Presence of Blessed Virgin is an initiative from God says papal envoy
Archbishop Henryk Hoser, appointed as special envoy to Medjugorje by Pope Francis, celebrated his first Mass in St James church on Saturday evening.
In his homily, spoken in French, the traditional diplomatic language of the Church, the Polish prelate said, “Let us pray for peace because the destructive forces are immense, the arms race is on the rise, people are torn apart, families are torn apart, societies are torn apart. We need an intervention from heaven! And the presence of the Blessed Virgin is this type of intervention. It is an initiative of God. And so, I would like to encourage and comfort you as a special envoy of the Pope.
“Protect the world with peace through conversion of the heart; the greatest miracle of Medjugorje is the confessions here. The sacrament of forgiveness and mercy. It is a sacrament of the Resurrection. I thank all the priests who come to confess here, about fifty today, in the service of the people.
“I have spent many years in the West where confession has disappeared and personal confession no longer exists except here and there. The world dries up, hearts are closed, conflicts multiply.
“[...] Let us be the apostles of the good news of conversion and also of peace in the world. [...] Whoever touches the love of God, his Mercy, sees something irresistible and cannot resist.
“We are witnesses of what saves life. We are witnesses of what saves the world. The Franciscan friars said that there are pilgrims who come from more than 80 countries from around the world. This call can spread to the ends of the Earth as Christ said by sending his apostles.
“Mary is with us and shares in our suffering and pain. She helps us, helps to bring us to repentance and to feel its spiritual presence. We call her, especially here, the Queen of Peace and invoke this title when we pray the litany of the Blessed Mother. [...] She participates in the reign of her Son. [...] We thank her for her constant presence with each of us. The Queen of Peace brings peace to our hearts, and so to our families, our country and society.
“You are therefore witnesses to Christ’s love of his Mother’s love and the love of the Church. May God bless you and strengthen you. Amen.”
Msgr Henryk Hoser will give a press conference at Medjugorje on Wednesday, April 5, at 4:00pm.
Msgr Hoser joins pilgrims for an early Sunday morning visit to Apparition Hill.
photo: Darko Pavicic
The papal envoy’s greeting
“We are in the place that gathers many pilgrims. Let us all together pray for the intercession of the Mother of God, so she would open our hearts to the grace of God, so that she would open our minds to the grace of God, to the teaching of the Church and to the Word of God.
Our life is the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. We seek for God’s truth, God’s truth about ourselves, but we also seek for the truth about man.
This place of prayer is now famous in the whole world, and the Holy Father is very interested in the development of the devotion of faithful that takes place here. This is also part of my mission – to evaluate the pastoral activity that takes place here and to suggest some guidelines that should accomplish in the future.
I come from the country that has special devotion towards the Mother of God. Mary is the queen of Poland.
My wish to all of you is to make Mary the Queen of your lives. For the time being, this is just what I shall say”.
• medjugorje.hr
