From 9-17 November this year, about thirty brothers and sisters of the Pauline Family gathered at the FSP St. Paul House in Rome to make a course of spiritual exercises that launched the spiritual itinerary of the PF for 2022. The course, which sought to involve all the participants, focused on the Alberionian prayer which was originally called For Those Who Thirst for Souls like Jesus and which is currently known as the Pauline Offertory with its respective parallels, namely: the Pastoral Offertory of the Pastorelle Sisters and the Vocational Offertory of the Apostoline Sisters.
The theme, presented under its biblical aspect by Fr. Boguslaw Zeman ssp, and under its charismatic aspect by Fr. Agatino Gugliara ssp (by videoconference), put the participants in tune with the thirst of Jesus (Jn. 19:28) by urging them to share his thirst for love, and come to better grasp and share his yearning for redemption.
The key points that illuminated those intense days of prayer, listening and reflection were: the invitation to quench our thirst at the fountain of life, to offer ourselves to the Father in union with the sacrificial offering of Christ in order to collaborate in his plan of salvation, and to make atonement so as to heal a world lacking in solidarity. It gave the participants the opportunity to once again experience the centrality of the one and perfect Master, the true Shepherd of scattered humanity, the Eternal Priest from whom the efficacy of our mission derives.
This year’s Itinerary for 2022, prepared by a team of PF members, concludes a three-year cycle of animations dedicated to the spiritual life–one of the “four wheels” of the Pauline “cart.” Its opening course of spiritual exercises enabled its participants to rediscover that “holiness ensures that our apostolate will bear fruit because true love of God arouses in the soul a zeal that is pure, calm, burning, constant and strong to the point of giving one’s life” (CISP pp. 1354-1355).
The experience of coming together as sisters and brothers belonging to the various branches of the “admirable Pauline Family” reaffirmed the power of our communion and the beauty of our unity in diversity that makes it possible for the Word to continue to race ahead, bringing joy and salvation to all.
