Part II. Nazareth

Introduction

Fr. Jean-Claude Colin, who was among the first group of Marists, and is now recognized as the Founder of the Society of Mary, once described a curious way of thinking and acting. He said,

I place myself in the home of Nazareth and from there I see all that I have to do.

In the next two parts of the Exercises we will experiment with this Marist method of thinking. In this part II, we will 'place ourselves in the home at Nazareth' in order to absorb something of Mary's spirit. In part III, while yet embued with a sense of Mary's presence, and recalling her presence in the early Church, we will take a good hard look at the Church and the world and the needs of people in our day, in order to 'see all that we have to do'. In part I, we arrived at a sense of the gracious choice by which God, through Mary, has selected us Marists to be her children in a special way. This gracious choice, whereby we belong to the family of Mary, the Mother of God, carries with it some serious consequences for our lives. It is encumbent on us, as Mary's sons and daughters, to breathe and drink in her spirit, to emulate her virtues, striving, as if it were possible, to equal or surpass her, and, indeed, to live her life, sharing her values and her mission today. For this part II, there is a special Setting for all of our meditations. It is this: Imagine yourself at Nazareth, visiting with Mary in her home. It is during the early days of Jesus' public ministry, and he has left his home town for good. Mary is recounting to you the stories of Jesus' infancy, 'pondering these things in her heart' as she has done so many times in the past thirty years, always drawing new meaning and deeper insight from them. For she still does not know where they will lead. The, horror of Calvary and the joy of Easter and Pentecost are still a long way off, hidden from view in the future. All that Mary knows is that the things she has experienced ever since the angel's message so many years ago all point away from Nazareth and into the world outside. All the events that she has experienced seem pregnant with the promise of God's kingdom for the world. Mary feels in these events the tremendous weight and urgency of God's love for the world. It is in this spirit that we will ponder those early years with her. Our aim is to absorb something of Mary's spirit so that we can, as it were, draw life from her life. Each meditation in this part will be done following the same procedures as given in the instructions on 'How to do the Exercises', with this difference: we will repeat each meditation on three consecutive days, or at least for three consecutive times. Each time that we do it, we will take a different approach:

a) The first time, we will try to 'breathe' or 'drink' her spirit. This means simply to hear what she says, and to breathe in or drink in the atmosphere created by her presence and her words.

b) The second time, we will reflect on how we might emulate her; that, is, we will take her virtue, especially her humility, her self-denial, her close union with God, and her ardent love for her neighbor, as the ideals to strive to equal in our lives.

c) The third time, we will look at our own lives, and consider what it might mean for us to 'live her life today.'

(These instructions are not repeated with the meditations. For each Exercise in Part II, you will have to refer back to this Introduction for he Setting of the Exercise, and for the ways to approach the meditation on the first, second and third days.)

Reflection Day November 2011

Marist Spirituality