Custos of the Holy Land praises Mary as model of peace

By Adriana Masotti

Father Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, celebrated Mass this morning, August 15, on the Solemnity of the Assumption, in the Basilica of the Agony on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. His homily reflected the dramatic circumstances that his country has been going through for ten months. His prayer addressed to the Blessed Virgin on his solemnity was a prayer for peace and for “a humanity finally reconciled.”

Attempted sabotage by the evil one

Father Patton recalled the passage from the Apocalypse that the Church offers again every year on this occasion, namely the vision in heaven of the woman who, in the desert, is about to give birth to her child, who is opposed by a dragon, endowed with a violent and terrible but still limited destructive force, ready to devour the newborn.

The Custos acknowledged that there are many interpretations, because he recognized that the woman is the image of the Church, but also of the Virgin Mary. While in the figure of the dragon, he continued, we see “evil in all its personifications and with all the names by which it has been called.”

The struggle described by St. John in the biblical story between the woman and the dragon, he says, is nothing other than the description of the “continuous attempt of the Evil One to sabotage the birth of this new world willed by God,” the birth “of a humanity that is no longer enslaved by violence, war, the market, cultural colonization, the commodification of people.”

Mary as a prophecy of our ultimate destiny

In Mary, taken up into heaven with her soul and body, continued the Custos of the Holy Land, we also glimpse our ultimate destiny, which is not “to be dragged and overwhelmed by conflicts”, but, on the contrary, he marvelled, “to be raised towards God and towards the new Jerusalem where there is room for all peoples, all languages ​​and all cultures”.

In this sense, Father Patton argued, Mary is a prophecy, as she was throughout her life, including when she lived only according to the will of the Father, when she trusted in God at the announcement of the angel and when she stood at the foot of the Cross “without being overwhelmed by the scandal of gratuitous evil, innocent suffering or unjust death.”

May the earth no longer be an object of conflicts and wars

Mary, singing the Magnificat, observed the Franciscan priest, was also a prophecy for our history.

This was evident, he noted, when she asked “that the proud be scattered in the thoughts of their hearts; that the mighty be cast down from their thrones, and that the humble be exalted at last…”

The Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton

It is in this spirit that we must “ask today for the gift of peace so that this prophecy may be fulfilled”, that is, that “those who want to impose their politics, their economy, their culture, their religion by violence, no longer have power”, but that “the little ones may live in peace and the hostages and prisoners may return to their families”.

“May the earth,” prayed the Custos, “no longer be an object of disputes and wars, but may it be received as a gift by the meek, who know how to welcome it as a gift and are ready to take care of it rather than occupy and conquer it.”

Invitation to recite the Supplication for Peace at the Assumption

On August 10, Father Patton had sent a letter to the friars of the Custody inviting them to dedicate the day of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary to supplication for peace in the Middle East and throughout the world, using a certain formula of prayer, for which he specifically requested ecclesiastical approval.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, invited the faithful to recite the same text at the same time, specifying that he himself would use it to ask for the gift of peace in view of the ceasefire talks taking place today, August 15, in Qatar.

In a letter addressed to the faithful of the Holy Land, Cardinal Pizzaballa wrote: “We all seem crushed by this present mixed with so much violence and, certainly, also anger…”

“After talking so much and doing everything we can to help and be close to everyone, especially those who are most affected, all that remains is to pray,” he said.