More than twenty years ago, Pope Paul VI said: "In Christian tradition, the name of St. Catherine Laboure is identified with the Miraculous Medal and history cannot forget that Sr. Catherine contributed in a special way to this great tradition of Marian piety. For this reason, we joyfully and intensely exhort the Company of the Daughters of Charity and the Congregation of the Mission to allow that precious inheritance, which is also that of St. Vincent, bear fruit."

Today we want to retake this exhortation in order to continue transmitting to new generations of Christians the Marian piety that led many Christians, following the example of Mary, to live their lives committed to the cause of Jesus Christ and his gospel.

My dear brothers and sisters, members of the Vincentian Family, our mission today is to share with lay people this Marian and Vincentian richness that we have. Many of you are already dedicated to this task; many of you have come because you want to embark on the way that will lead to the founding of the Association of the Miraculous Medal in your countries.

Today we will reflect together on the role and tasks of the Priest, Sister and lay leaders who accompany and guide the formation and apostolate of the members of the Association.

Because of time constraint, it will be difficult for us to cover everything that there is on this topic. I will limit myself to the following points:

· Five affirmations
· What type of advisers?
· Qualities and attitudes of the Advisers
· Functions of the adviser in the AMM

I. FIVE AFFIRMATIONS

1. The AMM is an Association of the lay faithful in the Church.

The International Statutes say: "The lay faithful belong to it". This affirmation helps us situate our location and area of action. It is born in the Church; it journeys with the Church and serves in the building of the Kingdom from the Church. The adviser is the person who, through his/her service, helps the members live out this dimension and attain the ends of the Association. The Association in the Church, as "People of God" journeys with her and from its Marian-Vincentian charism dedicates itself in its work of evangelization.

2. The AMM is an Association with a spirituality and an apostolate.

The spirituality of the AMM is, above all, evangelical: centered in the person and Word of Jesus. The person of Mary is a key element in the life experience of the Association. The Virgin's message to St. Catherine Laboure inspires and motivates its apostolate of evangelization. Because of its origin, it is inspired in the Vincentian spirituality and charism.

The members have their own apostolate: the service of evangelization to the poor and to families, especially through home visitation and practical charity, in direct contact with the poor.

3. It is a Marian Association.

Its origin dates back to the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to St. Catherine Laboure. Its spirituality is centered in the gospel and takes into account the Mariology that springs from the gospel passages, which present Mary as a woman who radically lives out her following of Jesus Christ. The Virgin's message to St. Catherine Laboure continues to be relevant to the Association today. God, making use of poor and simple people, honored his Mother with the title "Miraculous", for the many favors granted. The poor discover in the Medal signs of God's salvation. The Medal came to be called "the catechism of the poor". This is true because it allows those who do not know how to read or write to visualize, through the medal, important aspects of the Good News of salvation.

Mary's message is one of the most beautiful attestations of God's tenderness in favor of the poor and the simple. The language of the Medal, whether in speech or in signs, was immediately understood by the simple people.

4. It is an Association of the Vincentian Family.

For many reasons, because of its origin, direction and guidance, the members of the AMM participate of the Vincentian charism in the Church. Vincentian spirituality forms part of the spiritual experience of its members. The living out of its fundamental virtues (simplicity, humility, practical and effective charity) is an integral part of the particular style of the Association, like service and evangelization of the poor, which are an essential part of its apostolate.

5. A call to renewal

The events in the Church in the last years, the initiation of the laity in the Church and a greater consciousness of their mission in this same Church and in the world, the revival of Vincentian associations, the consciousness that now exists of the Vincentian Family, the review and approval of the International Statutes of the Association by the Holy See, are but some of the events that are bringing the Association to initiate the way of renewal and organization.

All of these bring us to seek ways and means that will help the laity become persons with a solid formation and having a clear identity on their charism (spirituality and apostolate). During this encounter we want to be enlightened on the spirituality, formation and apostolate of the Association. We search together for a new look of the AMM for the new millennium.

II. WHAT TYPE OF ADVISERS?

In practice, we can talk of two types of advisers for the laity. Perhaps in practice they do not present themselves in their perfect state but they can be manifested as a predominant behavior.

I share with you some characteristics of these types:

1. The directive type. In this type, the outline and experience of a "Clerical Church" prevails and its structure is pyramidal. Based on this mental and structural outline, the priest or sister is the person who "knows it all" or almost everything. On the other hand, the lay people are the "minors" who need to be guided and directed. This is not said with words but, in practice, this relationship exists. It is a relationship of dependence in which the adviser has "the last word" in all matters. The service that occurs in this model is practiced more like a "direction" and the relationship is director-recipient.

