In accord with Father Dehon's faith experience
2. In accord with Father Dehon's faith experience
Our Institute is rooted [2]
in Father Dehon's faith experience.
Saint Paul expressed the same experience, as follows:
"l still live my human life,
but it is a life of faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
The open side and the pierced heart of the Savior
most wonderfully expressed for Father Dehon
a love whose active presence
he experienced in his own life.
Father Dehon saw the very wellspring of salvation [3]
in this love of Christ,
who accepts death
as the ultimate gift
of His life for people
and as filial obedience
to the Father.
From the Heart of Jesus, open on the cross,
human beings are reborn in heart,
animated by the Spirit,
and united with their brothers and sisters
in the community of charity which is the Church
(cf. Etudes sur le S.C., I, p. 114).
Father Dehon was very sensitive to sin [4]
which weakens the Church
especially when "consecrated persons" are involved.
He was aware of social evils;
he had carefully studied their human causes,
both individual and social.
But he saw the refusal of the love of Christ
as the deepest cause
of this human misery.
Caught up in this often unrecognized love,
he wanted to respond to it by being intimately united
to the Heart of Christ
and by establishing His Reign
in individuals and in society.
This union with Christ, [5]
which sprang from the depths of his heart,
had to be actualized in his whole life,
above all in his apostolate.
This apostolate was characterized
by the greatest care for people,
particularly the most deprived,
and by concern about actively remedying
the pastoral inadequacies of the Church of his time.
This union was expressed and centered
in the eucharistic sacrifice,
to such an extent that his whole life became
"one never-ending Mass"
(cf. Couronnes d'amour, II, p. 199).