A Society of Love

First Homily

This talk was given by Rosmini (Don Antonio to his brethren) on 25 March 1839, feast of the Annuntiation, when he made his religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience before Fr. Giacomo Molinari, the first of the brethren, and then received the vows of the eighteen members of the Institute of Charity. The ceremony took place with special solemnity at Mount Calvary, near Domodossola in Piedmont, Italy, a little more than ten years after Rosmini arrived there on 19 February 1828 in response to his call from God. The Institute of Charity, for which he wrote the Constitutions during his first weeks at Mount Calvary, had been approved by the Congregation for Bishops and Regulars on 20 December 1838, despite great opposition to certain points contained in the summary of the Constitutions which Rosmini had presented for examination by the Congregation. January–March 1839, were months of intense spiritual preparation in prayer and penance prior to profession of the vows.

The Institute was solemnly sanctioned on 20 September 1839, by Gregory XVI in his Apostolic Letters, In Sublimi, which contained the summary of Rosmini’s Constitutions under the title Rule of the Institute of Charity. In the meantime, Rosmini, with seven of his priests, had made two further vows, one of obedience to the Holy Father and another of not permitting any relaxation in the observance of poverty in the Institute. These ‘Presbyter’ vows, proper to certain members of the Institute, were made in the catacombs of St. Sebastian at Rome, 22 August 1839.

The Golden Chain

God loves us from all eternity

The Lord has numbered the days, laid his command upon each of them and shone his light on this joyful feast-day dedicated to the Incarnation of the eternal Word in the womb of the Virgin. He himself has brought about this longed-for moment when we, his lowly creatures, intend to restore and consecrate to him, with an act of loving will and through our self-offering, all that his almighty generosity has given us.

Dear brothers: he spoke, and we began to exist; he spoke again, and he existed in our mortal flesh; he spoke a third time, and we began to exist in a new, divine way — incorporated in his humanity through the waters of baptism.
But this was not enough. His word does not fall silent; the wonders of his word are endless. The word has made himself heard by us, called us from our different occupations, and bound us together in the tender charity that comes from the word. We were strangers to one another; now we are no longer Italian, French, German, English. We are only one thing in Christ Jesus, to whose love we want to consecrate ourselves completely and irrevocably.

If each of us considers his own calling, he will find some marvel worked there by the One who made all things.We have a single purpose, but who has guided us to consent willingly to the same single object?(1) We are in the same place, but who has brought us to this holy mountain consecrated to the justice of the Father who sacrifices his Son, and to the charity of the Son who allows himself to be sacrificed for our salvation? Finally, who has moved God’s supreme Vicar on earth to seal our union with his divine authority and give us the Rule that must guide us to perfection?(2)
In all this we see the finger of God. Each of us feels how sweet and safe it is to abandon himself to divine providence, and to lay aside human thoughts for the sake of following with great docility the counsels of providence.

We must be grateful, brothers, to the charity of him who, without needing us, has loved us first. Our hearts have every reason to expand with holy joy at this moment. There is no happier moment for human beings than that in which they, who come from God, are once more grounded in God, or that in which creatures, moved by the Creator, consecrate themselves to the Creator.

Love of justice comes from God alone

The very end(3) — the attainment of justice, nothing more — is a clear sign that it is God, not ourselves, who brings us to this point. Our courage, exultation and consolation spring from this certainty. This end can come only from God where justice is at home and whence it extends to all creatures.

The evil spirit cannot put the desire for justice in our heart, nor can flesh and blood lead us to justice. The world finds its greatness in anything but justice. The world scorns what appears so humble and paltry to its eyes, and mocks the simplicity of the just. It is quite different for God, who extended the heavens above us. God, when he wanted to found a kingdom here below and a city worthy of himself, discovered its solid foundation in his own eternal wisdom. JUSTICE was its foundation, as he says himself through Isaiah, who wrote of the mystic Jerusalem: You shall be founded in justice (Is 54: 14). In holy Scripture this unshaken foundation of justice is represented by Mount Sion, on which the holy city arose. Yes, justice is the solid foundation, but it is a rock hidden underground, invisible to humankind which does not see God.