In this type, dialogue, participation and personal responsibility are not given. The director imposes his views. Planning, execution and evaluation are not done, nor are group experiences valued. There is no method being followed and personal and group processes are not taken into consideration. What prevails is the passiveness of the laity. There is no reflection nor is a critical conscience being stirred and formed. The formation received is also instructional which does not favor participation that leads to self-formation.

Some of the consequences are paternalism and de-personalization of the laity. It falls victim to authoritarianism, passiveness, dependence and, finally, favoring individualism. The group is not enriched because there is no sharing. The lay people find it difficult to commit to a personal or group responsibility.

2. The liberating type. The second type, as the name suggests, offers a service that is liberating and responsible. In this model, the Church is conceived and lived as "People of God", characterized by fellowship and participation. Emphasis is placed on the charisms of the persons and groups. The starting point is that the members of the Church are all equals with different tasks. A very strong consciousness of the vocation and mission of each person to service exists. Dialogue and spiritual discernment is favored. All recognize that they are on the way to and within an ongoing process of conversion. On the other hand, the attitudes of the adviser are of humility, availability, listening as well as consciousness of his/her own limitations.

The lay people are treated with respect and very much valued. The charisms of the laity are acknowledged and they are motivated to give a personal response to God's call. The lay people contribute to the good of the Mystical Body of the Church with their talents, ideas, and their capacity to love and serve. They are seen as adult persons who are free and responsible for their own vocation and response.

3. Vincent de Paul, an example of a liberating adviser. St. Vincent presents himself as the attentive adviser who animates the self-giving of the laity and watches over the preservation of the original spirit. He performs this service, above all, to his first foundation, the groups of the Ladies of Charity, known today as AIC. He is the adviser who, without interfering in the organizational aspects nor with the performance of the works proper to the Association, influences, evaluates, awakens, stops, accelerates, but never using hierarchical authority nor seeking power or prestige, rather through patient and humble service.

The advisory as seen in the vision of St. Vincent is a two-way street. It starts with him towards the laity and from them towards the poor. He is the person who animates, plans, recommends, assists, and helps without drowning out the creativity of the laity. And on the other hand, he makes himself open to the lessons that God imparts to him through these same lay persons. He listens to them, he asks them, and he makes them participate and give the best of what they have. We know very well how St. Vincent's spirituality experienced great transformations because of his listening in faith to the lay persons that God placed in his path. This is the same path that runs through the adviser to the lay person and from the lay person to the adviser.

Vincent de Paul was a model adviser to the lay movements of his time. He was able to break down barriers and, above all, establish a way of holiness for the laity starting off with their baptismal consecration.

III. QUALITIES AND ATTITIDES OF THE ADVISER

We do not have the monopoly of the advisory of the Vincentian lay groups nor of the Association of the Miraculous Medal. However, without being the only ones, we need to cultivate certain dispositions that will encourage an advisory that bring the laity to grow in freedom, responsibility and faith commitment. Allow me to mention a few of them:

1. Attitude of a humble and simple servant. We are not the "owners" of the Association; we have been called to serve the laity and help them discover their vocation and mission in the Church.

2. Prayer and discernment. We need to be men and women of prayer and discernment who, together with the laity, live their faith and seek ways to respond to the calls of God.

3. Attitude of offering suggestions to the laity. This is a basic attitude since we are not the sole owners of the absolute truth. Much more is gained when we journey together with attitudes of freedom and responsibility, helping others with proposals, suggestions and very rarely with orders…

4. Work in a team. The fundamentals are… know how to collaborate, distribute the tasks, avoid "limelight" roles, share responsibilities.

5. Knowledge of the Association. It is essential that the advisers know thoroughly the Association: its history, difficulties, mysticism, internal dynamics, limitations, possibilities, identity and spirit. Their personal experience in pastoral work with the poor is also very important because this gives them a vivid knowledge of sufferings and needs of the poor hence also giving them the necessary sensitivity to orient the groups to an authentic devotion to Mary and apostolate among the poor.

IV. FUNCTIONS OF THE AMM ADVISER

The functions of the adviser in the AMM groups are many and varied, some more relevant while others less and still others that depend on the particular circumstances and realities of the groups. However, there are some basic functions and the following are the ones that I consider the more important ones:

1. Give formation to the members.

This is one of the main topics, above all, in line with the Vincentian and Marian spirituality. The power to give specific formation programs to the groups in line with the spirituality proper to the Association is in your hands.

Offer formation tools in such a way that the laity in the Association become solid evangelizers and missionaries among their brothers and sisters. In this area, the adviser should exert effort to offer elements of formation that will permit the laity become responsible persons in the Association itself. Pope John Paul II says: "authentic and effective formation is not given when each one does not assume or develop their own responsibility towards formation… We should not take for granted the conviction that each one of us is the end and at the same time the beginning of formation." This means that the AMM members play an active role in their own formation, thus avoiding the danger of being dependent on the priest or sister.

