Youthful zeal to give more

“Without doubt, it is characteristic of a youthful attitude of soul to be always more receptive to that which is greater, to remain forever one who grows (since God is never attained), never to say ‘it is enough’. For all those moulded in the spirit of the Exercises that one word more, so full of youthful energy, is the criterion of genuineness. What is common to all Sodalities at all levels is Christian ‘growing’. This is a tending toward a state of life unattained; it is, in simple Christian terms, the striving for the fullness of Christ, a maturing grace. In 1610 Father Spinelli remarked that the Sodality strives not only to accomplish faithfully what divine law commands, but also to labour zealously that all Sodalists may the more distinguish themselves day by day in their efforts after piety. We see at once that every Sodality must be a group of Christians who, far from ‘retiring’, are still wide awake, who are still receptive to the more, (that is, of these constantly increasing demands of Christianity), who are not the drab uninspired citizens, the complacent bourgeois of God’s kingdom.”

UNITED UNDER THE STANDARD OF CHRIST

“The Sodality, then, is an association of souls who, like Ignatius, realize that, though it is in the disguise of purely visible earthly, political and social affairs, there is a secret struggle of tremendous consequence taking place in this world; the struggle between Christ and Satan, the epic drama of Redemption from the death of Our Lord to His visible and second coming. The Sodality is a union of souls who understand that ‘the Devil is at large’ (Rev. 20:3) and ‘the Good Friend is present’ every day unto the end of time. The world is secretly and forever marching under two standards. ‘Babylon’ and ‘Jerusalem’ clashing in open battle. The purpose of the Sodality is to unite under one standard those souls who in the heat of combat have come to realize that mere conformism, self-complacency and unaggressiveness will never win the victory…..Every educator of youth will testify how surprisingly alert all youth worthy of its salt is for the great drama, the enrapturing power of the struggle, which Christ the King has inaugurated on this earth with the sword of His spirit. Conversely, every Sodality, even made up of mature Christians, will remain faithful to its spirit only in proportion as its members comprehend by an ever-new alertness for the irreconcilability between Christ and Satan which poses constantly new problems for all living Christians.”

SELECTIVE

“From a realization of this truth stems one of the essential principles of the Sodality: its membership must be selective; it must be formed from the spiritual élite. Even more today than in the past, the Sodality must be a union of Christians who embody the whole case of mind, the spirit of the first Christians so often stressed in the Gospels, which is called ‘watchfulness’ or ‘alertness’ (cf. Mkr 13:35; 1Cor. 16:13; Rev. 16:15). “Be sober and watch, because your adversary the Devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pet. 5:8)”

DEVOTED TO MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD

“Every true Sodalist must become one of those total Christians who has made his decision, who fully appreciates what is involved and what is expected of him. Mary must become for him in very truth the Domina Mundi: the Mistress of the world. Above all, he must look upon her and love her as the Conqueror of the Serpent (Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12:1-15). She is Our Lady of the Discernment of Spirits…..It is no accident of history that the first Sodality in Rome was dedicated to the mystery of the Annunciation. Nor was it pure coincidence that in 1522 Ignatius at Montserrat made his own dedication to Mary on the feast of the Annunciation. On that occasion he offered his weapons to his Queen and exchanged his worldly garb for pilgrim’s dress. Under the banner of his Queen he turned away from the vanity of the world toward the poor Christ. This is the conversion, which must take place in the soul of every Sodalist. This is the realization in the spiritual order of the juridical fact that every Sodality is aggregated to the Primaria of the Annunciation. All real putting on of Christ, all growth into a ‘genuinely Catholic adulthood’ within the Sodality means to imitate Mary’s Fiat, its design in Christ’s redemption of the world. This is the Fiat that accepts the Cross of Christ that challenges all that is noble in the soul, that longs for a more perfect following of the suffering of Christ. In this way the Sodalist must learn through the Sodality to love Mary as the exalted Queen of his magis. She is Our Lady of Christian Discontent. She will lead him to the Cross.”

Committed to the Catholic Church

“The authentic Sodality trains its members to open their eyes to the Church, militant and suffering, in its earthly pilgrimage. To put this more accurately and in a more Christian way; the Sodality must become a brave friend of Our Lord Jesus Christ visible in the modern Church, Christ who here and now wants to carry on the fight with the help of His faithful friends who understand His needs and see Him in their neighbour. Because of its origins the Sodality must be an association that remains forever young in spirit, that sets itself to the task at hand and wants to produce some tangible, concrete good, that can obey and subordinate itself to something bigger than itself.”