Section 3 | Rule #5: Concerning the Custos’ Post Between the Family and the World

In the beginning, God created Adam outside of the garden (see Gen 2), a symbol of the unsubdued world, and later placed the man in the garden, a symbol of the domestic life and its fruitfulness, indicating that Adam’s two-fold purpose is to subdue the world by cultivating, hunting, and gathering its fruits for his family, while also protecting his family from the pernicious influences of the world.

In a similar way, the Custos is appointed by God to subdue the world, reaping its good fruits for his family, while also protecting his family from being subdued by the world, the flesh, and the devil. He is to have dominion over the world without the world having dominion over his dominion. As a shepherd lays down at the sheep gate to protect his sheep from wolves, in a similar manner, the husband-father stands at his post, always aware that there is an enemy at large from whom he is to protect the flock of his family, if necessary, by laying down his life.

Devin Schadt | Executive Director of the Fathers of St. Joseph

Ite ad Joseph