In the proposals Claret makes to strengthen our life amidst the hustle and bustle of the world, he cannot overlook Mary. The experience made him see that the frequent meditation on her sorrows was helping believers to follow Jesus more faithfully. As a sign of his practical sense, he proposes to contemplate on a sorrow of Mary everyday of the week. The first one takes us to the presentation of Jesus in the temple where Mary is foretold that a sword would pierce her soul.
When we celebrated the bicentenary of the birth of Claret in 2007, Fr. Lawrence wrote a beautiful meditation entitled, “Claret, a temple in the market square”. He highlighted his admirable capacity to live centred in God, intimately united to Him amidst the mess of problems. Claret was converting himself thus- says the Indian Claretian- into a temple, a meeting point of the divine with the human.
This takes place in Mary too; the Mary that Claret invites us to please. When we allow the Gospel to enter into our life truly, when the living presence of the Eucharist converts us into living tabernacles, into bread broken for the life of the world, there takes place a meeting between the Father and humanity. We offer our hearts to God truly: nothing will take away our peace, neither problems of the present nor the burden of the past and worries of the future. We need to truly create silence in many parts of the world and to be “devoted”, to recover the capacity for adoration. As Claret did and would do today, let us ask Mary.
How is the entrusting of your heart to Mary? How do continue to reserve it? Do you allow Mary to collaborate in you growth as a Christian?