OUR LADY OF PEACE

(Homily delivered by His Eminence Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, during the Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., U.S.A, marking the 10 th annual Filipino pilgrimage of Our Lady of Peace & Good Voyage, Birhen ng Antipolo, on June 23, 2007 at 2 p.m.)

In this celebrated National Shrine at the United States of America’s Capital, Washington, DC, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Mother, we gather as Marian devotees, as people, so beloved by God, in order to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, (Nuestra Señora de la Paz Buen Viaje) or for short, we call her Our Lady of Antipolo.

Three reasons bring us together today: Mary, the Mother of Jesus; Mary, Queen of Peace and Good Voyage; and Mary, the Patroness of people in mobility.

Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God. She is, as the Church has taught from the centuries, the theotokos, the God-bearer. It is from this title that Mary had all the privileges beyond the reach of other mortals. She is the virgin-mother who accepted Jesus from the very beginning, even before he had a face. Just pure promise: He is the Son of the most high, the Spirit will come upon her and the power of the most high will overshadow her. The child will be holy and will be called Son of God.” (Luke 1:35). All were promises; everything was description. This simple, unaffected woman believed and accepted that what the Angel said came from the Father. And her response was “I am handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38).

Mother of Jesus. But she is also the mother of John, the disciple. “Mother, behold your son; son, behold your mother” (John 19:26-27). John accepted the entrustment of Mary to his care. This was not a task only to care for the person of Mary. It was a prayer to take home a mother. Take care of her; she will take care of you. He (John) took the request of Jesus. "From that hour the disciple took her to his own house” (John 19:27).

From the relationship of Disciple to a Master, from loving Jesus, Incarnate Word of God, was born a mother for John or for any disciple. Loving Jesus, Son of God, we take home a mother. John was not an orphan that he needed a “stepmother”. It was Mary, widow and childless with the martyrdom of Her Son, who needed to be mother still in order to have children to care for. From that hour the disciple took her to his own house. We do more than take Mary home with us; we take her to be part of our life. With Mary as Mother we are brought beyond ourselves; we are able to reach out to Jesus. The good works she surrounded Jesus with in Nazareth - - - her simplicity, the unaffected meekness, her friendliness with neighbours, her unconditioned love for God, her ready understanding, her truthfulness, compassion and love - - - all these we take home when we accept Mary, Mother of Jesus, also as our Mother.

Second, Mary is the Lady of Peace and Good Voyage. Anyone who attends the devotions at the Shrine of Our Lady in Antipolo would notice that the Virgin stands on a boat when she is processed through the shrine and the surrounding church grounds. It is said that when the galleon trade between Acapulco, Mexico and Manila began, trading was done via exchange of products and merchandise between these two (Spanish) colonies in the seventh century. Those gigantic trading boat called galleons many times fell victims to diseases, pirates and typhoons in the supposedly placid Pacific Ocean. After repeated galleon tragedies the missionaries, who many times accompanied the boats, enshrined in the principal boat among the fleet, the image of Our Blesses Mother. Upon reaching ports from either side of the Pacific a religious celebration of Thanks always took place. And after repeated safe and peaceful crossings of the Pacific Sea, the Marian icon was given title Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje. She deserved the title of Queen of Good Voyage not only because of the pacific crossings, but mainly because She assures all that everyone will be safe in any voyage, any journey, any pilgrimage or trip for as long as the Way is Jesus, also the truth and the Life.

She also is the Mother of Peace, for in her Son Jesus, all sin, violence and hatred had been overcome, including even death. And after Jesus rose from the death and greeted everyone with “Peace be with you,” He meant this not for those who stayed with Him, but also for those who abandoned Him. Peace for Jesus meant that He did not even think of harm or embarrassment for anyone; for a man of peace everyone is a brother and a sister. For Mary, peace means she is the mother of Jesus, the fount of Peace.

Third, Mary is also the Patroness of People in mobility. There is today the interesting phenomenon of frequent, fast (accelerated) and distant mobility. Gone are the days when it took months to travel to and cross continents. With the aid of modern travel systems a trip is now calculated in a matter of hours. Some people change address for economic, social, political and cultural reasons. Some simply transfer for the simple joy of changing neighbourhood or perhaps the scenery. People travel and migrate for any reason; or so they think they travel on their own.

Two centuries ago, a series of potato (harvest) failures struck Ireland causing grave hunger, famine, disabilities and death for many. The tragedy caused many f the Irish (people) to bravely cross the Atlantic; they landed in America and helped change this Eastern Part of the United States. (Just imagine the United States of America without the Irish!) Italian and Polish seafarers did the same and so did many others to come; they intermingled and finally integrated with the people of this great nation. Mobility today is even frequent, fast and far reaching. And yet when people move on they bring with them long assimilated values (from lands where they were born); their culture and their faith in God accompany them. And believe it or not, something has to give or to be received through a “spirito-cultural” osmosis. In a world of grace this important interaction is called witnessing or the transforming influence of virtue.

Our compatriots - - - men and women - - - are today spread out in a nearly unimaginable Diaspora that covers all continents and nearly all the countries of the world. And wherever our kababayans (countrymen) are, they bring with them their holy fear and great love of God, the friendliness and personalism of an Asian, the industry of the simple and the hospitality of a believer. These native traits of our (Filipino) culture need not be lost to the Pinoy in Diaspora that covers nearly the whole world. He or she is not there - - - anywhere and/or everywhere - - - on his or her own choice or simple options. God has a need for our needs. He needs you and me to share with others what we call our treasured belief and what is good in our culture in order to receive from others what is best in theirs.

"The community of the faithful, endowed with the cultural riches of its own nation, must be deeply rooted in the people; families imbued with the spirit of the Gospel should flourish and be helped with suitable schools; groups and associations should be set up so that the spirit of the lay apostolate might pervade the whole of the society.” (AG, 15). This is how we are reminded of the teaching of the Church on forming Christian communities of people from varied groups. There is cultural wealth that rests on people; the people and their families need to be helped, to be accompanied and to grow. Anyone who moves on to another country needs help; then after more mutually enhancing relationship, they can also give help.

Mary, the Queen of Peace and Safe Voyage, was also a migrant. Once she was told to move on. She went on the road to another country, to a different culture. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and in a dream said, “Get up, and take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to destroy the child.” (Matt 2:13). Mary obeyed; she went to Egypt, an exile, a refugee. Mary, Mother of Jesus is also our mother, mother of people in great mobility, mother of emigrants. She constantly sought the protection of her Son.

She was always with her Son, making certain the child is safe from harm. But as the young Jesus emerged as a man and the teacher was eventually was the Lord, Mary’s needs as well as the needs of others were brought to Jesus. At Cana pointing to her Son, she clearly counseled, “Do whatever He tells you.” (John 2:5).

Go to Mary’s Son and do whatever He tells you to do. This is the only counsel of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Regardless of favours and miracles attributed to Marian apparitions and devotions the real essence of devotion to Mary is for Mary to bring us to Jesus. No Marian devotion ever ends with the Blessed Mother. True devotion to Mary leads us finally to encounter the Lord Jesus and to do His will.

Today as we honour Mary, the Mother of Jesus and under the title of Queen of Peace and Good Voyage, whoever and wherever we are, our journey will be blessed with peace only when Jesus us with us and we do His will.

+Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales
Celebration of the Peace of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Washington, DC
June 23, 2007