Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

166 the continuance of consecration. “The faithful of Christ bind themselves to the three aforesaid counsels either by vows, or by other sacred bonds, [...] a person is totally dedicated to God, loved beyond all things,” the Second Vatican Council teaches (LG, 44). Pope Paul VI supplements this teaching in his exhortation Evangelica testificatio ,: “This teaching of the Council il- lustrates well the grandeur of this self-giving, freely made by yourselves, after the pattern of Christ’s self-giving to His Church; like His, yours is to- tal and irreversible [Latin. absolutissimus et irrevocabile – the author’s note],” (ET 7). Religious consecration is not a function assigned to a person, but it is the expression of a bond between God and that person. Though the act of the Oblatio was made three centuries earlier, it is in perfect harmony with the teaching of the Church today. It would not have been possible if not for Father Founder’s union with God, purified and fortified in the fire of various experiences. The first paragraph of the Oblatio, listing all natural and spiritual powers, speaks of his total offering of himself. The solemn character of this act testifies, on the one hand, to the gift’s irrevocability, and on the other to its totality, its everlasting character: “And so I promise that I shall, to the end of my life, serve Them [i.e., the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin – the author’s note] chastely and zealously in the Society of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception (which by the grace of God I resolve to found)”, ( Oblatio , p. 28). If our holy Founding Father is for us not solely the subject of reflection, research and analysis; if he is not only a person to be proud of, then he should be regarded as a reference point. It is not so much a matter of what he did, but how he did the work of founding the Congregation, his faith and self-abnegation with which he entered the new reality given to him by God. In our imitation of Christ ( sequela Christi ), the Founder is given to us as a leader, setting the standards of discernment and decision making. Basing on some personal observations, one may remark with sadness at a certain “lightness” of some, now former, members of our community in making their decision to leave the community, either by joining the dio- cese or returning to the secular state. Perhaps I am wrong, but the speed of their making such a decision and determination in submitting petitions for an indult of departure are definitely telling. It looks as if their previ- ous discernment, choice, membership in the Congregation, and therefore, their religious vows and the promise of perseverance in the Congregation were purely formal. These men’s unfulfilled expectations, new perspec- tives, gradual distancing themselves from the community, and their cer- tain sins seemed to be heading in one direction – departure. Naturally,