The traditional core of the christocentric spirituality that James Alberione gave to the Daughters of St

CHAPTER ONE

ESSENTIAL ASPECTS OF ALBERIONIAN CHRISTOLOGY

Background:

The Daughters of St. Paul are not the only congregation established by Fr. James Alberione. He was the Founder of what is now known as “the Pauline Family,” made up of 10 institutes. The Pauline Family began with the foundation in 1914 of the Society of St. Paul (priests and brothers), followed in 1915 by that of the Daughters of St. Paul (women), and three other religious congregations for women: the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master (1924), the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd (1938), the Sisters of Mary Queen of Apostles (1959). Part of the Pauline Family too are four Aggregated Institutes: St. Gabriel the Archangel (for laymen), Our Lady of the Annunciation (for laywomen), Jesus the Priest (for diocesan priests), and the Holy Family (for married couples and their families). There is also the Association of Pauline Cooperators, roughly equivalent to what is known as a “third order” in other religious institutes. All the Pauline institutes are distinguished from one another by the specific mission they were founded for; what unites them is the Pauline spirituality presented here.

This spirituality has a strong Christological core. The following passages culled from the Founder’s numerous writings and talks sketch out this Christology and its significance for the identity of the Pauline Family as a whole.

Among the things to be learned in the Pauline Families (sic), the first and principal place is to be given to the devotion[a] to Jesus Master. Such a devotion is not reduced to simple prayer or to a song, but invests the entire person…. Our devotion to the divine Master is to be applied to spiritual work, study, the apostolate, and the whole of religious life.[1]

Master is qualified by connecting it intrinsically to Christ’s self-definition in Jn 14:6, that is, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Fr. Alberione asserts: “There is only one spirituality and it is that which the Lord has given us: in Jesus Christ Master, Way, Truth and Life.”[2] “One may sum up the fundamental concepts of Christological doctrine in relation to the spiritual life thus: to live Christ according to his own self-definition: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”[3]

This devotion to Jesus as Master, Way, Truth and Life takes in the total Christ and draws the entire human person into a unitive relationship with him. Two Alberionian passages point to this relationship: [4]

The devotion to the divine Master sums up and brings to completeness all devotions. For it presents Jesus as Truth in whom we must believe, as Way whom we must follow, as Life of which we become partakers. We must consider the divine Master in all his completeness.

In this vision is to be found religion, dogma, morals, and cult; in this vision we find the integral Jesus Christ; through this devotion the human person is wholly taken up, conquered by Jesus Christ.

These points of Alberionian Christology will be expanded below; other features and characteristics will be brought in. What is important to note is that Alberione considers this Christology to be constitutive of the Pauline’s very identity:

A person would not truly make her profession if she did not
acquire this spirit. She would have the body but not the soul of the
Congregation. To conform our life, our study, our prayer, our apostolate, our religious discipline to Jesus Master is not simply a beautiful expression or merely a word of advice. It is the very substance of the Congregation. It is the basis for being or not being a Pauline.[5]

It becomes indispensable, then, to form all those called to Pauline life in this spirituality, starting with its Christocentric core. An authentic formation would involve inculturating this devotion for a more vital assimilation.

There is not one comprehensive source that provides a clear idea of the essential elements which characterize this devotion. Alberione has not written any particular book dedicated wholly to this topic. From an examination of his written and spoken words, with special attention to his prayers,[b] and through a close look at his praxis, especially in the area of the apostolate, one may presume that on the level of his personal life and relationship with Christ Master and with the Pauline Family, his Christology gradually unfolded, grew in depth, clarity and prophetic insight, expanded and forged new links with significant trends of the times in which he lived. He grew in the conviction of the vital importance of this Christology for Pauline life, in his fidelity to this way of living the Gospel in the spirit of Paul the Apostle, in the gradual transformation of his being into Christ. However, he lacked both the inclination and the time to work out a complete systematic exposition of his thought; therefore it must be gleaned and pieced together from his writings and activities, and its implications and applications drawn out from different angles and perspectives. This doctoral project is one such attempt, one contribution to the efforts being made by the entire Pauline Family to “unpack” the treasures of Pauline spirituality, with special attention to its Christocentric core.

Having clarified these limitations, one may ask: is there a specific work or works that can be a starting point to construct a summary of Alberionian Christology? Among the writings that make up the authentic Alberionian corpus of primary sources, one book serves the purpose of this doctoral project. It is entitled Donec formetur Christus in vobis: Appunti di meditazioni ed istruzioni del Primo Maestro[6] (abbreviation: DF).

