Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

113 is personal in nature, for it reveals St. Stanislaus Papczyński’s decision as to the future manner of following the path of his own vocation in the Church, yet the attempt to read it from the point of view of modern community life is also valid. By expressing the Founder’s wishes, the text of the Oblatio contributes to building the community. It is impossible to ignore the fact that the Founder intends to adjust his own life to the “laws, statutes and rites” of the Society of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception 4 and not to his personal, changing visions. Thus, the purpose of this article is to consider what characteristics of the individual religious who form and shape a community can we take today from the text of the Oblatio . We will also see how – shortly before dying – St. Stanislaus personally assessed the path that he had traveled on so that we may understand how his personal experience can help us in the realization of Marian communal life in the present times which are threatened by individualism and alienation more than ever before. We shall base this article – which is not some grand scholarly disserta- tion and which must obey the limits imposed by common sense – on the examination of the text of the Oblatio . From that same perspective, we will also analyze two other important writings of our holy Father Founder, in which he sums up his life in the face of impending death, namely: the First Testament and Another Testament. We will try to answer the question regarding how he understood his experience of his community which he established, and then saw growing and legally approved by the Church. On the other hand, speaking of the modern day, we will present selected topics of our Congregation’s standing legislation, which is the “heir” – as it were – of the Oblatio and the subsequent Rule of Life . 5 Moreover, in order to better illustrate some aspects of the modern un- derstanding of religious life in a community, we will use a document – closely related to the matter at hand – which was issued in 1994 by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life Fraternal Life in Commu- nity . This document fully retains its relevance today. It should be said that some proffered ideas and intuitions may seem to be an over-interpretation of the Oblatio and of both Testaments, but this article is not an exegesis of these texts, but only an attempt to read them afresh from the perspective of our times. 4 Ibid. 5 St. Papczyński, The Rule of Life , at padrimariani.www, Resources: Spirituality, Constitu- tions, Antique materials.