Thank you and may God Bless You!
MARCH
2015
MONTH of
THE St. JOSEPH
Venerable Pope John Paul II
THE LATE HOLY FATHER
Sunday Angelus, 14 January 2001
(L'Osservatore Romano, N.3 - 17 January 2001)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. This Sunday's Gospel recounts the miracle worked by Jesus at the wedding in Cana. It is the first "sign" by which he revealed his glory and instilled faith in his disciples (cf. Jn 2:11).
As we meditate on this Gospel passage, it is natural to recall the Jubilee that just ended, a kind of great and memorable "sign" for the Church and for the world. A year in which Christ transformed the "water" of our spiritual poverty into the generous "wine" of renewal and commitment, as he did at Cana. And now that the Great Jubilee is over, we have gone back to our "ordinary" routine with greater enthusiasm, keeping our gaze more than ever firmly set on the Lord, as I wrote in my Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (cf. n. 16).
2. In today's Gospel it is Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who pleads for the wondrous change of water into wine. Again it is the Virgin who intercedes for us. This was also true for the transition from the second to the third millennium, when her Immaculate Heart proved a safe refuge for her many children. The Church could thus experience the signs of a renewed springtime, stirred up by the Second Vatican Council with which, "in the broadest sense of the term, the immediate preparations for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 were really begun" (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, n. 20).
The Holy Year has opened so many hearts to hope and has illumined the world's path with the light of Christ.
3. The Mother of Christ is now repeating to us, the men and women who confidently face the new millennium, her invitation to the servants during the wedding at Cana: "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5). With these words, the Virgin apparently wants to encourage us not to be afraid of the limitations and failures that can sometimes mark our experience as individuals, as families and as ecclesial and civil communities. Mary urges us not to be depressed even by sin, which undermines our confidence in ourselves and in others. What matters is that we do whatever Christ tells us, trusting in him: he will never let our ceaseless prayer go unheard.
May our Lady's invitation, which the Gospel renews today, open us to total abandonment to Jesus. For the Mother's words are echoed by the reassuring words of her divine Son: "Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20).
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 8, 2000 .
1. On this day we celebrate the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a recurrence so dear to Christian people. It is well inserted in the time of Advent and, with a very pure light, radiantly illuminates our spiritual itinerary toward Christmas.
On this day we contemplate the humble maiden of Nazareth, preserved with extraordinary and ineffable privilege, from the contamination of original sin and from every fault, to be able to be the worthy dwelling of the incarnate Word. In Mary, new Eve, Mother of the new Adam, the original wondrous design of love of the Father is restored in an even more wondrous way. Because of this, the grateful Church acclaims: "Through You, Immaculate Virgin, we have regained life: You conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and the world received its Savior from you" (Liturgy of the Hours, Saturday Memorial of Holy Mary, Antiphon to Benedictus).
2. Today's liturgy recounts the evangelical narrative of the Annunciation. Replying to the Angel, the Virgin proclaimed: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done unto me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). Mary expresses her total assent of mind and heart to the divine and mysterious will and prepares to accept the Son of God, first in faith and then in her virginal womb.
"Behold me!" This, her prompt adherence to the divine will, is a model for all of us believers, so that in great events, as well as in ordinary affairs, we entrust ourselves entirely to the Lord.
Mary encourages us to believe in the fulfillment of the divine promises with the testimony of her life. She calls us to a spirit of humility, the right interior attitude of the creature toward the Creator; she exhorts us to place sure hope in Christ, who fully accomplishes the salvific plan, even when events seem dark and are difficult to accept. Like a shining star, Mary guides our steps to meet the Lord who is coming.
3. Dearest Brothers and Sisters! Let us turn toward the Holy and all Beautiful Immaculate Mary, our Advocate, Mother of the "King of Peace," who crushes the head of the serpent: Help us, men and women of the third millennium, to resist the seductions of evil; revive faith, hope and charity in our hearts so that, faithful to our call, we will know how to be fearless witnesses of Jesus Christ, Holy Door of eternal salvation, no matter what the cost in terms of sacrifice.
