Each religious congregation has a particular spirit and manner of life.  You need to ask yourself where you will best be able to place your gifts at the service of the Church and which congregation is best suited to nurture and challenge you in your relationships with Jesus Christ and the People of God. The Little Company of Mary, like other congregations, has a distinctive spirit and charism.

When Mary Potter founded the Little Company of Mary in 1877, she was following the belief she had that she was called to make a difference in her world.How that was to be achieved was by living out the law of love. Mary Potter had come to know God's deep love for herself, and for every human being. She had also come to understand how few people really knew of their own loveliness or loveability. She wished to bring the good news of God's great love - in and through the person of Jesus- to her world.

Today the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary continue that mission. As our constitutions tell us:

"Just as God chose and formed the people of Israel to reveal and carry out the divine plane, the sisters of the Little Company of Mary are commissioned to be bearers of the Good News, to be a light to the nations that God's salvation may reach the ends of the earth (s. 49:6). #1.01

Our charism calls us to follow the inspiration of Jesus total self-giving by responding generously and courageously to the challenges presented by our mission. This charism is lived in union with Mary, the pre-eminent disciple of Jesus and model of the Church. We are called to share in Mary's maternal and evangelizing role in the Church. (cf Constitutions #101.1; 101.2)

We are also bound to the mystery of the Cross which calls us to stand in radical vulnerability and weakness in order to proclaim the goodness of God who fills the hungry with good things. Our congregational charism also calls us to embrace radical poverty of mind and heart.(Constitutions #2.09)

The hallmarks of our congregation are simplicity, hospitality, compassion. These are the fruits of our vow of poverty.(Constitutions #2.04.)

In all that we do, we seek to bring a message of hope and new life to a world in which violence, poverty, suffering and injustice destroy human dignity and integrity. We express solidarity with those who suffer, by our prayer, our sharing of material resources and our commitment to social justice(Constitutions #2.11)