We recall that our Holy Founder has given us the life of our Lord Jesus Christ as our fundamental rule, so as to imitate him in our life in community and in our apostolate. The life of our Lord Jesus Christ: this means all of the life of Jesus, his infancy, his youth, his so called ‘hidden life’ and his public life. Pallotti was convinced that Jesus wanted him to meditate on his ‘hidden’ life, because he was convinced of the need to know everything about Jesus, to know the ‘total’ Jesus. We are accustomed to meditating and reflecting on the public life of Jesus, it is relatively easy to do this because we have the help of Gospel texts that tell us of his public life.
To meditate on the hidden life of Jesus it is necessary to use our imagination in conjunction with our faith. We know that Jesus is with us when we pray, when we invoke his presence amongst us. Let us ask him to accompany us in our reflection on his hidden life, to open our minds and our hearts to this form of meditation and to lead us, step by step to a deeper knowledge of him.
From the writings of Saint Vincent Pallotti:
“The fundamental rule of our little Congregation is the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to imitate him, with humility and trust, with the greatest possible perfection, in all the works of his hidden life and of his public Gospel ministry, for the greater glory of God, our heavenly Father, and for the greater sanctification of our soul and that of our fellow men and women.” (OOCC III, 40).
“My God, we are unworthy to receive the gift of a perfect love for our Immaculate Mother, Mary most Holy, but you, in your infinite mercy and by the merits of Jesus and of Mary, most Holy, grant us this gift. We mean (intend) to love our most beloved Mother Mary with the love with which you, o eternal Father, love her, you who love her as a Daughter; with the love with which you, o divine Son, love her, you who love her as a Mother; with the love with which you, o divine Spirit, love her, you who love her as a Spouse; and we intend that she be loved in the same manner by all possible creatures, past, present and future.” (OOCC VIII, 224).
AfT, 03/2006
