27 Maciej Zachara, MIC Sequela Christi by the Marian Community We often speak about the consecrated life as a following of Christ or imitating Christ. We use this phrase without carefully thinking about its meaning. What is this sequela Christi? What meaning does it have specifi cally for us, the Marians? I would like to open this conference by showing the biblical sense of the phrase “following Christ,” which must be the basis for all further refl ections. Then I will attempt to show the synthesis of what the documents of the Teaching Magisterium say about sequela Christi. And fi nally we’ll examine the sources of the Marian tradition. The Holy Scriptures Following God as Shown in the Old Testament Psalm 128 begins with: “Happy are you who fear the LORD, who walk in His ways!” These words are the best summation of the Old Testament’s teaching about following God. To follow God who is unfathomable and cannot be seen, means to walk in His ways—the paths on which He led His people. The journey of Israel through the desert, which is the point of reference for the entire successive history of Israel, and which was regarded by the patristic catechism as the path of the Christian life, has been a model example of walking in the ways of God. Yahweh led His people through the desert in the daytime by means of a column of cloud and at night by means of a column of fi re. Thus the end of the Book of Exodus states: “Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling, the Israelites would set out on their journey. But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward; only when it lifted did they go forward. In the daytime, the cloud of the Lord was seen over the Dwelling; whereas at night, fi re was seen in the cloud by the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey” (Ex 40:36-38). Another passage of the Book of Exodus states that God announced the sending of His angel to go before the people and to pave the way for them
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==