Giuseppe Forlai - Mary, Mother of Apostles

How to Live Marian Devotion to Proclaim Christ

By Giuseppe Forlai

Foreword by Marianne Lorraine Trouv, FSP

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Forlai, Giuseppe, author.

Title: Mary, mother of Apostles : how to live Marian devotion to proclaim Christ / by Giuseppe Forlai. Other titles: Madre degli Apostoli. English

Description: Boston, MA : Pauline Books & Media, 2018.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018002027| ISBN 9780819849748 (pbk.) | ISBN 081984974X (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint--Devotion to--History. | Jesus Christ. | Catholic Church--Doctrines.

Classification: LCC BT645 .F6713 2018 | DDC 232.91--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018002027

Originally published in Italian as Madre degli Apostoli by Giuseppe Forlai 2014 Edizioni San Paolo s.r.l., Piazza Soncino 5 - 20092 Cinisello Balsamo (Milano)ITALIA, www.edizionisanpaolo.it.

Translated by Sr. Anne Flanagan, FSP

Cover design by Rosana Usselmann

Cover art: Palomino

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, copyright 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Excerpts from papal and magisterium texts copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Excerpt from the English translation of Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary 1987, 1989, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); excerpt from the English translation of The Roman Missal 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved.

Texts contained in this work derived whole or in part from liturgical texts copyrighted by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) have been published here with the confirmation of the Committee on Divine Worship, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. No other texts in this work have been formally reviewed or approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

By Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation, copyright 1961 by The Abbey of Gethsemani, Inc. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.

Excerpt from No Man Is an Island by Thomas Merton copyright 1955 by The Abbey of Gethsemani and copyright 1983 by The Trustees of the Merton Legacy Trust. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

P and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Copyright 2018, Daughters of St. Paul for the English translation

Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Pauls Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3491. www.pauline.org

Printed in the U.S.A.

Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.

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To the brothers of Our Lady of Mercy on the 175th anniversary of their foundation.

My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you (Gal 4:19).

The task of the Virgin Mother is that of giving birth and gradually forming Jesus in all those who must be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29). Mary stands before us as Mother and teacher to give us marvelous proof of how one becomes a true disciple of Christ and to guide us to build our personality on the form of the Word.

Blessed James Alberione

Within your wounds hide me. That beautiful line from the prayer Soul of Christ has always fascinated me. Even in glory, Jesus Christ still bears the marks of his wounds, an eternal reminder of the suffering and weakness he endured out of love for us. In this book, Father Giuseppe Forlai says, Just as the risen Jesus willed to preserve in his glorious body the wounds of the nails, so Mary assumed into heaven body and soul, remains there with her perpetual compassionate sorrow (p. 21). That is why she is Mother of Mercy, a tender mother who understands our own wounds and sorrows. Forlais insight amazed me. How can Marys sorrows somehow still be alive? Isnt she perfectly happy in heaven? Yes, but that doesnt take away her compassionate heart, forged in her own earthly sufferings, especially on Calvary.

This book is full of such amazing insights. Forlai approaches Mary in a unique way that helps us understand not only who she is, but also how much she loves each one of us as her spiritual child, and how we are called to imitate her in bringing Jesus to the world. He draws ideas from the French school of spirituality, especially Saint Louis de Montfort; from Saint John Paul II, and from Blessed James Alberione, founder of the Pauline Family.

Forlai takes up an important idea from the French school, namely, that we relive the mysteries of Christ spiritually in our own lives. This relies on a sound theology based in Saint Thomas Aquinas, that the sacred humanity of Christ is the source of all grace for us. When we come into contact with Christ through faith and the sacraments, he imparts to us the grace he merited in each event of his life, from his birth to his death, resurrection, and ascension. In this book, Forlai develops the role of Mary, who was associated with Jesus in those mysteries. That is why she is so important for our spiritual life.

We see in Forlais reflections a synthesis of great Marian saints. Saint John Paul IIs deep Marian devotion sprang from his reading of True Devotion by de Montfort. His motto Totus Tuus expresses his total consecration to Mary. But John Paul II enriched this through his personalist approach to spirituality. He emphasized Marys total gift of self, her spousal love as virgin, mother, and spouse.

Blessed James Alberione made a unique contribution by giving Marian devotion a strong apostolic dimension. He expressed this with the title Queen of the Apostles which is meant to spur us on to evangelization. Alberione saw the icon of Mary at Pentecost, praying with the Apostles as they waited for the Holy Spirit, as an image of the apostolic mysticism that Marian devotion can develop in us. As soon as the Holy Spirit came to them, the Apostles went out to preach the Word. Mary stayed behind the scenes, the gentle and hidden mother, yet she was the one who gave life to their preaching through her prayer. The more we make Mary a part of our life, the more effectively we too will be able to share with others the Good News about Jesus Christ.

MARIANNE LORRAINE TROUV, FSP

February 11, 2018

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Lyon, France, August 2013. With Father Philip, we went to the Sainte-Foy quarter of Lyon, near Fourvire, where the Marian sanctuary dominates the splendid city, an astounding nursery of saints. Coming to the piazza, we split up to be free to visit the building, each at our own pace and according to our own interests. After a quick walk around the sanctuary, I went to the seventeenth-century chapel of Our Lady of Fourvire. The statue of the Virgin with Child welcomed me, but I was surprised by how small it was. The statue was almost completely hidden by the white gown that encircled it, as if it were a child who had just received baptism. It greatly contrasted with the impressive majesty of the eighteenth-century basilica. The paradoxes are also reflected in the stone, which mirrors what dwells in the human heart.