There are several reasons for basing the following summary of Alberionian Christology on this book. First, it is unquestionably an authentic Alberionian text, and it contains in seminal form[c] the most essential concepts regarding the Pauline charism as centered upon Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life. Guido Gandolfo, a Pauline priest who studied this text for years, affirms that here “we discover the fundamental coordinates on which it will be possible to verify our identity as Paulines.” He also says: “This work … marks the starting point of the spiritual and pedagogical vision regarding Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life, in its systematic form.”[7] In the “Introduction” to the critical edition of DF, the editor Andrea Damino points out that especially in the second, most original, part of the book there appears “the first written and explicit formulation of the devotion to Jesus Master, way, truth and life…”.[8]

A second reason for basing the following summary on this book takes into account the formative purpose and context of this doctoral project. DF was intended as a formation manual for the novitiate. However, as the work proceeds, it goes beyond this initial intention and becomes more of the Founder’s first attempt to summarize what he at that point in time understood of the spirituality he felt had been given him to develop. Gandolfo thinks that DF “appears to be the writing that most completely gathers into one both the spiritual experience and the teaching of the Founder on the theme of spiritual formation, according to the Pauline charism.…”[9]

What follows in the next section,[d] then, is a summary based principally on DF, of the traditional teaching on Alberionian Christology, given to formands and members of the Daughters of St. Paul and of other institutes of the Pauline Family, as well as to the audience of the Pauline apostolate. All quotations are taken from DF unless noted otherwise.

THE TRADITIONAL ALBERIONIAN PRESENTATION

OF JESUS CHRIST AS MASTER, WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE

This section will develop its content according to the following points: the context, the source, the spirit, the goal, the process, the dimensions, and the methodology of Alberionian Christology. Under “dimensions” the significant elements to be treated are: the relational, the Scriptural, the Eucharistic, the experiential, the apostolic, the Marian, and the integral dimensions.

Context of Alberionian Christology:

Alberione’s Christology is rooted in the traditional Catholic theology of his time. This fact is obvious in the concepts and language he used to describe his Christological spirituality. The Trinitarian foundation is also explicit; DF is structured according to it. In addition, Alberione views human life as a journey which, as it were, sets the stage and indicates the necessity for a Master who is way, truth and life for human beings. This perspective emerges in the Founder’s writings:

Coming forth from the hands of God to glorify him in eternity,
man has to make a long journey of testing which is called life.
The Father himself has sent his Son, the Master, to point out,
to walk, and to make himself the [very] way of man, so that
at the end man will be judged as to whether he has conformed
himself to that Son: in mind, will, life. In that conformity is
love, and so one who has loved continues loving [as his] compensation for eternity; one who has not loved will remain far from God for all eternity (DF 92; translation by the writer; emphasis added).

This period must incarnate in us Jesus Christ: Truth, Way, Life
so that the “new man” may result (DF 98, emphasis added).

Jesus Christ is truth for the intelligence; thus follows the need
to study Christian doctrine, and in a special way, the Gospel.

Jesus Christ is way for the will; thus follows the need
to imitate Jesus Christ….

Jesus Christ is life for the heart; thus follows the need of investing ourselves with sanctifying and actual grace, especially through holy Mass (DF 99; emphasis added).

Source of Alberionian Christology:

It is not common for a Founder of a religious family to choose as the center of his spirituality Christ under the title “Master,” and even more uncommon to put it in conjunction with “way, truth, life.” Alberione could have used other titles such as “Redeemer” or “Savior.” His charismatic choice merits a closer look.

First of all, “Master” as well as “way, truth and life” is not drawn from some obscure source; it has genuine Gospel roots. The wealth of exegetical material that has grown around each of the words enriches and opens new horizons of relevance for the interpretation of Alberione’s charismatic insight.

This study is not concerned with going deeply into an exegetical analysis of Alberione’s Christology; other members of the Pauline Family have attempted this analysis and it would be a field of research to be explored in its own right. However, to understand something more of what Alberione meant by ”Master,” and why it was so important to him to qualify that title with “way, truth, life,” one may point out briefly the significance of the title in Scriptural terms.[10] This has a bearing on the content of Chapter 2, below.

In the Gospel, what is translated as “Master” or “Teacher” in English is the Hebrew word rabbi (Greek:didascalos). In the Jewish tradition, rabbi meant an outstanding exponent of the divine will as contained in the Law and the prophets. Rabbis shared this superior knowledge with disciples that gathered around them to be taught. Such teachers were revered, served, assisted in their daily needs by their disciples. Jesus was referred to as “Master” in this first sense; it is the title by which his disciples and even the scribes and Pharisees, the teachers of Israel, most often addressed him.

The worth of the teaching of the masters, of their wisdom, was rooted in their ability to throw light upon the human being’s relationship with the Divine, to make God’s will known, and therefore to open up to the disciple a path to follow that would lead to fullness of life. Their teaching was not meant to reach only the mind but to indicate the right way by which the human being could order all life toward its legitimate goal; the master, then, was also a guide, and a model, even a mediator to bring God and the person together. Another word, kathegethes, that is, “guide,” “conductor,” gives this more complete meaning to didascalos; in fact, it is also translated as “master-teacher.”

Christ applies both meanings of “master,” that is, “teacher” and “guide,” in the well-known injunction from Mt 23: 8-10: “As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher (ho didascalos), and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’ (kathegetai); you have but one master, the Messiah.”

Another Scriptural term, “lord” (kyrios), has also been translated as “master.” It means one who has the power to command, who is a head, a boss; it is also used to indicate the master of a household, or even the master of a slave. In a religious context, it may refer to God, his sovereignty over all, his majesty, his power.

Kyrios is applied to Christ, not only in the Gospels but in other New Testament writings, notably in Paul’s letters. Jesus acknowledges that the use of this title in reference to him is appropriate; after the washing of the feet, John reports him as saying: “You call me Master and Lord, and you are right; that is what I am” (Jn 13: 13-14).

In his own way, Alberione tried to make clear that the term “master” as applied to Christ was something more than the popular and often reductionist understanding of “teacher,” especially in a Western context. This is why he preferred the term “master” to “teacher” and makes the following distinctions between them:

We know that the word master had a meaning quite different
from that of teacher.

The teacher imparts the knowledge he has learned; the master communicates life.

The teacher speaks to the intelligence; the master speaks at the

same time to the mind, to sentiment, to the will.

The teacher makes a learned individual, the scientist; the
master forms the righteous person, the Christian, the citizen.

The teacher keeps an eye on time; the master keeps his eyes
both on time and eternity.

For a teacher, it is enough that he be competent in a subject.
The master is busy with giving example, imparting moral formation,
establishing communion of life….

And he [Christ] summarizes everything in his self-definition:
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”[11]

Why is “way, truth, life” a summary of the threefold meaning of “Master”? It is possible to link Jesus as truth, as incarnate wisdom of the Father, with the meaning of Master as Teacher in its full, integral sense. Jesus is guide, example, mediator who by his life and especially his total self-giving on the cross points out the way back to the Father; he is thus the very Way itself for humanity. Jesus, as God’s own Son incarnate and Lord of all creation, is the source of divine life, which he shares to all who are willing to accept him and to be transformed into himself through love. The negative connotations of power that the title kyrios has, are absent when that title is applied to Christ, whose lordship is expressed not in overpowering but in empowering his followers, not in domination and exploitation but in sharing his very life with them.

This vision of Christ as Master, Way, Truth, and Life, rooted in Scripture as its source and wellspring, is what lies at the heart of Alberionian spirituality.

Spirit of Alberionian Christology:

The title “Master, Way, Truth and Life” is not found in Paul’s writings. Yet Alberione repeatedly and unequivocably insists that his spirituality is Pauline: Alberionian Christology is Pauline Christology. This fact is evident in certain affirmations that Alberione consistently made in his ongoing attempt to clarify his Christological spirituality. For example:

In the section entitled “The doctrine of Paul” in DF 168-170 Alberione says that Paul “was the most perfect and faithful interpreter of the Divine Master; he understood, gave, and elaborated by powerful syntheses and strict logic the Gospel, whole and applied, so that … humanity found what it had unconsciously been seeking” (DF 168). And like Paul, human beings are called to attain to that state whereby “… Christ alone lives, thinks, acts, loves, wills, prays, suffers, dies and rises in us” (DF 170).

This end-state of formation, the omega point of human fulfillment, Alberione finds perfectly expressed in Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2: 20-21: “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me”[e] (emphasis added). And Paul was the disciple who attained the heights of union with Christ; he did not only envision it or speak of it.

Goal of Alberionian Christology:

The ultimate goal to which all enlightened Christians aspire, a transformed existence, Alberione calls Christification, or “being conformed to Christ.” He notes:

The process of sanctification is a process of Christification:
”until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).

…we will be holy in the measure in which we live the life of
Jesus Christ, or better, according to the measure in which Jesus Christ
lives in us. “The Christian is another Christ,” and this is what St. Paul
says of himself: “I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).[12]

Process of Alberionian Christology:

Christification not only indicates the achieved goal of Pauline spirituality; it is also the term used for the process to reach that goal. The Founder’s first circular, cited above, continues with a description of this process:[FSP1]

This gradually takes place in us until we “reach the full man-
hood of Jesus Christ,” just as a baby gradually develops into an adult.
Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Spiritual work
involves the commitment:

1. to imitate the holiness of Jesus Christ, who marked out the way with his examples and with his teachings: “you are to be perfect”;

2. in the spirit of faith according to Jesus Christ-Truth, to think in accord with the Gospel, with the New Testament, and with the Church which communicates it to us;

3. to live in grace, which is a sharing in the life of Jesus Christ, through the sacraments and all the means of grace.

Thus Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life is formed in us: “to be conformed.”

In DF, Alberione speaks of the itinerary of Christification as structured according to the classic threefold way for spiritual growth: the purgative, the illuminative, the unitive stages. What is original about the way Alberione presents this itinerary is the connection he makes with the Trinity. He attributes to one of the three divine Persons of the Trinity each of the classic three ways: the purgative stage (conversion and a new creation) to the Father, the illuminative stage (incarnation) to the Son made human—here he brings in “Master Way, Truth and Life” once again—and the unitive stage (sanctification) to the Spirit.

It may be difficult to justify this ingenious insight theologically and scientifically.[f] This may be why Alberione never pursued the idea in subsequent writings. What is important to grasp here is that Alberione's spirituality is centered on Christ but cannot be understood except in the light of the Trinity, and Christification develops in a Trinitarian context.

Various Dimensions of Alberionian Christology:

Relational dimension:

Alberione asserts that his Christology incorporates the belief in a Divinity that is One but at the same time Triune and is therefore of its very essence relational; this belief sustains the importance for Alberione of the relational dimension of Pauline spirituality.

Christ is defined as the only begotten Son of the Father, ineffably united to him in the Spirit. Through his incarnation, he enters into a relationship of intimacy with the human race, for whom he becomes Master, Way, Truth and Life. Acceptance of that relationship to the point of Christification is what saves the human person. For Alberione, “To become saints, we are to incarnate God in us (DF 90).” This is achieved by entering into the school of Jesus Master, relating to him as disciple. This involves a lifetime of self-detachment, of self-giving, of devotion, until the disciple is one with the Master.

