May God continue to shower His graces on all tonight..
Our Founder gives this explanation for the following a Marianist religious vocation:
In his letter to preachers of retreats (August 24, 1839) our Blessed founder, Father William Joseph Chaminade spoke of those qualities which "distinguish the Society of Mary and the Institute of the Daughters of Mary from the other religious orders:"
"...it is certainly the distinguishing character and family trait of both our Societies: we are in a special manner the auxiliaries and the instruments of the Blessed Virgin in the great work of reforming morals, of preserving and propagating the Faith, and by the fact, of sanctifying our neighbor. She communicates to us her own zeal and entrusts to us the projects which are inspired by her almost infinite charity, and we make a vow to serve her faithfully till the end of our life, to carry out punctually all that she tells us. We are glad that we can thus spend in her service the life and stregnth that we have pledged to her. We are moreover so entirely convinced that this is the most perfect thing for us to do..."
