Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his catechesis on “Jesus Christ Our Hope,” saying love is the force that compels people, including the Blessed Virgin Mary, to share their faith in God with others.
Unable to read his prepared catechesis due to a cold, the Holy Father asked an aide to read his reflection on St. Luke’s Gospel account of the Visitation at his Feb. 5 general audience held inside the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall.
“The Virgin Mary visits St. Elizabeth, but it is above all Jesus, in his mother’s womb, who visits his people (cf. Lk 1:68),” he said. “Mary gets up and sets out on a journey, like all those who are called to in the Bible.”
During the audience, the pope explained that the “unlimited readiness” of the men and women of the Bible is “the only act” that enabled them to respond to God’s call, particularly during times of uncertainty.
“This young daughter of Israel does not choose to protect herself from the world,” he said. “She does not fear dangers and the judgments of others but goes out toward other people.”
Highlighting the need for people to know and feel loved by God, the 88-year-old pope encouraged Christians to be open to receiving God’s love, “a force that sets love in motion,” and, like the Mother of God, passing it on to others.
“Mary feels the push of this love and goes to help a woman who is her relative but also an elderly woman who, after a long wait, is welcoming an unhoped-for pregnancy, difficult to deal with at her age,” he said.
“But the Virgin also goes to Elizabeth to share her faith in the God of the impossible and her hope in the fulfillment of his promises,” he continued.
The Holy Father also praised the impact of Mary’s humility expressed in her hymn of praise, the Magnificat, in salvation history.
“Mary does not want to sing ‘out of the choir’ but to tune in with the forefathers,” he told pilgrims. “Mary sings of the grace of the past, but she is the woman of the present who carries the future in her womb.”
After asking pilgrims at the Vatican to pray for peace in Ukraine and for all countries at war, the Holy Father invited his listeners to also welcome Mary into their lives and to ask “for the grace to be able to wait for the fulfillment of every one of his promises.”
“By following her example, may we all discover that every soul that believes and hopes conceives and begets the Word of God,” he said.
By Kristina Millare
This article was originally published by the Catholic News Agency on February 5, 2025.
