“The very thought of talking about Mary makes my soul tremble and my heart patter. This is a topic that lies beyond our faculties and silence would be more appropriate than words. Mary! The most extraordinary among all created beings, exalted to the point of being clothed with the title and reality Mother of God and therefore Immaculate, Assumed into Heaven, Queen and Mother of the Church. Mary is closer to God than to human creatures, and yet she’s a creature just like us, and that’s how she stands in front of the Creator. This is why it’s possible for her to be like an inclined plane for us, which touches heaven and earth. And so, even in her extraordinary state, she can be: a girl, young woman, fiance, mother, spouse, widow… just like us who at any age or in any condition in life can find a connection with her and therefore a model. […] As for having a true devotion to her – while recognizing the many devotions that have blossomed down through the ages to provide the Christian people with the sense of her maternal love, bearing in mind all the large and small woes in life – I would advise a way that brings to life in our hearts a love for Mary that’s like the kind Jesus has for her. While Mary has all those magnificent and extraordinary qualities that you know about, she’s also ‘the perfect Christian’. And, as you can see from the Gospel, she doesn’t live her own life but lets God’s law live in her. She’s the one who can say better than any other: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me” (Gal 2:20). Mary is the living Word of God. If you really want to love her, ‘imitate her’. You be living Word of God! Imitating her makes you similar to her and leads you to love her because, as the saying goes, ‘Love either finds or makes equals,’ and it’s also true that equals love each other. […] So let’s imitate Mary, let’s become like her and love for her will suddenly blossom in our own hearts.” Chiara Lubich   “Dialogo aperto”. Pubblicato in Città Nuova, 1976, n. 9, p. 33. See Centro Chiara Lubich