Today the city of Cosenza has renewed its secular devotion to the Madonna del Pilerio, patron of the city and the archdiocese. The celebrations began with the lighting of the votive candle offered by the municipal administration, during a solemn mass presided over by the metropolitan archbishop Giovanni Checchinato. In the absence of the mayor Franz Caruso, the commissioner Damiano Covelli represented the Municipality in this significant ceremony.
In the afternoon, at 16:00, the traditional procession through the main streets of the city took place, preceded by a religious function officiated by Monsignor Leonardo Bonanno, emeritus bishop of San Marco-Scalea. During the procession, the simulacrum of the Virgin was accompanied by numerous faithful and has made significant stops for floral tributes by the prefect and the mayor.
The devotion to the Madonna del Pilerio has its roots in the 16th century, when, in 1576, it is believed that the Virgin saved Cosenza from a devastating plague epidemic. Subsequently, in 1783, Madonna del Pilerio was invoked to protect the city during a violent earthquake. Since then, every February 12, the Cosenza community celebrates its patron saint with fervor, renewing a tradition of faith that crosses the centuries.
Today’s celebrations are part of a context of religious events that began on February 4 with the septenary in honor of the Madonna del Pilerio, characterized by daily masses, jubilation catechesis and moments of community prayer.
The day ended with a vespertin mass, leaving a renewed sense of belonging and devotion to their heavenly patron saint in the hearts of the faithful.
Photogallery Arena
The homily of Msgr. Checchinate
We know well the text of the Gospel of Cana, which describes not so much the “first”, but the “principle” of the signs made by Jesus, because in it – as in an archetype- can be found hidden by the words and facts told all the Reality that correspond to the Gospel, the good news. The term “sign” is one of the keywords of the Gospel of John who calls in this way what the other evangelists call miracles and offers us seven. The sign of Cana shows the power of God that manifests itself through the Son, but also represents a reason for transformation, of inner re -education, offering an invitation to conversion. There is a wedding party but the wine is missing, a ritually essential element for the celebration, and this lack reminds us of every situation that prevents you from celebrating, namely the complex of tensions and contradictions – even tragic – which deeply mark the forms of human coexistence, closing the spaces of sharing and fraternity. After an exchange of jokes between Jesus and the mother, the latter tells the servants: “Whatever you tell you, do it”; In difficulty situations, in which the material conditions for the celebration of the feast of life are missing, we receive the indication of relying on the word of the Lord, to focus everything on it. And this word indicates the possibility of a positive outcome in the face of the difficulties that is not represented by the identification of what is missing with an ad hoc surrogate, but through the proposal of a new itinerary, and involves a radical re -education of inner life e of the way of looking at the world. The new fact in the wedding of Cana is not simply made up of the abundance of wine, but from what happened in the heart, where a radical transformation is underway that allows you to discern what is good and what is beautiful : the inner conversion, which is accompanied by the discovery that life can be committed to keeping and promoting the life of others. If we rely on the word of Jesus, it becomes clear that the meaning of life cannot consist in defending personal or group privileges, few or many who are, perhaps affirming that in this it consists of peace and security, but in giving the own contribution so that everyone can live a life worthy of being lived.
