106 Rule is still preserved among the Marians now in the form of a devotion as the Chaplet of the Ten Virtues of the BVM, recited and promoted by some confreres. Certainly, it would even have been worth bringing it back today in the context of the rule of life, just like it is still practiced by the Annunciades. Then, it would have been a matter of living by The Rule of the Ten Virtues and imitating Mary in her ten virtues in a way to please Jesus Christ like His Mother used to please Him. Mary’s Immaculate Conception, her freedom from all sin, as well as the possibility of meriting heaven are an invitation for the Marians to freedom, a freedom from sin, from immature relationships and attachments, from personal programs and desires. It means that each one of us, and our entire Congregation, must be so free as to be ready to leave our present place of residence and occupation (even those to which we feel the most attached) and to go wherever the need is greatest; to undertake the works that the Holy Spirit would point to us in the service of the Church. We must ask God for such a freedom so that every day we may be ready to die (individually, communally or even as a whole Congregation) for the glory of God and the salvation of our neighbors; so that we may be ready to give our lives gratuitously in our communities and in our apostolic ministry.14 The question of being vested anew in the white Marian habit returns today within the context of deepening and renewing our identity, as well as rebuilding our relationship with our Founder. As Fr. Janusz Kumala beautifully put it in his conference, “The symbol of the «white habit» is a sign both for the Marians as for the outside world. It is a sign—reminder (of our vocation) and a sign—directive (of the road of purity, the battle against sin); it is also a prophetic sign (of the fullness of holiness in heaven) and a sign that indicates the source of our strength for persevering on the Marian road: the love of God that embraces us, the Eucharist that nourishes us.” Our Blessed Father Founder instructed the Marians to wear a habit “white in color, in honor of the pure Conception of our Lady,”15 and he forbade changing it on pain of God’s judgment.16 The change was made by the Congregation for the Religious at the Vatican in response to our Blessed Renovator’s request because of an historical necessity, which has now ceased to 14 “A Congregation is never more alive than when its «components» (individually and communally) are ready to vanish from the face of the earth. If such a readiness exists, it means that it [the congregation] managed to get rid of the sense of its importance and indispensability, that it understood that the Lord is the One who creates history, that salvation is His exceptional work, and that we are His co-workers. (...) If a given religious family is not prepared for such a death, it means that its true death nears it, ignoring all «statistics» and calculations.” Fragment from: A. Cencini, Będziesz miłował Pana Boga swego. Psychologia kontaktu z Bogiem, Kraków 1995, s. 86-87. 15 NV, IV, 4. 16 “Should Father Joachim be reinstated as the coadjutor upon the fathers’ agreement, then I put an obligation on him [on pain] of God’s Judgment not to change anything in our habit nor the Order’s title; may he never dare to godlessly destroy the honor of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary,” T II 15.
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