The Holy Father has resumed at the Audience The Pope, in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican, packed with pilgrims, on this Wednesday of January, the cycle of catechesis of the Jubilee Year, 'Jesus Christ, our hope', and focused his reflection on the theme 'The proclamation of Mary. Listening and availability'.
The meditation was based on the passage from the Gospel of St. Luke on the Annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:26-38), which is recalled daily at the Angelus, and begins: "In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; the virgin's name was Mary. The angel came into her presence and said, 'Rejoice, full of grace; the Lord is with you.
Invitation to joy and fearlessness
The Pope underscored the angel's invitation to joy, and the fact that he calls "Mary 'full of grace,' indicating the presence of God who dwells in her. And he tells her not to be afraid, because nothing is impossible for the Lord," he stressed. "Finally, he announces to her her mission: to be the mother of the Messiah; whose name will be Jesus, which means 'God saves'."
In his catechesis on the Virgin Mary, the Pontiff emphasized that "her collaboration with the Father's designs at every moment of her life makes her for us an invaluable example of listening and availability to the divine Word". And he asked the Lord "to teach us to listen to his Word and to respond to it generously, like Mary, transforming our hearts into living tabernacles of his presence and welcoming places for people who live without hope".
A special 'Pentecost' for Mary
The absolutely unique maternity that is announced to her "deeply shakes Mary. And as an intelligent woman, that is, capable of reading within events (cf. Lk 2:19,51), she seeks to understand and discern what is happening to her. Mary does not seek outside, but inside, because, as St. Augustine teaches, 'in interiore homine habitat veritas' (De vera religione 39,72)". And there, in the depths of her open and sensitive heart, she hears the invitation to trust totally in God, who has prepared for her a special 'Pentecost'".
"Mary welcomes the Word in her own flesh and thus sets out on the greatest mission ever entrusted to a human creature. She places herself at the service, not as a slave, but as a collaborator of God the Father, full of dignity and authority to administer, as she will do at Cana, the gifts of the divine treasure, so that many may draw from it abundantly," the Pope said.
Los Angeles, Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Gaza, Myanmar...
In his address to the pilgrims in various languages, the Pope told the French-speaking pilgrims that the Jubilee would be an occasion of "spiritual renewal"; to the English and German-speaking pilgrims he asked for prayers for Christian unityThe call not to be afraid of Portuguese-speaking pilgrims; the appeal to Poles to take care of their grandmothers and grandfathers, and also of Ukrainians, and in Italian, the call to peace.
In the end, in Italian, he emphasized his closeness "to the people of Los Angeleswhich has suffered so much from the fires that have devastated entire neighborhoods and communities, which are not yet over. May Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede for all the inhabitants, so that they may be witnesses of hope through the strength of the diversity and creativity for which they are known throughout the world".
"In Gaza they ate lentils with chicken yesterday."
And the plea for peace, with a confidence: "Yesterday I called, as I do every day, the parish of Gaza, where there are 600 people, parish and school. Today we ate lentils with chicken, they said, something they were not used to. Let us pray for GazaFor peace, and for so many other parts of the world, war is always a defeat. War is always a defeat. And who wins with wars? The arms manufacturers. Please, let us pray for peace". The Pope concluded with a standing prayer of the Our Father and Benediction.
