May Mozambique’s Scheduled General Elections Follow “God’s will, free from lies”: Catholic Archbishop

The Mozambican Archbishop added, “God desires that the people of Mozambique live in concord and peace, not in deceptive rhetoric that only serves to lull the less enlightened minds.”

“Our people have suffered enough because of persistent violence and bloodshed. Let us pray for peace to return to our hearts and our land,” the Local Ordinary of Nampula said during the August 18 belated celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary marked on August 15.

He said, “The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven represents the fullness of Our Lady, her arrival in Glory, to her full destination as a creature.”

“The fullness of the Virgin Mary and the completion of the work of Jesus Christ is not the result of her human cleverness,” the Mozambican-born member of the Consolata Missionaries (IMC) added. 

He cautioned against the practice of directing prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, saying that she has the role of an intercessor of humans to God; prayers should be directed to God, the Catholic Archbishop emphasized.

More in Africa

Religious Leaders in Mauritius Urge New Government to Address Country’s Pressing Challenges

Read the article

“We have seen and heard people say I will pray to the Virgin Mary. This way of speaking is not very correct because Christian prayer is directed to God, to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and only God hears the prayer,” Archbishop Saúre said.

He continued, “Mary tells us that she is the servant of the Lord, in whom God’s will should be fulfilled, as she confessed in the Annunciation of the Angel, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.’”

“Praying through Mary and asking her to pray for us, is what we say when we pray the Rosary,” the Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal Ministry in May 2011 as Bishop of Mozambique’s Tete Catholic Diocese said. 

He further said, “The intercessory role of the Virgin Mary began on earth when there was a lack of wine at the wedding at Cana, and she interceded with her Son, who transformed water into wine, which became known as the first miracle of the Son of God on earth.”

“Mary’s maternal intercession at the wedding in Cana well summarizes her intercession on our behalf and as our advocate, for she tells us, ‘Do whatever He tells you,’” Archbishop Saúre said.

“This is what the Virgin Mary says every day, and especially to us today in this pilgrimage: ‘Do everything Christ tells you. We learn from Mary the ways of prayer, the school of one who kept all things said about her son, pondering them in her heart,” the Local Ordinary of Nampula since June 2017 said during the August 18 Eucharistic celebration.

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate.