Pope Francis: homily at Marian Shrine at Aparecida
Please find below the homily of Pope Francis during Holy Mass on the third day of
his Apostolic Journey to Brazil, to attend the XXVIII World Youth Day in Brazil.
Homily
of the Holy Father Holy Mass (Aparecida – National Shrine, 24 July 2013)
My
Brother Bishops and Priests, Dear Brothers and Sisters,
What joy I feel
as I come to the house of the Mother of every Brazilian, the Shrine of our Lady of
Aparecida! The day after my election as Bishop of Rome, I visited the Basilica of
Saint Mary Major in Rome, in order to entrust my ministry as the Successor of Peter
to Our Lady. Today I have come here to ask Mary our Mother for the success of World
Youth Day and to place at her feet the life of the people of Latin America.
There
is something that I would like to say first of all. Six years ago the Fifth General
Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean was held in this Shrine.
Something beautiful took place here, which I witnessed at first hand. I saw how the
Bishops – who were discussing the theme of encountering Christ, discipleship and mission
– felt encouraged, supported and in some way inspired by the thousands of pilgrims
who came here day after day to entrust their lives to Our Lady. That Conference was
a great moment of Church. It can truly be said that the Aparecida Document was born
of this interplay between the labours of the Bishops and the simple faith of the pilgrims,
under Mary’s maternal protection. When the Church looks for Jesus, she always knocks
at his Mother’s door and asks: “Show us Jesus”. It is from Mary that the Church learns
true discipleship. That is why the Church always goes out on mission in the footsteps
of Mary.
Today, looking forward to the World Youth Day which has brought me
to Brazil, I too come to knock on the door of the house of Mary – who loved and raised
Jesus – that she may help all of us, pastors of God’s people, parents and educators,
to pass on to our young people the values that can help them build a nation and a
world which are more just, united and fraternal. For this reason I would like to
speak of three simple attitudes: hopefulness, openness to being surprised by God,
and living in joy.
1. Hopefulness. The second reading of the Mass presents
a dramatic scene: a woman – an image of Mary and the Church – is being pursued by
a Dragon – the devil – who wants to devour her child. But the scene is not one of
death but of life, because God intervenes and saves the child (cf. Rev 12:13a, 15-16a).
How many difficulties are present in the life of every individual, among our people,
in our communities; yet as great as these may seem, God never allows us to be overwhelmed
by them. In the face of those moments of discouragement we experience in life, in
our efforts to evangelize or to embody our faith as parents within the family, I would
like to say forcefully: Always know in your heart that God is by your side; he never
abandons you! Let us never lose hope! Let us never allow it to die in our hearts!
The “dragon”, evil, is present in our history, but it does not have the upper hand.
The one with the upper hand is God, and God is our hope! It is true that nowadays,
to some extent, everyone, including our young people, feels attracted by the many
idols which take the place of God and appear to offer hope: money, success, power,
pleasure. Often a growing sense of loneliness and emptiness in the hearts of many
people leads them to seek satisfaction in these ephemeral idols. Dear brothers and
sisters, let us be lights of hope! Let us maintain a positive outlook on reality.
Let us encourage the generosity which is typical of the young and help them to work
actively in building a better world. Young people are a powerful engine for the Church
and for society. They do not need material things alone; also and above all, they
need to have held up to them those non-material values which are the spiritual heart
of a people, the memory of a people. In this Shrine, which is part of the memory
of Brazil, we can almost read those values: spirituality, generosity, solidarity,
perseverance, fraternity, joy; they are values whose deepest root is in the Christian
faith.
2. The second attitude: openness to being surprised by God. Anyone
who is a man or a woman of hope – the great hope which faith gives us – knows that
even in the midst of difficulties God acts and he surprises us. The history of this
Shrine is a good example: three fishermen, after a day of catching no fish, found
something unexpected in the waters of the Parnaíba River: an image of Our Lady of
the Immaculate Conception. Whoever would have thought that the site of a fruitless
fishing expedition would become the place where all Brazilians can feel that they
are children of one Mother? God always surprises us, like the new wine in the Gospel
we have just heard. God always saves the best for us. But he asks us to let ourselves
be surprised by his love, to accept his surprises. Let us trust God! Cut off from
him, the wine of joy, the wine of hope, runs out. If we draw near to him, if we stay
with him, what seems to be cold water, difficulty, sin, is changed into the new wine
of friendship with him.
3. The third attitude: living in joy. Dear friends,
if we walk in hope, allowing ourselves to be surprised by the new wine which Jesus
offers us, we have joy in our hearts and we cannot fail to be witnesses of this joy.
Christians are joyful, they are never gloomy. God is at our side. We have a Mother
who always intercedes for the life of her children, for us, as Queen Esther did in
the first reading (cf Est 5:3). Jesus has shown us that the face of God is that of
a loving Father. Sin and death have been defeated. Christians cannot be pessimists!
They do not look like someone in constant mourning. If we are truly in love with
Christ and if we sense how much he loves us, our heart will “light up” with a joy
that spreads to everyone around us. As Benedict XVI said: “the disciple knows that
without Christ, there is no light, no hope, no love, no future” (Inaugural Address,
Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, Aparecida,
13 May 2007, 3).
Dear friends, we have come to knock at the door of Mary’s
house. She has opened it for us, she has let us in and she shows us her Son. Now
she asks us to “do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Yes, dear Mother, we are committed
to doing whatever Jesus tells us! And we will do it with hope, trusting in God’s
surprises and full of joy. Amen.
