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A solid devotion
In this year, which at the exhortation of Pope Francis we have dedicated to prayer in preparation for the jubilee, with hope as a guiding theme, we cannot but refer to Scalabrini's devotion to Mary of the Assumption and Immaculate, and to the recitation of the rosary as a prayer that nourishes and accompanies this devotion.
Scalabrini left over thirty homilies dedicated to Our Lady, half of them delivered on the feast of Mary of the Assumption, since the cathedral of Piacenza is dedicated to her (and to St. Justina). The tone of the homilies is celebratory: Scalabrini does not tire of weaving praises to Mary and resorts to 19th-century rhetoric for this, borrowing expressions from other writers. In extolling Mary's greatness, Scalabrini explains the theological reasons for it, but even more he delves into affectionate expressions for Mary the Mother, Mary the Queen, Mary the instrument of God's grace. This is the same style that has accompanied the development of devotion to Mary in the Church, and which has crystallized in litany prayer. In his own way, Scalabrini augments these litanies, and calls Mary "mystical vessel...mysterious ladder...burning bush...closed garden...snow-white lily...untouched earth...blazing paradise...incorruptible wood..." The filial affection of a bishop in love with Mary and for whom praise is never enough fully emerges. But in addition to his Marian love, it is useful for us to recall some relevant aspects.
Mary figure of the Church
Borrowing his thoughts from St. Ambrose, Scalabrini parallels Mary and the Church. Old Testament depictions, such as the ark of the covenant, apply to both. "To both fit the names, the praises, the affections the promises that the writer of the canticles addresses to the sacred bride... Immaculate was the Virgin, immaculate is the Church." In the episodes in the Gospel that speak of Mary Scalabrini sees an anticipation of the mission of the Church. "But where most visibly, O beloved, the Virgin and the Church associated, was on the summit of Golgotha" where Jesus' words establish an intimacy "between the mother of men and the society of men gathered in faith, obedience, and love under the banner of the Cross." "And who could enumerate the priceless gifts that God bestowed on the Church through the intercession of the Immaculata in the past fifty years?"
We know how much Scalabrini loved the Church, and this love mingles with that for Mary. "The two most noble loves of which our hearts burn, the love of the Church and the love of Mary, will come together to merge." We too, through the devotion to Mary, must rekindle our love for the Church, especially for the community in which we minister. It cannot simply be a matter of a task, an assignment, that lasts a few years and then we move on to another place, another community. If what we do is not done with love, there will be no correspondence, no joy. Let us make sure that the life of the community is marked by the expression of love for Mary and God's presence will flourish in our Church.
The prayer of the rosary
The rosary occupies an important spot in Scalabrini's piety. It is part of the resolutions with which he concludes his spiritual exercises and he recommends it to priests and the faithful. It is a prayer in which all converge: "In the Rosary, therefore, pray in us and with us Jesus Christ Himself, pray with us the Most Holy Mary, and pray the Angels, pray the Saints, pray, almost I said, the whole of Paradise." It is a complete prayer because "in the Rosary not only does the tongue pray, but even more it prays the mind, and tongue and mind exercise themselves to the honor of Mary, and the one repeats and the other contemplates what in Heaven and on earth there is most sovereignly lovable and most lovingly sovereign." Therefore, as a prayer, it is "what is easiest, most tender, most efficacious, greatest, most perfect, and most sublime that can be devised." In the rosary we contemplate "that to our salvation God is the love that gives Himself, Jesus Christ the love that immolates Himself, Mary the love that helps." Accordingly, he recommends, "Let us recite it with faith, with humility, with devotion, with perseverance; let us recite it every day, if it is possible, several times a day."
We rejoice that on a personal level and in our communities the recitation of the rosary paces our days and is a time when we meet in prayer with migrants. Let us fill this prayer with the presence of those in need. Let us fill it especially with intentions for world peace. Already Scalabrini noted: "A universal fear occupies the world today; there is fear, and rightly so, of the hand of God armed to strike us down for our iniquities; there is fear of human malice, which no longer feels or cares for restraint of law; there is fear of peoples armed against one another; all hope of salvation seems lost, the sores of society seem incurable." In the face of human insipience, of the obstinacy of those who seek the solution of problems through violence, we feel neutralized. But in our weakness, let us not tire of turning to Mary to change hearts blinded by the will to power and revenge.
Toward Mary
Pilgrimages to Marian shrines have always been a privileged expression of Marian piety. Scalabrini promoted them many times. We are left with various speeches made on the occasion of pilgrimages outside the diocese, such as to Our Lady of Caravaggio, Our Lady of Graces in Brescia, Our Lady of Greece in Ravenna, and the Holy House of Loreto, where he went in 1895 and returned in 1896 "because in Mary there is every good." But many are also the Marian shrines promoted in his diocese, or the chapels and statues of Our Lady crowned, such as Our Lady of Carmine in Borgotaro, Our Lady of the People in the cathedral and of the Rosary in Castel San Giovanni, Our Lady of Consolation in Bedonia, in whose crown he set his mother's jewels, and the Blessed Virgin of the Castle in Rivergaro where he made his last pilgrimage.
Let us continue leading pilgrimages to Marian shrines, an opportunity to meet with Mary, who leads us to receive the mercy of Jesus, she who is called "mother of mercy, and that is the same as saying mother of consolation." Let us keep the devotion to Mary alive, especially in the many churches dedicated to her that are entrusted to our care. But let us be pilgrims of hope, capable of communicating hope to those who are discouraged, to those who are searching, to those who are on a journey.
Above all, let us keep alive our conversation with Mary, to whom "priests confide their sweats, missionaries their labors." "Let us place in her, after God, all our trust" and be constant in our devotion because "who enjoys so amply the fruits of devotion to Mary? Who will be more lovingly protected, defended, sustained by her? Those who will be constant in honoring and loving her." And let us cultivate a firm devotion. "Consider that devotion to the Blessed Virgin must be solid, that is, it must not be one of those superficial and light devotions that end in the externals of a few practices: instead, it must lead you to purify the soul from defects and enrich it with virtues."
P. Leonir Chiarello, cs
Superior General