THE MONTFORTIAN MONTH

[FR]  [ES]    

A memorable experience at the
International Novitiate in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - The last 33 days of our novitiate journey have been graced with the experience of the Montfortian Month. It is a spiritual journey, proposed by Saint Louis Marie de Montfort to those who want to consecrate themselves to Christ through the hands of Mary, as an effective means to live faithfully their baptismal commitments. This wonderful experience has fostered in us deep Christian awareness in communion with Mary, Our Blessed Mother. Through it, we have been helped to discern true wisdom from false wisdom. This was done in order to empty ourselves of the spirit of the world, which is opposed to the spirit of Jesus. It has helped us to easily understand the knowledge of self and that of Mary in our second and third periods respectively. In the last part we have gone through the works of Montfort, especially The Love of Eternal Wisdom, in order to understand Jesus better in his plan of salvation and our sanctification.

The experience was so captivating as to help us to deeply contemplate the Divine Wisdom's self-sacrifice for humanity and discover his earnest desire to give himself to man. It was so charming to meditate on the role of Mary in our spiritual life and what she keeps doing for us! All enabled us to realize that Wisdom's kenosis and Mary's acceptance of God's invitation were both done out of love for humanity. Reflecting on Wisdom's indescribable sorrows and his ultimate expression of love for us on the cross we felt being loved beyond measure and challenged on our part to express our love to him and humanity.

We thank God for guiding and protecting us during this time. By the grace of God we have had a conducive environment for our retreat and we enjoyed good health all throughout. This helped us to participate actively during our sessions. Furthermore, we thank our facilitators, Fr. Mario Belotti, our novice master, and Fr. Paul Arnel Lucero, the superior of the Philippine Delegation. It was because of their vast experience, deep knowledge and good approach that we were helped to stay constantly in touch with the spirit of the process. They were really committed towards forming us to grow as mature Christians and Religious. It is our hope that the Holy Spirit, through the hands of Our Lady, will help us to make fruitful all the knowledge we have acquired by putting it into practice.

The newly professed Montfort Missionaries:
Bro. Emil Verson L. Marlin, smm
Bro. Von Ryan S. Martinez, smm
Bro. Lovemore Alexander Masache, smm
Bro. Timothy Gabriel Banda, smm
Bro. Petro Chilumpha, smm,  
Bro. Fortune Gondwe, smm
Bro. Eugene E. Escario, smm

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