At the service of human liberation

96. The Magnificat is the song of definitive, messianic liberation. The Blessed Virgin intoned it after God had “shown might with his arm” (cf. Lk 1:51) and she had conceived in her womb the Messiah and Savior. The liberating power of the God of the exodus (cf. Ex 3:19-22; Dt 26:8; Ps 136:12) came to action again, this time in Mary.
      In God's act of messianic liberation, Mary is in fact the first to be liberated. Her “Savior” (Lk 1:47) “looked upon his handmaid's lowliness” (Lk 1:48), just as earlier God had looked down on the people's suffering in Egypt and came to liberate them (cf. Ex 3:7-8; Dt 26:5 7), and just as God had also looked down and saw the humiliation of women who were barren and made them fruitful - Sarah (cf. Gn 16:4-5; 17:19; 18:10; 21:1-2), Leah (cf. Gn 29:31-32), and Anna (cf. 1 Sm 1:11.19-20). God always looks down and cares for those who count least (cf. Pss 102:20s; 33:18-19; 34:16; 138:6). God's preferential option for the poor runs through and characterizes all of salvation history.
      The Blessed Virgin feels herself to be a most special object of this option. She, the “lowly handmaid,” the Lord's poor one, the least of all, has become the first. She who was insignific ant in the world's eyes has be come the blessed one of all history: “from now on will all ages call me blessed” (Lk 1:48).
       Mary exults but she does not exalt herself. She does not proclaim herself liberator but liberated. God is the liberator. She is a servant, a servant of the Liberator par excellence, a servant in the sense of one who cooperates with God, an instrument in the liberation worked by God. She is a servant, as Abraham (cf. Gn 26:24), Moses (cf. Ex 14:31; Nm 12:7), David (cf. Ps 18:1; 2 Sm 7:8) and the prophets (cf. 2 Kgs 9:7) were servants, and as the Messiah too was a servant, in the very special sense of “Suffering Servant” (cf. Is 42: 1-4; 49: 16; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12).

97. As we reflect on Mary's journey of kenosis and exaltation we see that humility is the proper disposition (cf. Lk 1 :48; Mt 11 :29) and that pride is the powerful oppressor from which to be liberated. The Blessed Virgin herself proclaims that God has “dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart” (Lk 1:51). Who are these proud ones for Mary? As for every devout Jew, they are probably for Mary, too, those powerful persons who in the course of history persecuted her people: Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar (cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; Dan 1:1), Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Nicanor (cf. 1 Mac 7:26), Haman (cf. Est 3:1). Mary denounces them not because they were powerful but because they were dominating and disdainful, arrogant in mind and heart.
      As Jesus teaches, the root of all domination is to be found in the human heart: “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly” (Mk 7:21-22). Pride is really our interior dictator. For this reason, a liberation from only the external structures of oppression that does not get at its spiritual roots is not a radical liberation.
      And here is a fundamental question for all Servites: how can we liberate the oppressed without being free and liberated in our own hearts? It would be a painful contradiction if men and women who call themselves servants wanted to be domineering “in mind and heart.” What kind of liberation could come from such a heart? And there is another question: how would it then be possible to ask in all humility for the liberation that can only come as a gracious gift of the Spirit? Grace is indeed the liberation of our freedom.

98. The Virgin of the Magnificat knows that messianic liberation is holistic. It requires a loving relationship with God and peaceful relationships with all people. The chains of oppression (cf. Is 58:6; 61:1) have to be replaced by bonds of fellowship and solidarity. But human pride continues to find social incarnation in the “powerful” seated on their “thrones” and in the “rich” whose pockets are full (cf. Lk 1:52,53). All these are always ready to trample on the lowly. Mary herself, with her Son and because of him, will be persecuted by the powerful: Herod, Archelaus, Herod Antipas, Pilate, Anna and Caiaphas. With bitter realism we profess in the Credo that her son Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate.”
      But the prophetess of the Magnificat knows that the last word is God's, that the Mighty One throws down the rulers from their thrones and lifts up the lowly (cf. Lk 1:49.52). She knows that God is near to the humiliated and disgraced of this world to give them back dignity and hope. Indeed, Mary of Nazareth courageously denounces social oppression, but most of all she joyfully announces divine liberation.

