Meditation

In today's Gospel reading for the solemnity, the angel Gabriel speaks three times to the Virgin Mary.

The first time, when greeting her, he said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). The reason for rejoicing, the motive for joy, is revealed in a few words: the Lord is with you. Brother, my sister, you can hear these words addressed to you today, as to each of us; you can make them your own each time you approach God's forgiveness, because there, the Lord says to you, “I am with you.” Too often, we think that Confession consists of going to God with our heads bowed. But it is not primarily we who return to the Lord; it is He who comes to visit us, to fill us with His grace, to fill us with His joy. To confess is to give the Father the joy of lifting us up. At the heart of what we are about to experience are not our sins; they are there, but not at the center. His forgiveness, that is the center. Let's try to imagine if our sins were at the heart of the sacrament: almost everything would depend on us, on our repentance, our efforts, our commitment. But no, at the center is He, who liberates us and sets us upright again.

Let us restore the primacy of grace and ask for the gift of understanding that Reconciliation is not primarily a step we take toward God, but rather His embrace that envelops us, astonishes us, and moves us. It is the Lord who, as with Mary in Nazareth, enters our home and brings a wonder and joy previously unknown: the joy of forgiveness. Let us place God's perspective first: we will rediscover the love of Confession. We need it, for every inner rebirth, every spiritual turning point, begins there, with God's forgiveness. Let us not neglect Reconciliation, but rediscover it as the Sacrament of Joy. Yes, the Sacrament of Joy, where the evil that shames us becomes an opportunity to experience the warm embrace of the Father, the gentle strength of Jesus that heals us, the "maternal tenderness" of the Holy Spirit. This is the heart of Confession.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, let us go and receive forgiveness. And you, brothers who administer God's forgiveness, be those who offer to those who approach the joy of this proclamation: Rejoice, the Lord is with you. No rigidity, please, no obstacles, no difficulty; open doors to mercy! Especially in Confession, we are called to imitate the Good Shepherd who takes his sheep in his arms and caresses them; we are called to be channels of grace who pour the living water of the Father's mercy into the dryness of hearts. If a priest does not have this attitude, if he does not have these feelings in his heart, it is better that he not go to confession.

For the second time, the angel speaks to Mary. While she is troubled by the greeting she has received, he tells her, “Do not be afraid” (v. 30). First, “The Lord is with you”; the second words: “Do not be afraid.” In Scripture, when God reveals himself to those who welcome him, he loves to say these words: “Do not be afraid.” He says them to Abraham (cf. Gen 15:1), he repeats them to Isaac (cf. Gen 26:24), to Jacob (cf. Gen 46:3), and so on, up to Joseph (cf. Mt 1:20) and Mary. “Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.” He thus sends us a clear and comforting message: as soon as life opens itself to God, fear can no longer hold us hostage. For fear does hold us hostage. You, sister, brother, if your sins frighten you, if your past troubles you, if your wounds do not heal, if your constant falls demoralize you and you seem to have lost hope, please, do not be afraid. God knows your weaknesses and He is greater than your failings. God is greater than our sins: much greater. He asks one thing of you: do not keep your weaknesses, your miseries, within you; bring them to Him, lay them in Him, and they will be transformed from causes of desolation into opportunities for resurrection. Do not be afraid! The Lord asks us for our sins. I am reminded of the story of the desert monk who had given everything to God, everything, and who led a life of fasting, penance, and prayer. The Lord asked more of him. “Lord, I have given you everything,” the monk said, “what is lacking?” “Give me your sins.” The Lord asks this of us. Do not be afraid.

The Virgin Mary is with us: she herself entrusted her anxiety to God. The angel's announcement had given her serious reasons to be afraid. He was proposing something unthinkable, something beyond her strength, something she could not have handled alone: there would have been too many difficulties, problems with the Law of Moses, with Joseph, with the people of her village, and with her community. All of this was a challenge: do not be afraid.

