NATURE

We have no rules in the way that other religious orders have them. Fraternal Charity will be the norm of our lives.

...The community of Phillips (Saint Phillip Neri)... intended to reproduce a fervent and joyful family climate, which was the ideal of the Christian Community as described in the Acts of the Apostles. Fraternal Charity was the essential rule. [1] «Nullam ad religiosorum hominum consuetudinem propriam sibi regulam habuit»: they had no religious orders type of rules. The text does not state that they had no rules at all but that their rules were unlike those of religious orders. [2]

To love is to love perfectly because if we do not desire to love perfectly it is not true that we love. At the most, we love ourselves but we do not love God and true love is not in us. Those who truly love want to give themselves to God and give the love of God to everyone." [3]

The homes and works of our Association will keep some rules and norms like any family does, in order to maintain harmony and order. These rules will be flexible, dependant on the circumstances, and will encourage the full spiritual growth of the members of the community.

St. Felipe Neri himself made sure that some directive norms were established. [4]

Every member of our community will commit himself to a continually constant personal spiritual formation and prayer in keeping with the spirit of charity established within the community.

The community emphasizes on our personal formation not from speculative analyses of the Scriptures but from meditation and contemplation of the Divine Revelation, consisting of the Holy Scriptures, the Apostolic Tradition, the doctrines of the saints, and the Magisterium of the Church. Truth is therefore, the primary sustenance of our community.

Since Sacred Scripture is the Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit, and Sacred Tradition is the Word of God passed on by the successors of the Apostles as it was entrusted to the apostles by Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, both are to be received and venerated with the same spirit of piety. Hence, the Church does not derive its certainty of the revealed truth from the Holy Scriptures alone. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are intimately united and connected. Sharing in the same divine source, they fuse and tend to the same purpose. [5]

Those who pray without meditating do not know how to pray. Those who meditate pray. To pray is to love, but we must know whom we love and we must understand what we know. When Jesus said that we must “pray always,” He meant that we must love always. Those who love always pray always while those who pray without loving do not know how to pray. The more we know love, the more we will love The One who is Love and we will live intimately united to God at the highest and most sublime degree. This union is perfect prayer, perfect love, and fullness of divine life. Therefore, let us give fruit, the fruit of the Word of the Kingdom, the fruit of the announced Word that encloses the Word that we have received [6], resulting in our transformation into Jesus whom we have received. Therefore may our interior life be no other than the intimate study of the Word in order to give the proper fruit of whom we have received; that is, our transformation into Christ [7], Priest, Victim and Altar. It is only by becoming Jesus that we can give Jesus to others.

Mary, perfect disciple of her Son, is our perfect model. Transformation into Christ means transformation into Mary. Breathing love is to breathe Mary, to live Mary. To love as Jesus loved is to love as Mary loved; our life must be an emanation, a continuous birth of Mary. We must learn to think, speak, react, walk, behave, suffer, rejoice, believe, hope, and love as Mary does. To be perfect as Mary is perfect, be one with Mary, with Mary in God as Mary is One in God, and as the Father and the Son are One.

Only then can we make known the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world. “I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they be one as we are one: I in them and you in me, so that they be perfectly one and the world may know that you sent me and that you loved them as you loved me. [8] “...The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. [9] The Association will give special attention to the study of the Will of God in the interior life, using the Writings of the Servant of God Luisa Picarreta as well as the spiritual exercises given by the Priest –Coordinator and other members of the Association.

The Association has internal and external members. Internal Members are those who live in the Homes of the Association where they are spiritually formed and follow the rules that this type of life requires. External Members are those who live outside the Homes, according to their civil status, and in conformity to the Spirit of the Association.

It is the vocation of every lay person to spread the Kingdom of God by trying to ordain all of their temporary affairs, according to the Will of God...

This way, guided by the Spirit of Evangelization, like yeast, they will contribute to the Sanctification of the World by radiating Christ to others with their testimony of life, faith, hope and charity. [10]

The multiplicity of lifestyles should enrich the unity of the spiritual formation as well as the continuous growth of every member of the Community. All Community members are ruled by a spirit of charity rather than by rules.

