The Movement of Nazareth Families (MNF) is an international Catholic movement for the apostolate of families.
Its purpose is the sanctification of its members through a deeper living of the Gospel—that is, striving to live every day in union with Christ.
The initiator and founder of the MNF was Fr Tadeusz Dajczer (born 1931), a professor at the Academy of Catholic Theology. Together with Fr Andrzej Buczel (1951–1994) and a group of laypeople, he established the first evangelising community in Warsaw in 1985, giving rise to the Movement. Within two years the MNF had spread throughout Poland, and it is now present in dozens of countries on every continent.
The MNF has existed in Ukraine since 1996 and is present in almost all Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic dioceses. The ideal of holiness for the Movement’s members is the life of the Holy Family in Nazareth. Following the example of Jesus, who was obedient to Mary in Nazareth, they seek to build small communities within their families based on interior obedience to the Mother of God, thereby imitating the life of the Holy Family. For them, the path to Christian holiness includes growth in conjugal love, which “must be fully human, exclusive and open to new life” (Familiaris Consortio, 29).
Members of the Movement turn in a special way to the Eucharist, where they find the source of authentic Christian life. An ever-deeper understanding of the Most Holy Sacrifice leads to fuller and, whenever possible, daily participation in it, as well as lasting spiritual union with it. The personal prayer of a Movement member is based primarily on the Bible and gradually takes the demanding form of daily meditation on the Word of God. For members of the Movement of Nazareth Families, Mary is the most perfect model of hearing and fulfilling God’s Word, because it was in her that God most fully formed the image of his Son. Nazareth Families seek to grow in interior obedience to the Mother of God, in accordance with the motto of John Paul II, borrowed from St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort: “Totus Tuus, Maria, ego sum, et omnia mea Tua sunt”—“I am all yours, Mary, and all that is mine is yours.” They believe that the Mother of the Son of God will lead them by the most direct path towards fulfilling their Christian vocation and will help them discern and carry out God’s will.
In the Movement of Nazareth Families, members are encouraged to seek the spiritual assistance of a priest. This assistance may take the form of spiritual direction, which is a gift from God himself and, as the interior life develops, may become a genuine need of the soul. On the path to holiness, the spiritual director is a guide for the soul: he helps it discover the signs of the Holy Spirit’s action, supports and encourages it amid difficulties, and at the same time assists the development of personal freedom and initiative.
An important work for members of the Movement, and not only for them, is the book The Gift of Faith, written by its founder. Fr Tadeusz Dajczer’s work offers an original view of Christian life from the perspective of spiritual theology. First published in 1992, it quickly became extremely popular and was soon translated into numerous languages. Its reflections on faith, prayer and the practice of the interior life grew out of many years of experience in the spiritual guidance of a great number of people. The Gift of Faith is, in a sense, a continuation of that fatherly accompaniment of those who wish to experience the depth of God in their everyday lives. The language of the book is compelling: far removed from conventional formulations, it is close to life, simple, clear and understandable. In words accessible to modern readers, the author encourages a radical faith, awakens a longing for the experience of God and outlines a path towards holiness. We may therefore say that this book forms part of the contemporary response to the Holy Father’s call for a new evangelisation.
The Movement of Nazareth Families is universal. Although its main emphasis is on forming Christian foundations within families, there is also a place for single people, young people, children and priests. Anyone drawn to the spirituality proposed by the Movement may take part without restriction.
The community is a meeting place both for those who have already found God and for those who, lost amid the confusion of this world, have only just begun to seek him.
Only one thing is essential: the desire for a living encounter with God and his mercy.
Based on materials from: http://www.nicolasparish.org.ua