Homily | 4 September - Solemnity of the Our Lady of Consolation and Cincture

Dear brothers: Grace and peace!

This Pauline greeting acquires marian and Augustinian for us. Among the many marian devotions, we find the precious invocations of Our Lady of Peace and Our Lady of Grace, a title with historical significance and also particularly Augustinian. Who is the Grace and the Peace that Mary presents to the world? It is Jesus her Son.

The works of our father St Augustine are full of teachings about Grace and Peace; it is sufficient to recall the tracts on grace or Book XIX of De Civitate Dei, an authentic “tract on peace”. For this reason we can rightly attribute to St Augustine not just the epithet by which he is known, Doctor gratiae, but also the title of Doctor packs.

But how is the grace of God, which brings us to true peace, made manifest? In the superabundant manifestations of God, among which the feast that we celebrate today, as Consolation. Mary, Mother of Consolation, holds in her arms the Consolation that consoles the world, and consoles us on our pilgrimage, our walking together at this particular time of our story, which is so in need of consolation and peace.
With regard to the text of the Visitation , told in the gospel for this solemnity, Pope Leo XIV expressed himself in the following way on the occasion of the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary:
“On this day, of the meeting with her cousin Elizabeth, is contained the secret of any other day, of any other time” […] The surprising fecundity of the sterile Elizabeth confirmed Mary in her trust; it anticipated the fecundity of her ‘yes’, that is prolonged in the fecundity of the church and of all humankind, when the renewing word of God is welcomed. That day two women met in faith, afterwards they remained together for 3 months to help each other, not just in practical things, but in a new way to read history”.
Observing our world, so marked by wars, conflicts, polarisation, inequalities and many injustices, we often feel powerless. How can we console so many people and situations? How can we proclaim a Consolation that really has the power to console the world?

Mary’s attitude, when she hurried to meet Elizabeth, and that of Elizabeth, who welcomed her, show us how to give the consolation that the world needs. To go out from ourselves, to connect with existential and geographic margins, and to welcome, without judgment or condemnation those who are within our circle of action, is already a gesture of consolation, it is already the beginning of a transformation, that mystically impacts the world.

Sometimes we only look at a limited scope of our actions, that we can see. We need to broaden our gaze to discern the horizon beyond the mountains of our fragility and powerlessness. The happiness that was born from the meeting of the two fertile wombs anticipated the meaning of the encounter of so many hearts fertile with love, mercy, goodness and solidarity that, no doubt, can also be ours, so in need of consolation and joy that only the God of all consolation can give.

The Prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Lord “consoles his people and has pity on the poor” (Is 49, 13). And that his great love never forgets or abandons the work of his hands. “The father of mercies and the God of all consolation consoles us in all of our afflictions, so that we might be able to console those who are suffering because of any tribulation, with the same consolation that we have received from God” (Rom 1,3-4).
Each one of us here represents our circumscriptions, houses, vicariates, provinces, central government… we have behind us, perhaps, an innumerable multitude of people who are agents of peace, of closeness, of welcome. By the light of faith, we believe that the experiences of little gestures of love radiate, like concentric circles, to other people, communities and institutions.

I repeat the message of the Pope: “Today, too, poor and persecuted Christian communities, the witnesses to kindness and forgiveness in conflict zones, those who work for peace and those who build bridges in a world that has been destroyed, are the joy of the church, they are her permanent fecundity, the first fruits of the Kingdom that is coming. Many of them are women, like the elderly Elizabeth and the young Mary; Easter women, apostles of the resurrection. Let us allow ourselves to be converted by their witness!”

The visit of God, that also comes as consolation, is not ostentatious. It is humble, discreet, and often silent. This reality is experienced by us too, and by the majority of people of faith. The greater part of our lives is lived in the rhythm of small gestures, in which, like a little seed, the mystery of the Kingdom is laid out. It is what we might call “spirituality of the everyday” in which, like Mary, we often hold many things in our heart.
Like her, may we too praise the Lord every day and proclaim that his goodness lasts right through life. And so, centring ourselves always on Jesus, may we show to everyone that he is the Consolation, the true Hope of the world, who fills us with peace and joy. May it be so.
Amen