99. Just as Mary was Servant of the Liberator, so too we Servites want to be servants of messianic liberation. This liberation includes an ethical-social dimension that arises out of its fundamental soteriological significance. 245
       As the end of the century approaches, we see that oppression has taken on contours more varied and nuanced but no less serious and scandalous than what we saw in the military and totalitarian regimes of earlier decades. It has taken on the form of social exclusion and has many faces: the worried faces of the unemployed, the unsmiling faces of street children, the anxious faces of immigrants, the expressionless faces of addicts, the worn faces of the aged and the dimmed faces of AIDS victims - all mysterious faces of Christ.
      We are not going to consider here those groups of excluded persons whose situation is already well known - women, of whom we spoke above, 246 racial minorities threatened with extinction and ethnic groups that have been persecuted and made the object of humiliating cleansings. John Paul II has noted that all over the world “our cities risk becoming societies of people who are rejected, marginalized, uprooted and oppressed.” 247
      Among the causes of this dramatic situation created by an excluding society is neo- liberal capitalism. After the failure of marxist socialism, it is intent on spreading another form of totalitarianism, the ideology of the market as an absolute value. It hows no concern for the common good and is based on a conception of freedom that is without any ethical-religious reference. 248 At the source of this unjust situation is a social-cultural system that is unacceptable to the extent that it favors every form of individualism - subjectivism, relativism, hedonism. 249

100.What claims do the faces of the excluded make on us as members of the Servite Family? How should we respond? The Virgin of the Magnificat suggests a few basic attitudes that should characterize our Marian and Servite service on behalf of the liberation of today's excluded. 250
      Humility. Let us stay humble, like Mary, when we look out at the enormous problems in society today. Let us not pretend to be the saviors or the reformers of the world. At the same time, though, we want to avoid any kind of social quietism and we want to go to work like the “useless” but hardworking servants in the gospel (cf. Lk 17:7-10). A grain of solidarity weighs more than a mountain of words and dreams. Every effort that turns out well is a star that shines for ever. Every love-inspired deed, no matter how small, is liberating. Only love counts, endures and is the greatest of all (cf. 1 Cor 13:13). 251
       Eyes open on the world. In the Magnificat, Mary of Nazareth looks at the world very realistically. She sees clearly the contrasts between the “powerful” and the “lowly,” the “rich” and the “hungry.” This realism puts her in the tradition of the prominent mothers and women who were liberators in Israel: Sarah, the mother of Isaac who was son of the promise (cf. Gal 4:23); Miriam, the sister of Moses who led the victory song after the crossing of the Red Sea and the liberation of Israel; Deborah, the prophetess and conqueror of Sisara; and Esther who saved her people from the decree of extermination. In order to offer an efficacious service, Servite men and women have to assume responsibility like Mary, for “reading the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the Gospel.” 252 They have to identify the structural causes of oppression and they have to be docile to the Spirit's call to generous commitment. 253
      Eyes of mercy. Mary sees a multitude of suffering people and settles on them her “eyes of mercy. ” 254 The word “mercy” is heard twice in her song (cf. Lk 1 50.54). It points to the basic motive for God's acting in the history of the world and especially in the history of the Covenant. But what does mercy mean today for us Servites? We want mercy to have the meaning for us that it had for the Blessed Virgin, a Jewish woman nourished by her people's spirituality and their knowledge that “merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness” (Ps 103:8). Mercy means looking at others - the poor, the needy, sinners, the afflicted - with affection and being helpful to them out of a sense of heartfelt solidarity. Mercy means for us, as for all Jesus' disciples (cf LK 6:36), active compassion, warm presence, fellowship with and closeness to all, especially the marginalized and excluded. We want to be a sign and extension of the Blessed Virgin's mercy. 255 And as Mary stood beside the Cross of her Son, so too “we, Servants of his Mother, wish to be with her at the foot of those countless crosses” 256 where Christ is still being crucified in history's victims.
      Incarnation. Incarnation means concreteness and the ability to face reality. Mary is the woman involved in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word. In this event the greatest possible concreteness in the encounter with God is realized. The Word became flesh through her and in her, first in her heart (cf. Lk 1:38; 8:21; 11:28), then in her womb. It is in the context of the Incarnation of the Word, of the life generated in her virginal womb, that Mary performs her service to Elizabeth and sings her canticle.
      Like their Lady, Servites cannot lie back and ignore the immense problems of our times. They must rather be ready to reach out sincerely and constructively to their brothers and sisters. They must do so without counting the cost (cf. Mt 10:8) and be ready to serve those considered useless and weak in a society set on efficiency and power - the mentally challenged, the unborn, the aged and the terminally ill.
       Opening horizons of hope. The Christian tradition calls the Blessed Virgin “Our Lady of Hope.” The expression has its origin in Mary's demeanor in two events of salvation history in which she is the protagonist. The first is the period of waiting when she was carrying the Word and was about to give birth to Christ, the hope of all humanity. The second is the period of waiting when, filled with faith and hope, she awaited the resurrection of her Son from the tomb to new and immortal life. 257
      The Magnificat comes as a song of hope from the heart of the Virgin of hope. It is hope in God's revolution, in God's overthrowing the structures that cause oppression and exclusion. In our day, utopian tension is gradually fading, but Servites must have the courage to hope and to keep alive the tension toward the future. They must nourish in themselves and in others the dream of a new world; they must avoid every form of fatalism and be convinced that they can make a difference. This is to be done with the same faith as Mary's, who knows that “nothing will be impossible for God” (Lk 1:37; cf. Gn 18:14; Jer 32:27). Our hope like hers is grounded in the God who shows might with his arm and lifts up the lowly (cf. Lk 1:51.52) and who made a promise “to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever” (Lk 1:55) to free us from every form of oppression (cJ. Lk 1:73-74).
       Like the prophet who sang of the glory of Zion, every member of the Servite Family must say:

