Vatican City, 14 February 2016 (VIS) –
Following Mass, the Pope invited those present to pray the Angelus
and to reflect, before the Marian prayer, on the first reading in
which Moses addresses his people during harvest time, a moment of
abundance, so they do not forget their origins and provenance, nor
the difficulties they have had to overcome.
"Thanksgiving is something which
is born and grows among a people capable of remembering",
explained the Holy Father. "It is rooted in the past, and
through good and bad times, it shapes the present. … On this
festive day we can celebrate how good the Lord has been to us. Let us
give thanks for this opportunity to be together, to present to our
Good Father the first fruits of our children, our grandchildren, of
our dreams and our plans; the first fruits of our cultures, our
languages and our traditions, the first fruits of our efforts".
"How much each one of you has
suffered to reach this moment!", he exclaimed. "How much
you have 'walked' to make this day a day of feasting, a time of
thanksgiving. How much others have walked, who have not arrived here
and yet because of them we have been able to keep going. Today, at
the invitation of Moses, as a people we want to remember, we want to
be the people that keeps alive the memory of God Who passes among His
People, in their midst. We look upon our children knowing that they
will inherit not only a land, a culture and a tradition, but also the
living fruits of faith which recalls the certainty of God’s passing
through this land. It is a certainty of his closeness and of his
solidarity, a certainty which helps us lift up our heads and ardently
hope for the dawn".
"I too join you in this
remembrance, in this living memory of God’s passing through your
lives. As I look upon your children I cannot but make my own the
words which Blessed Pope Paul VI addressed to the Mexican people: 'A
Christian cannot but show solidarity… to solve the situation of
those who have not yet received the bread of culture or the
opportunity of an honourable job… he cannot remain insensitive
while the new generations have not found the way to bring into
reality their legitimate aspirations'. And then Blessed Paul VI
continued offering this invitation to 'always be on the front line of
all efforts… to improve the situation of those who suffer need”,
to see in every man a brother and, in every brother Christ'".
Francis urged the Mexican people to "be
on the front line, to be first in all the initiatives which help make
this blessed land of Mexico a land of opportunities, where there will
be no need to emigrate in order to dream, no need to be exploited in
order to work, no need to make the despair and poverty of many the
opportunism of a few, a land that will not have to mourn men and
women, young people and children who are destroyed at the hands of
the dealers of death".
"This land is filled with the
perfume of la Guadalupana who has always gone before us in love",
concluded the bishop of Rome. "Let us say to her, with all our
hearts: Blessed Virgin, help us to bear radiant witness to communion,
service, ardent and generous faith, justice and love of the poor,
that the joy of the Gospel may reach to the ends of the earth,
illuminating even the fringes of our world".
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment