Une Minute avec Marie
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Dominican nun Sister Catherine Aubin, author of a recent book on praying with Mary and the saints, gave an interview about her faith relationship with the Virgin Mary:
"I'm a professor of theology, but I've never taught Marian theology. However, the Lourdes shrine was a determining factor in my religious vocation. Between the ages of 16 and 24, I used to go there for a week every year to help pilgrims bathe in the pools. At Lourdes, Mary is very much present in the everyday reality of life. These stays comforted and reassured me. I knew then that the Eucharist and the Rosary are the two most important things in the world. But once in religious life, my prayer turned to the three persons of the Trinity, and Mary's presence became less noticeable.
I've been teaching in Montreal since 2020. As soon as I moved here, I started saying a Hail Mary at the beginning of each class with my students, whereas in Rome I always began with the Our Father. Why the change? I learned that when Montreal was founded 350 years ago, it was called Ville-Marie. Is this a sign? I have the feeling that Mary is helping me to put together the jigsaw puzzle of my life, since, as the Gospels tell us, she kept and meditated in her heart everything that she experienced. She invites us to connect the events of our daily lives to discern in them the presence of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
Q: Why did you write this book on the theme of "praying with Mary"?
Above all, I wanted to convey a life experience, not a discourse. In Lourdes, when she appeared to Bernadette for the ninth time, Mary asked her to go and drink from the spring. The young girl had to scrape and dig through the mud several times to see the clear water gush forth. It's a bit like what I experienced while writing this book: as I dug and dug, Mary's presence in my spiritual life gradually revealed itself. She had always been there, but in the background, like the spring at Lourdes hidden underground.
To pray with Mary is to enter a space of heartfelt intelligence and radical trust, like her and with her. At the wedding feast in Cana, it was she who told Jesus that the guests would run out of wine, and asked him to do something. She has an attitude of questioning and collaboration in faith and hope, which teaches me to see the needs of others and turn to Jesus."