For Zion's sake I will not be silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
until her vindication shines forth like the dawn
and her victory like a burning torch (Is 62:1).

      Servites must nurture every seed of hope encountered along the way. This is to be done in imitation of the Master, to whom the evangelist applies the prophet's word: “A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory” (Mt 12:20; cf. Is 42:3).

At the service of life and God's works

101.The Magnificat is a hymn to life. Mary sings it because she is carrying “the Word of life” (1 Jn 1:1). In her womb “life was made visible” (1 Jn 1:2) in order to be the life and light of the human race (cf. Jn 1:4).
      Because the Blessed Virgin is carrying the Word of life in her heart and in her womb, on her lips there appears the canticle to the God of life, a canticle of praise for God's faithful and merciful love that embraces all human history - “His mercy is from age to age” (Lk 1:50), especially for Abraham's descendants, “according to his promises” (Lk 1:55).
      For Christians, Mary is Mother by antonomasia. With veneration and wonder they contemplate her in the mystery of her divine and messianic motherhood - when she was pregnant with the Savior Messiah, when she adored the Child to whom she had given birth, 258 when she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger (cf. Lk 2:7), and when she fed him at her breast. These are all very human acts rich in symbolism.
      Mary is the Mother of Life because from her womb was born “the author of life” (Acts 3:15). 259 The Fathers of the Church and the liturgy greet her in these very terms.

Your birth, O Virgin Mother of God,
proclaims joy to the whole world,
for from you arose the glorious Sun of Justice,
Christ our God; he freed us from the age-old curse
and filled us with holiness;
he destroyed death and gave us eternal life. 260

Since he who became incarnate in you
was God from the beginning
and Life from before all ages,
it was right that you, too, Mother of Life,
went to dwell with Life,
and your departing was like a sleep
and your assumption like an awakening,
for you are the Mother of life. 261

He whose dwelling was in an ever virgin womb
assumed to life the Mother of Life 262

      Many institutes of consecrated life have made strong and concrete choices in favor of life. We Servites, too, feel the urgency of the call to be at the service of life and to be part of the “people of life and for life,” 263 on whom John Paul II calls repeatedly to promote worldwide the cause of life.

102. We must become, therefore, promoters of life and especially of that life for which Jesus says he came among us: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). This life is fellowship with God, a sharing by grace in the divine nature (cf. 2 Pt 1:4) and the fruit of baptismal regeneration. It is full, unbounded, eternal life that is to be defended and protected with great care so that the Evil One, “a murderer from the beginning” (Jn 8:44), not extinguish it. It is for this reason that the “Mother of Life” is also “Mother of all the living” (Gn 3:20) Just as the cradle in Bethlehem points to the cross on Calvary, so Mary's divine motherhood points to her universal motherhood.

Threats to life

103. Life, a gift of God, “lover of life” (Wis 11:26), is subject today to serious threats. There stand in opposition to the victorious power of the risen Christ - the rider of the white horse of the apocalypse (cf. Rv 6:2) - other, reckless and crushing powers: violence, injustice and death with all its attendant evils 264 - the fiery red, black and dirty green horses of the apocalypse (cf. Rv 6:4.5.8). Apocalyptic figures today are numerous. Among them are hunger, which is devastating three-fourths of humanity, especially in the southern hemisphere; war, which continues to cause suffering, death and misery in many parts of the world and is fed by avaricious territorial claims, ethnic hate and religious fanaticism; criminal injustice with its deadly fruits: murder, suicide, euthanasia, abortion, usury, and all the forms of exploitation bred in a culture that has lost its love for life and that are prophetically denounced by the Holy Father in the encyclical Evangelium vitae; and ecological devastation, which results from the blind anthropocentrism that generates an economic and social system intent on unlimited exploitation of nature, with the consequent depletion of human and natural resources.

