Letter #24, 2026, Friday, Aug 14: Remembering Mary

Above, Titian’s Presentation of the Virgin Mary, painted between 1534 and 1538. Mary is the small child on the stairs, evidently only about seven years of age. She climbs the great staircase alone toward the priest. Tintoretto’s version (below) is more dramatic, but Titian’s captures the extraordinary smallness and courage of the child Tintoretto, Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple, painted in 1552-1553 Today, August 14, on the eve of tomorrow’s great Feast of the Assumption (August 15), we contemplate Mary. Here above is a place in Poland where pilgrims will honor her tomorrow, in Konotopie, where the Monument of Our Lady of Mercy (Matka Boża Miłosierna) will be dedicated at noon, and her statue will become the largest statue of Mary in all of Europe. It stands near the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sorrows. Its solemn blessing is scheduled to come during a Mass celebrated by Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski. “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.”— St. Irenaeus of Lyons, c. 180 A.D. Moments in the life of the Mother of Jesus, on the eve of the Feast of her Assumption Letter #24, 2026, Friday, August 14 Mary said “Yes,” stood by the cross, and was taken home Tomorrow, August 15, Christians throughout the world celebrate one of the great feasts of the Christian year: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Perhaps the best preparation is simply to remember who she was. Before the statues, before the basilicas and cathedrals, before the paintings of Raphael and Titian, before Lourdes, Guadalupe, Fatima and Czestochowa, there was simply Mary — Miriam — a daughter of Israel, a Jewish girl born into an obscure family in an occupied land. She possessed no army, no wealth, no political power. Yet today her name is spoken with affection and reverence by billions — yes, billions — of human beings. How did this happen? Her story can perhaps be told through seven moments. And running through all seven are three things of almost inexhaustible beauty: Mary said Yes. Mary remained. And, at the end, Mary was taken home. (continued below) Two Special Pilgrimages to Italy in 2026 Only a few seats left! Join Dr. Robert Moynihan and Inside the Vatican Pilgrimages for one of two extraordinary journeys to the heart of the Church. Journey Toward the Face of Christ — November 2026 Journey with us through Assisi, Norcia, Loreto, San Giovanni Rotondo, the Cave of St. Michael, Manoppello, Rome and Florence. Stay inside Vatican City Christmas in Italy — December 2026 Experience the marvelous lights and sounds of Rome at Christmas, with the city filled with music and joyful anticipation of the birth of Our Lord. Visit beautiful Nativity scenes and traditional Christmas markets, spend time in Florence and enjoy the extraordinary privilege of staying inside Vatican City during this sacred season. “This was my first religious pilgrimage and if they are all like this, then sign me up over and over again!”— Jennifer M., July 2026 (Continued from above) 1. The Little Girl Who Climbed the Steps The canonical Gospels tell us nothing about Mary’s childhood. But an ancient Christian writing from the second century, the Protoevangelium of James, preserves a beautiful tradition. Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne, bring their three-year-old daughter to the Temple in Jerusalem in fulfillment of a vow. The priest receives and blesses her. Then comes an almost enchanting detail: “He set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her.” And afterward: “Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there.” Another ancient account says that the little girl ascended the Temple steps one after another without anyone leading or lifting her, as though she had already reached adulthood. It is not Scripture and should not be confused with Scripture. But Christians remembered this story because it seemed to express something true about Mary: from the beginning, her life was an ascent toward God. Titian painted the scene magnificently in The Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple: an enormous staircase, a crowd of adults — and one tiny girl climbing alone toward the waiting priest. She is small. But she is not afraid. This is our first glimpse of the woman she will become. 2. Nazareth: The Yes That Changed History Years later, in Nazareth, there comes a moment upon which the history of Christianity turns. An angel tells Mary that she will conceive a son: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Mary does not understand everything that is being asked of her. But she answers: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”— Luke 1:38 Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum. Let it be done unto me according to Thy word. The astonishing thing about the Annunciation is that God does not compel her. He asks. And Mary is free. She could fear the consequences. She could ask for certainty. She could demand to know how everything will turn out. Instead, she entrusts herself to God. Centuries later, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — the future Benedict XVI— would write something remarkable about this moment: “The fiat of Mary, the word of her heart, has changed the history of the world.” That may be the most beautiful thing one can say about Mary. The history of salvation passes through the freedom of a young woman who says Yes. 3. The Magnificat: The Song of a Daughter of Israel Mary then travels into the hill country to visit Elizabeth. There she sings. And her song, the Magnificat, has been sung by Christians every evening for centuries: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things…” — Luke 1:46–55 This tells us something essential about Mary. She is not passive or timid. Her humility is not weakness. Her song is filled with the prophets of Israel. She remembers Abraham. She speaks about justice, hunger, power, mercy and the reversal of worldly greatness. Benedict XVI described the Magnificat as the song of the anawim — the poor and humble of Israel whose hearts are empty of pride and therefore open to God. And St. Ambrose offered one of Christianity’s loveliest reflections upon Mary’s song: “May Mary’s soul be in each one to magnify the Lord; may Mary’s spirit be in each one to rejoice in God.” Mary’s greatness, then, does not consist in drawing attention to herself. Her soul is like a clear window. Through it, we see God. (continued from above) 4. Bethlehem: A Mother Holds God in Her Arms Then comes Bethlehem. No palace. No throne. No room even in the inn. A child is born in poverty, and Mary wraps him in swaddling clothes and lays him in a manger. Here Christianity makes its astonishing claim: The child Mary holds is not merely a prophet or future king. He is Emmanuel — God with us. The eternal Word has become flesh. And for the first hours of his earthly existence, the Son of God is utterly dependent upon a woman: dependent upon her warmth, her milk, her arms, her protection. She looks into the face of her child. And Christianity says that she is looking into the human face of God. This is why the Church eventually gave Mary the extraordinary title Theotokos — Mother of God: not because Mary is the source of God’s divinity, but because the child she bore is truly God and truly man. Christmas therefore tells us something tender and almost overwhelming: God chose to enter the human world in the arms of a mother. 5. Egypt: The Mother Becomes a Refugee But Christmas does not remain peaceful. Herod seeks the child. Joseph is warned in a dream. And suddenly the Holy Family must flee. Mary becomes a refugee. Imagine the scene stripped of centuries of beautiful paintings: a young mother, a small child, a frightened husband, leaving home in darkness and traveling toward a foreign country because a ruler intends to kill their son. Mary therefore belongs in a special way to every mother who has ever fled war. To every family carrying a child across a border. To every person who has awakened one morning and discovered that home is no longer safe. The Queen of Heaven once had no country in which she could safely remain. And she carried Jesus through the darkness. 6. Calvary: She Remained Thirty-some years later, Mary again stands beside her Son. But now she cannot protect him. She cannot take him down from the Cross. She cannot stop his suffering. She can only remain. St. John gives us one of the starkest sentences in Scripture: “Standing by the cross of Jesus was his mother.” — John 19:25 There may be no greater image of human love. She stayed. At Bethlehem, she held his infant body. At Calvary, she watched that body wounded and dying. The prophecy of Simeon had been fulfilled: a sword pierced her own soul. John Paul II wrote that at the foot of the Cross, Mary’s faith reached a kind of supreme test; the blessing pronounced upon the woman “who believed” resounds there with extraordinary force. And from the Cross Jesus says to the beloved disciple: “Behold, your mother.” For Christians through the centuries, those words have extended far beyond John. The mother of Jesus becomes, in a mysterious spiritual sense, our mother. Her motherhood becomes larger at precisely the moment when her heart is breaking. 7. The Dormition and Assumption: She Is Taken Home And finally we come to the feast we celebrate tomorrow. Eastern Christians have traditionally called it the Dormition — the “falling asleep” of the Mother of God. The Catholic Church celebrates the Assumption: that at the completion of her earthly life, Mary was taken, body and soul, into heavenly glory. The ancient Fathers spoke of this mystery with extraordinary tenderness. St. Germanus of Constantinople imagined Christ speaking to his mother: “You must be where I am, Mother inseparable from your Son.” Germanus explained it almost as a matter of love: a child longs for his mother’s presence, and a mother longs for her child. The one who had carried Christ within herself should now dwell with him. He called her: “the mother of Life” who therefore should share “the dwelling place of Life.” St. John Damascene contemplated the same mystery through Christ’s victory over death: mortality is clothed in immortality because Christ himself entered death and transformed it into the doorway of resurrection. And St. Germanus offered perhaps the most consoling thought of all. Mary’s departure does not mean her absence: “We believe with certainty that you continue to walk with us.” That is the meaning of tomorrow’s feast. The little Jewish girl climbing the Temple steps has completed her ascent. The girl of Nazareth who said Fiat has reached the fulfillment of that Yes. The mother who held Christ at Bethlehem and stood beside him at Calvary is reunited with her Son. She has been taken home. And yet, Christians believe, she has not ceased to be a mother. “In the End, My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph” This brings us to our own troubled time. Wars continue. Families are divided. Nations fear one another. Human beings possess weapons capable of destroying cities in minutes. And yet one of the most famous messages associated with Mary in modern times — the message reported by the children of Fatima in 1917 — ends not in catastrophe but in hope: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph… and a period of peace will be granted to the world.” Cardinal Ratzinger warned against interpreting Fatima as a timetable of apocalyptic predictions. Its essential message, he said, is conversion, prayer and hope. And then he explained Mary’s “triumph” in unforgettable words: “The Heart open to God… is stronger than guns and weapons of every kind.” Perhaps that is the message we most need on this Feast of the Assumption. Mary’s triumph is not the triumph of one nation over another. It is not the triumph of force. It is the triumph of a human heart completely open to God. It is the triumph of the Fiat over fear. Of mercy over vengeance. Of fidelity over abandonment. Of life over death. Of peace over war. Mary was a daughter of the Jewish people. She became the mother of Jesus. And today countless men and women throughout the world — across nations, languages and centuries — call her Mother. Tomorrow, as church bells ring for the Feast of her Assumption, perhaps we might ask for something very simple: Mary, teach us to say Yes. Teach us to remain beside those who suffer. Teach us to carry Christ into a frightened world. And help turn the hearts of men and women away from hatred and toward the Kingdom your Son proclaimed — so that our children and grandchildren may someday inherit that promised time of peace. –-RM Renewal for Body and Soul From Ciechocinek to the Path of Our Lady in Konotopie By Grzegorz Gałązka Ciechocinek in Poland has long been associated with healing, rest and tranquillity. In the heart of this celebrated Polish spa town, beside its famous graduation towers, stands the “Pod Tężniami” John Paul II Spa Clinic — a place where medical rehabilitation is joined to hospitality, good food and the restorative rhythms of a traditional European spa. The clinic has more than 40 years of experience in treatment and rehabilitation. Its work has received numerous Polish distinctions, including the title Exemplary Polish Hotel Enterprise, while its president, Wiktor Kolbowicz, has been honored as a Manager of the Polish Hotel Industry. The clinic has also received distinctions including Europrodukt, Gazele Biznesu, Fair Play Enterprise and the Polish Symbol of Quality. There is also a remarkable connection between this place and the universal Church. Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski (1939–2020), the distinguished Polish canon lawyer who served for decades in Rome and eventually as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, often came here for treatment and rest. Even while a patient, Cardinal Grocholewski continued his pastoral activity. He helped the clinic obtain permission to bear the name of St. John Paul II, and in September 2022 a monument to the Cardinal was unveiled on the clinic grounds — a fitting memorial to a churchman who spent much of his life serving in Rome but remained deeply attached to his Polish homeland. Today the clinic offers a broad range of rehabilitation and wellness treatments, including brine baths and inhalations, physiotherapy, cryotherapy, massage, dietary programs and other forms of therapeutic care. Guests come for assistance with a variety of rehabilitation needs and receive care from physicians and physiotherapists according to individually designed programs. Among the traditional spa treatments offered are therapeutic peat-mud applications, a form of balneotherapy long associated with Polish spa medicine. Warm peat treatments are used particularly in rehabilitation and for certain chronic musculoskeletal and rheumatic complaints, while also providing warmth and relaxation before or after other therapies. Comfortable rooms, a brine swimming pool, wellness facilities and cultural activities help create an atmosphere in which treatment is not merely clinical. There is time to walk, talk, listen to music, eat well — and simply slow down. And that may be one of Ciechocinek’s greatest gifts. It offers permission to stop. To recover one’s strength. To breathe. To care not only for the body, but also for the interior life. For the Christian pilgrim, therefore, a stay in Ciechocinek can naturally become the beginning of something more. From the Spa to a New Marian Landmark Only about 60 kilometers away, at Konotopie near Kikół, an extraordinary new Marian monument now rises above the Polish countryside. The Monument of Our Lady of Mercy reaches a total height of 55.6 meters (nearly 200 feet) the figure of Mary itself is approximately 40.6 meters high and stands upon a 15-meter crown containing a viewing terrace. It is being described as the tallest Marian monument in Europe. And its solemn dedication has been chosen for a particularly meaningful day: August 15, 2026 — the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The dedication is scheduled to take place at 12 noon, during Holy Mass presided over by Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski. The monument, funded by Grażyna and Roman Karkosik as a personal votive offering of gratitude, stands close to the existing Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sorrows. The monumental figure itself is inspired by the local image of Our Lady of Mercy. Pilgrims and visitors have already begun coming to Konotopie. Seen from afar, Mary’s enormous white figure rises above the surrounding fields, her arms extended outward. For the believer, those open arms may suggest something more than a monumental work of art. They suggest welcome. They seem to say: Bring your illness. Bring your family. Bring your worries. Bring those whom you love. Bring the things you cannot solve. Bring them to prayer. And so an unusual pilgrimage becomes possible. One may first spend several days at Ciechocinek, caring for the body, recovering strength and rediscovering a quieter rhythm of life. And then make the short journey to Konotopie. There, one can stand beneath the immense figure of Mary and remember the much smaller figure of Mary with which our story began: a three-year-old Jewish girl climbing the steps of the Temple. From that little girl… to the young woman of Nazareth who said Yes… to the mother carrying her newborn child at Bethlehem… to the refugee fleeing into Egypt… to the woman standing beneath the Cross… to the Mother whom Christians believe was taken body and soul into heavenly glory… the journey is one long pilgrimage. Perhaps ours is, too. A journey of body and soul. Of illness and healing. Of sorrow and hope. Of departure and homecoming. For American pilgrims wishing to discover Poland’s profound Christian heritage, Ciechocinek and Konotopie now offer an unusual combination: rest and pilgrimage, healing and prayer, the renewal of the body and the renewal of the heart. And on this Feast of the Assumption, Poland’s newest Marian landmark offers the world an ancient Christian invitation: Look toward Mary — and let Mary point you toward her Son. Poland warmly welcomes pilgrims from the United States. –Grzegorz Gałązka Note: Grzegorz Galazka was born and grew up in communist Poland. He came to Rome in 1984, and helped to found Inside the Vatican magazine. For 33 years, he has been it’s world-renowned chief photographer.