THE SPIRITUALITY AND CHARISMA OF THE
SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF MALTA
Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, P.A.
Conventual Chaplain ad Honorem
December 18 1997
"The Sovereign and Military Order of Malta is a Roman Catholic community of lay brothers and chaplains, whose aim is the sanctification of its members, service of the faith and welfare work. It is the oldest order of chivalry in existence, composed of both religious and lay knights and of other associates. It is internationally recognized as sovereign. As a religious order, it depends on the Congregation of Religious. As a sovereign state, it deals with the Papal Secretariate of State and maintains diplomatic relations with the Holy See and a number of states in both hemispheres. The sovereign aspect of the Order enables it to conduct religious and charitable activities freely on a worldwide scale." NCE 8.218
The purpose of this article is to describe the Order’s tradition of spirituality and its particular charisma. As a Roman Catholic religious order, it is probably the oldest order in the Church to have as its mission the sanctification of lay men living in the world rather than as monks in a in a monastery. It brought the monastery into the everyday world. In this regard, it may rightly claim to be the pioneer for what is today taken for granted in the Church today, the sanctification through service of the laity. The fact that this was done with in a military force, engaged in warfare, albeit it in defense of the Church and Christendom, makes it especially unique. Accepting the Gospel challenge that "[i]t is more difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle," it sought, and continues to seek, to offer the rich a means of saving their souls. Like chivalry itself, the Order has been traditionally an institution of the nobility. As the new millennium dawns, the second millennium of the Order, the same challenge exists as men and women acquire fortunes and power undreamed of in the days of chivalry, yet desire to be faithful to the teachings of Christ. New opportunities open up for the traditional spirituality and charisma of the Order as it reads the signs of the times. The trappings of nobility may have little to say to the modern world beyond linking it to an earlier age, but the spirituality and special charisma of the Order is as valid today as they ever were.
Charisma
Charisma is defined as ‘a special spiritual gift bestowed temporarily by the Holy Spirit on a group or an individual for the general good of the Church; an extraordinary power in a person, group, cause etc. which takes hold of popular imagination, wins popular support etc.’ In a broad sense, it is used to identify what is particular or unique in a school of spirituality or the tradition of a religious Order.
Spirituality
Christian spirituality in general is the serious response of the Christian to the revelation of God’s love in Christ. It is made real in the love one has for God and for one’s neighbor. It has its origin and foundation in the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. In faith, God is known. Through hope, the Christian is motivated by the promise of eternal life in God’s friendship. By charity, the Christian lives out in prayer and action the love of God and love of neighbor which carries with it the promise of eternal life. What is especially unique in Christianity is that the spiritual life involves a personal relationship with a historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth, who was and is God incarnate, true God and true man. The Christian encounters God in His Word (1 Thes 2.13). Today, the Word is known or encountered through the Church, the sacrament which communicates God to men. This is why the Church is refereed to as the Mystical Body of Christ. The relationship established between God and man in Baptism is thus much more than a "God and I" relationship. It involves a relationship that is communal, a charity that is social. It is in community that one encounters God, the community of the baptized, in the fellowship of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ.
" This does not automatically spell out the forms engagement to one’s fellowmen will take. The call may be to silence and solitude in canonical contemplative life . . . Or it may be a vocation to social action in the world. Whatever the vocation there is no sanctification independently of the of the visible community and no love of God without a genuine personal love of neighbor, for ‘if anyone says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar.’(1 Jn 4.20) NCE 13.599"
"Transformation is the goal towards which all spiritual activity tends and the root from which such activity flows. . . . The concrete expressions are multiple and varied. There are prayer and action, penance and apostate, internal and external acts, liturgical and nonliturgical functions. This activity is arranged and structured into various 'mysticism’s' of Christian life, each of which emphasizes a particular incarnation of the transcendent goal and lays down appropriate means to attain that goal. So there is a mysticism of prayer, of action, of suffering. There are schools of spirituality that systematize a particular synthesis. But within the schools there will be the splendor of variety, because ultimately spirituality is a personalized and particularized relationship." NCE 13.502
Many different schools or traditions of spirituality have developed over the centuries, often connected with monastic movements and the great religious orders. These reflected the different cultures and historical environments in which Christianity developed. However disparate these differences, they share a common core of activities centered on prayer and self-denial. At times, the emphasis has been on withdrawal from the world. Development in the 20th century has led to a deeper appreciation of engagement with the world as it is. ‘The liturgy and the apostate, especially action in the temporal order, which Pus XII called the ‘consecration of the world,’ were not sufficiently integrated into this picture. The transcendent emphasis presented the world only as a hazard and not as already partially redeemed and on its way to full redemption (ROM 8, 18-22); the apostate was a distracting duty, in a sense a necessary evil, in which ‘one left God for God.’ "(NCE p 602 c)
This constant evolution in our understanding is very much part of the Christian tradition: ‘Christian life should not only be adapted to the forms of thought and custom that the temporal environment offers and imposes on it, provided that they are compatible with the basic exigencies of its religious and moral program, but it should also try to draw close to them, to purify them, to ennoble them, to vivify and to sanctify them.’ (Paul VI, Ecclesiam suam, NCWC par 44)
This thought opens wide the door for the laity as well as the religious to find ample fields for their participation in the apostate of the Church. No matter what one’s state of life, one’s profession or trade, one’s economic status, there are unlimited opportunities available.
The Particular Charisma and Spirituality of the Order of Malta
Like all forms of spirituality, the particular spirituality of the Order developed in a particular historical environment, that of the Holy Land just before the time of the Crusades. The Moslems were generally tolerant of the pilgrims from Europe who came to visit the land where Jesus was born, lived and died. Many arrived after hazardous journeys, sick and exhausted. Hospices were established as far back as the sixth century to provide shelter and care. One such house of refuge for poor pilgrims run by a lay fraternity under the leadership of Brother Gerard came into prominence about the year 1100. The fraternity was recognized by Pope Paschal II in his Bull of 1113. The fraternity became the Hospitals of St. John, the first of the great centralized orders of the middle ages.
The Order devised a way for men to dedicate themselves to the religious life, while maintaining an active role in the world. Many of the first of this new breed of vocations were crusaders, soldiers by profession. They were the answer to a new need. The road linking Jerusalem to the coastal ports was subject to bandits who attacked and robbed the pilgrims. Brother Gerald saw the need and found the answers. The ex-soldiers, now turned religious, used their knowledge and skills to protect the pilgrims. Thus it was that the Hospitallers became a military order, a role that they would play up to the time of Napoleon. Not all the fighting members were professed religious. Thus from its very earliest years, the Order offered lay associates the opportunity of practical service in the care and protection of the poor which was and is a means of personal sanctification. This is the essence of the spiritually of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
From its very beginning, the Order was open to adaptation, to meet new needs as and developing historical circumstances developed. This willingness to adapt, while preserving its tradition from past, is what has enabled it to survive and prosper. However, active apostolic work in the world requires a strong spiritual life. Professed members, living in community follow the usual spiritual practices, of meditation, Holy Mass and other religious exercise in common. Lay members are urged to adopt the same practices to their lives in the world, strengthened by periodic retreats and similar spiritual exercises. In the Order, there are few professed members today. But in the national associations, there are thousands of men and women who live the spiritual life in the spirit of Blessed Gerald.
Very early on, the statutes of the Order incorporated the concept of "Our Lords the Poor."
"The feudal concept of loyalty and zealous service to one’s lord becomes the inspiration for the service of the poor. We thus see the chivalric ethos not merely appended but fully integrated into the ideal of the Hospital vocation." (Sire. p. 2100)