ST. MARY MAJOR TO CELEBRATE FEAST DAY ON AUGUST 5

VATICAN CITY, JUL 28, 2004 (VIS) - On August 5 the Roman basilica of St. Mary Major will mark the feast of Our Lady of the Snows as well as the anniversary of the  dedication of the basilica which was founded on that date in 358 by Pope Liberius.

  Liberius was inspired to build the basilica when the Virgin Mary appeared to him, and to his friends, the Roman patrician John and his wife, in a dream and asked that a church be built in her honor on the site on the Esquiline hill where snow would fall on August 5, a hot midsummer night. In the presence of many Romans, the Pope traced the outline of the church in the snow, and the first basilica built on that spot was called Our Lady of the Snows. The current basilica, better known today as St. Mary Major, is the result of centuries of rebuilding on the original site.

  The celebrations this year take place in the presence of the new archpriest of St. Mary Major, Cardinal Bernard Law. They commence on Sunday, August 1 with a triduum of Masses, the first of which will be presided over by Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry. Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, apostolic nuncio, will celebrate Mass on Monday, August 2, and Cardinal Virgilio Noe, archpriest emeritus of St. Peter's Basilica, will preside at the final mass of the triduum on Tuesday, August 3.

  The feast itself will start on Wednesday, August 4 with first Vespers. On Thursday, August 5, there will be a solemn pontifical Mass of the morning and second Vespers, presided over by Cardinal Law. Bishops and priests are invited to concelebrate at this Mass. During Mass and vespers, there is the traditional "rain of flowers," symbolizing the miraculous August snowfall of 358, when thousands of flower petals are released both within the basilica and outside, from its rooftop, for the faithful who have gathered to commemorate this event.
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SEARCH FOR THE PATH THAT LEADS TO INTIMACY WITH GOD

VATICAN CITY, JUL 28, 2004 (VIS) - Psalm 15, "The Lord is my heritage," was the theme of the Pope's catechesis during the general audience celebrated today in the Paul VI Hall. As he did last week, John Paul II travelled to Rome by car from Castelgandolfo for the audience.

  The Holy Father said that this psalm is a "mystical hymn" that presents God "as the only good and therefore, the supplicant chooses to be part of the community of those who are faithful to the Lord."

  This psalm, he continued, develops two themes. The first is heritage "which was used to describe the gift of the promised land to the people of Israel. … The house of Levi was the only tribe that did not receive a portion of the land, because the Lord was their heritage."

  John Paul II indicated that the second theme is "perfect and continuous communion with the Lord. The psalmist expresses the firm hope of being preserved from death in order to be able to remain in intimacy with God."

  The psalmist asks the Lord to show him "the path of life. It is the way which leads to 'fullness of joy in the divine presence', to 'sweetness without end alongside' the Lord.  These words correspond to an interpretation that opens up to the prospective of hope in communion with God, beyond death, in eternal life."

  The Holy Father concluded by emphasizing that this psalm "was assumed in the New Testament in the perspective of the resurrection of Christ," as in St. Peter's sermon on Pentecost and St. Paul's words in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia.
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