At Vespers
(evening prayer) with the gathered bishops of Latin America at the
Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of Light, (Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico) this evening the Holy
Father address the following homily. His thoughts turn our attention to a
deeper fidelity in belonging to Christ, being true in communion with others,
rooted and ground in Love. The homily is terrific, he hits on some real significant issues that concern the Catholic Faith and the promotion of Justice. But I can’t help thinking that the Pope is treating this pastoral visit as a giant Ad limina.
It gives me great joy to be able to pray with all of
you in this Basilica-Cathedral of León, dedicated to our Lady of Light. In the
lovely painting venerated in this basilica, the Blessed Virgin holds her Son in
one hand with immense tenderness while extending her other hand to succour
sinners. This is how the Church in every age sees Mary. We praise her for
giving us the Redeemer and we put our trust in her as the Mother whom her
divine Son bequeathed to us from the Cross. For this reason, we invoke her
frequently as “our hope” because she has shown us Jesus and passed down to us
the great things which God constantly does for humanity. She does so simply, as
a mother teaches her children at home.
A decisive sign of these great things is
given to us in the reading just proclaimed at these Vespers. The people of
Jerusalem and their leaders did not acknowledge Christ, yet, by condemning him
to death, they fulfilled the words of the prophets (cf. Acts 13:27). Human evil
and ignorance simply cannot thwart the divine plan of salvation and redemption.
Evil is simply incapable of that.
Continue reading The authentic Church is an extension of Good Samaritan today
