A truly glorious day would be a fitting description of the Religious Men and Women day of Recollection today, in the Archdiocese of Blantyre in Malawi. Brother MartinusDariyo gave a touching reflection on ‘Following in the footsteps of Jesus through Mary, Mother of God’. A mixed group of 32 members: Carmelite priests, Comboni Missionaries, Spiritan Priests, St Egideo Priests, Daughters of Wisdom, Sisters of the Divine Providence, Servants of the Blessed Mary and Brothers FIC came together to pray. 

Well-known religious men and women from the archdiocese, including several coming for the first time, Companions and friends came together in the delightful setting to reflect on our common vocation to religious life. Br Dariyo chose a reflection on Mary the Mother of God as model of religious life because he is convinced that we cannot have true knowledge of Christ without first knowing his mother. 

“In the actual living, a human person who is the Virgin Mother of God are all the poverty and the wisdom of all the saints. It all came to her and is in her. That is why to love her and to know her is to discover the true meaning of everything and to have access to all wisdom. Without her the true knowledge of Christ is only speculation. But in her it becomes experience because all the humility and poverty, without this Christ cannot be known, belong to her.” Thomas Merton.

As on the many previous such happy occasions, we were the guests of our extremely generous hosts, the Carmelite Fathers of the Nyungwe Retreat Centre Community, and it was a great joy to welcome among our fellow guests two members of the St Egideo, these were present for the first time in the grouping. 

In his beautiful presentation Br Dariyo highlighted Mary’s trust in God in spite of the consequences. People misunderstood her immaculate conception and mocked her. She must have feared the Law of Moses which empowered Jews to stone people who were suspected of committing adultery. “Let it be” was Mary’s attitude. Br Dariyo invited religious to emulate Mary religious attitude of trust by letting God’s will be. 

Using many examples and personal testimonies the facilitator explained his appreciation of Mary’s attitude of humility; let it be. He concluded that we can only become truly humble people if our living as religious is deeply rooted to the heart. 

“In our deepest moments of struggle, frustration, fear, and confusion, we are being called upon to reach in and touch our hearts. Then, we will know what to do, what to say, how to be. What is right is always in our deepest heart of hearts. It is from the deepest part of our hearts that we are capable of reaching out and touching another human being. It is, after all, one heart touching another heart. “  Roberta Sage Hamilton

The presentation revealed that for Brother Dariyo being a member of the Brothers Immaculate Conception of the virgin Mary is not just by chance, it a gift that resonates with his humble heart. At the end we all agreed that this was day well spent. We prayed the Eucharist together and had an hour of adoration after sharing a meal. Each community brought packed food for the sharing. In this symbolism of sharing we were reminded of the power of solidarity; all people benefit from the common good. 

The next common recollection will be on the 14th February 2015. On this Day we will celebrate our vocation to religious life. We are often busy with our day to day activities and God’s voice can be easily drowned out. We are therefore, grateful that the Religious men and women of the Blantyre Archdiocese regularly invite us to “Come Away”, to spend a day with the Lord. Many will say, a day? a full day? Yes, a full day. When we make time for the Lord, the Lord will be there for us. Our hope is that our FIC Brothers will continue to find the time to be with the group for a day to reflect, to listen, to discover God’s message for us and also to make new friends to journey along the way.