“Entering the school of Jesus Master” is a familiar phrase in Alberionian teaching. For instance, a Marian prayer[g] composed a few years after DF says:

Present me to Jesus, for I am an unworthy sinner, and I have no other recommendation to be admitted to his school than your recommendation. Enlighten my mind, fortify my will, sanctify my heart, during this year of my spiritual work, so that I may profit from this great mercy and may say at the end: “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me.” (PPF 222-223).

Another prayer that speaks of this union between Christ Master and his disciples, is entitled “To the Divine Master,” the earliest known Alberionian prayer that explicitly addresses Christ with that title. It is found in DF 101-103:

O Master, You have words of eternal life. Substitute Yourself for me in my mind, in my thoughts. O You who illumine every man and are Truth itself, I want to reason only as You teach, judge only according to Your judgments, and think only of You, substantial Truth, given to me by the Father. ”Live in my mind, O Jesus Truth.”

Your life is precept, Way—certain, unique, true, infallible.
The crib, Nazareth, Calvary—all trace the divine way: of love for
the Father, of infinite purity, of love for souls to the point of total
sacrifice. Grant that … every moment I may follow in Your foot-
steps along the path of poverty, chastity and obedience. Every other way is broad … it is not Yours. Jesus, I ignore and detest every way not indicated by You. What You want, I want; establish Your will in place of mine.

Substitute Your heart for my heart. Substitute Your love for my love of God, for my love of neighbor, for my love of self. With Your divine life, which is most pure, and above all nature, replace my sinful human life. “I am the life” (Jn 14:6). Therefore, that You may live in me, I will give great care to Holy Mass, to Communion, to the Visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament, to devotion to the Passion. May this Your divine life be manifested in my deeds … just as happened with St. Paul: “Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Live in me, O Jesus, eternal Life, substantial Life.

Scriptural dimension:

The relational dimension is nourished by the dimension of the Word that God addresses to humanity through his incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. That Scripture is an integral part of Alberionian Christology is obvious even in the choice of a title for Christ, which are all from the Gospel. And the Founder repeatedly enjoined his Paulines to steep their being in a continual reading and meditation of Scripture, as he did. Even a superficial analysis of DF will reveal how thoroughly he himself assimilated that Word. It appears not only in the liberal use of specific quotations but even in his expressions that often paraphrase Scripture.

Eucharistic dimension:

To further emphasize the relational and unitive dimension of Christification, Alberione in DF uses the image of food which becomes one with the person who eats it. This has Eucharistic implications; for Alberione, access to Christ and growth of intimacy with him is achieved through contact with him as Eucharist. He writes:

The action of sanctifying the soul consists in our transformation in God …
through the food that is Jesus Christ himself. We are to nourish our-
selves daily with Jesus Christ, way, truth and life…. We need to masticate
and assimilate [him] (DF 7, translation mine).

Union with Christ also brings human beings into relationship with one another. The section of DF on Paul referred to above concludes with the following words:

… Head of a regenerated humanity, he (Christ) forms all believers
into a mystical body, the members of which are closely united by
the charity that animates one same life, in which beats one sole
heart, the Heart of Jesus Christ. (DF 170, translation mine)

Experiential dimension:

The stress on experience rather than abstract theorizing is essential for an understanding of Alberionian Christology. One must go beyond the attempts Alberione makes at a systematic theoretical presentation—not always successful and certainly not complete—and allow oneself to be drawn into the spiritual dynamism that transformed him. This dynamism is communicated best in the mysterious interactive unfolding of a living charism common to him as Founder and Primo Maestro (“first teacher”) and to those to whom the Spirit gives the same gift. One must delve into the life experiences of Alberione, and especially his prayer life, and allow that experience to illumine what he says.

This search requires that each person bring to the process his or her own personal experience, and see where it resonates with Alberione’s own experience. It is a matter of heart speaking to heart, using that term “heart” in its most profound Scriptural sense, which goes beyond the level of feelings. In this experiential dialogue, gradually one may hope to “catch by contagion” what cannot be taught merely in words. An enlightened heart floods also the mind with insight and stirs up the will to reach out to the ultimate meaning that has become the goal of one’s life. A will on fire moves the person to loving action.

Apostolic dimension:

The “loving action” will certainly involve an apostolic thrust to share with the whole world the treasure one has discovered: Christ Master, Way, Truth and Life is meant to be transmitted to the whole world for its transfomation. The treasure is not a heirloom to be kept under glass, but is wealth to be traded with and made to increase a hundredfold for the good of as many people as possible. It is good news that must be shouted out from the housetops, not whispered in a secret chamber. Others must learn of the possibility of relating to God through Christ and entering into the fullness of truth, love, and life that he offers. The apostolic dimension of the devotion to Jesus Master involves Alberionian Christology as content of the message to be proclaimed, as energy source for the mission in its concrete activities, and as spirit that pervades the apostle’s life and relationships. This apostolic dimension is much more explicit and is the main thrust of another important Alberionian writing composed around the same time as DF and entitled Apostolato Stampa. It is a manual for the formation of the Pauline as apostle. Here too the stress on Jesus Master is central but the focus shifts from personal transformation to apostolic zeal. However, even in DF there are hints of this apostolic characteristic as part of Christification. Alberione notes:

In three ways one walks with Jesus Christ[FSP2] : the way of the commandments—Christian life; the way of the evangelical counsels—religious life; the way of zeal—apostolic life (DF 267; emphasis added).

