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FORMATION OF THE SERVANT OF MARY The Order of Friar Servants of Mary is a particular way of living the one and only Christian vocation. A clear awareness of this must inform and inspire all formation efforts. -The Christian vocation is a call to conform to Christ in our thought, in our feeling, in our action and in our dying and rising. -The Christian vocation is an invitation to become Icona Trinitatis (Icon of the Trinity), an image of the Trinity in our interpersonal, inter-ecclesial and international relations. We are united yet distinct in a love made up of reciprocity and radical openness in liberty and in responsibility. The apostolic life of the Mother Church of Jerusalem is the original prototype of this love. -The Christian vocation is a call to expectation: Sacramentum futuri (Sacrament of the Future). Expectation of the fulfillment of the promise of "a new heaven and a new earth in which justice will find a permanent abode". -The Christian vocation is a call that resonates through history. The Church is from God for mankind. -The Christian vocation is a call to a life of discipline lived in joy. This self-discipline is not an effort at self-redemption - that would be radically contrary to the Gospel of Grace - rather it is a response to the gift of God. -The Christian vocation is common to every disciple of the Lord and to every form of life within Christianity, religious life included. It is lived by baptized people among baptized people. There is a characteristic addition: the call comes through the Virgin Mary. From the very beginning of his formation, the friar Servant of Mary must be aware of the fact that his vocation is part of a widespread human phenomenon. The Order of Friar Servants of Mary exists and is to be understood in the framework of religious life in the Roman Catholic Church. Servites look to Mary as a mirror to learn the essence of service and the Gospel experience: the woman who listens, the humble woman, the woman of suffering, the woman of the Magnificat, the ecumenical woman, the woman who waits in expectation, the woman who points to Christ, our Way, the woman of the Spirit. There are four phases of Servite Formation: |
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