[Translation by ZENIT]
Sunday, September 24, 2000
The Holy Father presided at a solemn Eucharistic concelebration in St. Peter's Square closing the International Mariological Marian Congress, on the theme: "The Mystery of the Trinity and Mary", which opened at the Shrine of Divine Love, near Rome, on Friday, 15 September. The Pope reflected on the Marian instruction which stems from the extraordinary Gospel image of Jesus' act of identifying with a child when children, in his time, counted for nothing: "whoever receives one such child in my name receives me". Here is a translation of the Pope's homily, which was given in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. "He took a child, and put him in the midst of them" (Mk 9:36). Jesus' unusual act, recorded in the Gospel just proclaimed, comes immediately after the warning with which the Teacher urged his disciples not to desire the primacy of power, but of service. This teaching must have cut the Twelve to the quick, for "they had discussed with one another who was the greatest" (Mk 9:34). It could be said that the Teacher felt the need to illustrate such a demanding teaching with the eloquence of an act rich in tenderness. He embraced a child, who - according to the standards of the time - counted for nothing, and, as it were, identified himself with him: "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me" (Mk 9:37).
In this Eucharist which closes the 20th International Mariological-Marian Congress and the World Jubilee of Marian Shrines, I would like to consider as a topic for reflection precisely this extraordinary Gospel image. From it, even before a moral teaching, stems a Christological and indirectly, a Marian instruction.
In embracing the child, Christ first of all discloses the delicacy of his heart capable of the full vibrance of sensitivity and affection. In it there is primarily the tenderness of the Father, who from eternity, in the Holy Spirit, loves him and sees in his human face the "beloved Son" with whom he is well pleased (cf. Mk 1:11; 9:7). Then there is the wholly feminine and motherly tenderness with which Mary surrounded him during the long years he spent in the house of Nazareth. Christian tradition, especially in the Middle Ages, often paused to contemplate the Virgin embracing the Child Jesus. Aelred of Rievaulx, for example, addresses Mary affectionately, inviting her to embrace the Son, whom, after three days, she found in the temple (cf. Lk 2:40-50). "O' sweetest Lady, clasp the One you love, throw your arms round his neck, embrace and kiss him, and compensate with many delights for the three days of his absence" (De Jesus puero duodenni 8: SCh 60, p. 64).
God reached out to Mary in her humility.
2. "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all" (Mk 9:35). The image of Jesus embracing the child conveys the full vigour of this principle, which finds its exemplary fulfillment in the person of Jesus and then, also, in Mary.
No one can say, like Jesus, that he is the "first". Indeed, it is Jesus who is the "First and the Last", the "Alpha and the Omega", (cf. Rv 22:13), the reflection of the Father's glory, (cf. Heb 1:3). In the Resurrection, he was given "the name which is above every name" (Phil 2:9). However, in the Passion, he also showed himself "the last of all" and, as the "servant of all", did not hesitate to wash his disciples' feet (cf. Jn 13:14).
How closely Mary follows him in this lowering of himself! She, who had the mission of the divine motherhood and the exceptional privileges which place her above every other creature, feels first and foremost the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38; 48), and is totally dedicated to serving the divine Son. With ready availability she also makes herself the "servant" of the brethren, as some Gospel episodes - from the Visitation to the Wedding at Cana - clearly show us.
3. This is why the principle enunciated by Jesus in the Gospel also illumines Mary's greatness. Her "primacy" is rooted in her "humility". Precisely in this humility God reached out to her, filling her with his favours and making her the "kecharitonmene", the "full of grace" (Lk 1:28). She herself confesses in the Magnificat: "He has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden ... he who is mighty has done great things for me" (Lk 1:48-49).
In the Mariological Congress which has just closed, you fixed your gaze on the "great things" wrought in Mary, reflecting on their inmost, deepest dimension, that of her very special relationship with the Trinity. If Mary is the Theotokos, the Mother of the Only-begotten Son of God, how can we be surprised that she enjoys a quite unique relationship also with the Father and the Holy Spirit?
This relationship certainly does not spare her, in her earthly life, the efforts of the human condition: Mary lived to the full the daily reality of so many humble families of her time, she knew poverty, sorrow, flight, exile, misunderstanding. Thus her spiritual grandeur does not make her "distant"; she advanced on our road and was in solidarity with us in the "pilgrimage of faith" (Lumen gentium, n.58). But on this interior journey, Mary cultivated absolute faith in God's plan. Precisely in the abyss of this fidelity is also rooted the abyss of greatness that makes her "humble and exalted more than any creature" (Dante, Par XXXIII, 2).
Mary's motherhood endows her with an exceptional holiness.
4. In our eyes, Mary stands first of all as the "beloved daughter" (Lumen gentium, n.53) of the Father. If we have all been called by God "to be his sons through Jesus Christ" (cf. Eph 1:5), "sons in the Son", this is especially true for her, who has the privilege of being able to repeat with full human truth the words spoken about Jesus by God the Father: "You are my beloved Son" (cf. Lk 3:22; 2:48). Because of her task as mother, she was endowed with an exceptional holiness on which the Father rests his eyes.
Mary has a unique relationship with the second person of the Trinity, the Word made flesh, since she is directly involved in the mystery of the Incarnation. She is his Mother, and as such Christ honours and loves her. At the same time, she recognizes him as her God and Lord, making herself a disciple with an attentive and faithful heart (cf. Lk 2:19, 51), and his generous associate (Lumen gentium, n.61) in the work of Redemption. In the incarnate Word and in Mary the infinite distance between the Creator and creature became a supreme closeness; they are the holy space for the mysterious nuptials of the divine nature with the human, the place where the Trinity is revealed for the first time and where Mary represents the new humanity, ready to take up again, in obedient love, the dialogue of the Covenant.
5. Then what can be said of her relationship with the Holy Spirit? Mary is the purest "sacrarium" in which he dwells. The Christian tradition recognizes in Mary the prototype of the docile answer to the inner movement of the Spirit, the model of the full acceptance of his gifts. The Spirit supports her faith, strengthens her hope, rekindles the flame of her love. The Spirit makes her virginity fruitful and inspires her canticle of joy. The Spirit enlightens her meditation on the Word, gradually opening her mind to an understanding of the Son's mission. It is once again the Spirit who supports her anguish on Calvary and prepares her, in the prayerful expectation of the Upper Room, to receive the full outpouring of the gifts of Pentecost.
Jubilee of the Son is also Jubilee of the Mother.
6. Dear brothers and sisters! Before this mystery of grace one clearly sees how appropriate for the Jubilee Year are the two events which this Eucharistic celebration brings to a close: the International Mariological-Marian Congress and the World Jubilee of Marian Shrines. Are we not celebrating the 2,000th anniversary of Christ's birth? It is therefore natural that the Jubilee of the Son should also be the Jubilee of the Mother!
It is therefore to be hoped that among the fruits of this year of grace, as well as that of a stronger love for Christ, there should also be that of a renewed Marian devotion. Yes, Mary must be deeply loved and honoured, but with a devotion which, to be authentic:
- must be firmly grounded in Scripture and Tradition, making the most of the liturgy first of all and drawing from it a sound orientation for the most spontaneous demonstrations of popular piety;
- must be expressed in an effort to imitate the All Holy in a way of personal perfection;
- must be far from every form of superstition and vain credulousness, accepting in the right way, in accordance with ecclesial discernment, the extraordinary manifestations in which the Blessed Virgin often likes to grant herself for the good of the People of God;
- must always be able to go back to the source of Mary's greatness, becoming a ceaseless Magnificat of praise to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Dear Brothers and Sisters! "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me", Jesus said to us in the Gospel. He could say to us even more aptly, "whoever receives my Mother, receives me". And Mary, on her part, received with filial love, once again points out the Son to us as she did at the wedding of Cana: "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5).
Dear friends, may this be the consignment of today's Jubilee celebration, which combines Christ and his most holy Mother in one praise. I hope that each of you will receive abundant spiritual fruits from it, and be encouraged to authentic renewal of life. Ad Jesum per Mariam! Amen.
On the brilliantly sunny morning of Wednesday, 1 November, the Solemnity of All Saints, the Holy Father celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Square to mark the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII's definition of the dogma of Mary's Assumption into heaven. The sacred rite began with the Laudes Regiae litany, followed by a reading of passages from St. John Damascene, St. Germanus of Constantinope and the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. The Pope then took his place in front of the altar for the singing of the Gloria and the liturgy of All Saints Day. After the Gospel had been changed in Latin, the Holy Father preached the following homily in Italian. Here is a translation:
1. Praise and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving and honour, power and might, to our God for ever and ever" (Rev 7:12).
In a spirit of profound adoration of the Most Holy Trinity, we join all the saints who eternally celebrate the heavenly liturgy, to offer thanks again with them to our God for the wonders he has accomplished in the history of salvation.
Praise and thanksgiving to God for having raised up in the Church a great multitude of saints, whom no one could count (cf. Rv 7:9). A great multitude: not only the saints and blesseds we honour during the liturgical year, but also the anonymous saints known only to Him. Mothers and fathers of families, who in their daily devotion to their children made an effective contribution to the Church's growth and to the building of society; priests, sisters and lay people who, like candles lit before the altar of the Lord, were consumed in offering material and spiritual aid to their neighbour in need; men and women missionaries, who left everything to bring the Gospel message to every part of the world. And the list could go on.
2. Praise and thanksgiving to God, particularly for the holiest of creatures, Mary, beloved of the Father, blessed because of Jesus, the fruit of her womb, sanctified and made a new creation by the Holy Spirit. A model of holiness for having put her own life at the disposal of the Most High, she "shines forth on earth as a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God" (Lumen gentium, n. 68).
Today is exactly the 50th anniversary of the solemn act by which my revered predeccor Pope Pius Xii, in this very square, defined the dogma of Mary's Assumption body and soul into heaven. We praise the Lord for having glorified his Mother by associating her with his victory over sin and death.
Today the faithful of Pompei have wanted in a special way to join our praise. They have come on pilgrimage in large numbers, led by Archbishop Francesco Saverio Toppi, the shrine's Prelate, and accompanied by the city's mayor. Their presence recalls that is was Blessed Bartolo Longo, founder of the new Pompei, who in 1900 began the popular movement for the dogmatic definition of the Assumption.
3. Today's liturgy speaks completely of holiness. But to know what is the way to holiness, we must go with the Apostles up the mount of the Beatitudes to draw near to Jesus and listen to the words of life that come from his lips. Today too he says to us again:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!" The divine Teacher proclaims "blessed" and, we could say, "canonizes" first of all the poor in spirit, that is, those whose heart is free of prejudices and conditionings, and who are therefore totally disposed to the divine will. Their total and trusting fidelity to God presupposes renunciation and consistent self-detachment.
"Blessed are those who mourn!" This is the blessedness not only of those who suffer from the many misfortunes that belong to the mortal human condition, but also those who courageously accept the sufferings that result from the sincere profession of Gospel morality.
"Blessed are the pure in heart!" He proclaims blessed those who are not content with outward or ritual purity, but seek that absolute inner rectitude which excludes all deceit and duplicity.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness!" Human righteousness is already a very lofty goal, which ennobles the heart of whoever pursues it, but Jesus is thinking of that greater righteousness which lies in seeking God's saving will: blessed above all are those who hunger and thirst for this righteousness. For Jesus says: "He who does the will of my Father who is in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt. 7:21).
"Blessed are the merciful!" Happy are those who overcome their hardness of heart and indifference, to recognize in practice the primacy of compassionate love, following the example of the Good Samaritan, and, in the last analysis, of the Father "rich in mercy" (Eph 2:4).
