VATICAN CITY, 15 SEP 2008 (VIS) - This morning the Pope departed from St. Joseph Hermitage, where he has been staying during his visit to Lourdes, and went to complete the fourth stage of the Lourdes Jubilee Way by visiting the oratory of the hospital where, on 3 June 1858, Bernadette received First Communion. The Holy Father prayed in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament, then pronounced the fourth and final prayer of the Jubilee Way.
At 9.30 a.m. in front of the basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for today's liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows in the presence of sick people and pilgrims who had come to Lourdes for the occasion.
On today's memorial, said the Pope in his homily, "we contemplate Mary sharing her Son's compassion for sinners. ... As in the case of her Son Jesus, one might say that she too was led to perfection through this suffering, so as to make her capable of receiving the new spiritual mission that her Son entrusts to her immediately before 'giving up His spirit: that of becoming the mother of Christ in His members".
"Today", he went on, "Mary dwells in the joy and the glory of the Resurrection". She "loves each of her children, giving particular attention to those who, like her Son at the hour of His Passion, are prey to suffering; she loves them quite simply because they are her children, according to the will of Christ on the Cross".
"At the instigation of the inspired word of Scripture, Christians have always sought the smile of Our Lady, this smile which mediaeval artists were able to represent with such marvellous skill and to show to advantage. This smile of Mary is for all; but it is directed quite particularly to those who suffer, so that they can find comfort and solace therein".
Pope Benedict then recalled how the Virgin Mary, during her apparition of 3 March 1858, "first taught Bernadette to know her smile, this being the most appropriate point of entry into the revelation of her mystery.
"In the smile of the most eminent of all creatures", he added, "is reflected our dignity as children of God, that dignity which never abandons the sick person. This smile, a true reflection of God's tenderness, is the source of an invincible hope.
"Unfortunately we know only too well: the endurance of suffering can upset life's most stable equilibrium, it can shake the firmest foundations of confidence, and sometimes even leads people to despair of the meaning and value of life. There are struggles that we cannot sustain alone, without the help of divine grace.
"When speech can no longer find the right words, the need arises for a loving presence: we seek then the closeness not only of those who share the same blood or are linked to us by friendship, but also the closeness of those who are intimately bound to us by faith. Who could be more intimate to us than Christ and His Holy Mother, the Immaculate One? More than any others, they are capable of understanding us and grasping how hard we have to fight against evil and suffering".
"I would like to say, humbly, to those who suffer and to those who struggle and are tempted to turn their backs on life: turn towards Mary! Within the smile of the Virgin lies mysteriously hidden the strength to fight against sickness, in support of life. With her, equally, is found the grace to accept without fear or bitterness to leave this world at the hour chosen by God".
"Yes", the Holy Father emphasised, "to seek the smile of the Virgin Mary is not a pious infantilism, it is the aspiration, as Psalm 44 says, of those who are 'the richest of the people'. 'The richest', that is to say, in the order of faith, those who have attained the highest degree of spiritual maturity and know precisely how to acknowledge their weakness and their poverty before God".
"Mary's smile is a spring of living water. ... From her believing heart, from her maternal heart, flows living water which purifies and heals. By immersing themselves in the baths at Lourdes, how many people have discovered and experienced the gentle maternal love of the Virgin Mary, becoming attached to her in order to bind themselves more closely to the Lord!"
Then, with particular reference to the sick, the Pope went on to recall that "Christ imparts His salvation by means of the Sacraments, and especially in the case of those suffering from sickness or disability, by means of the grace of the Sacrament of the Sick. For each individual, suffering is always something alien. It can never be tamed. That is why it is hard to bear, and harder still - as certain great witnesses of Christ's holiness have done - to welcome it as a significant element in our vocation".
"The grace of this Sacrament consists in welcoming Christ the healer into ourselves. However, Christ is not a healer in the manner of the world. In order to heal us, he does not remain outside the suffering that is experienced; He eases it by coming to dwell within the one stricken by illness, to bear it and live it with him. Christ's presence comes to break the isolation which pain induces".
"Without the Lord's help, the yoke of sickness and suffering weighs down on us cruelly", said the Holy Father. "By receiving the Sacrament of the Sick, we seek to carry no other yoke that that of Christ, strengthened through His promise to us that His yoke will be easy to carry and His burden light".
"Vatican Council II presented Mary as the figure in whom the entire mystery of the Church is typified. Her personal journey outlines the profile of the Church, which is called to be just as attentive to those who suffer as she herself was".
Finally, the Pope greeted the helpers who contribute to caring for the sick in Lourdes "with competence and generosity", and who represent "the arms of the servant Church".
Benedict XVI concluded his homily by reading a passage from a prayer to Mary written for this Jubilee celebration:
"Because you are the smile of God, the reflection of the light of Christ, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Because you chose Bernadette in her lowliness, because you are the morning star, the gate of heaven and the first creature to experience the resurrection. Our Lady of Lourdes, with our brothers and sisters whose hearts and bodies are in pain, we pray to you!"
The homily over, the Holy Father administered the Sacrament of the Sick to 10 sick pilgrims.
