The divine call to sanctity in Miles Christi requires an intense life of prayer—a supremely effective instrument for making us men of God.
For this reason, we always give the interior life first place in our apostolic Army, never allowing ourselves to be blinded by activism or dazzled by the glare of spectacular successes. Above all, we work to attain solid and perfect virtues, a burning affection for spiritual things, purity of intention, and a reverent familiarity with God.
“The celebration and adoration of the Holy Eucharist constitutes one of the basic foundations of the spiritual life of Miles Christi and, at the same time, is the source from which our religious members daily obtain the strength and graces necessary for a consecrated and apostolic life” (Const. 102).
The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil” (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 37). For this reason, our motto, “Certa bonum certamen fidei” – “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12) – urges us to wage our personal spiritual battle and conquer souls, aided by the grace of God, so that Christ may reign not only in individuals but also in society.
We look to St. Ignatius of Loyola as our Master of the spiritual life. He teaches us to love and serve Jesus Christ, our “true and supreme Captain”; to cultivate especially the virtues of humility and obedience; to do always that which is most perfect, noble, and agreeable in the eyes of the Lord.
“Filial love and veneration of the Holy Father is a salient feature of our Religious Order. In Rome we possess the beacon of the Truth.” (Const. 78)
Faithful to the Catholic spirit, in Miles Christi we cultivate the most precious elements of liturgical tradition. In the midst of so much mediocrity and banalization of the sacred, we seek to bring forth an incessant reminder of the divine transcendence through nobility and beauty of form. The solemnity of liturgical worship allows a glimpse into the splendor of the supernatural – a ray of Heaven coming to touch the earth.
In our Religious Order, in communion with the living liturgical tradition, we give a privileged place to the use of Latin, a sacred language which, besides “being for the Church an inexhaustible source of human-Christian culture, and a most precious treasure of piety, guards intact the dignity, beauty, and original vigor of prayer and chant.” It is the language that “surpasses the boundaries of nations and possesses a marvelous spiritual power” (PAUL VI, Sacrificium laudis, Aug 15, 1966).
In Miles Christi we cultivate Gregorian chant, this expression of genuine piety that the Church continues to recognize as “proper to the Roman liturgy. Therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services” (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, 116).
Miles Christi professes a filial devotion to the Mater Dolorosa (Sorrowful Mother), “whom we rejoice to invoke by the title of Causa nostræ lætitiæ, Cause of our Joy. Precisely in her excruciating acceptance of the will of God over her Son, the Blessed Virgin was able to remain firm and unshakable and thus become the cause of our joy” (Const. 24).
Our Order has confident recourse to its Patron, the Glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph, as a “model of the interior life, of total fidelity, of prompt and cheerful obedience, of service to Jesus and Mary, and of self-sacrificing diligence” (Const. 112).
Miles Christi also gives special veneration to St. Michael the Archangel, Prince of the Heavenly Host.