Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

145 such a total self-gift is included in the vows, it is nonetheless an important element that St. Stanislaus verbalized the self-gift first, with only a brief mention of the evangelical counsels as the means for living that self-gift. Consecration through Promising the Evangelical Counsels Thus, only in the second and third paragraphs of the Oblatio , our Found- er Stanislaus promises ( promitto ) until the end of his life to live in chastity, obedience, and poverty. Whereas the first paragraph emphasizes the pres- ent, the second paragraph - as a promise - emphasizes the future action of Stanislaus unto death. He identifies the concrete way in which he intends to live out such self-offering to God: in cooperation with the consecrating action of the Holy Spirit, that is, through the evangelical counsels. 17 Indeed, the profession of the evangelical counsels are a triple expression of the sin- gle ‘yes’ to a relationship of total consecration to God. 18 Whereas the total self-offering of the first paragraph can be described as the form or inner reality of consecration, the evangelical vows are the mat- ter or visible manifestation of such a consecrated life. 19 This concrete shape is taken from the example of Jesus Christ, who Himself lived in chastity, obedience, and poverty during His earthly life. Stanislaus – and all future Marians – through the counsels enjoin upon themselves the principal task of the closer imitation of Christ and the way of life He has embraced. 20 The evangelical counsels then are not external additions to a life of self-offering Blessed Virgin Mary, to assist the dead, and to spread the Kingdom of God, in the presence of the entire community, through your hands, Reverend Father, vow to almighty God...” 17 EE, I.7: “This profession, in imitation of Christ, manifests a particular consecration which is ‘rooted in that of baptism and is a fuller expression of it’ ( Perfectae Caritatis, n. 5). The fuller expression recalls the hold of the divine person of the Word over the human nature which he as- sumed and it invites a response like that of Jesus: a dedication of oneself to God in a way which he alone makes possible and which witnesses to his holiness and absoluteness. Such a consecration is a gift of God: a grace freely given.” 18 EE, II. 14: “As a response to the gift of God, the vows are a triple expression of a single ‘yes’ to the one relationship of total consecration. They are the act by which the religious ‘makes himself or herself over to God in a new and special way’ ( Lumen Gentium, n. 44).” 19 EE , II, 15: “The vows themselves are specific: three ways of pledging oneself to live as Christ lived in areas which cover the whole of life: possessions, affections, autonomy. Each em- phasizes a relation to Jesus, consecrated and sent.” 20 Ratio Formationis, n. 15: “The principal task of a Marian is the closer imitation of Christ by taking up the same type of life he embraced - poor, celibate and obedient to the Father – for the sake of the Kingdom.”