WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.280 Well, we've arrived in Medjugory for the second part of our pilgrimage. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:09.359 And today the Church celebrates the birthday of our Blessed Virgin Mary. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.320 How fitting to be here in Medjugory. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:24.000 The Church celebrates only three birthdays in the entire liturgical year the birth of Jesus Christ, the birth of Saint John the Baptist, the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.480 Why Mary, you may ask? 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:32.399 Well, because when Mary was born, the world did not know it, but something had changed. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.119 There were no trumpets, no crowds, no royal announcement. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:43.759 Somewhere in a small home to an ordinary family, a little girl was born. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.079 The world saw only a child. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:50.320 God saw the woman who would give her flesh to his son. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:56.399 The world did not notice her birth, but heaven knew that salvation was drawing near. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:08.319 That is often how God begins his greatest works quietly, hidden from view, in places the world considers insignificant, out of the way. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:10.959 Nazareth was such a place. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:12.879 Bethlehem was such a place. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:18.799 El Govre in Cuba was such a place, and Medjugori was such a place. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:25.120 God has a habit of choosing places that do not appear on the world's map of importance. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:31.200 He chooses fishermen, shepherds, children, poor families, forgotten villages. 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:37.200 Then he does something there that causes the world to pay notice, to pay attention. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:43.040 We've come to Mejigory because something extraordinary is happening here. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:45.120 People are going to confession. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:47.200 Families are being reconciled. 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.000 Priest and religious vocations are being born. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.719 Hearden hearts are returning to prayer. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:57.680 People who had forgotten Jesus Christ are discovering him all over again. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.439 Real conversions. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.879 And these are not rumors, these are facts. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:05.599 These are fruits that we can see. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.759 And Jesus told us by their fruits you will know them. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:14.080 But we have to understand something essential about Mary. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:18.240 She never gathers people around herself so that they will remain with her. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:21.520 No, Mary always takes us to Jesus, her son. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.000 Her entire entire life says what she said at Cana. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.879 Do whatever he tells you. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.280 The grace of Mejigory is not meant to remain here. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:48.319 Mary desires that we carry it home with us into a deeper life of prayer, a more honest encounter with Christ in confession, a greater willingness to forgive and a renewal love for the Eucharist. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:54.800 The way we live when we return home will reveal what this pilgrimage has done with us. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:01.039 Mary has brought us here for one reason, to lead us more deeply to her son. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:03.840 Nothing else is by chance. 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:09.360 For those of us who are Cuban, this feast carries a profound meaning. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:16.560 Today we honor our Lady of Charity, Nuestra Signora de la Caridad del Core, the mother and patroness of Cuba. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:20.879 Her image was found upon the waters by three humble men. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:26.159 Once again, Mary appeared not in a palace, but among the poor. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:36.479 She came into the suffering history of a people and remained with them through slavery, through war, through exile, through communism, separation, and through loss. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:41.439 Generations of Cubans have stood before her and prayed for freedom. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:44.159 Mothers have brought their children to her. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.199 Exiles have brought their tears. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:53.360 Families divided by geography and politics have whispered before her the name of Cuba. 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:57.520 Today here in Mejigori we carry Cuba to marry. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.639 We pray for a free Cuba, but more than politically free. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:08.319 We pray for a Cuba free from fear, from hatred, from vengeance, from despair. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:10.319 We pray for the healing of its people. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.680 We pray for families separated across the waters. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:17.279 We pray for those who stayed and those who left. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:24.879 We pray in a special way for the Cuban people who are right now suffering and suffering greatly. 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:35.839 And we pray for this country too, for Bosnia, Herzegovina, the land that also knows war, division, communism, bloodshed, and all the long work of reconciliation. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:42.480 Here it is here that the Blessed Virgin Mary is honored as the Queen of Peace. 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:46.000 In Cuba, she's honored as the mother of charity. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.399 But peace and charity belong together. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:49.920 They go hand in hand. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:58.240 There can be there can be no lasting peace without charity, and there can be no genuine charity that refuses the work of reconciliation. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:03.920 Perhaps that's what and why God has brought us here on this day. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:11.920 We came carrying our prayers for Cuba, our families, our parish, our country, and the private burdens within our hearts. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:19.600 Mary receives them all, but she will not allow us simply to place those burdened at her feet and walk away unchanged. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:23.199 She asks us to place ourselves there too. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:30.720 So today on her birthday, perhaps the greatest gift that we can give Mary is not another promise, but a surrender. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:36.800 Mother, lead me to your son, show me what must change in me. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:45.519 Teach me to pray, teach me to forgive, teach me to trust, make my heart a place where Christ can be born again. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:54.079 The birth of Mary reminds us that God's greatest works often begin very quietly, hidden. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:09.759 Perhaps something is beginning here today, perhaps the conversion of a family, perhaps the healing of an old wound, perhaps the return of someone to confession, perhaps a new vocation, or even the renewal of our faith. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:14.879 Perhaps even the beginning of the Cuba for which generations have prayed for. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:26.240 The world may not see it yet, we may not completely understand it yet, but neither did the world understand what has begun on this day when Mary was born. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:37.439 God begins quietly, he begins in forgotten places, and when one heart truly says yes, heaven has somewhere to begin. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:46.720 Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Lady of Charity, Queen of Peace, take us by the hand and lead us to your Son. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:56.720 Teach us to trust as you trusted, to love as you loved, and to say with you from the depths of our hearts that it be done according to your word. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:57.680 Amen.