Our Religious Profession

To me, life means Christ.
Phil. 1:21

23. In a world where we share the quest and efforts of men to become fully human, we acknowledge Jesus Christ as the perfect man and we find in God the deepest motivation for our life and action.
He wants to make of all men his people, his friends, his sons. He has encountered us personally so as to fulfill in us and through us his plan of being present to men and in communion with them.

24. We are called to follow Christ radically on the paths of the Gospel. Prompted by his Spirit and inspired by Mary's example, we choose to risk our lives in the adventure of encountering God.
Our religious consecration, which is an outgrowth of the treasure we received at baptism, impels us to grow constantly in faith, hope and love.

25. Through the commitment of our religious life, we wish to respond to this vocation and to its evangel¬ical demands, according to the Lord's gift.
By our vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, which witness to our faith in Jesus Christ, we propose to remid people of the meaning of human realities and to become servants of the Kingdom.

Poverty

26. In a world where attachment to material goods and their unjust distribution foment division and hatred, we bear witness to the fact that God is our real treasure and wants us to be at one with the poor.
By doing our share of work among our fellow men, we want to participate in promoting the welfare of individuals in view of the Kingdom.

27. Aware of our responsibility as Christians, we com¬mit ourselves to live in evangelical poverty. Christ invites us to place our trust in the Father who gives the earth to all. He wants men to share it with one another because they are all brothers.
For us, this is a call to share what we are as well as what we have in the service of others.
This requires a true detachment from all forms of possession in order to achieve a greater inner freedom and to place ourselves on the side of the poor and the oppressed.

28. By the vow of poverty, we choose to surrender the right to use and to dispose of goods that have monetary value without permission from the legitimate superior.
We also choose to put our talents and resources in common, to work hard and to lead a modest and simple life.
In the same spirit of detachment, we may sur­render definitively all our personal possessions.
The community provides for each one's needs.

29. Bach one bears his share of responsibility for the financial state of the community.
The pooling of information, active participation in reaching decisions and a sharing of tasks are required of all.

30. The spirit of poverty dictates that our communities and the Institute avoid anything that does not cor­respond to the needs of a simple life and of our apostolate.
We will let ourselves be challenged by those among us who live with the poorest

31. Our sharing of goods must extend to other com­munities, to those in need and to those who join organizations for world justice, because poverty, in its social and international dimensions, calls us to be present and attentive to the collective problems in the lives of men.

32. Thus, each community bears witness to the relative value of worldly good and contributes toward establishing among men the Kingdom of justice and of peace.

Chastity

33. Created to love and to be loved, man achieves this vocation of love in various ways. Like Christ, who was totally at the service of his Father, we choose celibacy in view of the Kingdom. We direct towards God all the love we can give or receive,

34. In this way, our life is dedicated to the service of the Gospel and of our brothers. Far from producing a sterile self-centeredness, our celibacy opens our hearts to others.
Lived out in openness to others and m gift of self, celibacy reveals the meaning of human love and its ultimate purpose.

35. The gift of self to God and to others makes us free; it prepares us for fraternal living and for the apostolate.The more we love as Christ did, the more we will be able, under His watchful eye, to pursue our human relationships; and the more we will become sensitive to the joys, the sufferings and the concerns of others.

36. Aware of the fundamental self-denial and inevitable solitude it implies, yet trusting in the Lord who gives us strength in our weakness, we commit ourselves by vow to a life of celibacy for the Kingdom in the perfect chastity which our total gift of self to Christ demands.

37. Fidelity to this commitment requires human and spir­itual training. It presupposes intimacy with Christ, but also prudence, self-control, a balanced style of life and wisdom in the use we make of the media.

Attentive to each one's vocation, we will seek to foster in our communities a truly fraternal life built on friendship, attentiveness, sensitivity, mutual support and forgiveness.

38. Lived out in serenity and joy, our celibacy becomes a sign of the Kingdom by foreshadowing the day when God will be all in all.

Obedience

39. Solidarity and mutual dependence are for all men the path to liberation and fulfillment. The Gospel invites us to assume these bonds in submission to the Father and in brotherly love. To the thirst for power and to self-centeredness, it opposes attentive-ness to the lowly and service to others.
Thus, in the fact of culpable servitudes and indif­ferences, we seek to be witnesses of true freedom in the Spirit, Called to freedom, we wish to be servants of one another through love. Gal. 5:13.

40. Our obedience is rooted in that of Jesus Christ. His fidelity to the Father and love for others led Him to the total gift of Himself. Having come to serve, He made himself obedient unto death.

41. By the vow of obedience we offer our will to God in a radical way and we commit ourselves to obeying our legitimate superiors in everything that concerns the Rule of Life.
We owe this same obedience, which unites us closely to the Church, to the Sovereign Pontiff.
Attentive to the Spirit, the Church and the world, we seek together to discern God's will in our com­munity, in the lives of men and in the events of our day.

42. We are all pilgrims in search of the Father's will, in an atmosphere of freedom and frankness, trust and collaboration, initiative and co-responsibility.
The Superior is the brother who helps the local, provincial, general community build itself up every day.
He reminds his brothers of the convictions and decisions of trie community, the Province or the Institute.
At times, he prods them on to a more exacting fidelity to the Gospel.
At the end of a common search or a personal dia­logue, as well as with the authority vested in him by virtue of his office, he renders to all the service of decision according to the Constitutions.

43. Lived out in faith and prayer, obedience opens our hearts to God and to men. Gradually, it transforms our inclination to dominate into a desire to serve and to promote the good of others. It reveals our faith and our availability to the will of the Father, and so is a sign of the Kingdom.