The video series of the World Novena of the Salesian Family to Mary Help of Christians continues with day seven, “Being Children – Justice and Dignity,” featuring Our Lady of Aparecida.
Accompany many consecrated and lay people of the Salesian Family on the spiritual journey towards the Feast of Mary Help of Christians, an anniversary so dear to Don Bosco.
Children trust, children rely on others. And a mother is close by, always.
You see her even if she is not there.
As for us, are we able to see her?
Blessed are those who see with their heart.
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Transcript from the video:
Our Lady of Aparecida
The little fishermen Domingos, Felice and Joao
At dawn on October 12, 1717, Domingos Garcia, Felipe Pedroso and Joao Alves pushed their boat into the waters of the Paraiba River that flowed near their village. They didn’t seem lucky that morning: they cast their nets for hours without catching anything. They had almost decided to give up when Joao Alves, the youngest, wanted to give it one last try. So he cast his net into the waters of the river and slowly pulled it up. There was something there, but it wasn’t a fish… it looked more like a piece of wood. When he freed it from the meshes of the net, the piece of wood turned out to be a statue of the Virgin Mary, unfortunately minus its head. Joao threw the net back into the water and this time, pulling it up, he found another piece of rounded wood entangled in it that looked just like the head of the same statue: he tried to put the two pieces together and realised that they matched perfectly. As if obeying an impulse, Joao Alves threw the net back into the water and, when he tried to pull it up, he realised he couldn’t do it, because it was full of fish. His companions threw cast nets into the water in turn and the fishing that day was really abundant.
A mother sees the needs of her children, Mary saw the needs of the three fishermen and went to their rescue. Her children gave her all the love and dignity that can be given to a mother: they put the two pieces of the statue back together, placed it on a hut and turned it into a shrine. From the top of the hut, Our Lady of Aparecida – which means She Appeared – saved one of her slave sons who was running away from his masters: she saw his suffering and restored his dignity. And today, that hut is the largest Marian shrine in the world and bears the name of the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida.
Mary, the Mother who sees.
You, who have seen the suffering of your abused children, starting with the disciples, have stood beside your poorest and most persecuted children. You drew close to them and revealed yourself to them.
Do not hide from a mother’s gaze: she also sees into your most hidden desires and needs.
The Rector Major’s words
The Virgin Mary, dignity and social justice.
The Virgin Mary is a mirror of fully realised human dignity, silent but powerful and inspiring for a just sense of social life. Reflecting on the figure of Mary in relation to these themes reveals a profound and surprisingly relevant perspective.
Let us look to Mary, the woman full of dignity, as a gift that helps us today to see her original purity, which does not place her on an inaccessible pedestal but reveals Mary in the fullness of that dignity to which we all feel a little attracted, called.
Contemplating Mary, we see shining forth the beauty and nobility, precisely the dignity of the human being, created in the image and likeness of God, free from the game of sin, fully open to divine love, a humanity that is not lost in details, in superficial things.
We can say that Mary’s free and conscious ‘yes’ is the gesture of self-determination that elevates Mary to the level of God’s will, entering in some way into God’s logic. Her humility then makes her even freer, far from being diminished by humility. Mary’s humility becomes an awareness of the true greatness that comes from God.
Here, then, is this dignity that Mary helps us to see how we are living it in our daily lives. The theme of social justice may seem less explicit, but from a careful contemplative reading of the Gospel, especially the Magnificat, we can grasp, feel and encounter the revolutionary spirit that proclaims the overthrow of the powerful from their thrones and the raising up of the humble, that is, the reversal of worldly logic and God’s privileged attention to the poor and hungry.
These words flow from a humble heart, filled with the Holy Spirit. We can say that they are a manifesto of social justice ante litteram, a foretaste of the kingdom of God, where the last will be first.
Let us contemplate Mary so that we may feel attracted to this dignity that is not limited to closing in on itself but is a dignity that in the Magnificat challenges us not to remain closed in our own logic but to become open, praising God and seeking to live the gift we have received for the good of humanity, with dignity for the good of the poor and for the good of those who are rejected by society.
The voice of the boys
As for us, do we hide or do we say everything like children do?
The prayer of a child who is afraid:
Mary, you who show yourself to those who are able to see…
make my heart capable of restoring dignity.
In a time of trial, look at my shortcomings and make them whole.
In a time of fatigue, look at my weaknesses and heal them.
In a time of waiting, look at my impatience and heal it.
So that when I look at my brothers and sisters I can look at their shortcomings and make them whole, see their weaknesses and heal them, feel their impatience and heal it.
Because nothing cares like love, and no one is as strong as a mother seeking justice for her children.
And then I, too, Mother, will stop at the foot of the hut, look with confident eyes at your image, and pray for the dignity of all your children.
Hail Mary…
Blessed are those who see with their heart.
When people asked for some special grace, Don Bosco used to say:
“If you wish to obtain graces from the Blessed Virgin, make a Novena” (MB IX, 289).
- This novena, according to him, had to take place, if possible, “in church, with lively faith” as an act of fervent homage to the Eucharist. According to Don Bosco, for the novena to be efficacious, the dispositions of the soul should be as follows:
- Do not put your hope in human forces, but have faith in God.
- The request should be made to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, fount of grace, kindness, and blessing, and with trust in the power of Mary whom God wishes to be honored on earth in this temple.
- Always add the intention “Thy will be done” and the condition “if it is for the good of the soul of the person being prayed for.”
Three times: Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be… to the Holy Eucharist, followed each time by the short prayer:
Blessed and praised every moment be the Most Holy and Divine Sacrament.
Three times: Hail Holy Queen… followed each time by the short prayer:
María Auxiliadora, ruega por nosotros.
Remember, O most loving Virgin Mary, that it is a thing unheard of, that anyone ever had recourse to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, and was left forsaken. Filled therefore with confidence in your goodness, I fly to you, O Mother, Virgin of Virgins. To you I come, before you I stand, a sorrowful sinner. Despise not my poor words, O Mother of the Word of God, but graciously hear and grant my prayer. Amen.
Personal Conditions Required:
- Approach the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.
- Give an offering or do some work to support the apostolate, preferably on behalf of youth.
- Renew your faith in Jesus in the Eucharist and devotion to Mary Help of Christians.
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In addition, the videos of the World Novena will be available on the various language channels of ANS YouTube channel, which will be uploaded day by day until the eve of the feast.