Pope Francis offered his daily Mass in Casa Santa Marta for those who help combat poverty and hunger, caused by the pandemic.
During his homily, Pope Francis reflected on the Blessed Mother, who never asked anything for herself and accepted her role as mother.
POPE FRANCIS
In the maternity of Our Lady we see the maternity of the Church, which receives everyone, good and bad: everyone. Today it will do us good to stop a little and think about the pain and sorrows of Our Lady. She is our mother.
He invited Christians to medidate on Our Lady of Sorrows' seven pains, who through them all, gave birth to the Church.
EXCERPTS OF POPE'S HOMILY
(Source: Vatican News)
“We pray for all the people who help today, but also think of tomorrow, to help us all”, he said.
On this Passion Friday, which commemorates Mary's sorrows, Pope Francis dedicated his homily to Our Lady of Sorrows. Today, he said, “it will do us good to think about Our Lady's Sorrows and to thank her because she accepted to be a Mother.”
“Christian devotion has collected Our Lady's sorrows and speaks of the 'Seven Sorrows'.
The first, he said, is “just 40 days after the birth of Jesus, Simeon's prophecy that speaks of a sword that will pierce her heart”. In the second sorrow, “she thinks about the flight to Egypt to save her Son's life”, while the third recalls, “those three days of anguish when the boy remained in the temple.”
The fourth and fifth sorrow, he said, see Our Lady meeting Jesus on the way to Calvary and his subsequent death on the Cross.
Pope Francis noted that in the sixth and seventh sorrow, Mary continues to accompany Jesus when he is taken down from the Cross and then buried.
“It is good for me”, said the Pope, “late in the evening, when I pray the Angelus, to pray these seven sorrows as a remembrance of the Mother of the Church”, who, with so much pain, gave birth to all of us.
“Our Lady never asked anything for herself”, Pope Francis underlined. “She only agrees to be a Mother.” She accompanied Jesus like a disciple, because the Gospel shows that she followed Jesus: with her friends, pious women, “she followed Jesus, she listened to Jesus”.
The Pope issued an invitation to “Honour Our Lady and say: ‘This is my Mother’, because she is a Mother. And this is the title she received from Jesus, right there, at the moment of the Cross.”
“Our Lady did not want to take away any title from Jesus”, said Pope Francis, “she received the gift of being His Mother and the duty to accompany us as Mother, to be our Mother. She did not ask for herself to be a quasi-redeemer or a co-redeemer: no. The Redeemer is one and this title does not duplicate.'
the Pope invited the faithful to thank Our Lady for being a Mother, and to “stop a little and think about Our Lady's pain and sorrows”.
