Homily of Charles Cardinal Bo At Our Lady of Lourdes Celebration… “Our Mother Challenges Us To Receive The Spiritual Gifts”
YANGON (ZENIT) — Here is the text of the homily given by Charles Cardinal Bo of Yangon (Myanmar) at the 113th Celebration of Our Lady of Lourdes at the National Marian Center of Nyaung Lay Bin. Over 100,000 pilgrims were present at the Mass on February 28, 2015.
Cardinal Bo spoke to a crowd of estimated 100,000 pilgrims. This text was made available to Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries, www.churchinneed.org.
ZENIT News Agency published this text. All rights reserved.
+ + +
Dear Pilgrims of our Dear Mother from all over Myanmar:
We have come here to seek her merciful maternal assistance. We, as human beings, live with limitations and disabilities. It is right to seek assistance from the one who can assist us, who is stronger than we are. Mary is one whom we can trust because she is our loving Mother.
From the day she responded to the despair of the host in the Marriage at Cana, our Mother Mary has responded with great compassion for all of us. She [gave] the most compassionate message in the apparition of Fatima, the healing apparition of Lourdes, the upholding message of Velanganni, the call to repentance message of Our Lady of Salette. In our own land, the lady of Nyaung-Le-Bin is emerging as a mother of mercy, mother most holy. I welcome you to rest awhile in her all-quenching shade. We pray for good health, greater prosperity, and greater peace for this nation. Welcome to all of you.
More than any material needs, our mother challenges us to receive the spiritual gifts every time. We as Myanmar Church have much to thank her for this year. Much happened to the Myanmar Church last year. Our Lady, Mother of God and mother of all of us, never failed to accompany the little flock of Myanmar.
Today we stand at her feet with the gratitude and joy of the children of God. Our coming together . . . was celebrated during the 500 years Jubilee. This was followed by a call to serve the universal Church as a cardinal which was given to Myanmar Church. We stand here in gratitude. Hail Queen full of Grace!
She has shown herself with three faces:
As Madonna with the child: full of protection for her child. We have seen many pictures Madonna — she appeared with the child in Velanganni. She is mother of humanity and the Church has recognized her as the Mother of God. Even on the cross Jesus offered His Mother as the mother of the whole humanity. Today we are one with Jesus in celebrating the feast of our mother.
Her second face is the face of a Mediator. She has also showed herself as the perpetual mediator for humanity. When human beings suffer she is the first one to mediate. We have seen that in marriage at Cana (John 2). In all her apparitions all over the world: Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe, and La Salette she has shown herself as the most merciful mediator with God. At the darkest moments of humanity Mary appeared as a morning star guiding our journey toward God.
Her third face is the face of Mother of Sorrows. Many of you were in Rome recently and saw the great sculpture, Pieta by Michelangelo. It is a very moving sight of a mother holding her son with inexplicable sorrow. This mother is also our mother of contemplation in this season of Lent. Thousands of mothers of sorrows are standing in our country. It is so urgent and important to accompany such sorrowful mothers.
Our Mother lives so close to us that she might be able to come to our aid at anytime of need. She is not indifferent to our misery. Throughout the history she intervenes in times of trouble and desolation.
It is always a joy to be told that a child resembles her or his mother. Both the child and the mother are happy to look alike. We as children of a loving Mother Mary — let us try to resemble her in her acts of compassion and love. May I invite you “to serve the least, to seek the lost, and to save the destitute!”
When someone is complete and comfortable, he fails to see the needy, fails to hear the cry of those who suffer. As the Holy Father says, “a selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference” (Pope Francis, Lenten Message, 2015).
Our Holy Father Pope Francis in his lenten message calls us to substitute this indifference with compassion and proposes three major biblical passages. May I reflect on them and share them with you.
We are one Body of Christ — to know one another suffering (1 Cor. 12:26). The Lord is compassionate and merciful (Psalm 86:15 and 103:8). Be compassionate to one another (Eph. 4:32).
There is no egoistic Christianity. To be Christian means being part of the community. We are not worshiping a God who is alone. We are worshipping a God who is living a community — the Trinity. We are, as St. Paul indicates, one body, and if any part of the body is suffering, all the parts of the body know that suffering.
