- The following of Christ, as it is set before us in the gospel,
must be the ideal for which canons regular strive day by day.
They must return, constantly and with enthusiasm, to this
primary source of all religious life, putting into practice what
they read and meditate in the gospel. The spirituality of the
Order also has much to teach about this following if Christ. -
Then, they must look to the example of the early Church in
Jerusalem. It was this ideal, described in the Acts of the
Apostles, which inspired Saint Augustine and the reformers of
the Canonical Order in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. “Now
the company of those who be1ieved were of one heart and soul,
and no one said that any of the things that he possessed was his
own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the
apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus, and great grace was upon them all” (Acts 4:32-33). This
is the “perfect common life” also called the “apostolic life.” -
They must also take int