“Receiving the Word in daily life as Mary”

IntroductionI consider this topic quite comprehensive, and therefore I will limit myself to some aspects of what would be just and necessary to say. I will begin with the famous phrase of Benedict XVI: “The Magnificat is entirely woven with threads from Sacred Scripture, threads taken from the Word of God. Thus, it reveals that she [Mary of Nazareth] is truly at home in the Word of God, comes out of it and enters into it with naturalness. She speaks and thinks with the Word of God. The Word of God becomes her word, and her word springs from the Word of God” (Deus caritas est).

41). The Pope Benedict XVI, like all of us, knows that the Magnificat is an expression of prayer and praise of what Mary felt at that moment and throughout her life, and also of the symbiosis between her and the community of believers. In other words, this magnificent song is like a tapestry woven by many hands, the exultation of a multitude of faithful, the echo of multiple sounds that have merged. Mary, in her life and in her grace-filled journey, is the most worthy to proclaim it and the most in line with the experiential theology it reflects. The Virgin is the voice of the whole Church that identifies with her in the song. For such a refined composition, with a thousand biblical echoes, suggestive and effective images, vast horizons, yet so close to the language, terminology, and rhythm of all the Scriptures’ doxology, is a personal and collective fruit, resonating uniquely and powerfully in Mary’s female heart and soul, like a thunderclap in the hearts of all the people of Abraham’s lineage and the redeemed by the new Adam.

Luke certainly contributed to these words with his literary stability, but the distance between the initial event and the material composition of the text also allowed for the fusion of the initial emotion with the results of a personal and collective experience that was woven into the text and its echoes. It became a song of nostalgia and hope, but also a prayer and doxology response to all that had already been accomplished and taken on full and definitive form.

Luke’s Originality

We all know the parable of the sower: the three synoptic gospels narrate it with their own nuances (cf. Mt 13:1-9.18-23; Mk 4:1-20; Lk 8:4-15), but each gospel also places it within a context that suits its own structural needs. I would like to focus on Luke’s rendition and highlight an operation that Luke performs (Lk 8:4-15). This parable is placed by Luke within a completely special context, not by chance. Before narrating it, the evangelist reminds us that large crowds and women were following Jesus, sharing his travels, preaching, and concerns (Lk 8:1-3).

The premise of the parable, unlike the other two synoptics, Mark and Matthew, is primarily a mixed discipleship, composed of women and men, and thus they are the most immediate recipients of the parable’s meaning. We can even say that they should be the visible form of the fruit borne by the seed sown by the sower. Certainly, there is also “a great multitude that has gathered” (Lk 8:4), but this is a stereotype. The true first and direct recipients of the parable’s meaning are they, the disciples and discipleship.

