People ‘thirsting for Christ’ at procession in Brazil, bishop says

In his homily, Bishop Flávio Giovenale held up Mary as the faithful disciple who, like her son, served others.

About 50,000 faithful took part in the closing procession for the novena to Our Lady of Glory in Brazil on Aug. 15. The local bishop, Flávio Giovenale, said the large turnout reflects the faith of the people, who are “thirsting for Christ.”

“This multitude is saying: We want spirituality, we want Jesus, and we love Our Lady because she leads us to Jesus,” the bishop told the website Juruá 24 Horas.

“Our Lady is like a mother who takes us to school; the teacher — the master — is Jesus, and Our Lady leads us to him,” he said.

The devotees walked about two miles in a procession lasting nearly two hours. Holding candles, they followed the image of Our Lady, praying and giving thanks.

“We came to give thanks for the harvest and for our family’s health. Being here among so many people sharing the same purpose is something indescribable,” farmer Renilson Fox said to news website G1.

“We spend the whole year waiting for this moment,” veterinarian Douglas Vasconcelos told G1. He said that for him, this “is a day to renew our faith and give thanks for so many graces received.”

Mary is our ‘prototype’

“Today, we celebrate Our Lady of Glory, who is already there [in glory], a gift from God,” Giovenale said during the Mass at the Cruzeiro do Sul cathedral prior to the procession. The bishop recalled Jesus’s words: “I am going to the Father’s glory, and after I prepare a place, I will return and take you with me.”

“We say that at the end of time, we will all rise again and be reunited in body and soul to live in heaven, body and soul. But for Our Lady, Jesus chose to make an exception, a gift. In his freedom, he said: ‘Our Lady was the first to say yes to me; she will also be the first to rise again,’” he explained.

The bishop recalled that the Dormition of Mary, although not found in the Bible, has been a tradition “since the early years” of Christianity. It says “that Our Lady fell asleep in the Lord and Jesus came and took her, body and soul.”

“She is there in heaven, body and soul, as the first Christian, the first to say ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord,’ and the first to rise again, body and soul. She is, as it were, our prototype,” he said.

In his homily, Giovenale said that before attaining glory, Mary served, and Christians must follow her example to reach the kingdom of heaven.

“We’re going to walk in procession, why? Because Mary — after receiving the angel’s announcement that she would be the Mother of the Savior, and after saying, ‘I am the servant of the Lord’ — what did she do? She went to serve Elizabeth,” he said.

“To serve, to be Christians, to be a faithful people, we can’t afford to slack off. Jesus promised us happiness, not ease. It requires effort; it requires saying, ‘I want to serve,’ just as Mary did,” he said.

The bishop recalled that it was Jesus who said, “I came into the world not to be served, but to serve.”

“Mary was the one who, in so many ways, anticipated this, because she is the first to be faithful to Jesus,” he added.

Giovenale cited the theme of this year’s novena to Our Lady of Glory: “Our Lady of Glory, Mother of the Faithful People.”

“If we want to be faithful to Jesus, faithful to God, we must imitate Mary — to journey forth and go serve others,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Digital, the Portuguese-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.