Mary has appeared in many places: Lourdes, Fatima, La Salette…Though in Brazil, the Lord wanted her to “appear” as an image. An image is the material representation of a spiritual reality in a very efficient language, the visual language.
An image has to be faithful to which it represents: in other words, it should pass the message of the reality it represents. Mary is the Patroness of Brazil and She presented Herself to Brazilians in the image of a small wooden statue. Most Brazilians are poor and they can hardly read and write. Those who are literate among simple people cannot read things in depth: they need strong images to understand the message.
The evangelizing image God used in Brazil was that small simple image of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida (Our Appeared Lady of Conception). In Her lowliness and humbleness, Mary always makes Herself small: that is the reason why God exalted Her, made Her great and performed wonders through Her. Mary could then exclaim in Her chant: “All future generations will call me blessed.”
The whole of the Church, all Her Ministries and projects have a lot to learn with the small image of Our Appeared Lady. Blessings can only be accomplished in humbleness! Humbleness is not equivalent to inefficiency. People think that the low and humble are inefficient and this is a big mistake. The proud and haughty, those who boast of their self-satisfaction and self-sufficiency are like big drums: they make a lot of noise though they are hollow and empty.
The secret of efficiency is humbleness!
Who could be more efficient than Mary? She brought Salvation and the Savior to this world: She brought us the essence of everything. We should learn efficiency from Mary.
Our Appeared Lady of Conception, pray for us!
Your Brother,
Father Jonas Abib