MAY JESUS AND MARY LIVE WITH US
Dear friends,
We are at the end of our Lenten journey and we are approaching the Easter, Resurrection of Our Lord. With joy, we can reflect during these days and renew our membership to ADMA precisely in the light of this unique and great event in which our salvation is rooted.
It is precisely Don Bosco's founding act of the ADMA (Art 1 of our regulations) which takes strength and finds its deep meaning in the death and resurrection of Jesus: "Don Bosco, after having raised to Mary, according to the indications received from Her in a dream, the Basilica dedicated to Mary Help of Christians (Turin, Valdocco,1868) wanted to erect a year later in the Basilica, the Association of the Devotees of Mary Help of Christians (18th April 1869) in order to spread in the world the devotion to the Virgin invoked under this title".
As well described in the commentary to the regulations which we use for our training as ADMA aspirants,
First of all, the word "to radiate" recalls the commitment to be "light of the world" (Mt 5,14), to "bring fire to the earth" (Lk 12, 49), to cooperate in Christ's mission for the salvation of souls under Mary's maternal guidance, recognising in the Eucharist, the source and summit of all life.
We must always remember that it is not we who are the source of the light we wish to radiate, but the source is Christ and the light comes precisely from his Resurrection, which we will celebrate in these days.
Secondly, it is good to recall the fact that we primarily want to radiate devotion to Mary: we are devotees of Mary in the sense that we entrust ourselves to her, we imitate her and we want her to live with us, in our homes, in our families.
Even this devotion, the ‘taking Mary into the home’ is nourished and finds its source in the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus: "Jesus then, seeing his mother and there beside her the disciple whom he loved, said to his mother, "Woman, behold, here is your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that moment the disciple took her into his house". (Jn 19:26-27). "Let us take Our Lady into our house!". In this way, we will be ‘beloved disciples’ because we will take better care of our baptismal sonship and we will feel more concretely the beneficial effects of Mary's motherhood, [...] with the affection and realism with which Don Bosco filially took care of Our Lady's presence in the house, planning and realising his many initiatives always in dialogue with her.
Renato Valera, President ADMA, Valdocco.
Don Gabriel Cruz, Spiritual Animator, ADMA Valdocco.
