Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I would like to reflect on the phenomena of Our Lady and devotion to her. We know the importance of Mary for the New Evangelization of the Church. In her is found that new spirit that the church needs to face the problems of today and to build the world of tomorrow. She, in this way, is a perfect model of the Church of the future.

And Mary is the model of this pilgrim Church towards the Father. She, in her whole being, is oriented towards the eternal, the divine, towards the supernatural reality that is God. Mary lives and works only for God and his interests.

But she is not like a highway sign that only indicates the way, the direction - without accompanying the pilgrim. Just as the natural mother leads her children to God, so Mary does so as an authentic Mother. And if she draws us to herself, she does so only because God wills it, and because in her maternal heart she can lead us to the Heart of God, in an easier, faster and safer way.

But on this path to God I am not alone. Because a great multitude of brothers and sisters follow the same route. The whole Church is on the move, it is on the march towards God. We are a Church of pilgrims, seeking our heavenly homeland.

For this reason, the Second Vatican Council defined the Church of today as a people on the move, a pilgrim people.

The Church is not only a pilgrim people: she is also a people of hope. Because hope is the virtue of pilgrims. Hope is the most forgotten virtue of Christians, but the most necessary to follow the path of life.

Hope keeps the hearts of Christians afloat. We do more than tread water when there is a hope, and when one is overcome by fatigue, it is because they run out of hope.

As long as there is life, there is hope. To live is to have desires, to live is to yearn for something and to strive to achieve it. We are always waiting for something: to succeed in exams, promotion at work, home ownership, a bigger TV. And when one of these hopes is dashed, then we feel bitter and hurt.

However, the funny thing is that we also feel empty, when we obtain what we wanted so much. Before we believed that with this thing we would be fully happy, that we would not lack anything else. But as a hope is fulfilled, other longings arise and we feel that we are still not satisfied.

We always desire something new, because the old, what we already have, has not filled us. The fever of the new has become a disease for today's man.

It turns out that there is nothing purely earthly that can fill and satisfy our hearts. Our longing is too great for this world. Our hunger for happiness will only be satisfied in God and with Him alone. Without Him, the human heart will remain eternally unsatisfied.

Our Lady glorified in heaven is a sign of true hope and promise for us. In her we can see prefigured our own destiny, the happy ending of our transfiguration.

She teaches us to live not for the things of this world, to make our life on earth a journey to the Father's House. Mary lived like this and today is body and soul in the House of the Father-God. She, already in heaven, makes certain - the hope of our life - the promise of heaven for us.

Dear brothers and sisters, our life, like that of Mary, must be a journey to heaven, a turning towards heaven, a living in the company of God, of the Virgin Mary, of all the Saints.

And then death will mean only a gift for us. All earthly barriers will fall away, It will be like a door that opens to total communion with God, Mary and the Saints, finally home in Our Father's House.

Gratefully yours in Christ,
Fr. Paul Ybarra, C.S.C., V.F.
Pastor

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