We cannot forget millions of our youth living as unsafe migrants in the nearby countries, we cannot forget the farmers who are losing their lands to companies, we cannot forget the thousands who live in the internally displaced communities. In this season of Lent we are called to feel for one another.
Just as our Mother Mary stood at the cross, she stands today at the gates of the IDP camps, in fellowship with the tears of those of innocent girls trafficked to nearby countries. We should not forget the millions of children who do not go to school. We should not forget the thousands of farmers who lost their lands in the last two years to big companies.
These are the parts of the body that are in pain. Our Pope calls us to feel one with these parts and feel the pain. Christ felt our pain and was willing to become the Lamb of God.
At this juncture, let Catholic Church in Myanmar be challenged! Let us do what we can do to ease the pains and sufferings of our children, our sisters and brothers.
Identify our suffering brothers and sisters: Where is your brother? (Gen. 4:9).
In the great parable about Lazarus and the rich man, Jesus tells all of us that the rich man’s great sin was not to recognize the Lazarus who came every day hungry. There is widespread indifference to human suffering today. The Pope calls it the “globalization of indifference.”
This indifference starts with our refusal to see the poor and suffering Lazarus in our communities: People who suffer spiritually, financially, and emotionally. The call of Lent is to identify Lazarus living among us (Luke 16:19-39).
I am so glad and so grateful for the generosity of our people. They donate a lot to the churches. Some parish churches have no more space to put up the statues donated by the parishioners. It is good to donate such things to the church. However, please do not neglect the hungry on your doorstep.
May I urge our parish communities to reach out to all people — regardless of race and creed. Let us go to the peripheries, to the fringes of the society. Let our Christian communities be a haven to the weary and the destitute.
Let us not live with indifference. Let us not challenge God, like Cain, the murderer: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God will reply, “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper! You have the duty to take care of him!”
Make your hearts firm (James 5:8).
MIt is easy to say that the Church should be compassionate and the parish communities should be more sensitive to the needy. Let us live this compassion in a particular manner. Unless the individual member moves, nothing will go forward.
When God calls Moses, He says: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying for help on account of their taskmasters. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. . . . And I have come down to rescue them. . . . .So now I am sending you to Pharaoh, for you to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:7-10).
God wants to save His people. He did His saving work through Moses. And now He wants to continue His saving work through each one of us. He is compassionate through you. He is sending each one of us to our needy sisters and brothers. Please do not ask to whom! We come across a great number of needy daily.
Let us make our hearts firm because we need a firm heart to love and give ourselves to the needy. A compassionate heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart (cf. Pope Francis, Lenten Message, 2015). Indeed, it is not easy to be merciful and compassionate. We may encounter ungrateful poor, proud and demanding needy. We need a strong heart to persevere in mercy and compassion.
Let us imitate the wounded heart of Mary our Mother. She is the Mother of Sorrows, Dolores. The heart that accommodated the suffering of the humanity, the heart that holds you and me in protection from eternal damnation. Today Apostle James urges us: “Let our hearts be firm. Let our hearts be big enough to accommodate the suffering humanity.”
Here are seven swords that pierce our Lady’s heart today in Myanmar: Our Lady of Sorrows in Myanmar and her seven swords:
The crony capitalism that owns almost everything.
The refusal to solve conflicts through meaningful dialogue, but [rather through] the use of violence.
The unjust land laws that continue to rob poor of their lands.
The Mafia economy of drugs and human trafficking.
Ongoing discrimination against ethnic communities and minorities.
Destruction and looting of natural resources by companies.
Lack of educational and employment opportunities for the poor.
During the ceremony of the consistory, the Holy Father whispered in my ear, “Be strong! Courage! Myanmar is a little flock. Yet, God is with you! Go ahead!” And in his public talk he explained what it means to serve with love. What I heard from him is the invitation to love and compassion. The love he pointed to me is:
Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited, it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offense or store up grievances. Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes (1 Cor. 13:4-7).
Dear beloved children in Mary, let us walk in the way of this love! This is the way of love that Jesus and Mary live. With our acts of love, mercy, and compassion let us prove that we are faithful children of our Mother Mary. Treasuring her maternal love in our hearts, let us walk the way of love with joy and courage!
