Mary - Our First Superior
Mary - Our First Superior
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has an important place in the story of our Catholic faith.
Mary said "yes" to God's invitation to be mother of the saviour. Through her, the Incarnation took place, that is, in Jesus, her Son, God became a human being. Thus, Mary is honoured by people of faith as the Virgin Mother of God.
For Marists, Mary has a further significance. We seek to follow her way of being in the early Church: gentle, merciful, hidden and encouraging. Everything we do is to be done in this spirit of Mary.
Two of the key phrases that ascribe how we try to live as Marists are:
"Hidden and unknown"
"Instruments of divine mercy"
Jean Coste, a Marist historian, highlights these two phrases when he writes, "Mary at Nazareth, where, in obscurity of a little carpenter's shop, the redemption of the world began to be realised, and where we see so clearly that a person cannot truly work for God if he is not spiritually ready to accept it, if need be, for God's glory, even obscurity and apparent uselessness."
During Pentecost, Mary was at the centre of the apostles when the Holy Spirit was poured out (Acts 2:1-4, 42-47). Humbly immersed in its midst, animating by her prayer and her zeal the first apostolic group. Marists today continue these two aspects of Mary's life and role in the Church.