Mary in the Life of Religious (5)

Evangelical Counsels: Poverty

Mary stands as an example of religious poverty. She is "anawim", i.e., poor in spirit and poor in the presence of God. She finds that her greatest reason for praising and thanking the Lord is in her "being looked upon in her lowly state" (cf. Lk 1:46-55). Furthermore, by describing herself as lowly (=poor Lk 1:48), the Blessed Virgin identifies herself with the poor (Lk 1:52b).

Who are the poor that Mary identifies herself with? The Magnificat, Mary's song of praise, tells us that they are "those who fear God = lowly = hungry = servant Israel". The poor are thus those who recognize God as their ultimate and absolute value; they are those who "put all their hope in God" (Eph 1:12). [14]

To this poor, Mary acts as their spokeswoman. Her "option for the poor" is the fruit of her being "anawim". Religious therefore can find in Mary their model for how they can live their life of evangelical poverty. (They too speak in behalf of the poor; they share in the Church's preferential option for the marginalized and the oppressed). Furthermore, religious can emulate and imitate the spirit by which Mary sings her Magnificat, and then by this spirit, be moved to concretely act in their own particular way (according to their charism), how they are to manifest this in their lives.

Endnotes:

[14] De Candido, Vita Consacrata, p. 1482-1512.

Evangelical Counsels: Chastity

Mary stands also as an example of religious chastity. But as pointed out before, we are not going to consider the exterior aspects of the life of Mary and that of religious because they are very different.  Mary's vocation was not for celibacy but for married life and motherhood: she was the true wife of Joseph and the true mother of Jesus (cf. Mt 1:16 ..."of her was born Jesus"). On the other hand, we know well that the religious' vocation to celibacy excludes married life and motherhood or fatherhood.  Religious embrace chastity in celibacy for the kingdom of God (cf. Mt 19:12). "It makes the human heart free in such a way (cf. I Cor 7:32-35) as to fill it with greater love for God and for men" (PC 12). [15]

So how is Mary a model of religious in the area of chastity? The exemplarity of Mary, as far as the evangelical life of chastity is concerned, is in the line of "total openness and availability, in unconditional love, to God's initiative. "Mary's chastity is openness, emptiness, and availability filled with God. [16] In this, the religious can pattern how they are to live their life of chastity after the example of Mary.

Endnotes:
[14] De Candido, Vita Consacrata, p. 1482-1512.[15] Ibid.[16] Ibid.