God protects and guides those who seek justice

Human beings overlook the sublimity of the justice of God and of his Son made flesh. We must not expect the world to see anything sublime in this extremely simple end for which we come together. Yet that end — the justice at which we aim — is for this very reason the source of our trust and exultation. The Almighty himself has promised us that what is base in human eyes is dear and powerful in his.
This infallible promise is our assurance that if, through his grace, we obtain justice, the end of our Society,(4) everything desirable will be ours. Without knowing the future we shall have the future itself in our hands and be able to rule ourselves with as much prudence as if we knew what was to come. As you know, brothers, God has committed himself to guiding our steps along the road of life. It is written: He guided the just through the right ways (Wisd 10: 10). God, you see, has promised solemnly to act as guide to the just man in the right paths, where there are no obstacles. Those who attain justice lack nothing; God’s providence, their loving mother, is herself at their service.That is why we now intend to abandon ourselves to this dear mother, and not move a single step of our own will without her guidance. Our great hope is founded on the justice of Christ, on the justice of faith, not of works.

God leads the just to charity

The Lord’s providence, our sure, loving guide, brings the just to love, to the charity of the Lord. Charity is the fulfillment and necessary perfection of justice: He who does not love dwells in death. (1 Jo 3: 14). Indeed, charity, led by God himself, guides by the hand both the just person and the person who truly hungers and thirsts for justice. Charity draws inner, invisible justice from its hiding-place, making it shine brilliantly even to the eyes of the spiritually blind who previously had either ignored or despised it. Yes, brothers, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matt 5: 16). A city placed on a hill-top cannot be hidden (Matt 5: 14). This is why we want to name our society after universal CHARITY, and why we want it to tend to charity — because it is founded in justice.

Charity and sacrifice in Jesus Christ

There is no name more attractive than charity. But charity is also strong, brothers. The charity of Christ is as strong as death: love is as strong as death (Cant 8: 6). True love is blood-love; love and sacrifice are inseparable. For this reason, the aim of our Society requires from us total renunciation of all things, detachment from the world of sense and from ourselves, and complete abnegation.

Daily, we see our divine Teacher of love, the only lawgiver for our Society, bleeding and wounded as he hangs from a cross. There he remains, hands and feet pierced not so much by spear and nails as by the arrows of love which alone account for his death. He is the supreme exemplar in whom every Christian and each member of the Institute of Charity has to be mirrored. He is the first member, the head, and great founder of the Institute. Justice has led him directly to charity; charity has immolated him.
This is the lot, brothers, which we must all choose; it is our sure sign of discipleship: the disciple is not above his master (Matt 10: 24; Lk 6: 40). But this corpse will rise again. Charity slays, but only to restore to life immortal.

The five links of the chain of gold

Let us exult today, therefore. The different links of this chain of gold, which must now bind us forever, are beautiful and delicate. Justice, the first link, leads us to find the Almighty and to choose his providence and goodness, the second link, as the guide to our steps. God then directs us to charity towards our neighbour, the third link. Charity leads us to sacrifice, the fourth link, and sacrifice to imperishable glory, the fifth and last link.
There, briefly, you have the outline of our society to which we shall belong forever. With the eyes of faith you see it drawn for you by the very hand of the Lord, in beautiful white and red.(5)

But before you come to the great act of the everlasting self-oblation contained in your vows, you have to state publicly that you have a firm will to submit yourselves to the yoke of such a humble, sublime law. You have to reply in the sincerity of your heart to the following question, in the sight of our crucified God, and of the Virgin Mother who conceived him on this day: Do you wish, therefore, to preserve chastity, etc.

(At this point the vows were taken)

Notes

(1) Cf. Appendix, n. 3, Object, p. 122.

(2) Cf. Appendix, n. 4, Perfection, p. 123.

(3) Cf. Appendix, n. 5, End, p. 124.

(4) Cf. Appendix, n. 6, Society, p. 125.

(5) A dramatic figure of Christ, bleeding and crucified, hangs over the high altar of the church where the service was taking place.