Essentially Marian

According to article 4 of our Constitutions , which expresses the charism of the Institute, we confess ourselves as “essentially missionaries and Marians” [1] and we state that our resolution to work “in utmost docility to the Holy Spirit and within the imprint of Mary” [2] “to prolong the Incarnation in all things, making a fourth vow of Marian slavery according to Saint Louis Marie de Montfort” [3] . “In such a way that we can say that our spirituality is derived from the Person of the Word and its Mother” [4]

Therefore, devotion to the Mother of the Incarnate Word naturally becomes an essential and non-negotiable element of the Institute. Well −as our Founder rightly points out− it is something that “cannot be lost without serious prejudice to our charism” [5] , and which also becomes a “perennial source of supernatural fertility for our little Religious Family” [6] .

So much so that our spirituality “which wants to be of the Incarnate Word” [7] is “marked, with special relief” [8] by the consecration to Mary “‘in maternal slavery of love’ according to the way admirably exposed by Saint Louis Maria Grignion de Montfort” [9] when professing our fourth vow, “so that our whole life remains Marianized” [10] .

This fourth vow [11] implies, on the one hand, courageously giving to the Mother of God all that we are, all that we have, “or may have in the future, in the order of nature, grace and glory, without any reserve […], and this for all eternity, and without expecting any more reward for our offering and service than the honor of belonging to Jesus Christ through Mary and in Mary” [12] . And, on the other hand, it also implies that “it is our desire, it is our explicit intention to Marianize our entire lives.”

For us, the total consecration to Jesus through Mary is a “beautiful life program” [13] , which allows us to live the evangelical counsels in the most perfect way. Since “to consecrate oneself to the Virgin is to let oneself be led by Her to the Heart of Jesus so that Christ may be formed in us [14] ” [15] . “She is the perfect consecrated model that every religious should always contemplate and imitate” [16] , points out the proper law. So, this devotion to the Mother of God is not something accessory or decorative, but is inherent in the daily life of each one of the religious of the Institute. We show this, for example:

– renewing our consecration to Our Lady as many times as necessary, even several times a day;

– striving to be “apostles of Mary” [17] , because we are convinced that Marian devotion is the essential content of evangelization and that is why devotion to the Virgin Mary is paramount in all our missions;

– reciting the holy rosary daily; the Angelus; carrying out processions with the Virgin in the popular missions; celebrating his festivals with great solemnity; wearing the scapular of the Virgin, etc.

– trying, by all means, to imitate the virtues of our Heavenly Mother, in order to pronounce our fiat daily and, like Her, make ourselves forever available to God’s will. She is the model from whom we learn ” docility and promptness in the execution of what the Holy Spirit asks, always working against the temptation of procrastination, against the fear of sacrifice and total surrender” [18] and also together with Her at the foot of the cross we learn to suffer in silence and to give our lives for the sheep.

Knowing that we were born of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, devotion to the Mother of God is essential in us if we are to be faithful to our charism, if we are to carry out our mission fruitfully. That is why we take the Virgin, particularly under the invocation of the Immaculate and Clean Conception of Luján, to all the places where the Institute is located. The Virgin is our Queen, she is our Mother, and after Jesus, the highest ideal and our great love.

That is why we say in the fundamental code of our spirituality: “No, Jesus or Mary; no, Mary or Jesus. Not Jesus without Mary; nor Mary without Jesus. Not only Jesus, but also Mary; not only Mary, but also Jesus. Always Jesus and Mary; always Mary and Jesus. To Mary through Jesus: Behold your Mother (Jn 19, 27). To Jesus through Mary: Do what He tells you (Jn 2, 5). All for Jesus and for Mary; with Jesus and with Mary; in Jesus and in Mary; for Jesus and for Mary. In short, simply: Jesus and Mary; Mary and Jesus. And through Christ, to the Father, in the Holy Spirit” [19] .

Notes:

[1] Constitutions , 31.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Constitutions , 17.

[4] Constitutions , 36.

[5] Cf. Fr. Carlos Buela, IVE, Juan Pablo Magno , chap. 30.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Directory of Consecrated Life , 413.

[8] Directory of Spirituality , 19.

[9] Constitutions , 83.

[10] Directory of Spirituality , 19.

[11] Explained in our Constitutions , in numbers 82-89.

[12] St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Works , Treatise on true devotion to Mary , 121.

[13] Fr. Carlos Buela, IVE, Totus tuus ego sum.

[14] Ga 4, 19.

[15] Fr. Carlos Buela, IVE, My Parish Christ Neighbor , Appendix, 1, Prologue.

[16] Directory of Consecrated Life, 410.

[17] Directory of Spirituality , 307.

[18] Directory of Spirituality , 16.

[19] Directory of Spirituality , 325.