2.3 Commitment
STAGE 2: Awareness of Self
MY SEXUALITY
SUSTAINING PASSION
COMMITMENT
Aim: To commit ourselves to the gift of “pure love”, as offered by Jesus and the Montfortian consecration.
Readings
Jesus and the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:13-18): Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life”. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water”. Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back”. The woman answered him, “I have no husband”. Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”
The gift of pure love (TD 215): “The Mother of fair love will rid your heart of all scruples and inordinate servile fear. She will open and enlarge it to obey the commandments of her Son with alacrity and with the holy freedom of the children of God. She will fill your heart with pure love of which she is the treasury. You will then cease to act as you did before, out of fear of the God who is love, but rather out of pure love. You will look upon him as a loving Father and endeavour to please him at all times. You will speak trustfully to him as a child does to its father. If you should have the misfortune to offend him you will abase yourself before him and humbly beg his pardon. You will offer your hand to him with simplicity and lovingly rise from your sin. Then, peaceful and relaxed and buoyed up with hope you will continue on your way to him”.
Comment
The woman at Jacob’s well had been with six men. Six like the stone water-jars at the wedding of Cana. Is it a coincidence? They say that number six is the number that’s always missing something; in fact six is missing number seven, considered to be the number of perfection or full realization. At Cana there were six jars full of water, but without the Lord, who is the seventh jar, the miracle would have never happened.
The Samaritan woman has had six men, but none of them was able to placate her hunger for love. Only the seventh one, the Lord, was able to fill her life. When I ask somebody to fill my interior void or emptiness, my hunger for love, I ask that person for something that he or she cannot give me. Only God can fill my emptiness. When I ask my best friend, my husband or my wife, to make me happy, I ask him or her for something that cannot be given to me. When I ask my best friend to be always present, to protect me in all circumstances, to make me feel secure, I ask him or her for something that cannot be given to me.
No man or woman can give us something absolute. Here we need to pause in silence for a while and pray: “Lord, you alone are my All. You alone are my Water, my Wine, my Spouse, my Companion, my Happiness, my sure and absolute Way. I will not ask anybody else to take your place; nor will I take your place for the sake of others. I love my son/daughter, but I know he/she belongs to you. I love my husband/wife, but he/she is not all my life. I love my best friend and soul mate, but I know he/she is yours”.
Will we ever be able to take such a leap, to let go of our “six men” and to set our hearts ready to receive the gift of the “seventh jar”? For St. Louis-Marie de Montfort there is no doubt, provided we embrace and practice the “true devotion to Mary”. In fact, according to him, the third effect of this devotion is the “gift of pure love”, that opens the heart to love with the “freedom of the children of God” and, thus, makes it evermore “peaceful and relaxed”.
Personal Reflection and Sharing
How do I intend to commit myself to the “gift of pure love?”
- In relationship with my own sexuality, my spouse, my children, my intimate friends and soul mates?
- In which dimensions of my life do I feel that Mary can help me live up to my sexuality in its mature bloom? For this purpose, what practice do I intend to commit myself to?
[2-3] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER