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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus Message
On Mary's Intercession
"'Trust in me!' Mary Repeats This Again to Us Today"
H.H. Benedict XVI
May 18, 2008
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
At the heart of my pastoral visit to Genoa, we have arrived at the
customary moment for the Sunday Angelus and my thoughts naturally
return to the Sanctuary of Nostra Signora della Guardia, where I
stopped to pray this morning. Many times Pope Benedict XV, your
illustrious fellow citizen, went as a pilgrim to that mountain
oasis, and in the Vatican Gardens he had a reproduction made of that
dear image of the Madonna della Guardia. And just as my venerable
predecessor, John Paul II did, in his first apostolic pilgrimage to
Genoa, I too wanted to begin my pastoral visit by offering homage to
the heavenly Mother of God, who from the height of Mount Figogna
watches over the city and all its inhabitants.
Tradition tells of how the Madonna, in her first appearance to
Benedetto Pareto -- who was worried about how he would go about
building a church in that place so far from the city -- said: “Trust
in me! You will not lack the means. With my help everything will be
easy. Only be firm in your will.” “Trust in me!” Mary repeats this
again to us today. An ancient prayer, very dear to popular
tradition, has us address these words to her, that today we make our
own: “Remember, O, most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it
known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or
sought thy intercession was left unaided.”
It is with this certainty that we invoke the maternal assistance of
the Madonna della Guardia for your diocesan community, your pastors,
consecrated persons, faithful laypeople, young people, families, old
people. We ask her especially to watch over the sick and the
suffering, and to make fruitful the missionary initiatives that are
under way to bring the proclamation of the Gospel to all. Together
we entrust to Mary the whole city, with its diverse population, its
cultural, social and economic activities, the problems and the
challenges of our times, and the commitment of those who work
together for the common good.
My gaze now turns to all of Liguria, spangled with churches and
Marian shrines, placed like a crown between the sea and the
mountains. With you I thank God for the robust and tenacious faith
of past generations that, in the course of centuries, authored
memorable passages of sanctity and human civilization. Liguria, and
Genoa in particular, has always been a land open to the
Mediterranean and the whole world: How many missionaries have set
out from this port for the Americas and other distant lands! How
many people have immigrated from here to other countries, poor
perhaps in material resources, but rich in faith and human and
spiritual values, which they transplanted in the places where they
settled! Mary, Star of the Sea, continue to shine on Genoa! Mary,
Star of Hope, continue to guide the journey of the Genovese,
especially the new generations, that they find the right way in the
often tempestuous sea of life!
[Following the Angelus, the Holy Father said the following:]
I would now like to call our attention to an important event that
will take place tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland: the diplomatic
conference on cluster munitions, which has been called with the
purpose of producing a treaty that will prohibit this lethal
ordinance. I hope that, through the responsibility of all the
participants, a strong and credible international instrument will be
created: in fact it is necessary to remedy the errors of the past
and to avoid their repetition in the future. I accompany the victims
of cluster munitions and their families with my prayers as well as
the participants in the conference, offering my best wishes of
success.
Again, I greet the young people and all present. Thank you! Have a
good Sunday!
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