A “outgoing” church chooses to take charge of history and therefore cannot ignore the issues that cause very deep inequalities in the world and unheard of suffering, against the vast majority of people who live in the planet. We too are, as of disciples in Cana, to deal with something that is missing and makes the party impossible, or possible only to some privileged. For us, a challenge with which to deal with is that represented by the economy of exclusion and inequality, since – Pope Francis says – “this economy kills” and it is not true that the economic growth favored by the free market better the condition of the poorer. And so, if on the one hand the need for security grows, especially by human groups who are afraid of losing their privileges, on the other the tanks of misery and despair are feeded that can reach violent forms of protest and social hatred. “When the company – local, national or world – leaves a part of itself on the outskirts” – is said to n. 59 of the AG – “There will be no political programs, nor law enforcement or intelligence that can ensure unlimitedly tranquility”. Over the past two decades, the percentage of those who experience the illusory character of the promises of growth has also increased in dramatically. The numbers that report the increase in families in absolute poverty say that the hard core of traditional poverty, so to speak, has been added an unprecedented army of new poor people of those who until recently led a life not different from the majority of the They close to them, who made life projects, had consumption styles, cultivated networks of relationships typical of a wealthy society, which suddenly found themselves in radical indigence. Citizens for whom the horizon has suddenly reversed, as happens in the shipwrecks (Revelli). In this situation, the way of thinking about safety radically changes. It translates into attitudes, social practices and (once again) politicians who – more or less openly – identify in the most fragile human groups no longer the victims exposed to the effects of the global crisis, but the main responsible for it. The poverty of the most marginal returns to be a fault and a threat to public order, or urban decorum; It is significant that a new word has been coined to indicate the fear of the poor or poverty: Aporophobia. The resentment widespread towards the people who migrate, towards the Roma, towards the homeless people, is the sign of a moral metamorphosis. The grudge that feeds the public behavior of many is the eloquent indicator of a sort of “malaise from loss”, caused by the perception of the waste between expectations of well -being and experienced precariousness. There are not many studies to verify that at the origin of the financial crisis, and its consequences, there is a profound anthropological crisis, which is highlighted in the denial of the primacy of the human being, and in the idolatry of money. This profound crisis brings out the need for a personal and community conversion to what is essential and that does not pass, or to the joy of the evangel, as the Gospel of John of today suggests. This is the foundation that allows you to face the globalization of indifference (n. 54), to dream of a poor Church, available to commit to the liberation of the poor and the suffering, to the extent that it converts to the poverty to which the Gospel calls .
The anchoring to the Gospel allows the Church to find the foundation of the “hope that does not disappoint” (Roman 5.5) paying attention to the much good that is present in the world in order not to fall into the temptation to consider us overwhelmed by evil and violence. But the signs of the times, which enclose the yearning for the human heart, in need of the saving presence of God, ask to be transformed into signs of hope. (n. 7). In the bubble of the Jubilee, the Pope says that the most anticipated signs of hope in this jubilee year are the initiatives for peace, for the defense of life, in support of prisoners, sick, young people, migrants, the elderly, of the billions of poor people who lack the necessary living and who are in most cases victims and not guilty. The responsibility to put the signs of hope concerns everyone, because you cannot celebrate alone. There is no party when there is war: here Pope Francis renews the appeal so that with the money that is used in arms and other military expenses a world fund is established to finally eliminate hunger and for the development of countries poorer. Another invitation is intended for the most wealthy nations, so that they establish to condone the debts of countries that could never repay them. Before magnanimity, it is a question of justice. “As Sacred Scripture teaches” – adds Francesco – “the earth belongs to God and we all live in as” foreigners and guests “(LV 25:23); If we truly want to prepare the way of peace in the world, we commit to remedy the remote causes of the injustices, we start back the unfair and insolvable debts, we will satisfy the hungry “(n. Bolla 16). The stresses that come from today’s Gospel are also fundamental for the path of our diocesan Church. Here too we are called to take advantage of this jubilee year to mature a personal and community attitude of deep listening of the most difficult people, to try to trace the causes of poverty and inequality and try to remove them, with the contribution of all. In this perspective, some issues such as those of work and house ask themselves as particularly urgent, without forgetting the problems related to the structural deficiency of social and health services. It is a job to be done together, in the awareness that the forgotten, the voiceless, the excluded, mysteriously represent the hidden foundations, the pillars (the pilers …) of our city. And when we have worked so that everyone can sit at the banquet table prepared by God for all the peoples of the world, we will be able to enjoy the new wine of the wedding that he has kept in store for everyone, so that you are celebrating, all together, and for Always.