Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 8/14/03)

On Oct. 18, 2003, the faithful of the Diocese of Arlington will be making a pilgrimage, a physical and spiritual journey, to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. As part of that pilgrimage, a special prayer has been composed and will be recited during the pilgrimage itself and even before the pilgrimage, by families and individuals, in preparation for the pilgrimage.

The prayer opens with an acknowledgment that Mary is a faithful disciple of the Lord. As a disciple, Mary is a model for us, an example that we are called to imitate in opening our own hearts to the life-giving words that God has spoken to us throughout the history of salvation.

In the second and third paragraphs, the prayer alludes to the mysteries of the Rosary. First, there are the Joyful Mysteries, in which Mary, obediently trusting the promise of the Lord, received the Word made flesh and "gave Him to the world." Then, Mary "accompanied Him on His earthly mission," a reference to the Luminous Mysteries (or Mysteries of Light), which set before us the principal mysteries of the public life and mission of Jesus (His Baptism, the Wedding at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God, the Transfiguration, and the Institution of the Eucharist). Throughout these public events, Jesus taught His followers and "enlightened" them "with the gifts of faith, hope and love."

Towards the end of Our Lord’s public life, we meet Mary in the Sorrowful Mysteries, standing "at the foot of the Cross," suffering in silence and sorrow, inviting us to offer our sufferings, crosses and trials to the Father in union with her own. Finally, in the Glorious Mysteries, we glimpse Mary placed, as it were, within the very heart of the Church. At the very birth of the Church, Mary too "shared in the gift of the Holy Spirit," and, having been assumed body and soul into heaven, she stands before us as our Mother who intercedes for us and as "a model of the Church in the glory to which we are called."

The fourth paragraph asks the intercession of Mary upon all "the faithful of the Church of Arlington." Like Mary, we pray that we also may be "true disciples of Jesus Christ," always ready to listen to Him and to bear fruit in our lives, the fruit of "a rich harvest of holiness." The call to holiness is the fundamental vocation of every Christian, and we look to Mary and her "maternal care" to guide us, to aid us and to show us the way, so that one day, that call to holiness will be perfectly realized in each one of us at that moment when we stand in union with "the Blessed Virgin and all the angels and saints" in the light of God’s glory.

Finally, this prayer, like all prayer, is Trinitarian in character. As Mary herself surely must have prayed, we offer all of our intentions to the Father, through Jesus His Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.