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.

Fr Collin would frequently remind us that Mary is only spoken of four times in the scriptures - so hidden - and yet holy and effective. Nazareth became a symbol not just of a place but an interior space of the heart. Mary and Joseph and Jesus’ home which can also be present in the home of our hearts; humbly and quietly being faithful to the little hidden tasks of our lives with love. It becomes a key idea in marist spirituality - being hidden and unknown.

Marists do not promote devotions to Mary; they seek to be like Mary. This is at the heart of the name they bear - Marist means ‘like Mary’. This attitude and way of being is expressed most powerfully by a special phrase Colin believed he received from Mary herself; ‘they must think as Mary, judge as Mary, feel and act as Mary in all things, otherwise they will be unworthy sons and daughters of her name’.

Big challenges need big solutions. Colin knew this during the French Revolution. The Church needed to change and the solution was to be more Marian - humble, welcoming, open, like the early Christian community.

In New Zealand - Aotearoa, the Maori word for work is ‘mahi’. The Society of Mary exists because Mary intervened in history and said to Fr Jean Claude Colin - there is work to be done: Mary’s Mahi - Mary’s Work. This is the foundation stone of the Society of Mary and the Marist Way.

A prophet is someone who comforts the afflicted and challenges the comfortable. Mary’s Magnificat in the Gospel of Luke is a prophetic statement of God lifting up the lowly and bringing the rich down from their ‘thrones’. Mary’s spirit has a prophetic invitation to move us from being comfortable to being challenged.

Marists do more than ‘bear Mary’s name’, they live her spirit. Through prayer and the practice of presence, they absorb and fill up with a certain way - a spirit - an attitude and commitment in their life. They become conscious that living Mary’s presence becomes in fact doing the ‘work of Mary’.

We all want to feel safe and have a home. Yet many people live on the margins and edges feeling hurt and unwelcome - with no place to call home. A Mothers love seeks to heal and include.

Sometimes we just become aware of wanting something more, to live life a little more deeply. This is a thirst for spirituality; a sense of standing on solid ground even in the ups and downs of your busy life. 

Life’s journey seeks meaning, passion, a sense of purpose; a source of energy.