Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

153 that he withdraws from love, he withdraws from life.” 53 The works of mer- cy are to be practiced (cf. Mt 25:31-46), surrounding with “devoted love” friends, adversaries, and enemies. 54 However, an important aspect that is missing in the Oblatio , since the community has not been founded, is the particular mission, the concrete manner of partaking in the salvific mission of Christ, which appears later in the first chapter of Norma Vitae and the first (and current) vow formu- lae. Our current Constitutions explicitly state the mission in the third par- agraph, immediately after the charism, namely to “profess, proclaim and honor the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Vir- gin Mary; assist the dying and the souls suffering in Purgatory; and spread the Kingdom on Earth, serving Christ and the Church.” 55 In Inspectio Cordis, Stanislaus further speaks about the necessity and primacy of love, describing in stark contrast the difference between the religious with and without love: “The man without love, the religious with- out love is a shadow without the sun, a body without a soul, he is simply nothing... Take the sun from the world, and you take away everything; take away love from a man, and you leave him with nothing.” 56 Thus, during initial formation, emphasis is to be placed upon gener- ous discipleship to Jesus, capable of self-giving and responding ‘yes’ to lov- ing Jesus Christ and fulfilling the demands of the Gospel (cf. Jn 21:15-19). Without this interior dynamism of personal love for Jesus that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Marians may be partially capable of living the external aspect of the Constitutions, but without the inner joy of entrusting oneself entirely into the hands of the Father (cf. Mt 6:26-29; Lk 23:46), that is part of living our patrimony of Divine Providence. 57 There is the corrective as- pect provided by the evangelical counsels as well: one cannot give oneself to God and then proceed along one’s life according to one’s own desires or plans, while claiming to follow God’s will. When lived fully, the evangelical 53 Norma Vitae, n. 2.4. 54 Norma Vitae, n. 2.5. 55 Cf. Constitutions, n. 3, for the full description of the mission. 56 Wejrzenie w Głąb Serca, O tej samej cnocie miłości : “Człowiek bez miłości ( sine charitate ), zakonnik bez miłości ( sine amore ), jest cieniem bez słońca, ciałem bez duszy, po prostu niczym. Czym w ciele jest dusza, tym w Kościele, w zakonach i w domach zakonnych jest miłość... Za- bierz ze świata słońce, a wszystko zabierzesz; zabierz człowiekowi miłość, a niczego mu nie zo- stawisz.” W: Pisma Zebrane, p. 1001-1004. 57 Cf. Constitutions, nn. 13, 20, 45, 67, 282.