At noon today, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and with pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
On this Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holy and faithful people of God joyfully express their veneration for the Virgin Mother. They do so in the liturgy and also with a thousand different forms of piety; and thus the prophecy of Mary herself comes true: All generations will call me blessed (Lk 1:48) because the Lord has raised his humble servant. The assumption into heaven, soul and body, is a divine privilege granted to the Holy Mother of God for her particular union with Jesus. It is a bodily and spiritual union, which began with the Annunciation and matured throughout the life of Mary through her singular participation in the mystery of her Son. Mary always went with her Son: she went after Jesus and for this reason we say that she was the first disciple.
The life of the Madonna was like that of a common woman of her time: she prayed, ran the family and the house, attended the synagogue ... But every daily action was always performed by her in total union with Jesus. At Calvary, this union reached its peak: in love, in compassion and in the suffering of the heart. This is why God has given her full participation also in the resurrection of Jesus. The body of the Holy Mother of Jesus has been preserved from corruption, like that of the Son.
Today, the Church invites us to contemplate this mystery: it shows us that God wants to save the whole of mankind, that is to say that God wants to save us, soul and body. Jesus rose with the body he had taken from Mary; and he ascended to the Father with his transfigured humanity. With that body, a body like ours, but transfigured. The assumption of Mary, a human creature, gives us the confirmation of what will be our glorious destiny. The Greek philosophers had already understood that the soul of man is destined for happiness after death. However, they despised the body - considered it to be a prison for the soul - and they could not conceive of the notion that God had arranged for the body of a man to be united with his soul in heavenly bliss. Our transfigured body will be there. This - the resurrection of the flesh - is an element proper to Christian revelation, a cornerstone of our faith.
The wonderful reality of the Assumption of Mary manifests and confirms the unity of the human person and reminds us that we are called to serve and glorify God with all our being, our soul and our body. Serving God only with the body would be an act of slavery; serving Him only with the soul would be in contrast to our human nature. Saint Irenaeus, great father of the Church, around the year 220, affirms that the glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man consists in the vision of God (Against heresies, IV, 20, 7 ). If we have lived this way, in the joyous service to God, which is expressed also in generous service to our brothers (and sisters), our destiny, on the day of the resurrection, will be similar to that of our heavenly Mother. On that day, we will be able to fully realize the exhortation of the apostle Paul: Glorify God in your body! (1 Cor 6,20), and we will glorify him forever in heaven.
Let us pray to Mary that, through her maternal intercession, she may help us to live our daily journey in the industrious hope of being able to reach our ultimate goal one day, with all the Saints and our loved ones in paradise.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
To Mary, the consoler of the afflicted, who we contemplate today in the glory of Paradise, I wish to entrust the anguish and torment being endured by all those who, in many parts of the world, are suffering in body and in spirit. May our heavenly Mother obtain for them all, comfort, courage and serenity.
I think especially of all those who are being tried by the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Genoa, an incident which has claimed victims and lives. While I entrust people who have lost their lives to the mercy of God, I express my spiritual closeness to their families, the wounded, the displaced and all those who are suffering because of this dramatic event. I invite you to join me in prayer, for the victims and for their loved ones; let's recite the Hail Mary together.
I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims who have come from various countries! I thank you for your presence and I wish you all a good feast day of the Assumption of Mary. And please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
On this Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holy and faithful people of God joyfully express their veneration for the Virgin Mother. They do so in the liturgy and also with a thousand different forms of piety; and thus the prophecy of Mary herself comes true: All generations will call me blessed (Lk 1:48) because the Lord has raised his humble servant. The assumption into heaven, soul and body, is a divine privilege granted to the Holy Mother of God for her particular union with Jesus. It is a bodily and spiritual union, which began with the Annunciation and matured throughout the life of Mary through her singular participation in the mystery of her Son. Mary always went with her Son: she went after Jesus and for this reason we say that she was the first disciple.
The life of the Madonna was like that of a common woman of her time: she prayed, ran the family and the house, attended the synagogue ... But every daily action was always performed by her in total union with Jesus. At Calvary, this union reached its peak: in love, in compassion and in the suffering of the heart. This is why God has given her full participation also in the resurrection of Jesus. The body of the Holy Mother of Jesus has been preserved from corruption, like that of the Son.
Today, the Church invites us to contemplate this mystery: it shows us that God wants to save the whole of mankind, that is to say that God wants to save us, soul and body. Jesus rose with the body he had taken from Mary; and he ascended to the Father with his transfigured humanity. With that body, a body like ours, but transfigured. The assumption of Mary, a human creature, gives us the confirmation of what will be our glorious destiny. The Greek philosophers had already understood that the soul of man is destined for happiness after death. However, they despised the body - considered it to be a prison for the soul - and they could not conceive of the notion that God had arranged for the body of a man to be united with his soul in heavenly bliss. Our transfigured body will be there. This - the resurrection of the flesh - is an element proper to Christian revelation, a cornerstone of our faith.
The wonderful reality of the Assumption of Mary manifests and confirms the unity of the human person and reminds us that we are called to serve and glorify God with all our being, our soul and our body. Serving God only with the body would be an act of slavery; serving Him only with the soul would be in contrast to our human nature. Saint Irenaeus, great father of the Church, around the year 220, affirms that the glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man consists in the vision of God (Against heresies, IV, 20, 7 ). If we have lived this way, in the joyous service to God, which is expressed also in generous service to our brothers (and sisters), our destiny, on the day of the resurrection, will be similar to that of our heavenly Mother. On that day, we will be able to fully realize the exhortation of the apostle Paul: Glorify God in your body! (1 Cor 6,20), and we will glorify him forever in heaven.
Let us pray to Mary that, through her maternal intercession, she may help us to live our daily journey in the industrious hope of being able to reach our ultimate goal one day, with all the Saints and our loved ones in paradise.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
To Mary, the consoler of the afflicted, who we contemplate today in the glory of Paradise, I wish to entrust the anguish and torment being endured by all those who, in many parts of the world, are suffering in body and in spirit. May our heavenly Mother obtain for them all, comfort, courage and serenity.
I think especially of all those who are being tried by the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Genoa, an incident which has claimed victims and lives. While I entrust people who have lost their lives to the mercy of God, I express my spiritual closeness to their families, the wounded, the displaced and all those who are suffering because of this dramatic event. I invite you to join me in prayer, for the victims and for their loved ones; let's recite the Hail Mary together.
I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims who have come from various countries! I thank you for your presence and I wish you all a good feast day of the Assumption of Mary. And please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
No comments:
Post a Comment