Archbishop Gallagher: In a world cloaked in darkness, let’s be builders of peace
The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States concludes his three-day visit to Croatia with a call to foster solidarity and be peacebuilders.
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 the mass on May 31 marking the feast of Our Lady of the Gate of Pierre, patroness of Zagreb.
In the homily, he invited the faithful to grasp the work of God even in the midst of the many difficulties and “destructions” of today, just as the Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth did, who believed and hoped for before seeing the fulfillment of God's promises.
Our Lady, source of hope
Bishop 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, it was a source of astonishment and hope. “Today, in the world, there is no shortage of scenes of tragic destruction,” said the archbishop, some caused by natural phenomena, but also “by that human insensitivity that Pope Francis has long defined as a “third piecemeal world war”, which is turning into a “global conflict”. Therefore, he added, it is important to review this image.
God's gift of life
Bishop Gallagher reflected on the message of the reading for the liturgy which recounts the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, both unexpected mothers-to-be, and highlighted how motherhood disrupts their plans but is welcomed with joy.
And turning his thoughts towards the mothers of today, he said: “May Our Lady of the Peter's Gate accompanies all these women who receive in their womb the germ of a new life, even if it arrives in unexpected”, and that they see it as “a gift”. of God.” He added that this does not always happen in our societies, but that for believers, life must always be promoted and defended.
Go ahead!
The Gospel says of Mary that “she got up and left in haste” to visit her cousin Elizabeth. Mary thus becomes the image of this “exiting Church” so desired by the Pope. “May she also be a model for us,” reiterated Bishop Gallagher.
“May the Lord give us the strength to stand up, to meet those who suffer the consequences of adverse fate or human malice. Let us rise quickly. We cannot remain idly involved. It is urgent to console the afflicted, encourage the despairing and be peacemakers,” he said.
Easter hope
Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah had been waiting for years for the gift of a child: “They had perhaps lost 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 renounce our plans to abandon ourselves to the will of the Creator, whether happy or sad, it is the paschal mystery which operates in us and reveals itself in all its power,” underlined the archbishop.
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. It is an invitation for us, he said, “to see the work of God already present in the world, although in an embryonic state.”
Bishop Gallagher invited believers to open their eyes, for example, to the solidarity that arises each time in the face of tragedy or “human ferocity”.
“Let’s not just look at the bombs falling and the destruction they cause,” he said. “The Lord, as he has preserved Our Lady of the Peter's 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 the victims or to prevent new dramas.”
Peace builders
We need the perspective of the two protagonists in today's liturgy, the archbishop said, “to see the work of God already in action, in the midst of the 'wickedness of the world.'
To Our Lady of the Stone Gate, invoked in Croatia as the “the start of a better world“As St. John Paul II recalled during his visit to the country 30 years ago, Gallagher prayed that everyone would have the gift of patience.
“As it revealed itself as a sign of hope during a tragedy,” he concluded, “may it also make us, despite everything, witnesses of the resurrection, to praise God with our life and to be, even now, in a world shrouded in darkness, beacons of light and builders of peace.
