Our lady, the Good Mother
In Mary’s way
The relationship of Marcellin to Mary was deeply marked by an affective and total trust in her, as the “Good Mother,’’ because it was her work that he undertook. He wrote once: Without Mary we are nothing and with Mary we have everything, because Mary always has her adorable Son within her arms or in her heart. This belief remained constant all through his life. Jesus and Mary were the treasure on which Marcellin had learned to place his own heart. This intimate relationship helped shape the Marial dimension of our spirituality. In our tradition, the phrase “Ordinary Resource” has come to encapsulate our constant reliance on Mary. The motto attributed to Champagnat by his biographer, All to Jesus through Mary, all to Mary for Jesus, captures this close relationship between the Son and the Mother and our Founder’s attitude of confidence in Mary, which we are invited to live (Water from the Rock, 25).
