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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
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