“The Holy Church, by divine will, is ordained and ruled by an admirable diversity of people. 'For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another' (Rom, 12, 4-5)...

Through diversity, everyone will witness to the admirable unity of the Body of Christ. Diversity in graces, services and offices congregates the Sons of God in unity, because 'one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.' (1 Cor., 12,11)" [11]

Due to ease of mobilization, external members will fulfill their spiritual formation at their own homes, also by participating in the liturgy of their own Parish and by gathering with other neighbor members of the Association, to meditate on the Spirituality and "Cenacles of the Divine Will[12].

Besides occasional and daily fraternal relationships, both internal and external members will gather once a month, if possible, to share moments of meditation and prayer as a Community, at a place that invites to contemplation and reverence.

The internal members are free to choose between celibacy and marriage by discerning the Will of God for their lives, based on a sound spiritual formation and in obedience to the Catholic Church’s moral principles and the rules of our Association. Our spiritual goal is to live out the fullness of the divine life -regardless of our civil status- that we received through our Baptism, with the intention although not exclusively, to perform different tasks within our Association.

The object of our lay apostolate is to participate in the same Salvific Mission of the Church in response to the invitation that our Lord makes us through our Baptism and Confirmation. [13]

The Association Houses offer a family environment of prayer and work to the internal members, in imitation of the House of Nazareth, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed permanently.The houses also offer a location for communitarian experiences and personal retreats to the external members of the Association as well as to those seeking membership.

Our Community Houses, by Divine Providence, can adopt a specific way of life. It is important to note that these Houses can be occupied by all kinds of baptized members:

a)   Single members,

b)   Families,

c)   In some special cases by Diocesan Priests that desire to live in Community: 

Without abandoning their Diocesan Priesthood, some priests could dependably and in agreement with their Bishop, adopt the spirit and charisma of the community, and gather to experience communitarian life without leaving their pastoral ministry, conscious that this type of life strengthens and enriches the spirit of sanctity that the Priestly ministry requires.

Some works carried out by the members of the Association are also associated to the community, whose apostolate is to extend the Kingdom of God. These works consist of catechism for children, youngsters and adults, serving the needs of problematic, defenseless, and high-risk homeless kids, schools, hospital service and nursing homes. Although our involvement with these works is wide and open, it is mainly intended to provide spiritual direction and formation for the kingdom of God.

Any congregation of lay members of the People of God that make up the Body of Christ under One Head, are called to seek out the growth of the Church and her sanctification, through their living example, with all their strength, for the profit of their Creator and by the Grace of our Redeemer. [14]




[1] History of the Oratory by St. Philip Neri (L’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri)
[2] Idem (Instituta 1612)
[3] Homilies. July 25, 2002. Fr. Pedro Rubio.
[4] History of the Oratory by St. Philip Neri (L’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri)
[5] Dogmatic Constitution "DEI VERBUM" Number 9. Vatican Council II (on Divine Revelation)
[6] The seed sown in good soil is the one who hears the Word and understands it; this one gives fruit and yields one hundred, sixty or thirty. Mt 13,23
[7] Dogmatic Constitution. “LUMEN GENTIUM”, Number 26. Vat. Council II (on Divine Revelation)
[8] Jn 17, 22-23
[9] Mt 13, 19,23
[10] Dogmatic Constitution. "LUMEN GENTIUM" Number 31. Vatican Council II (on the Church)
[11] Dogmatic Constitution. "LUMEN GENTIUM" Number 32. Vatican Council II (on the Church)
[12] Prayer groups that get together to reflect on some readings, reflections and prayers of the Divine Will, following a Format or Guide, with the intention to share in the spirituality of the Divine Will within an environment of peace, silence and meditation. 
[13] Dogmatic Constitution. "LUMEN GENTIUM" Number 33. Vatican Council II (on the Church)
[14] Idem