"Behold how
good and how pleasant it is to live together like brothers."
(Ps. 133)
The 3,000 Claretians
are distributed in 370 houses or religious communities wherein
the Missionaries - prepare themselves for their apostolic
work through a life of prayer and study and - live as brothers:
- loving one
another
- helping one
another
- having everything
in common
like the apostolic
community around Jesus.
This fraternal
life is nourished by the Eucharist, the sign of unity and
bond of love, and by the Word of God. It is also in communitarian
way that the Claretians share their mission:
- working as
a team
- working individually
on community assignments, or
- praying
and suffering for the Church in illness or old age
It is actually
the way St. Anthony Mary Claret considered the Claretian
Community, comparing it to the beehive in which some would
leave for the apostolic work, while some others would come
in to:
- pray
- study
- live in brotherhood
A
special characteristic of the Claretians is their filial
and devoted love for the Blessed Mother under the advocation
of her Immaculate Heart.
The Claretian
Missionaries as do members of other religious Congregations,
take the three vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience.
In addition,
the Claretians, on the day of their Profession, commit themselves:
"In special service to the Immaculate Heart of Mary."
In their apostolate,
they seek to fulfill the motto of the Congregation: "Her
sons rose up, and proclaimed her most blessed throughout
the world."
The Blessed
Mother, first among the believers and Mother of the Church,
inspires them in their missionary life. She conforms them
to her Son. Under the maternal action of Mary, the missionaries
learn to accept the Word, to give it body of commitment
to life and to communicate it with the same readiness and
generosity that she did it.
The presence
of Mary in the Claretian family brings light and fruitfulness
to their urgent and effective endeavors as missionaries
and servants of the World.
She is the star
of evangelization.
Apostolic
Attitudes and Traits
- Proclaims
the Father that He may be known and loved (the basic meaning
of what Claret calls "the glory of God");
- Feels that
he is anointed and sent to the poor (love urges him to
commit himself to humankind);
- By his own
poverty proclaims to mankind the goods of the Kingdom;
- By his own
chastity shows his missionary availability and ardent
love;
- By his own
obedience to the Church, the Pope and the Bishops proclaims
the mystery of the obedient Christ, the itinerant Christ,
intent on the Father's glory;
- By his own
community life, recalls the apostolic community, which
is both evangelized and evangelizing;
- Faithfully
and lovingly lives the Word, which he hears and assimilates,
that he may more fittingly fulfill his prophetic function
and become an apostle, witness and martyr;
- Lives a life
attentive to the needs of the world and the Church tries
a great variety of means to obtain the salvation of mankind,
and remains ever alert to what is most urgent, timely
and effective.
