Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu

In a country torn by the same kind of ethno-religious ideologies that are tearing the world apart, Pope Francis asked Sri Lankans to look to Mary to learn how to forgive the violence that has plagued this small island nation.

Vatican Radio is reporting that on his last day in Sri Lanka, Pope Francis visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu and encouraged an enormous crowd of 500,000 to look to our heavenly mother as an example of how to forgive and reconcile with one another after enduring unspeakable acts of violence.

“There are families here today which suffered greatly in the long conflict which tore open the heart of Sri Lanka,” the pope said, referring to the decades long civil war that raged in the island nation until 2009. “Many people, from north and south alike, were killed in the terrible violence and bloodshed of those years.”

But here at the shrine members of all of the warring ethnic groups can come to worship, making it a place of healing and peace.

“ . . . Our Lady remained always with you,” he continued. “She is the mother of every home, of every wounded family, of all who are seeking to return to a peaceful existence. . . Today we want to thank Our Lady for that presence. In the wake of so much hatred, violence and destruction, we want to thank her for continuing to bring us Jesus, who alone has the power to heal open wounds and to restore peace to broken hearts. . . . We ask also for the grace to make reparation for our sins and for all the evil which this land has known.”

This is not an easy thing to do, the pope said, “yet only when we come to understand, in the light of the Cross, the evil we are capable of, and have even been a part of, can we experience true remorse and true repentance. Only then can we receive the grace to approach one another in true contrition, offering and seeking true forgiveness.”

In this difficult effort to forgive and find peace, “Mary is always here to encourage us, to guide us, to lead us. Just as she forgave her Son’s killers at the foot of his Cross, then held his lifeless body in her hands . . .”

And now she wants to guide Sri Lankans to greater reconciliation “so that the balm of God’s pardon and mercy may bring true healing to all.”

Pope Francis left Sri Lanka this morning and arrived in Manila, Philippines, where he will spend the next five days.

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