VATICAN - AVE MARIA - don Luciano Alimandi - “Ad Jesum per Mariam”

Wednesday, 26 July 2006

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Seek o man to understand better the plan of God and see it is a plan of wisdom and mercy. Wishing to irrigate the air with heavenly dew He poured it all over the whole fleece: wishing to redeem the human race, He placed in Mary the entire price of our ransom … Let us strive therefore to understand with what devout affection God wishes us to honour Mary, in whom He placed the fullness of all good …Let us venerate Mary then with every fibre of our heart, with all the affections and desires of our soul because so wills He who arranged that all should come about through Mary. Certainly it is His will, but it is also good for us.” The great St Bernard of Clairvaux, quoted authentic cantor of the greatness and beauty of the universal vocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, left us, in the text just the clearest possible indication of the importance of Marian devotion in the life of every person who opens to God’s plan of love.
Veneration of Mary in fact is not an invention of the Church it is found at the heart of Divine Revelation, consigned to us by Christ our Lord who chose Mary to be his Mother and ours: “Behold your mother” (Jn 19, 27). A mother not imposed but given to us. This is why St Bernard urges us to “seek to understand better” the will of God: that Mary may be dearly loved! Not by chance this great devotee of Mary reminded us of the Gospel truth with these words: “wishing to redeem the human race, God placed in Mary the price of our ransom”.
This elementary and fundamental truth facilitates the acceptance and development of an authentically filial relationship with the Virgin Mother, which can be expressed in very many ways, but is lived best by striving to imitate her virtues. To imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary in her worship of God, in her intercession, in her humble acceptance of God’s will, in her silence filled with goodness, her merciful love for the world, her tender care and concern for all human suffering ….
Learning to imitate Our Lady is a school for life and the Church ,with the Saints leading the way, highly recommends it because no one more than Mary glorified the Lord, no one more than Mary welcomed Him and gave Him to the world. How can we ever become true “worshippers in spirit and truth (Jn 4, 23) without learning from Mary?
Another great cantor of Mary, an expert on her virtues, St Ambrose, exclaimed: “may the soul of Mary be in each of us, so all may magnify the Lord: may the spirit of Mary be in each of us, so all may rejoice in God”. When we think of Our Lady, when we ask for her intercession, when we pray the Rosary, when we speak about her or consecrate ourselves to her, we enter into her heart and soul and we breath with her spirit which uplifts and reassures us as only this Mother can, so that the grace of her Son Jesus may meet in us as less obstacles as possible.
How true it is that authentic Marian devotion always and everywhere makes it easier for us to find Jesus! With the presence of Mary in our life the miracle of Cana is renewed again and again: at the request of Mary moved by the poverty of humanity the best wine is given by her Son (cfr. Jn 2, 1-11). In fact that request came from not just anyone, one of the guests, one of the Apostles there present, it was a supplication made to Christ by his Mother! And that made it very different! And this is what the Son wishes, He wishes this miracle, like many others down through the centuries, to happen because His Mother so wished: obtained through her. So “ad Jesum per Mariam” is not at all an exaggerated outdated motto, what it says is always relevant and should be repeated and lived in our times; and, why not, at the start and end of every day! (Agenzia Fides 26/7/2006 - Righe 45, Parole 685)


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