The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States wraps up his three-day visit to Croatia with an appeal to foster solidarity and be builders of peace.
By Adriana Masotti
As part of his three-day visit to Croatia, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, presided over Mass on 31 May marking the Feast of Our Lady of the Stone Gate, patron saint of Zagreb.
In the homily, he invited the faithful to grasp God's work even amid today's many difficulties and "destructions," just as the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth did, who believed and hoped before seeing the fulfilment of God's promises.
Our Lady, source of hope
Archbishop Gallagher recalled that the image of Our Lady of the Stone Gate emerged intact from the ruins of the gate at the eastern entrance to the ancient city of Zagreb, following a fire.
For its "afflicted and disoriented" inhabitants this was a source of amazement and hope. "Today, in the world there is no shortage of scenes of tragic destruction," the archbishop said, some caused by natural phenomena, but also "by that human senselessness that Pope Francis has long defined as 'world war three fought piecemeal' which is turning into a 'global conflict.'" Therefore, he added, it is important to look again at that image.
God's gift of life
Archbishop Gallagher reflected on the message of the reading for the liturgy that tells of the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth, both unexpectedly future mothers and highlighted how motherhood disrupts their plans but is welcomed with joy.
And turning his thoughts to today's mothers he said: "May Our Lady of the Stone Gate accompany all those women who receive in their wombs the seed of a new life, even when it comes unexpectedly," and may they see it as "a gift from God." He continued that this does not always happen in our societies, but for believers, life must always be promoted and defended.
Go forth!
The Gospel says of Mary that "she arose and went quickly" to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Mary thus becomes the image of that "outgoing Church" so desired by the Pope. "May she be a model for us as well," reiterated Archbishop Gallagher.
"May the Lord give us the strength to rise, go out, and meet those who suffer the consequences of adverse fate or human malice. Let us rise, quickly. We cannot remain idle. There is an urgent need to console the afflicted, encourage the desperate, and be peacemakers,” he said.
Paschal hope
Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah had waited for years for the gift of a child: "They had perhaps given up hope" when the Lord listened to their prayer, fulfilling their hope.
In Mary's "yes" to God's will and in Elizabeth's transformation of resignation into joy, lies the logic of Easter. "When we know how to give up our plans to abandon ourselves to the Creator's will, whether happy or sad, it is the Paschal mystery that works in us and reveals itself in all its power," the archbishop emphasized.
Solidarity
Mary and Elizabeth praise the Lord not when everything happens according to their desire, but in the certainty that God will fulfill his promises. This is an invitation for us, he said, "to see God's work already present in the world, albeit in embryo."
Archbishop Gallagher invited believers to open their eyes, for example, to the solidarity that arises every time in the face of a tragedy or "human ferocity."
"Let us not only look at the bombs that fall and the destruction they bring," he said. "The Lord, as he preserved Our Lady of the Stone Gate, always saves the good, a small flock, which sometimes becomes large, like the army of those who risk their lives to relieve the pain of victims or to prevent new tragedies."
Builders of peace
We need the perspective of the two protagonists of today's liturgy, the archbishop said, "to see God's work already in action, amid the 'wickedness of the world.'"
To Our Lady of the Stone Gate, invoked in Croatia as the "beginning of a better world" as Saint John Paul II recalled during his visit to the country 30 years ago, Gallagher prayed for the gift of patience for everyone.
"As She revealed herself as a sign of hope during a tragedy," he concluded, "may she also make us witnesses of the resurrection, despite everything, to praise God with our lives and to be, even now, in a world cloaked in darkness, beacons of light and builders of peace."
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