Vatican City, June 30, 2014 (Zenit.org): The Pope has urged young people to fix their eyes on the Blessed Mother as they decide which vocation to choose.
Speaking to a group of young people from the diocese of Rome in the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens on Saturday, he told them that as they contemplate vocations, not to forget or ignore their mother Mary, who remains at their side.
Just as Mary accompanied her son, the Pontiff said, she “accompanies us,” and is with young people as they decide their vocations. “When a Christian says to me, not that he does not love the Virgin, but rather that it does not come to mind to look to the Virgin or to pray to the Virgin, I feel sad,” the Pope said, adding that “a Christian without the Virgin is an orphan.”
Francis commented that in today’s provisional society, it could be easy to lose sight of the definitive.
But he warned against this, saying, “We are afraid of the definitive. And to choose a vocation, any vocation, including vocations that involve a ‘state’ such as marriage, consecrated life, the priesthood, one must choose with a view to the definitive. This is contrary to the culture of the provisional. It is a part of the culture in which we must live in this time, but we must live through this and conquer it.”
The Pontiff explained that a Christian needs two “mothers:” the Church and Our Lady. He added that “to ‘test’ a true Christian vocation, it is necessary to ask oneself, ‘How is my relationship with these two mothers?’”
“This visit to the Virgin is very important in our lives,” he stressed, adding that “she accompanies us also, in our definitive choice, the vocational choice,” just as she did for her Son, on his vocational path, which was “so hard and so painful.”
After encouraging all present to sing the “Salve Regina,” the Holy Father concluded by imparting his blessing to all the young people and their families, asking them to pray for him. (D.C.L.)
