69 work). How to accomplish this? There is only one path: to develop a communion with Jesus Christ, to remain in Him. Man who is freed from sin through Christ’s grace is immediately elevated to “the new life.” As St. Paul teaches us: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). Christ, the Redeemer is the Author of the “new humanity,” the Giver of the abundance of new life participating in God’s life (Jn 10:10). The “new man” is the one who has experienced spiritual transformation through Christ’s grace (Rom 7:6; 8:1-16; Gal 5:16-25) and renewed the primary “image and likeness” of his Creator in himself (Col 3:10; Gn 1:27), that is, he put on Jesus Christ (Rom 13:14). Mary Immaculate is the example of the “new man.” Her presence in the spiritual life opens up new paths of apostolic engagement in the world. It can be summed up with the words close to the heart of Blessed George Matulewicz: Instaurare omnia in Christo (to renew everything in Christ). As we know, the above words, coming from the letter to the Ephesians (1:10), constituted a program of Church renewal at the beginning of the 20th century which was undertaken by Pope Pius X. Firstly, living the “new life”, we have to create a new community with God and our brothers, that is, the Church. Thus, on the path of our apostolic engagement, we are guided by the notion of caring for the Church, her beauty being modeled on Mary. She is, after all, the image of the Church, since in her the Church “has already reached that perfection whereby she is without spot or wrinkle.”16 This truth is proclaimed by the Church in the preface of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th: “She [Mary] is the image of the Church, the Bride of Christ, immaculate and shining with beauty,” and recalled by John Paul II: “In Mary, we can see the immaculate conception of the Church who is the temple and the bride.”17 Experiencing the truth of the Immaculate Conception is, therefore, closely linked with love for the Church, which is not a fl eeting feeling, but readiness to give one’s life for her. It is worth remembering here the example and words of Blessed George Matulaitis: “It is in this that I see the core and essence of our vocation: to renounce the self freely and willingly—one’s desires, inclinations, comforts, and pleasures; to give up the world—its riches, goods and vainglory and to devote and give our whole selves—all our gifts and talents both natural and supernatural—to the welfare of the Church—her defense and preservation, her propagation and growth.”18 The new community, the Church, should be viewed in the eschatological perspective of her completion and fulfi llment in the glory of heaven when “the 16 Lumen Gentium, 65. 17 John Paul II, Początki nowego Ludu Bożego (The Beginnings of the New People of God), L’Osservatore Romano (1983), no. 12, p. 6. 18 George Matulaitis-Matulewicz, Journal, October 15, 1910.
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