Mary in the Life of Religious (6)

Evangelical Counsels: Obedience

The Blessed Virgin Mary embodies in herself the religious' life of obedience. At the Annunciation and at the foot of the Cross, she showed herself as a perfect model of obedience because she offered her will completely to the plan of God. "Be it done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). Mary is presented to us as the first to accept Christ and his gospel by her obedience to God's plan. [17] Religious too offer the full dedication of their own wills as a sacrifice of themselves to God. Like Mary, who uttered her fiat wholeheartedly to God, religious are also one with her in becoming united more permanently and securely with God's saving will (PC 14). It is in Mary's spiritual attitude of obedience to God's saving plan, that religious can model themselves after.

Endnotes:

[17] Malaviaratchi, Initiation into Religious Life, p. 173.

Contemplation and Action

Mary stands as an example to religious in how they are to achieve harmony and to integrate between contemplation and action.  Mary shows how she had integrated this by being a virgin in prayer (MC 18) and at the same time fully attentive to the needs of others like Elizabeth, the couple at Cana, and the disciples praying in the Cenacle. Religious dedicated to the active service of the Church and experiencing the tension between the call to communion with God and the demands of their ministry have in Mary a beautiful model to imitate. [18] Furthermore, in their prayer, the religious are to learn from the Word of God and are to meditate on it everyday (cf. PC 6; DV 25). This is an existential need that arises from a prayerful and contemplative attitude. Here again the outstanding model is Mary who "remembered these things and thought deeply about them" (Lk 2:19) and "treasured all these things in her heart" (Lk 2:51). Mary is a virgin in prayer; the fruits of her contemplation are translated into action as well as in service.  Religious too are men and women of prayer who translate their experience of God into a particular apostolate/activity. They have Mary as someone whom they can imitate in achieving a balance between contemplation and action.

Endnotes:
[18] De Candido, Vita Consacrata, p. 1482-1512.

    

Mary in the Life of Religious (5)

Evangelical Counsels: Poverty

Mary stands as an example of religious poverty. She is "anawim", i.e., poor in spirit and poor in the presence of God. She finds that her greatest reason for praising and thanking the Lord is in her "being looked upon in her lowly state" (cf. Lk 1:46-55). Furthermore, by describing herself as lowly (=poor Lk 1:48), the Blessed Virgin identifies herself with the poor (Lk 1:52b).

Who are the poor that Mary identifies herself with? The Magnificat, Mary's song of praise, tells us that they are "those who fear God = lowly = hungry = servant Israel". The poor are thus those who recognize God as their ultimate and absolute value; they are those who "put all their hope in God" (Eph 1:12). [14]

To this poor, Mary acts as their spokeswoman. Her "option for the poor" is the fruit of her being "anawim". Religious therefore can find in Mary their model for how they can live their life of evangelical poverty. (They too speak in behalf of the poor; they share in the Church's preferential option for the marginalized and the oppressed). Furthermore, religious can emulate and imitate the spirit by which Mary sings her Magnificat, and then by this spirit, be moved to concretely act in their own particular way (according to their charism), how they are to manifest this in their lives.

Endnotes:

[14] De Candido, Vita Consacrata, p. 1482-1512.

Evangelical Counsels: Chastity

Mary stands also as an example of religious chastity. But as pointed out before, we are not going to consider the exterior aspects of the life of Mary and that of religious because they are very different.  Mary's vocation was not for celibacy but for married life and motherhood: she was the true wife of Joseph and the true mother of Jesus (cf. Mt 1:16 ..."of her was born Jesus"). On the other hand, we know well that the religious' vocation to celibacy excludes married life and motherhood or fatherhood.  Religious embrace chastity in celibacy for the kingdom of God (cf. Mt 19:12). "It makes the human heart free in such a way (cf. I Cor 7:32-35) as to fill it with greater love for God and for men" (PC 12). [15]

So how is Mary a model of religious in the area of chastity? The exemplarity of Mary, as far as the evangelical life of chastity is concerned, is in the line of "total openness and availability, in unconditional love, to God's initiative. "Mary's chastity is openness, emptiness, and availability filled with God. [16] In this, the religious can pattern how they are to live their life of chastity after the example of Mary.

