Holy Mass in the Sanctuary of Lujan (11 June 1982)

On Friday, 11 June 1982, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in the Sanctuary of Luján, Buenos Aires, where he invoked “the Mother of Christ and Mother of each of us to present to her Son the current longing of our aching hearts thirsting for peace.”

Dear brothers and sisters,

1. In front of the beautiful basilica of the “Pure and Clean Conception” of Luján we gathered this afternoon to pray next to the altar of the Lord.

We want to ask the Mother of Christ and Mother of each of us to present to her Son the current longing of our aching hearts thirsting for peace.

To her who, since the 1630s, has maternally accompanied here all who approach her to implore her protection, we want to beg today for encouragement, hope, fraternity.

Before this blessed image of Mary, to which my predecessors Urban VIII, Clement XI, Leo XIII, Pius from Rome.

2. The liturgy that we are celebrating in this holy place, where the sons and daughters of Argentina come on pilgrimage, puts the cross of Christ on Calvary in view of everyone: “They were next to the cross of Jesus his Mother and the sister of his Mother, Mary of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.”

Coming here as the pilgrim of difficult times, I want to read again, in union with you, the message of these well-known words, which sound the same in different parts of the earth, and yet differently. They are the same at different times in history, but they assume a different eloquence.

From the top of the cross, as the supreme chair of suffering and love, Jesus speaks to his Mother and speaks to the Disciple; He said to the Mother: “Woman, behold your son.” Then he said to the disciple: “Behold your mother.”

In this sanctuary of the Argentine nation, in Luján, the liturgy speaks of the elevation of man through the cross: of the eternal destiny of man in Christ Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary of Nazareth.

This destiny is explained with the cross on Calvary.

3. Of this eternal and highest destiny of man, inscribed on the cross of Christ, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians testifies: “Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven".

We see this Christ at the center of the liturgy celebrated here in Luján; elevated on the cross: surrendered to an ignominious death.

In this Christ we are also elevated to a height to which only by the power of God can man be elevated: it is “spiritual blessing.”

We owe elevation through grace to the elevation of Christ on the cross. According to the eternal designs of paternal love, in the mystery of redemption one is realized through the other and in no other way: only through the other.

It is therefore carried out eternally, since the love of the Father and the gift of the Son are eternal.

It is also carried out in time: the cross on Calvary effectively signifies a specific moment in the history of humanity.

4. We have been chosen in Christ “before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him.”

This choice means eternal destiny in love.

He has predestined us “to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ.” The Father has given us in “His Favorite” the dignity of his adopted children.

Such is the eternal decision of God's will. In this is manifested the “glory of his grace.”

And the cross tells us about all this. The cross that today's liturgy places at the center of the thoughts and hearts of all the pilgrims, gathered from different places in Argentina at the sanctuary of Luján.

Today the Bishop of Rome is with them, as a pilgrim to the particular events that have filled so many hearts with anxiety.

5. I am therefore with you, dear brothers and sisters, and together with you I reread this profound truth of the elevation of man in the eternal love of the Father: truth witnessed by the cross of Christ.

“In him we have been heirs. . . so that as many of us as we hope in Christ may be to the praise of his glory.”

Let us look at the cross of Christ with the eyes of faith and discover in it the eternal mystery of the love of God, which the author of the Letter to the Ephesians tells us about. Such is, according to the words we have just heard, “the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

The will of God is the elevation of man through the cross of Christ to the dignity of son of God.

When we look at the cross, we see in it the passion of man: the agony of Christ.

The word of revelation and the light of faith allow us to discover the elevation of man through the passion of Christ. The fullness of his dignity.

6. Hence, when with this gaze we embrace the cross of Christ, the words spoken, from the top of that cross, to Mary take on even greater eloquence for us: “Woman, behold your son.” And to Juan: “Behold your Mother.”

These words belong as if to a testament of our Redeemer. He who with his cross has carried out the eternal plan of God's love, who restores to us on the cross the dignity of adopted children of God, He himself entrusts us, in the culminating moment of his sacrifice, to his own Mother as children. In fact, we believe that the word “behold your son” refers not only to the only disciple who has persevered alongside the cross of his Master, but also to all men.

7. The tradition of the Luján sanctuary has placed these words at the very center of the liturgy, to whose participation it invites all pilgrims. It is as if he wanted to say: learn to look at the mystery that constitutes the great perspective for the destinies of man on earth, and even after death. Also know how to be sons and daughters of this Mother, that God in his love has given his own son as a Mother.

Learn to look this way, particularly in difficult moments and in circumstances of greatest responsibility; Do so at this moment when the Bishop of Rome wants to be among you as a pilgrim, praying at the feet of the Mother of God in Luján, sanctuary of the Argentine nation.

8. Meditating on the mystery of the elevation of each man in Christ: of each son of this nation, of each son of humanity, I repeat with you the words of Mary:
Great things has been done for us by the Mighty One (cf. Luke 1, 49) “whose name is holy. / His mercy is poured out from generation to generation on those who fear him. / He displayed the power of his arm and scattered those who were puffed up by the thoughts of his heart... / he welcomed Israel, his servant, remembering his mercy. / According to what she had promised to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Sons and daughters of the People of God!

Sons and daughters of the Argentine land, who are gathered in this sanctuary of Luján! Give thanks to the God of your fathers for the elevation of every man in Christ, Son of God!

From this place, where my predecessor Pius

And You, Mother, listen to your sons and daughters of the Argentine nation, who accept as addressed to them the words spoken from the cross: Behold your son! Behold your Mother!

In the mystery of redemption, Christ himself entrusted us to You, each and every one of us.

We have come to the sanctuary of Luján today in the spirit of that dedication. And I - Bishop of Rome - also come to pronounce this act of offering to You of each and every one.

In a special way I entrust to you all those who, due to recent events, have lost their lives: I commend their souls to eternal rest in the Lord. I also entrust to you those who have lost their health and are in hospitals, so that in the trial and pain their spirits may feel comforted.

I entrust all families and the nation to you. May everyone participate in this elevation of man in Christ proclaimed by today's liturgy. May they live the fullness of faith, hope and charity as adopted sons and daughters of the Eternal Father in the Son of God.

Through your intercession, O Queen of peace, may ways be found for the solution of the current conflict, in peace, in justice and in respect for the dignity of each nation.

Listen to your children, show them Jesus, the Savior, as the way, truth, life and hope. So be it.

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