Pope Francis' insight into Our Lady

Our Holy Father's love for Mary is remarkable in both in its generosity and its depth. His first act as pope was to visit St Mary Major's to show his filial love to her and ask her blessing. His vigil for Syria before the ancient image of Salus Populi Romani seemed to avert a threatened invasion. We think also of his words during his consecration of the world before the statue from Fatima on October 17th. His own personal devotion to Our Lady 'untier of knots' places him in a Marian tradition of the richest and most ancient heritage. 

It is, however, his last words in the recent apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium that are noteworthy for us in the parish (emphasis mine):

"At that crucial moment, before fully accomplishing the work which his Father had entrusted to him, Jesus said to Mary: “Woman, here is your son”. Then he said to his beloved friend: “Here is your mother” (Jn 19:26-27). These words of the dying Jesus are not chiefly the expression of his devotion and concern for his mother; rather, they are a revelatory formula which manifests the mystery of a special saving mission. Jesus left us his mother to be our mother. Only after doing so did Jesus know that “all was now finished” (Jn 19:28). At the foot of the cross, at the supreme hour of the new creation, Christ led us to Mary. He brought us to her because he did not want us to journey without a mother, and our people read in this maternal image all the mysteries of the Gospel. The Lord did not want to leave the Church without this icon of womanhood. Mary, who brought him into the world with great faith, also accompanies “the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus” (Rev 12:17)".

On one level, there seems nothing new here; this is all traditional stuff. For those with eyes to see, however, Pope Francis has taken a significant step along a path begun by Bl. Pope John Paul, but curiously sidestepped by Pope Benedict. He has taken up the Conciliar motif of Our Lady as 'Mother in the order of grace' (Lumen Gentium 61) and perhaps he will develop it...

...Will Pope Francis will be the one to draw this to its conclusion and  proclaim a fifth and final Marian dogma? By formally proposing to all the faithful that Mary is Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate, he would: 1) clear up all apparent ambiguity in the eyes of other Christians concerning Mary's true place, 2) reveal the true nature of Our Lady's agency as a model for all Christians and 3) unlock her maternal power for the world by effectively directing all people to her maternal mediation. It would in turn have a historical impact that echoes and even surpasses that of the preceding four Marian dogmas: "The papal definition of Mary as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix and Advocate will bring great graces to the Church." (Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta)  

This is of note to us in the parish through the significance of our patronal title. The Holy Father's words quoted above provide a useful summary of the meaning of "Our Lady of All Nations".

Dominic's ordination to the diaconate

 One of Fr Chris's younger brothers was ordained a deacon yesterday at St John's Seminary, Wonersh (near Guildford). It was a beautiful occasion with all the other seminary staff and students present.

It is at this Mass that the candidate makes the promise of celibacy and obedience to the bishop. Dominic is set to be ordained a priest at Clifton cathedral (Bristol) in July; he belongs to Clifton diocese. Please remember him in your prayers.

St Michael's School trip to Rome 28th - 31st October

Our expedition comprised 16 students, 2 teachers and one priest. We left for Bristol airport when the superstorm was threatened but with people's prayers we only encountered clear skies and roads.

We stayed near St Peter's, which was excellent in some ways, but meant quite a bit of walking all the way to the Circus Maximus and Colosseum - not to mention the Pantheon and Trevi fountains. Unlike the adult pilgrimage in September, no-one got lost the whole time!

 

This is where the Holy Father leads the Stations of the Cross each Good Friday (although we now know that probably no Christians were martyred actually in the Colosseum).

 Although we had to get up early for the papal audience and had to wait for a couple of hours, this is how close we got!

On our last day, the inspirational Sr Emanuela (from Wigan) of the new religious order of the missionaries of divine revelation gave us a free guided tour of the vatican museums, showing us how certain artists tried to teach great truths of our faith.