124 c) additionally, our Constitutions encourage our gaining indulgences and offering them for the deceased,2 as well as promoting an eschatological awareness among the People of God.3 This paragraph offers us a clear incentive to refl ect on the Marian eschatological apostolate: “At opportune occasions and using various means of the apostolate, the members should strive to inculcate in the minds of the faithful eschatological truths in such a way that by them they be strongly spurred both to attain to sanctity and to offer prayer for the dying and for the souls detained in purgatory.” This opens a wide array of possibilities for action in all possible forms of the apostolate. I shall speak of details further in my presentation. B. In recent years, some of our Provinces came up with successful initiatives in regards to the eschatological charism. It seems suitable to mention here at least some of them: a) Regular celebrations of Vespers for the Dead are still a generally accepted practice in the Marian parishes (regrettably, with poor attendance by the Marians themselves usually); b) A new and specifi cally Marian initiative is the Votive Candles Shrines (Stockbridge, Kaunas) in remembrance of the departed who have been entrusted to our prayers; c) Some places have introduced the indulgences for the dead or Prayers for the dead at a cemetery a week before the parish fair, which aptly shows the sense of the indulgence as a time of grace for the living and the dead; d) The Resurrection processions to the cemetery to proclaim our paschal joy to the departed have similar connotations to (c). What Seems to Be Deserving Our Great Attention? Vivere, or to Live Eschatologically The primary form of the apostolate is always our individual and communal witness to the Kingdom of God, which is among us and to come, given in accord with the famous principle: Verba docent, exempla trahunt. Living from an eschatological perspective simply means to live our religious consecration according to the evangelical counsels, thus showing the beauty of what is to come and what is already here. 2 Ibid., 81. 3 Ibid., 118.
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