Rijeka, (IKA) – On Sunday, April 19, at the Eucharistic celebration at the Shrine of Our Lady of Trsat, the main event of the Second Meeting of Croatian Catholic Families, which had the slogan “The Family as the Bearer of the Life, Hope and Future of Croatia,” more than 10,000 Marian pilgrims from all parts of the country were assembled in prayer. The Mass was also attended by the President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović; the Delegate of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Ana Komparić-Devčić, MP; the Mayor of Rijeka, Vojko Obersnel; the Vice President of the Assembly of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Željko Plazonić; and the Deputy County Prefect, Marina Medarić.
During the entrance procession, two families, one from the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek and the other from the Diocese of Dubrovnik, carried the votive candle of Croatian Catholic families. The entrance hymn was Always Faithful to Christ (Kristu vjerni zauvijek). The Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, in concelebration with the Apostolic Nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Alessandro D’Errico, the Croatian archbishops and bishops; the Delegate from the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Auxiliary Bishop Marko Semren of Banja Luka; and over two hundred priests.
Prior to the beginning of the Mass, the Archbishop of Rijeka, Msgr. Ivan Devčić welcomed those assembled.
“We direct our prayer to the Resurrected Lord, who at the moment of his Ascension promised his disciples that he would always be with them, although he was going to the Father. We pray for him to come among us, to dwell in our hearts and in our family homes, for him to be with us always and for us to be with him. For precisely that reason, following the example of the Apostles and the first disciples of the Lord assembled in the Upper Room during the Last Supper, in our Croatian Nazareth we have gathered here from all parts of our homeland, from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries, to prayer together with Mary, the Mother of the Church, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for us, for our families, and for our beautiful homeland and all its people. The Holy Spirit is the giver of life who can renew and revive everything, who can eliminate fear, restore hope, inflame love and strengthen unity,” said Archbishop Devčić and added “I wish you all an abundance of heavenly gifts, through the intercession of Our Lady of Trsat, the Holy Mother of Our Ancestors, the Holy Mother of Unity, Our Holy Mother, as those who venerate Mary have invoked her here from time immemorial.”
Greetings were conveyed by Nuncio D’Errico, who read a letter sent by Pope Francis to Archbishop Devčić, which was signed by the Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The letter states that the Supreme Pontiff is spiritually united in prayer with all those attending this meeting at the Marian Shrine in Trsat. “The Successor of Peter, as the Pastor of the Universal Church, indefatigably proclaims that the role of Christian families has been to proclaim God’s love and proximity to the world through the power of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Your meeting is like an overture to the coming significant events in the life of the Church, the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia and the Synod of Bishops. Therefore, we pray together that through these events the Church will find a suitable path for the discernment and acceptance of those pastoral resources that will help families cope with the challenges of our time, in the light and power of the gospel,” states the letter, which expresses the Pope’s desire “for Croatian Catholics, in complete fidelity to Christ and the Church, to be courageous witnesses to the great dignity and vital importance of the family, constantly advocating its growth and development in all areas of community life.”
At the beginning of the Mass, Cardinal Bozanić said: “We are celebrating this Holy Mass at Mary’s Trsat overlooking the city of Rijeka with you and for you, dear Croatian Catholic families. We are praying today for all our families. Dear Croatian Catholic families, we want to thank you for the daily witness that you provide to the Croatian society and the world with you loyalty, faith, hope and love, because marriage and family are among the most precious goods of humanity. We want to encourage you in the challenges and trials of your family life.” The cardinal also said to the families: “Jesus, the Son of the Holy Family of Nazareth, knows your joys, sorrows and anxieties. Today you are coming to him, our Risen Lord, alive and among us, with confidence, praying for the gifts of the Spirit of peace, love, strength and the joy of new life.”
The homily was delivered by the President of the Council for Life and the Family of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, the Bishop Emeritus of Krk, Msgr. Valter Župan. After welcoming the fathers and mothers, young people, grandmothers and grandfathers, he observed that the gathering is a testimony of thanksgiving to God for having made them worthy to proclaim to all the greatness and beauty of the love with which God loves everyone. “He wants your love to be the same as his love for us. Love is capable of understanding, generous, becoming deeper and more mature. Thus, it becomes an invitation to all who see you for their families to be like yours,” said Bishop Župan, and quoted the Blessed Pope Paul VI, who said during a visit to Nazareth: “‘May Nazareth teach us the meaning of family life, its harmony of love, its simplicity and austere beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; may it teach us how sweet and irreplaceable is its training, how fundamental and incomparable are its role on the social plane.'”
Bishop Župan then continued: “By coming into the world in a family in which Mary was the mother and Joseph was the husband and father, Jesus demonstrated that this is the natural and normal environment for the development of a healthy and balanced person. Everything else that is contrary to Good’s plan is a ludicrous lie, which only seeks to ruin the person. Dear parents, husbands and wives, if you want good for yourselves, your children, and this nation and homeland that God has given us, heed this,” said Msgr. Župan, who observed how “the family is the place where it is possible to live the way Joseph and Mary lived with the Child Jesus.” He urged families to heed the gospel and pray, because this is how it is possible to progress in understanding what Jesus in his family, through work and obedience, presented as the most precious, truly human and absolutely possible. “This is not fantasy. This is achieved if the family prays daily and celebrates Mass on Sundays. Try to participate in Sunday Mass and family communities will progress in knowledge of the gospel and knowledge of Jesus Christ,” said Bishop Župan.
