We need to look through Mary’s spectacles

The Rosary has always been an important element of Marian apparitions. In some of them, the Virgin was seen moving her fingers through the beads alongside the faithful. Why is that? Could it be to ask us to turn to her instead of to Christ or the Father? Absolutely not! Instead, it is to help us see the mysteries of the life of Jesus, and through them to see the mystery of the Triune God, with Mary’s own eyes; so that our contemplation can take its source within her memory of those events.

Our vision is blurred. Forgive me this image, but in order to see clearly, we need to look through Mary’s spectacles.

The words "He suffered for us" can only take on their full meaning if we imagine what Mary felt in her mind and heart during the Passion. It is not just about pity—Jesus rebuked the daughters of Jerusalem "who lamented over him." But his mother, silent and veiled, walked beside him in extreme fragility, animated only by a divine strength. Her heart was a shroud, in a truer sense than Veronica’s veil. Jesus Christ—God—must be for us what He is for Mary. It is through her that we must seek to penetrate the mystery of Redemption.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

Quoted from the article Le chapelet et les apparitions mariales (The Rosary and Marian Apparitions) published in Virgo Fidelis issue #245, July 2015