Three attitudes a Christian should adopt

To prepare for the WYD in August 2023, the young people of Var (a department in Southeastern France) visited the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. The idea was to begin WYD with the Virgin Mary, and what better way to do so than to go directly to this world-famous Marian apparition site?

Our group did one spiritual action after another: the Rosary, a special consecration to Mary, the act of contrition as a group, confession, praying at the tombs of St. Jacinta and St. Francisco (the young shepherds who saw the Virgin in 1917 with their cousin Sister Lucia), and walking on our knees around the chapel of the apparitions for the intentions entrusted to us by the parishioners of our church, St. Raphael.

This last action left a deep impression on me, even though it was hard to ignore our painful knees and to remain immersed in prayer (with so many people around). Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon stressed the importance of the Mother of God in his homily to the five hundred young people in our group: "To know Jesus intimately, we have to go through Mary."

He advised us to adopt three attitudes as Christians: following a path of abandonment to Mary, the woman of faith; taking the path of the cross - since trials always catch up with us; and, finally, adopting an attitude of radiant joy alongside Mary, the one who says "my soul exalts the Lord".

Let us abandon ourselves, lay down our burdens and our crosses, and live in the joy of the Risen Christ, with Mary as our sure guide!

Faustine Arduin, ZENIT WYD correspondent

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