The need to organize formation projects (short, mid and long-term) for new groups is very important.

2. Lead your brothers and sisters to the way of prayer.

The laity of today search for transcendence, for an encounter with the Lord. Pray with the laity in a simple and concrete manner. Pray with them from the Word of God and the events in life. Like Mary, pray in complete simplicity and openness of heart to the will of God.

“Live and pray, like Mary, in simplicity and humility, assuming the spirituality of the Magnificat" . Deepen in the Marian spirituality and present Mary as a model of prayer. Help them discover Jesus' love for the Father and the poor. Teach the laity to listen to the Word of God and put it into practice, following the example of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Help them to always be founded on the gospel and its maxims, as this is a sure doctrine that will lead them to discover the meaning of their lives. Teach the laity not only to pray but also to prepare their own moments of prayer. This is very important and generates positive results! And lastly, show them the way of their own spirituality with those elements that are fundamental in order to live out their faith in the Church from their own charism.

3. Offer spirituality proper to the lay Vincentian of today.

The gospel is one and the same and it has the same importance to all believers, followers of Jesus. However, the responses and expressions of commitment are related to the actual condition from which one responds.

Lay Christian spirituality contains its own concrete expressions and requires that it be adapted to the world of today, where the laity live immersed in a very concrete political, economic, social and family situation; different from the condition of a priest, consecrated or religious person.

It is also true that the Vincentian spirituality is embodied in persons who live a specific condition of life in a historical setting that is many times filled with conflicts and tensions, in a cultural reality that is oftentimes different from our own. In this sense, the role of the adviser is always that of orienting, respecting and allowing the Holy Spirit to inspire the responses and manifest new ways in the Vincentian Christian commitment of the laity. Therefore, seek ways that will enable the laity to have access to Marian and Vincentian spirituality literature to which we already have access in order to aid them in discernment with the Spirit. They, too, have the right to ask themselves and look for responses to this question: What does the call to live today in simplicity, humility and practical charity towards the poor mean to me as a lay person in the Association?

4. Offer a liberating type of advisory.

We have been called to live in freedom as children of God in the Church. "The Truth (Christ) will set you free." This is a gift from God but it is also a human challenge. As we go through life we will meet persons who, with their faith experience and above all by their witnessing, will show us the way to an inner freedom in Christ Jesus. To lead in the way of freedom in Christ is also part of our mission to the laity. Always remember that words can be beautifully said and they can say a lot of things but it is our testimony that brings about a real change!

Beginning with the Ecclesiology of "People of God" in Vatican II, we can undertake an accompaniment and guidance of the laity in a liberating dimension. We are all equals despite the fact that we have different tasks; we are all part of the Church and in it we are called to service. A Church that lives in accordance with the words of Jesus: "We are all brothers and sisters" . The adviser considers the laity as adult persons and brings them to live in a state of freedom and responsibility. The liberating type of advisory favors the person and makes him capable of his/her own destiny.

The adviser is a person who "sits beside". This comes from the Latin word “sedere – ad”. The adviser is neither the chaplain nor the hierarchical authority that is above the laity. The adviser is an evangelizer because he/she shows the Way to Jesus and his gospel. He/she is a brother/sister; a friend who sits beside his brothers and sisters in order to guide them and together discern God's will and once found, in solidarity with them brings it to fulfillment. He/she is the person who walks neither behind nor in front but rather beside his brothers and sisters. He/she is the person who is conscious that he/she does not possess the absolute and complete truth. This attitude places him/her on the way to finding it together with his brothers and sisters.

5. Be motivators and guides of persons and groups.

This is the word that perhaps best expresses the function of the adviser to the laity. To motivate is to give life, to encourage it, it is seeking ways together, it is giving dynamism and creativity; it means helping them grow and develop. It is motivating them to maintain an attitude of reflection and searching. By accompaniment and guidance we mean journeying with them.

Accompaniment and guidance presupposes a theoretical and practical knowledge of the Association. It is important that one know the Statutes, Documents of formation and organizational structure. At the same time, it requires a practical knowledge of the persons, of the Association in particular with its successes, projects, plans, dreams, apostolate, service of the poor, its efforts to evangelize families that are separated in the faith, as well as its weaknesses, failures and frustrations.

The adviser is a person full of hope, who does not put off the wick that still emits smoke or does not cease to bend the cane that is already about to break. He/she is a person who is full of God, who knows how to keep sight of the reality and the ideal he/she aspires for. On the other hand, it is also true that only an evangelizing experience of the poor will give the advisers the necessary sensitivity to orient the laity towards a serious response to God's call.

