(Vatican Radio) Jesuit Father Louis Jerome is currently in Sri Lanka reporting on the first leg of the Apostolic journey of Pope Francis to Asia which takes him to this island nation and then on to the Philippines on Thursday 15th of January.
At the end of the second day of this visit on January14th, Father Jerome asked his fellow Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi who heads the Vatican Press Office to highlight some of the events of the Pope’s second day there.
Listen to Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi:
Father Lombardi began by shining the spotlight on the canonisation mass of seventeenth century Oratorian Father Joseph Vaz which he described as the most important event of the day at a pastoral level. Father Vaz he said, is a model of evangelisation, who served the poor, the sick and more broadly healed the wounds of the people. Striking on this occasion he went on to say was the importance the Catholics present paid to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
In this interview Father Lombardi also highlighted the second moment of the day at the Marian Shrine of Madhu which he described as the most touching of the events on Tuesday from his personal point of view. It was he says a moment of prayerful devotion attended by over 300.000 people. One during which Pope Francis seemed visibly at ease and very ‘happy’ to be in this Marian shrine, the Mother of God he added is very near to his heart. Furthermore during this celebration attended by Sri Lankans from various linguistic groups the overall impression he remarked, was one of unity and harmony. And the presence there of Buddhist monks, enhanced the overall atmosphere of sincere reconciliation and love.
Beyond these two main events, in this interview Father Lombardi also pointed to conversion and forgiveness as inherent in all of the speeches or homilies delivered by Pope Francis in Sri Lanka. Not just for the Church but also more broadly in terms of society at large in this island nation.
Father Lombardi then spoke to Father Jerome of an event which recalled the inter-faith meeting on January 13th in Colombo. Pope Francis, he said is a man who believes in “personal encounters” and accomplished a further concrete sign of dialogue on Wednesday evening by visiting a Buddhist Temple.
A busy evening then as Father Lombardi recounted, as he also paid a courtesy visit to the former President of the nation as well as meet with the bishops of Sri Lanka to whom he expressed his gratitude for the growth of the mission in this land.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The Philippines is the country with more Catholics than any other across Asia, eighty- two million for the record. No wonder Pope Francis has chosen to meet with young people, the future of the country, in the nation’s capital Manila on Sunday 18th of January. He’s scheduled to do so at the stadium of the Pontifical and Royal University of Saint Thomas there, during a dedicated moment in which he will address the new generations together with their parents.
The last time a pope was here it was 1995 and young people were at the heart of this journey in terms of numbers as the event set a world record for the largest number of people gathered for a single religious celebration with five million people present. The pope you’ll have guessed was Saint John Paul II and the occasion was the 10th World Youth Day.
Listen to this sound picture relating to Saint John Paul II in a programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick :
Speaking to young people the Polish Pontiff used a beautiful image of continuity to inspire the millions of young people gathered around him for the occasion.
Two thousand years of Christianity he said, and the little community of the first disciples, like a tiny mustard seed has grown to be like a very big tree. This great tree he added, with its different branches, reaches all the continents, all the countries of the world, the great majority of which are represented here by the delegates.
John Paul II then addressed the Filipino young people using the image of this great tree: “On that tree, your country is an especially strong and healthy branch, stretching out to the whole vast continent of Asia. In the shade of this tree, in the shade of its branches and leaves, the people of the world can find rest. They can gather under its welcoming shade to discover, as you have been doing here during the World Youth Day, the marvelous truth which is at the centre of our faith: that the Eternal Word, of one being with the Father, through whom all things were made, became flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary.
He dwelt among us.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace (cf. Jn., prologue).
Through prayer and meditation, this evening Vigil is meant to help you to realize more clearly what the extraordinary “Good News” of salvation through Jesus Christ means for your lives. The “Good News” is for everyone. That is why the World Youth Day is held in different places.
It was a moment of dialogue during which Saint John Paul deployed his characteristic ability to successfully communicate with the young: ” My question is directed to each one of you personally. Are you capable of giving of your self, your time, your energies,your talents for the good of others? Are you capable of love? We love you, I love you, the Church and society can expect great things from each one of you if you are capable of love!”
And on Sunday January 18th while in Manila Pope Francis will surely enjoy the same success when he speaks to young people twenty years on. Certainly no one doubts his natural ease when it comes to communicating with people.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Travelling with Pope Francis on his pastoral visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines this week is the head of the Holy See press office, Fr Federico Lombardi. He talked to our colleague and correspondent for this trip, Fr Louis Xystus Jerome, about his impressions of the first events on the Pope’s agenda following his arrival in Colombo on Tuesday….
