We publish below the homily that H.E. Mons. Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State, spoke yesterday, July 13, 2024, during the Eucharistic Celebration in the Basilica of Suyapa in Honduras, a place where Hondurans venerate the patron saint: “Let us pray to her tirelessly to May it protect the Church, the Pope, this nation and the entire world”:
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Homily of H.E. Mons. Edgar Peña Parra
Dear brothers in the episcopate,
Dear Lord Apostolic Nuncio,
Dear Monsignor Giacomo, Secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature in Honduras, dear priests, deacons, seminarians, men and women religious,
distinguished civil authorities and members of the Diplomatic Corps,
brothers and sisters, all in the Lord:
Today, full of gratitude, I return to this which is my home with a task that fills my heart with joy: to convey to all of you the warm greeting that His Holiness, Pope Francis, addresses to you as Father and Pastor. Last Tuesday, when I went to say goodbye and informed him of this visit, he strongly recommended that I convey to the Honduran people his affection and constant memory in his prayers and that I ask all of you, in front of our Mother of Suyapa, to please pray for him.
After four years of my service in the Apostolic Nunciature, the last time I had the opportunity to come as a pilgrim to this beautiful Basilica of Our Lady of Suyapa was in 2011. From the first time I felt welcomed by the maternal presence of Our Lady in this your home and also surrounded by the affection of you, dear Honduran sisters and brothers, who from the beginning made me feel like family. Now, after more than a decade, full of emotion, moved and grateful, I return to this Country that I consider my home and, particularly, to this sacred place, to entrust the Church to the loving intercession of Saint Mary, Mother of God. , the Holy Father and his ministry as universal pastor, as well as myself and the beloved Honduran people.
As we have just heard in the Gospel, after the Angel’s announcement “Mary set out on her way” (Luke 1:39), she did not remain static, paralyzed and astonished, evoking the meaning of the message received, but she quickly set out on her way. . The path of Mary is also the path of the Church. Mary, like the Church, even without stopping walking, also knows how to stop. For this reason, this sanctuary of Suyapa – which occupies a special place in the hearts of all the wonderful people of this country -, like each of the Marian shrines that are scattered throughout the geography of the world, are like an intermediate stop on the path, a bend in the route of life, where Mary awaits us all to comfort our tired and aching hearts, and alleviate the sufferings that are never lacking in the hard journey of existence.
In her infinite love, God has arranged for each Marian sanctuary to be a corner where the Virgin, attentive and vigilant, welcomes her children and reminds them that she continues to accompany them on her pilgrimage to the heavenly homeland. Therefore, the journey of Mary is also the journey of the Church. Mary is a mother who walks with the Church, she is also a mother, our mother. For this reason, all of us, Pastors and faithful, sons and daughters of the Church, are in this sanctuary of Suyapa venerating and honoring Mary, our Mother and Mother of God, patron saint and protector of the beloved Honduran people; and we beg him to show us the Way, which is his Son Jesus Christ, begging him with the beautiful and ancient invocation “iter para tutum”, to protect our path, to make it safe and to help us not stray into paths of darkness and shadows of death.
Mary, through the mystery of the Annunciation and the Visitation, is the example that all of us are invited to follow. She, who first welcomed Jesus into his existence and then shared what she had received, is the model of every believer. Every time we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, He becomes flesh in our lives and urges us to welcome and honor Him in the flesh of the poorest and most abandoned.
Dear brothers and sisters, in this time sadly marked by the horror of war, the mistreatment of our common home, the scandalous and arrogant poverty that hits so many of our neighbors, let us implore the intercession of Our Lady of Suyapa so that, just as May she, we too, welcome into our hearts the one who is the Word, and bear witness to the entire world that only Jesus Christ is the living center that can give meaning to life, and the source to sustain true brotherhood founded on justice, peace and reconciliation.
Today, coming to the end of my visit to the beloved Honduran people, I would like to renew to you once again the best wishes of the Holy Father and encourage you to tirelessly plead with the Patroness of Honduras to protect the Church, the Pope, this Nation and the entire world. And with loving maternal care, may we continue to care for and protect the mission that God has entrusted to each of us, and may we commit ourselves to being witnesses of the Father’s merciful love – the source from which joy is always born and reborn -, builders of fraternity and collaborators of the Lord in the building of a civilization founded on love.
So be it.
