Last Sunday of October
JESUS THE DIVINE MASTER
Solemnity
The solemnity of Jesus the Divine Master was officially recognized by the Holy See on 24 September 1958 (CISP 473), following the express request of our Founder, who referred to article 158 of the then Constitutions of the Society of St Paul (which corresponds to article 9 of the present Constitutions).
On numberless occasions, the Founder had explained the meaning of our spirituality as centred in Jesus the Master. The solemnity which we celebrate every year is meant to be the point of departure and of arrival for an intense spiritual life. The Founder had this to say:
This devotion is not limited to a simple prayer or some hymns. Rather, it takes in the whole person. Lived well, it gives God complete worship—always in Christ and through Jesus Christ…
Our devotion to the Divine Master must be learned in order to apply it to spiritual work, to study, to the apostolate and to the entire religious life.
“It is useful to recall what we have meditated many times and serves to introduce us to this devotion which must not be restricted only to piety but rather it must depart from piety and extend itself to the entire apostolic life, because the fruit of our apostolate is proportionate to this: presenting Jesus Christ, ‘Way, Truth and Life’. Only understood in this manner will the devotion to Jesus Master be of great spiritual advantage to souls and will respond to the spiritual needs of man… the more one lives of this Spirit and in this Spirit, the more Pauline one is” (Pr DM 80).