Theological Foundations new file

64 Theological Foundations Spirit of Christ, His laws and principles, proclaim Christ to the world and lead everyone to Him. 27 Filled with such love of Christ, the confr- eres should work with all their strength, so that He might be known both in their home country and in the whole world. They should try to bring Him in everywhere and imbue everything with His Spirit. 28 He clarifies this task further, pointing out the difficulties encountered by a Christian when he must object to evil. One must not respond to evil with more evil but rather, conquer evil with good. Any difficulties, per- secutions and other obstacles of similar nature, which will be experi- enced by the particular confreres, should not crush their spirit. To the contrary, all of them, animated with the Spirit of Christ and the Church and with the desire to spread God’s glory and save souls, should accept any crosses as signs of God’s blessing and His special grace, and pray for their persecutors. Neither should they defend themselves without a serious reason to do so. Rather, let them remain silent in the face of accu- sations, dedicate themselves to positive and peaceful work and try to demonstrate through their exemplary conduct and noble life how unjust such accusations were. The Gospel, the laws of the Church, the example of Christ, the Apostles, the Martyrs and other saints show them a way out of all these difficulties and it is from these sources that they are to draw light, inspiration, consolation and fortitude. 29 In his writings, Blessed George often points out the difficulties one encounters in spreading God’s Kingdom on earth, but he adds that they must be overcome in the spirit of the love of Christ. Animated with this spirit, the confreres are to undertake work first of all in those places where the Church is being oppressed and persecuted, where the need is greatest, where Christ is less known or fought against, where God’s greater glory so requires. And if it becomes necessary, they should be ready, like the first Christians, to hide in catacombs and expose them- selves to any danger after the example of St. Paul who wrote: “Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one!” (2 Cor 11, 23). “We are fools for Christ’s sake ...” (1 Cor 4, 10-13). It was amidst such difficulties that St. Paul did not cease to proclaim the Gospel. 30