91 In the spirit of the Post-Vatican decrees (1970, 1988), as early as the fi rst General Convention (1973), we began to work on the questions pertaining to the charism at the perpetual profession, which normally are asked before the act of profession. The Convention of 1973 agreed on the following formula: “Are you resolved, out of love of God and neighbor, to give yourself zealously to the apostolate for the salvation and perfection of others; that all, whether living or dead, may reach their eternal joy?” The response is: “I am.” This text is found in the drafts of the Rituals in some Provinces: Polish, Brazilian, American, and Portuguese. In turn, the last General Chapter of 2005, accepted the proposal of the new ritual, in which the matter in question is formulated as follows: “Do you desire by your example of the evangelical life and through the apostolate of the Congregation, to serve the work of salvation, in order to lead the living on the way of perfection and to help the deceased by prayer and sacrifi ce?” The response is: “I do.” 48 In the new formulation of the question, which written on the pattern of the second paragraph of our Constitutions, one notices the emphasis on the essential and imperative matter of “the means of assistance,” which are holiness of life and eternal salvation. Prayers and offerings, the apostolate and the religious life—all are to serve the work of salvation. To sum up the part on the “Continuation and Development of the Cause,” I would venture to make an important statement. Today’s Marians understand their proper eschatological element, as well as the Marian element, not only as their special duty (i.e. duty to pray), but also as a special and additional evangelical inspiration for conducting their own Christian formation in the aspects of the religious and apostolic life, as well as to form the faithful in their pastoral and educational care. Christian education with a goal of a “mature faith” cannot lack the paschal, eschatological or Marian49 features, if it is meant to be Christological and ecclesial. The life of God conceived in man through faith and the Sacraments of Christian Initiation develops and matures in the womb of the Mother-Church thanks to the grace of God and help from the “educators in the faith,”50 until the day of their birth for eternal life, because the day of the death in the Lord is dies natalis, which will be a perfect entrance into the community of the saints with its source in the Divine koinonia. 48 M. Pisarzak MIC, Prezentacja..., see Annex 2. 49 See: Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, parts VII and VIII. 50 Decree on the service and life of priests, Presbyterorum ordinis, 6.
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