his mother and the Church, a Church whose Mission it is to be at the service of all humankind in the hope of leading it to the Kingdom.  Fr. D’Alzon, inspired by St. Augustine, insisted on the value of community, the living; as sisters and brothers in Christ, “in perfect harmony, having but one heart and one mind intent on God” (Rule of St. Augustine. I.2)

2.  There are now active lay “Assumptionist” groups through the world in such countries as France, Spain, D.R. Congo, Madagascar, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Brazil, Canada and now in the U.S.

Guiding this Alliance, there is an International Commission of a few lay people, including our own Joseph Pagano, along with two Assumptionists.  These, along with representatives from countries all over the world, including the U.S., will meet for a few days in Nimes, France to discuss and advance the formation of the Alliance.