But Mary raises no objection. This “do not be afraid” is enough for her; it is enough for her that God reassures her. She clings to Him, as we want to do this evening. For we often do the opposite: we start from our certainties, and it is only when we lose them that we turn to God. The Virgin, on the other hand, teaches us from God, in the confidence that in this way everything else will be given to us (cf. Mt 6:33). She invites us to go to the source, to go to the Lord, who is the radical remedy against fear and the pain of living. This is what a beautiful phrase inscribed on a confessional here in the Vatican reminds us, addressing God in these terms: “To turn away from You is to fall, to return to You is to rise again, to abide in You is to exist” (cf. Saint Augustine, Soliloquium I, 3).

These days, news and images of death continue to flood our homes, as bombs destroy the houses of so many of our defenseless Ukrainian brothers and sisters. This heinous war, which has befallen so many and caused suffering for everyone, fills us with fear and despair. We feel a sense of powerlessness and helplessness. We need to be told, "Do not be afraid." But human comfort is not enough; we need the presence of God, the certainty of divine forgiveness, the only thing that removes evil, defuses resentment, and restores peace to the heart. Let us return to God, let us return to His forgiveness.

For the third time, the angel speaks. Now he says to the Virgin, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Lk 1:35). “The Lord is with you”; “Do not be afraid”; and the third words: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” In Scripture, when God reveals himself to those who welcome him, he loves. This is how God intervenes in history: by giving his Spirit. Because in matters that matter, our own strength is insufficient. We cannot resolve the contradictions of history alone, nor even those of our own hearts. We need the wise and gentle strength of God, who is the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of love, who destroys hatred, extinguishes resentment and greed, and awakens us from indifference. This Spirit gives us harmony, because he is harmony. We need God's love because our own love is precarious and insufficient. We ask many things of the Lord, but we often forget to ask Him what is most important and what He wants to give us: the Holy Spirit, that is, the strength to love. For without love, what will we offer the world? Someone said that a Christian without love is like a needle that doesn't sew: it pricks, it wounds, but if it doesn't sew, if it doesn't weave, if it doesn't unite, it is useless. I would even say, he is not a Christian. This is why we need to draw from God's forgiveness the strength of love, to draw from that same Spirit who descended upon Mary.

Because if we want the world to change, our hearts must first change. To do this, today, let us allow ourselves to be taken by the Virgin's hand. Let us gaze upon her Immaculate Heart, where God rested, the unique Heart of a human being without shadows. She is "full of grace" (v. 28), and therefore free from sin. In her, there is no trace of evil, and so, with her, God was able to begin a new history of salvation and peace. There was a turning point in history. God changed history by striking at the Heart of Mary.

And today, we too, renewed by forgiveness, knock on this Heart. In union with the bishops and faithful of the whole world, I wish to solemnly bring to the Immaculate Heart of Mary all that we are experiencing: to renew to her the consecration of the Church and of all humanity, and to consecrate to her, in a special way, the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, who venerate her as their Mother with filial affection. This is not a magic formula, no, it is not that; but it is a spiritual act. It is a gesture of complete trust from children who, in the tribulation of this cruel war, this senseless war that threatens the world, turn to their Mother. Like children, when frightened, who go to their mother to cry for protection. Let us turn to our Mother, casting fear and sorrow into her Heart, entrusting ourselves to her. It is to place in this limpid, immaculate Heart, where God is reflected, the precious goods of fraternity and peace, all that we have and all that we are, so that it may be she, the Mother that the Lord has given us, who protects and keeps us.

From Mary's lips sprang the most beautiful phrase the angel could convey to God: “Let it be done to me according to your word” (v. 38). This acceptance by the Virgin is neither passive nor resigned, but a living desire to cling to God, who “plans to prosper and not to harm” (Jer 29:11). It is the closest possible participation in his plan of peace for the world. We consecrate ourselves to Mary to enter into this plan, to place ourselves fully at the disposal of God's plans. The Mother of God, after saying her “yes,” embarked on a long journey, an ascent to the mountainous regions to visit her pregnant cousin (cf. Lk 1:39). She went with haste. I like to think that the Virgin went with haste; it is always so; the Virgin who hastens to help us, to protect us. May she take us by the hand today: may she guide us on the steep and arduous paths of fraternity and dialogue. May she guide us on the paths of peace.

PENITENTIAL CELEBRATION WITH ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Saint Peter's Basilica

Friday, March 25, 2022