Pope prays for those helping to
solve problems caused by Covid-19
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| Pope Francis with a statue of Our Lady during Mass at the Caasa Santa Marta |
During Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Friday morning, Pope
Francis turns his thoughts to the problems that will be caused after the
coronavirus pandemic. In his homily, he recalls Our Lady of Sorrows, inviting
us to thank her for being our Mother.
By Vatican News
In his prayer intention for Friday, during Mass at the Casa
Santa Marta, Pope Francis remembered those who are already focusing on the
issues that will arise after the Covid-19 pandemic, including poverty,
unemployment, and hunger. “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.”
The Seven Sorrows
Pope Francis recalled that, “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.
Mary as Mother
“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."
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