48 (e.g.: “in fact, righteous are also those who, while leading an active life, co-operate with Christ in the salvation of souls”36). The ideal is a disciple constantly united with the Master; keeping his eyes on Jesus Christ, he (the disciple) steadfastly gives himself to the work of salvation. As Fr. Papczyński remarks in Norma vitae, the fundamental condition for this lifestyle is the Religious’s resolute orientation towards evangelical perfection (cum seria ad perfetionem tendentia propriae salutis cura);37 while its special characteristic is his adjustment to the Congregation’s character. To rephrase this, in Fr. Stanislaus’s outline of the primacy of the spiritual life, which he calls a “concern for the greater glory of God and for personal salvation, combined with a resolute striving for perfection,” we have a lifestyle that preserves the essential harmony with the individual vocation as defi ned by community’s laws. This is not the primacy of just any generic spirituality, but rather, the spirituality of the Marian Religious Order, as determined by the character of the community and its Constitutions, ratifi ed by the Church. In our Founder’s opinion, an inner peace (interna tranquilitas) will come only when the strictly Marian way of life is preserved by individuals and by the entire community and it will give its members a confi dence (securitas conscientiarum) that their actions are conformity with the will of God and their station in life. The Primacy of Living with God and Striving for Personal Sanctification The Marian Tradition and Blessed George Matulewicz Although our Congregation has been approved in the Church as an apostolic institute, nonetheless our Fathers’ concern for a necessary level of the spiritual life has always been clear. Father Stanislaus pointed out that the “greater glory of God and personal salvation combined with a resolute striving for perfection” must be the basic and essentially the only goals of the life of a Religious, as well as of every apostolic work for which a Marian lives. Practically the same point of view is found in the life and works of the Servant of God, Fr. Casimir Wyszyński. Having great concern for his personal sanctifi cation, he thus wrote in one of his letters to the community in preparation for the general visitation: “Prepare the way for the Lord by worthy deeds of your spiritual life. Make straight the paths for our Lord by following your personal vocation, for you have been found worthy of it.”38 It is necessary to say at the outset that by “deeds of the spiritual life” he mainly understood upholding the Gospel, as stated in the Rule and the Constitutions, and the adaptation of the Marian way of life. Reading his 36 Ibid,. p. 907. 37 NV, I, 2. 38 Letter of July 27, 1747 (reference is given following the Polish source).
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