104. The scourge of hunger. Each year millions of people die of hunger. There is no need to report the statistics. They are known and frightening, yet they do not communicate the drama of being hungry. Only contact with the poor makes it possible to understand something of the tragedy of hunger, and only such contact provokes unaffected indignation and solidarity with the poor for the sake of their liberation.
      Hunger is an affliction paradoxically aggravated by technological progress. If on the one hand modern technology increases the human capacity for producing food, on the other hand it brings about unemployment and through the iron laws of the marketplace pushes many workers to the edges of society.

105. In the Magnificat, Mary of Nazareth ponders another experience. Poor servant of the Lord, she proclaims of the Mighty One: “The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty” (Lk 1:52-53). This suggests that the solution to the problem of hunger is not reserved to economists and cannot be reached by the laws of the marketplace alone. Ethical principles have to be bronght to bear, and for this reason the solution to the problem concerns every disciple of Jesus.
      The wife of Joseph (cf. Lk 1:27) the carpenter (cf. Mt 13:55) is a “woman of strength, who experienced poverty.” 265 She knows from the experience of her people and from the divine promises that God will satisfy the hunger of the poor (cf. Ex 16; Is 65:13.21-23). She knows too that in the messianic kingdom, begun in her womb, there is “bread” in abundance for the spirit, the heart and the body.
      In the Magnificat, Mary anticipates what her Son will do when he announces the Good News along the roads of Palestine. Jesus proclaims that in his Kingdom God will fill the hungry: “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied” (Lk 6:21). He multiplies the loaves of bread for the crowd that follows after him and is in danger of falling by the wayside for want of something to eat (cf. Mk 6:30-44; 8: 1-10). He orders that “the least” of his brothers and sisters, with all of whom he identifies, be given to eat (cf. Mt 25:35.40). The Son of Mary truly came “that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

106. The unavoidable question comes back: can we Servites remain unmoved by the tragedy of hunger that kills millions of people each year? Are we servants of life? We offer a few suggestions to initiate a practical reflection on this matter.
       Renew the practice of charitable giving in ways that take into account the situation or context. And do not omit “secret almsgiving” (cf. Mt 6:4) to the needy who knock at our door or whom we meet on the street.
      Support human development initiatives, especially those aimed at creating jobs.
      Work to create in individuals and in our communities a greater awareness of the imbalances in society, so that all will get involved in the struggle for a change of structures and so that consequently the common good will prevail over the good of the individual. The achievements of technology will then no longer be a cause of exclusion; rather they will generate social growth.

107. Ecological devastation. Today the ecological issue worries scientists, politicians and men and women of good will of every nation and creed. It worries the Church, too. 266 It is alarming to witness the increasing devastation of nature as it is subjected to aggressive and disordered exploitation and disfigured in its original beauty.
      Theology has shown increasing interest in the ecology issue. It notes how the radical goodness of the created world finds suggestive expression in the words of Scripture: “God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good” (Gn 1:31). Theologians also consider the nature of the dominion men and women are to exercise over the earth (cf. Gn 1:28; 2:15) and try to determine its limits. They reflect on the enigmatic decadence of the cosmos due to sin and because of which “creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:21-22).” 267 Theologians exalt the noble vocation of human persons called to share in God's creative action in the world and insist at the same time on the serious moral responsibility of those whose actions upset the ecosystem, poison the environment, and involve the destruction of vegetable and animal species through reckless exploitation of resources and culpable deforestation. All this has unforeseeable consequences for the health and life of future generations. The ecological crisis is above all a moral problem and John Paul II has warned: “When man turns his back on the Creator's plan, he provokes a disorder which has inevitable repercussions on the rest of the created order. If man is not at peace with God, then earth itself cannot be at peace.” 268

