Today's Marists V.6 Issue 1 FALL 2020

Father Augusto Zampini-Davies, the adjunct secretary of the
Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development
in Rome, had this to say in an article in the London Tablet in
May of this year, “This is a time to reset. What is essential? This
is the question. What is essential for the Church to resume, to
regenerate, and to allow the Holy Spirit to ignite the essential
dimension of Christianity? If Christ is walking with us in this
tragic moment, where does he want to lead us?” (cf ‘Reflecting
on Post-Covid Catholicism,’ by Christopher Lamb, The Tablet, 30
May 2020)
And so, once more, with Mary, we are called to ponder and to
reflect on all these things in our hearts. To “ponder” is to ask that
we may see as God sees, and so then to act as we believe God
would want us to act. This activity is what we call discernment.
As we look at ourselves, our Church, and our society and at what
has been and is being revealed in our COVID-19 world, we ask
“What would Mary do?”
Inevitably, we are led to focus on our Marist call to be
“instruments of divine mercy.”
We strive to portray, as Craig Larkin, SM has written in A
Certain Way, “the ‘feminine features” of God, and to help build
a church which is not perceived in terms of power, planning,
control, administration, or competition, but rather in terms of
community, compassion, simplicity, mercy, and fellowship.”
As an expression of that attitude, we are also called not only to
help individuals in need, but also to actively work to change
systems and structures that oppress people. “It is not merely a
question of helping others. It is a matter of justice.” (Pope Francis)
There can be “no return to normal” in our own lives, in our
Church, or in our society.
We are living through extraordinary times that have affected,
continue to affect, each of us in so many ways: spiritually,
physically, psychologically, emotionally, financially and so on. We
need to ask ourselves the fundamental question, “Who am I in
this present world, and what am I being called to be and to do?”
We need to ask (as Zampini-Davies says) of the Church, “What is
essential to resume, to regenerate, and to allow the Holy Spirit to
ignite the essential dimension of Christianity?”
And we need to ask similar questions of the society in which we
live. “What is essential for it to resume, to regenerate….” To quote
Pope Francis again, “solidarity [is] something more than a few
sporadic acts of generosity. It presumes the creation of a new
mindset, which thinks in terms of community and the priority of
the life of every human being as opposed to the appropriation of
goods by only a few.”
We cannot ignore any of these questions. We cannot shut
ourselves off physically or psychologically and wait until it is safe
to emerge back into the world.
As François Marc, SM has written, “A Marian church stands at
the foot of the cross. She does not take refuge in a fortress, or in a
chapel, or in cautious silence, when others are being crushed. She
is vulnerable, in her deeds as in her words. With humble courage,
she stands with the most insignificant.” (from Plea for a Marian
Church)
Our conclusion? Contagion is certainly worth watching. It may
be nine years old, and it doesn’t exactly depict our present reality.
But it does lead us into contemplation and it leads us to ask the
question, “What would Mary do in a COVID-19 world?”
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