In the Footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort
"Footsteps Online"
Autumn 1998 (Volume 3, Issue 3)
"To Be or Not To Be"
Patricia Roberts' article, "Montfort Missionaries - by Association", in the last issue of "Footsteps" struck a chord with a number of the Associates. Here we print a response from ANNE HUGHES of Barrhead, Scotland.
After reading the article, "Montfort Missionaries - by Association", in the Pentecost issue of "FOOTSTEPS", I was very inspired by the motivating spirit of St. Louis in Patricia Roberts' writing.
The words that came to mind were uttered by Hamlet in his famous soliloquy: "To be or not to be".
For me, this was the gist of what Patricia was trying to convey: Being who we are; where we are; as we are. As a Montfortian priest once preached, "We are where our feet are." We are all called to be missionaries in the way directed by God best suited to our respective gifts and qualities. Some are given greater responsibilities than others, but nobody should feel any less in the eyes of the Lord, for "God has no favourites."
St. Louis Marie was a lion-hearted man with the passionate gentleness of a lamb. He lived out the maxim, "Charity begins at home", by converting and winning many souls for God in his native France. This was God's plan for St. Louis, and he was exemplary in doing exactly what was required of him. The world-wide mission work done today through the Montfortians, priests, brothers and sisters, came about after the death of our Fr. Founder. Christ himself said: "It is not the man who says, 'Lord, Lord', who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father." We must follow Christ as he directs us, not as we would like.
Lay men and women are called to play their part in bringing about the Kingdom of God. The dream of Jesus Christ was to do the will of his heavenly Father, and every committed Christian, every committed Montfortian, buys into that dream by association, by fidelity to the truth that sets us all free in Jesus Christ.
In the spirit of St. Louis Marie, we do this by devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who at Cana said, "Do whatever he tells you." Through the Seat of Wisdom we will find divine Wisdom Incarnate.
It is not necessary to think we must pack our bags and go to foreign lands in order to be missionary apostles. The Kingdom of God is in our midst, is within us, and if we are called to live out our own apostolate in Barrhead or wherever, we have done what God has asked of us. Every day that tremendous call, that privilege, is renewed by God in a living covenant, to each and every one of us: Be the person God wishes us to be, in the spirit of St. Louis Marie, whose sole aim was to bring everyone TO JESUS THROUGH MARY - TO GOD ALONE.
