The Best Is Yet to Come: Mary’s Lesson

Dear friends, we live in a society that has clearly strayed from the right path. It is a broken society, suffering deeply because it no longer understands the meaning and purpose of life. Let me share three examples of this contemporary confusion, three voices that circulate in our culture and should make us reflect.

The famous journalist Eugenio Scalfari once wrote: "I do not believe that the role of the species to which I belong is superior to that of bees, ants, or sparrows". Think about that. What meaning does life have if we compare ourselves to an insect? Another well-known atheist, Paolo Flores d'Arcais, wrote chilling words in the magazine MicroMega: "We know who we are: a modified monkey, the result of many DNA transcription errors that occurred over time by pure chance... we know perfectly well that in the Cosmos there is no purpose whatsoever". And finally, the mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi openly declared: "I am only waiting for the dissolution of death, but I do not expect another life in a world that will not come".

It is enough to make one shudder. In the face of this anthropological darkness, we as believers might be tempted to give in to discouragement, but that must not happen! The darker it gets around us, the prouder we must be to hold the light in our hands, keeping the lamp of our faith held high.

Today in the world, there is an authentic obsession, an exaggerated cult of outward beauty. Pageants of all kinds are held, awards are given, and fortunes are spent on surgical procedures just to chase an artificial youth. But what is true beauty?

Allow me to answer with an episode I experienced firsthand when I was Archbishop in Loreto. In the afternoon, I was presiding over the Eucharistic procession in the shrine's square. At a certain point, I noticed that the people were no longer looking at the Blessed Sacrament; everyone was turning to look at the back of the square. When the celebration was over, I called the Capuchin friar who had helped me and asked: "What happened? Why was everyone so distracted?" Somewhat embarrassed, he told me: "To tell you the truth... some girls who are participating in the Miss Italy contest in San Benedetto del Tronto arrived in the square, and the Eucharistic procession was forgotten".

An idea came to me. I told the friar: "Go to the microphone right now and announce to the square that the archbishop is about do present the real Miss Italy". He looked at me astonished, but he obeyed. I saw the crowd rushing back from the main street, filling the square once again. At that point, I had a woman from Calabria come up to the steps—a mother who came to Loreto every year with her two sons who suffered from a severe mental handicap. She held them to her chest with such an immense and moving affection that it brought tears to one's eyes, and she kept repeating that the only thing she asked of the Lord was to die fifteen minutes after them, so as not to leave them alone. I told the crowd: "Look at this woman's face. This is the real Miss Italy! Here you see the face of pure love, lived out without shadows, of love that spends itself entirely for others". If we do not learn to recognize this kind of beauty over artificial masks, we will find ourselves captivated by empty idols that often hide monsters of selfishness.

Luke the Evangelist tells us that the angel Gabriel greeted Mary with the word Charis, which we translate as "full of grace," but which in Greek means precisely radiance, charm, beauty. Yet, the Gospel does not spend a single word describing Mary’s physical appearance; it does not tell us how her hair, nose, or eyes looked. Nothing. Because Mary’s beauty came from within: she was beautiful in her heart, beautiful in her soul, radiant because she was completely free from pride and selfishness. This is the beauty that does not fade, that crosses through death and triumphs in the Assumption.

In our materialistic societies, wealth is measured solely by money, possessions, and bank accounts. Every year, magazines publish the rankings of the richest people on the planet. I remember that the American magnate Jean Paul Getty, after his grandson suffered a terrible kidnapping, declared in an interview: "I can testify that there is no relationship between wealth and happiness". Yet, how many delude themselves into thinking the opposite!

Toward the end of his life, the journalist Tiziano Terzani wrote lucid words: "In recent centuries we have made immense progress, but only in one direction. We can fly like birds, swim underwater like fish, we go to the moon and send probes to Mars... Yet, with all this progress, we are not at peace either with ourselves or with the world. Man has never been so spiritually poor as he has since becoming so materially wealthy". We consume tons of tranquilizers every day in the face of broadcasted happiness!

When I went to Nazareth for the first time and stood in the Grotto of the Annunciation, which was Mary's home, I was deeply shaken. I thought: "Did She whom we call Our Lady, the Queen of the world, really live here?" That house was little more than a stable; there was no material comfort whatsoever. Mary had none of what we call material well-being, but she had God, and whoever has God has everything!

On May 22, 1997, I met Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta for the last time, a few months before her birth into heaven. When she shook my hand, I felt that her grip was incredibly weak, she who usually possessed incredible strength. I asked her: "Mother, how are you?" And she, looking at me with her bright smile, replied: "Father Angelo, one day you might hear that my heart has burst... But do not fear, it could only burst from too much happiness!" That extraordinary woman wore a worn-out cardigan full of mends and a pair of 18-year-old sandals, yet she overflowed with heavenly joy. She had explained to me on another occasion that the law of happiness is simple: to step out of one's own selfishness and give. Those who live hoarding for themselves die poor; Mary, who entirely emptied herself to make room for God, is the wealthiest creature in history, and the Assumption is the crowning of this total gift of self.

