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Common life, fashioned on the model of the early Church where
the body of believers was united in heart and soul (cf. Acts
4:32), and given new force by the teaching of the Gospel, the
sacred liturgy and especially the Eucharist, should continue to be
lived in prayer and the communion of the same spirit. As members of
Christ living together as brothers, religious should give pride of
place in esteem to each other (cf. Rom. 12:10) and bear each
other's burdens (cf. Gal. 6:2). For the community, a true
family gathered together in the name of the Lord by God's love which
has flooded the hearts of its members through the Holy Spirit
(cf.Rom. 5:5), rejoices because He is present among them
(cf. Matt. 18:20). Moreover love sums up the whole law
(cf. Rom. 13:10), binds all together in perfect unity (cf.
Col. 3:14) and by it we know that we have crossed over from death
to life (cf. 1 John 3:14). Furthermore, the unity of the
brethren is a visible pledge that Christ will return (cf. John
13:35; 17:21) and a source of great apostolic energy.
That all the members be more closely knit by the bond of brotherly
love, those who are called lay-brothers, assistants, or some similar
name should be drawn closely in to the life and work of the community.
Unless conditions really suggest something else, care should be taken
that there be only one class of Sisters in communities of women. Only
that distinction of persons should be retained which corresponds to-the
diversity of works for which the Sisters are destined, either by
special vocation from God or by reason of special aptitude.
However, monasteries of men and communities which are not exclusively
lay can, according to their nature and constitutions, admit clerics
and lay persons on an equal footing and with equal rights and
obligations, excepting those which flow from sacred orders.
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