4.5 Commitment
STAGE 4: Towards the Likeness of Jesus Christ
JESUS AND THE DISCIPLE
THE CAPTIVATING INTIMACY
COMMITMENT
Aim: To commit ourselves to being disciples of Jesus through Mary.
Readings
Behold your mother! (Jn 19:25-27): Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son”. Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother”. And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
Together in prayer (Acts 1:13a-14): The disciples went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.
Comment
The disciples of Jesus, entrusted to Mary, take and integrate her spirit in their inner selves. With her, they learn to begin and end their mission in the “upper room”, where they get attuned to the mind and plan of Jesus.
According to St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, such apostles fashioned by Mary are really of a special kind. In TD, he envisions them as follows: “These children of Mary are like flaming fires enkindling everywhere the fires of divine love. They become, in Mary’s powerful hands, like sharp arrows. Thoroughly purified by the fire of great tribulations and closely joined to God, they carry the gold of love in their heart, the frankincense of prayer in their mind and the myrrh of mortification in their body. They bring to the poor and lowly everywhere the sweet fragrance of Jesus” (cf. TD 56).
“They are like thunder-clouds, flying through the air at the slightest breath of the Holy Spirit. Attached to nothing, surprised at nothing, troubled at nothing, they shower down the rain of God’s word and of eternal life. They thunder against sin, storm against the world, strike down the devil and his followers, pierce through and through with the two-edged sword of God’s word all those against whom they are sent by almighty God” (cf. TD 57).
“They are true apostles to whom the Lord gives eloquence and strength to work wonders […]. They sleep without gold, silver or any concern; yet they have the silver wings of the dove enabling them to go wherever the Holy Spirit calls them, filled as they are, with the resolve to seek the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Wherever they preach, they leave behind them nothing but the gold of love, which is the fulfilment of the whole law” (cf. TD 58).
“Lastly, we know they are true disciples of Jesus Christ, imitating his poverty, his humility, his contempt of the world and his love. They point out the narrow way to God, in pure truth according to the holy Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world. […] They have the two-edged sword of the Word of God in their mouths and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their shoulders. They carry the crucifix in their right hand and the rosary in their left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart. The simplicity and self-sacrifice of Jesus are reflected in their whole behaviour. By the will of God, such are the great apostles prepared by Mary” (cf. TD 59).
Personal Reflection and Sharing
To what “Marian” attitudes and virtues am I determined to commit myself to, in order to be an authentic and fruitful disciple of Jesus?
[4-5] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER