At noon today in Rome (6:00am EDT), the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study inside the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful who were gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In the gospel for today, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Blessed Mary, the Holy Virgin prays. She says: My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit exults in God, my saviour (Lk 1:46-47). Let us look at the words of this prayer: magnifies and exalts. Two words: magnifies and exalts. We exalt when something happens that is so beautiful that it is not enough to rejoice in it, just in the soul, but we want to express happiness with our entire bodies: so we exalt. Mary exalts in God. Who knows whether we would exalt in the Lord if the same were to happen to us: normally, we exalt because of a result that has been obtained, when we receive good news, but today, Mary teaches us to exalt in God. Why? Because He - God - does great things (cf Lk 1:49).
These great things are referred to using another verb: to magnify. My soul magnifies. To magnify. In fact, the verb to magnify means to celebrate a reality because of its greatness, because of its beauty ... Mary exalts the greatness of the Lord, she praises Him saying that He is truly great. In life, it is important for us to seek out great things, otherwise we can get lost among many little things. Mary shows us that if we want our lives to be happy, God must have a place of primary importance because He alone is great. How many times, on the other hand, do we live our lives pursuing things that matter little: prejudices, rancour, rivalries, envy, illusions, superfluous material goods ... there is such pettiness in life! We know this. Today, Mary invites us to raise our eyes to the great things that the Lord has accomplished in her. In us too, in every one of us, the Lord does many great things. We need to recognize these things and to exalt, to magnify the Lord for these great things.
We celebrate great things today. Mary is assumed into heaven: small and humble, she is the first to receive the highest glory. She, who is a human creature, one of us, reaches eternity in soul and in body. And there, she is waiting for us, like a mother who is waiting for her children to return home. In fact, the people of God call upon her as the doorway to heaven. We are on a journey, pilgrims on our way toward our home that is up there. Today, let us look to Mary and we will see our goal. In her, we see that a creature was assumed into the glory of the risen Jesus Christ, and this creature could only be her, the Mother of the Redeemer. We see that in paradise, together with Christ, the New Adam, she is also there, Mary, the new Eve, and this gives us comfort and hope while we are on our pilgrimage down here.
The Feast of the Assumption of Mary is a reminder for all of us, especially for those who are afflicted by doubts and sadness, those who are living with their eyes cast downward, who cannot manage to look up. Let us look upward, the heavens are open; heaven does not instil fear, it is no longer distant, because on the threshold of heaven, we have a mother who awaits us and she is our mother. She loves us, she is smiling and she helps us ... with great care. Just as every mother wants the best for her children, Mary says: You are precious in the eyes of God; you are not made simply for small worldly successes, but for the great joys of heaven. Yes, because God is joy, not boredom. God is joy. Let us allow Our Lady to take us by the hand. Every time that we hold a rosary and pray, we take another step forward, toward the greatest goal of our lives.
Let us allow ourselves to be drawn toward true beauty, let us not be weighed down by the little things in life, but let us choose the greatness of heaven. May the Holy Virgin, the Doorway to heaven, help us to look up every day with trust and joy, to the place where our true home is, where she is, she who is our mother is waiting for us.
At the conclusion of the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
I express my closeness to the people in various countries throughout Southern Asia, who are suffering because of the monsoon rains. I am praying for the victims and those who have been displaced, for all the families who are now homeless. May the Lord strengthen them and all those who are working to help them.
Today in Czestochowa, in Poland, there are many pilgrims gathered to celebrate the Assumption of Mary and to recall the one hundredth anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Poland. I send my greetings to those who are gathered at the foot of the Black Madonna and I call on them to pray for the entire Church. And I also greet all the Polish people who are here!
I offer a cordial greeting to you, pilgrims from Italy and from various other countries. In particular, I greet the Donum Dei Missionary Family, the Seglar Union of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, the group of Venezuelans from Festeros de San Vicente who have come on bicycles from Valencia (Spain), and the young people from Novoli who are involved in a school-camp.
And now, I ask you to accompany this prayerful gesture: I will bless a great number of rosaries which will be sent to our brothers and sisters in Syria. As an initiative of the Association known as Help for the Church in Need, there will be approximately six thousand crownings of Mary; these rosaries have been made by Carmelite Sisters in Bethlehem. Today, on this great feast day of Mary, I will bless them, and then they will be distributed by he Catholic community in Syria as signs of my closeness to them, especially to families who have lost someone because of war. Prayer that is offered in faith is very powerful! Let us continue to pray the rosary for peace in the Middle East and throughout the entire world.
Let us do the blessing, but first we will pray the Hail Mary.
Hail Mary ...
Blessing
I wish you all a good Feast of the Assumption. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In the gospel for today, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Blessed Mary, the Holy Virgin prays. She says: My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit exults in God, my saviour (Lk 1:46-47). Let us look at the words of this prayer: magnifies and exalts. Two words: magnifies and exalts. We exalt when something happens that is so beautiful that it is not enough to rejoice in it, just in the soul, but we want to express happiness with our entire bodies: so we exalt. Mary exalts in God. Who knows whether we would exalt in the Lord if the same were to happen to us: normally, we exalt because of a result that has been obtained, when we receive good news, but today, Mary teaches us to exalt in God. Why? Because He - God - does great things (cf Lk 1:49).
These great things are referred to using another verb: to magnify. My soul magnifies. To magnify. In fact, the verb to magnify means to celebrate a reality because of its greatness, because of its beauty ... Mary exalts the greatness of the Lord, she praises Him saying that He is truly great. In life, it is important for us to seek out great things, otherwise we can get lost among many little things. Mary shows us that if we want our lives to be happy, God must have a place of primary importance because He alone is great. How many times, on the other hand, do we live our lives pursuing things that matter little: prejudices, rancour, rivalries, envy, illusions, superfluous material goods ... there is such pettiness in life! We know this. Today, Mary invites us to raise our eyes to the great things that the Lord has accomplished in her. In us too, in every one of us, the Lord does many great things. We need to recognize these things and to exalt, to magnify the Lord for these great things.
We celebrate great things today. Mary is assumed into heaven: small and humble, she is the first to receive the highest glory. She, who is a human creature, one of us, reaches eternity in soul and in body. And there, she is waiting for us, like a mother who is waiting for her children to return home. In fact, the people of God call upon her as the doorway to heaven. We are on a journey, pilgrims on our way toward our home that is up there. Today, let us look to Mary and we will see our goal. In her, we see that a creature was assumed into the glory of the risen Jesus Christ, and this creature could only be her, the Mother of the Redeemer. We see that in paradise, together with Christ, the New Adam, she is also there, Mary, the new Eve, and this gives us comfort and hope while we are on our pilgrimage down here.
The Feast of the Assumption of Mary is a reminder for all of us, especially for those who are afflicted by doubts and sadness, those who are living with their eyes cast downward, who cannot manage to look up. Let us look upward, the heavens are open; heaven does not instil fear, it is no longer distant, because on the threshold of heaven, we have a mother who awaits us and she is our mother. She loves us, she is smiling and she helps us ... with great care. Just as every mother wants the best for her children, Mary says: You are precious in the eyes of God; you are not made simply for small worldly successes, but for the great joys of heaven. Yes, because God is joy, not boredom. God is joy. Let us allow Our Lady to take us by the hand. Every time that we hold a rosary and pray, we take another step forward, toward the greatest goal of our lives.
Let us allow ourselves to be drawn toward true beauty, let us not be weighed down by the little things in life, but let us choose the greatness of heaven. May the Holy Virgin, the Doorway to heaven, help us to look up every day with trust and joy, to the place where our true home is, where she is, she who is our mother is waiting for us.
At the conclusion of the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
I express my closeness to the people in various countries throughout Southern Asia, who are suffering because of the monsoon rains. I am praying for the victims and those who have been displaced, for all the families who are now homeless. May the Lord strengthen them and all those who are working to help them.
Today in Czestochowa, in Poland, there are many pilgrims gathered to celebrate the Assumption of Mary and to recall the one hundredth anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Poland. I send my greetings to those who are gathered at the foot of the Black Madonna and I call on them to pray for the entire Church. And I also greet all the Polish people who are here!
I offer a cordial greeting to you, pilgrims from Italy and from various other countries. In particular, I greet the Donum Dei Missionary Family, the Seglar Union of Saint Anthony Mary Claret, the group of Venezuelans from Festeros de San Vicente who have come on bicycles from Valencia (Spain), and the young people from Novoli who are involved in a school-camp.
And now, I ask you to accompany this prayerful gesture: I will bless a great number of rosaries which will be sent to our brothers and sisters in Syria. As an initiative of the Association known as Help for the Church in Need, there will be approximately six thousand crownings of Mary; these rosaries have been made by Carmelite Sisters in Bethlehem. Today, on this great feast day of Mary, I will bless them, and then they will be distributed by he Catholic community in Syria as signs of my closeness to them, especially to families who have lost someone because of war. Prayer that is offered in faith is very powerful! Let us continue to pray the rosary for peace in the Middle East and throughout the entire world.
Let us do the blessing, but first we will pray the Hail Mary.
Hail Mary ...
Blessing
I wish you all a good Feast of the Assumption. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
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