VI . The Call

Preparation:
1. Praise of the Father.
2. Hail Mary.

Text: Our hearts were enflamed when we considered our good fortune in being the first children of Mary, and when we considered the great needs of the people.

Introduction: Our text is a quotation from one of the first Marists. He is recalling the beginnings of the Society of Mary. To that first group of young men it was as if Mary were saying. 'I was the support of the new-born Church; I will be the support of the Church at the end of time'. They felt that these words were addressed personally to them. And so they felt that Mary had selected them as her special children to do her work in the Church of their day. The sign, of their Marist vocation was that when they thought of Mary as the support of the Church, they were deeply moved by two things: by the sense that Mary had chosen them in a special way; and by the thought of serving the People of God, of meeting the great needs of the people, as Mary had. This meditation, the last in part I of these Exercises, is a time to stop and check our experience. What has been happening, what has been going on in our minds and hearts? How does our experience compare with the experience of the first Marists?

Grace: Ask God for the grace to feel more deeply his great love for you, and the love of Mary, your mother in the Church; and if it be his will, that you may perceive his gracious choice to belong to the Marist ' family.

Reflection:
1. Think back over your own life. Are you aware of Mary's presence, of her motherly care, in your life?

2. Do you have a sense that God, through Mary, is calling you to belong to Mary's family in a special way?

3. Does the image of Mary, present in the Church and sustaining it, stir in you a real desire to be of greater service to others?

4. Does this Marist calling seem to give a greater sense of unity and direction to your life?

Conversation: Conclude this day - and this first series of meditations - by talking over with Mary how you can better serve God's people within the context of your own life situation (as a lay person, a single person, a married person; a religious, a priest).

Journal: Record your reflections, and anything you have learned or felt, in your journal or notebook. Do this for each meditation.

Reflection Day November 2011

Marist Spirituality