Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear men and women religious,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Before entering the Shrine to
recite the Holy Rosary with you, I paused briefly before the
tomb of Bl. Bartolo Longo and, praying, I asked myself: "Where
did this great apostle of Mary find the energy and perseverance
he needed to bring such an impressive work, now known across the
world, to completion? Was it not in the Rosary, which he
accepted as a true gift from Our Lady's Heart?" Yes, that truly
was how it happened! The experience of the Saints bears witness
to it: this popular Marian prayer is a precious spiritual means
to grow in intimacy with Jesus, and to learn at the school of
the Blessed Virgin always to fulfil the divine will. It is
contemplation of the mysteries of Christ in spiritual union with
Mary as the Servant of God Paul VI stressed in his Apostolic
Exhortation
Marialis cultus
(n. 46) and as my venerable Predecessor
John Paul II abundantly illustrated in his Apostolic Letter
Rosarium Virginis Mariae
that today I once again
present in spirit to the Community of Pompeii and to each one of
you. You who live and work here in Pompeii, especially you, dear
priests, men and women religious and lay people involved in this
unique portion of the Church, are all called to make Bl. Bartolo
Longo's charism your own and to become, to the extent and in the
way that God grants to each one, authentic apostles of the
Rosary.
To be apostles of the Rosary,
however, it is necessary to experience personally the beauty and
depth of this prayer which is simple and accessible to everyone.
It is first of all necessary to let the Blessed Virgin take one
by the hand to contemplate the Face of Christ: a joyful,
luminous, sorrowful and glorious Face. Those who, like Mary and
with her, cherish and ponder the mysteries of Jesus assiduously,
increasingly assimilate his sentiments and are conformed to him.
In this regard, I would like to quote a beautiful thought of Bl.
Bartolo Longo: "Just as two friends, frequently in each other's
company, tend to develop similar habits", he wrote, "so too, by
holding familiar converse with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by
meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same
life in Holy Communion, we can become, to the extent of our
lowliness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme
models a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and
perfection" (I Quindici Sabati del Santissimo Rosario,
27th edition, Pompeii, 1916, p. 27: cited in
Rosarium Virginis Mariae,
n. 15).
The
Rosary is a school of contemplation and silence. At first
glance, it could seem a prayer that accumulates words, therefore
difficult to reconcile with the silence that is rightly
recommended for meditation and contemplation. In fact, this
cadent repetition of the Hail Mary does not disturb inner
silence but indeed both demands and nourishes it. Similarly to
what happens for the Psalms when one prays the Liturgy of the
Hours, the silence surfaces through the words and sentences, not
as emptiness, but rather as the presence of an ultimate meaning
that transcends the words themselves and through them speaks to
the heart. Thus, in reciting the Hail Mary, we must be
careful that our voices do not "cover" the voice of God who
always speaks through the silence like the "still small voice"
of a gentle breeze (1 Kgs 19: 12). Then how important it is to
foster this silence full of God, both in one's personal
recitation and in its recitation with the community! Even when
the Rosary is prayed, as today, by great assemblies, and as you
do in this Shrine every day, it must be perceived as a
contemplative prayer. And this cannot happen without an
atmosphere of inner silence.
I would like to add a further
reflection concerning the Word of God in the Rosary,
particularly appropriate in this period in which the
Synod of Bishops is
taking place on the theme: "The Word of God in the life and
mission of the Church". If Christian contemplation cannot
leave the Word of God out of consideration, if it is to be a
contemplative prayer, the Rosary must always emerge from the
silence of the heart as a response to the Word, after the model
of Mary's prayer. Seen clearly, the Rosary is completely
interwoven with scriptural elements. First of all there is the
enunciation of the mystery, preferably made, as it has been
today, with words taken from the Bible. The Our Father
follows; by giving the prayer a "vertical" orientation, the soul
of who recites the rosary is opened to the correct filial
attitude in accordance with the Lord's invitation: "When you
pray say: Father..." (Lk 11: 2). The first part of the Hail
Mary, also taken from the Gospel, lets us listen again each
time to the words that God addressed to the Virgin through the
Angel and to the words of her cousin Elizabeth's blessing. The
second part of the Hail Mary resounds like the answer of
children who, in addressing supplications to their Mother, do
nothing other than express their own adherence to the saving
plan revealed by God. Thus the thought of those who pray remains
ever anchored to Scripture and to the mysteries presented in it.
Lastly, remembering that today we
are celebrating
World Mission Sunday,
I wish to recall the apostolic dimension of the Rosary, a
dimension that Blessed Bartolo Longo lived intensely, drawing
inspiration from it to carry out on this earth so many
charitable initiatives and works of human and social promotion.
Furthermore, he wanted this Shrine to be open to the whole world
as a centre of outreach of the prayer of the Rosary and as a
place of intercession for peace among peoples. Dear friends, I
would like to reinforce both of these aims: the apostolate of
charity and prayer for peace, and I wish to confirm and entrust
them once again to your spiritual and pastoral commitment.
Following the example and with the support of the venerable
Founder, never tire of working with enthusiasm in this part of
the Lord's vineyard for which Our Lady has shown a special
fondness.
Dear
brothers and sisters, the time has come to take my leave of you
and of this beautiful Shrine. I thank you for your warm welcome
and especially for your prayers. I thank the Archbishop Prelate
and Pontifical Delegate, his collaborators and those who worked
to prepare my Visit in the best possible way. I must leave you,
but my heart remains close to this region and to this community.
I entrust you all to the Blessed Virgin of the Holy Rosary and I
cordially impart the Apostolic Blessing to each one.
Before leaving the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary at Pompeii,
the Holy Father spoke briefly to the faithful:
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
The
time has come for me to say "good-bye' but as I said, in my
heart I shall always remain close to you, close to this most
beautiful Shrine, to this people full of faith, enthusiasm and
charity. Thank you! Let us stay faithful to Our Lady and thus we
shall stay faithful to love and to peace. I bless you all in the
name of Almighty God, Father, and Son and Holy Spirit. Good-bye
until next time! Thank you!
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