Pope: ‘Mary is a mother who leads us by the hand to Jesus’.

At the general audience, the pontiff continued the cycle of catechesis on the Holy Spirit and his ‘bride’, the Church. The meditation dedicated to ‘Marian piety’: Our Lady is ‘a letter written with the Spirit of the living God’, which can be ‘read’ by all. The ‘yes’ to the Angel is an example of ‘availability combined with active readiness’, he said. At the end the invitation not to forget the countries at war.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - ‘To Jesus through Mary’.  Pope Francis drew attention to this saying from Catholic tradition this morning during his Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square.

‘Our Lady makes us see Jesus, and she opens doors for us, always. Our Lady is the mother who leads us by the hand towards Jesus,’ he added at the beginning of the catechesis that continues the cycle dedicated to the Holy Spirit and his “bride”, the Church.

‘Never does Our Lady signal herself, Our Lady signals Jesus. And this is Marian piety’. The theme of today's meditation was in fact ‘A letter written with the Spirit of the living God: Mary and the Holy Spirit’, the reference reading a passage from Acts (Acts 1:12-14), read in various languages to the numerous faithful gathered for the occasion.

Marian piety is a means by which ‘the Holy Spirit carries out his work of sanctification in the Church’ like others such as the Word of God, the Sacraments and prayer.

Quoting St Paul's words in which he emphasises that the Christian community is a ‘letter [...] not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts’, Pope Francis said that Mary ‘is also a letter written with the Spirit of the living God’. For this reason she can be ‘read’, approached, by all human beings. ‘Even by those who cannot read books of theology, by those little ones to whom Jesus says that the mysteries of the Kingdom, hidden from the wise, are revealed,’ the Pontiff continued.

From her ‘yes’ said to the Angel, Our Lady seems to say to God ‘Here I am, I am a writing tablet: let the Writer write what he wills, let the Lord of all things do with me’, he added.

In Jesus' time people wrote on waxed tablets, today there would be a blank sheet of paper in its place. That yes is ‘the pinnacle of all religious behaviour before God’, said a well-known exegete, as it expresses ‘unity active readiness’. From her it is therefore possible to learn that despite the many theological and theoretical disquisitions on the Church and holiness - which are often incomprehensible to most - it is good to remember ‘just two words that everyone, even the simplest, can pronounce on any occasion: Here I am and fiat’. ‘By His example and intercession He urges us to say our yes to Him too’.

Always, in every age, Christians and the Church find themselves in the situation of having to preach the Gospel, but often they remain waiting for a ‘power from above’. After Jesus' Ascension into heaven, the Holy Father recalled, the disciples were not alone. There were several women with them, including Mary. ‘Her presence is different and unique among them all. Between her and the Holy Spirit there is a unique and eternally indestructible bond that is the very person of Christ,’ he said.

St Francis of Assisi, quoted by the pope who first took his name, also said in a prayer that Mary is ‘daughter and handmaid of the most high King the heavenly Father, mother of the most holy Lord Jesus Christ, spouse of the Holy Spirit’. ‘Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, Bride of the Holy Spirit! No simpler words could illustrate Mary's unique relationship with the Trinity,’ the Bishop of Rome commented.

‘Let us learn from her to be docile to the inspirations of the Spirit, especially when He suggests we get up in a hurry and go help someone in need, as she did immediately after the angel left her.’

At the end of the audience, Pope Francis, during the greetings dedicated to the faithful and Italian-speaking pilgrims, asked not to forget the countries at war. ‘Brothers and sisters, the martyred Ukraine suffers. Let us not forget Ukraine'. Ukraine, which suffered this morning the first Russian raid on the capital Kyiv in weeks. And again: ‘Let us not forget Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, and so many nations at war. Let us not forget that group of Palestinians who were machine-gunned, innocent people'. He had already remembered these 153 victims of the Israeli attacks on two occasions last week. ‘Let us pray for peace, we need so much. So much need for peace. My blessing to all,’ the Holy Father concluded.