Apostles of the Interior Life

1. Apostles of the Interior Life • We are a missionary community. Like the first apostles, we are called and sent by God to preach the Good News.We are consecrated women. It means we belong exclusively to Jesus Christ and live in the freedom that this brings. • On the feast of the Immaculate Conception December the 8th we take the vows: • Poverty,to gives all that we have, • Chastity, to gives all that we are • Obedience, to gives all that we will become. Our History The community of the Apostles of the Interior Life takes its form in the mind of a young Salvatore Scorza while he is still a seminarian in Rome. Fr. Salvatore affirms that the lack of religious practice, so common in our day and age, is, above all, a result of ignorance. There is, therefore, a need for young, consecrated people with a solid philosophical and theological preparation, that seek out their brothers and sisters where they are and guide them to meet God through a spiritual accompaniment. The desire will not take any action until Fr. Salvatore finds “the right person”. It is many years later, in California that he will meet Susan who decides to begin spiritual direction with the Italian priest, more out of curiosity than necessity. It is during this journey that Susan poses the vocational question that will find its answer in the idea that Fr. Salvatore, for years, cultivated in his heart. Susan prays about it and decides to take a lip of faith, leave everything behind (literarily!) and moves to Rome to begin this new adventure. For two years Susan adapts to this kind of system, changing family according to necessity. In the meantime she enrolls in the department of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), where she will receive a bachelor and then a masters’ degree in Moral Theology. • A few months after her arrival she meets Tiziana, stopping in the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a vivacious 17 year old girl with which a friendship is immediately born. After her final exam of High School Tiziana also decides to enroll in Philosophy and Theology desiring to serve the Lord in this mission. • Slowly a group of friends forms around these two courageous girls; the nascent community desires to live solely on Providence in order to be able to dedicate themselves freely and completely to this work of evangelization. In 1984, Tiziana will go to live with Susan in the first historic apartment on Luca Signorelli Street. In 1989, also Loredana, the youngest sister of Tiziana, joins and together with SimonaPanico, they will form the foundation of the community on the 12th April (Holy Thursday) 1990 at the Church of San Silvestro at the Priscilla Catacombs in Salaria Street. • Since then God’s Providence has opened the door for the AVI to be present on college campuses in the United States, including the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL; the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS; the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI and Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. In response to the growing interest of many lay people to share in this charism, a Provincial House was established in 2009 in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, KS to assist the recently formed movement “Collaborators of your joy”. • The fruitfulness of this charism has also brought in recent years to the starting of the male branch of the Apostles of the Interior Life. In June 2011 the first brothers were ordained to the Priesthood, thus bringing to fulfillment the inspiration of Father Salvatore.

2. The Four Pillars Of Our Charism PRAYER Our lives are consecrated not to do something but to be with Someone. The most beautiful parts of our day are those hours that we can spend with our Lord in prayer. Each day, we are nourished by the Eucharist in the holy sacrifice of the Mass. We spend an hour in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to allow the Lord to transform us with his real Presence. Mental prayer, Thanksgiving after Communion and the Divine Office are an essential part of our life of prayer. We have a devotion to our Blessed Mother;the Rosary is part of our daily prayer life. Accompanied as we are by a host of heavenly friends, spiritual reading on the works and lives of those saints gone before us is also essential. Formation Our House of Formation is in Rome and the period of formation is at least five years. As part of our intellectual formation, we study two years of Philosophy and at least three, or five, years of Theology at one of the Pontifical Universities in Rome. We are also formed into a balanced life that includes human and spiritual formation. When we have completed the ‘formal time” in the house of formation, we continue ongoing intellectual formation through courses, reading and studying. Community life • “…that they may be brought to perfection as one, so that the world may know that you sent me...” (John 17:23) The common life together is a very important part of our Charism. We walk towards God in our journey of holiness not in a solitary manner, but in unity with each other. Unity is an essential property of God that we seek to live out in our consecrated lives. Apostolate Dedicating ourselves to a full-time apostolate means that our lives are missionary. We evangelize wherever we go, especially on university campuses. In the ambit of formation, we preach parish missions and retreats, give meditations and conferences, conduct programs for vocational discernment and formation of spiritual mentors. Above all, as Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well in a personal manner, a large part of our apostolate is giving spiritual guidance and direction on a one-to-one basis.

3. The Samaritan Woman A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” She said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” … Come see a man who told me everything I have done … We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world Jesus was the first to quench our thirst with living water, the spring of water of the interior life. Every human heart yearns for this communion with the Lord. Our charism is to help others discover this well spring within them and help awaken in their hearts the desire for God. A call to live a life totally given to God. A vocation is God's unique invitation, addressed to individual persons in which a free response is expected. He is calling them to a life according to the evangelical counsels. The response is the result of a discernment process and opens up for a life-long process, a journey of faith. The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?" (John 4:28-29). Could He be asking you to leave your “water jar” and follow Him?