After presenting the parable and explaining it, and we all know how it goes, even without the final percentages, but speaking of “fruit in perseverance (karpoforoúsin en typomonè”), an expression that denotes less efficiency and more sensitivity and quality, Luke concludes by once again drawing attention to specific individuals, in this case, the presence of Mary and her brothers who are trying to contact him but cannot, “they stood outside” (éxo stèkontes), says Mark (Mk 3:31. Cf. Mt 12:46). This situation signifies both the crowd’s congestion and even the relatives’ difficulty in truly understanding the novelty that Jesus was proposing.John also mentions that even his own disciples did not understand or believe in him (cf. Jn 7:3-6). Now, Jesus’ response to those who inform him that his relatives are looking for him, perhaps even suggesting he calm down due to the commotion, is: “Mother and my brothers are those who hear the word (Logos) of God and do it” (Lk 8:21). This response is drastic regarding who can now truly be part of Jesus’ family, as I mentioned, and serves as a closing framework for the parable of the sower and its explanation. However, we can discern something more.Mary and all her brothers, as well as anyone who wishes to be a disciple, must embrace a path of listening and discipleship, of new practice and new horizons, and direct their lives towards other relationships that regenerate them, allowing for a new “family belonging”, truly a new identity. This occurs through intense, obedient, and regenerating listening to the Master’s Word, sown generously and received with a “good and generous heart” (en kardía kalè kai agathè: Lk 8:15).It can be firmly stated that these words of Jesus do not represent a detachment from his family, but an invitation, keeping in mind also the female context that opens and closes the parable’s excerpt, to become a fertile womb for the Word, just as a woman experiences motherhood, and to vigil persistently, that is, with attentive and loving constancy, over the development of this mysterious seed, in a symbiosis that transforms one another and becomes life’s hope and rhythm.To speak of how “to receive the Word as Mary and incorporate it into lived experience”, it is necessary to place Mary in the horizon pointed out by Christ: she herself, after receiving him as the eternal Word in a mysterious pregnancy achieved by the Holy Spirit, after having given him flesh for life on earth, is called to embark on a discipleship path, to become, in turn, a disciple of the Son who has now become a mature public Master. A discipleship that is not merely a presence by his side, but also a mysterious regeneration of the heart, thanks to the incorruptible seed of the new Word, alive and eternal (cf. 1 Pet 1:23), to which she herself gave flesh and earthly identity.> Mary of Nazareth: a weaver and daughter of ZionThere is no doubt that Mary has a Jewish identity with all the implications that this assertion carries: sometimes we call her the “daughter of Zion,” and this applies to tradition, customs, duties and prohibitions, religiosity, and a sense of identity. And also in her assiduity in listening to and obeying the Word. It is inconceivable a Jew or a Jewess without an “intense listening” to the Word.Luke does not go into details about Mary’s Jewish life: but he contains elements that we can, with a little introspection and without forcing, highlight, and from which we can emerge typical characteristics of a faithful Jew, whose visage would not be understandable without the typical structure of Jewish life, with conviction and not by chance. The fact that Luke begins already with Mary’s situation promised to Joseph, and does not bother to say one more word about her childhood or any aspect of her religious experience at that time, does not mean that she lacks these qualities.For a Jew who holds the Scriptures, the phrase “do not be afraid,” which accompanies the protagonist’s perplexity, is typical of theophany, and Mary shows she is aware of this. And the perturbation is the normal reaction of a Jew before a divine revelation event. It is not simply shyness, surprise, or a moment of discomfort: in this prolonged perturbation, accompanied by reflection, with a feeling of fear and admiration, about the meaning and purpose of the special greeting, we find the classic reaction of the Israelite. It is the sensation of a presence that surpasses and continues for a task that always exceeds one’s own visions and plans.This is even more true in this case, where the expression “the Spirit is upon you,” is also a classic model of approach, preceded by a kind of surprising definition: kectaritomène.which could be translated as “grace upon grace”, clearly does not suit a fifteen-year-old girl. It could also be an expression of courtesy, as some Eastern traditions put it: “how graceful, how beautiful, how splendid”. But in context, it means much more, as later repetition makes clear: “you have found favor with God” (Lk 1:30: grátia in Deo), implying not just satisfaction, but also: you bring joy, you gladden God’s heart, you are beloved and desired.

The angel’s response could be interpreted in numerous ways. Undoubtedly, it would not have been understandable without a deep familiarity with Scripture, which is rich in allusions that would not have been lost on a Jewish woman well-versed in the Scriptures. I do not intend to delve into this important aspect. Instead, I prefer to offer a complementary interpretation of Mary’s response to the angel: “how will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1:34). We are well aware that, while committed to a promised marriage, Mary and Joseph had not yet cohabited, according to Jewish custom, which stipulated the binding of marriage and subsequent cohabitation with the wedding procession. We are also aware that the traditional reading of this expression by Mary (epéi ándra ou ginòsko) asserts her intention of preserving her virginity, supported by apocryphal narratives about the young Mary and her dedication (also apocryphal) to service in the Temple. A beautiful traditional interpretation, as we all know, but perhaps a bit exaggerated, because if they were already in the process of marriage, it is clear that both intended to have a normal conjugal relationship, including fertility.

It would not make sense to think of a “wife” who excluded genuine intimacy and personal availability to live it with fertility. However, I would like to propose another interpretation.

The wife of Israel is barren, she is sterile.These phrases, repeated in the announcement to Joseph (cf. Mt 1:18-25), evoke the entire history of Israel, accumulating dozens of parallel and allusive passages. It was the language of hope, but also of suffering, due to historical infidelities and grave failings. The wife of Israel seemed to have become sterile due to the many failures resulting from political and cultural alliances with neighboring peoples. She no longer possessed the fertility of the days of faithfulness, and Mary seemed to identify with the barren and companionless Daughter of Zion, without the joy of seeing another descendant of David, one from the house of Jacob, lead the people toward peace and holiness.

