Mary is listening to our prayers in heaven, says Pope on feast of Assumption
In a Catholic Herald article: Benedict XVI says Mary is not on an ‘unknown galaxy’, but is near to each one of us. Mary is with God and is disposed to listen and react to our cries for help, He said, joining God in heaven, Mary ‘does not draw away from us, does not go to an unknown galaxy’, but becomes ‘even closer to each one of us’, the Emeritus Pope said during a homily for the feast of the Assumption. Mary’s assumption, offers believers ‘a sure hope: God expects us, he awaits us. We are not moving toward a void.’ ‘And going to that other world, we will find the goodness of the Mother [Mary], we will find our loved ones, we will find eternal love,’ Pope Benedict said that Mary’s closeness to God ensures her closeness to all God’s creatures. ‘Mary, totally united with God, has a heart that is so big that all creation can find a place there,’ a fact illustrated by the votive offerings people around the world leave at Marian shrines and statues when their prayers are answered, he said.
Mary’s presence in heaven shows that ‘in God there is room for man’, she demonstrates that ‘in man there is room for God,’ and when God is present within individuals and they allow God to influence the way they act in the world, the world becomes a better place. Many people today speak of their hopes for a better world, he said. ‘If and when this better world will come, we do not know. But one thing is certain: a world that moves away from God will not become better, but worse. Only the presence of God can guarantee a better world.’ The Christian hope for a better world and for finding a place with God for eternity ‘is not just yearning for heaven’, but allowing one’s desire for God to ‘make us untiring pilgrims, increasing our courage and strength of faith, which is at the same time the courage and strength of love’, he said
