18 July 1987
Segovia, Spain

My dear Sisters,

A few nights ago I was returning to our house in Avila, walking with Father Garcia. Darkness had fallen and we were passing the majestic building of the Cathedral. High up on one of its side walls I noticed two electric lights. They framed a cavity in the wall within which was a statue of the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus in her arms. The rest of the Cathedral building stood in comparative darkness. One could see the outline of the massive tower of the Cathedral. It was clear that the statue of the Virgin Mary was small in comparison with the massiveness of the rest of the Cathedral. Nevertheless in the darkness it was very clear that the statue of the Virgin Mary with her Child had a special place of honor in the building and that modern man had emphasized that fact by placing two electric lamps on each side of the statue so that the Virgin Mary with her Child could be seen.

Some time later I was reflecting on what I had seen as I passed along the street in the night, and I said to myself: Does not that Cathedral in the darkness with its illuminated statue of the Virgin tell us many truths about our lives and, above all, about our faith?

To begin with, the great Cathedral in its massiveness reminds us of the mystery of God, of the mystery of Christ Who lives in the Eucharist within it. The Cathedral has stood there for centuries and has looked down upon succeeding generations of people passing along the streets. For some the Cathedral has been a place of worship and still is. For others it is only a historical monument that has little or no relevance to life today. For some people God and Christ are the center of their lives; for others, God, Christ and His Church have no meaning or relevance.

Those to whom God, Christ and His Church are central to their lives, will easily recognize the special place the Virgin Mary has in the mystery of life. The fact that she is a creature means that she is small, and she herself was the first to recognize that truth. "God has looked," she said, "on the lowliness of His handmaid." (Lk 1:48). The statue of the Virgin Mary in the wall of the Cathedral is small, but when you look up, you cannot fail to see it. So it is with us who have the gift of faith. When we raise our eyes to God and His beloved Son, the Word made flesh, we cannot miss seeing His Mother, Mary, from whom He took flesh. Her place in our lives, as in the life of her Son, is very special. For us she has been appointed Mediatrix of graces, as we make our way along the paths of our lives in the darkness of this world.

The two lights which modern man has placed on each side of the statue could suggest to us the two great truths about Our Lady which have been infallibly confirmed for us by the Popes during the past one hundred thirty years: first, the truth that Mary was conceived without sin, and second, the truth that at the end of her life on this earth she was taken body and soul into heaven. This truth we honor in the fourth glorious mystery of the Rosary.

We in the Vincentian family have a special vocation to honor the first truth, the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. It was an honor for us that a Daughter of Charity should have been chosen to prepare the way for the infallible definition of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception in 1854. We can never forget that, nor the fact that it was one hundred fifty-seven years ago this evening that St. Catherine made her way down to the Chapel of the rue du Bac to receive the assurance from Our Lady that she greatly loved the two Communities of St. Vincent.