St. Paul was the Doctor of the Gentiles. He defended them, enlightened them, and won them over to our Lord Jesus Christ.…
From heaven … he intercedes in a special manner for three graces:
ardor, conversions, apostolate. (DF 260-261; emphasis mine)

Marian dimension:

Our Christification and that of the whole world flourishes in a Marian climate, in the atmosphere generated by the presence and action of Mary, Mother of the Divine Master and Queen of Apostles. Father Alberione notes: “Our devotion toward Jesus divine Master will be brought to perfection if prepared for and preceded by the devotion to Mary the Teacher.”[13] Mary is the most faithful disciple of her Son, and more than any other, casts in a feminine mold his being as Master, Way, Truth and Life. Because of this, she can instruct, guide, and form persons to discipleship.

We can give no greater wealth to this poor and proud world than Jesus Christ.… The world needs Jesus Christ Way, Truth and Life.

[Mary] gives him through apostles and their apostolates. She raises them up, trains them, assists them, and crowns them with good results and glory in heaven.[14]

Integral dimension:

It should be clear at this point that the devotion to Jesus Master both as goal and process is wholistic and integral, and that in two ways. It brings one into contact with the mystery of Christ in his totality (Master, Way, Truth Life), and it draws into intimate union with Christ the whole person’s being and life—mind, heart, will, body. “The Pauline Family strives to fully live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Way, Truth and Life, in the spirit of St. Paul, under the gaze of the Queen of Apostles.”[15] “The whole person in Jesus Christ, in view of loving God completely [by means of one’s intelligence, will, heart and physical strength].”[16]

Methodology of Alberionian Christology:

The concern for integrality is reflected in Alberione’s attempt to work out a formative and pedagogical method able to sustain the wholistic transformative process of human growth toward perfection. He devised what is known in the Pauline congregations as “the way-truth-life, mind-will-heart method.”

In that part of DF which speaks of the “Visit,” the daily hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament which is normative for all Paulines, Alberione explains the method thus:

Many methods are taught, especially those of the four ends, …
But that which honors Jesus Master, Truth, Way and Life, is particularly indicated (DF 204).

This method is important because it is pleasing to the Divine
Master, who seems to have taught it to us by declaring: “I am the
truth, the way and the life…”. It is in conformity with our nature,
because we have intelligence, will and heart. Little by little this method realizes in the soul the “love the Lord with the mind, and
the strength, with the heart” (cf Mk. 12:30). It greatly helps the disciple to be complete: it utilizes everything: study, means of grace, natural gifts (DF 205).

Unfortunately, the above method and the anthropology underlying it did not in practice always create the desired integration; rather, it led to artificial divisions in regard to human faculties, and to compartmentalization of aspects of personal reality that were not meant to be taken piece by piece but lived in interaction with one another. Be that as it may, what has to be understood as valuable is Alberione’s effort to make sure that no aspect of human life should be left out in the following of Christ, Master, Way, Truth and Life.

MASTER WITH THE HEART OF A SHEPHERD

In the 1990s, the traditional presentation of Jesus as Master, Way, Truth and Life was significantly enriched by the emergence of an element which had been present in Alberione’s thinking from the beginning but had not been integrated into the usual presentation of his Christology. This element involves another Scriptural title of Christ—that of shepherd (cf especially Jn 10).

For all their loyalty and commitment to “Master, Way, Truth and Life,” Paulines have often tended to feel this approach as too intellectual, lacking in warmth, remote; it has not always captured on the existential plane all the richness of their concrete relationship with Christ. The clarification regarding “Shepherd” as intrinsic to a clearer and fuller grasp of what “Master” means in its totality brought a sense of completeness and vital warmth to Alberionian Christology.

The two titles are linked in the Founder’s thinking; this may be seen in affirmations such as the following:

He said: “I am the Good Shepherd.” And also said: “You
call me Master and Lord and you say well for so I am.”

It is thus that he prepares the new man….[17]

Even more significant than his words is the fact that on October 7, 1938 the Founder officially brought into existence the fourth of the Pauline congregations, called the Sisters of Jesus Good Shepherd, more popularly known as the “Shepherdess Sisters” (Pastorelle in Italian). Over a year before this founding date, in April 1937, he had already announced his intention to give life to a congregation “to the honor of Jesus Good Shepherd, a religious family whose primary objective is the glory of God and the sanctification of self, living Jesus Good Shepherd.”[18]

Only to this congregation in the Pauline Family did Alberione, from the very beginning, explicitly entrust a spirituality centered on Jesus the Good Shepherd; the rest of the Pauline Family lives the devotion to Jesus as Master. However, the Founder did not seem to sustain the idea that for the Shepherdess Sisters the devotion to Christ as Shepherd should take the place of Jesus as Master.

