|
Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Regina
Caeli
Message
On Mary's Month
"Pray for This Apostolic Pilgrimage" to Brazil
H.H. Benedict XVI
May 6, 2007
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
The month of May began several days ago. For many Christian
communities this is the Marian month par excellence. As such, in the
course of the centuries it has become one of the peoples' dearest
devotions and has been valued by pastors as a propitious occasion
for preaching, catechesis and community prayer.
After the Second Vatican Council, which emphasized the role of Mary
most holy in the Church and in salvation history, Marian devotion
underwent a profound renewal. And the month of May, coinciding at
least in part with the Easter season, is quite propitious for
illustrating the figure of Mary as the Mother who accompanies the
community of disciples united in prayer in expectation of the Holy
Spirit (cf. Acts 1:12-14).
Consequently, this month can be an occasion to return to the faith
of the primitive Church and, in union with Mary, understand that our
mission even today is to proclaim and bear witness with courage and
joy to Christ crucified and risen, the hope of humanity.
I would like to entrust to the Holy Virgin, Mother of the Church, my
apostolic voyage to Brazil March 9-14. As did my venerable
predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II, I will preside at the
opening of the General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America
and the Caribbean.
This fifth general conference will begin next Sunday in the great
national shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, in the city of the same
name. Before this, however, I will travel to the metropolis of São
Paulo, where I will meet the young people and bishops of Brazil and
have the joy to register Frei Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvão in the
book of saints.
This is my first pastoral visit to Latin America and I am preparing
myself spiritually to visit the continent where almost half the
Catholics of the whole world, many of them young people, live. It is
for this reason that Latin America has been given the name
"continent of hope": It is a hope that has to do not only with the
Church, but with the whole of America and the entire world.
Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you to pray to Mary most holy
for this apostolic pilgrimage and, in particular, for the 5th
General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the
Caribbean, so that all the Christians of those regions may see
themselves as disciples and missionaries of Christ, the way, the
truth and the life. Many and multiple are the challenges of the
present: This is why it is important that Christians be formed to be
a "ferment" of good and a "light" of holiness in our world.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[Following the Regina Caeli, the Holy Father greeted the
English-speaking pilgrims with the following words:]
I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors here today.
Today's Gospel reminds us that love is at the heart of all Christian
discipleship. During this Easter season may we strengthen our desire
to bear witness to Christ's love in our lives. This Wednesday I
leave for my pastoral visit to Brazil. I ask all of you: please
accompany me with your prayers! Upon each of you present and your
families, I invoke God's blessings of peace and wisdom.
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Look at the One they
Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
