The Virgin Mary
“The entire life of the Virgin Mother, committed by her ‘yes’ at the Annunciation, was a continuous ascent of love. Thus, it is truly from her that Christian households will learn to pronounce, for the first time and then throughout their lives, the ‘yes’ that is the soul of their love. ”
Henri Caffarel, L’Anneau d’Or, No. 2-3-4
The Patronage of Our Lady
“ Mary is a stained-glass window, and through her, the sun reaches us! Her light, her warmth, and her colours! This is how we must understand Mary’s action: she is not the source of light, but she is entirely transparent to the source of light; she is not the source of life, but she transmits life. And it is a terrible negligence not to expose oneself, every day, for a moment, to Mary’s action! ”
Henri Caffarel, Conference “The Presence of Mary”
Father Henri Caffarel put the Teams of Our Lady movement that he founded under the patronage of Our Lady. In 1954, at Lourdes, the Teams of Our Lady were consecrated to Mary.
“Take Mary, your Wife, into your Home”
The couple formed by Joseph and Mary particularly inspired Father Henri Caffarel, who wrote “Take Mary, your Wife, into your Home,” an original meditation on the meaning of Christian marriage.
Henri Caffarel, “Prends chez toi Marie, ton épouse,” Paris, Feu Nouveau, 1983 and Paris, Parole et Silence, 2005.
“This book starts from a simple and undeniable reality: Joseph and Mary were married; they loved each other. Without distorting the Gospel, in the light of Christian faith and human experience, these pages first reconstruct, step by step, the chronicle of Joseph and Mary’s marriage; they then offer a penetrating reflection on this unique marriage; finally, they transmit the message of light that the spouses of Nazareth address to Christian households today. If it is true that the Christian people as a whole, over the centuries, have paid little attention to this couple, on the other hand, some of the greatest writers, from Saint Augustine to Claudel, have been fascinated by the love of Joseph and Mary, and have celebrated it in powerful pages quoted in this volume.”
Henri Caffarel
Texts on the Virgin Mary
A Vigil in Nazareth
Joseph and Mary love one another. And theirs is the love that Saint John would, a few years later, praise using the Greek term agape (charity)
The Virgin in the Home
The Feast of the Annunciation commemorates the humble and fervent response Mary gave to God, “FIAT”… YES! It is the feast of the Virgin’s consent to the unimaginable divine proposal.
