Mary Consoling Sign of Our
Hope
(Message delivered by His Eminence Jaime L. Cardinal Sin,
D.D., Archbishop of Manila, on the occasion of the Rosary
Exhibit at the PNB Complex, Pasay City on 15 August 2003
at 10:00 am.)
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
It is with joy that we open today the Rosary Exhibit. Our
opening is very timely for we also celebrate today the Solemnity
of the Assumption of Our Lady. It is very important to understand
why we hold this exhibit. This exhibit is not simply a display
of Marian images and articles for devotion. This project is
not meant for aesthetic purposes only. Rather, we seek that
every faithful who comes here will have a deeper understanding
of Mary’s role in our salvation history. Thus, allow
me in a few words to relate the message of today’s celebration
with our exhibit.
Jesus Christ destroyed death! Christ’s definitive
victory ever death shines out in Mary, assumed into heaven
at the end of her earthly life. In the Virgin’s triumph,
the Church contemplates her whom the Father chose as the true
Mother of his Only-begotten Son. This is why Mary, as the
liturgy points out, is a consoling sign of our hope. In looking
to her, carried up amid the rejoicing of the angelic hosts,
the whole of human life, marked by lights and shadows, is
opened to the perspective of eternal happiness. If our earthly
pilgrimage is under the sign of uncertainty and strife, the
Virgin assumed into heavenly glory assures us that we will
never lack divine help. Death is not the last word but the
passage to life and heavenly bliss. Today a great sign appears
for us in heaven: the Virgin Mother! Used to looking at earthly
realities, we are invited in this exhibit to lift our gaze:
to heaven, which is our definitive homeland, where the Blessed
Virgin awaits us. This message consoles us who are constantly
tempted by material interests and concerns.
This exhibit, like today’s feast, hopefully will teach
us that the passage to life is the encounter with love. Eternal
happiness is in store for those who toil for truth and justice
and do their utmost to follow Christ. In Mary the promise
is fulfilled: the Mother is blessed and we her children will
be blessed if, like her, we listen to and put into practice
the Lord’s words.
May the Virgin, whom today we contemplate in splendor at
her Son’s right hand, help us to live believing “in
the fulfillment of the Lord’s words.” May she
enlighten us so that we may understand that every human life
is not extinguished in a handful of dust, but is called to
a destiny of eternal happiness.
O Mary, “the joy of heaven and of earth,” watch
over and pray for us and the whole world, now and for ever.
Amen
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