100 which only take the youth with suffi cient abilities and interests. The lack of Marian identity, of bonds with the Founder and his charismatic vision of our Congregation; the absence of a sense of belonging to the Institute and of co-responsibility for its destiny and mission, result in a Marian who is set on fulfi lling his own plans and visions or only seeking peace and quiet. The only thing he expects from the Congregation is for it to interfere as little as possible in his personal life and actions or, possibly, to make his life and actions easier for him. Aside from the individualism that marks the life and actions of certain confreres, our communities’ other big problem is their small membership (e.g. twoperson communities) and inner discord. Gossip, murmuring, and even libel are still alive in some of our houses. There are even such people who purposefully seek out and highlight the failures and shortcomings of the other confreres’, thriving on this. Instead of giving help to a confrere in crisis, the community sometimes reverts to observing and commenting on his struggles behind his back. Some of the Marians even say openly that their house community has become such an impossible place that they seek escape in outside contacts, in pastoral ministry or a hobby. We could give more proof of our Congregation’s crisis, although probably they all could be acquitted by the statement that we are still alive, enjoy the good opinion of bishops and the Vatican Congregations; that we run wonderful apostolic works and recently had our Founder beatifi ed; that we are present in Africa and Kazakhstan and have revived our presence in Eastern Europe, while the number of vocations in the U.S. has experienced lately a noticeable growth. We can bring up the fact that we’ve lately planted the Marian charism in the Philippines and are about to start the formation of our fi rst candidate, with great prospects of work and vocations there. All this is true. However, it is impossible to negate the truth that the above-mentioned facts speak of dying. Not yet the immediate death of the Congregation, but surely of some confreres or communities dying out already today. Scientists say that all of the cells of a human body get replaced in a sevenyear cycle (some even more often). The new ones replace the dead. Therefore, the process of dying is absolutely natural. Probably, we won’t be able to prevent people from leaving the Congregation even after they have professed their perpetual vows. We won’t convert all of our frustrated or lazy confreres into people full of enthusiasm and apostolic zeal. However, it is a matter of opposing evil with enough good to be able to form new Marians and to pour in new life wherever death has already made its dwelling, in order to awaken new fervor in ourselves and in the people whom we serve. Only then can we be sure that the old dying branches shall make new sprouts that will bring abundant fruit.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==