Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
"They have no more wine," said Mary, begging Jesus to intervene
so that the wedding-feast could continue, as was only right and
fitting: "As long as the wedding guests have the bridegroom with
them, they cannot fast" (Mk 2:19). The Mother of Jesus turns to
the servants and implores them: "Do whatever he tells you" (cf.
Jn 2:1-5). Her maternal mediation thus made possible the "good
wine," prefiguring a new covenant between divine omnipotence and
the poor but receptive human heart. This, in fact, had already
happened in the past when -- as we heard in the first reading --
"all the people answered together and said: 'all that the Lord
has spoken, we will do'" (Ex 19:8).
These same words well up in the hearts of all gathered here
today in Saint Anthony's Church: a building which we owe to the
commendable missionary efforts of the Capuchin Friars Minor, who
wanted to provide a new Tent for the Ark of the Covenant, the
sign of God's presence among his pilgrim people. To them, to
those who work alongside them, and to all who benefit from their
spiritual and social assistance, the Pope imparts his blessing
with warm words of encouragement. I greet with affection all
those present: Bishops, priests, religious men and women, and
particularly the lay faithful who consciously embrace the duties
of Christian commitment and witness that flow from the Sacrament
of Baptism and also -- in the case of spouses -- from the
Sacrament of Marriage. Moreover, given the main purpose of our
gathering today, I extend greetings of great affection and hope
to all women, to whom God has entrusted the wellsprings of life:
I invite you to live and to put your trust in life, because the
living God has put his trust in you! With gratitude in my heart
I also greet the leaders and facilitators of ecclesial movements
that have made the promotion of Angolan women a priority. I
thank Archbishop José de Queirós Alves and your representatives
for their kind words and for drawing attention to the
aspirations and hopes of so many of the silent heroines among
the women of this beloved nation.
I call everyone to an effective awareness of the adverse
conditions to which many women have been -- and continue to be
-- subjected, paying particular attention to ways in which the
behavior and attitudes of men, who at times show a lack of
sensitivity and responsibility, may be to blame. This forms no
part of God's plan. In the Scripture reading, we heard that the
entire people cried out together: "all that the Lord has spoken,
we will do!" Sacred Scripture tells us that the divine Creator,
looking upon all he had made, saw that something was missing:
everything would have been fine if man had not been alone! How
could one man by himself constitute the image and likeness of
God who is one and three, God who is communion? "It is not good
that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for
him" (Gen 2:18). God went to work again, fashioning for the man
the helper he still lacked, and endowing this helper in a
privileged way by incorporating the order of love, which had
seemed under-represented in creation.
As you know, my dear friends, this order of love belongs to the
intimate life of God himself, the Trinitarian life, the Holy
Spirit being the personal hypostasis of love. As my predecessor
Pope John Paul II once wrote, "in God's eternal plan, woman is
the one in whom the order of love in the created world of
persons takes first root" (Mulieris Dignitatem, 29). In fact,
gazing upon the captivating charm that radiates from woman due
to the inner grace God has given her, the heart of man is
enlightened and he sees himself reflected in her: "This at last
is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen 2:23). Woman is
another "I" who shares in the same human nature. We must
therefore recognize, affirm and defend the equal dignity of man
and woman: they are both persons, utterly unique among all the
living beings found in the world.
Man and woman are both called to live in profound communion
through a reciprocal recognition of one another and the mutual
gift of themselves, working together for the common good through
the complementary aspects of masculinity and femininity. Who
today can fail to recognize the need to make more room for the
"reasons of the heart"? In a world like ours, dominated by
technology, we feel the need for this feminine complementarity,
so that the human race can live in the world without completely
losing its humanity. Think of all the places afflicted by great
poverty or devastated by war, and of all the tragic situations
resulting from migrations, forced or otherwise. It is almost
always women who manage to preserve human dignity, to defend the
family and to protect cultural and religious values.
