Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mongomo (Agenzia Fides) – “Just as Mary feels called to visit her cousin Elizabeth to see how she is in her state of advanced pregnancy and to assist her, I like to think that I too, as a co-worker of the Holy Father, come here to see you and to know you. With my visit I wish to express gratitude for the pastoral activity of all those committed to evangelisation and the service of charity for the good of the Church in Equatorial Guinea ”. These were the reasons given by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, for his pastoral visit to Equatorial Guinea (see Fides 26/05/2014), where, this morning, 31 May, in the Basilica of Immaculate Mary in Mongomo, he presided a solemn Mass for the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the closing of the Marian month of May in the presence of Equatorial Guinea’s President. The concelebrants were the Bishops and priests of Guinea, and the participants included men and women religious and the lay faithful.
“Maria, on this liturgical feast, offers herself to us as a true model of evangelisation and mission” said the Cardinal in his homily, and the Gospel of the day “shows us how Mary travels the path of her life with great realism, humanity and precision. Her way of living and of being can be summarised in three verbs : listening, deciding, acting; concepts that indicate a path for us as Christians called to announce the joy of the Gospel”.
Just as Mary listened to the voice of God through the Archangel Gabriel, “listening not distractedly” but profoundly and she pronounced her yes to the will of the Father, we too must learn how to listen to God who speaks to us, “and in this listening, we must read the daily situation, with attention for the people, the events which surround us, because the Lord is at the door of our life and he calls us in many ways”. Having listened, Mary decides immediately to visit her cousin Elizabeth, a decision which she carries out in obedience to the words of the angel and to charity . She carries with her, her most precious possession: Jesus.
“At times – the Cardinal continued – we too stop, listen, and reflect on what should be done. Perhaps we are certain of the decision to make and the deed to be done, but when it is arduous, we fail to act. Above all we fail to move immediately towards others to bring them our help, our understanding, our compassion, our charity; in order to carry with us, like Mary, the most precious possession we have received and we possess, Jesus and his Gospel, with our words and above all with the concrete testimony of our behaviour”.
After affirming that “we are all missionaries by virtue of the baptism received”, the Cardinal ended his homily in this way: “Brothers and Sisters, called to be missionary disciples, I ask Mary to teach us to listen and to obey just as she obeyed . And as we listen may she help us decide and act, achieving our mission with the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Our Lord ”. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 31/05/2014)