Endnotes:
[14] De Candido, Vita Consacrata, p. 1482-1512.[15] Ibid.[16] Ibid.

Mary in the Life of Religious (4)

Mary, Model of Religious: Discipleship

Jesus' call for discipleship is for all Christians. Whether a man or a woman is single, married, in the priestly or religious state, all of them are called to follow him. The only difference that exists between the other states and the religious state is that for religious, the call becomes a "radical" call. All religious heed this call by living in a "state of life" that would embody their radical and total option to follow Christ and be his disciple.

The radical following of Christ is the fundamental norm of religious life. But no one followed Christ more radically and more faithfully than Mary. The various texts used for the Mass of religious profession contain precious points of religious spirituality: to follow Christ intimately, to transform life into a perfect gift, to grow in evangelical perfection, to be consecrated to the praises of God, to bear witness to the kingdom of heaven, to serve the brethren (cf. Opening Prayers of the Masses for the religious and for religious vocations). None has outdone Mary in making her life a perfect gift to God (cf. Lk 1:38) or in praising God and in bearing witness to His kingdom (cf. Lk 1:46-55) or in serving the brethren (cf. Lk 1:56; Jn 2:1-15). [12] She is truly the perfect disciple of Christ.

The gospels also present Mary first and foremost as a "Disciple of the Word". The following texts support this point: Mk 3:33-35, Mt 12:46-50, Lk 8:19-21; 11:27-28, and Jn 2:1-11; 19:25-27. Mary is the Perfect disciple because she "hears the Word of God" (Lk 8:19-21); she "keeps the word of God..." (Lk 11:27-28); and "she does the will of God". She is the perfect model of what it means to follow Jesus (Mk 3:33-35, Mt 12:46-50). Also she has shown a radical following of Christ by associating herself with the Mystery of Salvation. From the wedding at Cana (Jn 2:1-11) up to the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25-27), she remained faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ. [13] It is along this line of Mary's spirit of faithfulness and perseverance in following Christ that religious can pattern their consecrated lives after. Pope John Paul II expresses this truth explicitly when he addressed the religious men and women gathered in Bombay on Feb. 10, 1986. He said, "Mary's discipleship shines forth as the foremost example of how your religious consecration is to be lived in faith and love."

Endnotes:

[12] Kaitholil, Hail, Full of Grace, p. 105.
[13] De Candido, Vita Consacrata, p. 1482-1512.

Mary, Model of Religious: Evangelical Counsels

Before dealing separately with the counsels, it is best to know what the Church has to say about Mary in relation to her being the model of religious life in this regard. The main conciliar texts that allude to this are the following:

"The counsels are especially able to pattern the Christian man after that manner of virgin and humble life which Christ the Lord elected for Himself, and which his Virgin Mother also chose". (LG 46)

"Mary...devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and the work of her Son...as cooperating in the work of human salvation through free faith and obedience." (LG 56)

The Rite of Perpetual Profession, n. 38(=123) also has something to say in relation to this:

"Do you wish, with God's help, to embrace forever the life of perfect chastity, obedience and poverty which was chosen by Christ the Lord and the Virgin, His Mother?"

The Council proclaims that Mary is a model for religious in how they can live their evangelical life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. However, it would be good to mention again at this point that Mary's example to religious, living the evangelical counsels in a radical way, is not to be seen in its exterior aspects, but rather in the more intimate dimensions. It is within this context that we are to examine and explore how Mary in the profound and interior reality of her life, acts as a model to religious. (It should be noted also that a model has its limitations; no model can fit all of the categorical truths that we find in life because of reality's ambiguity and complexity.)