Pope Francis has sent a video message to pilgrims participating in celebrations being held today for the Feast of Our Lady of Częstochowa at her shrine in that central Polish city.
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the coronation of the Black Madonna, as the icon of Our Lady housed in the shrine in the monastery of Jasna Gora.
Dear pilgrims,
I greet you all with great affection, especially those of you who have travelled long distances to be there today, together with my dear brother Bishops and the priests, at the spiritual centre of the country.
If Częstochowa is at the heart of Poland, it means that Poland has a maternal heart; it means that every life-giving heartbeat takes place together with the Mother of God. To her, you have the practice of entrusting everything: the past, the present, the future, the joys and the worries of your personal lives and those of your beloved country. This is very beautiful. It is very beautiful for me to remember having done just that with you, last year, when I gazed upon the eyes of the Mother, when I looked into the eyes of Our Lady, entrusting to her heart all that was in my heart and in yours. I am grateful for the vivid memories I still hold of those moments, the joy of having visited and celebrated the 1,050th anniversary of the baptism of Poland as a pilgrim under the gaze of the Mother.
Another occasion of grace gathers you in great numbers there today: three hundred years ago, the Pope granted permission to place the papal crown on the image of the Madonna of Jasna Gora, your Queen. It is a great honour to have a Queen for your Mother, the Queen of the Angels and the Saints, who gloriously reigns in heaven, but it is even more a joyous thing to know that you have a Queen who is your Mother, that you love as your Mother the one who is called Our Lady. In fact, the sacred image demonstrates that Mary is not a distant Queen who is seated on a throne, but a Mother who embraces her Son and, with Him, all of us her children. She is a true Mother, with a scarred face, a Mother who suffers because she truly takes to heart all the problems of our lives. She is a Mother who is close to us, who never loses sight of us; she is a tender Mother, who holds us by the hand as we journey day by day through life.
This is what I hope you experience during this solemn Jubilee which is being celebrated: that this will be a favourable time for you to truly feel that none of us is an orphan, we all have a Mother right beside us, a Queen who is unsurpassed in tenderness. She knows us and accompanies us with her typically maternal style: at the same time meek and courageous; never invasive but always persevering in doing good; patient in the face of evil and active in promoting concord.
May Our Lady give you the grace of spending these days together, as a family reunited around its Mother. In this spirit of ecclesial communion, made even stronger by the bond that unites Poland to the successor of Peter, I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing and I ask all of you, please, to pray for me. Thank you.
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the coronation of the Black Madonna, as the icon of Our Lady housed in the shrine in the monastery of Jasna Gora.
Video Message of His Holiness, Pope Francis
addressed to pilgrims gathered to celebrate
the Feast of Our Lady of Częstochowa
Dear pilgrims,
I greet you all with great affection, especially those of you who have travelled long distances to be there today, together with my dear brother Bishops and the priests, at the spiritual centre of the country.
If Częstochowa is at the heart of Poland, it means that Poland has a maternal heart; it means that every life-giving heartbeat takes place together with the Mother of God. To her, you have the practice of entrusting everything: the past, the present, the future, the joys and the worries of your personal lives and those of your beloved country. This is very beautiful. It is very beautiful for me to remember having done just that with you, last year, when I gazed upon the eyes of the Mother, when I looked into the eyes of Our Lady, entrusting to her heart all that was in my heart and in yours. I am grateful for the vivid memories I still hold of those moments, the joy of having visited and celebrated the 1,050th anniversary of the baptism of Poland as a pilgrim under the gaze of the Mother.
Another occasion of grace gathers you in great numbers there today: three hundred years ago, the Pope granted permission to place the papal crown on the image of the Madonna of Jasna Gora, your Queen. It is a great honour to have a Queen for your Mother, the Queen of the Angels and the Saints, who gloriously reigns in heaven, but it is even more a joyous thing to know that you have a Queen who is your Mother, that you love as your Mother the one who is called Our Lady. In fact, the sacred image demonstrates that Mary is not a distant Queen who is seated on a throne, but a Mother who embraces her Son and, with Him, all of us her children. She is a true Mother, with a scarred face, a Mother who suffers because she truly takes to heart all the problems of our lives. She is a Mother who is close to us, who never loses sight of us; she is a tender Mother, who holds us by the hand as we journey day by day through life.
This is what I hope you experience during this solemn Jubilee which is being celebrated: that this will be a favourable time for you to truly feel that none of us is an orphan, we all have a Mother right beside us, a Queen who is unsurpassed in tenderness. She knows us and accompanies us with her typically maternal style: at the same time meek and courageous; never invasive but always persevering in doing good; patient in the face of evil and active in promoting concord.
May Our Lady give you the grace of spending these days together, as a family reunited around its Mother. In this spirit of ecclesial communion, made even stronger by the bond that unites Poland to the successor of Peter, I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing and I ask all of you, please, to pray for me. Thank you.
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