THE MINISTER TEMPLI TODAY: “BRETHREN, LET’S GO TO THE WIDE!”
edited by our minister Templi priests
1 ° – THE TEMPLAR RECOVERY IN A SECULAR CONTINUITY BETWEEN FIDELITY AND RENEWAL, RENEWAL AND FIDELITY
In order for a renewal to be such and effectively still operating, it is necessary to hold firmly two fundamental bases:
1) fidelity to the spirit of the origins,
2) existential updating under the current changed conditions and needs.
The Templars, after the unfortunate suppression by the Church in the fourteenth century, after various wrong and errant attempts on the grounds of ambitious and corrupt men in the Catholic faith, in the eighteenth century, finally, traced the healthy Catholic roots of the true Templars the light of an authentic life of the “Templars of Christ” that today, according to the dictation of St. Bernard, also find the title “and of the Temple of Mary”.
Rediscover the roots of the Templar institution, the animating spirit is based essentially on three “experiences” of medieval knightly life:
1st – integral Christianity
2nd – “Bernardino” experience
3rd – mysticism of love.
* Lets begin with the first spiritual “root” that has distinguished and consecrated the life and work of the first Templars, men of Christ: the faithful knowledge and practice of an INTEGRALLY LIVELY CHRISTIANITY.
- A) First of all it must be said that in the life of the Church and in Catholic reflection, a twofold effort is required:
– effort to rediscover sources
– and effort to renew the creator.
To such a high purpose, to escape any dead or simply sclerotic institutionalism, in order to rediscover a more intense spirituality to the founding charism, it is necessary to cultivate a threefold dimension:
– existential, because it is founded on the life and work of Christ who was incarnate to redeem man;
– spiritual, because it is decidedly oriented on the values and goods of the Spirit beyond the temporary goods of the earth;
– eschatological, because projected to the possession of eternal goods that guarantee fidelity to the original charism and the due renewal in order not to die between empty convictions and antiquated practices of life and practices surpassed by current needs, very different from the past.
- B) An “integral” Christianity, here is the fundamental commitment not only of the Cistercian monk, but also for the templar who draws his spirituality from the Cistercian charism!
Here “integral” means “pure”, hence the practice of a Christianity in the evangelically pure state, which breaks all the obstacles with the world that would prevent it from being integral and whole.
Because of its radical nature, the Templar, like the Cistercian monk, finds his commitment
– against a Christianity “by hours”
– or against a Christianity “for opportunism”.
The Templar must always be a totally authentic follower of Christ, on whom he founds his life and his enterprise. The fundamental spiritual characteristics are, according to the ancient and original tradition:
1) the Templar of Christ places being as the foundation of his spirituality
constantly in relationship with God in a personal experience, since it is the encounter of the person created with the creative person and because he commits, for this very reason, the spirit in his total reality (see J. Monroux, L’expèrience chrétienne. a théologie – Aubier, Paris 1952.): an integral experience, because all the most important aspects of the person are assumed and hierarchically integrated:
– the intellect,
– the will,
– affection,
– the action,
– the community,
which thus assume unity and transcendence in the relationship with God.
2) the other aspect is underlined by Father L. Bouyer, where he affirms that “the search for God, in which the whole being is committed, not in search of something, but of Someone, of God,” also requires to the true Templar as already for the true monk, the freedom of spirit against any kind of slavery or tyranny (see L. Bouyer: Cistercian spirituality, Jaka Book, Milan, 1994); freedom to carry out an itinerary that, starting from the natural human realities (the flesh, the body, the senses), progressively involves, without interruption, the whole man (the reason, the intellect, the will, the soul, the spirit, affectivity), in a personal and total communion with God, in which all man and God are mutually and integrally involved.
- C) William of Saint – Thierry, in the Epistola ad fratres de monte Dei (1144) insists “… so that the body, the soul and the spirit, ordered according to their own way, placed in their own places, evaluated according to their merits are thought out according to their properties, so that man begins to know each other perfectly and, continuing thanks to self-knowledge, begins to ascend to the knowledge of God “.
Then, so summarizes the same itinerary of inner and physical freedom: “The beginning of good in the life of the animal man is perfect obedience; progress is subjecting one’s body and reducing it into servitude; perfection is the fact of having transformed the habit of doing good into pleasure.
The beginning for the rational man is to understand what is presented to him in the doctrine of faith;
progress is ordering things according to how they are presented; perfection is when the judgment of reason passes into the soul’s interiority of love.
But the perfection of rational man is the beginning of the spiritual; his progress to the face discovered the glory of God; perfection is being transformed into the same image of splendor in splendor, as it is done through the work of the spirit of the Lord “.
