'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word' Lk 1, 38

To follow Christ who came to do the will of the Father and who became 'obedient unto death', as members of the COLW we offer to God the sacrifice of our will through the vow of obedience. Under the maternal guidance of Our Lady we cultivate an attitude of openness to God's call in our daily lives, recognising in all legitimate authority as well as in the community of believers, the presence of God. As such we have adopted a collaborative and participative form of governance in community.

The communitarian model is the consequence of believing in a God who does works but as leaven from inside. God has become a leaven inside human history, he works in all hearts and works by giving birth to communities which witness to his power to bring together what sin has separated. The community model abandons the preoccupation with 'perfection' by becoming a community of sinners, a community of pilgrims which never arrives. It has to accept being a pilgrim community of sinful human beings which, in the midst of a broken world, continues to proclaim the unconditional love of God.

'Being obedient together means calling forth each person's gifts,
reverencing each one's mystery,
acknowledging and transforming each one's blurred sight.
Truly obedient people are not submissive, they are powerful'. Juliana Casey