"Seeing my father praying to Mary on his knees was a life lesson"

"My mother was very exhausted towards the end of her second pregnancy, and was ordered to rest. Fearing for the health of her future baby, she spontaneously turned to Mary, saying: "Oh good Blessed Virgin, if the delivery goes well, I will consecrate my child to you." And so I was born on December 4,1951, and baptized on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

The circumstances of the first days of my life and the faith that accompanied my mother's pregnancy were deeply impressed upon me. My parents passed on to me this dazzling truth that has stayed with me all my life: that God loves me. In the words of the poet Marie Noël in her Notes intimes, I would say that God must have blown too hard on my soul at birth, and I have never recovered. My heart has often leapt with joy at this divine breath that animates it.

Prayer, this experience of a presence, came very early in my life when I began to babble the Hail Mary. It was simple, easy, familiar. I remember that in May we would recite the rosary to the radio, following the same ritual. The family would gather in the living room, the bishop, or Cardinal Léger, in a monotone voice, would say the first part of the Hail Mary, and we would  mechanically respond with the second part of the Hail Mary, along with those on the radio. I found it long and the pace too fast for my taste, but we were together. It made me feel safe.

Also, seeing my father on his knees praying to Mary was quite a life lesson for a little boy. I felt that Mary was happy to see us all together. It was as if I were saying to her, "Mom, I love you."

The repetition of the Hail Mary's seemed routine, like breathing, but it also expressed my love for this other mother who was giving birth to me to the invisible world by bringing me into relationship with the Father, the Son and the Spirit. This was enough for the seed of faith sown in my soul to develop and grow throughout my life. And when you love, no matter how much you repeat yourself, it is always new!" 

Jacques Gauthier, Canadian author

Excerpts from his autobiography, En sa présence, published in September 2022 in France by Artège and in Canada by Novalis.

www.jacquesgauthier.com