ABOUT THE COVER AND CONTRIBUTORS

BY MEG PROM

MARY, THE FIRST MISSIONARY DISCIPLE FALL 2021

A MAGAZINE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF DETROIT

THE COVER

Mary became the first missionary disciple when she joyfully proclaimed the Good News of Christ’s coming to her cousin Elizabeth after the Annunciation. There is much we can learn from her model of trust, surrender, discipleship and evangelization. The cover design depicts Mary enfolding the city of Detroit in her loving arms, symbolizing her motherly protection and love. Her powerful intercession continues to guide us in our mission to unleash the Gospel in Southeast Michigan. TO GET TO KNOW OUR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS BETTER, WE ASKED THEM:

JOE BOGGS: The fourth sorrowful, Jesus’ carrying of the cross. This mystery helps me to think about whether I’m picking up the crosses in my own life or disregarding them. And it’s comforting to think about how even though Simon of Cyrene participates in the carrying of the cross, Jesus is in front of him, leading the way to Golgotha. (Lk 23:26) DR. ROBERT FASTIGGI: The Annunciation because it celebrates Mary’s central role in salvation history and the great moment of the Incarnation. When the Virgin Mary said “yes” to become the Mother of the Incarnate Word, she spoke “in place of all human nature.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae III, q. 30, a. 1) The Annunciation highlights Mary as the new Eve who is “that ‘woman’ who is present in the central salvific event which marks the ‘fullness of time’; this event is realized in her and through her.” (St. John Paul II, apostolic letter, Mulieris Dignitatem 3) FATHER CHARLES FOX: The fifth sorrowful mystery, the Crucifixion. Nothing inspires our hearts like love and triumph, and Christ’s crucifixion is nothing less than the greatest triumph of the greatest love. Nothing motivates our hearts like love and challenge, and from the cross Jesus shows us perfect love and calls out for us to love him in return. The cross of Jesus sets us free from sin and death, and makes possible for us eternal life with God in heaven.

DR. DAN KEATING: I am not sure I have a favorite mystery of the rosary, but the one that has spoken to me personally and deeply over many years is the mystery of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan (one of the luminous mysteries). Both for personal life and in theological study, this mystery has spoken to me profoundly. JOE KIM: My current favorite mystery is the luminous mysteries. KATE LOCHNER: The Agony in the Garden. To me, it’s Jesus’s most human moment and connects all the moments in my life when I’ve prayed, “please take this from me” to that moment in the garden. RAKHI MCCORMICK: My favorite mystery of the rosary is the Agony in the Garden because I find solace in the rawness of Christ’s movement through suffering, desire and surrender.

FATHER BRIAN MELDRUM: The fifth luminous mystery, the Institution of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus’s gift of himself to the Church on the night before he died is the mystery to which I seek to conform my life as a disciple and my vocation as a priest. JOE PELLETIER: The fourth sorrowful mystery: the Carrying of the Cross. So much of the world wrestles with the “meaning of suffering.” As Catholics, we know that human suffering has been given purpose in the cross of Christ. Frequent meditation on the fourth sorrowful mystery helps me to remember that we can’t experience any suffering that God himself has not undertaken and transformed for our sake. It then becomes a matter of embracing my own cross, grafting it to the cross of Christ and following alongside him. ELISE URENECK: I have a particular love of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple. We all have a longing for God. Faith demands that we remain steadfast and patient as we look for him in our life’s circumstances and as we await the revelation of his plans for our lives. Ultimately, we hope and pray to see him face to face in heaven. I draw strength from Simeon and Anna, whose great waiting must have been met with tremendous joy when they met the Child Jesus.

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20

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