"Blessed are the peacemakers!" Peace, the sum of all messianic blessings, is a demanding task. In a world marked by tremendous antagonisms and barriers, fraternal harmony inspired by love and sharing must be promoted by overcoming hostilities and conflicts. Blessed are those who dedicate themselves to this most noble endeavor!
4. The saints took these words of Jesus seriously. They believed that they would find "happiness" by putting them into practice in their lives. And they realized their truth in everyday experience: despite their trials, moments of darkness and failures, they already tasted here below the deep joy of communion with Christ. In Him they discovered the initial seed, already present in time, of the future glory of God's kingdom.
This was discovered in particular by Mary Most Holy, who lived in unique communion with the incarnate Word, entrusting herself unreservedly to His saving plan. For this reason she was granted to hear, in anticipation of the "Sermon on the Mount" ... the Beatitude that sums up all the rest: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Lk 1:45).
5. The depth of the Blessed Virgin's faith in God's word appears clearly in the song of the Magnificat: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden" (LK 1:46-48).
In this song Mary shows what constituted the foundation of her holiness: deep humility. We might ask ourselves in what did her humility consist. Much is said to us by the "trouble" she felt at the Angel's greeting: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28). Before the mystery of grace, the experience of a particular presence of God who has rested his gaze upon her. Mary feels a natural impulse of humility (literally, of "abasement"). It is the reaction of someone who is fully aware of her own littleness before the greatness of God. In the truth Mary beholds herself, others and the world.
Was not the sign of humility the question: "How can this be, since I have no husband?" (Lk 1:34). She had just heard that she was to conceive and bear a child, who would reign on the throne of David as the Son of the Most High. Certainly, she did not fully understand the mystery of that divine plan, but she realized that it meant a total change in the reality of her life. However, she did not ask: will this really happen? must this happen? With no doubts or reservations, she accepted the divine intervention that changed her life. The question expressed the humility of faith, the willingness to put one's life at the service of the divine mystery, without being able to understand how it would come about.
This humility of spirit, this complete submission in faith, is particularly expressed in her "fait": "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). Because of Mary's humility, what she would later sing in the Magnificat could be fulfilled: "Henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name" (Lk 1:48-49).
The greatness of the gift corresponds to the depth of the humility. He who is mighty did "great things" for her (cf. Lk 1:49), and she knew how to accept them with gratitude and to hand them on to all generations of believers. This is the way to heaven followed by Mary, Mother of the Savior, who goes ahead of all the Church's saints and blesseds on this path.
6. Blessed are you, Mary, assumed body and soul into heaven! Pius XII defined this truth "for the glory of almighty God ..., for the honour of his Son, the immortal King of the ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the greater glory of his Mother and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church" (Ap. Const. Munificentiussimus Deus, AAS 42 {1950}, 770).
And we exult, O Mary Assumed into Heaven, as we contemplate you who have been glorified and, in the risen Christ, have become the co-worker of the Holy Spirit in communicating divine life to mankind. In you we see the goal of holiness to which God calls all the Church's members. In your life we recognize the clear sign of the path to spiritual maturity and Christian holiness.
With you and with all the saints we glorify God the Trinity, who sustains our earthly pilgrimage and lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
" ... Now I point to Mary once again as the radiant dawn and sure guide for our steps. Once more, echoing the words of Jesus himself and giving voice to the filial affection of the whole Church, I say to her: "Woman, behold your children" (cf. Jn 19:26)
... Pope John Paul II,
Excerpt: Novo Millennio Ineunte, 2001
MARIAN DOCUMENTS AND LINKS
The Holy Father's Message of September 23, 2001
John Paul II,Catechesis General Audience, March 21, 2001
John Paul II, Catechesis, March 14, 2001
Sunday Angelus, 14 January 2001. Immaculate Conception (Dec 8, 2000)
Homily at Mass, Solemnity of All Saints, Nov 1st
Homily at Mass for closure of Marian Congress, September 24, 2000
August 15, 2000, Feast of the Assumption of Mary
Regina Caeli Message, May 14, 2000
General Audience, January 5, 2000; Part I
General Audience, January 12, 2000; Part II
Angelus, January 30, 2000