The gaze of love

Pope Francis visited Sardinia on Sunday and celebrated Mass at the sanctuary of Our Lady of Bonaria. The text of his homily included this beautiful reflection:

"Today I have come among you, indeed we have all come together, to meet the gaze of Mary, because there, there is something like a reflection of the gaze of the Father, which made her the Mother of God, and the look of the Son on the Cross, which made her our Mother.

The gaze of Mary, the Pope tells us, retains something of the gaze of the Father and Son. To accept the gaze of the lover--as Mary accepted the gaze of God in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--is already to be changed, because it is in the gaze of the lover that the beloved recognizes her own value and dignity.

And to come to a truer recognition of our own worth is to more truthfully know ourselves. So we come to a knowledge of ourselves through the love we receive from others. That is why to fall in love, to go out of yourself by living for another, is the only path by which we finally become ourselves. This, precisely because we exist only in relation to others. I am who I am and become who I am only in relation to others--by being a son, a brother, a friend, a student, a colleague, etc. 

The ultimate love, the ultimate gaze that draws us most fully out of ourselves--and in liberating us from ourselves finally brings us to ourselves...this is the gaze of God, the love of God. It is through the gaze of God that the Church, that the soul, arrives at a recognition of her infinite value, her infinite potential...and arrives at a recognition of her vocation: to live with God. 

Pope Francis continues his reflection:  

And with that gaze Mary is looking upon us today. We need her tender look, her maternal gaze that knows us better than anyone else, her gaze full of compassion and care. Mary, today we want to say to you: Mother, look upon us! Your gaze leads us to God, your look is a good gift from the Father, who awaits us at every turn of our journey; it is a gift from Jesus Christ on the Cross, who takes upon Himself our suffering, our struggles, our sin.

How is it that Mary knows us better than anyone else? Because she knows our vocation, to live with God. And she knows the dignity and beauty of that vocation because she already beholds God as he is. 

Through Mary we can realize our vocation, by meeting the Father and the Son. And Mary is willing to give that love to us, since she knows that to be in love is to share that love with others, just as Christ's whole life was a sharing the love of the Father with the world. Amor tendit in alterum. Love tends toward another--love gives. We must strive to meet the source of all love:

And in order to meet this loving Father, today we say: Mother, look upon us! Let us all say it together: Mother, look upon us! Mother, look upon us!"

We cry out, too: Immaculate heart of Mary, pray for us!