“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” That is a quote from one of our venerated saints, St. Maximilian Kolbe. In our Catholic faith, our veneration and love for Mary is deeply rooted in our faith and love for Jesus Himself. We express this love and faith in many ways, through veneration of Sacramentals, Novenas and most especially in every Rosary prayer.
Our parish shows its love for the Blessed Mother in many ways. One of those ways is by organizing our annual Marian Exhibit. Led by the Parish Legion of Mary and Holy Name Society, The Marian Exhibit is a showcase of various images dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It features images according to her titles as well as images that correspond to the location of miraculous apparitions that are attributed to the Blessed Virgin. Donors for the various images of the blessed virgin came from parishioners and other willing collaborators. The Marian Exhibit showcases the devotion of the faithful to her and aims to promote the Marian devotion to those who wish to visit the exhibit. In this little way we can show our love to the Blessed Mother and spread that love to more people.
Conducting a Marian Exhibit should always have a focus. It is more than just simply showcasing the different images of Mary to the public. One of the focuses of this exhibit is to show Mary’s unwavering love to her son Jesus. Because what is more beautiful than the love of a mother for her child? Mary was a mother that gave all of her heart for Jesus. She was there from the birth of Jesus Christ up to his eventual crucifixion. Her love was shown through the purity of her heart and her unwavering spirit to follow the words of God. This is most evident with the Gospel verse John 19:26-27. Jesus said in this Gospel verse that we all are Mary’s children. She was the mother of us all and the one that we can go to for guidance and help in our daily lives. She embraces and accepts us no matter who we might be. The Marian Exhibit truly highlights this idea with the use of different images of Mary that shows how she loves us in different ways.
Another main focus of the Marian Exhibit is to remind us that Mary is there to help us have a deeper connection with God. Pope Francis once said “Let us ask Our Lady to teach us how to live our faith in our daily lives and make room for the Lord”. Mary always encourages us to continuously love God and stay away from sins. Through the help of the Marian Exhibit, may we always keep this in mind that our beloved mother is by our side at all times and we can ask help and guidance from her at any moment.
The most common focus of this event is to educate and inform us of the life of Mary. The different images help us understand the different journeys and happenings in the way Mary lives. It allows us to learn and discover facts about Mary which could help us create a deeper connection with her. Understanding the way she lives is very important for us Christians because it helps us be closer to her and appreciate all of her good doings.
Understanding the focuses and purpose of the Marian Exhibit will help us to really enjoy and appreciate the Marian Exhibit more. It will be the key for us to gravitate more to Mary which will eventually encourage us to show our love and adoration to our Blessed Virgin. Opening our minds to these different focuses will also help us Filipino’s to continuously embody the title of Pueblo Amante De Maria. A title that we should forever take and represent until the end of time, but how exactly did you get that title anyways?
The title of Pueblo Amante De Maria was a title given to us a long time ago and there is a very great story and reason for this. The Filipinos are deeply rooted in their faith and most especially that to Mother Mary. In the International Eucharistic Congress of 1937 which was held in Manila, Jesuit Priest and Theologian, Fr. Catalino Arevalo, SJ gave the Filipino the Title of Pueblo Amante de Maria, meaning people who are in love with Mary. This is a cornerstone to the Filipinos’ Catholic Faith and how at an early age we are exposed to the light hearted name of Mama Mary. We acknowledge the loving maternal figure of the Blessed Virgin and how through her obedience to the will of God, the Word is finally made flesh and now has granted us the path to our salvation. It is safe to say that we Filipinos are living up to this title as we continuously show our devotion to Mary in different ways such as conducting the Marian Exhibit. Building these kinds of events take a lot of time to prepare and execute which is why you need patience, extreme efforts, and true devotion to make it successful and possible.
In an interview with one of the organizers, Sis. Virginia Mendez Tagaro, she stated that the Marian Exhibit is truly an important event in promoting the devotion to Mother Mary. Visitors will see the various images with a brief history and will peak their interest in knowing more about the numerous titles of the Blessed Virgin. Sis. Virgie said that they faced a lot of obstacles to make this event possible. Serious planning was needed to ensure that every image was going to be presented in an elegant manner. She also gave thanks to everyone that laid a hand to make our Marian Exhibit 2024 successful. Those people really made accomplishing this event possible and it really represented how our parish united in showing our love and adoration for our Beloved Mother. Sis. Virgie hopes that the parishioners will show their continued support for the Legion of Mary so that future events and exhibits will be a success for the development of devotion in our community.
Mother Mary is our prime example of filial obedience to the will of God, we must live to walk by her example for she is the one closest to Jesus. For the very same reason, she is the one who intercedes most for us, to deliver our plights and prayers to the Lord and this is the act that shows her love for the Holy Church. For Jesus Himself told her that we are her children and she is our mother. May this event of the Marian Exhibit show to everyone that Mary is our Mother, that we all may grow closer to God through the devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary as we share to many others the wondrous love of a mother to her children. Finally we extend our gratitude to the organizers who made this event possible. May the Holy Mother lift up our prayers to continue in proclaiming the Gospel.
Viva La Virgen!
Written By: Enrico Estrella III
Sources:
- https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1660703/people-in-love-understanding-filipinos-deep-strong-faith-in-mary#:~:text=Last%20May%2031,%20Archbishop%20Charles%20Brown,%20the%20apostolic%20nuncio%20to
- https://rcam.org/un-pueblo-amante-de-maria-a-people-devoted-to-mary-even-in-the-pandemic/
- https://cbcpnews.net/cbcpnews/be-worthy-of-pueblo-amante-de-maria-title-nuncio-tells-filipino-catholics/
- https://www.faithandculture.com/home/2020/4/10/john-192627-with-st-john-paul-ii
- https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/19
- https://shcpg.ca/index.php/schedule/marian-exhibit#:~:text=WHAT%20IS%20A%20MARIAN%20EXHIBIT,touch%20and%20inspire%20our%20lives.