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The
Path for the Sake of Jesus A Universal and Particular Love Gospel Sharing Adoration Review of Life The Decision to Live In Fraternity Appendix |
Little Brothers and Sisters of the Eucharist HandbookOur Only RuleFor
Brother Charles, love and imitation are inevitably linked and bonded together.
The Gospel showed him that the first commandment is to love God with all of
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
strength and that everything had to be enfolded in love. The first outgrowth
and effect of love for Brother Charles was always imitation: Let
us imitate, imitate Jesus! Imitation is the daughter, the sister and
the mother of love. Imitate Jesus so as to love Him more. Imitate
Jesus because He commands us to and because to obey is to love. The
first word Jesus says to His apostles is, ”Come and see,” that
is, ”follow and look,” that is, ”imitate and
contemplate”. The last thing He says to them is ”Follow
me,” that is, ”Imitate me”. From the moment someone begins
to love, he imitates and contemplates. Imitation and contemplation are
a necessary and natural part of loving, for love leads to union, to the
transformation of the one who loves into the beloved and his
unification with the beloved. And imitation is the uniting of a being
with another through resemblance.
(Meditations on the Gospel written while Brother Charles was at Nazareth
1897-99). In
this same spirit Brother Charles wrote a directory for the lay fraternities
which he envisioned. He encourages these lay fraternities to have only one rule
of life: that of following Jesus and doing whatever Jesus would do in
all circumstances and situations. They
will take for their rule to ask themselves in everything, what Jesus would
think or say or do at their place, and then do it. They will strive
continually to become more and more like our Lord Jesus, taking for their
model his life at |
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