Monthly message 24 June 2015
Mary invites us to believe in the power of prayer
Our Association is called to promote the love of Jesus in the Eucharist and of Mary Help of Christians through a strong witness of prayer. The power of prayer leads us to open our hearts to God and his love and together to manifest this love to our brothers and sisters with joy and goodness. Today in particular Pope Francis, with his example and his words, encourages us to experience the merciful love of God with maternal tenderness and generous availability.
Speaking of prayer, St. Faustina Kowalska writes in her diary: "With prayer the soul is ready to face any battle. No matter what condition your soul is in, you must pray. A pure and beautiful soul must pray, because otherwise it will lose its beauty. A soul that is striving for purity must pray, otherwise it will never attain it. The soul of one who has just been converted must pray, otherwise that soul will fall again. The sinful soul must pray, immersed in its sins, to be able to rise again. There is no soul that has not the duty to pray, since every grace comes through prayer."
Led by Mary Help of Christians, in our journey and life of prayer, we get to know more about God and about ourselves. We learn to recognize the presence of God in everyday life, to appreciate everything, to thank God for everything, to trust him in time of trial and above all to follow faithfully the smallest breath of the Holy Spirit, rejoicing in this spiritual guest and clinging to him like a child to his mother.
In this spirit, we invite all our members, especially the sick, and all our groups to intensify their prayer to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph for the Seventh International Congress of Mary Help of Christians so that it may be for the whole Salesian Family an event of grace in this jubilee year of the birth of our father Don Bosco.
(www.mariaausiliatrice2015.org .)
In communion of prayer
Lucca Tullio, President
Fr Pierluigi Cameroni SDB, Spiritual Animator
Seventh International Congress of Mary Help of Christians
Turin-Valdocco /Colle Don Bosco
6-9August 2015
Hic domus mea, inde gloria mea
From the house of Mary to our homes.
His mercy is from generation to generation
10. Mary Mother of the Church
Fr Roberto Carelli
In the mystery of the love of God, who chose to live among us in order to make us his dwelling place, Mary has the highest place: She is the Mother of God, our Mother, Mother of the Church, and universal Mother. God created her to be the abode of His Son, and the Son, after taking her as his home, has extended her motherhood without limit.
In relation to the Church Mary has a special position. She is Ecclesia Mater and Mater Ecclesiae, womb of the Church and Mother of the Church, model of the Church and at the same time a member of the Church. She is the holiness of the Church in person and the holiest person in the Church. As Jesus is the Head of the Church, Mary is its heart. While Peter represents the institutional aspect and the visible unity of the Church, Mary realizes the invisible unity of the Church, the charismatic aspect. One provides the means of sanctification, the other is the model of holiness.
Mary is certainly not a divine person, as some people might imagine, nor is she simply a creature like any other. She is an "all-holy" creature, free from all sin, totally open to the will of God. On the one hand she is a creature of God, but at the same time she is the Mother of God! Similarly, on one hand, she is part of the Church, on the other hand she is its mother. The Council says of Mary, “because she belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all those who are to be saved. She is "the mother of the members of Christ . . . having cooperated by charity that the faithful might be born in the Church, who are members of that Head… Wherefore she is hailed as a pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent exemplar in faith and charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honours her with filial affection and piety as a most beloved mother." (LG 53).
All this is due to the fullness of her yes, which was already perfect in Nazareth as she welcomed the Incarnation of the Word, and then further perfected at Calvary as she accepted the sacrifice of her Son. Through her history of saying yes to God, and through her whole being, she was a "pilgrim of faith" as John Paul II used to say. Mary reached the highest point of the emotional maturity of a mother: able to accept and to lose her son, to welcome him within herself and to give him to the world, to guard him and to deliver him with the same love. In the fullness of joy at first and then in sorrow, in the joyful birth of Jesus and then in the painful birth of the Church, but always with a living faith, an ardent hope and perfect charity, she became "our Mother in the order of grace." (LG 61).
The great theologian von Balthasar speaks admirably of this. The “crucial situation” from which the Church is born is the Passion of Jesus, when he experienced both the abandonment of his Father, and the compassion of his Mother, who suffers the desolation of the loss of her Son, and all this to take charge of us sinners, to free us from death, which is the wages of sin. "The fearful need for love to give its assent to death, the “unbloody martyrdom” on the part of Mary, is the crucial situation out of which the Church springs to life. It is the fertility of the Mater Dolorosa, the apocalyptic woman in her birth pangs. The cry uttered by the Church at her birth is heard at the same moment as the Mother’s inaudible cry uttered as she beholds her dying Son. Tis death cry is, however, only the final outcome of that original assent given in Nazareth which accorded God the freedom to carry out a divine plan unforeseeable in its consequences and reaching far beyond the powers of man. Mary’s original assent carried within it the seeds of death, whether she was aware of it or not. It was an assent to which no limits could be set and which therefore contained within itself the willing assent to death and to being killed, since it is ‘according to thy word’."
But precisely in this way, through the pain and the joy of the Paschal mystery, a new fertility is opened. The Church is born, a sign and sacrament of salvation for all mankind. The Paschal mystery of Christ becomes our Passover, and the Mother of Christ becomes our Mother! And so the journey of every Christian consists in nothing other than following her with filial, humble and obedient affection. The Church journeys through time proceeding along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary, who "advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and loyally persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross." (RM 2). In practice, to be a Christian, to be Church and to be Marian are not three distinct things but three aspects of one reality, which is our belonging to God.