The Blessed Virgin and the cosmos

108. Here it will be helpful to present a few points for reflection on the Blessed Virgin and the ecology issue.
       The “Mater Creatoris.” In the Litany of Our Lady we invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary as “Mother of our Creator,” through whom “all things came to be” (Jn 1:3; Col 1:16) and in whom all things subsist (cf. Col 1:17). In the psalms and canticles of the Old Testament, we hear the entire creation praise its Creator: the sun, the moon, the bright stars, fire and water, hail and snow (cf. Pss 104. 148. 150; Dn 3:51-90). The New Testament reports the testimony of the visionary of Patmos on creation's praise of God and the Lamb: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: 'To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever”' (Rv 5:13-14). But the homage creatures render to the Creator, the incarnate Word, redounds on the Mother. The apocrypha highlight the role creation plays when Mary gives birth. Joseph of Nazareth testifies: “I looked up into the sky, and saw the sky astonished; and I looked up to the pole of the heavens, and saw it standing, and the birds of the air keeping still.... And I saw the sheep walking and the sheep standing still.” 269
      Related to the theme Mary “Mother of the Creator” is the association, found especially in the liturgy, of Mary and the biblical Sophia, which is considered to have a cosmic role 270
       The “Vertex creationis.” The Christian tradition sees in the Blessed Virgin “the most highly chosen among all creatures” 271 and the “summit of creation” after the most holy humanity of Christ. The expression “summit of creation” refers to Mary's extraordinary perfection as a creature and the harmony of nature and grace in her life. With the recognition of Mary's eminence, the tradition invented many formulas to express the relationship between her and creatures. For example:

Princeps opus tu cetera
inter creata praenites

As first and principal work
you shine forth among all creatures. 272

      It is a joyful admission, expressed in terms of closeness, fellowship and participation. The Blessed Virgin is the “joy of the world”; 273 through her “every creature is blessed” 274 and the cosmos is renewed - “The heavens, stars, earth, rivers, day, night and all creatures ... rejoice, Mary, because through you they have in a way been raised again to the splendor they had lost and have received new and inexpressible grace.” 275
       In creation, radically good and beautiful (cf. Gn 1:31), Mary represents the fullness of beauty - Tota pulchra - and harmony. 276 In her, the cosmos recovers its original innocence and for this reason all creatures break out in acclaim before her: “Every creature praises you, Mother of light.” 277 The liturgy takes from creation its loveliest metaphors - moon, star, fountain, rose, shoot, dove - as images of the virtues which adorn the Blessed Virgin and her mission of grace. In addition to this, Revelation 12 represents the Church and Mary as the “cosmic Woman” embellished with the most splendid elements of creation: the sun as her robe, the moon as her footstool, and the stars (the twelve signs of the zodiac) as her crown.
      The “undefiled Virgin.” Ecology movements deplore especially the often senseless and foolish violence that people inflict on nature. The Holy Father shared with ecologists a reflection that is useful for us Servites, too, in our desire to be servants of God's creation:

I ask myself couldn't the virginal character of human creation (cf. Gen 2:4b-7.22-23) and its recreation in Chris to be a source of inspiration for the present- d y ecological movements which censure all the forms of violence inflicted on creation, the deterioration of nature and environmental pollution?
It's the task of theologians to make clear to our contemporaries that in Jesus Christ the ideal of the new and fully realized person has found realization. He is that person and in him God's anthropological plan has reached absolute perfection. In Christ's roots - his conception in the womb of Mary - and in his birth to definitive life from the undefiled tomb - there is a “virginal element” of great significance with regard to his person and his exemplarity for all disciples. 278

      Mary of Nazareth never suffered corruption. She never knew any kind of deterioration or pollution. She was the “undefiled Virgin” in body, heart and spirit. Creation sees mirrored in her the fullness and harmony to which it aspires.

In the storebouse of our tradition

109. Our Order arose among the evangelical-apostolic forms of religious life that began in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. St. Francis of Assisi (+ 1226), proclaimed patron of ecologists by John Paul II, 279 is a strong and original figure of that era. His life was an admirable example of “genuine and deep respect for the integrity of nature.” 280 St. Francis had a vital sense of the bond existing between humankind and the rest of God's creation. He understood that love for the Creator required respect for all creatures and that peace with God is the basis for peace with the created world. The ecological insight of St. Francis exerted a salutary influence on other religious movements similar to his and founded about the same time and in the same area.
      In this connection it is a pleasure to recall the story of Monte Senario where our First Fathers decided to settle and begin our Family. It is a story in which admiration, respect and a religious understanding of nature are essential elements. 281
      The author of the Legenda describes the crest of Monte Senario in a way that reveals what we could call today ecological sensitivity. He says: “They found at the top a delightful level area, a spring of very fine water off to one side and a surrounding grove of trees so well-arranged that it might have been planted by hand.” 282
      Centuries later, in 1713, the pine woods are still so dense that friar Francesco M. Poggi (+ 1720) notes with satisfaction that “said woods” are “filled with thick pines” planted “not carelessly and without order as in other woods” but rather lined up like “a well ordered militia.” 283 This is due not to chance but to the detailed and severe instructions found in the Constitutions of the Hermits of the Sacred Hermitage, a text inspired by awe-filled respect for nature.

