Exercises in Marist SpiritualityEdwin L. Keel, S.M.Washington, D.C. February, 1980 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 'I was the support of the new-born Church I will be the support of the Church at the end of time' In the early years of the nineteenth century, a group of young men believed that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was addressing these words to them. They were words pregnant with meaning. They suggested that Mary, who had given birth to Jesus, our Savior, in the flesh, had in some way given birth to his Body which is the Church, and had watched over that new-born Church as a mother watches her infant in its cradle. But Mary was also a member within this new-born Church community. She supported it by her quiet but active presence. She stamped it with the mark of her own person and with the quality of her faith. And so these young men took both Mary herself, and the early Church on which Mary seemed to have had such a formative influence, as their models and ideals. Mary's words were addressed, to them because they were to be her presence in the Church of their own day, and were to mark it with her personality as she herself had marked the early Church. These men were filled with joy and a burning desire to serve the people of God as Mary had. Out of their enthusiasm and sense of call was born the Society of Mary, a worldwide spiritual and apostolic movement for the renewal of the Church, involving laity, religious men and women, and priests. The Exercises presented here are designed to assist you to test whether you are called to be a Marist, or to deepen your living of the Marist vocation. Since the Marist life is available to all -- laity, religious, priests -- these Exercises cannot be expected to help you discern a vocation to one or another of those states in life, though this may result as a by-product. Rather, they will test whether you resonate with the fundamental themes and tonalities of Marist living, or teach you how to resonate better, in whichever state in life you have chosen or will choose. This, then, is not a book to be read. It is a series of Exercises that call for a great deal of generosity, perseverance and 'work'. While not absolutely necessary, it might be extremely helpful to have the guidance of a qualified spiritual director while doing these Exercises. Again, these Exercises are designed to be done while pursuing an active life, but more profit might be derived, especially from parts I and II, if they were done in a retreat atmosphere -- in which case they can be done more compactly -- for instance, each exercise being repeated three or four times in the course of a single day. Finally, being a Marist does not consist in taking on a hard and fixed form, or adopting a strict and inflexible set of rules. The only way to be a Marist is to enter into the life-long process of becoming a Marist. These Exercises will help you to begin that process, or, if you 6ave already begun, to intensify or accelerate it. |
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