05/24/2024
Today marks the feast day of Our Lady of the Way. It is Strada Leadership's Feast Day, too! In Italian, Our Lady of the Way is translated as Madonna della Strada.
The founders of Strada chose the name to honor our educational and spiritual roots. We were all educated by the Jesuits, and have received much from our formation.
Madonna della Strada is the patroness of the Jesuit order and so today we join our Jesuit friends in celebrating Mary.
This specific image, a fresco painting, was of great importance to the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius. The earliest Jesuits professed their vows before it. And before his death, St. Ignatius left instructions on how and where to enshrine it at the Mother Church of the Jesuits, the Church of the Gesù.
If you headed to Rome, visit the same fresco that has now been restored and hangs in the North Chapel of the Gesù.
Our Lady of the Way.... pray for us
Mary, Our Lady of the Way,
you who walked the hills of Judea, attentively carrying within you, Jesus and his joy;
you who walked from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus your son, our Redeemer, was born;
you who walked on the path of exile to protect the Son of the Most High;
you who walked on the road to Calvary to become our Mother.
Continue to walk alongside us, your children -
so that on the roads of the world we may desire, like you,
the God-bearer, to bring Jesus, His Gospel, His salvation to all people.
AMEN
Translated from the Italian, Mario Farrugia, S.J.
