PEOPLE SHOULD make room for Jesus in their hearts by helping the needy and homeless in the same way Mary provided her Son a nurturing and sacred space, Pope Francis’ representative to the Philippines said.
In his homily during the pontifical coronation of the image of Our Lady of Loreto on Tuesday, Dec. 10, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles John Brown urged devotees to provide relief to the suffering, drawing parallels with Mary and Joseph’s search for a shelter in Bethlehem before Jesus was born.
“When we travel the streets of Manila, we see a good number of people who have no house, who are on the streets, even families and little children, right? And I think, especially during this time of Advent, our hearts should be moved when we see them,” Brown said at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Manila.
“They (homeless) are Mary, Joseph and Jesus on the streets of Manila today, so stop and give them something—a kind word, help. This idea of giving a house to them, or at least giving them comfort, shelter, a sign of love… That’s how we make room for Jesus in our own hearts,” he added.
Brown said a home is not merely a physical structure but is defined by the love and presence of those who inhabit it. She cited Mary’s childhood home in Nazareth, where she accepted her divine calling to become the mother of Jesus.
Just as Mary carried Jesus within her womb, the faithful too can become “homes” for God, Brown said.
“Little baby Jesus, on Christmas Day, is born in a stable, in a cave, not in a house, because Mary is the house carrying Jesus. And it makes us think about our own lives and how, when we receive God’s grace… we become the house of God,” the papal envoy added.
The Our Lady of Loreto, one of the venerated titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary, originated from a Catholic tradition that the house where Mary and Joseph raised Jesus was miraculously transferred by angels to Loreto, Italy to protect it from Muslim invaders. The image, which is venerated in the oldest parish church in Sampaloc, depicts Mary carrying Jesus and standing on a house.
“The whole spirituality of Loreto revolves around the house of Mary… That house of Our Lady in Nazareth is where the Gospel we heard took place, the Annunciation, the place in Nazareth…where the angel Gabriel came to Mary and ask her to be the mother of God, and Mary said yes,” Brown said.
The Marian image was honored with a pontifical coronation during her feast day on Dec. 10.
A pontifical or canonical coronation is a pious institutional act in which the pope approves the placing of a crown on an image. The crowning is a recognition of the significance of an image to the spiritual life of a community.
The first Marian image to be honored with a pontifical coronation is the Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario La Naval de Manila, whose coronation took place in Intramuros in 1907.
In 2023, the Manila city council passed an ordinance recognizing Our Lady of Loreto as the patroness of Sampaloc. F