Listen:
Fr Lombardi said the first day of the visit was a very positive surprise for him as he had not expected such a wonderful reception for the Pope. He said the atmosphere with the new president, following the peaceful elections in Sri Lanka, is “very positive with expectations of something new in the sense of reconciliation” and the rights of minorities. The Pope, he continued, brings encouragement and inspiration, so that the president is right when he says the visit is also a blessing for him at the very beginning of his mission
Fr Lombardi also commented on the interreligious encounter on Tuesday with a large presence of Buddhist monks who did not attend a similar meeting during the visit of John Paul II to the island twenty years ago. He noted that there were more than a thousand religious leaders at the meeting with Pope Francis and he said this had a real impact in a society like Sri Lanka where “people are attentive to the religious dimension”. The Pope comes as a Christian leader, in harmony with the Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim leaders on the island and this “is something historic for the people here”.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis arrived at the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, Wednesday, where he greeted over 500,000 faithful who had gathered to hear him speak about the importance of the shrine during the almost three decades long civil war. The shrine in the northwest of the island is an importanat place of pilgrimage for people of the different ethnicand religious communities in Sri Lanka, and is seen as symbol of reconciliation in the post-conflict period.
In his words at the shrine, Pope Francis said just as Mary never left the side of her Son on the Cross, so she never leaves the side of her suffering Sri Lankan children as they seek to return to a peaceful existence. Through the intercession of Oue Lady of Madhu, he prayed that all people may find inspiration and strength to build a future of reconcilliation, justice and peace in the country.
Please find below the full text of the Pope’s Marian Prayer at the Madhu Shrine.
Madhu Shrine
14 January 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are in our Mother’s house. Here she welcomes us into her home. At this shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, every pilgrim can feel at home, for here Mary brings us into the presence of her Son Jesus. Here Sri Lankans, Tamil and Sinhalese alike, come as members of one family. To Mary they commend their joys and sorrows, their hopes and needs. Here, in her home, they feel safe. They know that God is very near; they feel his love; they know his tender mercy.
There are families here today which suffered greatly in the long conflict which tore open the heart of Sri Lanka. Many people, from north and south alike, were killed in the terrible violence and bloodshed of those years. No Sri Lankan can forget the tragic events associated with this very place, or the sad day when the venerable statue of Mary, dating to the arrival of the earliest Christians in Sri Lanka, was taken away from her shrine.
But Our Lady remained always with you. She is the mother of every home, of every wounded family, of all who are seeking to return to a peaceful existence. Today we thank her for protecting the people of Sri Lanka from so many dangers, past and present. Mary never forgot her children on this resplendent island. Just as she never left the side of her Son on the Cross, so she never left the side of her suffering Sri Lankan children.
Today we want to thank Our Lady for that presence. In the wake of so much hatred, violence and destruction, we want to thank her for continuing to bring us Jesus, who alone has the power to heal open wounds and to restore peace to broken hearts. But we also want to ask her to implore for us the grace of God’s mercy. We ask also for the grace to make reparation for our sins and for all the evil which this land has known.
It is not easy to do this. Yet only when we come to understand, in the light of the Cross, the evil we are capable of, and have even been a part of, can we experience true remorse and true repentance. Only then can we receive the grace to approach one another in true contrition, offering and seeking true forgiveness. In this difficult effort to forgive and find peace, Mary is always here to encourage us, to guide us, to lead us. Just as she forgave her Son’s killers at the foot of his Cross, then held his lifeless body in her hands, so now she wants to guide Sri Lankans to greater reconciliation, so that the balm of God’s pardon and mercy may bring true healing to all.
Finally, we want to ask Mother Mary to accompany with her prayers the efforts of Sri Lankans from both Tamil and Sinhalese speaking communities to rebuild the unity which was lost. Just as her statue came back to her shrine of Madhu after the war, so we pray that all her Sri Lankan sons and daughters may come home to God in a renewed spirit of reconciliation and fellowship.
Dear brothers and sisters, I am happy to be with you in Mary’s house. Let us pray for one another. Above all, let us ask that this shrine may always be a house of prayer and a haven of peace. Through the intercession of Our Lady of Madhu, may all people find here inspiration and strength to build a future of reconciliation, justice and peace for all the children of this beloved land. Amen.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) An annual pilgrimage of European and English-speaking bishops to the Holy Land continues this week.
The bishops on Tuesday visited Hebron, close to where three Israeli teenagers were found dead last summer. They also visited the Cremisan Valley, where the local people are trying to protect their agricultural land from the infringement of Israel’s Separation Wall.
Lydia O’Kane is travelling with the bishops in the Holy Land and sent us this report.
Listen:
(from Vatican Radio)…