Charity as the Basis and Source of the Spirituality of the Religious Life 35 love for man who – due to sin – became his Creator’s adversary.16 In this context, the Founder’s particular amazement is roused by the mystery of Christ’s Passion and Death, accepted out of love for sinful men. Referring to the biblical texts, especially St. Luke (14:16-21) and St. John (3:16), he depicts “God’s merciful love” (charitas Dei misericordis),17 revealed in the incarnation and the surrender of “His only Son” for the salvation of theworld: “Occupy your mind with reflections on God’s love towards humanity, which is so great, that no human or even angelic tongue can express it, and our mind is unable to comprehend it. For if we were to forget for a second all of his other acts of love for us, and if God had not shown any other besides the one in which he decided to offer his only Son as a sacrifice for the salvation of the entire human race, and in fact did so, this alone would certainly be evidence of his infinite charity and inconceivable love.”18 The author of Inspectio cordis believes that the sacraments, which Christ left to every member of the Church, fit perfectly into the stream of redeeming love. On the one hand, the Redeemer’s love for man is revealed through the sacraments; and on the other hand, men become participants in God’s love. Speaking about baptism as a sacrament that washes souls of “all stains,” Fr. Papczyński proclaims that one obtains salvation through baptism and one’s soul becomes “marked by particular signs of grace” of the Holy Spirit. In a like manner, he presents the sacrament of penance, which he sees as “a second birth” – similar to baptism – to life in grace.19 Father Papczyński dedicates a great deal of attention to the Eucharist, strongly accentuating its significance. He emphasizes that the Eucharist is a sacrament that actualizes Christ’s redeeming love for man, 16 IC, cf. Feast of the Finding the Holy Cross, BHC, pt.1. 17 IC, Sunday in theOctave of CorpusCristi, AHC, pt. 1. Among others, T. Rogalewski wrote about Papczyński’s acceptance of the concept of Divine Mercy as “salvation for the endangered world” on account of human sins; see Miłosierdzie gwiazdą przewodnią dla świata. Z myśli teologicznej ojca Stanisława Papczyńskiego, “Studia Warmińskie” 40(2003), pp. 277-287; cf. also: E. Matulewicz, Miłosierdzie Boże w charyzmacie Zgromadzenia Księży Marianów, Lublin, pp. 71-74. 18 IC, Monday after Pentecost, BHC, pt. 1. 19 Cf. T. Rogalewski, Koncepcja życia chrześcijańskiego w pismach ojca Stanisława Papczyńskiego, Warszawa-Lublin 2004, p. 100.
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