INTRODUCTION

                The famous formula "Starting afresh from Christ" was presented by John Paul II as the title to the third of the four chapters of his Apostolic Letter Novo millennio ineunte (6 January 2001). According to the explanation offered by the Holy Father himself in his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae  (October 16, 2002), such a programme has to be understood and carried out with an explicitly Marian dynamism. Therefore, the complete formula of the programme for the new millennium should be: "Starting afresh from Christ with Mary"

                As we see from the first lines of the Letter Novo millennium ineunte, the concept "starting afresh" is closely linked to the idea of "beginning", and concretely to the idea of "beginning of the new millenium", which represents for the pilgrim Church "a new part of the road" to be travelled.

                If it is a question of  walking on a new part of the road, or is it a question of a true "starting afresh", the pilgrim can do it giving his steps the sense and the dynamism of the preceding stage or, on the other hand, realizing a great change, which could even be a radical one.

                Using the term "starting afresh", the Pope wanted to reaffirm, with renewed impetus, the Christological sense and the dynamism which already existed in the preceding stage of the itinerary of the Church, and concretely, in the event of the celebration of the Jubilee. We were walking "in Christ", and we should continue to walk with renewed commitment, "in Christ" because nobody can change the irreplaceable foundation nor the end of the advancement  of the Church: "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever!" (Hb 13,8). In the first number of the chapter entitled "Starting afresh from Christ", the Pope is very clear:  "It is not therefore a matter of inventing a 'new programme'.  The programme already exists, it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition.  Ultimately, it has its centre in Christ himself, who is to be known, loved and imitated." (NMI, 29).

                Every person who fully accepts that the Word became incarnate with the singular and determinant collaboration of the Virgin Mary, is aware that the programme, "starting afresh from Christ" has to be understood and carried out making explicit this essential aspect: "with Mary".

                As the Pope has explained in his Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, every Christian should contemplate the face of Christ "in company of and in the school of his holy Mother" (RVM, 3).  The way in which the faithful can and should "start afresh from Christ" at the beginning of the new millennium is with the strength of such a Marian dynamism, that is, with the spiritual energy drawn from the profound communion with Mary.

                To better understand the essential character of the element "with Mary", it is opportune to reflect on the incisive words said by Paul VI in his homily on April 24, 1970, in the Shrine of our Lady of Bonaria: "The Apostle says, that he has traced the fundamental theological structure of Christianity: 'But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son, born of a human mother...' (Gal 4, 4). And 'Mary - as the Council reminds us - was not used by God merely in a passive way, but as cooperating in the work of human salvation, through free faith and obedience' (LG, 56). This, therefore, is not an occasional circumstance, a secondary one, which can be neglected; this forms an essential part, - for us human beings most important, most beautiful and most sweet -  of the mystery of Salvation: Christ came to us from Mary: we have received him from her; we find him as the flower of humanity open on the immaculate and virginal stalk, which is Mary (...).  If we want to be Christians, we have to be Marian, that is, we have to acknowledge the essential, vital providential relation  which unites Our Lady to Jesus, and which opens for us the way which leads to him.  A two-fold way: that of the 'example and that of intercession. Do we want to be Christians, that is, imitators of Christ? Let us look at Mary; she is the most perfect image of likeness or resemblance of Christ.  She is the 'type. She is the image which better than any other, mirrors the Lord; as the Council says she is, 'the Church's model and excellent exemplar in faith and charity' (LG, 53).  How sweet and consoling it is to have Mary, her image, her souvenir, her sweetness, her humility and her purity, her greatness before us, who wish to walk following the footsteps of the Lord".

                In the new millennium, all Christians have "to start afresh from Christ with Mary". Each one has to do it respecting the characteristics of one's own state of life, that is, maintaining and strengthening the Christological and Marian elements of one's own ecclesial identity. The married lay person, for example, has to "start afresh from Christ  with Mary" as a married lay person, while the religious - man and woman - has to do it as a Christian consecrated to the Lord.  This means that the consecrated persons, in their state of life, must keep in mind not only the elements of the common programme of the holiness of Baptism, but also the elements of their "new and special consecration" and of their "specific mission" in the Church. Consecrated persons, then, have to "start afresh from Christ", the supreme consecrated One, obedient, chaste, poor, prayerful and missionary, "with Mary", the supreme consecrated one, obedient, chaste, poor, prayerful and missionary.

                My help to our reflection will be divided into four parts. In the first part I will try to clarify, placing in the first place three doctrinal principles, which are fundamental in order to succeed to "start afresh from Christ with Mary" as consecrated persons: the supreme light to enlighten the contents has to be sought in the Gospels; the supreme normative value is found in the doctrinal orientations of Vatican Council II; the post-conciliar document which gives more light concerning this is the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation  Vita consecrata.  In the second part I will examine and evaluate the elements of the indications of five ecclesial documents of the new millennium which are closely related with the programme "starting afresh from Christ with Mary". In the third part I will show how such a programme includes supreme fidelity to Christ and a fundamental fidelity to Mary. In the fourth part I will try to help you contemplate the values of this programme in the light of the Christological and Marian contents in the narrative of the Annunciation according to Luke 1, 26-38.