Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

149 at conception, from the moment when the Holy Spirit first infuses life into each person, and continues unto eternity; only in light of that total gift of self in love is a Marian capable of returning that total gift of self in love for Christ and the Church. However, one can thus ask: what happens if a Marian were to profess poverty, chastity, and obedience, but without this personal experience of the love of God, enabling him to participate in this total self-offering , in imitation of Stanislaus? In such a case, we find a confrere who does not live in communion with the risen Lord, offering all freely to Him (cf. Mt 10:8) to fulfill His will and proclaim His Kingdom (cf. Mt 6:33). Rather, such a confrere is limited in his generosity; he may be intent more upon the ver- bal rules and regulations than upon the Spirit who inspires and transcends them (cf. Mt 23:23; 2 Cor 3:6). 33 In his book Kinship by Covenant, Scott Hahn explains this point in light of the biblical model of the covenant: cov- enants are an exchange of persons, such that they become kin, whereas contracts are an exchange of duties between two parties who remain unre- lated. 34 Religious life, as stated above, forms a covenantal relationship with God; the contractual nature of juridical laws is subordinated to that cove- nant. 35 When the aspect of covenant (as indicated in the first paragraph of the Oblatio, which emphasizes the exchange of persons : ego , Deo , and Mariae ) is lacking, then the Spirit of the Constitutions is missing, and there is the lack of such total self-offering and dedication to God. The contrast between these two ways of living the Law (one interior, the Holy Spirit, the other ex- terior, in written word) 36 is visible in the difference between the Pharisees, well-dressed and respected by all, and the total self-offering of the Lord on strength to respond to God’s initiative. It leads us to a generous giving of ourselves to Christ and his mission...” 33 Cf. The contrast that Jesus repeatedly highlights between the letter and the inner dyna- mism of the Torah in the Sermon on the Mount, particularly in Matthew 5. Cf. Curtis Martin and Edward Sri, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew, Commentary for Matthew 5 (Baker Academic, 2010). 34 Cf. Scott Hahn, Kinship by Covenant. Cf. Also, Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Prom- ises (Yale University Press, 2009). 35 I.10: “The very nature of religious vocation involves a public witness to Christ and to the Church. Religious profession is made by vows which the Church receives as public. A stable form of community life in an institute canonically erected by the competent ecclesiastical authority manifests in a visible way the covenant and communion which religious life expresses.” 36 Cf. CCC 1966; cf. ST I-II, q. 106, a. 1, resp. Cf. F.X. Durrwell, The Holy Spirit of God (Ser- vant Books, 2006).