For our spiritual life to bear fruit, we need to go through Mary

It's remarkable that the Gospel is framed by two invitations to take Mary into our homes: the one to St Joseph on the threshold of the Incarnation - “Do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home! - and the other to the beloved disciple - “Here is your mother…and the disciple took her into his home”, just as Jesus was about to give up the ghost.

Marian devotion has its origins in this invitation addressed to St. Joseph and St. John, and is given to us as an inheritance. Our Rule of Life translates this invitation in these words: “Jesus calls us to himself, to the point of sharing his filial love for his Mother, and entrusts us with the task of revealing the gift he makes of her to mankind”. To reach the fullness of Christ's stature, to grow in the order of grace, we must live in intimacy with the Mother of God. This was the experience of Father Desgenette and Father Lamy: in despair at the futility of their efforts, they invoked Mary and received unexpected fruitfulness.

This experience is good news for all of us! For we can be visited by trials like these two parish priests; trials of separation from a loved one, of the feeling of being forgotten, of the futility of our efforts, of aging, of the difficulty of passing on what we have received, of misunderstanding, etc.

In these situations, we search for meaning. Following in Father Lamy's footsteps, we must be careful not to confuse fruitfulness with success or a magic solution. Fecundity is a matter of grace.

Liminaire Bulletin des Serviteurs              

http://www.serviteurs.org/La-consecration-de-la-Communaute.html