During Advent, the Gospel invited us to contemplate the Virgin Mary. As we approached the Feast of Christmas, many wondered how best to welcome the Son of God coming to dwell among us. We should, in this as in all things, listen as Mary did, welcome the Word, be still, and let God live in us. Let us not worry, but rather render all things confidently into the hands of God, and with Mary reiterate "Let it be done to me accordance with your will"! Beyond the all the bustle and all the noise of Christmas, we must never its main point; that God came to save His people!
"The Holy Spirit,” said St-Bonaventure, is present "where he is loved, where he is invited, where he is expected…" We must open the community that we are to the breath of the Holy Spirit, who renews prayer, fraternal life, love for Christ, and missionary zeal. While we may certainly look back to our own origins, to our own Founder, we must also look forward.
These two words of the Holy Father can enlighten and guide us, we members of the Militia Mariae Sanctae, men and women who have chosen to serve Our Lady in the ranks of her knighthood. Just as did the Virgin Mother of God, we must listen to and welcome the Word, and open our hearts and our community to the breath of the Holy Spirit!
The year that begins tonight will see our Militia pray, study, and undertake individual acts but also, and I hope above all, undertake ordered, collective action, including: the XXXIst Chapter General, the International Training Seminar for MSM Novices, and the First Congress of the International Familiaris Consortio Institute in October, as well as the Prioral Chapters and Prioral elections in France, Germany and Austria.
In all these initiatives as well as in your actions, I invite you to please refer to my last Magisterial Directive, to implement it, and to disseminate it to all.
I thank the Lord for the graces received by the Order in 2011, where I see a great proof of our vitality in recruiting in America leveraging the means of our time, and also note with satisfaction the Order’s in-depth study of the texts of the Magisterium of the Church.
With hopes for a year spent in Fidelity to our Rule, in the acceptance of our failures, and in the true knowledge of the XXIst century chivalry, I offer to you and to your families my best wishes for the coming year. May God Bless you all!
Jacques Pellabeuf
Master of the Militia Sanctae Mariae
Ipsam sequens non devias
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