TRANSPARENCY

Mary, the Transparency of God

Among all the words that the Father pronounced in his Creation, one was quite singular. It couldn't be the object of intelligence or intuition. It was not the splendor of the divine sun, but a soft and pleasant shadow. It was like a delicate white cloud that, in its course, lessened the brightness of the sun, too strong for our eyes. It was in the plan of Providence that the Word would become flesh. A word, the Word, was to be written down in our world, in flesh and blood, and the Word needed a backdrop. The celestial harmonies longed, for the love of us, to transport their unique concert under our tents. They needed a silence on which to resound. The One who would lead humanity, give meaning to the past centuries, shed light on the future centuries and lead their march, had to appear on the world stage. But he needed a spotless canvas on which he could shine.

The greatest project that our God of Love could envision had to be traced with majestic and divine lines. The whole palette of virtues had to be gathered in a human heart willing to serve him. This admirable shadow, that carries the sun within her, who yields to him and find herself in him; this spotless canvas; this unfathomable abyss who contains the Word, the Christ, and loses herself in him. Light within the Light; this sublime silence that cannot keep quiet any longer since the divine harmonies of the Word sing within her and that becomes, in him, the note among all notes, the A of the eternal song rising from Heaven. This majestic decor, splendid as nature, where the beauty profusely spread by the Creator across the universe is concentrated; this universe reserved for the Son of God, who forgets herself, having no other interest than the One who had to come and came, the One who had to accomplish his work and accomplished it. This rainbow of virtues that announces peace to the whole world, after giving birth to Peace itself; this creature that the Trinity, in its unfathomable mystery, invented and gave to us, is Mary.

One cannot speak about her: one can only sing her praises. It is difficult to reason about her: we love and invoke her. She is the object of poems, not of speculations of the mind. The greatest geniuses of the world have placed their brushes and their pens at her service. If Jesus is the incarnation of the Word, the Logos, the Light, the Reason, Mary is the personification of Art, Beauty, and Love. Mary, the Creator's masterpiece, is the one in whom the Holy Spirit gave free rein to his genius, in whom he poured out the flow of his inspirations. Mary is so beautiful! We will never be able to sing enough praises of her.

Chiara Lubich, Foundress of the Focolari Movement

MULTIMEDIA : Dobranoc glowo swieta (Joanna Slowinska) This beautiful hymn, typically sung after the evening's final devotion on Good Friday, is nearly impossible to translate. The hymn recounts the Blessed Virgin holding the lifeless body of her son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As she holds him she whispers sweet goodnights to the injured parts of His body, His head, His blood covered hair, His neck, hands, and feet, His heart, His legs, and finally the cross and grave.