Rome. Castel Gandolfo. H.H. John Paul II receiving the Grand Commander the Ven. Bailiff Fra' Ludvig Hoffman von Rumerstein on the occasion of the Papal Audience with H.M.E.H. the Prince and Grand Master Fra' Andrew Bertie and the Sovereign Council.

For centuries, spirituality signified the practice of "spiritualia", such as prayer, the intense reading of scriptures, examination of conscience, oration and recollection which spelt out individual and community, monastic and canonical life. Spirituality is therefore not abstract, but should be practised, albeit receiving numerous impulses from dogmatic theology.
The concept of spirituality was slightly changed after the Second Vatican Council. Nowadays it consists of a spiritualisation of daily life, accompanied by a simultaneous opening up to the world. It involves seeking a balance between the «vita spiritualis» and the «vita socialis».
I have now reached the central subject, the main duty of all three classes our ancient religious order, almost nine hundred years old. Let us first look at the passage from the Letter of St. James 2.14-26. I will
quote some verses from "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled, "without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself if it has no works, is dead, " But some one will say, you have faith and I have works. "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith." (2.14-18).

Rome. The pilgrimage to the Vatican Basilica organised by the German Association and the Malteser Hilsfdiens for "Our Lords the Sick".

"You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." (2.24).
"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead" (2.26).
These words from the Scriptures are telling us that faith and works cannot be separated. Neither faith by itself nor works by themselves can save man from the day of judgement.
Man's justification by God comes directly from faith, but from a faith which is concretised in works.
This is also reflected in the twofold mission of "tuitio fidei et obsequium pauperum" in which every number of the Order is engaged. This mission must never and can never be split into two. Serving the faith is only credible if its outward sign is helping one's neighbour. Even charity given with the best intentions and organised in the best of ways only, remains a laboured fragment if not understood as following Christ, which in itself can lead and will lead to finishing the good works we have begun.
In the Order's Regulations of the 12th and 13th centuries we are ordered to "call ourselves servants of the poor who go around dirty and naked; it is shameful for a servant to be proud when his master is humble".

next page
back to summary