Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis spoke to the faithful in St Peter's Square, during the Angelus prayer, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, in which he repeatedly cited the aspect of the journey, the pilgrimage to “the Lord".
“The Lord made us for the joy of Heaven,” the pontiff said. “Our life is not a meaningless journey, but a project of love. Life is a pilgrimage that leads us, day by day, to the encounter with Him and to the endless joy that He has prepared for us.”
The journey began when Mary received the “Angel’s announcement,” and “sets out to visit her cousin.” Indeed, Our Lady “set out and went” (Lk 1:39), Francis said citing the Gospel to the hundreds of pilgrims and Romans who came to hear him, despite the great heat.
For the Holy Father, “Mary does not consider the news she received from the Angel a privilege but, on the contrary, she leaves home and sets out with the haste of someone who wishes to announce that joy to others”.
Our Lady is eager to “announce that joy to others and with the eagerness to be of service to her cousin. In reality, this first journey is a metaphor for her whole life, because from that moment on, Mary will always be on the move following Jesus as a disciple of the Kingdom.”
This mission bears witness to an “earthly pilgrimage,” as Francis put it, that ends “with her Assumption into Heaven where, together with her Son, she enjoys the joy of eternal life forever.”
Citing Fr Carlo Carretto, the pope said that “we must not imagine Mary ‘as a motionless wax statue,’ but in her we can see a ‘sister... with worn-out sandals... and with so much weariness’” because she “followed the Lord and meeting brothers and sisters”.
Hence, “the Blessed Virgin is She who goes before us on the journey, reminding us all that our life is also a continuous journey towards the horizon of the definitive encounter [. . .] with the Lord.”
At the end of the Angelus, Pope Francis addressed Mary, Queen of Peace, entrusting to her “the anxiety and sorrow of people” in so many parts of the world “who suffer from social tensions and wars.” This is especially true for “martyred Ukraine, the Middle East, Palestine, Israel, Sudan and Myanmar,” already the object of appeals by the pontiff in the past.
“May our heavenly Mother obtain for all consolation and a future of serenity and harmony!” he said, adding: “I continue to follow with concern the very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza, and I call once again for a ceasefire on all fronts, for the release of hostages”.
Stressing the need “for aid to the exhausted population,” the pontiff called on all parties in the conflict and the international community “to make every effort to ensure that the conflict does not escalate and to pursue paths of negotiation so that this tragedy ends soon! Let us not forget: war is a defeat.”
Finally, Francis turned his thoughts “to Greece, which in recent days has been battling a devastating fire” that has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands, leaving many families homeless, amid “immense material damage,” and “an environmental disaster”.
For them, he called for support and help “with common solidarity.”