In this perspective, one can connect Mary’s deep turmoil, her intense reflection, and her response to what Jesus will say about himself, or at least insinuate through gestures and styles on many occasions, as the husband of Israel. There are numerous instances where Jesus will also revisit the nuptial symbolism developed by the prophets about the loving and marital relationship between God and Israel, with betrayals and reconciliations (cf. Hosea, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Ezekiel. Especially the Song of Songs.

This secular sterility of the whole people, Mary feels it as her own, she immerses herself in it, is embraced in her heart with the same pain that everyone shares, along with the persistent hope of the faithful: as seen in Zechariah, Simeon, Anna, and many others. The angel’s response, or explanation, can be read in the same perspective: the symbolism of the shadow of the Spirit, the sanctity of God taking form and visibility, the sublime dignity of the unborn, humanly impossible, the divine appeal to a miraculously reversed sterility, all patterns from the Old Testament that resonate and connect to the concern of the “wife of Israel”, Mary, about infertility and the lack of an intimate companion.

In the final response of Mary, we find not only a personal disposition to surrender completely to the demands of the angel’s word, but also to embrace the entire Alliance Word of the Fathers, so that it is fulfilled in her for the benefit of all. She declares herself willing to see her existence intertwined in a unique way with what is remembered, contemplated from the collective memory, expectations, hope, and trust. In her consent to serve the Word, “happen to me according to your word (rèma)”, lies a willingness to be the place of fulfillment of the ancient hopes and promises.The “rèma” is a word-event, in the deepest sense, not merely as a word, expression, sound, or terminology. I see confirmation of this in the exultant greeting her cousin Elizabeth proclaims: “blessed is she who believed in the fulfillment of the Lord’s words” (Lk 1:45). The phrase is at the end of Elizabeth’s canticle, in which various symbols of the Lord’s presence in the people’s history are also evoked (especially the passage of the Lord’s ark, the joy at a pregnant belly, the unbridled joy, the impulse of the Spirit, the praise among the women, etc.). Therefore, it must be interpreted within this context and not as a personal compliment solely directed to Mary.In this case, Mary represents Israel of the just and pious who believed in God’s faithfulness, despite the darkness and the anguished expectations, she is the fertilized wife, beloved with “everlasting love” (Is 54:8), no longer rejected. Elizabeth becomes the interpreter of this certainty that God would be faithful to His people, and in Mary, she sees and recounts that this faithfulness became a gift for all. In Mary’s availability, the response for the benefit of all. Only two women, who believed, meditated, and lived the thread that connects the Scriptures, that is, heard, loved, and identified with the ancient promise embedded in the Word passed down from generation to generation, could see this unity, could go beyond personal, though legitimate and intimate, joy.Silent Exegesis of MaryWe meditate and continue to meditate with surprised and contemplative hearts on the event of the birth of the Son of the Most High. Each one is impacted and savors in their heart many aspects that would merit endless commentary, and the centuries have provided us with numerous ones, because the events are “grace upon grace” (as John says, Jn 1:16). I limit myself to commenting with some emphases on Mary’s silent and reflective style in all events related to her childhood.Luke records twice that Mary reflected and sought to understand. After the shepherds’ visit, it is said: “Mary, meanwhile, kept all these things in her heart, meditating on them” (Lk 2:19). And after finding the boy Jesus in the temple, it is said: “Her mother kept all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51). But around the reflective mother who keeps memories, with a heart that is surprised and also seeks a unified explanation, we also find others who do the same.For example, when Zechariah returns to speak and give the name John to his son, the neighbors are surprised and afraid, and “all who heard (ta rèmata) put it in their hearts” (Lk 1:66). The shepherds, before going to Bethlehem, debate whether it is worth going “to see that word-event (to rèma) that has happened” (Lk 2:15) and then “they will tell everyone about what (tou rèmatos) they have seen and heard” (Lk 2:20). Therefore, there is also wonder: first, Elizabeth’s (Lk 1:41-45) upon being visited by the Mother of the Lord, presenting herself almost as the new holy ark that traverses mountainous roads to share with her cousin the joy of an extraordinary motherhood that benefited them both.Afterwards, the astonishment of Elizabeth and Zachary when the son is born: “they were filled with joy” (synékairon autè) (Lk 1:56). All who hear the shepherds’ tale of their extraordinary