The Three No’s

The quality of your Yes’s increases with the quantity of your No’s. We protect what we really value (our yes) by practically saying no to many other things. For Colin, the practice of saying No to power, pride and greed was a practical expression of saying Yes to ensuring God and Mercy shine through our lives into the church.

A popular Marist Book called ‘A Marian Consciousness’ offers some thoughtful ideas on the Marist Way of looking at and living life.

The Three No's — Saying No So Mercy Can Say Yes

Every deep yes requires some clear no's. For Colin, three were absolutely non-negotiable, appearing in every version of his rule from the first Cerdon fragments to the end of his life: no to greed, no to power, no to pride. He had watched a worldly spirit — money-talk among clergy, hunger for position, love of prestige and display — seep into the Church of his day, and he saw how it silently strangled the Gospel. His warning was prophetic in the fullest sense: if the Society ever forsook the spirit of poverty, 'Jesus and Mary would no longer acknowledge this Congregation as their own.'

But notice: these no's are not sour moralism. They are the clearing of ground so that mercy can flourish. Colin's practical instincts still astonish: show great kindness to sinners; never appear surprised by anyone's failures; 'law was made for man — if I cannot save him with the law, I shall try to save him without it'; never take people 'by storm' from the pulpit; 'we must win souls by submitting ourselves to them.' Where the age was harsh, judging and self-assertive — and where the Church too often mirrored that harshness back — Colin chose the heart over cold reason, the person over the rule, presence over domination, trust over self-sufficiency, mercy over strict justice.

Fitzgerald calls this the 'Mary symbol' at work: the gentle, motherly face of God confronting every form of hardness, including our own. The three no's are for all of us. Each is a doorway to freedom: freedom from grasping, from controlling, from performing — freedom, finally, to be merciful.

Marist Reflection Question

Greed, power, pride: which of these three most subtly shapes my choices — at home, at work, even in my life of faith?

Marist Practice for Daily Life

Choose your most vulnerable 'no' and practise it concretely this week: give something away quietly (greed), let someone else decide or have the last word (power), or let a mistake go uncorrected and unexplained (pride).

One Heart and Mind

Hidden Holiness