Forming together in a shared mission

The 8 March marked the world Women's Day, during which we prayed through Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Church, our Sister and our Mother. On the weekends of 8 and 9 March, Brothers, Associates and Collaborators met in Zaragoza to spend two days reflecting on Mary.

After starting the day, Brother Alejandro gave a talk on Mary in the life of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort. He invited us on a journey through the life of the saint and through the churches and shrines where Saint Louis de Montfort venerated Mary. He began by presenting the love of St Louis Marie: Mary, the Cross, Jesus the wisdom, the Holy Spirit, and the poor. Of all these devotions Mary and the Cross were present throughout Montfort's life: from his childhood to his death.

As we followed his development in the Marian faith, we also visited the holy places that housed images dear to Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort: during his time in Rennes, Notre-Dame des Miracles et des Vertus, in the church of Saint-Sauveur; Notre-Dame de la Paix in the Carmelite convent; Notre-Dame de la Bonne Nouvelle, in the Dominican convent; Notre-Dame de Paris; Notre-Dame de l'Assomption, in the town of Chartres; the shrine of Notre-Dame de Sous-terre; the chapel of Mary in the church of Saint-Sulpice and Marie Reine des Cœurs, in Montbernage; Notre-Dame de Lorette, in Italy; Notre-Dame des Ardilliers, in Saumur; Notre-Dame de la Croix, in the village of La Chèze; Notre-Dame de la Sagesse, at the hermitage of Saint-Lazare; the Virgin Mary of Calvary in Pontchâteau; Notre-Dame de Toute-Patience, in La Séguinière; Notre-Dame du Chemin, the sculpture he always carried with him.

The theme for the rest of the day was the 10 virtues of Mary, as set out by Saint Louis-Marie in no. 108 of his Treatise on True Devotion to Mary: profound humility, living faith, blind obedience, continual prayer, universal mortification, divine purity, ardent charity, heroic patience, angelic gentleness and divine wisdom.

A video with images and biblical texts introduced us to the first three virtues. The next three were worked on in a prayer workshop. The last four were presented in the form of a ‘film’ with icons depicting the main Gospel episodes about Mary. The images invited us to contemplate the scene and then to find the most visible virtue in each one.

The last activity of the weekend was an hour of assembly to discuss issues common to the group: setting up the future team of animators and formators for Shared Mission, following up the cause of our martyred Gabriélistes Brothers...

Then the Eucharist brought us all together around the altar. A fraternal meal served as a farewell to these days.