The Holy Father Praises the Faith-Filled Example of Mary

CLEVELAND - April 8, 2014 - PRLog -- On January 1st, the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, Pope Francis preached on the Blessed Mother and the intercession and guidance she provides for the Church and all of its faithful. Our favorite quotes from the Holy Father's homily are shared below.

On Mary Sharing our Journey of Faith:

"Mary has always been present in the hearts, the piety and above all the pilgrimage of faith of the Christian people. 'The Church journeys through time... and on this journey she proceeds along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary' (Redemptoris Mater, 2). Our journey of faith is the same as that of Mary, and so we feel that she is particularly close to us. As far as faith, the hinge of the Christian life, is concerned, the Mother of God shared our condition. She had to take the same path as ourselves, a path which is sometimes difficult and obscure. She had to advance in the 'pilgrimage of faith' (Lumen gentium, 58).

"Our pilgrimage of faith has been inseparably linked to Mary ever since Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave her to us as our Mother, saying: 'Behold your Mother!'(Jn 19:27). These words serve as a testament, bequeathing to the world a Mother. From that moment on, the Mother of God also became our Mother!"

On Mary's Motherhood of All People:

"When the faith of the disciples was most tested by difficulties and uncertainties, Jesus entrusted them to Mary, who was the first to believe, and whose faith would never fail. The "woman" became our Mother when she lost her divine Son. Her sorrowing heart was enlarged to make room for all men and women, all, whether good or bad, and she loves them as she loved Jesus. The woman who at the wedding at Cana in Galilee gave her faith-filled cooperation so that the wonders of God could be displayed in the world, at Calvary kept alive the flame of faith in the resurrection of her Son, and she communicates this with maternal affection to each and every person. Mary becomes in this way a source of hope and true joy!"

On the Importance of Mary's Intercession:

"The Mother of the Redeemer goes before us and continually strengthens us in faith, in our vocation and in our mission. By her example of humility and openness to God's will she helps us to transmit our faith in a joyful proclamation of the Gospel to all, without reservation. In this way our mission will be fruitful, because it is modeled on the motherhood of Mary. To her let us entrust our journey of faith, the desires of our heart, our needs and the needs of the whole world, especially of those who hunger and thirst for justice and peace, and for God. Let us then together invoke her, and I invite you to invoke her three times, following the example of those brothers and sisters of Ephesus: Mother of God! Mother of God! Mother of God! Amen."

As Mercedarian Sisters, our charism is two-fold: Eucharistic and Marian. Our devotion to Mary does not take away from our devotion to the Eucharistic Lord. Rather, we recognize that as a mother, Mary brings us closer to her Son in a way we could not achieve on our own. Every May, our community honors the month of Mary with a May Crowning - both in our convent, and in our schools with the children we teach!

You can read Pope Francis' entire homily on the Vatican's Website. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2014...

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Sr. Jeanette Marie, Vocations Director