At 9:00am this morning (3:00am EST), the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Holy Father, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major on the occasion of the Feast of the Translation (Transfer) of the Icon of Our Lady, Salvation of the Roman People (Salus Populi Romani).
As people of God on a journey, we are here to stand in the temple of our Mother. The presence of our Mother makes this temple a family home for all of us children. Together with generations and generations of Romans, we recognize in this maternal house, our home, the home where we find refreshment, comfort, protection, refuge. The Christian people have understood, from the very beginning, that in times of difficulty and trial, we must resort to our Mother, as is demonstrated by the oldest Marian antiphon: Beneath your protection we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God: do not despise the petitions of your children who are in need, but free us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
We seek refuge. Our Fathers in faith have taught us that in turbulent moments, we must gather under the mantle of the Holy Mother of God. Those who were persecuted and in need once sought refuge near the noble high-ranking women: when their mantles, which were considered inviolable, stretched out as a sign of welcome and protection was granted. It is the same for us in regard to Our Lady, the highest-ranked woman of all humanity. Her mantle is always open to welcome and gather us together. This belief is recalled in the Christian east where many people celebrate the Protection of the Mother of God who is depicted in a beautiful icon that depicts her sheltering her children and covering the entire world with her mantle. Ancient monks also recommended that, in times of trial, we should seek refuge beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God. Invoking her - Holy Mother of God - was already a guarantee of protection and help as we greet her with the prayer: Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God ...
This wisdom, which comes from afar, helps us: the Mother guards our faith, protects our relationships, saves us in bad weather and protects us from evil. Where the Mother is present in our homes, the devil does not enter. When the Mother is present in our homes, the devil does not enter. Where the Mother is present, no disturbance can prevail, fear cannot overcome. Who of us does not need this, who of us is not sometimes upset or restless? How often the heart is a stormy sea, where the waves of problems overlap and the winds of worries never cease to blow! Mary is surely the ark in the midst of the flood. Ideas and technology cannot give us this comfort and hope, but the face of the Mother, her hands that caress life, her mantle that shelters us. By going every day to our Mother, we learn to find refuge in her.
The antiphon continues: Do not despise your children's petitions. When we implore her, Mary implores on our behalf. There is a beautiful Greek title that says this: Grigorusa, which means the one who intercedes promptly. And this is the image that Luke uses in the gospel to explain how Mary went to Elizabeth: promptly, immediately! She intercedes promptly, she does not delay, as we heard in the gospel, where she carries people's tangible needs immediately to Jesus: They have no wine (Jn 2:3), nothing more! She does this every time, if we call on her: when there is a lack of hope, when joy is scarce, when our strength is exhausted, when the light of life is obscured, our Mother intervenes ... and if we call upon her, she intervenes all the more. She is attentive to the labours, sensitive to the turbulences - the turbulence of life - she is close to our hearts ... and she never, never despises our prayers; she never ignores even one of them. She is a Mother; she is never ashamed of us, she is always waiting to help her children.
An example can help us to understand. Beside a hospital bed, a mother was keeping vigil over her son who was suffering after an accident. The mother was always there, day and night. At a certain point, she was lamenting to a priest, saying: But there is one thing that the Lord has not allowed us mothers to do! - What things!, asked the priest. - To take on the sufferings of our children, the woman responded. This is the heart of a mother: she is not ashamed of the wounds, te weaknesses of her children, but she wants to be with them. The Mother of God is our mother. She knows how to take us under her mantle, how to console us, to watch over us, to heal us.
The antiphon continues: free us from every danger. The Lord himself knows that we need shelter and protection in the midst of so many dangers. For this reason, at his most important moment, on the cross, he said to the beloved disciple, and to every disciple: This is your Mother! (Jn 19:27). The Mother is not an option, an optional thing, she is bequeathed by Christ, and we need her to act as a bearer of refreshment, like babies being carried in her arms. It is a great danger for faith to live without a Mother, without protection, allowing ourselves to be carried away by life like leaves being blown around by the wind. The Lord knows this and encourages us to welcome our Mother. This is not a matter of spiritual etiquette, it is necessary for us to have life. Loving her is not a matter of poetry, it is a matter of knowing how to live ... because without Mary, we cannot be children. Above all else, we are children, beloved children, who have God for our Father and the Madonna for our Mother.
The Second Vatican Council teaches us that Mary is a sign of certain hope and of consolation for the pilgrim people of God (Lumen gentium, Chapter 8, 5). She is a sign, a sign that God has given us. If we do not follow her, we go astray. Because she shows us the signs of a spiritual life, which must be observed. She shows us that we are still wandering and placed in the midst of dangers and troubles (LG, 62), she is our Mother who has already reached her goal. Who better than she can accompany us on our journey? What are we waiting for? Like the disciple who beneath the cross welcomed the Mother into his home (Jn 19:27), we too, in this maternal home, invite Mary to enter our own homes, our own hearts, our own lives. We cannot remain neutral or distant from our Mother, otherwise we lose our identity as children and our identity as a people, and we live as Christians founded on ideas, programs, but without trust, without tenderness, without heart. But without a heart, there is not love and faith is in danger of becoming a beautiful tale of ancient times. On the other hand, our Mother cares for and prepares her children. She loves them and protects them, because she loves and protects everyone. Let's welcome our Mother as our daily guest, a constant presence in our homes, our sure refuge. Let's entrust every day to her. Let's entrust all our troubles to her. And let's not forget to come back to her and to thank her.
