SPIRITUALITY:

The spirituality of the Marian Missionaries ad Regnum Dei is THE LIFE OF LOVE as signified by the embrace of Jesus from the cross, as well as the embrace of Mother Mary and her Son Jesus, to counter prejudices and discriminations based on tribe, ethnicity, race and similar factors. This spiritual life is marked by three fundamental principles, which constitute the pillars of our spirituality: childlikeness, poor-likeness and the joy for the Kingdom of God. In fact, the three elements, childlikeness, poorlikeness and a profound joythat characterizes those who sincerely incarnate these qualities constitute what could be called the spirituality of the Kingdom of God according to the teaching of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In all circumstances the joy of the Marian Missionaries, born of their love of Christ, is to be real, concrete, and contagious.

Childlikeness has a universal dimension, that cuts across all human barriers of prejudices and discriminations. In all places and among all peoples, a child is usually newly born, born of someone, born naked, small, fragile, and dependent. The spirit of childlikeness, also called the spirit of infancy, usually entails being constantly new or renewed, being born anew or from above “of water and the Spirit”. This refers to the Christian birth and rebirth through the sacraments and sacramental; but it also echoes the two-dimensional birth of every Christian, the human (by water, tangible and redolent of the fluid of the human mother's womb) and the spiritual from above, intangible, like the wind, drawing the Christian constantly upwards towards Jesus Christ as he is lifted up like the bronze-serpent of Moses in the desert. Cf. Jn 3:14). The Marian missionary ad Regnum Dei lives the newness or freshness of this birth or rebirth in his or her personal spirit and outward expressions.

As the child is born naked, the spirit of childlikeness entails a strong mentality of detachment from material things and in their use; this is the spirit of poverty or the “poor-likeness” that Jesus speaks about in the beatitudes (Mt 5,3). The nudity of the newly born speaks also of the original innocence that characterized humanity in its origins: Before their fall, Adam and Eve were naked but were not ashamed (Gn 2:25).

The nakedness of the newly born goes with and indicates the child's fragility, defencelessness, and dependence. The lack of clothing exposes the newly born to things and situations from which it cannot defend or protect itself. The baby depends wholly on the other for its covering, defence, and protection. In the case of our first parents, God wished them to be totally dependent on him on deciding between the good and the bad (Gn 2,17); it was he also who finally clothed them with garments of skins, in place of the shabby aprons they made themselves from fig leaves (Gn 3,7.21). The Marian missionary Ad Regnum Dei embodies an awareness of human fragility and deep confident dependence on divine providence.

Childlikeness means also recognizing one's filiation, both individually and in communion with others: knowing oneself as son or daughter of a Father and a Mother, as well as brother or sister of another.

As the Child is born naked, the spirit of childlikeness entails a strong mentality of detachment from material things and in their use; this is the spirit of poverty or "poorlikeness" that Jesus speaks about in the beatitudes(Mat 5, 3). the nudity of the newly born speaks also of the original innocence that Characterised humanity in its origins: Before their fall, Adam and Eve were naked but were not ashamed (Gen 2,25).

The "poorlikeness" for the Kingdom, as was preached by Jesus, corresponds with childlikeness in a number of factors: detachment from material things, both in their possession and use; sense of humility and simplicity; consciousness of human fragility and trusting dependence on divine providence. Read more...