|
|
| |
Marist relationship with the Church Marists belong to a missionary congregation and are challenged to develop the Church in places where it does not exist and to renew the Church in places where it needs help to grow. The experience of decision in vocation, Fourviere, was followed by a deeper experience, a mystical experience for Fr. Colin which is symbolized for us by his years at Cerdon. - Pat Bearsley “I supported the Church as it was being born, and I will do so again at the end of time.” They are our founding words, The Society moves in that direction so to speak. They always served as an encouragement to us. - Pat Bearsley So often our problem is our evangelizing zeal. However we must first listen, we must first discern where people are at, stand with them and face the world and the Church from that point of view. - Pat Bearsley The Marist way in the apostolate: Ignoti et quasi occulti. Historical Commentary on the Constitutions of the Society of Mary The role of Mary at the birth of the Church and at the end of time. Implications of Colin’s vision at the level of our activity Marists should be able to move from place to place and not be tied to fixed ministries, and the second is that since we are supposed to act after the Mother of the early Church, Marists must bear witness as a community. - Jean Coste We have seen that there is this wish of Mary to do something for the Church. Mary is the mother of mercy and therefore she wants to embrace all the world. Furthermore, we Marists, and certainly many others, are supposed to work to help Mary carry out her desire to save all her children. We are the instruments. - Jean Coste When we ask, what Pentecost means for Marists, we cannot simply refer to Colin as though he were Father Founder of the whole Marist family. An exploration of Marists and Pentecost under three heading: 1. Pentecost is not a founding image in Marist spirituality; 2. The role of the Holy Spirit in Marist tradition; 3. Pentecost is the founding image in Marist spirituality. Mary in the newborn Church and at the end of time Jean Coste recalls that Fr Colin had a very specific meaning of this phrase and he then studies the diptychs "the newborn Church," and on the one hand, "the end of time," in order to see how Fr Colin's thought is organized on each of these levels. The starting point for Colin and all the first Marists was the conviction that Mary wanted something, and it is this idea that Mary, who is a mother full of mercy, to save all her children. - Jean Coste Mary the support of the Church The Society’s foundation is Mary telling us, “This is what I want,” and our responding, “Yes Mary, your wish is my command.” It’s that dynamic which will keep the Society alive and flourishing today. - Pat Bearsley We will try to kill the spirit of greed at the very beginning. If you start even to think that way, if you have even a desire of greed, you must with the help of your brother, kill it immediately. - Jean Coste Let us imagine a council with four councilors and the superior. Two councillors are for opinion A and the others are for opinion B. The superiors own choice is line A. Therefore, you would have three A’s against two B’s. Here, the superior will choose B, that is, the opinion of the minority, just for the sake of humility and in order to resemble the Blessed Mother, who followed the will of others rather than her own. - Jean Coste When God speaks to a soul, he says many things in a few words, for instance, this word 'hidden and unknown in the world'. In order to understand the strength and the meaning of those words, we have to remember the full sentence. Not only “hidden and unknown,” but, “hidden and unknown in the world. - Jean Coste Parishes and Marist Legislation A survey of the effects there could be on a province of having too many parishes; Fr Colin' s reluctance to have Marists engaged in that kind of ministry; and the reasons for changes to our legislation on parishes made in recent decades. Relating to the Church and the world When Fr. Colin leads us to contemplate Mary, it is seldom in herself that we see her, but always in relation : relation to the Church, in relation to the world, and in relation to the men and women of our day. Bishops must consider the Marists tamquam suam (as their own) and our relationship to the world ignoti et occulti (hidden and unknown). Role of Mary at the birth of the Church and at the end of time One sentence above all strikes us as being the one which Fr Colin repeated most often, most consistently and most regularly during his whole life, namely the statement, attributed to Our Lady herself: I supported the Church at her birth; I shall do so again at the end of time. A study of this expression will provide the key to Fr Colin's extremely far-reaching conception of the historical role of Mary and of the Society in the Church. Society of Mary - an anticipation of a New Church Fr Colin said: "Let us take courage and work hard, but always hidden and unknown. Let us keep away from those who rely on a merely human eloquence. The Society must begin a new Church over again. I do not mean that in a literal sense, that would be blasphemy. But still, in a certain sense, yes, we must begin a new Church." - Jean Coste
|
All these articles require the installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader. |
|
|
