Encountering Our Spiritual Mother at “A Day with Mary”
Beneath clear skies and with the sun shining brightly over a crowd of close to 2,400 people at Villanova College in King City, Ontario, the Archdiocese of Toronto held its 2nd annual Day with Mary.
As faithful members of the Catholic community arrived on campus in cars, vans, and busses in the morning time, participants were greeted by members of the Office of Catholic Youth’s Refined women’s ministry who offered a warm welcome and presented each attendee with a printed program, prayer cards, missals, as well as a blue rosary blessed in advance of the event by His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto.
Once seated, participants were treated to the sounds of the St. Francis de Sales 7 p.m. choir who were accompanied by piano and flute, leading the congregation in song for the duration of the day.
After a couple of gathering songs, all Marian-focused, the host for the day David Patterson formally welcomed all to the Day with Mary. Patterson acknowledged the more than 20 lay associations who were in attendance as well as those who attended as part of parish groups from all four regions of the archdiocese.
Following the formal welcome, it was time for the celebration of Holy Mass. With Cardinal Leo serving as both celebrant and homilist, His Eminence exclaimed at the beginning of Mass, “Welcome brothers and sisters to this beautiful day dedicated to the Mother of Jesus, and our spiritual mother. We are overjoyed that you have come in such great numbers to celebrate Our Lady, and with her, Jesus our Saviour.”
The Cardinal Archbishop welcomed Bishop Vincent Nguyen from the Eastern Pastoral Region archdiocese and Bishop Robert Kasun, CSB from the Central Pastoral Region of the archdiocese along with the many priests, deacons, the religious sisters, the religious brothers and all the faithful gathered.
In his homily, Cardinal Leo focused on the immense and important role that Our Lady plays in the life of the church. His Eminence referenced Pope St. Paul VI’s letter, The Month of May, which highlights the significance of honouring our spiritual mother Mary who is the way by which we are led to Christ.
In calling upon the late Pope Francis and the emphasis he placed on building a culture of encounter, Cardinal Leo said, “today we will encounter Mary during Mass because where Jesus is, Mary is not far behind. We will encounter Mary when we pray the rosary in a special way. We will encounter her through the children and the crowning of the statue. We will encounter her in the moments of fraternity during lunch and when we go to confession when the mercy of her Son is given to us. And we will encounter her through song – when you love somebody, in a certain way that person is in your heart. Here today we have a lot of people who love Our Lady and so we encounter her in each other’s eyes and heart and life, as children of Mary.”
In explaining how we can grow closer to Christ through Mary, Cardinal Leo cited Lumen Gentium 66, and stated that, “while the Mother is honoured, the Son is rightly known, loved, glorified and his teachings are observed,” further noting that one way of honouring Our Lady is by participating in the annual Day with Mary event.
At the conclusion of Holy Mass, there was a time of food and fellowship with participants having a picnic lunch or partaking in the provided BBQ lunch on the beautiful school grounds. Children were welcomed in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium which was located inside Villanova College for age-appropriate catechesis and there was also a rosary-making craft available outdoors organized and facilitated by staff and students of De La Salle College, which was enjoyed by many of the children in attendance.
The afternoon portion of the program saw Dr. Josephine Lombardi, Academic Dean of St. Augustine’s Seminary in Scarborough, provide an engaging keynote address titled, Mary, Star of the New Evangelization.
“By presenting Our Lady as star, the Church is affirming her role as a guide leading us to her Son,” Lombardi noted at the beginning of the address. “Just as the stars were understood to be a guide for sailors helping them to navigate, keeping them focused in the right direction, Mary as the Star of the Sea and the Star of the New Evangelization shedding light by her example of how to evangelize, shows us the correct disposition required to be a credible, accompanying witness. A witness to the power of Christ’s love.”
Lombardi portrayed Mary as the ultimate model for our own lives, “Our Lady models for us how we are to share our life with God. She also models obedience to God’s will, even when we have questions. We always win with “yes” to God’s will. And finally, she models intimacy with the Holy Spirit.”
In encouraging all members of the faith community to be a strong and credible witness as modeled by Our Lady and to avoid a disconnect or disillusion, Lombardi encouraged authenticity stating, “to be that witness, who we are privately must match who we are publicly.”
“The way for love calls for consistency, humility and heroic discipline even in times of conflict. Fight the fire of chaos with the fire of God’s love, not the fire of revenge because no good can come from that approach.”
Following the keynote address, the Cardinal Archbishop took the stage to lead the congregation in the 3 o’clock prayer. Before doing so, Cardinal Leo gave some background context on the prayer. “With this prayer, whatever we are doing - at work, at home - we stop. This prayer helps us to remember two gifts that we receive. The first is the gift of eternal life. By dying for us, Jesus took on all of the sins of humanity. Because of the gift of His life, the gates of Heaven are now open, and we have eternal life. The second gift Jesus gave us at 3pm is: His Mother.”
Next on the schedule was the Holy Rosary. With children processing around the seating area with a golden crown, the capacity crowd prayed the rosary together. Each decade of the rosary included a beautiful reflection led by Kielon Gerra, Sr. Hae-Jin Lim, Nick and Mariangela Mossa, Mario DeCicco, and Keith Diaz.
The Archdiocese of Toronto would like to thank each and every person in attendance for making this a special and blessed occasion. Thanks also to all who had a hand in making this event possible including His Eminence Frank Cardinal Leo, Bishop Vincent Nguyen and Bishop Robert Kasun, C.S.B., Dr. Josephine Lombardi, Mr. David Patterson, Mr. Paul Paradiso and the staff at Villanova College along with the Augustinian Fathers, Knights of Columbus who managed hundreds of cars and coordinated our bus drop-offs, the St. Francis de Sales 7 p.m. choir, De La Salle staff and students, all priests, deacons, religious men and women, all speakers and readers, altar servers and gift bearers, first aid attendants, benefactors and supporters, as well as members of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Office of Catholic Youth, Office of Formation for Discipleship, Office of Public Relations and Communications, OCY ManUP Crew, and the women of the OCY Refined ministry. A special thanks also is extended to the Day with Mary Planning Committee for their dedicated leadership in planning the event.
