MARIAN devotees were called to follow the Blessed Mother’s vow of being God’s disciple in fulfilling their service to the Church, during the third Marian Encounter Seminar last Sept. 29 at the St. Raymund de Peñafort Building.
“No matter how good you are in managing your organizations, if you have not made yourself a disciple of Christ then you don’t call that Church,” said Msgr. Claro Garcia, parish priest of St. Alphonsus de Liguori Parish.
He said Christians are first disciples of Christ before they are members of their organizations.
Garcia also said a true disciple is not only heard through words, but must have a capacity to surrender to God.
Fr. Romerico Prieto, parish priest of San Antonio de Padua in Quezon City and a devotee of Our Lady of Fatima, said devoting one’s self to Mary leads the faithful toward understanding God’s grace.
“[The apparition of Our Lady of] Fatima is what the Lord has already revealed [to us]. We are [given a] new lens to see and understand that through the apparition of [Mary], Jesus redefined her Mother as the woman [w]ho helped Him attained salvation,” Prieto said.
Fr. Francis Gustilo, vice dean of the Institute for Salesian Studies in Don Bosco School of Theology, emphasized that Mary enlivens God’s grace and thay one can hold on to her in times of stress or adversity.
“Kapag wala tayong paniniwala sa Diyos, pwede tayong umabot sa malalim na kalungkutan. [A]ng taong may pananalig ay hindi matatakot sapagkat mayroon siyang kasama. [A]ng isang cause of joy ni Maria ay [m]akita sa kanya ang malalim na pananampalataya sa Diyos,” Gustilo said.
(When we don’t have faith in God, we can fall into deep sadness. [A] person who has faith will not be afraid because he or she has a companion. [O]ne of Mary’s causes of joy is when people see in her their deep faith in God.)
Gustilo also called on the faithful to rediscover the Blessed Mother as a model of virtue.
Gisela Alegria Camba of Missionaries of Mary (MOM) said the absence of Mary’s presence could result in the absence of joy.
“’Yung mga kabataan ngayon is [prone to problems] like suicide maybe because they don’t have any cause for their joy. [M]ary is our spiritual Mother who we can talk to … She will always be there to guide us,” Camba said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
The praying of the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary followed the seminar.
Established in 2013, MOM is a lay Marian community that helps in the Church’s mission to evangelize by promoting Marian spirituality through recollections, seminars, and outreach programs. with reports from Camille Abiel H. Torres