The Shepherdess Sisters have taken it upon themselves to study in depth their spirituality, and what connection it has with Jesus as Master, and whether or not their spirituality is to be taken as a separate and parallel track, a second Alberionian Christology side by side with what is given to the rest of the Pauline Family.[h]

That Alberione himself was aware of the difficulty in situating the Jesus Good Shepherd devotion within a Pauline Family committed to Jesus as Master, is obvious from the following, taken from a homily to the Pastorelle in January 1955:

You asked me: “Why do we honor Jesus under the title of Shepherd and not of Master like the rest of the Pauline Family?” The answer: “Because you should act like Shepherdesses. Jesus is always the same, but you should form yourselves for souls and, like Jesus, know how to give your life for the sheep.”

It would seem from this reply that the Pastorelle have to be given a spirituality that sustains their charismatic mission in the Church, which is to work closely with the pastors of the Church and take care of the flock; it is a pastoral task, the spirit of which is common to the various apostolates of the institutes that make up the Pauline Family, but which is to be more visibly incarnated in the Pastorelle.[i]

The Shepherdess Sisters are still continuing the work of establishing the links that bind them with the rest of the Pauline Family in terms of its common spirituality centered on Jesus Master, Way, Truth and Life. To them Alberione gives the task to articulate “Pauline spirituality according to the Good Shepherd.”[19] To this Elena Bosetti reponds:

… the teaching of Fr. Alberione to the Sisters of Jesus Good Shepherd reflects the constants of that common patrimony which we call “Pauline spirituality”: the novelty consists essentially in the pastoral perspective within which the various elements are located.[20]

For instance, the indispensable link to “way, truth, life” is as much a part of Jesus Good Shepherd as it is of Jesus Master. The Pastorelle are exhorted to place “at the center of life Jesus Way, Truth and Life, Divine Shepherd.”[21] And in a meditation to the Pastorelle in September 1942, Alberione asks:

Who is the good shepherd? … It is he who makes himself so, for the
sake of his fold, in imitation of Jesus Christ, Way, Truth and Life.

… Way, that is, model. The Good Shepherd indicates to the people
the way more with his life than with his words…. He tends to us with
his holy examples. – Truth, Jesus taught the loftiest truths, necessary
for all, in an easy, practical way.… Jesus tends with his doctrine. –
Life, Jesus Good Shepherd makes us live with his own life.
“My life is Christ” (Phil 1:21) … Jesus tends our hearts.[22]

During the Spiritual Exercises of December 1948, Alberione explicitly points out the connection: “The two definitions ‘Ego sum Pastor Bonus’ (Jn 10: 11) and ‘Ego sum Via, Veritas et Vita’ (Jn 14:6) complete each other.”[23] The connection between the two self-definitions of Christ is easier to establish than that between “Master” and “‘Way, Truth and Life” because it has a liturgical precedent. In the antiphon to the Benedictus for Good Shepherd Sunday[j] the Latin text reads: Ego sum Pastor ovium: Ego sum Via, Veritas et Vita. Ego sum Pastor bonus, et cognosco over meas, et cognoscunt me meae. (I am the Shepherd of the sheep: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.)

In regard to the Eucharistic dimension, Alberione substitutes for the term “Eucharistic Master” the phrase “Eucharistic Good Shepherd.” Bosetti comments:

The Eucharist brings to reality the promise of the continued
presence of the Good Shepherd in the midst of his people and the
singular paradox of love, the “making one’s self food” for the
sheep.… ”We adore you, O Jesus eternal Shepherd of mankind!
You live in the Tabernacle in order to continually stay in the midst
of your fold. From here you nourish, you watch over, you guide
towards the heavenly fold.” Jesus is the Shepherd who gives him-
self as food: “The shepherd feeds the sheep and Jesus gives the
Eucharistic Bread, gives himself as nourishment. What food more
precious? The Son of God incarnate!”

… Let it be noted finally that the same phrase “Eucharistic
Shepherd” expresses a connection that has profound roots in the
biblical-liturgical tradition, with Psalm 23 where the Divine Shep-
herd prepares the table, at (sic) the sequence “Lauda Sion”: Bone
Pastor, panis vere, tu nos pasce nos tuere….[24]

These two instances prove that the essential elements of the Pauline Family devotion to Jesus Master are linked to the Good Shepherd devotion. Rather than tracing all the connections to the other essential elements, a response should be given to the basic question: what changes are worked in the Jesus Master devotion by putting it in conjunction with Jesus Shepherd? Bosetti considers the question and proposes the following reply, quoting what the Founder said to the Pastorelle :

What does the entrance of the new Christological title mean in
the Pauline Family? More than adding or substituting, it seems to specify an eminent characteristic of the Divine Master.

… “Your family … has the most beautiful mission, the most similar to that of the Divine Master … who wanted above all to be the Good Shepherd, the good savior, the great benefactor of humanity, he who cured every spiritual and temporal ailment.”

… undoubtedly … the second title … is subordinated to the first and specifies it.[25]

… How is it that in the maturity of his life Fr. Alberione
introduces into the Pauline Family a Congregation “in honor of
Jesus Good Shepherd”? Does he perhaps intend to say that the
reference “to the Divine Master, which summarized every de-
votion to Jesus Christ” (AD 180) has to be understood in the
perspective of Shepherd?[26] (Emphasis added.)

