In the Footsteps of St. Louis Marie de Montfort
"Footsteps Online"
Easter/Pentecost 1999 (Volume 4, Issue 2)
Prayer to the Father
Here we print the "Prayer to the Father" composed by Pope John Paul II for this year of preparation for the Great Jubilee, the Year of the Father. Below, Fr. James McGrath, S.M.M. reflects on this prayer.
Blessed are you, Lord,
Father in heaven,who, in your infinite mercy,
stooped down to us in our distress
and gave us Jesus, your Son, born of a woman,
to be our Saviour and friend, our brother and redeemer.
We thank you, good Father,
for the gift of the Jubilee Year;
make it a time of favour for us,
the year of a great return to the father's house,
where, full of love, you await your straying children
to embrace them in your forgiveness
and welcome them to your table,
in their festive garments.We praise you, Father, forever!
Father, most merciful,
during this Holy Year
may our love for you and for our neighbour
grow ever stronger:
may Christ's disciples promote justice and peace;
may they proclaim the Good News to the poor;
and may the Church our Mother direct her love
especially to the little ones and the neglected.We praise you, Father, forever!
Father of Justice, may the Great Jubilee be the fitting time
for all Catholics to rediscover
the joy of living by your word and obeying your will;
may they know the goodness of fraternal communion,
as they break bread together
and praise you in hymns and inspired songs.We praise you, Father, forever!
Father, rich in mercy,
may the holy Jubilee be a time of openness,
of dialogue and encounter,
among all who believe in Christ
and with the followers of other religions:
in your immense love,
be bountiful in mercy to all.We praise you, Father, forever!
O God, Almighty Father,
as we make our way to you,
our ultimate destiny,
may all your children experience
the gentle company of Mary most holy,
image of purest love,
whom you chose to be Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.We praise you, Father, forever!
To you, Father of life,
eternal source of all that is,
highest good and everlasting light,
be honour and glory, praise and thanksgiving,
with the Son and with the Spirit,
for ages unending. Amen.
"Love, and love as no other, the God hidden in your brother"
THE CHURCH has given us these past three years as a time of preparation for the great year of Jubilee that is the year 2000. We’ve completed the year of the Holy Spirit, and the year of the Son. 1999 is the year of the Father. These great themes help us as Catholics not to miss the importance of what we are celebrating. Millennium Domes and Ferris wheels all have their place, but first and foremost it’s all about the birth of Christ 2000 years ago: the Word became flesh and lived among us. The Holy Father has produced his prayer to the Father as the final countdown to the great Jubilee of the year 2000.
It’s well known that Pope John Paul II treasures the spirituality of St. Louis Marie. The papal coat of arms now includes Montfort’s own battle-cry: TOTUS TUUS. We can discern in this prayer to the Father further reflections of Montfort’s teaching. The key that unlocks so much of the treasure of this prayer is the mystery of the Incarnation: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19).
The Pope reminds us in the prayer that the Father is the source of all blessing, and that all blessing must return to him. We read how we have been blessed by the Father, "who stooped down in our distress to give us Jesus… Saviour and friend, brother and redeemer." In the Incarnation our human nature has been touched by the divine nature, which would in itself be the most wonderful thing if that was as far as it went. In fact there’s much more to the mystery of the Incarnation: God became like us and in return asks us to become like him. What an invitation! "May we come to share in the divinity of Christ as he humbled himself to share in our humanity."
The closer we are to God the clearer reflections we are of Christ. The more we resemble Christ the more we will practise in our living the new commandment of the new covenant: "Love one another as I have loved you." The Pope’s prayer cries to us to proclaim the Good News to the poor, to bring justice and peace, and to pour out the love of the new commandment where it is needed most, "especially to the little ones and the neglected." One’s thoughts are immediately with St. Louis Marie and Blessed Marie Louise in their efforts to make this a reality in the hospital at Poitiers. It was here that they loved and served God by holding the suffering Christ in the poorest of the poor. This kind of respect for all life is so present in the prayer, and asks us to recognise the presence of Christ in all our brothers and sisters, but especially in those on the margins of life.
Many Asian cultures have much to teach us in this regard. For example, in India as elsewhere in the East, the people will welcome each other by joining their hands in front of their faces and bowing reverently to each other. The greeting that accompanies this action is: "Namas Karam", which means, "I greet the god living in you." What a profound thought that is, that when I come into your presence the ground I stand on is holy - I need to take off my shoes, for in you I’ve found God. St. Louis Marie de Montfort puts it in another way: "Love, and love as no other, the God hidden in your brother."
We are all children of the same Father. It was Mary more than any other who was fruitful with God, and so the Pope recommends her to us as our companion on this journey. May we too be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so that what is born in us might be holy too. In this way 1999 will be a year of great return to the Father’s house.
Rev. J. McGrath, S.M.M. (Ashurst)