2nd – THE “CHIVALLERIAN” SERVICE OF THE MINISTER
TEMPLI
The “MINISTER TEMPLI” is today the priests who embracing in depth of spirit and life the evangelical ideal of the “New Templars” of Christ and of the Mother Church, shares, “in fullness” of faith and obedience to the great White Knight, who it is Christ, the ecclesial mission of leading the new Templars to the conquest of the Kingdom of Christ on earth in the strenuous struggle against the evil one and its darkness and in the practice of the works of mercy.
For this enormous undertaking, the Minister of the Temple must first of all be the man of Christ, capable by the power of the Holy Spirit and under his guidance, to help the Templars find the “VITAL SOLUTION” (living solution) that is capable of to give life, always in Christ through and in the Church, to the Christian experience of struggle and victory over the forces of evil through the ARMATURE of the good Templar of Christ and the exercise of the “GOOD BATTLE” which consists in the practice of the great EVANGELICAL CHARITY
The “vital solution” is, according to K. Rahner,
1) universal, because it concerns all believers,
2) cultural, because it is inserted in time and in evangelical history,
3) historical-revealed, because announced and lived by Christ the Man-God,
4) dogmatic, because it belongs to the deposit of the Catholic faith that is ecclesial,
5) eschatological, because it will be accomplished in eternal life,
6) integral, because it embraces the whole human being,
7) Marian, because she is the Queen and the great “Warlord” of the army prepared for the great battle of good against evil!
In concrete terms, the work or enterprise of the Minister of the Temple consists in giving essentially to the new Templar:
1 – integral spirituality
2 – sacramental force
3 – Marian armor.
Templar spirituality, integral, substantial is the soul that must form and inform every good man of the temple of the Lord.
It essentially consists of these three ascetic and even mystical dimensions:
* Christological dimension: Christ is the pure and strong templar who gives his work, word, life for his brothers, especially small, helpless, persecuted, needy, neglected, pilgrims and every good templar imitates his life and enterprise;
* Marian-ecclesiological dimension: supported by the three “nurses” who are
1) the divine Word,
2) the Virgin Mother Mary,
3) the holy mother Church,
the good Templar nourishes his word, life and enterprise and transmits it through an intrepid work of fidelity to God, to the Catholic Church, to the human community;
* Templar dimension: every good Templar commits himself to be a “temple” of the Holy Spirit and to defend the temple of the Lord so that he may not be profaned and conceded by the enemies of faith, hope and divine love in brothers and in sacred places.
The sacramental force is given by the frequent and constant practice of the sacraments of the holy mother Church who with them baptizes the divine sonship and makes every believer an elected member of the Christian community and enables it to “holy battle” against the darkness of violence. * of injustice, of death, bringing peace, justice, life; * with confirmation of the “investiture” of the good Templar through the armor of Christ that the Holy Spirit gives to resist the dangers of the devil and his followers and for the perseverance in the spiritual struggle against the powers of evil with the armor of God:
– the armor of justice,
– the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation,
– the sword of the Spirit
(see Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians 6, 13-18); * with the sacrament of reconciliation (confession), the good Templar, recognizing his moral weaknesses and frailties, obtains the forgiveness and mercy of the Lord who, in the gift of his shed Blood, purifies and renews it profoundly through the gift of sanctifying grace; * with the divine Eucharist, the good Templar, nourished by the Body and Blood of his Divine Knight, strengthens himself and “dresses up” of Christ.
* The Holy Mass celebrated in the Christian community on the Sabbath (Sunday) makes the latter also become “the day of the good Templar”: it will be a great honor for the Templar to participate in the holy sacrifice with all the Templar habit.
The Marian armor shows even better that the spirit of the good Templar recognizes in Mary, mother of Christ and of the Church, her Queen, to whom she confirms her life and from whom she obtains blessing and vigor for the great battle: Mary in fact is the Queen of the Templars, is the great Woman prepared for the battle against the enemy who opposes her with treachery and deception and tempts the children of God to infidelity, to betrayal. Mary is like an army parried against the infernal enemy and routes him in the fidelity and courage of his sons’ knights!
That’s why every good templar
– honors the great Queen,
– defends the honor, and the shrines dedicated to her,
– it imitates its virtues and spreads its love and service.
Every true Templar of Christ is truly Marian, as all the authentically Templar tradition makes of it, beginning with Saint Bernard who was the strong and decisive animator.
3rd – CONCLUSION
1) Every good minister priests of the Temple is at the spiritual service of every good man of the Temple of Christ and of the great Queen of Heaven, Mary; he takes care, of each individual Templar, the evangelical fidelity, ecclesial, templars are committed to developing its Christian and Catholic maturity.
2) Every good “Minister Templi” must not be lacking in constant availability
– to the spiritual direction of his knights of Christ,
– the celebration of the sacraments of reconciliation and of the Eucharist
– and to hold monthly and periodically meetings of Templar formation, spiritual retreats, nights in community prayer, awaiting for the preparation to receive the various degrees of the Templar of Christ. Every Templar can always freely ask for advice, spiritual help, confession, prayer.