Father Rector and the Custodian will see to the maintenance of the hermitage's woods by having a good number of pines planted each year. Since no one is allowed to cut wood without permission of the Chapter, so as not to ruin the attractiveness of the place, whoever cuts green trees without the permission of Father Rector or the Chapter will fast on bread and water, once for each tree. 284

      The italicized phrase “so as not to ruin the attractiveness of the place” states the purpose of the prohibition to cut down young trees. The love for nature at Monte Senario will be passed on to the other hermitages founded from there.285

110. It is time to make a few practical suggestions, some of a general nature and others related to the special Marian character of our Family.
As disciples of Christ we cannot be indifferent to the ecology issue. Rather we must acquire an ecological consciousness that includes respect for and attention to nature, as well as solidarity with groups committed to preventing environmental deterioration. 286 That means we have to develop what John Paul II calls a sense of “ecological responsibility.” This includes “responsibility for oneself, for others, and for the earth,” 287 and requires “a genuine conversion in ways of thought and behavior.” 288
      As Servites we will draw inspiration for our relationships with all creatures from Mary - “Mother of our Creator,” “Summit of creation,” “Undefiled Virgin.”
      We have to recall, too, the epilogue to our Constitutions which bids us to “have only relationships of peace” 289 with all creatures. It is the peace which comes as a gift of Christ and the Spirit and which excludes every kind of violence and pollution and all arrogance, vulgarity and banality in our dealings with whatever creature - man or woman, plant or animal, earth or water. Our ways of relating to creation should seek their inspiration in the gentleness and strength of Our Lady. It is not without reason that we ask the Lord: “Give us a deep respect for all creation and the power to resist all who dishonor it.” 290
      We are happy to point out that in our Proper there is the office of “Mary, the New Woman” in which the Blessed Virgin's relationship with creatures is commemorated in its many aspects.
       Mary is seen one time as the highest of all creatures:

...by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit,
you formed the Blessed Virgin
and made her first among all your creation. 291

      Another time she is the prayerful personification of the created world:

You are the obedient earth, O Mary,
creation alive in love and adoration. 292

      In another text all creation praises her:

Hail, holy Virgin and Mother of light;
all creation praises you. 293

      When the liturgy is celebrated devoutly, it exerts a positive influence on our way of relating to the rest of creation.
      Lastly, we invite you to meditate and reflect on Mary's place in the created world as its “virginal and fruitful center.” “The reason we call upon Mary as Queen of the angels, the stars, the waters, the plants, the flowers, the animals and all people, is to indicate that she, in her archetypal mystery and in her reality in the invisible, is the Gate through which the unique Absolute communicates with all the various creatures, in all of which she is present as virginal and fruitful center.”294
      The humble Virgin of the Magnificat carries in her womb Jesus, the Messiah, just as the “Woman clothed with the sun” (Rv 12:1), the new Zion, carries the new messianic community. Two mothers, one mother. Both are at the service of Jesus who is Life. And this mystery of Life is threatened from the beginning by the murderous rage of Herod (cf. Mt 2:16-18), by the “huge red dragon” (Rv 12:3) that “stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth” (Rv 12:4).
      But the song of the Blessed Virgin is experience and prophecy of the fall of the powerful, including the tyrant of Galilee whose cruel and wicked command provoked in Ramah “sobbing and loud lamentation” (Mt 2:18:cf. Jer 31:15). The Magnificat is like the song of victory that was heard in heaven after the defeat of the “huge dragon ... who is called the Devil” (Rv 12:9):

Now have salvation and power come,
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.
For the accuser of our brothers is cast out,
who accuses them before our God day and night (Rv 12:10).

      We said, brothers and sisters, that we want to be Servants of the Magnificat. This expression has the same meaning as others used for every disciple of Jesus, such as “Proclaimers of the 'Gospel of life”' and “Promoters of a culture of life.” We have taken the Blessed Virgin's canticle as the manifesto of our service. This requires that we be aware of the grave threats that weigh upon life in all its forms - supernatural life, physical life, cosmic life. We place ourselves at the service of life, convinced in faith that the defense of life and care for it demand commitment. And at the same time we are certain that the winning arm is humble confidence in the Almighty who does “great things” for his sons and daughters.

