But now, above all, she gets from her an art of living, a wisdom for growing, a way of growing in her relationships with her husband, her children, her in-laws. The relationships between Mrs. Vincent and her two daughters help me understand what prayer is. At least at the beginning, prayer often remains at the level of asking. That is quite normal. Yet to deepen our prayer and attain a certain level of maturity, we must go beyond asking.
Mature prayer becomes contemplation.
In my opinion, Marian prayer leads us to this. It aims at contemplating Mary in her relations with God and with other people. In his Gospel, St. Luke presents the Virgin as a model of faith. Elizabeth proclaims that Mary is blessed because she believes. Mary was the first disciple of Christ, walking on a path no one had ever trodden.