60 In the realm of the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, I ground my faith in the fact that I am loved by God. I would like to share with you a few refl ections on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception as a source of inspiration for the Marian presence in the Church. Certainly, this is not an exhaustive study, but rather an attempt at showing the depth, beauty, and richness of our Marian path which we discover in the experience of Blessed Father Founder. So we are not to search for a Marian path, but rather to fi nd ourselves on it. And this is the path on which the Immaculate Conception is our sign, strength and joy. The Immaculate Conception—The Beginning of the Road A Marian is a Person Called by the Lord Blessed Stanislaus Papczyński accepted the grace of founding a new religious community as a gift of the Holy Spirit for the good of the Church. His living the mystery of Christ and the Church brought him into the Marian dimension of the Christian life in which the guiding light was the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. This mystery of faith and the Marian way of spiritual and apostolic life are closely tied with this organic link, thanks to which the community may develop and fruitfully serve the Church. The experience of the historic development of the Marian Congregation, including the time of the renewal and reform in 1909, reveals a fundamental fi delity to the mystery of Our Lady in her Immaculate Conception. To comprehend the signifi cance of this mystery for our spirituality and apostolic involvement is undeniably a process which may be called growing in fi delity. This takes place in unison with the rhythm of the life of the Church and her awareness of the mystery of Mary Immaculate, our openness to the light of the Holy Spirit, and dedication to living the evangelical counsels. This path, initiated by Blessed Stanislaus Papczyński, was followed by generations of Marians, whom Blessed George Matulaitis-Matulewicz led toward the new epoch in 1909. At the source of creation of the Marian Congregation, we encounter the amazing work of the Holy Spirit, who, bringing a new religious community to life, “points” to the fi gure of Mary Immaculate. The Spirit of God found in the person of Father Stanislaus a heart on which to imprint the seal of the new religious congregation. The spiritual experiences of Father Stanislaus reveal a certain drama inherent in the process of founding a new community in the Church: in its inception (in the mind and heart of Father Stanislaus), in its birth (the diffi culties with starting the work), and in its growth (the adversities which he encountered).
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