"What is it that Christians of many different Churches find so attractive about the young Jewish girl who gave birth to Jesus? This book does more than hint at an answer. Chiara Lubichs gospelbased intuitions are a source of new insights for Christians of all traditions. Not only do we see the beauty of a human being who gave birth to God made flesh, not only do we taste the essential poetry of this unique event in history and enter more fully into all it implies, but we are made able to translate this vision into our daily lives. Mary becomes less a person we admire, an object of veneration, and more a source of inspiration, an example on which we can model our lives. It seems to me that the present times call for a reintroduction of Mary, Chiara Lubich says.

 

To do this, we hope here to promote a new vision of Mary, one that is largely unknown, based on what God chose to show us about her. It is my hope that these pages of Chiara, so rich in witness to Mary and in meditations about her, may nourish us and help very many people to say like Mary and with her their own Here I am, their own yes to the plan and path that God has prepared for the life of each person. The multitude of people who have walked with Chiara along this path can testify that it leads also by way of the experience of the cross to happiness". From the Foreword by Joseph Cardinal Schnborn Archbishop of Vienna

 

Chiara Lubich was born and lives in Italy. An internationally renowned religious leader and writer, she has received the Templeton Prize for the Progress of Religion and the UNESCO Peace Prize. She has published over thirty books in dozens of languages with more than one million copies sold. The founder and president of the Focolare Movement, Chiara and her gospelbased spirituality have inspired millions. She stands at the forefront of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.