PRAYING WITH THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

FEAST OF OUR LADY, MOTHER OF AFRICA   

Acts 1:12-14; Lk 1:46-55; Lk 1:26-38 

The Source of Peace and Harmony

The Church in Africa sets aside this last day of April to celebrate the feast of Our Lady, the Mother of Africa. As we celebrate the feast, we reflect on the situation of Africa as a continent. Remembering various parts of Africa that are still engrossed in war, poverty, hunger, diseases, and civil unrest. All these maladies are due to human sins and greed. A large population of people in many nations of Africa suffer and die daily because the few who control their wealth and power do not know how to use them to make the lives of their people better. We suffer many personal and social evils because we have failed to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. Many who enter the Church or profess Christianity do so for their own personal gains and not to truly serve God and do his will. As we noted in our previous reflection, the source of sin and evil in ourselves and our societies is our prioritizing of self. No peace and harmony can ever exist when the self is prioritised over God and his divine love for us. We must wholeheartedly convert to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, who reveals man to himself and saves all who come to him in sincere conversion. The Son of Man invites us to listen to his voice and follow him as his sheep. All who follow him enjoy peace and harmony within and without.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is presented to us by God as the sign of human redemption from sin and evil. The Woman and her Son constitute the seed of individual and collective peace and harmony with God. The Holy Spirit, the bond of peace and source of communion, first dwelt in her fully and gendered the Son of Man in her. Her role in the formation of the early Church as a communion of peace and harmony is highlighted in the first reading. Her prayer with the disciples of the Lord, after his ascension into heaven, prepared them for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. “All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” Praying with the Blessed Virgin Mary is a sure hope of restoring peace and harmony within each of us and among people. Hence, it was not fortuitous that she was found in the midst of the disciples of Jesus Christ, who were fearful and disillusioned after the ascension of the Lord. The result of their prayer with the Blessed Mary Virgin was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the mystical body of Jesus Christ, the Church of God. Since then, the Church has preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere and formed a universal communion of believers, extending the kingdom of God on earth to all nations. This is the mission of the Church in Africa.

When we stay close to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer of faith and hope in God’s blessings, we also join her in singing of the mighty works of God for us. “The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy his name! His mercy is from age to age, on those who fear him. He puts forth his arm in strength and scatters the proud-hearted.” This is her personal song of praise to God Almighty, who raised her from nothingness to become the mother of his Only Begotten Son in his human nature. Even the angel Gabriel, who brought the Good News, understood the singular privilege ever accorded to a human person. “Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” This unique privilege of the Blessed Virgin Mary enables her presence, wherever she is, to precipitate supernatural grace and blessings for the overthrow of self, sin, and evil, and the restoration of peace and harmony. Let us pray with her for inner individual peace.  

The same desire for peace started the celebration of her as the Mother of Africa. It is said to have started in Algiers when Antione-Adolphe Dupuch was appointed the bishop of Algiers in 1838, to minister to the French colonists living in Algeria. He tried to restore Christianity to the population, which was mostly Muslims, with some natives. Their hostility prevented him from building a church. He went back to France for finance. He brought back a bronze statue of the Immaculate Conception, which he proclaimed the Protectress of both the Muslims and the natives in 1840. The crowned bronze statue, enshrined in the new basilica at Algiers, became known as Our Lady of Africa. Pilgrims, Muslims, Christians, and natives, who go there to pray in communion with Mary, have received many miracles. Let us pray with the Blessed Virgin Mary for the restoration of peace and harmony in Africa.

Let us pray: Lord, as we honour the glorious memory of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Africa, we ask that by the help of her prayers we too may come to share the fullness of your grace and live in harmony and peace as one family. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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