He encouraged young men and women to enter into marriage and fulfill the mission of the family, cautioning that out of all the countries in Europe, Croatia is the country where young people delay marrying and leaving their parents’ home the longest. Bishop Župan thanked all who help and empathize with families in difficult situations but also cautioned: “We consider it our duty to say that many resources should be reallocated for the good of families, instead of spending them on what is useless, morally harmful and unimportant. We must state openly that to trample on someone in need means to incur a heavy punishment upon oneself. The survival of the nation is in question. It is to be expected that those who are in positions of leadership, especially under the difficult social conditions, should possess the ability to reason and the courage to make correct decisions.”
Bishop Župan specifically addressed women and mothers, encouraging them but also giving them hope: “Women were the ones who had the courage to accompany Jesus on the Way of the Cross with compassion and love. Women were the ones who first testified to Jesus’ Resurrection and the first to proclaim the joyful news that Jesus is alive. Women were the first to whom he appeared and he spoke with them. You are, therefore, the heralds of life and joy. Today we ask you not to allow those who made mockery along the Way of the Cross and Calvary and showed that they did not understand anything to convince you that death and Calvary are the final word for our nation, that the grave tightly sealed with a stone is our destiny. On Easter morning, when the angel rolled the stone away from the grave and a great earthquake occurred, the guards fell down in fear and became like dead men. The guards and servants of death became dead men themselves, only capable of lying for good money. However, the angel said to you: Do not be afraid. Go and say that the one you seek is not here but has risen from the dead. You have proven that your faith and love, in reliance on God, open the best-guarded tombs and you are able to disperse all the guards who want death to be the final word. The declining birth rate, abortions, suicide, alcoholism and the large number of mentally disturbed persons all point to the fact that we do not rejoice in life, that we do not accept it as a joy but as a heavy burden. We need deeper faith, more hope in the future and more love of life,” said Bishop Župan and asked: “May we hope that you will be the heralds of the resurrection of our nation and our Church?”
“O Mary, Our Lady of Trsat, we ask you to intercede so that our mothers and wives are brought to the complete fruition of our hope and prayer. Fathers and husbands, be people of faith and courageous, like St. Joseph, whom all King Herod’s threats failed to break. In the end, everything was as Joseph believed that God would accomplish through him. Our Lady of Trsat, pray for us that we may again fulfill the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel. May the graves of our despair open and the force of God’s Spirit enter this nation. From our dormant hopes and nearly dry bones, may this nation become full of life and able stand on its feet, faithful to God and you, as it has been for centuries,” concluded Bishop Župan.
During the presentation of the gifts, besides bread and wine, representatives of the families of the Rijeka Metropolis carried a basket with monetary contributions that had been collected during Lent for the needy. Following the Prayer after Communion, the President of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Želimir Puljić of Zadar, thanked the main celebrant of the Mass, Cardinal Bozanić; the host of the meeting, Archbishop Devčić; the Guardian of the Trsat monastery, Friar Antun Jasenović, and the priests who had accompanied the families. He expressed particular gratitude to the homilist, Msgr. Župan, who has served for seventeen years as the head of the Council for Life and Family of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, and his associates who handled the preparations for the meeting. Archbishop Puljić emphasized that the presence of Nuncio D’Errico and so many archbishops and bishops imparted the meeting with a particular message, beauty and significance.
Thanking the families, Archbishop Puljić stressed that they are the bearers of the life, hope and future of Croatia. “Through the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, you have become intimate communities of life and love, and as such, capable of being the primary living cells of the society and the first schools of social virtues. Today’s gathering shows that you are eager and willing to bear witness by word and deed to your faith and actively participate in the life of society, as well as the life and mission of the Church. May the Lord Jesus, who shares the cares and joys of the human race, bless all of you, our dear families, so that we can be fervent in fidelity and love, perseverant in prayer, and become that which has been determined and provided for you according to God’s plan in the act of creation and baptismal rebirth in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. With this hope, faith, joy and gratitude to all of you once again from the heart, I greet and bless you,” said Archbishop Puljić, and added: “First of all, be proud of your Croatian and Catholic roots, be faithful to the covenant by which God has joined you and taught you to live in togetherness, and as the primary living cells of the future be in the service of life and the building of God’s kingdom on earth.”
On this occasion, Archbishop Puljić stated that at the Fiftieth Session of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, it had been decided that family meetings would continue. Therefore, he announced that the Third Meeting of Croatian Catholic Families would be held in three years at the ancient Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Solin.
The celebration of the Eucharist was enhanced by the singing of a choir consisting of over two hundred singers from the Choir of the Archdiocese of Rijeka, the Cathedral Choir Cantores Sancti Viti, the Choir of the Shrine of Our Lady of Trsat, the Parish Choir of Mary Help of Christians of Rijeka, the Parish Choir of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Rijeka, Schola Cantorum of Rijeka, the Cathedral Choir of Krk, and the Parish Choir of Omišalj, accompanied by a brass ensemble from Rijeka and the organist Neven Kraljić, and conducted by Maestro Giovanni Geraci. Parts of the Mass Christ, Our Hope (Krist, naša nada), composed by Maesto Geraci for the Eucharist Congress of the Archdiocese of Rijeka in 2011, were performed.