The Beauty of Mary, Everything in a Fragment

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• published: 07 Mar 2011
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Mary is "all beauty" because she is the woman, the icon of Mystery, who witnesses the event of a giving in which the All is offered in a fragment. These were the words of Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, speaking on December 16 in Rome at the open session of the Pontifical Academies. The theme was "The Assumption of Mary, a sign of sure hope and consolation."The purpose of the meeting, which was attended by the Working Group "Gen Verde", part of the Focolare Movement, was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary by Pope Pius XII.Archbishop Bruno Forte: "We emanate from a culture of two centuries and then a long period which saw two anthropologies which saw two concepts of man - an anthropology of identity in which man has a strong identity backed by reason, one that would understand, control and violently transform everything to change reality. Then there was an anthropology of difference, of loneliness, the post-modern condition that followed a crisis in ideology in which man seems to drown in his own solitude. Society becomes a crowd of loneliness, the Other, a moral stranger. Where to find a new horizon of meaning? In a complete vision, one  that is humble, present in a fragment. But this is beauty - everything in a fragment. And this is Mary, everything of God, the eternal son who is made present in the womb of this woman - very human, very real, really because she is all beauty." Mary, however, can also become a pivotal figure to revive dialogue with non-believers, as explained by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi: "The figure of Mary has always held a fascination, even in secular culture. I would like to refer to a text that is astonishing in its intensity and beauty, and it's from Sartre. The text is entitled "Bariona or the Son of Thunder". It is a drama that he wrote while he was in Stalag XII in Trier during the Nazi oppression. Not being able to celebrate Christmas in any other way, the believers who were present represented the sacred by centering everything around the relationship between mother and son. The fact that Mary discovers inside the child some of his features on the one hand, allows him to affirm that Mary finds the child like God, a little God, but someone who has something of himself that is incarnate, something that is human. This theme that unites transcendence with immanence is certainly something that can enhance theological research. It will stop at the divine motherhood but it can also bring out many human themes such as feminity, motherhood, life, the tenderness and mystery of humanity which still continues to generate." During the meeting the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone presented the Award of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy to the "Marian Academy of India" - represented by its chairman and founder, Don Kulandaisamy Rayar. Don Rayar illustrated how the figure of Mary is a bridge of dialogue. .. even in a land often the scene of anti-Christian persecution such as India:Don Kulandaisamy Rayar: "Mary is the bridge between cultures: in Hinduism they have mother goddesses and Mary has a relevant status, but she is not a goddess. That's why sometimes it's better that we call her a sister so it save us from the danger to call her a mother goddess. She is famous as a disciple of Christ and an example in this ministry of the evangelization".Another Prize also went to Prof. Luis Alberto Esteves dos Santos Casimiro for his doctoral dissertation entitled "The Annunciation of the Lord in sixteenth-century Portuguese painting (1500-1550)". He spoke of a work that has particular importance: the Annunciation of Vasco Fernandes, preserved at the Museum of Lamego.Prof. Luìs Alberto Esteves dos Santos Casimiro: "The work is of significant symbols so as to become a work of real theological treatise. We see images of the Old Testament, we see the figures of Adam and Eve, we see a true representation in the small objects and yet we still see a window open on the external environment and we also see the Old Testament prophets. And all these elements of the picture speak not only of the Annunciation but evolve into something more grandiose, and at the same time full of aspects that define a true theological treatise that explains the Old Testament, but also the proclamation by the Archangel Gabriel of the coming of the Messiah."

The Beauty of Mary, Everything in a Fragment

• Report rights infringement
• published: 07 Mar 2011
• views: 825

Mary is "all beauty" because she is the woman, the icon of Mystery, who witnesses the event of a giving in which the All is offered in a fragment. These were the words of Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, speaking on December 16 in Rome at the open session of the Pontifical Academies. The theme was "The Assumption of Mary, a sign of sure hope and consolation."The purpose of the meeting, which was attended by the Working Group "Gen Verde", part of the Focolare Movement, was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary by Pope Pius XII.Archbishop Bruno Forte: "We emanate from a culture of two centuries and then a long period which saw two anthropologies which saw two concepts of man - an anthropology of identity in which man has a strong identity backed by reason, one that would understand, control and violently transform everything to change reality. Then there was an anthropology of difference, of loneliness, the post-modern condition that followed a crisis in ideology in which man seems to drown in his own solitude. Society becomes a crowd of loneliness, the Other, a moral stranger. Where to find a new horizon of meaning? In a complete vision, one  that is humble, present in a fragment. But this is beauty - everything in a fragment. And this is Mary, everything of God, the eternal son who is made present in the womb of this woman - very human, very real, really because she is all beauty." Mary, however, can also become a pivotal figure to revive dialogue with non-believers, as explained by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi: "The figure of Mary has always held a fascination, even in secular culture. I would like to refer to a text that is astonishing in its intensity and beauty, and it's from Sartre. The text is entitled "Bariona or the Son of Thunder". It is a drama that he wrote while he was in Stalag XII in Trier during the Nazi oppression. Not being able to celebrate Christmas in any other way, the believers who were present represented the sacred by centering everything around the relationship between mother and son. The fact that Mary discovers inside the child some of his features on the one hand, allows him to affirm that Mary finds the child like God, a little God, but someone who has something of himself that is incarnate, something that is human. This theme that unites transcendence with immanence is certainly something that can enhance theological research. It will stop at the divine motherhood but it can also bring out many human themes such as feminity, motherhood, life, the tenderness and mystery of humanity which still continues to generate." During the meeting the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone presented the Award of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy to the "Marian Academy of India" - represented by its chairman and founder, Don Kulandaisamy Rayar. Don Rayar illustrated how the figure of Mary is a bridge of dialogue. .. even in a land often the scene of anti-Christian persecution such as India:Don Kulandaisamy Rayar: "Mary is the bridge between cultures: in Hinduism they have mother goddesses and Mary has a relevant status, but she is not a goddess. That's why sometimes it's better that we call her a sister so it save us from the danger to call her a mother goddess. She is famous as a disciple of Christ and an example in this ministry of the evangelization".Another Prize also went to Prof. Luis Alberto Esteves dos Santos Casimiro for his doctoral dissertation entitled "The Annunciation of the Lord in sixteenth-century Portuguese painting (1500-1550)". He spoke of a work that has particular importance: the Annunciation of Vasco Fernandes, preserved at the Museum of Lamego.Prof. Luìs Alberto Esteves dos Santos Casimiro: "The work is of significant symbols so as to become a work of real theological treatise. We see images of the Old Testament, we see the figures of Adam and Eve, we see a true representation in the small objects and yet we still see a window open on the external environment and we also see the Old Testament prophets. And all these elements of the picture speak not only of the Annunciation but evolve into something more grandiose, and at the same time full of aspects that define a true theological treatise that explains the Old Testament, but also the proclamation by the Archangel Gabriel of the coming of the Messiah."