Today, we are bombarded by so-called "VIPs," characters who fill television screens, gather fleeting applause, and feel like the masters of the world. But history, when viewed through the eyes of God, resizes everything.

I live and work in St. Peter's, and walking through that square, I often reflect. Two thousand years ago, on that very hill, the emperor Nero ruled. He had become the most powerful man in the world at just 17 years old. At first, he did well under the guidance of Seneca, but then he contracted the most destructive disease that exists: he fell sick with pride. He committed madness of every kind and died by suicide at only 31 years old; today, absolutely nothing remains of his empire and luxury. Right next to it, however, a poor fisherman from Galilee named Peter was buried. That humble grave has become a magnet that has attracted billions of people from every corner of the earth for two thousand years. Why? Because Peter clung to Jesus.

At the time of the Annunciation, the famous, powerful, and wealthy women were Cleopatra, Herodias, or Livia Drusilla, the wife of Augustus. Mary was a complete stranger in a remote village of Palestine. Today, those queens are just faded lines in history books, while Mary is blessed by all generations and her name is invoked with love in every corner of the world. As the beautiful Psalm 37 says: "I have seen the wicked triumphant, towering like a luxuriant cedar; I passed by and he was no more, I sought him and he could not be found". Worldly success is a passing smoke. If a man achieves everything but fails in faith, he has failed his entire life, because nothing that is material crosses the threshold of the grave. True success is remaining small to be great before God.

What a distorted use we make of the word freedom today! Very often, in current language, behind this noble term lies pure whim, unrestrained selfishness, or even depravity. Today, people think: "I am free, therefore I do what I want, I take what I like, and I don't have to answer to anyone".

I remember a painful episode that happened in Loreto. A man around forty years old, married with a beautiful family, decided to abandon his wife to move in with his young secretary, bolstered by the financial success of his small company. Shortly after, his eldest daughter, overwhelmed by despair and grief over the destruction of her family, took her moped and deliberately crashed into a tree. By the grace of God, she did not die, but she sustained very serious injuries. I went to visit her in the hospital and encountered the father there. Gently, I approached him and said: "I hope this tragedy makes you reflect and turn back". Do you know what he answered me? "And why should it? It's my daughter's fault for not understanding anything. She has nothing to do with my life, I simply reclaimed my freedom".

What immense blindness! This is not freedom; this is a ruthless selfishness that destroys the lives of the people one should love. Mary teaches us the opposite path: she is the freest creature in history precisely because she proclaimed herself "the servant of the Lord". It may sound like a paradox, but God is the only master who does not enslave us; He is the only one who makes us authentically free because He gives a content of love, a dignity, and a holy direction to our freedom. True freedom is not acting on whim, but having the strength to choose the good.

The writer Julian Green left a wonderful note in his diary: "If you want to know where happiness does not live, visit places of artificial entertainment: there you will find a few crumbs of pleasure, but not a shadow of happiness". Yet, how many young people throw themselves into wild parties or excesses, chasing an illusion. Another author, Luigi Santucci, wrote that we Christians avoid certain excesses not out of fear of hell, but because living a clean, transparent, honest, and generous life brings immensely greater joy! It is a priceless joy to go to sleep at night, rest your head on the pillow, and say: "Lord, today I have harmed no one; instead, I tried to sow a bit of good". Those are the true crumbs of Paradise entering the heart.

Think of Mary when she intones the Magnificat at the doorway of Elizabeth's house. She arrived there after a long and exhausting journey; she did not go in a comfortable carriage or a luxury car—God did not spare her human hardships. She has no bank account, no designer clothes, no jewelry. Yet she exclaims: "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit exults, bursts with joy because of God my savior!" And she explains why: not because her house has become a villa, but because God looked upon the humility and littleness of His servant.

Authentic happiness dwells in humility. God stands with the small, the pure, the honest, the merciful: they are the true, definitive winners of history. The Assumption in body and soul is God's signature on this truth: those who make themselves small out of love on earth are raised to the eternal glory of Paradise.

In the final days of Pope John Paul II's life, I had the immense and unmerited grace of being very close to him. On April 1, 2005, the day before he died, I entered his room: he was breathing with difficulty, on oxygen, and a priest was reading the account of the Passion of Jesus to him in Polish. When the Pope opened his eyes and saw me, he tried to raise his hand to bless me, but his hand fell back onto the bed because he had no strength left. I told him: "Holy Father, the blessing has already left your heart, that is enough for me". In that moment, I caught his gaze: he had two eyes that looked like two windows open to Paradise, two incredibly happy eyes. Returning home, I asked myself: why was he so happy as he was dying? Because he was aware that he had spent his entire life for love, keeping nothing for himself, and he was certain of his meeting with the Lord.

Let us always remember, my friends: the only true treasure in life is Faith. The Assumption of Mary cries out to us that our flesh is not made for the dust of the grave, but for the light of Paradise. Looking to Her Assumed into Heaven, let us repeat to our weary hearts that the earthly journey has a wonderful destination: the best is yet to come, and the most beautiful has yet to be revealed.

Praised be Jesus Christ.

— Cardinal Angelo Comastri