– Sr Margaret Fung
Although on the second day of our arrival, we went to the French provincial house of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary and also attended Mass there. We did not go to the places most important in the life of our founder, Mary of the Passion.
It is on the 4th and the 5th day we will really walk in her steps in seeing the place where she was born in the last century to be a very brave warrior, and the environment that made her into a true soldier of Jesus Christ. Mary of the Passion was also a human person, made of flesh and bones. How did she come to be so brave? She founded the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, a society that has recorded over ten thousand missionaries working for Christ all over the world. I think the answer rests in the Constitutions of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary because on the first lines, she points out, “God is love. It is his Will that all men and women should be saved and constitute his People. This is why the Father calls us all to be transformed in Christ, through the Spirit.”
From this line she openly and clearly states that her original force is the love of God. It is this Blessed Trinity, the three persons in one God, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, unceasingly loving one another that keeps her moving on and working hard. Accordingly, she says, “It is through love that one understands love.”
Certainly, love is always active. Today let us begin to love. Love may not receive mutual love in return. In God‘s love, we often learn that God loves us even when, we do not return His love. Today, let us learn from the God of love to love someone and do something for him /her which may even lead to us sacrificing our own convenience, even to the point of sacrificing ourselves. When Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross for us, to compensate for our sins, He showed us what real love is. It is love that led to his Death.
No doubt, we are not able to do such great things. But, we may try to imitate Him. In our pilgrimage journey, let us try to choose someone from the group, or any one of our friends; we need not tell the one we chose what we are going to do. Let us try to understand him / her more and try to do something that may make him /her happier. If you are a Catholic, support the Catholic Church, the body of Jesus Christ on earth. He has established it for our salvation. Let us see what we can do for the Church today.
Blessed Mary of the Passion knew well what she could do for the Church. She not only did a lot in sending missionaries all over the world, but also in her vows she says, as we Sisters also do in ours, “I offer my life for the Church and the salvation of the world.” Such is not a promise that is made once and for all, not a promise for a day, a month or a year but for one’s entire life. This unceasing offering is constantly being enriched by the reinforcement of the love of the Blessed Trinity. It is through love that we learn to love.
Let us open ourselves to the Holy Spirit. Let us beg the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts so that in all our daily tasks we may always feel the presence of God. Through our daily work, no matter how insignificant, may we be led closer and closer into his presence especially in all the sites of our pilgrimage.
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