This morning, shortly after 8:00 am local time, the Holy Father, Pope Francis left the Sumaré residence and travelled by helecopter to Aparecida to celebrate Mass in the National Shrine of Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida (Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception of Aparecida).
When he arrived,
the Pope was welcomed by His Eminence, Raymundo Cardinal Damasceno
Assis, Archbishop of Aparecida; and by some of the local authorities. At the door of the Shrine, he was greeted by the Redemptorist Rector, and from there the Holy Father moved to the Chapel dedicated to the
twelve Apostles, where the small statue of the Virgin Aparecida is kept and there he stopped for a moment of silent
prayer. He then united his voice with
others who were present to pray a prayer to the Mother of Aparecida.
At 11:00am, in the Basilica of the Sanctuary, the Pope
celebrated Mass in the presence of the local Bishops, at the same time as the
Bishops gathered in Rio de Janeiro were celebrating Mass with the young people
gathered in catechesis sessions.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the Mass celebrated at the Shrine of Aparecida
My Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
What joy I feel as I come to the house of the Mother of
every Brazilian, the Shrine of our Lady of Aparecida! The day after my election
as Bishop of Rome, I visited the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, in order
to entrust my ministry as the Successor of Peter to Our Lady. Today I have come
here to ask Mary our Mother for the success of World Youth Day and to place at her
feet the life of the people of Latin America.
There is something that I would like to say first of all.
Six years ago the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and
the Caribbean was held in this Shrine. Something beautiful took place here,
which I witnessed at first hand. I saw how the Bishops – who were discussing
the theme of encountering Christ, discipleship and mission – felt encouraged,
supported and in some way inspired by the thousands of pilgrims who came here
day after day to entrust their lives to Our Lady. That Conference was a great
moment of Church. It can truly be said that the Aparecida Document was born of
this interplay between the labours of the Bishops and the simple faith of the
pilgrims, under Mary’s maternal protection. When the Church looks for Jesus,
she always knocks at his Mother’s door and asks: Show us Jesus. It is from Mary that the Church learns true
discipleship. That is why the Church always goes out on mission in the
footsteps of Mary.
Today, looking forward to the World Youth Day which has
brought me to Brazil, I too come to knock on the door of the house of Mary –
who loved and raised Jesus – that she may help all of us, pastors of God’s
people, parents and educators, to pass on to our young people the values that
can help them build a nation and a world which are more just, united and
fraternal. For this reason I would like to speak of three simple attitudes:
hopefulness, openness to being surprised by God, and living in joy.
Hopefulness. The second reading of the Mass
presents a dramatic scene: a woman – an image of Mary and the Church – is being
pursued by a Dragon – the devil – who wants to devour her child. But the scene
is not one of death but of life, because God intervenes and saves the child
(cf. Rev 12:13a, 15-16a). How many difficulties are present in the life
of every individual, among our people, in our communities; yet as great as
these may seem, God never allows us to be overwhelmed by them. In the face of
those moments of discouragement we experience in life, in our efforts to
evangelize or to embody our faith as parents within the family, I would like to
say forcefully: Always know in your heart that God is by your side; he never
abandons you! Let us never lose hope! Let us never allow it to die in our
hearts! The dragon, evil, is present
in our history, but it does not have the upper hand. The one with the upper
hand is God, and God is our hope! It is true that nowadays, to some extent,
everyone, including our young people, feels attracted by the many idols which
take the place of God and appear to offer hope: money, success, power,
pleasure. Often a growing sense of loneliness and emptiness in the hearts of
many people leads them to seek satisfaction in these ephemeral idols. Dear brothers
and sisters, let us be lights of hope! Let us maintain a positive outlook on
reality. Let us encourage the generosity which is typical of the young and help
them to work actively in building a better world. Young people are a powerful
engine for the Church and for society. Not only do they need material things;
also and above all, they need to have held up to them those non-material values
which are the spiritual heart of a people, the memory of a people. In this
Shrine, which is part of the memory of Brazil, we can almost read those values:
spirituality, generosity, solidarity, perseverance, fraternity, joy; they are
values whose deepest root is in the Christian faith.
The second attitude: openness to being surprised by
God. Anyone who is a man or a woman of hope – the great hope which faith
gives us – knows that even in the midst of difficulties God acts and he
surprises us. The history of this Shrine is a good example: three fishermen,
after a day of catching no fish, found something unexpected in the waters of
the Parnaíba River: an image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Who
would ever have thought that the site of a fruitless fishing expedition would
become the place where all Brazilians can feel that they are children of one
Mother? God always surprises us, like the new wine in the Gospel we have just
heard. God always saves the best for us. But he asks us to let ourselves be
surprised by his love, to accept his surprises. Let us trust God! Cut off from
him, the wine of joy, the wine of hope, runs out. If we draw near to him, if we
stay with him, what seems to be cold water, difficulty, sin, is changed into
the new wine of friendship with him.
The third attitude: living in joy. Dear friends,
if we walk in hope, allowing ourselves to be surprised by the new wine which
Jesus offers us, we have joy in our hearts and we cannot fail to be witnesses
of this joy. Christians are joyful, they are never gloomy. God is at our side.
We have a Mother who always intercedes for the life of her children, for us, as
Queen Esther did in the first reading (cf Est 5:3). Jesus has shown us
that the face of God is that of a loving Father. Sin and death have been
defeated. Christians cannot be pessimists! They do not look like someone in
constant mourning. If we are truly in love with Christ and if we sense how much
he loves us, our heart will light up
with a joy that spreads to everyone around us. As Benedict XVI said: the disciple knows that without Christ,
there is no light, no hope, no love, no future (Inaugural Address,
Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean,
Aparecida, 13 May 2007, 3).
Dear friends, we have come to knock at the door of Mary’s
house. She has opened it for us, she has let us in and she shows us her Son.
Now she asks us to do whatever he tells
you (Jn 2:5). Yes, dear Mother, we are committed to doing whatever
Jesus tells us! And we will do it with hope, trusting in God’s surprises and
full of joy. Amen.
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