52 personal relationship with God and building up his own spirituality. Ripartire da Christo reinforces the objective character of heeding the word of God, which shows the true image of Christ and the radical principles of imitating Him. This document presents the Word of God as an objective norm, a mirror refl ecting Christ’s truth and—in its light—the truth about the disciple: “It is there, in fact, where the Master reveals himself and educates the mind and the heart: It is there that the vision of faith matures, learning to look at reality and events through the eyes of God, to the point of having ‘the mind of Christ’ (1 Cor 2:16).”56 And all this is done to enter truly into the footsteps of Christ and to imitate Him; to submit our hearts, thoughts, and deeds to His judgment. Consequently, “The Word of God is nourishment for life, for prayer and for the daily journey, the principle which unifi es the community in oneness of thought, the inspiration for ongoing renewal and apostolic creativity. The Second Vatican Council had already indicated that the fi rst great principle of renewal is a return to the Gospel.”57 Within the same limits of heeding the Word of God is also located the need for continuously referring to the religious rule of life, because—as the same document further tells us—«in the Rule and in the Constitutions ‘there is a map for the whole journey of discipleship in accordance with a specifi c charism confi rmed by the Church.»”58 We fi nd there to be a certain analogy between this statement and that of Father Founder. He puts great stress on faithfulness to our own religious rule which, being ratifi ed by the Church’s authority, provides the principles of life for the greater glory of God as well as to defi ne the unquestionable criteria for personal improvement. A program of imitating Christ, defi ned by the religious order’s rule, “translates the particular interpretation of the Gospel given by the founders and foundresses as the result of a particular prompting of the Spirit and it helps the members of the Institute to concretely live according to the Word of God.”59 The need for prayer and meditation, strongly articulated by both our rule and the documents of the Church, is another indispensable condition for the true primacy of spirituality in the religious life. What is more: prayer and contemplation, as the “the ambient for the reception of the Word,”60 become a real place where primacy is accorded to Christ and to His Word. Because in prayer, the Religious turns to the One from whom comes both the very gift of the religious life in the heart of the Church, as well as the grace of the individual vocation. Thus, by learning through prayer to place Christ—whose Words one heeds and 56 RdC, 24. 57 Ibid.; VC, 37. 58 RdC, 24. 59 RdC, 24. 60 Ibid., 25.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==