... Holy Mary

"The relevance that the Marian theme has been acquiring in the teachings of the latest Pontiffs allows us to perceive a certain crescendo, until we arrive to the present Pope's Totus Tuus, which aims towards an even larger horizon. The rich Mariology of Reconciliation, the proclamation of Mary as Mother of the Church, highlighting her spiritual maternity of all the faithful, as well as the Mariology of Puebla and Santo Domingo, which shows Mary to be a close compassionate Mother of the children who are on their pilgrimage in impoverished Latin America, clearly manifest that for theological reasons, but not less for historical signs, a spirituality of today and tomorrow must carry the Marian imprint.

"Now then, if a perspective of synthesis is considered necessary, Mariology must not be juxtaposed to other elements, next to which it appears strange and, therefore, because of the plurality of unconnected elements in an atomized conception, it is ignored, except when for some reason it becomes necessary to refer to it. Mariology must aspire in today's spirituality to fully respond to God's Plan and, in consequence, it must be included organically. This organic perspective will prevent a double danger: on the one hand a kind of "mariolatry", totally out of proportion and therefore totally unacceptable; and on the other, a margination in which it is excluded, except as a kind of ornament, from the global significance of the message of salvation and the life of Faith. There is an ever increasing conviction that Christology itself requires a Mariology in order to be fully Christian. We must not lose sight of the fact that the Lord Jesus cannot be understood if not understood as Son of the Father, and as Son of Mary. [continue]...