Highlighting the shepherd-qualities as intrinsic to the meaning of “Master,” safeguards that word from its inevitable popular connotations of over-intellectualism and lack of warmth, of power exercised as domination and arrogance, of a relationship based on superiority and inferiority. “Shepherd” has connotations of humility and compassion, of loving service rendered by the stronger to the weaker. In Jesus’ self-description as “good Shepherd” the original Greek word used is kalos, which actually means “beautiful.” This fact makes it easier to connect to “shepherd” the ideal of friendship which seeks to establish equality between the friends, of an intimacy that can reach the depths of spousal love. In a Master who has the heart of a Shepherd willing to love to the point of giving his life for his sheep, the paradox of “power in powerlessness” emerges most clearly and becomes invested with beauty.

It is significant that during the adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on the night that divided the nineteenth from the twentieth century, which marked for Alberione the emergence of his charismatic intuition, the vision of Christ which was the hinge of that spiritual experience was not defined at that moment by Jn 14:6 but rather by Mt 11:28-30. “I am the way, the truth and the life” was already in his consciousness through assiduous study of Leo XIII’s encyclical Tametsi futura [FSP3]. But what surfaced during his Eucharistic adoration in Alberione’s consciousness was the figure of Christ stretching out his arms to all humanity and inviting them: “Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Emphasis added). These are qualities associated with “shepherd.” Bosetti comments:

… in the mind and in the heart of the Founder the titles of Master and Shepherd are much closer than what it may seem at first: one
sheds light on the other. On this matter, I think Mt 11:28-30 could
be helpful since it is a part of the common charismatic heritage,
inasmuch as it has profoundly marked the spiritual experience of
Fr. Alberione. In that text, the Divine Master invites all to his
school, the way Wisdom does: “come to me, learn from me.”
Let us observe, however, that in the Matthew text, that come to
me all of you is not at all general. It is addressed to “those who
are burdened.” It is as if to say that Jesus Master has the eyes
and the heart of a Shepherd. He pities those who are stooped
under too much weight (he is a “compassionate shepherd”!)
and promises rest, even more, “peace” to him who is willing
to carry “his burden…”.

… The consolation lies in the fact that “his” burden is
”easy and light” … because he himself intends to carry it with
us. Jesus is the Master who makes himself “conjugated” (cum
jugo, with/under the same burden). But this is on the condition that one takes seriously the invitation to learn from him,
who is meek and humble of heart. … It is necessary that we
assiduously come to our Master in order to learn to live as he
did, with the same heart [27] (Emphasis added).

Bosetti then proposes another Gospel text which also shows the link between Master and Shepherd; it is that of Mk 6: 24.

“… the Master with the shepherd’s heart.” Jesus was leading … his disciples to a solitary place, to rest. Disembarking, however, he sees a big crowd and was filled with compassion (esplagchnisthe). They were, in fact, “like sheep without a shepherd.” And immediately ”he began to teach” (erxato didaschein). Behold the pathos of the Divine Master for the crowds of yesterday and of today, victims of ignorance and of no-meaning. The Master of the Pauline Family has the heart of a Shepherd[FSP4] , even more its motherly viscera of compassion (Emphasis added). [28]

CONCLUDING SYNTHESIS

The diagram on the next page seeks to present the content of this chapter regarding the essential elements of Alberionian Christology.

Contents <<Prev Next>>

ENDNOTES

1 Giacomo Alberione, Vademecum: Selezioni di brani sulle linee qualificanti del suo carisma, A cura di Angelo Colacrai. (Milano: Edizioni Paoline, 1992) n. 590, pp. 225-226. This collection of Alberionian writings has not been translated into English; all translations from this source, unless otherwise specified, have been made by the writer of this doctoral project. The writer also emphasized certain phrases in this and other quotations by placing them in bold type.

2 Ibid., n. 597, p. 228.

3 Ibid., n. 590, p. 228.

4 Ibid., n. 579, p 222 and n. 582, p. 223.

5 From a talk of Alberione to the Daughters of St. Paul, 1957. Translation and emphasis mine.

6 The original edition was published at Alba and Rome by the Society of St. Paul, in 1932. Edizione critica a cura di Andrea Damino ( Roma: Casa Generalizia della Societa’ San Paolo, 1984). At the time of the writing of this project, there is as yet no official translation of the critical edition into English, but a translation exists, with the title Until Christ Be Formed In You, Boston: Daughters of St. Paul, 1983. Quotes are taken from this translation, though the numbering of the passages follows that of the critical edition because this English text is not numbered. At times the quotations have been translated by the writer of this doctoral project; this will be noted as “translation mine.”

7 These two quotations are taken from a series of commentaries written by Guido Gandolfo on Donec Formetur Christus in vobis (hereafter referred to as DF) which was published in the Society of St. Paul Bulletin, San Paolo. These passages are from the June 1997 issue, p. 12. Translation mine.

8 Damino, “Introduction” to DF critical edition, 14.

9 Ibid.

10 Any good theological dictionary of the New Testament will give these meanings, which are, by now, well-known.

11 From a homily given by Fr. Alberione to a group of Catholic teachers, about 1960. Primary source is available in the Pauline Archives in Rome.

