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Pope Benedict XVI- Addresses |
Papal
Address at Fatima Shrine
"Do Not Be Afraid to Talk of God"
Chapel of Apparitions, Shrine of Our Lady of
Fatima.
May 12, 2010
Dear pilgrims,
All of you, standing together with lighted
candles in your hands, seem like a sea of
light around this simple chapel, lovingly
built to the honour of the Mother of God and
our mother, whose path from earth to heaven
appeared to the shepherd children like a way
of light. However, neither Mary nor we have
a light of our own: we receive it from
Jesus. His presence within us renews the
mystery and the call of the burning bush
which once drew Moses on Mount Sinai and
still fascinates those aware of the light
within us which burns without consuming us
(cf. Ex 3:2-5). We are merely a bush, but
one upon which the glory of God has now come
down. To him therefore be every glory, and
to us the humble confession of our
nothingness and the unworthy adoration of
the divine plan which will be fulfilled when
"God will be all in all" (cf. 1 Cor 15:28).
The matchless servant of that plan was the
Virgin full of grace: "Behold the handmaid
of the Lord: let it be done to me according
to your word" (Lk 1:38).
Dear pilgrims, let us imitate Mary, letting
her words "Let it be done to me" resound in
our lives. God ordered Moses: "Take off your
shoes, for the place on which you stand is
holy ground" (Ex3:5). And that is what he
did: he would put his shoes back on to free
his people from slavery in Egypt and to
guide them to the promised land. This was
not about the possession of a parcel of land
or about the national territory to which
every people has a right; in the struggle
for the freedom of Israel and in the exodus
from Egypt, what appears central is above
all the freedom to worship, the freedom of a
religion of one’s own. Throughout the
history of the chosen people, the promise of
a homeland comes more and more to mean this:
the land is granted in order to be a place
of obedience, a window open to God.
In our time, in which the faith in many
places seems like a light in danger of being
snuffed out forever, the highest priority is
to make God visible in the world and to open
to humanity a way to God. And not to any
god, but to the God who had spoken on Sinai;
the God whose face we recognize in the love
borne to the very end (cf. Jn 13:1) in Jesus
Christ, crucified and risen. Dear brothers
and sisters, worship Christ the Lord in your
hearts (cf. 1 Pet 3:15)! Do not be afraid to
talk of God and to manifest without fear the
signs of faith, letting the light of Christ
shine in the presence of the people of
today, just as the Church which gives birth
to humanity as the family of God sings on
the night of the Easter Vigil.
Brothers and sisters, in this place it is
amazing to think how three children
entrusted themselves to the interior force
which had enflamed them in the apparitions
of the Angel and of our heavenly Mother. In
this place where we were repeatedly
requested to recite the rosary, let us allow
ourselves to be attracted by the mysteries
of Christ, the mysteries of Mary’s rosary.
The recitation of the rosary allows us to
fix our gaze and our hearts upon Jesus, just
like his Mother, the supreme model of
contemplation of the Son. Meditating upon
the joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious
mysteries as we pray our Hail Marys, let us
reflect upon the interior mystery of Jesus,
from the Incarnation, through the Cross, to
the glory of the Resurrection; let us
contemplate the intimate participation of
Mary in the mystery of our life in Christ
today, a life which is also made up of joy
and sorrow, of darkness and light, of fear
and hope. Grace invades our hearts,
provoking a wish for an incisive and
evangelical change of life so that we can
say with Saint Paul: "For me to live is
Christ" (Phil 1:21) in a communion of life
and destiny with Christ.
The devotion and affection of all of you,
the faithful who have come here from all
around the world, is clear to me. I bring
with me the worries and hopes of our times,
the sufferings of our wounded humanity and
the problems of the world, and I place them
at the feet of Our Lady of Fatima: Virgin
Mother of God and our own dear Mother,
intercede for us before your Son, that the
family of nations, both those called
Christians and those who do not yet know the
Saviour, may live in peace and harmony, in
order that they come together as the one
people of God, to the glory of the most holy
and indivisible Trinity. Amen.
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice
Vaticana
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