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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus Message
On Pope Paul the VI's Marian Devotion
"He Placed his Priesthood Under the Protection of the Mother of
Jesus"
H.H. Benedict XVI
November 8, 2009
www.zenit.org
At
the end of this solemn celebration, I would like to offer cordial
thanks to those who were responsible for the liturgical animation
and those who in various ways helped with the preparation and
realization of my pastoral visit here in Brescia. Thanks to all! I
also greet those who are following us on radio and television, along
with those in St. Peter’s Square, and in a special way the numerous
volunteers of the L’Unione Nazionale Pro Loco of Italy.
In this Angelus I would like to recall the profound devotion that
the Servant of God Giovanni Battista Montini had for the Virgin
Mary. He celebrated his first Mass in the sanctuary of Santa Maria
delle Grazie, the marian heart of your city, not far from this
piazza. In this way he placed his priesthood under the protection of
the Mother of Jesus, and this connection accompanied him his whole
life.
As his ecclesial responsibilities grew, he developed a broader and
more organic vision of the relationship between the Blessed Virgin
Mary and the mystery of the Church. In this perspective, his Nov.
21, 1964, address at the closing of the third session of the Second
Vatican Council is memorable. During that session of the Council the
Constitution on the Church, “Lumen Gentium,” was promulgated. The
document had, as Paul VI noted, “an entire chapter dedicated to the
Madonna as its apex and crown.” The Pope noted that it contained the
largest synthesis of marian doctrine ever elaborated by an
ecumenical council, with the purpose of “manifesting the countenance
of the Church to which Mary is intimately joined” (“Enchiridion
Vaticanum,” Bologna 1979, p. [185], nos. 300-302). In that context
he proclaimed Mary Most Holy “Mother of the Church” (cf. ibid., no.
306), underscoring with lively ecumenical sensitivity that “devotion
to Mary … is a means essentially ordained to orient souls to Christ
and thus join them to the Father, in the love of the Holy Spirit”
(ibid., no. 315).
Echoing the words of Paul VI, we too today pray: O Virgin Mary,
Mother of the Church, to you we commend this Church of Brescia and
all the people of this region. Remember all your children; bring
their prayers before God; keep their faith firm; strengthen their
hope; make their charity grow. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin
Mary (cf. ibid., nos. 317, 320, 325).
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
Look
at the One they Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