Please find below the full text of the
homily of Pope Francis on Wednesday 24th of July at the Basilica of Our Lady of
the Conception in Aparecida:
Apostolic Journey of Pope Francis to Brazil Homily
of the Holy Father Holy Mass (Aparecida – National Shrine, 24 July 2013)
My
Brother Bishops and Priests, Dear Brothers and Sisters,
What joy I feel
as I come to the house of the Mother of every Brazilian, the Shrine of our Lady of
Aparecida! The day after my election as Bishop of Rome, I visited the Basilica of
Saint Mary Major in Rome, in order to entrust my ministry as the Successor of Peter
to Our Lady. Today I have come here to ask Mary our Mother for the success of World
Youth Day and to place at her feet the life of the people of Latin America.
There
is something that I would like to say first of all. Six years ago the Fifth General
Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean was held in this Shrine.
Something beautiful took place here, which I witnessed at first hand. I saw how the
Bishops – who were discussing the theme of encountering Christ, discipleship and mission
– felt encouraged, supported and in some way inspired by the thousands of pilgrims
who came here day after day to entrust their lives to Our Lady. That Conference was
a great moment of Church. It can truly be said that the Aparecida Document was born
of this interplay between the labours of the Bishops and the simple faith of the pilgrims,
under Mary’s maternal protection. When the Church looks for Jesus, she always knocks
at his Mother’s door and asks: “Show us Jesus”. It is from Mary that the Church learns
true discipleship. That is why the Church always goes out on mission in the footsteps
of Mary.
Today, looking forward to the World Youth Day which has brought me
to Brazil, I too come to knock on the door of the house of Mary – who loved and raised
Jesus – that she may help all of us, pastors of God’s people, parents and educators,
to pass on to our young people the values that can help them build a nation and a
world which are more just, united and fraternal. For this reason I would like to
speak of three simple attitudes: hopefulness, openness to being surprised by God,
and living in joy.
1. Hopefulness. The second reading of the Mass presents
a dramatic scene: a woman – an image of Mary and the Church – is being pursued by
a Dragon – the devil – who wants to devour her child. But the scene is not one of
death but of life, because God intervenes and saves the child (cf. Rev 12:13a, 15-16a).
How many difficulties are present in the life of every individual, among our people,
in our communities; yet as great as these may seem, God never allows us to be overwhelmed
by them. In the face of those moments of discouragement we experience in life, in
our efforts to evangelize or to embody our faith as parents within the family, I would
like to say forcefully: Always know in your heart that God is by your side; he never
abandons you! Let us never lose hope! Let us never allow it to die in our hearts!
The “dragon”, evil, is present in our history, but it does not have the upper hand.
The one with the upper hand is God, and God is our hope! It is true that nowadays,
to some extent, everyone, including our young people, feels attracted by the many
idols which take the place of God and appear to offer hope: money, success, power,
pleasure. Often a growing sense of loneliness and emptiness in the hearts of many
people leads them to seek satisfaction in these ephemeral idols. Dear brothers and
sisters, let us be lights of hope! Let us maintain a positive outlook on reality.
Let us encourage the generosity which is typical of the young and help them to work
actively in building a better world. Young people are a powerful engine for the Church
and for society. They do not need material things alone; also and above all, they
need to have held up to them those non-material values which are the spiritual heart
of a people, the memory of a people. In this Shrine, which is part of the memory
of Brazil, we can almost read those values: spirituality, generosity, solidarity,
perseverance, fraternity, joy; they are values whose deepest root is in the Christian
faith.
2. The second attitude: openness to being surprised by God. Anyone
who is a man or a woman of hope – the great hope which faith gives us – knows that
even in the midst of difficulties God acts and he surprises us. The history of this
Shrine is a good example: three fishermen, after a day of catching no fish, found
something unexpected in the waters of the Parnaíba River: an image of Our Lady of
the Immaculate Conception. Whoever would have thought that the site of a fruitless
fishing expedition would become the place where all Brazilians can feel that they
are children of one Mother? God always surprises us, like the new wine in the Gospel
we have just heard. God always saves the best for us. But he asks us to let ourselves
be surprised by his love, to accept his surprises. Let us trust God! Cut off from
him, the wine of joy, the wine of hope, runs out. If we draw near to him, if we stay
with him, what seems to be cold water, difficulty, sin, is changed into the new wine
of friendship with him.
3. The third attitude: living in joy. Dear friends,
if we walk in hope, allowing ourselves to be surprised by the new wine which Jesus
offers us, we have joy in our hearts and we cannot fail to be witnesses of this joy.
Christians are joyful, they are never gloomy. God is at our side. We have a Mother
who always intercedes for the life of her children, for us, as Queen Esther did in
the first reading (cf Est 5:3). Jesus has shown us that the face of God is that of
a loving Father. Sin and death have been defeated. Christians cannot be pessimists!
They do not look like someone in constant mourning. If we are truly in love with
Christ and if we sense how much he loves us, our heart will “light up” with a joy
that spreads to everyone around us. As Benedict XVI said: “the disciple knows that
without Christ, there is no light, no hope, no love, no future” (Inaugural Address,
Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, Aparecida,
13 May 2007, 3).
Dear friends, we have come to knock at the door of Mary’s
house. She has opened it for us, she has let us in and she shows us her Son. Now
she asks us to “do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Yes, dear Mother, we are committed
to doing whatever Jesus tells us! And we will do it with hope, trusting in God’s
surprises and full of joy. Amen.