12 From the first circular letter of the Founder, 1934, as reported in the Appendix (no page numbers indicated) to the Constitutions and Directory of the Pious Society of the Daughters of St. Paul, translated and printed by the Daughters of St. Paul, Boston, 1984. Primary source is available in the Pauline Archives in Rome.

13 Rosario Esposito, ed., Carissimi in San Paolo: Lettere, articoli, opuscoli, scritti inediti di Don Giacomo Alberione dal 1933 al 1969 (Roma: Societa’ San Paolo, 1971), 1331.

14 Giacomo Alberione, Abundantes Divitiae Gratiae Suae: Charismatic History of the Pauline Family, trans. Mike Byrnes (Rome: Society of St. Paul General House, 1998), n.182.

15 Ibid., n. 93.

16 Ibid., n. 100.

17 Homily to Catholic teachers, given around 1960. Primary source is available in the Pauline Archives in Rome.

18 Reported in Elena Bosetti, sgbp, “The Master-Shepherd: The Ineritance of Fr. Alberione for the Pastorelle Sisters,” in Jesus, the Master Yesterday, Today and For Ever: The Spirituality of the Pauline Communicator – Acts of the International Seminar on “Jesus the Master,” Ariccia, October 14-24, 1996, trans. Andres R. Arboleda, Jr. (Rome: Society of St. Paul General House, 1997), 195.

19 Ibid., 203.

20 Ibid., 208.

21 Ibid., 200.

22 Ibid., 201.

23 Ibid., 202.

24 Ibid., 204.

25 Ibid., 199.

26 Ibid., 208.

27 Ibid., 208-209.

28 Ibid., 209-210.

[a] In Alberionian thinking, it is important to distinguish between devotion and devotions. The difference may be likened to that between “the rules of good manners and a good formation. Devotions are practices of piety which may differ from person to person and may at times not even be a good thing. True devotion is God’s gift … it does not consist in many practices of piety but in donation and perfect consecration. [This means that] one thinks only of the things of God or of those things inherent to his service. One wants only God and his glory in the brethren” (From a sermon to the Sisters of Jesus Good Shepherd, March 27, 1949. Translation mine).

[b] Most of the prayers are found in Prayers of the Pauline Family composed by Alberione himself (the bibliographical information will be given in the endnotes when specific quotations are utilized from this book). This manual remains one of the most authentic sources of light to understand Alberionian spirituality, particularly in terms of his personal relationship with God.

[c] The book is actually little more than a collection of notes and brief comments on aspects of Pauline spirituality. An attempt is made to order these insights in a systematic way, but the book is not a well-developed presentation so much as an outline. However, even a brief phrase or a particular word acquires significance in view of later Alberionian writings. Significantly, these notes do cover the essential elements of Alberionian Christological spirituality.

[d] This section is a revised version of part of a paper given by the author in February 1999 during the Asian-Australian Continental Meeting on the Formation of the Daughters of St. Paul, held in Manila. The whole paper was entitled “The Centrality of Jesus Master Way, Truth, Life in Pauline Formation for Asia and Australia” (cf ACTS, 1-29 and the attached Bibliography, i-iv). The particular portion dealt with here was n. 3 – “Alberionian Christology in Donec formetur Christus in vobis “ (ACTS 13-17).

[e] The Founder utilized many passages from the Pauline letters to explain his charism, and the passage he quoted the greatest number of times was precisely Gal. 2:20. Giovanni Roatta, ssp, who made a study of this, found that Alberione referred to it 105 times; the next passage most frequently cited was Phil 2:8, in a total of 35 times—much less compared to the Galatians passage (cf San Paolo e la Famiglia Paolina nel pensiero di don Giacomo Alberione, Ariccia: Centro di Spiritualita’ Paolina, 1973, p. 10).

[f] Cf the taped talk of Charles Bernard, Jesuit professor of Spirituality at the Gregorian University, to the FSP Jesus Master Commission, Rome, 1998.

[g] The prayer, entitled “Consecration of Oneself to Mary” was composed around 1937-1938 for the consecration of novices to Mary. Cf Prayers of the Pauline Family, translated and printed by the Daughters of St. Paul, Boston, 1991. For a commentary with notes on this prayer, cf Eliseo Sgarbossa and Silvano M. De Blasio, eds, The Marian Prayers of Father Alberione: History and Commentary, trans. Claire Philip Paquette, Mary Nazarene Prestofilippo, Mary James Berger (Rome: Editions of the General Historical Archives of the Pauline Family, 1988), 58-62.

[h] The writer of this project is indebted especially to Elena Bosetti of the Shepherdess Sisters who communicated the results of her research on her congregation’s spirituality in her talk given during the 1996 Seminar on Jesus the Master (cf endnote n. 18 for bibliographical information).

[i] Following the apostolic criterion of Pauline spirituality, Christ as Master is eminently suited to the common mission of the Society of St. Paul and the Daughters of St. Paul, called to teach, to communicate the Gospel to all, and bring humanity as disciples to the school of Jesus Master. The other Pauline congregations too find obvious links between their apostolates and the Jesus Master devotion.

[j] In the Roman Breviary of 1914, certainly familiar to Alberione, this feast was fixed on the Second Sunday after Easter; it is now on the Fourth Sunday after Easter in the current Liturgy of the Hours.