In the general audience on Wednesday, the Pontiff continued the jubilee cycle of catechesis on “Jesus Christ, our hope.”
Drafting (02/05/2025 15:43, Gaudium Press) On the morning of Wednesday, February 5, during the General Hearing held in the Classroom Paul VI, Pope Francis continued the jubilee cycle of catechesis on “Jesus Christ, our hope”, reflecting on the mystery of visitation.
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At the beginning of the audience, the Pontiff apologized to those present for not being able to read the catechesis: “I apologize because with this strong cold it is difficult to speak.” Francisco’s text had to be read by Father Pierluigi Giroli, Rosminian priest and employee of the State Secretariat.
THE MYSTERY OF VISITATION
Addressing the mystery of visitation, the Pontiff explained that “the Virgin Mary visits Santa Isabel; But it is mostly Jesus, in the mother’s bosom, who visits his people, as Zacarías says in his hymn of praise. ” After the astonishment and admiration for what the angel had announced him, Mary gets up and starts her way.
According to the Pope, “the only act with which man can correspond to God who reveals himself is that of unlimited availability.” This young daughter of Israel does not choose to protect from the world, does not fear the dangers and judgments of other people, but goes out to meet others.
Driven by love, Our Lady goes to meet her cousin Isabel, “an old woman who, after a long wait, hosts an unexpected pregnancy, difficult to face her age. But the Virgin also goes to the encounter of Isabel to share her faith in the God of impossible and her hope in fulfilling her promises. ”
Magnificat: A redemption song
The voice of the “full of grace” that greets Isabel causes the prophecy in the child that the old woman carries in her bosom and raises a double blessing: “Blessed between women and blessed the fruit of your belly.” And also a bliss: “Blessed are you believed, because what was told by the Lord will be fulfilled!”
Given the recognition of the messianic identity of her son and her mother’s mission, the Virgin does not speak of herself, but of God and raises a praise full of faith, hope and joy, a song that resonates every day in the Church during the oak of the eve: it is the singing of the Magnificat, the Pontiff underlines.
The Magnificat became “a redemption song, which has as its backdrop the memory of the liberation of Israel of Egypt.” The verbs are all in the past, impregnated with a memory of love that illuminates the present with faith and illuminates the future with hope: Mary sings the grace of the past, but she is the woman of the present who carries the future within her bosom. ”
Welcoming the presence of Mary in our lives
“The Lord, who leaned over the little Mary to carry out ‘great works’ in it and turn it into the mother of the Lord, sent an uninterrupted flow of merciful love ‘from generation to generation’ about the people faithful to the alliance, and now reveals the fullness of salvation in his son, sent to save the men from his sins, ”says the Pope.
“Easter arises as well as the hermeneutical category to understand all subsequent release, until the one reached by the Messiah in the fullness of the times.” Francisco concluded asking the Lord “the grace of being able to expect the fulfillment of each of his promises; and to help us to host the presence of Mary in our life. ” (EPC)