At the service of ecumenism

111. Mary is “the most excellent fruit of redemption,” 295 of the redemption that flowed from the open side of the Savior (cf. Jn 19:34) and reunites the dispersed children of God according to the prophetic utterance of Caiaphas: “'You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.' He did not say this on his own, but since he was the high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God” (Jn 11:49b-52). From the cross, Jesus draws all nations to himself (cf. Jn 12:32); at the cross, the dispersed children of God are gathered; and at the foot of the cross, Mary becomes the Mother of Jesus' disciples (cf. Jn 19:2527). Mary is, therefore, inherently ecumenical.
      To reunite the children of God Jesus came (cf. Jn 10:6; 19:23-24; 21:11),prayed (cf.Jn 17:20) and died (cf.Jn 10:16; 11:49-52; 12:24; 17:19-23; 19:20). 296 This is the definitive event which faith proclaims and celebrates in song:

For he is our peace,
he who made both one and broke down
the dividing wall of enmity ...
through the cross ...
for through him we both have access
in one Spirit to the Father (Eph 2:14.16b.18).

      In Jesus, son of David (cf. Lk 3:31), son of Abraham (cf. Lk3:34), son of Adam (cf. Lk3:38), the entire ecumene is gathered and reconciled.
      The enmity that separates is annihilated in all who are conformed by the Easter gift of the Spirit to the thoughts and attitude of the Lord of peace (cf. Phil 2:5). Mary is the perfect icon of all who are conformed to the Lord. Indeed, this conformity reaches its fullness in her. She is the outstanding expression of the unifying action of the Spirit: daughter of Zion, she recapitulates in herself Israel; image of the Church, she recapitulates in herself the Christians of every place and time; daughter of Eve, she recapitulates in herself all humanity past, present and future.
      Mary is the icon given by Jesus “lifted up from the earth” (Jn 12:32) tothe“disciple whom he loved” (cf.Jn 19:25-27). In this icon the Church sees the possibility that God's plan be realized: all humanity gathered in a unity which overcomes every kind of separation but which at the same time incorporates and respects the plurality of languages. The Spirit of Pentecost, Spirit of unity, has conquered ancient Babylon's spirit of division (cf. Gn 11: 1 -9).

112. The ecumenical reading of the figure of Mary is rooted in Sacred Scripture. Contemporary theology in both East and West recognizes her representative value. This insight matches harmoniously an age-old intuition forcefully expressed in the Byzantine Christmas liturgy:

The Lord Jesus was born from the holy Virgin
and illuminated everything with his light.
What can we offer you, Lord,
who are born as man on earth?
Every creature has come from you
and offers the witness of its gratitude:
the angels offer their song,
the heavens the stars, the Magi their gifts,
the shepherds their wonder,
the earth offers you a cave and the desert a manger;
and we, we offer you a Virgin Mother. 297

      As members of the Church we offer to the Son in the name of all humanity the Woman in whom and by whom we are represented. A contemporary Orthodox theologian writes:

On the one hand, tenaciously urged on by God whose will always brings about growth (Col 2 19), humanity was able to offer God through the Blessed Virgin flesh to clothe God and be God's dwelling. On the other hand, through the Blessed Virgin's word humanity made it possible for God to take on this flesh. 298

      Mary's very personal yes is in fact the yes of all humanity, just as the offering of her body to the Word is the offering of all humanity. This view is admirably synthesized by Thomas Aquinas when he says, “Expetebatur consensus Virginis loco totius humanae naturae - The Virgin's consent was petitioned ... [and] stood for the consent of all men.” 299 It is a view shared by both East and West. A contemporary Western theologian explains the cooperation of Mary in the Christ event and concludes his discussion with this statement:

The fiat of Mary must be given universal significance, a breadth that embraces all humanity. 300

      The same must said of the Magnificat. In Mary, as we've already noted, 301 Israel, the churches and all humanity sing together, each with its own voice. Luther says that Mary “sang it not for herself alone but for us all.” 302 It is not by accident, but because of the ecumenical quality of Mary's canticle, that the Christian churches, gathered for the interreligious meeting at Assisi on 27 October 1986, prayed the Magnificat. They recognized its character as a universal prayer, as “something precious” to be shared, along with the Pater noster, with all prayerful humanity. 303
      In both breadth and quality, everything in Mary is ecumenical. In her person, fiat and Magnificat the whole inhabited earth is gathered and represented. In her person the whole ecumene recognizes a way of living in the world: in the amen of faith and in the canticle of praise and thanksgiving.
      The entire ecumene is the object of God's merciful and saving action. God denies nobody the greatest gift, the Son (cf. Jn 3: 16). The Son finds a place in the house (cf. Lk 1:39-45), in the contemplation (cf. Lk 2:15-17) and in the arms (cf. Lk 2:28) of Israel. With the Magi he finds a place among the nations: “... and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage” (Mt 2: 11).

113.The ecumenical reading of the figure of Mary is not a forced one. It is rather a sign of the times. Ecumenical reflection has made it possible to highlight a prerogative that belongs to her, just as it belongs too to all who make special reference to her name out of a choice of faith and love. Ecumenism is inberent in the name “Servants of Mary,” in this name that identifies our Order, priories, convents and each one of us. It is part of the name of men and women, like St. Philip Benizi, 304 who are called to become, following in Mary's footsteps, icons resembling her Son, the ecumenical man par excellence.
      All - Orthodox, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, the followers of every religion and those with no religion - must find a place in the hearts of Servants of Mary, hearts that recapitulate and love all in generous self- giving . The Servite Family must be a sign and prophetic manifestation of a way of being together in friendship and openness in the midst of human diversity. Every Servite house must be a place where all, coming from near and far, find upon entering Jesus with his Mother (cf. Mt 2:11). A Servite house must be a house of hospitality, open to Christians of every confession, to pilgrims of the absolute of every religion, and to every creature that comes to the door.
      Ecumenical contacts are a sign of the times that has been often noted by the magisterium - from the conciliar decree Unitatis Redintegratio (21 November 1965) to the encyclical Ut Unum Sint (25 May 1995) - and in the rich, official documentation of Jewish-Christian and Christian-interreligious dialogues. What the apostolic letter Orientale lumen says of the Catholic Church's relationship with Orthodoxy can be extended to cover every kind of ecumenical relationship:

In addition to knowledge, I feel that meeting one another regularly is very important. In this regard, I hope that monasteries will make a particular effort, precisely because of the unique role played by monastic life within the Churches and because of the many unifying aspects of the monastic experience, and therefore of spiritual awareness, in the East and in the West. Another form of meeting consists in welcoming Orthodox professors and students to the Pontifical Universities and other Catholic academic institutions. We will continue to do all we can to extend this welcome on a wider scale. May God also bless the founding and development of places designed precisely to offer hospitality to our brothers of the East, including such places in this city of Rome wEere the living, shared memory of the leaders of the Apostles and of so many martyrs is preserved.
It is important that meetings and exchanges should involve Church communities in the broadest forms and ways. We know for example how positive inter-parish activities such as “twinning” can be for mutual cultural and spiritual enrichment, and also for the exercise of charity. I judge very positively the initiatives of joint pilgrimages to places where holiness is particularly expressed in remembering men and women who in every age have enriched the Church with the sacrifice of their lives. In this direction it would also be a highly significant act to arrive at a common recognition of the holiness of those Christians who, in recent decades, particularly in the countries of Eastern Europe, have shed their blood for the one faith in Christ. 305

      Servite men and women, an integral part of the human-divine phenomenon of monasticism and called to ecumenical conversion both by their very name and by the summons of the Church, will have to review in an ecumenical perspective their monasteries, priories, parishes, sanctuaries and cultural institutions.
      Ecumenical contact originates necessarily in an ecumenical heart and leads to a reciprocal knowledge of what is vitally important for the other person. This in turn generates an ever fuller fellowship and the desire to journey together without aiming at annexation and without abandoning one's own convictions. Each is open in a spirit of discipleship to an exchange of gifts with the other, open to every fragment of truth light and beauty coming from the other. Each one is also ready to give an accounting, humbly and gently, and in the way and with the words the Spirit will suggest, of his or her own hope, Jesus Christ, who was born of Mary and is her gift to all. In this way ours will be the joy of sharing with the Christian churches and the religions of the world the retrieval of a kind of universal maternal language that contributes to our active fellowship with every creature.

114. We do not claim to have made a complete presentation of this theme. We simply wanted to extend an invitation to go back to the source of our name, Servants of Mary, to retrieve an aspect of our identity, our inherently ecumenical character. This leads us to a kind of restructuring that touches on numerous elements: prayer, to be done together with other Christians whenever and wherever possible; feelings, leading us to ask the Spirit for the gift of ecumenical ardor; reflection, for which we ask of the Spirit the grace of a generous heart and an ecumenical openness; study, requiring that we make our own the results of all ecumenical and interreligious dialogues; and action, calling us to offer our service for the protection of the created world, the restoration of peace among all peoples and the safeguard of the rights of the poor.
       Progress in ecumenism will surely bring new vigor, new creativity and new perspectives to our Order and to us as Servants of the Magnificat.
      This will be a “wonder of God” that will prompt us as humble Servants of Mary to sing again the Magnificat canticle. It will also mean a renewed fiat in response to the call to conform ourselves to Christ and to make room in our hearts and lives for all that is scattered and separated. All this in the footsteps of Mary, the one who most resembles him who has broken down every barrier of division (cf. Gal 3:28). 306