Dear brothers and sisters, history records almost exclusively
the accomplishments of men, when in fact much of it is due to
the determined, unrelenting and charitable action of women. Of
all the many extraordinary women, allow me to mention two in
particular: Teresa Gomes and Maria Bonino. The first, an
Angolan, died in 2004 in the city of Sumbe after a happily
married life in which she gave birth to seven children; she was
a woman of unswerving Christian faith and exemplary apostolic
zeal. This was particularly evident during the years 1975 and
1976 when fierce ideological and political propaganda invaded
the parish of Our Lady of Grace of Porto Amboim, almost forcing
the doors of the church to close. Teresa then became the leader
of the faithful who refused to bend under pressure. Teresa
offered support, courageously protecting the parish structures
and trying every possible means to restore the celebration of
Mass. Her love for the Church made her indefatigable in the work
of evangelization, under the direction of the priests.
Maria Bonino was an Italian pediatrician who offered her
expertise as a volunteer in several missions throughout this
beloved African continent. She became the head of the pediatric
ward in the provincial hospital at Uíje during the last two
years of her life. Caring for the daily needs of thousands of
children who were patients there, Maria paid the ultimate price
for her service by sacrificing her life during the terrible
epidemic of Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever, to which she herself
succumbed. She was transferred to Luanda for treatment, but she
died and was laid to rest here on 24 March 2005 -- the day after
tomorrow is her fourth anniversary. Church and society have been
-- and continue to be -- enormously enriched by the presence and
virtues of women, and in a particular way by consecrated
religious who, relying on the Lord's grace, have placed
themselves at the service of others.
Dear Angolans, since the dignity of women is equal to that of
men, no one today should doubt that women have "a full right to
become actively involved in all areas of public life, and this
right must be affirmed and guaranteed, also, where necessary,
through appropriate legislation. This acknowledgment of the
public role of women should not however detract from their
unique role within the family. Here their contribution to the
welfare and progress of society, even if its importance is not
sufficiently appreciated, is truly incalculable" (Message for
the 1995 World Day of Peace, 9). Moreover, a woman's personal
sense of dignity is not primarily the result of juridically
defined rights, but rather the direct consequence of the
material and spiritual care she receives in the bosom of the
family. The presence of a mother within the family is so
important for the stability and growth of this fundamental cell
of society, that it should be recognized, commended and
supported in every possible way. For the same reason, society
must hold husbands and fathers accountable for their
responsibilities towards their families.
Dear families, you have undoubtedly noticed that no human
couple, alone and on its own strength, can adequately offer
children love and a genuine understanding of life. In fact, in
order to say to someone, "your life is good even though you
don't know what the future will bring", there needs to be a
higher and more trustworthy authority than parents alone can
offer. Christians know that this higher authority has been given
to the larger family which God, through his Son Jesus Christ and
the gift of the Holy Spirit, has established within human
history, namely the Church. We find at work here the eternal and
indestructible love which guarantees to each of us that our life
will always have meaning, even if we do not know what the future
will bring. For this reason, the building up of every Christian
family takes place within the larger family, the Church, which
sustains the domestic family and holds it close to her heart,
giving it the assurance that it is protected, now and in the
future, by the "yes" of the Creator.
"They have no more wine" -- Mary says to Jesus. Dear women of
Angola, accept Mary as your advocate with the Lord. This is
precisely how we see her at the wedding-feast of Cana: a tender
woman, full of motherly care and courage, a woman who recognizes
the needs of others and, wanting to help, places those needs
before the Lord. If we stay close to her, we can all -- men and
women alike -- recover that sense of serenity and deep trust
that makes us feel blessed by God and undaunted in our struggle
for life. May Our Lady of Muxima be the guiding star of your
lives. May she keep all of you united in the great family of
God. Amen.
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Apostolic
Journey:
March 17-23, 2009. Visit to Cameroon and Angola, Vatican Coverage...
Look at the One they
Pierced!