Now, let us look at her, when we have just gotten out of hospital, let us look to her with tenderness and let us say hello to her like the Christians in Ephesus would do. All together, three times, let us say together: Holy Mother of God. All together: Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the Mass celebrated at the
Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major
As people of God on a journey, we are here to stand in the temple of our Mother. The presence of our Mother makes this temple a family home for all of us children. Together with generations and generations of Romans, we recognize in this maternal house, our home, the home where we find refreshment, comfort, protection, refuge. The Christian people have understood, from the very beginning, that in times of difficulty and trial, we must resort to our Mother, as is demonstrated by the oldest Marian antiphon: Beneath your protection we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God: do not despise the petitions of your children who are in need, but free us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
We seek refuge. Our Fathers in faith have taught us that in turbulent moments, we must gather under the mantle of the Holy Mother of God. Those who were persecuted and in need once sought refuge near the noble high-ranking women: when their mantles, which were considered inviolable, stretched out as a sign of welcome and protection was granted. It is the same for us in regard to Our Lady, the highest-ranked woman of all humanity. Her mantle is always open to welcome and gather us together. This belief is recalled in the Christian east where many people celebrate the Protection of the Mother of God who is depicted in a beautiful icon that depicts her sheltering her children and covering the entire world with her mantle. Ancient monks also recommended that, in times of trial, we should seek refuge beneath the mantle of the Holy Mother of God. Invoking her - Holy Mother of God - was already a guarantee of protection and help as we greet her with the prayer: Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God ...
This wisdom, which comes from afar, helps us: the Mother guards our faith, protects our relationships, saves us in bad weather and protects us from evil. Where the Mother is present in our homes, the devil does not enter. When the Mother is present in our homes, the devil does not enter. Where the Mother is present, no disturbance can prevail, fear cannot overcome. Who of us does not need this, who of us is not sometimes upset or restless? How often the heart is a stormy sea, where the waves of problems overlap and the winds of worries never cease to blow! Mary is surely the ark in the midst of the flood. Ideas and technology cannot give us this comfort and hope, but the face of the Mother, her hands that caress life, her mantle that shelters us. By going every day to our Mother, we learn to find refuge in her.
The antiphon continues: Do not despise your children's petitions. When we implore her, Mary implores on our behalf. There is a beautiful Greek title that says this: Grigorusa, which means the one who intercedes promptly. And this is the image that Luke uses in the gospel to explain how Mary went to Elizabeth: promptly, immediately! She intercedes promptly, she does not delay, as we heard in the gospel, where she carries people's tangible needs immediately to Jesus: They have no wine (Jn 2:3), nothing more! She does this every time, if we call on her: when there is a lack of hope, when joy is scarce, when our strength is exhausted, when the light of life is obscured, our Mother intervenes ... and if we call upon her, she intervenes all the more. She is attentive to the labours, sensitive to the turbulences - the turbulence of life - she is close to our hearts ... and she never, never despises our prayers; she never ignores even one of them. She is a Mother; she is never ashamed of us, she is always waiting to help her children.
An example can help us to understand. Beside a hospital bed, a mother was keeping vigil over her son who was suffering after an accident. The mother was always there, day and night. At a certain point, she was lamenting to a priest, saying: But there is one thing that the Lord has not allowed us mothers to do! - What things!, asked the priest. - To take on the sufferings of our children, the woman responded. This is the heart of a mother: she is not ashamed of the wounds, te weaknesses of her children, but she wants to be with them. The Mother of God is our mother. She knows how to take us under her mantle, how to console us, to watch over us, to heal us.
The antiphon continues: free us from every danger. The Lord himself knows that we need shelter and protection in the midst of so many dangers. For this reason, at his most important moment, on the cross, he said to the beloved disciple, and to every disciple: This is your Mother! (Jn 19:27). The Mother is not an option, an optional thing, she is bequeathed by Christ, and we need her to act as a bearer of refreshment, like babies being carried in her arms. It is a great danger for faith to live without a Mother, without protection, allowing ourselves to be carried away by life like leaves being blown around by the wind. The Lord knows this and encourages us to welcome our Mother. This is not a matter of spiritual etiquette, it is necessary for us to have life. Loving her is not a matter of poetry, it is a matter of knowing how to live ... because without Mary, we cannot be children. Above all else, we are children, beloved children, who have God for our Father and the Madonna for our Mother.
The Second Vatican Council teaches us that Mary is a sign of certain hope and of consolation for the pilgrim people of God (Lumen gentium, Chapter 8, 5). She is a sign, a sign that God has given us. If we do not follow her, we go astray. Because she shows us the signs of a spiritual life, which must be observed. She shows us that we are still wandering and placed in the midst of dangers and troubles (LG, 62), she is our Mother who has already reached her goal. Who better than she can accompany us on our journey? What are we waiting for? Like the disciple who beneath the cross welcomed the Mother into his home (Jn 19:27), we too, in this maternal home, invite Mary to enter our own homes, our own hearts, our own lives. We cannot remain neutral or distant from our Mother, otherwise we lose our identity as children and our identity as a people, and we live as Christians founded on ideas, programs, but without trust, without tenderness, without heart. But without a heart, there is not love and faith is in danger of becoming a beautiful tale of ancient times. On the other hand, our Mother cares for and prepares her children. She loves them and protects them, because she loves and protects everyone. Let's welcome our Mother as our daily guest, a constant presence in our homes, our sure refuge. Let's entrust every day to her. Let's entrust all our troubles to her. And let's not forget to come back to her and to thank her.
Now, let us look at her, when we have just gotten out of hospital, let us look to her with tenderness and let us say hello to her like the Christians in Ephesus would do. All together, three times, let us say together: Holy Mother of God. All together: Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God, Holy Mother of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment