[Missionary
Spirituality] [Centered in the Word of God] [Following
Christ, the One Sent by the Father, in the Spirit]
[Practical Means] [The Exercises
of the Evangelizer] [The Fountains of Spirituality]
The spirituality of the Verbum Dei, the way of life and the most profound attitudes
that characterize its members are illuminated by the missionary desire of Jesus
to reach the heart of every person, just as he entrusted it to his first apostles:
“Go then and make disciples to all people, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to keep all
that I have commanded you. And I will be with you until the end of the world.”
(Mt 28: 19-20)
The passion for the Kingdom of God and the missionary urgency, parting from
the vital reality of the Body of Christ, provokes in us the evangelizing dynamism
that led St. Paul to form witnesses, apostles and teachers. We desire to form
apostles who can collaborate and continue the work of evangelization, founding
evangelized and evangelizing communities.
This spirituality cannot be lived only in function of one’s own sanctification,
but rather for the good of many and in service to the whole Church of Christ.
Living with and sharing with the real Christ of today, in his Head and members,
we participate in our own flesh in the drama and necessities of humanity and
it brings out of us the best answer with a widened and missionary heart.
The Verbum Dei Spirituality, as well as its mission, is centered in the Word of God and drinks from it as its fountain. The Word of God is a daily nourishment, guide and rhythm in a path of growth in charity and in the mission of evangelization. During the day, in an environment of contemplative life, we seek to vitally translate the Word of God that we pray and study, live and celebrate, desiring to incarnate it and announce it to the people of our time. In this exercise and life of prayer in Christ, lies the apostolic strength proper to our mission of evangelization.
Following Christ, the One Sent by the Father, in the Spirit
The following and daily imitation of Christ lead us to configure our lives to his as the One Sent by the Father to evangelize: “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent” (Lk 4:43). The name “Verbum Dei” constantly evoke us to the dynamism of following and consecration lived as the double task of revealing the face of God with our words and with our life. The love of God, poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit becomes within us, a fountain of living water that urges us to proclaim the Word time in and time out, in opportune and inopportune moments, and it leads us to exclaim as did the apostles: “We cannot stop speaking of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)
The practical means of our spirituality are directed towards the integration of the contemplative and missionary life. The spiritual exercises, the revision of life and the school of apostles, are privileged means through which we seek to know God in a living and “esponsalicia” way, while also propagating his love through the most efficient way possible.
The Exercises of the Evangelizer
This path is motivated daily by the practice of the four exercises of the disciple-apostle and the community of apostles: 1) Exercise of prayre and life of prayer, 2) Exercise of fraternity, 3) Exercise of the cross or humilliation, 4) Exercise of mission.
The Spiritual itinerary or missionary pathway of the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity
drinks from four fountains of spirituality, extracted from the Word of God,
the Tradition, and the lives of the saints and the Magisterium of the Church.
These fountains are: the Indwelling of the Trinity, the Most Holy Eucharist,
the Mystical Body of Christ, and Mary.
In depth on the Fountains of Spirituality in the Verbum Dei
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