... Holy Mary

"... I prefer to continue developing this note on the characteristics of the spirituality of our times by quoting a 1979 publication of Esteban De Fiores, professor of Mariology in the Marianum of Rome. After pointing out that following the post-tridentine perspective of today, it is necessary to locate the Marian dimension in the whole of the Christian reality, he claims: "Once the essential values of Christianity are safeguarded, the relationship with Mary can be deepened without any danger. That is why it is necessary to sustain the present orientation of spirituality which points to life in Christ and within which there is a place for the attitude we must take with respect to Mary. It is a recovery of the primitive perspective of the apostolic community when it discovered Mary as implicit in the mystery of Christ and it opened itself to praise of the Mother of Jesus; or better said, when primitive liturgy made room for Mary in the context of the Communion of Saints, discovering her active presence in it." In this context, De Fiores continues, "the relationship with Mary is a consequence rather than a premise of the mystery of Christ. The Christian journey really begins with Christ, living center of the Faith and the Word. In it is found Mary, the Church and the world, and a life in communion with the Father in the light of the Spirit. The way marked by the motto 'to Jesus through Mary...' must be completed and inserted in a previous phase, which starts with Christ and encompasses all realities including Mary, who becomes a way to reach not the union with Christ which existed before, but one with greater depth and more solid roots.  [continue]...