There is a very intimate unity between Mary and the Church because both carry out the maternal dimension of God's plan, Mary in a personal archetypal way and the Church in a collective manner. Pope Francis says: "Jesus founded the Church and founded us in the Church. The mystery of the Church is closely united to the mystery of Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church. Mary gives birth to us and rears us. So also does the Church. Mary makes us grow. So also does the Church. And at the hour of death, the priest bids us farewell in the name of the Church and leaves us in the arms of Mary ... So when we look at the Church, we feel towards her the same devotion we have to Mary." Our love for Mary urges us to love the Church more, to love as a Church, to overcome a naive and imperfect love that is purely instinctive and natural, to cultivate holiness, fruitfulness and Christian discipline.
Here are the three recommendations of Pope Francis:
1 Holiness. It is a holiness that is reflected in zeal for evangelization, bearing in mind that "our zeal for evangelization springs from true holiness of life," nourished by prayer and the Eucharist.
2. Fruitfulness. The maternity of Mary and of the Church is gifted with supernatural fecundity. It is designed to give birth to the sons and daughters of God and help them to grow. It does not follow our plans, but God's plans. It is not calculating but superabundant. It is a recognition that the Lord does not abandon us and keeps his word to stay with us until the end of the world. It is a paradoxical fruitfulness. It is to be fruitful and, at the same time, not to measure anything. It is to bear fruit and to feel that we are nothing on our own but that we participate in the lordship of Christ and become ever more servants.
3. Discipline. The Church is a body, and this requires discipline. Peter does not equal Mary in holiness, but it never enters Mary’s mind to appropriate the ministry of Peter. This invites us to understand that evangelization is never an individual work, but an organic ecclesial task. Here Pope Francis quotes Paul VI: “Our adherence to the Kingdom cannot remain abstract and unincarnated. It reveals itself concretely by a visible entry into a community of believers… To claim to love Christ but not the Church, to listen to Christ, but not the Church, to belong to Christ but outside the Church is an absurd dichotomy." (EN 23:16).
Prayer of the Synod for the Family
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate
the splendour of true love,
to you we turn with trust.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic Churches.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may families never again
experience violence, rejection and division:
may all who have been hurt or scandalized
find ready comfort and healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
may the approaching Synod of Bishops
make us once more mindful
of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,
and its beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
graciously hear our prayer.
Family Chronicle
EAST TIMOR - FIRST ADMA NATIONAL CONGRESS
From 1 to 3 May 2015, the Association of Mary Help of Christians in East Timor celebrated its First National Congress in Fatumaca, with the presence of the world spiritual animator Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB. About 150 associate members of ADMA, representing 10 local groups, accompanied by animators from the Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, participated in the event. It was organized as part of the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco and of the institution of the feast of Mary Help of Christians. Fr Virgilio Da Silva, Superior of the Salesian Vice-Province of Indonesia-Timor, Sr. Alma Castagna, FMA Provincial, and Fr. Manuel Ximenes, Provincial Animator of ADMA, took part..
The Congress, as well as being an occasion for understanding and communion between the members of ADMA, served to present the Rules of the Association. In the opening celebration the National President, Fatima Belo, spoke of the birth, about 35 years ago, of ADMA in East Timor, thanks to the Spanish missionary Fr Alfonso Maria Nacher. From a humble start, with a few people devoted to Our Lady, ADMA is now an ecclesial movement and a moral force in Timorese society, with over 1,000 members active in apostolic work. It is an important group of the Salesian Family and a significant apostolic presence at the service of the three dioceses of Timor, in communion and solidarity with other ecclesial groups.
During the three days the conference dealt mainly with the commentary on the Regulations which have already been translated into Tetum, and with ideas and thoughts directly suggested by Fr Cameroni. They also addressed other issues relevant to the life and fidelity of each member. It was found that even for ADMA members, family life is a major challenge offering pastoral and educational opportunities. The formation of all the members, new and old, is very important. Each member must be accompanied in the formation process, especially by the local council, which has an important role and responsibility in the life of the Association.
There were numerous functions and liturgical celebrations during the conference, culminating in the solemn Eucharistic liturgy of Sunday, 3 May with the participation of about 600 members. During the celebration approximately 50 new members made their commitment and were welcomed into the association. The new office bearers of the Association were installed. The Diploma of aggregation was awarded to each group. The communion between the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Fatumaca and the one in Turin was recognised.
Three operational guidelines were decided on at the conference:
- Assessment of ongoing experiences in local groups, trying to give reasons in line with the identity and spirit of the Association and taking care of the Salesian and apostolic quality of the group.
- Care of the formation of candidates, through a systematic review of the Regulations, including ongoing formation programmes on the Strenna of the Rector Major, which is the motto he has proposed to the Association and to the whole Salesian Family in the world, and also in harmony with the path of the Church at the present time.
- Special attention to the family, in harmony with the journey of the Church and the Salesian Family, practising the Preventive System, through dialogue, living in the presence of God, and establishing relationships characterized by respect and affection.