THE MARIAN YEAR

Introduction - Why a Marian Year - Dynamic ecclesial perspectives - The mother and son relationship in Christ’s testament at Golgotha - Our Act of Entrustment to Mary - The three elements in the prayer of entrustment - The Marian aspect of our Profession - Special commitment of the Salesian Family - Conclusion.

Rome, Solemnity of Pentecost, 7 June 1987

My dear confreres,

I am writing this letter on the feast of Pentecost.

May the Holy Spirit dwell in your hearts and give you interior growth!

This day, the Solemnity of Pentecost, sees the beginning of the special Marian Year declared by the Holy Father in his encyclical letter “Redemptoris Mater” (RM). The jubilee will continue until the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven of the year 1988.¹ It is the Pope’s wish that the “fullness of grace” of her “the one who has believed” should enlighten and guide the Church’s faith as she passes through these last years of the twentieth century.

The Holy Spirit dwelt in Mary from the first moment of her conception, and the Blessed Virgin was intimately aware of his presence. She, the Mother of Jesus by the power of the Spirit, lived the experience of Pentecost with the Apostles and saw her motherhood extend to the whole of the Church. With the Spirit and in the Spirit she brings us to Christ, and with Christ and in Christ she leads us to the Father.

This Marian Year will serve to deepen and increase our faith.

For a period of no less than seven months it coincides with our Don Bosco centenary celebrations. In this way it will enable us to emphasize and live more intensely some characteristic and important aspects of Mary’s initiatives and presence in the vocation and mission of the Salesian Family.

To this end I now invite you to reflect on the significance this Marian Year can have for us, by recalling and considering some reflections I would like to make on the Act of Entrustment of the whole Congregation to Mary Help of Christians which we made in solemn form on 14 January 1984.