47 this is detached from the life-giving connection to the Father in the Holy Spirit sustained by God’s grace following the example of Christ, this work becomes merely fruitless activism. Because the true fruit is a spiritual one which comes from the power of the Holy Spirit, of which the Apostle is no more than a tool. At the same time, the Religious himself is the fi rst to suffer spiritual damage, and that becomes a sign of sorts: when he lives with God and in God, he becomes a sign of God’s power and His close proximity in human life. But should he cut himself off from God and start acting willfully, he’d also be a sign to the others, but this time it would be a sign of spiritual death born out of sin and ultimately a sign that there is no life, joy or happiness without God. Consequently, right at the beginning of his Norma vitae, Blessed Stanislaus thus writes: “First, consider diligently and assiduously what the aim of your Congregation is. [It is] the one that all the Orders have in common with you: the greater increase of God’s glory, and care for your own salvation combined with serious striving for perfection. What does it profi t a man, teaches the Savior, “if he gains the whole world, but suffers the detriment of his own soul?” (cf. Mt 16:26)”34. A life in which the fi rst place is given to concern for “the greater increase of God’s glory, and to care for your own salvation,” is not possible without Christ’s salvifi c and close presence in a Religious’ personal life. Blessed Stanislaus makes it quite clear in his Inspectio cordis, when he comments on Martha’s attitude: “There is a lesson for you: you must frequently unite and come into Christ’s presence through ongoing interior recollection, even though you may be driven to distraction by your numerous tasks. Just as in the case of the solicitous Martha or of very busy people, God likes to be present and He rejoices, when room is made for Him in a heart occupied with various matters.”35 So that “a heart occupied with various matters can be opened to Jesus,”—as our Founder puts it—a certain level of the spiritual life understood in the categories of the religious practices such as prayer, a basic level of asceticism, regular reception of the sacraments, etc., must be present. Father Papczyński consequently seeks to prove that the appropriate level of the spiritual life is obligatory: “frequently uniting and coming into the presence of Christ through frequent interior recollection,” non-submission to various distractions caused by outside occupations, and carefully weighing out one’s earthly and bodily needs in order to stop them from overshadowing the spiritual values. We must add here that the idea seems to emerge from the general tone of the documents that Fr. Papczyński praises the active way of life dedicated to the work of salvation and skillfully mixed with a necessary contemplative aspect; this is supported by some of his statements 34 NV, I, 2. 35 IC, p. 905-906.
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