experience are also amazed: “they were amazed at what the shepherds told them” (Lk 2:18). Even in the temple, before Simeon’s exultation, the mother and father “were amazed at the things that were said about him” (Lk 2:33). This refers to the birth and early days. But it is also said that Mary reflected with a watchful heart even after the episode in the temple.Here too we find astonishment and wonder (exístanto: can be translated as amazement) from the temple’s teachers (cf. Lk 2:47). But it is also observed that the parents “did not understand the word (to rèma) he spoke to them” (Lk 2:50). Immediately after, “his mother kept all these words in her heart” (Lk 2:52).I would like to comment on this collective attitude of astonishment and reflection, incomprehension, and the act of keeping in the heart. It is not only Mary’s, as we hear, but that of many. This already indicates its importance: the holy Jewish practice of depositing in the heart and safeguarding with care and admiration what was happening. Because all the events were at once word and deed, objective occurrence and mysterious sign, they reflected to find their connection in a tournament that would explain meaning and purpose.Mary lives with all the difficulty of understanding, but also accompanied by them in the astonishment, surprise, feeling of fear, and wonder. Because this is the true biblical way of receiving the Word and keeping it in the heart. With astonishment, generated by the feeling of its fragility and transience, interwoven with God’s signs that draw near, become visible and audible, but remain far beyond, compelling the heart to ponder, to dialogue to understand, to reflect so as not to let escape unexpected connections and reflections.A whole people of the humble, who reflect and question, who are surprised by wonder and at the same time deposit in their hearts *ta rèmata*, so that nothing disappears but leaves a lasting impression, becoming an open discovery of new horizons. I see Mary in this attitude, certainly as the virgin mother who does not pass superficially over things, but also as a companion and third part of the traditional Jewish heritage: *the one of being surprised and amazed, of chewing over and remembering, of watching and meditating, to extract true meanings and life inspirations*.This is living according to the Word and the Spirit: a mental stability that becomes familiar with events and memorizes facts well, seeking connections that make them a project, a fabric, a complete and unified event. A stability of the heart that transforms into a single concern, a linearity of love and desire, of values and expectations: this is the true heart of the Israelite, entirely impregnated by the reflection of *rèmata*.But there is another stability on which I would like to focus: bodily stability. It complements the others and acquires a special meaning during the three decades of Jesus’ presence in Nazareth. Perhaps we have often tried to ignore the theological value of this long period lived in Nazareth by Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. The phrases about Jesus growing in stature, age, and grace, and Mary’s reflective spirit, are all that remain in our minds, as Luke informs us.It is too little to give us the feeling that perhaps these years were almost lost for redemption: *why this long, silent, common, and anonymous existence of the Redeemer, when the whole world was expecting the fulfillment of promises and the universal expansion of light to the nations?*Nazareth: the word is rooted in simplicityFrom the life of the Holy Family in Nazareth until the moment when Jesus separated publicly as an adult, around the age of thirty, we know very little. It is clear that everyone spoke of the father’s profession (carpenter/*téktonos*, a title also attributed to Jesus: cf. *Mt* 13:55; *Mk* 6:3), and the mother did not seem to stand out with anything particularly, but participated in the religiosity of all, going on pilgrimages to Jerusalem every year with relatives and acquaintances. Only Luke mentions two instances of Jesus’ growth.After the presentation in the temple for Mary’s redemption and purification, it is said: “The boy grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (Lk 2:40). At the age of twelve, when he began to be subject to the law (cf. Lk 2:42), he participated in the pilgrimage from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Then, he took an unpredictable initiative by staying in Jerusalem without notifying his parents, causing them great concern when they realized he was not in the caravan. After finding him and expressing their distress, as we know: “He returned to Nazareth and was subject to them… And Jesus grew in wisdom, age, and grace before God and men” (Lk 2:51f).I would like to reflect with you on this long period of three decades, of which we know very little, but can infer much, even without believing in the wonders of the apocrypha. These years do not have a lesser theological and redemptive value than the last three public years. And, above all, they are essential to the discourse of receiving the Word as Mary did. We