Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

143 eventual promise to live the evangelical counsels are thus his response to the prior gift of God the Father. 8 The counsels make possible his total gift of self through reproducing in himself Christ’s form of life. 9 The basis for such a profession of the evangelical counsels is the special relationship that Christ gave to Stanislaus through the Holy Spirit. 10 This background is a necessary complement to the self-offering of Stanislaus, since it provides its foundation: his Oblatio serves as the response to the previous self-offer- ing of God in Christ. Indeed, this aspect of experiencing the gratuitous, merciful call of the Father is of the essence for St. Stanislaus and the Marians, who are called to imitate the Immaculata responded fully to the gift of her Immaculate Con- ception: “The authentic living of our identity as Marians of the Immaculate Conception requires that we experience for ourselves the gift of the saving love of God in a personal encounter with Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our experience of God’s saving love, as in the life of Mary, manifests itself in a life of joy, love, praise, gratitude, and humility, to which we Marians are called to give witness before all. This gracious and merciful gift is the source of our desire and strength to respond to God’s initiative. It leads us to a generous giving of ourselves to Christ and his mission...” 11 Just as Mary experienced the gift of God from the moment of her conception, St. Stanislaus – delivered by the prayer of her mother while he was still in his womb – experienced the protection of the Virgin and the Providence of the Father who protected him and his mother from death. After the two main verbs offero and dedico, Stanislaus identifies those to whom he offers and dedicates himself: the omnipotent God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the ever-Virgin Mother of God, conceived without 8 EE, II.13: “These [the evangelical counsels] are a response to the prior gift of God which, being a gift of love, cannot be rationalized. It is something that God himself works in the person he has chosen.” 9 Vita Consecrata , n. 16: “It is precisely this special grace of intimacy which, in the conse- crated life, makes possible and even demands the total gift of self in the profession of the evangel- ical counsels... By professing the evangelical counsels, consecrated persons not only make Christ the whole meaning of their lives but strive to reproduce in themselves, as far as possible, “that form of life which he, as the Son of God, accepted in entering this world.” 10 Vita Consecrata , n. 14: “The evangelical basis of consecrated life is to be sought in the special relationship which Jesus, in his earthly life, established with some of his disciples... Many of the baptized throughout history have been invited to live such a life “in the image of Christ”. But this is possible only on the basis of a special vocation and in virtue of a particular gift of the Spirit.” 11 Ratio Formationis, n.1 9.