Contemplative & Evangelizing: Apostles of the Kingdom With the Heart of Christ is a new essay available for free in e-book format that dives into a charismatic trait of all Regnum Christi members, being “contemplative and evangelizing” (SRCF 20).
This duality is not just one particular characteristic of the way a Regnum Christi member lives and acts among many others. It is a vital attitude that permits us to know, love, and follow Christ the Apostle and allow him to transform us. It is the path to make the spiritual characteristics and the missionary lifestyle which are expressed in the second chapter of the Statutes (“Spiritual Foundations”) and the first article of the third chapter (“Principles of Apostolic Action”) our own.
This new essay explores how being both contemplating and evangelizing are not two competing activities that divide up the day, with time carved out for one and then for the other. Instead, those called to the Regnum Christi Charism are meant to be both contemplative and evangelizing throughout every act of their life, because both aspects come together in a single way of being, an existential attitude, a way of life. The two traits are not only inseparable, in fact, one is always contained in the other. The apostle of the Kingdom cannot be evangelizing without being contemplative, nor be contemplative without being evangelizing.
The Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation explain this part of the charism in number 20.
20. We are contemplative and evangelizing:
1.° Contemplative, because we discover Christ’s presence and love in our own hearts, in our neighbor and in the world. We seek to be men and women of interior life, lovers of prayer, and we recognize the primacy of God’s action in our growth in holiness and in the apostolate;
2.° Evangelizing, because, driven by the desire of Christ to enkindle the fire of the Father’s love in all hearts, we live as missionary disciples who seek to proclaim the Kingdom and bring the light of the Gospel to everyone.
This is the fourth in a series of essays from the Regnum Christi General Directorate’s Life & Mission Department that explore how Regnum Christi members live their charism. The other three are:
- The Regnum Christi Identity According to the Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation is an essay that reflects on what it means to live a mystery of the life of Christ and make it present in the world, and about the particular mystery in Christ’s life that the Regnum Christi identity springs from. It also contains three concept maps, and an infographic. It was created by the Life and Mission Division of the General Directorate of the Regnum Christi Federation, with the intention of helping us to go deeper in understanding the charism while praying with the Word of God. It is available in English and in Spanish.
- Live the Mystery of the Kingdom is a second essay that continues from The Regnum Christi Identity and focuses more specifically on the mission of making the Kingdom present in one’s own life, in the hearts of others and in society. It includes workshops and questions for reflection that help us understand how to live this mystery concretely. It’s available in English and in Spanish.
- The Pledge of Friendship with Christ and With Each Other: ECYD The Regnum Christi Charism lived by Adolescents. In Regnum Christi we have always considered ECYD to be a part of our spiritual family. This essay, then, is directed to all of us – those who have had contact with ECYD and those who have not, or had it a long time ago – to all who want to find light in the mystery of Jesus Christ who comes out to meet us and invites us to live as his friends and apostles. In the following pages we share the thoughts of the different territories five years after the publication of the ECYD Statutes.
Themes for upcoming essays include the Encounter With Christ, and how to live the Regnum Christi Charism as a married couple.