usually think that this reception primarily occurs in the early stages (childhood episodes) and then in the public life of Jesus.In the early stages, indeed, there are few words from Mary: perhaps thirty in total, excluding the Magnificat. Certainly, during his public life, there are many sacred words spoken by Jesus, but only nine are Mary’s (at Cana: Jn 2:3, 5), however, these are not the only ways to speak about Jesus nor the only circumstances for hearing and receiving God’s Word. As if the Word were the redemption and salvation message only when it acts and speaks in public.That is why we can affirm that in Nazareth, we have a parenthesis, a passage of waiting, a reference for later, so long. I believe we should reevaluate this long period, especially from the perspective of our discussion title: certainly, it is the time when Mary reconsiders and watches with a reflective heart what she saw and heard, and did not fully understand (cf. Lk 2:50). She is like the good soil in which the seed of the Word fell, and through perseverance, it bears fruit in those who have a noble and obedient heart (cf. Lk 8:15). But I would like to go beyond this idealized, almost romantic view.Mary, during these thirty years, does not stand out from the other women of Nazareth, and Jesus does not exhibit attitudes that could make his contemporaries think there is something extraordinary about him. This becomes evident when they are amazed by the wisdom and audacity he displays on a famous Sabbath in the synagogue of Nazareth (Lk 4:16-30).Where was this reception and fruitification of the Word, and what did it consist of?Mary was called to be the mother of the Word of God: in her womb, in a unique and irreplicable, mysterious and surprising way, she bore Jesus, “who will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21), introducing him into the great Jewish traditions of naming, circumcision, presentation as firstborn in the temple, and various Jewish religious practices. With him, according to Matthew’s account (cf. Mt 2:13-23), she also experienced the paradigm of the ancient exodus to Egypt and return from Egypt. She certainly lived with him the daily Jewish practice of various forms of prayer, and each family has the responsibility of teaching their children this complex daily ritual. At the appropriate time, she introduced him among the “sons of the law” (bar mizvot), with the associated obligations, as we have mentioned.But I wonder where this wisdom and grace came from, of which it is said that he grew in it? And what wisdom and grace was this, in reality?We cannot think that these are qualities “infused” from heaven, to which Mary was a stranger. Rather, it is in this brief mention, which we always interpret in a “christological” sense, that I want to see a “marian” note. What Jesus learned from tradition, popular wisdom, Scripture, God’s promises, and popular expectations, we can infer from what he does and says in his public life. There is no need to give many explanations on this point; everyone knows many things.But who transmitted this wisdom and grace to him before God and men?Talis Mater, talis FiliusThese long and slow decades were a slow school of listening and obedience to the great tradition in all its demands and nuances, a mutual school between Mother and Son, to transmit and re-think, to interpret and remain capable of freedom and flexibility. To find, above all, a new face of the God of the Fathers: Mary’s exceptional motherhood also affected her conception of the image of God. The heart of this remains in the song of the Magnificat, but also in all the parables and the language, gestures, and choices of the Son, we see that the image of the Father is that of mercy and tenderness, and not of rigid law, ritualized observances, and destructive threats. From the Son’s language, you will find the Mother, in her actions, her style, her presence. Always so.In the darkness and silence, in the most common simplicity, in the normal relations typical of any village, Jesus’ mature personality was shaped, in accordance with what the parents managed to transmit, taught by living, celebrated with everyone. This “interior growth” of Jesus in human flesh, in a life without distinctions, in relations and plots, in social exclusions and religious duties, was not considered a wasted time, but the fertility of the Word according to the Spirit, a time of redemption in a deep and original sense.The fraternal coexistence in Nazareth of Jesus may seem merely a passage (though long) to the full revelation of the Son of God in power. However, we must see it as the most true radiation of God’s presence among us: active, hidden, fraternal, religious, the essence of our humanity. It is at this point that I would like to stop for a moment longer.The eternal Son in NazarethJesus of Nazareth is in no way the “mass of the incarnation.” Jesus of Nazareth “is” the incarnation of the Only-Begotten Son. Jesus “is” the Son. And reciprocally: Jesus of Nazareth is the only eternal Son, of the only God. Jesus of Nazareth is not the “effect” of the incarnation of the Son of God, but precisely