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Life in Christ is a life of service. This What is apostolate? How is it related to spirituality?
service is always for the glory of If spirituality is a way of life, apostolate is a way of service. The former gives
God. “Like good stewards of the finality to the latter; while the latter is a concrete manifestation of the
manifold grace of God, serve one former. The purpose of apostolate “is not temporal welfare, however noble,
another with whatever gift each of but to bring people to the knowledge and love of Christ and, through
you received…so that God may be obedience to his teaching, help them attain life everlasting” (Catholic
glorified in all things through Jesus Culture 2020, 1). While spirituality is either a personal or congregational
Christ” (1 Pt 4:10-11). response to the call of God to love; apostolate is a concretization of the
same response through loving others. Spirituality fundamentally refers to
What is spirituality? the way we respond to Jesus’ command to love God with all our heart and
For Jordan Aumann, OP (1982, with all our soul and with all our mind (see Mt 22:37). Apostolate refers to
17), spirituality, in its widest sense, the way we respond to Jesus’ command to love others as we love ourselves
“refers to any religious or ethical (see Mt 22:39). Since these two greatest commandments are essentially
value that is concretized as an inseparable, the same is true with spirituality and apostolate. Spirituality
attitude or spirit from which one’s is our being; apostolate is our doing. It is therefore proper to take them
action flow.” “In the strict sense of as one, that is, spirituality-apostolate because “action necessarily follows
the word,” he furthers, “the only being” (agere sequitur esse).
authentic spirituality is a spirituality
centered in Jesus Christ and What is the relationship between charism and spirituality-apostolate?
through him to the Trinity. This is As noted earlier, charism is grace from God and spirituality-apostolate is
true not only because created grace, our being-doing as we participate in the mystery of Christ. The former
the vital principle of the spiritual empowers the latter; while the latter, in turn, actualizes the former. God’s
life, comes to us only through the grace capacitates us to love and our commitment to choose to love like
mediation of Christ but also those Christ as we are moved by the Holy Spirit actualizes such grace. The
who cultivate spiritual life must reciprocal relationship between charism and spirituality-apostolate—
consciously or unconsciously follow reflective of the relationship between God’s grace and human cooperation
the teachings of Christ, regardless in soteriology—is our way to be more faithful to our identity as People of
of their religious affiliation” (ibid., God, Body of Christ and Temple of the Holy Spirit. In the order of grace,
emphasis mine). Aumann notes charism takes priority; while in the order of nature, spirituality-apostolate
that Christian spirituality is a manifests charism.
“participation in the mystery of
Christ through the interior life of PART II
grace, actuated by faith, charity, THE CHARISM AND SPIRITUALITY-APOSTOLATE
and the other Christian virtues” OF THE OBLATES OF ST. JOSEPH
(ibid., 18).
St. Joseph Marello’s Personal Charism
From Aumann’s definition, it The Holy Spirit inspired St. Joseph Marello to found the Oblates of St. Joseph.
is clear by now that Christian The founding of the Congregation is anchored on his discovery of the
spirituality is our participation in reciprocity of St. Joseph’s interiority and activity in his following the will of
the mystery of Christ. What is the God as Mary’s husband and Jesus’ virginal father. In his letter to Fr. Cesare
nature of this participation? This Rolla dated November 4, 1877, St. Joseph Marello proffers that when one
participation is our faith-based withdraws “therein with the resolve to remain hidden and silently active
commitment to follow or imitate in imitation of that great Model of a poor and obscure life, he will have
Christ in every moment of our an opportunity to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ” (Letter 108; OSJ
lives. Spirituality is our undying Cons. 3). He found in the person of St. Joseph a unique way of following
persistence to love like Christ. It is the footsteps of Christ. The balance between St. Joseph’s interiorizing and
our concrete response to do God’s actualizing the will of God propelled the Founder to exhort his followers
two inseparable commands: to to serve the interests of Jesus like St. Joseph. For him, discipleship in the
love Him and to love our neighbors Congregation is essentially imitation of Christ in the way of St. Joseph.
as we love ourselves (see Mt 22:37-
40). In short, Christian spirituality is The Charism of the Oblates of St. Joseph
our way of life centered on Christ “Faithful to the charism of [the] Founder, the Oblates of St. Joseph are
inspired by the Holy Spirit for the called to reproduce in their lives the mystery of Christ as lived by St.
glory of God. Joseph. In this way they fulfill the invitation of St. Joseph Marello to ‘follow