6. Maintain an attitude of listening and dialogue.

The first service we can give to another is that of listening. It is very striking to note the many occasions Jesus listened to the people, how he showed his interest for them, asking them about things he already knew: "What do you want me to do for you? This is the first way to love another. God speaks to us through the laity and for St. Vincent they were: Madame de Gondi, Madame de Goussaut, for the foundation of the Ladies, St. Louise. Through the years, his own spiritual vision was enriched by the influence of the laity, by many people who had received from him the same initial orientation. Knowing how to listen is not easy, it is important that we keep our hearts open, respect the person, be willing to learn and, above all, listen to the same God who speaks to us through the persons who surround us.

Our first gesture of service towards our neighbor is that of listening. In the same manner that our love for God begins when we dispose ourselves to listen to his Word, the beginning of love for others is founded in our learning to listen to them.

7. Motivate the apostolate of the AMM among the poor.

The laity in the Association of the Miraculous Medal is called to holiness and the way to achieve this goal is characterized in union with God in Jesus Christ through the Spirit and the apostolate. The experience of faith and following of Jesus Christ does not end in an act of faith and devotion. It goes beyond that, it extends itself and becomes effective through specific and committed actions that seek the transformation of the world in order to bring it closer to the reality of the Kingdom of God. They are called to holiness in the midst of the world; to them we can apply the words of the Synod:

“The Spirit brings us to discover with a greater clarity that holiness today is not possible without a commitment that is at the service of justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed. The model of holiness for the laity needs to integrate the social dimension of the transformation of the world according to God's plan.”

The role of the adviser as guide to the laity of the Association goes to the point of situating them in direct contact with the poor through the apostolic practices that have been and continue to be the characteristics of the Association. The home visitation, distribution of the Medal, Marian celebrations, visiting the sick in hospitals and in their homes, the presence of the image of Mary in the homes of our parish community, especially in the distant ones are some of the concrete forms of its commitment of faith. It is essential that we emphasize the value of prayer among the members of the AMM and also with the sick and elderly whom they visit. There are many sick people who feel useless, hence it is good for them to know that, in spite of their sickness, incapacity, and old age, they still have much to give. They have a lot to offer to those who are enduring greater suffering and also to those who can still do something in a practical manner.

Finally, find moments of reflection and prayer so that they, too, will experience "being evangelized by the poor". The encounter with the poor ends transforming and changing radically the heart of the person. So, take this into account: do not belittle the poor. On the contrary, we are not any greater than they are. Let us go then to meet them, in the same way we approach our friends and relatives, with ease and confidence.

8. Specific tasks for priests and sisters.

At the end of these reflections, allow me to summarize some specific and practical tasks that we cannot ignore or set aside.

Animate the lay advisers.
Design a Pastoral Plan that will respond to the needs of the Association and the realities of each country.
Take care of the spiritual, formational, apostolic and numerical growth of the Association in the country.
Encourage good relations among the members, especially in the councils, that will foster mutual knowledge, assuring good teamwork.
Define clearly the functions of each of the members of the Council.
Organize a National Secretariat, an office with the necessary equipment to accomplish the work.
Take good care of the administration of the goods of the Association and of the poor.
Encourage quick communication of all necessary and important information for the persons concerned.

9. Follow the footsteps of Jesus…

Jesus is the center of our life. We are called to learn it all from him. He is the model of a person who guides. For us, his person, his treatment of others, his relationships, words and presence serve as our model and give us the strength to lovingly accomplish the beautiful and delicate task that He himself has placed in our hands. An effective advisory of the groups can achieve a radical change in the lifestyle of the laity and in its apostolate of evangelization and charity.

Let us consider Mary as our model in the following of Jesus. Let us learn from her the attitude of listening to the Word, her poor, humble and simple attitude. Let us learn from Mary how to be sensitive to the needs of others and maintain, like her, a missionary and evangelizing attitude.

ACCOMPANIMENT AND GUIDANCE TO THE LAITY IN THE ASSOCIATION OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
(Outline of the Presentation)

I. FIVE AFFIRMATIONS

II. WHAT TYPE OF ADVISERS?

III. BASIC QUALITIES AND ATTITUDES OF THE ADVISER.

IV.FUNCTIONS OF THE AMM ADVISER

• How would you like the AMM to five years in your country, in the world, particularly with regard to formation apostolate and organization?
• Which of these models prevails in our service?
• What is the reality of the accompaniment and guidance in my country?
• What aspects of accompaniment and guidance should we urgently encourage?
• To what do we commit ourselves as AMM advisers?
  

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