CHILDREN OF MARY IMMACULATE
Writing from Rome, where he was to participate in the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, Eugene wrote to the Oblates in Marseilles.
On the feast day itself, we must expose the Blessed Sacrament at eleven o’clock of the morning, which will be the hour during which the Pope will proclaim the announced dogmatic definition and, after the prayer “pro gratiarum actione,” we shall sing with a holy enthusiasm the “Tota pulchra es,” etc. This is the least we can do to express our joy and gratitude on the occasion of this great event over which no one ought to rejoice more than we, who are children of Mary Immaculate, we, the members of a Congregation which does battle under this beautiful name, a truly personal prerogative through the intervention of the very Head of the Church, the great Pope Leo XII.
In advance I approve everything that you will do to make the feast of the Immaculate more solemn than ever. Let the holy mountain [ed. of Notre Dame de la Garde] be lit up twice as much as what is done for the feast in August. Fires of rejoicing are to be organized, not to forget that there be one at Montolivet, we have to light up all the windows of our house at La Garde, the facade of Le Calvaire. In a word, do all that you can to express the enthusiastic joy that all true sons of Mary are experiencing.
Letter to Fr Casimir Aubert in Marseilles, 28 November 1854, EO XI n 1255
REFLECTION
“The Immaculate Virgin however invites us not to fix our eyes on her but to pass beyond, and as much as possible, to enter into the mystery in which she was conceived: the mystery of God who is One and Three, full of grace and fidelity. As the moon shines with the light of the sun, so the immaculate splendour of Mary is totally relative to that of the Redeemer. The Mother leads us to her Son; passing through her, we reach Christ. For this reason, Dante Allighieri notes fittingly: “that her radiance alone can dispose you to see Christ”. (Pope St John Paul 2)
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Imagine it – Eugene being in Rome for the Proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. I sit with her who I still call Maman as she teaches me how to love as her first Son loved/loves.
I stop for a moment and go to my window looking down upon the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes which is across the street from my apartment building. The Mother leads us to her Son; passing through her, we reach Christ.
It has taken trust and hope, believing who God has sent and continues to send to me – almost in the way of formation and ongoing formation. And now how can I possibly try to share my own experience of devotion to her who I call Maman.
This Mother than has been given to all of us. I recall the words from 1 Kings 19 when Elijah experienced God not in the thunder, the earthquake or fire but only in the silence and whisper of the Spirit. Mary is seen in the midst of the stars and the clamor of life, as well as in her silence at the foot of the cross. Her beauty is recognized as we experience her radiance within our hearts
Mary who is our Mother is our model of oblation. As our mother she teaches us all that we need to know about herself and her Son. She points directly to Him who is our crucified Saviour and invites us to call her Maman.
We become the children of Mary Immaculate.