Discipleship
By Sr. Therese Haywood DC, presented at the Annual Retreat Day in August 2024.
A disciple is one who understands,
teaches and does what Jesus did.
Discipleship is not a distinctive role or office but the life of an ordinary follower of Jesus.
Mary
The figure of Mary stands out as a challenge and an inspiration to embody Christian attitudes and values. Mary is presented to us as the most perfect disciple of Christ and the first Christian, by her attitudes, in her own particular life, she fully and responsibly accepted the will of God, because she heard the word of God and acted on it, and because charity and the spirit of service were the driving force of her actions. She is worthy of imitation because she was the first and most perfect of Christ’s disciples. All of this has a permanent and universal exemplary value.
Delgado, Corpus C.M. (2002) “Marian Spirituality and the Vincentian Charism,” Vincentiana: Vol. 46: No. 4, Article 12, available at http://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentiana/vol46/iss4/12.
This example of Mary as a disciple gives us some principles of discipleship to take into our own lives.
- Called and chosen
- Attentive and available to the will of God
- Allows Christ to take form in them
- Announces the gospel of love to the poor