Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “In His discourses to the disciples, Jesus often insisted on the importance of His ‘return to the Father,’ the crowning of His entire mission. Indeed he came into the world to bring man back to God, not at the level of ideas -- like a philosopher or a master of wisdom -- but in reality, like the shepherd who wants to bring his sheep back into the sheepfold.” With these words, the Holy Father Benedict XVI addressed the crowds of faithful that filled St. Peter’s Square on the morning of Sunday, May 4, for the recitation of the Regina Caeli. The Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension was celebrated on the previous Thursday in the Vatican and in other countries, in accordance with the Acts of the Apostles, which narrates the event as having occurred 40 days after the Resurrection.
“This ‘exodus’ towards the heavenly homeland, that Jesus Himself lived - He did so completely for us,” the Holy Father said. “It was for us that he came down from heaven and for us that he ascended into heaven, after having been made like us in all things... God in man -- man in God: Now this is not a theoretical truth but a real truth. For this reason, Christian hope, founded in Christ, is not an illusion but, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, 'in him we have an anchor of our life,' (Heb 6:19) an anchor that penetrates heaven, where Christ has gone before us.”
Focusing on the meaning of Mary’s presence among us, the Holy Father recalled that “Turning our gaze to her, like the first disciples did, we are immediately directed to the reality of Jesus: The Mother points to the Son, who is no longer among us physically but awaits us in the Father's house. Jesus encourages us not to remain looking up at the sky, but to unite ourselves together in prayer, invoking the gift of the Holy Spirit. In fact, only to those who 'are born again from above', meaning from the Holy Spirit, is opened the entrance to the Kingdom of heaven, and the first one 'born again from above' is precisely the Virgin Mary.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 5/5/2008; righe 25, parole 366)
