69 and Mary Papczyński: “I, Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczyński, […], being forty years of age, offer and consecrate to God the Father Almighty, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, and to the Mother of God the Ever-Virgin Mary conceived without the stain of original sin: my heart, my soul, intellect, memory, will, emotions, whole mind, whole spirit, interior and exterior senses, and my body, leaving absolutely nothing for myself, so that from this moment forward, I may be wholly the servant of this same Almighty God and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Therefore, I promise that I will serve them chastely and zealously until the end of my life in this Society of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception (which, by God’s grace, I intend to found). [...] Particularly, I confess in truth that Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, was conceived without the stain of original sin, and I promise that I will promote and defend her honor even at the cost of my life. So help me God and this holy Gospel of God.” In this act, as in a seed, was everything. This is the secret of the extraordinary power of the founding charism of your congregation. The founding charism of a congregation is a bottomless mine that hides a great wealth of graces and inspirations of the Holy Spirit, which each generation of members of the congregation must constantly rediscover. The charisms retain an extraordinary dynamism and spiritual potential capable of rebirth in situations where it humanly seemed to be the end. Your congregation experienced this power when it was reborn through the efforts of Blessed George Matulaitis. The charism of the congregation is your great spiritual capital, which must be guarded – and we guard it when we simply live it every day. When we remember it. Today your congregation is present in 19 countries around the world, with about 450 priests and brothers living in 80 communities. There is much to thank God for! And the second condition for a fruitful jubilee is to live the present life of the Church and the congregation with renewed passion, enthusiasm, commitment and evangelical joy. In the face of the great challenges that the world is throwing at the Church, in the face of rampant anti-evangelization or even neo-paganism, we – the workers in the Lord’s vineyard – are in danger of spiritual fatigue, pettiness and loss of hope. The Jubilee is supposed to awaken in us evangelical courage and a missionary spirit. And how to accomplish this? St. Paul encouraged Timothy: “For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). To kindle in oneself the charism of the congregation means to return to
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