PEÑAFRANCIA MESSAGE

Greetings of Hope to all the devotees of Our Lady of Peñafrancia all over the world!

One of the desires of the late Pope Francis for the Jubilee Year of Hope is for our “shrines to be sacred places of welcome and privilege spaces for the rebirth of hope”. The theme for our Peñafrancia Festivities this year highlights the truth that the horizon of hope broadens not only for Catholics but for all: Our Lady of Peñafrancia: Mother to All.

The “yes” of Mary to the message of the Angel Gabriel is seen as a free and active cooperation with the grace of God (cf. Luke 1:38).

Mary accepted to be the Theotokos: God-bearer, the Mother of our Savior. She has brought hope to the world. Saint Irenaeus wrote: “As by a virgin the human race had been bound to death, by a virgin it is saved, the balance being preserved, a virgin’s disobedience by a virgin’s obedience. Through Her, Jesus, the New Adam, came into the “world that God loved”. Her “motherhood through the mystery of the cross took an unimaginable leap: the mother of Jesus became the new Eve, the source of eternal life for every person who comes into the world, because her son associated her with his redemptive death.” (Pope Leo XIV, Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, June 9, 2025). Mary, as the new Eve, is Mother to All.

The theme expresses the desire of the Church to be synodal and missionary, that is, a Church that opens her door to all, goes out, and reaches out to everyone, especially to those at the margins and peripheries. A missionary synodal church is a humble Church: listening, welcoming, walking, accompanying, uniting, and caring, just like Mary, Mater Ecclesiae (Mother of the Church). This is also an invitation to openness to fellow Christians who are not Catholics, to non-Christians, and to those who do not profess any religion. Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia is not only the Mother of Bicolanos, but of every brother and sister. We have witnessed how she and the devotion have travelled to different places and peoples.

Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia, Mother to All, calls us to communion, participation and mission. With Inâ, may we experience that we belong to a family, not abandoned nor isolated. Like Inâ, may we take an active part in the life of the Church, and share the responsibility of God’s children in the world. After the example of Inâ, may we go out and sing of God’s marvellous work and love. May our devotion to Inâ open our hearts to those who feel rejected and forgotten. May the warmth of our love be felt by victims of war, violence, and injustice. May our devotion be proven in our care for the family, concern for the poor, the needy and the community, and in our care for creation. Let our Marian devotion be a concrete sign of hope.

The heart of Mary was the first shrine which welcomed all people. With Mary, the Mother to all, we are sisters and brothers to all with different religions, cultures, and orientations. With Jesus and Mary, let us offer hope to all. The incarnation of Jesus, the Savior, can still occur through us. He saves through us in times of natural calamities, communal struggles, and personal difficulties experienced by our own people and the “others”. We are one with them. We open not only our churches and facilities but also our hearts for them. We also exert effort to reach them, to know them, to feel with them, ... to reach their hearts. Doing these with Mary, our Inâ, our lives and our hearts become sacred spaces of hope to all.

I wish you all a meaningful celebration of the Novenario and Feasts of the Divino Rostro and of Our Lady of Peñafrancia this 2025!

Viva la Virgen! Viva el Divino Rostro!

Most Rev. Rex Andrew C. Alarcon, D.D.

Archbishop of Caceres