Following the Eucharistic celebration, at 11.45 a.m., the Pope travelled to the Antoine Beguere stadium from where he was taken by helicopter to the airport of Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees, where he arrived at 12.30 p.m.
PV-FRANCE/MASS SICK/LOURDES VIS 20080915 (1170)
At 9.30 a.m. in front of the basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for today's liturgical feast of Our Lady of Sorrows in the presence of sick people and pilgrims who had come to Lourdes for the occasion.
On today's memorial, said the Pope in his homily, "we contemplate Mary sharing her Son's compassion for sinners. ... As in the case of her Son Jesus, one might say that she too was led to perfection through this suffering, so as to make her capable of receiving the new spiritual mission that her Son entrusts to her immediately before 'giving up His spirit: that of becoming the mother of Christ in His members".
"Today", he went on, "Mary dwells in the joy and the glory of the Resurrection". She "loves each of her children, giving particular attention to those who, like her Son at the hour of His Passion, are prey to suffering; she loves them quite simply because they are her children, according to the will of Christ on the Cross".
"At the instigation of the inspired word of Scripture, Christians have always sought the smile of Our Lady, this smile which mediaeval artists were able to represent with such marvellous skill and to show to advantage. This smile of Mary is for all; but it is directed quite particularly to those who suffer, so that they can find comfort and solace therein".
Pope Benedict then recalled how the Virgin Mary, during her apparition of 3 March 1858, "first taught Bernadette to know her smile, this being the most appropriate point of entry into the revelation of her mystery.
"In the smile of the most eminent of all creatures", he added, "is reflected our dignity as children of God, that dignity which never abandons the sick person. This smile, a true reflection of God's tenderness, is the source of an invincible hope.
"Unfortunately we know only too well: the endurance of suffering can upset life's most stable equilibrium, it can shake the firmest foundations of confidence, and sometimes even leads people to despair of the meaning and value of life. There are struggles that we cannot sustain alone, without the help of divine grace.
"When speech can no longer find the right words, the need arises for a loving presence: we seek then the closeness not only of those who share the same blood or are linked to us by friendship, but also the closeness of those who are intimately bound to us by faith. Who could be more intimate to us than Christ and His Holy Mother, the Immaculate One? More than any others, they are capable of understanding us and grasping how hard we have to fight against evil and suffering".
"I would like to say, humbly, to those who suffer and to those who struggle and are tempted to turn their backs on life: turn towards Mary! Within the smile of the Virgin lies mysteriously hidden the strength to fight against sickness, in support of life. With her, equally, is found the grace to accept without fear or bitterness to leave this world at the hour chosen by God".
"Yes", the Holy Father emphasised, "to seek the smile of the Virgin Mary is not a pious infantilism, it is the aspiration, as Psalm 44 says, of those who are 'the richest of the people'. 'The richest', that is to say, in the order of faith, those who have attained the highest degree of spiritual maturity and know precisely how to acknowledge their weakness and their poverty before God".
"Mary's smile is a spring of living water. ... From her believing heart, from her maternal heart, flows living water which purifies and heals. By immersing themselves in the baths at Lourdes, how many people have discovered and experienced the gentle maternal love of the Virgin Mary, becoming attached to her in order to bind themselves more closely to the Lord!"
Then, with particular reference to the sick, the Pope went on to recall that "Christ imparts His salvation by means of the Sacraments, and especially in the case of those suffering from sickness or disability, by means of the grace of the Sacrament of the Sick. For each individual, suffering is always something alien. It can never be tamed. That is why it is hard to bear, and harder still - as certain great witnesses of Christ's holiness have done - to welcome it as a significant element in our vocation".
"The grace of this Sacrament consists in welcoming Christ the healer into ourselves. However, Christ is not a healer in the manner of the world. In order to heal us, he does not remain outside the suffering that is experienced; He eases it by coming to dwell within the one stricken by illness, to bear it and live it with him. Christ's presence comes to break the isolation which pain induces".
"Without the Lord's help, the yoke of sickness and suffering weighs down on us cruelly", said the Holy Father. "By receiving the Sacrament of the Sick, we seek to carry no other yoke that that of Christ, strengthened through His promise to us that His yoke will be easy to carry and His burden light".
"Vatican Council II presented Mary as the figure in whom the entire mystery of the Church is typified. Her personal journey outlines the profile of the Church, which is called to be just as attentive to those who suffer as she herself was".
Finally, the Pope greeted the helpers who contribute to caring for the sick in Lourdes "with competence and generosity", and who represent "the arms of the servant Church".
Benedict XVI concluded his homily by reading a passage from a prayer to Mary written for this Jubilee celebration:
"Because you are the smile of God, the reflection of the light of Christ, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Because you chose Bernadette in her lowliness, because you are the morning star, the gate of heaven and the first creature to experience the resurrection. Our Lady of Lourdes, with our brothers and sisters whose hearts and bodies are in pain, we pray to you!"
The homily over, the Holy Father administered the Sacrament of the Sick to 10 sick pilgrims.
Following the Eucharistic celebration, at 11.45 a.m., the Pope travelled to the Antoine Beguere stadium from where he was taken by helicopter to the airport of Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees, where he arrived at 12.30 p.m.
PV-FRANCE/MASS SICK/LOURDES VIS 20080915 (1170)
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