Spirituality of the Religious Life According to St. Stanislaus Papczyński 34 created world, this love is focused on man, because the world has been created for him and because of him.14 In Fr. Papczyński’s opinion, every creative action of God flowed out of His love. Similarly, all human actions should have their root in love. Made in the image and likeness of his Creator, man has an inner structure focused on love, since all the gifts with which God endowed him at the moment of creation are oriented towards love and serve to accept the love flowing from God and to love God and neighbor. This belief is at the basis of the concept of the religious life, which can be clearly seen in the Norma vitae. While discussing various aspects of the religious life, Fr. Papczyński untiringly encouraged having “the pure love of God” as the only motivation for every action. His Norma vitae alone listed a vast array of actions performed “out of love of God,” starting with the making of religious profession, obeying God’s commandments, the evangelical counsels, the law and “every instruction of the holy Roman Catholic Church;” to loving enemies, bearing mortifications, afflictions, reproofs, injuries, calumnies, labors, etc. Finally, “out of the love of God, you will perform every good and escape every evil; you will exercise every virtue possible, and detest every vice and sin.”15 Therefore, we may say that in our Founder’s design, supernatural love was to become the manner of all actions and virtues of a religious who enters the way of life, which Saint Stanislaus outlined in his works. According to Fr. Papczyński, “the work of salvation” demonstrates God’s constant, faithful, and incomprehensible 14 A characteristic example can be found in, Recollectio IX “De charitate” of Inspectio cordis: “Now consider that virtue by which every creature has been created; the earth and heaven came into existence, the man has been formed; God became Man, and although he was impervious to suffering, he suffered in a flesh subject to suffering and was cruelly killed; immortal, he died for you not as God, but as a man. By this virtue, the heavenly light, the Teacher of Truth and the Spirit of all knowledge was brought down from heaven upon the Apostles and the other disciples; by this virtue, the one body of the Church of God was brought together with the most diverse peoples of the nations as members and so many sacred associations, Congregations and Orders join together and live deeply united in one spirit and in the love of the one God.” 15 NV II 3.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==