“Reborn with Christ” recollection

On February 24/25, a good group of people, including several Notre-Dame teams, took part in a recollection preached by Mgr Jérôme Beau at the sanctuary on the theme of “Reborn with Christ“.

To be reborn with Christ, he invited us to contemplate “Mary – disciple of the Lord”: listening to the Word of God with an immaculate heart, she adhered with all her soul to God’s benevolent plan of salvation, more aware than any other of the violence of evil.

Pope Francis’ letter on Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, “C’est la Confiance” (It’s Confidence), helped us to appreciate the need for self-denial, beautifully illustrated by Estelle’s life and the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The focus then turned to the Virgin Mary, from the Resurrection to Pentecost. Model of the Church at prayer, awaiting the 2nd Advent, the Mother of the Savior makes the gifts of the Holy Spirit fully visible, teaching us “the incarnation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit”.

After Sunday mass, the more daring braved the wintry drizzle to make their way to the entrance of the esplanade, where the archbishop introduced the blessing of an oratory of the M of Mary with these words:

“During the M de Marie, the statue of the Virgin Mary travelled the length and breadth of France until it arrived here with the horse-drawn carriages at Pellevoisin. But especially in the 19th century, she often showed her presence, whether here on rue du Bac or in Lourdes, Pontmain or La Salette. In his writings on Advent, Cardinal Daniélou wondered why the Virgin Mary appeared so often in the 19th century, and his answer was that she appeared because, with the advent of modernity, the world was closing in on itself and forgetting transcendence, forgetting the hereafter, and like Adam and Eve, closing in on its own power, forgetting the power of God. And so the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in France and other countries, notably Rwanda, have reminded man of his eschatological dimension, that is, the dimension of man that surpasses man in God’s plan. This is why we can pray to the Lord, giving thanks through these invocations.”

From now on, in the sanctuary grounds, making visible the link between the 5 Marian manifestations of the 19th century in France, Our Lady presents pilgrims with the Child-God, Prince of Peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God!”

Brother Laurent, rector