03_Today, I discovered heaven: Module n.3

Mary listens to the voice of God and helps us to speak with Jesus, her Son

A) For the assistants. Ideas from Chiara’s themes: Mary, model of union with God

• Chiara often spoke of Mary, also as model of union with God. Again, here is an excerpt from a talk, already mentioned in the previous modules, made by Chiara in 1999 to Muslim friends:  “[…] Union with God then brings us almost spontaneously to speak of Mary of Nazareth and her role in prayer, in which she is a model for us; for her interiority, and in her adoring recollection in front of the mystery of God which she carries in herself.  In fact, how can one imagine Mary, how is she described to us by the Scriptures? How is she painted, sung, sculpted by artists of all time? Certainly not as a person who is all outgoing, restless, hasty, always in a hurry, paying attention only to what is happening externally.  But as a creature, suffused with mystical beauty, who reveals an immense treasure hidden in her heart: God.  It was with great surprise and joy that I found, in addition to many poets of the Eastern and Western Christians, who have sung praises about Mary, also poets of Islam who, inspired by the words of the Qur’an, have written verses of immense beauty about Mary, about her union with God. […]”  [1]

• There are many moments in Mary’s life that can help us go deeper in the many aspects of prayer, in “speaking with Jesus.” In the 1989 conference call, Chiara had spoken of: “the long period in which Mary lived next to Jesus in a profound intimacy, in such an exceptional conversation as to be second only to that which, from eternity, unfolds among the Persons of the Holy Trinity. In those long years, Mary had certainly spoken with Jesus often, and Jesus had answered her.  Jesus had spoken with Mary, and Mary had answered Him.  But what would have been said between them? Absolutely many things: about family life, work, the environment, customs, the Bible… and who knows how many other things still unknown to us. Certainly, that mother was a special mother and that Son a very special son.  The relationship between Mary and Jesus was, however, always between a creature, albeit a very high one, and her Creator.  This reminds us in some way, of our relationship with Jesus, our union with Him, with all the expressions of love, of confidence, of requests, of praise that characterize it and which we define—taking it in the broader sense—as “prayer.”  [2]

B) Objectives of the Gen 4 Meeting

- To discover the “beauty” of Mary, her capacity to welcome Jesus and to listen to Him (Note: the 2nd meeting was more focused on the union with God and love for the brother; this one is more on the figure of Mary who brings us to Jesus).

- To discover that, as Mary did, we, too, can realize how much others need help and help them to ask Jesus for help

- To discover how to “speak with Jesus”

C) Gen 4 Meeting Content: drops of light with the Sacred Scriptures and with the Spirituality (answers of Chiara)

Sacred Scriptures:

- With pictures, retrace some moments of Mary’s life: Since childhood, Mary had a particular relationship with God. As a little girl, she goes to the Temple to tell God: I am all yours. When the angel arrives, she listens and responds to what God asks of her.  She accompanies Jesus in his growth, with special events which she cannot immediately understand… but she keeps everything in her heart.

- Pause longer on the episode of the wedding of Cana:  Mary realizes what is missing and helps the servants to ask Jesus (Attachment C1)

Spirituality:

-Answers of Chiara: how to speak with Jesus (Attachment C2)

A gen4 boy: […] “How do you talk to Jesus?”  [3]

Chiara: […] He asks me: “How do you pray, how do you talk to Jesus?” Well, first I try to understand well the words I am saying, like, for example, in the Our Father, in the Hail Mary, in the Glory Be... I try to make these prayers my own, to make them my own prayers. And so I say them to Jesus as if they were my own words. Other times, especially after receiving Holy Communion, I adore Jesus, because he is God, is Creator. I thank him for all the good things he has done for me, for all his gifts, for having given me so many Gen 4 in the Movement, so many of them all over the world. I thank him for all these gifts, these graces. I also ask him for graces: “Give us the grace that many Gen 4 will become saints […].” These are my prayers. (Applause)

A gen4 boy: “How should we talk to Jesus?”  [4]

Chiara: This is how you should talk to Jesus: Jesus is inside your heart. He is there because he is spirit and so we have to close our eyes like this and go inside our soul and pray and say. "Jesus, I love you, Jesus help me to make many acts of love; Jesus multiply the Gen 4 in the world; Jesus, help my parents, help my grandfather, help my teacher and all my friends at school." Instead, if you are in Church, Jesus is there in the tabernacle, so you have to look at the tabernacle and tell him many beautiful things: "I want to be your consolation; help me to be good always, when I grow up too, give me a wonderful vocation, help me to conquer many Gen 4 boys and girls." This is the way you talk to Jesus. (Applause)

 

D) Ideas and other material for conducting the meeting (Attachment D)

_______________________________________________________________________________________

[1] C. Lubich, Castel Gandolfo, October 25, 1999, meeting of Muslim friends, “La preghiera, la meditazione e l'unione con Dio”.

[2] C. Lubich, Collegamento CH of February 23, 1989, “I quattro modi di pregare” (published in: C. Lubich, Cercando le cose di lassù, Rome 1992, p. 128-130.).

[3] C. Lubich, Castelgandolfo, June 8, 1996, Gen4 Congress, answer no.4.

[4] C. Lubich, Argentina, April 11, 1998, to the Gen4 boys, answer no.1.

• Version
• 354 Download
• 31.03 MB File Size