Taking Responsibility
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Pentecost, the Feast of Responsibility
In the book, The Handmaid of the Lord, the Catholic mystic Adrienne von Speyr gives us a profound insight to Mary’s role after Pentecost.
For Mary, Our Mother, Pentecost is the starting point of a new mission that has now truly become infinite. For her, it is a solemn feast, a feast of responsibility. She is set to an immense work. At Easter she was allowed to experience the fullness of joy. Her thanksgiving to the Son consists in her placing herself once again wholly at his disposal in a completely matter-of-fact, neutral, objective way. And the Son’s thanks to the Mother is that he responds to her new offer through his Holy Spirit. General responsibility for the Church and for all whom she must lead to the Lord must be given to someone. The Mother, who volunteered for every responsibility, will surely assume this one…The Mother is responsible for the whole. In her, the apostles and their different missions have their unity, the unity of the whole catholic mission: to bring together all those who have gone astray or who are seeking, all those who are to be redeemed.
Like Mary, we are to take responsibility for the role God has given us in the world.
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People say to me “I have a team, so I don’t want to hear any more about teams. I have a team, now what do I do? What is the Movement and what does it mean to live the Movement?”
The Movement of the Holy Family is not a program.
It is a simple way of life that enables us to reach the goal of life, holiness and transforming union with Jesus. And it is a way of life by which we can help our family and friends to Heaven.
In what does this way of life consist of? Seven things.
First, it is to live out the mission Jesus gave us: to be a discple maker. Jesus gave only one mission: “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”
This simple way of life is first the commitment lead people to Jesus through Mary.
Second, we are gathered around Mary in this simple way of life. Why Mary? Because the first Christians, we are told in Acts 1:14, gathered around Mary. She is the Mother who is responsible for the unity and formation of the Body of Christ which is the Church. She is the mother of all people who wants to gather everyone and lead them to Jesus and to the Father. She is the Mother who unites and forms us in the likeness of Jesus.
For this reason, we seek to belong entirely to her and to be completely at her disposal. For this end we consecrate ourselves to her. We give ourselves to her unconditionally. She says to us: Give me your hearts and I will put Jesus in them and make you my apostles.
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Third, in this simple way of life we commit to daily meditation on the Word of God through the Rosary.
No one knew Jesus better than Mary. Therefore no one is in a better position to teach us how to live like Jesus than Mary. The Rosary is the School of Mary where she helps her children meditate on Jesus, the Word of God daily and to form practical resolutions that if we put into practice we will be transformed in virtue and in the likeness of Jesus.
In every approved apparition, Mary our Mother has asked us to pray the Rosary daily. I think this is because she knows her children. She knows how we struggle to make a habit of deeper prayer, therefore she gives us a method that is the best place to begin.
The Rosary is an easy way to pray with others. The Rosary is the community prayer of the domestic church
The Rosary is not just for Catholics. It is for all people because Mary is the Mother of all people.
In this simple way of life we take responsibility to meditate on the Word of God through the Rosary daily and to invite all others to meet Jesus through Mary in the Rosary.
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Fourth, in this movement we commit to a small community.
The smallest unit, the fundamental cell of the Church is not the individual, it is the family or a small community modeled on the family. This is because we were made in the image of God who is a Trinity of persons living in communion.
There are larger communities such as the parish, the diocese and the Universal Church. But each of these larger communities presupposes and depends upon the health and integrity of the smallest unit, the singles cells of the body and that is the family or the small community.
The Christian family or a small group is the fundamental building block of the Church. For this reason, the individual believer and the larger Church needs small communities of people where they live for both the individual and any larger community to flourish.
In the Movement we commit to a family or a little group of people with whom we share life regularly to enrich each other with our strengths and stretch one another by our differences. Do you have your family or little group or team or whatever you want to call it? Do you spend time and share life with them regularly, habitually? Do you pray to gether?
Fifth, we commit to live in a constant state of Invitation and Hospitality. St. John Paul II called us to live hospitality in all its forms, from opening the door of one’s home and still more of one’s heart.”
Our family or little group is the place where we invite others that they too may encounter the love of God. Are you living out this regular invitation and hospitality?
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Sixth, we commit to continuously growing in our knowledge of the Teaching of Jesus that comes through the Church.
This is precisely why we give you the Deposit of Faith, the full teaching of Jesus in daily digestible portions through the Rosary podcast. So that you, your family and your friends can be constantly learning your faith. But this is not just for your benefit. It is to equip you to follow up with the people you have invited into your home by mentoring them in faith and prayer and conversion, to coming into the Church and coming back to the Church and helping them grow in holiness and getting on mission themselves. Remember we are all called to be disciple makers and for this we need to be equipped.
Finally, number seven, we commit to receiving the sacraments as often as possible, especially the Eucharist and reconciliation because we need Jesus and Jesus increases, strengthens and heals his life within us through the sacraments.
This is the moment for you to take responsibility for a way of life that is a gift for the Church.