Archbishop Hoser: the new evangelization is lived in Medjugorje

In parishioners and pilgrims we perceive joy and gratitude for your arrival in Medjugorje and for the mission that the Holy Father has entrusted to you. How do you feel here in Medjugorje?

I answer this question with the same joy. I am very happy to be here. I am already here for the second time: last year I was in the position of Special Envoy of the Holy Father to check the general situation, but now I am here as a stable Apostolic Visitor. There is a big difference, since now I am here permanently and not only do I have to know the situation and the problems of this place, but also to find solutions together with the collaborators.

Christmas is approaching. How to prepare for Christmas, and above all for its spiritual dimension?

The best way to prepare for Christmas is to live the Advent liturgy. From the point of view of the spiritual dimension of its contents, this is an extraordinarily rich time, which consists of two parts: the first is a preparatory phase, which lasts until December 17th. Then follows the immediate preparation for Christmas, from 17 December onwards. Here in the parish we are preparing with the Aurora Masses. They introduce the people of God into the mystery of Christmas.

What message does Christmas give us?

It is an extraordinarily rich message, and I would like to accentuate that of peace. The angels who announced the birth of the Lord to the shepherds told them that they brought peace to all men of good will.

Jesus came among us men as a Child in the family of Mary and Joseph. Throughout history, the family has always gone through trials, and today in a particular way. How can we preserve today's families, and how can the example of the Holy Family help us in this?

We must first know that from the beginning man is created in a frame of family relationships. The male and female couple was also blessed for its fruitfulness. The family is an image of the Holy Trinity on earth, and the family builds society. To preserve this family spirit today - and in our time it is so difficult - emphasis must be placed on the mission of the family in the world. This mission says that the family is the source and mode of fullness of the human person.

Your Excellency, you are a doctor, a Pallottine religious and a missionary. All this has certainly marked and ennobled your life. You spent twenty-one years in Africa. Can you share that mission experience with us and with the listeners of Radio "Mir" Medjugorje?

It is difficult to do this in some sentences. It was first of all an experience of the different cultures that I have known in Africa, in Europe and in other lands. I have spent much of my priestly life outside my homeland, outside my homeland. On this issue I could express two observations. The first: human nature is the same everywhere. As humans, we are all alike. What differentiates us, in a positive or negative sense, is culture. Every culture has positive and constructive elements, which are at the service of the development of the human person, but it can also contain elements that destroy man. Therefore, let us fully live our human nature and the positive characteristics of our culture!

You were an Apostolic Visitor in Rwanda. Can you compare the Shrine of Kibeho and Medjugorje?

Yes, there are many similar elements. The events began in 1981. In Kibeho, Our Lady wanted to warn men of what was to take place, and which later proved to be genocide. That is the mission of the Queen of Peace, which is in some way the continuation of the apparitions of Fatima. Kibeho is recognized. Kibeho is developing. That is the only place on the African continent where apparitions are recognized. The apparitions of Medjugorje also began in 1981, a few months earlier than in Kibeho. It has been seen that this too was in view of a war which was then reached in the then Yugoslavia. In Medjugorje a devotion to the Queen of peace is developing, and here we find a similarity with the apparitions of Fatima. The title "Queen of Peace" was introduced in the Lauretan Litanies by Pope Benedict XV in 1917, that is, in the year of the apparitions of Fatima, during the First World War and in the year of the Soviet revolution. Let's see how God is present in human history and Our Lady sends us to stay close to us.

Sanctuaries are a very important reality in today's world, so Pope Francis has transferred their care from the Congregation for the Clergy to that for evangelization. Is the new evangelization taking place in Medjugorje?

There is no doubt. Here we are experiencing the new evangelization. The Marian devotion that develops here is very dynamic. This is a time and a place of conversion. Here man discovers the existence of God in his life, the desire that God has to be present in the heart of man. And all this in a society that is secularized and that lives as if God did not exist. This is what all Marian shrines do.

After several months of stay in Medjugorje, what would you highlight as the most important fruit of Medjugorje?

The fruit of profound conversion. I think the most mature and important fruit is the phenomenon of conversion through Confession, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is the most important element of everything that happens here.

On May 31 of this year, Pope Francis appointed her special Apostolic Visitor for the parish of Medjugorje. It is an exclusively pastoral assignment, the purpose of which is to ensure a stable and continuous accompaniment of the parish community of Medjugorje and of the faithful who go here. How do you look at the pastoral care of Medjugorje?

Pastoral life still awaits its full development and its own frame. The quality of welcoming pilgrims should not be seen only in the material sense, which concerns accommodation and food. All this is already being done. Above all, it is necessary to guarantee suitable pastoral activity that is appropriate to the number of pilgrims. I would like to emphasize the existence of the two brakes that I have noticed. On the one hand, in the moments when there are many pilgrims, the lack of confessors for individual languages. Here pilgrims come from about eighty countries around the world. The second brake I noticed is the lack of spaces for the celebration of Masses in different languages. We must find spaces in which Masses can be celebrated in different languages, and above all a place in which to hold the perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

She is Polish, and we know that the Poles have a particular devotion to the Madonna. What is Mary's role in your life?

Maria's role is really great. Polish devotion is always Marian. Let's not forget that, in the mid-seventeenth century, the Mother of God was proclaimed Queen of Poland. It was also a political act, ratified by the king and parliament. In all Christian houses in Poland you will find an image of the Madonna. The oldest religious chant in the Polish language, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is addressed to her. All Polish knights had a Marian mark on their armor.

What man is missing today is peace: peace in hearts, among people and in the world. How great is the role of Medjugorje in this, since we know that the pilgrims who come here testify to perceiving a peace that they cannot experience anywhere else?

The coming of Jesus Christ into our human flesh has been heralded as the advent of the King of peace. God brings us the peace that we miss so much on all levels, and it seems to me that the school of peace that we have here in Medjugorje helps us a lot, since they all accentuate the tranquility they find in this place, as well as the spaces of silence, prayer and recollection. These are all elements that lead us to peace with God and peace with men.

At the end of this interview, what would you say to our listeners?

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with the words spoken by the angels: Peace to men of good will, to men whom God loves! Our Lady underlines that God loves us all. One of the foundations of our faith is precisely the will of God to save all men, without distinction. If this does not happen, it is our fault. We are therefore on a path that leads to a radiant future.

Source: http://www.medjugorje.hr/it/attualita/notizie/mons.-henryk-hoser-riguardo-a-medjugorje-questo-%c3%a8-un-tempo-ed-un-luogo-di- conversione.-here-we-live-the-new-evangelization., 10195.html