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| The First Gaze |
Each generation must add its own work and its own fruits to those of the preceding generations. The same is true in the life of a religious order - hence of ours also. What will we add?
In his reflection on the Immaculata, Maximilian Kolbe placed himself in perfect continuity with the whole history of the Franciscan Order. He specified:
From the beginnings of our Order, for seven centuries, the golden thread of the cause of the Immaculata has unceasingly developed. The Order fought for knowledge of the truth of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The battle ended victoriously. This truth has been universally acknowledged and proclaimed a dogma of faith. And now... Is it the end of the matter...? Now the second page of our history begins; that is, the sowing of this truth in the hearts of all men, those who live now and who will live until the end of the world, and the care for its growth and for its fruits of sanctication. We must introduce the Immaculata to the hearts of all so that she may erect in them the throne of her Son, draw them ot the knowledge of Him, and inflame them with love for the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
These words introduced me to the impressive intellectual stature of Father Kolbe, who summarized the whole Franciscan tradition in the unwinding of the "golden thread" of the cause of the Immaculata. Moreover, he pointed out that this opening of the "second page of our history" represented the continuity of an intellectual and practical tradition of which Scotus had been the major interpreter. There is no disassociation between thought and action. Kolbe identified with clarity the goal to be reached and with as much lucidity presented the means of pursuing it...
Father Luigi Faccenda, OFM Conv
from Father Kolbe, the Immaculata and the Most Holy Trinity
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