PROVINCE OF SPAIN – Shared mission- 2nd Meeting of Associates groups of Madrid and Barcelona
The second face-to-face meeting of Shared Mission Associates of the Province of Spain was held in Madrid and Barcelona on 12 and 19 February, respectively.
The theme dealt with was the special importance that Saint Louis Marie de Montfort attached to Baptism and the renewal of baptismal promises in his parish missions at the beginning of the 18th century.
In order to understand his missionary action and the importance he attached to this practice, we refer to the pastoral renewal movement of the 17th century. Father de Montfort was the bearer of the post-Council of Trent currents, but even if Saint Louis Marie was the heir of his illustrious predecessors in the mission, it seems that none of them received as vividly as he did the slogan of the necessary return to the meaning and demands of baptism in order to “renew the spirit of Christianity” among the faithful and in the Church. This is shown by the solemnity with which he surrounded this act and, in particular, the signing of the “covenant contract” in his parish missions. For Montfort, baptism will not only be an important practice of the mission, but will become the ultimate goal of the whole mission. To this it must be added the innovation brought by our founder concerning the role of the Virgin Mary, the maternal bond of the Mother of Jesus with every baptized person to help him to be faithful to the commitments made to the Lord, her Son.
Father de Montfort was faithful to the Church and to the pastoral purpose promoted by the Tridentine Reform, faithful to the mandate received from Clement XI – who recommended him to teach Christian doctrine well in order to awaken the spirit of Christianity, through the renewal of the promises of baptism – but with his personal note, a more and a better inspired by his apostolic charism: that of illuminating fully the role of Mary in the life of the baptised for a total fidelity to Jesus Christ.
At both the Madrid and Barcelona meetings, we reflected in small groups on the content of the Covenant contract and its expression; and on Mary’s bond with every baptised person, with the reading of several numbers of The Treatise on True Devotion to Mary. We then shared, in a large group, all the ideas that had emerged. The topic was very much appreciated because it allowed us to get to know and get closer to St. Louis. And of course, we also enjoyed a time of relaxed chatting over a delicious breakfast offered by the hosts of the school in Madrid and in the Provincial Curia in Barcelona, where the two meetings were held.
MCG Training Team
