THE JOY OF MARY

Pedro Chey Dianingama, a student at the Faculty of Theology of Porto and a temporary member of Good News Missionary Society, gave us a painting entitled Joy of Mary.

The words in Greek - Χαιρε Μαρια - Rejoice Maria - give the subject of the painting, in which Mary, the Favoured of the Lord (Lk 1:28), is presented as the woman clothed with the sun (Rev 12: 1) or as the Shepherd Children saw her, the Lady brighter than the sun.

THE JOY OF MARY

Rejoice Mary

- Χαιρε Μαρια -

Oh favoured of the Lord (Luke 1:28).

At her feet crushing the snake

- the great seducer that brings

shadows and darkness,

sowing pain and death -

She rises to the heavens,

wrapped in a cloak of fire,

brighter than the sun

made a crown on the head,

involving her upper body

in a heart-shaped form;

as the sun of love becomes

the fruit of her womb

becoming on the cross

the sun of life and salvation.

With Mary and like her,

passing through a world

enticing but violent,

we are called to live

in the light of God that

encircles and elevates us,

a light of love

to set the hearts on fire

transforming us

in images of God

who is love.

Celebrating one hundred years of the Apparitions at Fatima with the presence of Pope Francis, it is good to remember Lucia's description of the Lady:

“When we arrived, about halfway up the slope, almost next to a large holm-oak that was there, we saw another lightning and, after a few steps further on, we saw, on a kermes oak, a Lady, dressed all in white, brighter than the Sun, spreading light, clearer and more intense than a glass of crystal, filled with crystalline water, pierced by the rays of the most ardent sun. We were surprised by the apparition. We were so close that we were in the light that surrounded her or that She was spreading, maybe five feet away, more or less.” (Lúcia, Memories, page173)