|
Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus Message
Mary's "Yes" and Our "Yes"
She "Has Been 'Elevated' to the Place From Which the Son Had 'Come
Down'"
H.H. Benedict XVI
August 16, 2009
www.zenit.org
Dear brothers and sisters:
Yesterday we celebrated the great feast of the Assumption of Mary
into heaven and today we read in the Gospel these words from Jesus:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven" (John 6:51). We
cannot remain indifferent to this parallel, which revolves around
the symbol of "heaven." Mary has been "elevated" to the place from
which the Son had "come down."
Naturally this biblical language expresses with figurative
terminology something that does not entirely enter into the world of
our concepts and images. But, let us pause for a moment to reflect.
Jesus presents himself as the "living bread," that is, the
nourishment that contains the very life of God and is capable of
giving [this life] to one who eats of him, the true nourishment that
gives life, that deeply nourishes. Jesus says: "Whoever eats this
bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh
for the life of the world" (John 6:51).
But then, from whom has the Son of God taken his "flesh," his
concrete and earthly humanity? He took it from the Virgin Mary. God
took from her a human body to enter into our mortal human condition.
In turn, at the end of an earthly existence, the body of the Virgin
was taken to heaven by God and brought to enter into the celestial
condition. This is an interchange in which God always takes the
initiative, but in which in a certain sense, as we have seen on
other occasions, he also has need of Mary, of the "yes" of a
creature, of her flesh, of her concrete existence, to prepare the
matter of his sacrifice: the body and blood to be offered on the
cross as an instrument of eternal life, and, in the sacrament of the
Eucharist, as spiritual food and drink.
Dear brothers and sisters: What happened to Mary is also valid,
though in a different but real way, for every man and woman, because
God asks each of us to welcome him, to place at his disposal our
hearts and our bodies, the whole of our existence, our flesh -- as
the Bible says -- so that he can dwell in the world.
He calls us to unite ourselves with him in the sacrament of the
Eucharist, Bread broken for the life of the world, to together form
the Church, his Body in history. And if we say "yes," like Mary, in
the same measure of this our "yes," this mysterious interchange will
also happen for us and in us: We will be assumed into the dignity of
the One who has assumed our humanity.
The Eucharist is the means, the instrument of this reciprocal
transformation, which always has God as the goal and the principal
protagonist: He is the Head and we are the members. He is the Vine
and we the branches. Whoever eats of this Bread and lives in
communion with Jesus, allowing himself to be transformed by him and
in him, is saved from eternal death: Certainly this person will die
as everyone does, participating as well in the mystery of the
passion and the cross of Christ, but he is no longer a slave of
death and he will be raised up on the last day to enjoy the eternal
feast with Mary and all the saints.
This mystery, this feast of God begins here below: It is a mystery
of faith, hope and love, which is celebrated in the liturgy,
especially the Eucharistic [liturgy], and is expressed in fraternal
communion and service to our neighbor. Let us ask the holy Virgin to
help us to always with faith nourish ourselves on the Bread of
eternal life to experience already on earth the joy of heaven.
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After praying the Angelus, the Holy Father addressed the crowd in
various languages. In English, he said:]
I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at
today’s Angelus. May your time here at Castel Gandolfo and in Rome
deepen your faith in our Lord, the living bread, who brings us the
gift of eternal life. Upon you and your families I invoke Almighty
God’s abundant blessings of joy and peace!
© Copyright 2009 -- 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
