“Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum, et vivam; et non confundas me ab expectatione mea.” (Ps 118, 116)
“True to your word, support me and I shall live; do not disappoint me of my hope.” (Ps 118, 116)
Why do the Missionaries of Divine Revelation renew their vows on the Solemnity of the Annunciation?
For religious who have professed the evangelical councils, the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience are the nucleus of our religious consecration. In this bind, with true liberty, everything is lived, desired and loved in purity without any other interest than pleasing Him who called us to such a sublime vocation. As this precious gift must be cared for and guarded by each religious, the Church and our Rule of Life wisely invite us to renew our vows each year following our Perpetual profession. We have chosen the 25 March, the day in which the Church celebrates the great feast of the Annunciation of the Incarnation of Jesus in Our Lady, to renew our spousal union with the Lord.
This splendid day was the start of the great work of man’s Redemption. In the fulness of time, God profoundly came to meet His creatures. On this blessed day, the Word of God took a human body in the womb of the Virgin Mary, making Himself like us in all things but sin. It was the inauguration of the time of grace. From this point on, Our Saviour, through Mary, would never again be separated from us because we are all present in His Holy Humanity. For nine months, the Messiah who will be revealed is securely protected in the womb of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the new Arc of the Covenant.
The Virgin Mary is the greatest model of consecration. In her, we not only find the virtues to imitate, but also the grace to live this supernatural vocation even with our natural human weakness wounded by sin. Mary lived totally for the Lord. She did not retain anything for herself and so she is the model that we wish to imitate. Our Lady remained pure and intact for God with an undivided heart. We would also like to imitate her heart so that we too can be totally in love with God and capable of loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. Mary freely obeyed the Lord in every moment, and we would like to also imitate her generous ‘Yes’ to the Lord.
The Mother of God, who donated her flesh and blood to form the Holy Humanity of her Son, sustains us each day through her intercessions, her tears and her prayers accompanying our vocation with her powerful intercession for all the prayer requests that we receive and carry in our hearts. Through Mary we have an advocate with the Divine Trinity because she is the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son and the spouse of the Holy Spirit. It is a mystery of love that can be explained at the proclamation of the angel’s words, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” (Lk 1,28)
In this glorious day, let us thank the Lord for having permitted us to renew our ‘yes’ to Him, united to that of our most Holy Mother so that, with St Bernard was can sing:
“Thanks to you, heaven has been populated, hell has been emptied, the ruins of the heavenly Jerusalem have been rebuilt, and the unfortunate people living in hope have been given back the life they had lost!”