VIGIL AND ROSARY AT THE SANCTUARY OF OUR LADY OF DIVINE LOVE

Vatican City, 12 October 2013 (VIS) – Following the Marian ceremony in St. Peter's Square, the effigy of the Virgin of Fatima was transported by helicopter to the Roman Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love.

At 7.30 p.m., various Marian sanctuaries throughout the world connected with the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Divine Love to pray the Rosary and to participate in the prayer vigil “With Mary beyond the Night”, which concluded at dawn with the traditional pilgrimage to the shrine.

Pope Francis sent a video message, broadcast before the prayer of the Rosary, the full text of which is given below.

“Dear Brothers and Sisters,

“I greet all the pilgrims present in this Shrine of Divine Love, and all those who join us from the Marian shrines of Lourdes, Nazareth, Lujan, Vailankanni, Guadalupe, Akita, Nairobi, Benneux, Częstochowa and Marian Valley.

“This evening I am united to all of you in praying the Holy Rosary and in Eucharistic adoration under the gaze of the Virgin Mary.

“Mary’s gaze! How important this is! How many things can we say with a look! Affection, encouragement, compassion, love, but also disapproval, envy, pride and even hatred. Often a look says more than words; it says what words do not or dare not say.

“At whom is the Virgin Mary looking? She is looking at each and every one of us. And how does she look at us? She looks at us as a Mother, with tenderness, mercy and love. That was how she gazed at her Son Jesus at all the moments of his life – joyful, luminous, sorrowful, glorious – as we contemplate in the mysteries of the Holy Rosary, simply and lovingly.

“When we are weary, downcast, beset with cares, let us look to Mary, let us feel her gaze, which speaks to our heart and says: 'Courage, my child, I am here to help you!'. Our Lady knows us well, she is a Mother, she is familiar with our joys and difficulties, our hopes and disappointments. When we feel the burden of our failings and our sins, let us look to Mary, who speaks to our hearts, saying: 'Arise, go to my Son Jesus; in him you will find acceptance, mercy and new strength for the journey'.

“Mary’s gaze is not directed towards us alone. At the foot of the Cross, when Jesus entrusted to her the Apostle John, and with him all of us, in the words: 'Woman, here is your son', the gaze of Mary was fixed on Jesus. Mary says to us what she said at the wedding feast of Cana: 'Do whatever he tells you'. Mary points to Jesus, she asks us to bear witness to Jesus, she constantly guides us to her Son Jesus, because in Him alone do we find salvation. He alone can change the water of our loneliness, difficulties and sin into the wine of encounter, joy and forgiveness. He alone.

“'Blessed is she who believed!' Mary is blessed for her faith in God, for her faith, because her heart’s gaze was always fixed on God, the Son of God Whom she bore in her womb and Whom she contemplated upon the Cross. In the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Mary says to us: 'Look at my Son Jesus, keep your gaze fixed on Him, listen to Him, speak with Him. He is gazing at you with love. Do not be afraid! He will teach you to follow Him and to bear witness to Him in all that you do, whether great and small, in your family life, at work, at times of celebration. He will teach you to go out of yourself and to look upon others with love, as He did. He loved you and loves you, not with words but with deeds'.

“O Mary, let us feel your maternal gaze. Guide us to your Son. May we not be Christians 'on display', but Christians ready to 'get our hands dirty' in building, with your Son Jesus, his Kingdom of love, joy and peace”.