the effective effect of his divine filiation. He is not the moment that the Son assumes and dwells, nor the Son who passes through the flesh in view of the redemptive mission and leaves it after the mission accomplished. Jesus of Nazareth is forever the Son of God. The same Jesus who was born of MaryAnd she lived anonymously for a long time, so that the gift might be perfect, as a gift.In theology and spirituality, a strange rupture has been introduced between Jesus of Nazareth and the Son of God, as if Jesus, especially in his hidden life in Nazareth, were merely a means, an intermediary, to reach the Son, and not truly the Son who dwells among us, the giver of life, the interpreter of the Scriptures.We must integrate “Jesus of Nazareth” into the horizon of a holistic christology, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus in Nazareth is Jesus of Nazareth in reality and in the sacrament of his pure salvific presence among the people. From this it follows that the work of the Incarnation is like a fraternal irradiation of the salvific presence, the pure presence of the Lord is the ultimate reason, and not merely a preliminary condition. The theological reality of Jesus’ salvific being and acting, the Son, cannot be reduced to his phase of public preaching, miracles, and death on the cross.Even the experience of the Church must be reviewed at this point, in the sense that we must radically share the dark places of existence in view of the persuasive love of God. We can call it “hospitality sanctity,” a form of the Church in which the dignity of the human person becomes the content of the announcement and the reality of the kingdom, even without words. The announcement of the kingdom of heaven, “which is already among us,” finds its veracity in Nazareth’s salvific experience, not merely as a place of residence, but also as a paradigm to which the Church may need to look a little more to be a true dispersed fraternity among the nations.In the light of this theological affirmation, we can rediscover the great importance of Mary and speak of her as someone who listens to and lives the Word, lives with the Word, grows with the salvific Word of the Son who is by her side and is a salvific presence in anonymity, fraternity, simplicity, like everyone else. This is the “pilgrimage of faith” of Mary.” And there, Jesus matures, along with her and everyone around her, a complete fidelity to the Father’s project of “being among the people,” of considering himself “God of the people” and making the people his “family.”And if the “new evangelization” were to try to be a tenacious recovery, in words and actions, of the long Nazareth moment of the Incarnation of God among men, so that the divine proportion of the Son’s mission recovers its integrity?This evangelical form of remembering the Son in Nazareth for so long, with such radical simplicity and companionship of life and language, feelings and experiences, Mary also lived, she was his teacher and disciple. For good reason, Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus loved the simplicity of Mary of Nazareth, where certainly the simplest virtues were also the most lived and rooted. She wrote, a few months before her death, in her last poem, titled: “Why I Love You, Mary.””: “I know that in Nazareth, Mother full of grace, you were poor and desired nothing more: neither miracles, ecstasies, nor raptures adorned your life, queen of saints! On earth, there are many little ones who can look at you without fear. In your common yet incomparable manner, Mother, you wish to follow and guide them to heaven.”ConclusionI would like to proceed with you and meditate on many other evangelical passages that are very inspiring. Let us consider the concern to keep the feast continuing in Cana, with the joy of the spouses and the obedience of the servants “to whatever he says” (John 2:1-12), up to the silent sequence (but undeniable) along the roads of public life (Luke 8:1-3), and the disquiet when Jesus does not want to receive his mother and relatives who wished to see him and ask for more balance (Mark 3:21). This apparent rejection is only an invitation to see in Mother and the family friends the beginning of a new family relationship, fruit of coexistence that transformed and illuminated, broadened horizons and found solid roots in everyday life (Mark 3:31-35).Let us also consider the two great images of “stabat” at the Cross (John 19:25-27) and the presence of Mary in the Cenacle, in prayer and also in dialogue with the uncertain and fearful disciples (Acts 1:14). I hope I have shown something new and different in fidelity to the Word, which is always new and always unpredictable in its lights and provocations. We seek to deepen, with a prophetic intuition, a heartful contemplation, and with the hands of fraternal solidarity, the truth that was revealed to us by the Son of Mary!Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.On the example of Mary in the reception of God’s Word in daily life, refer to the Encyclical “Redemptoris Mater” of Pope John Paul II.

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