This afternoon, the Holy Father Leo XIV left the Vatican by car to travel to Castel Gandolfo, to the Church of Maria Santissima del Lago on the occasion of the feast.

At 18.00, the Pope presided over Holy Mass in the small church consecrated by Saint Paul VI, part of the pontifical parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova.

The Holy Father Leo XIV then took part in the procession with the statue of Our Lady of the Lake, which was placed on a boat and carried across the waters of Lake Albano.

The following is the homily delivered by the Holy Father to the faithful during the Eucharistic celebration:

Homily of the Holy Father

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am pleased to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Lake with you, as some of my predecessors have done in the past: Saint Paul VI, who advocated for and supported the construction of this church dedicated to Mary and consecrated it, and Saint John Paul II, who wished to commemorate her here and renew her message.

The Liturgy of the Word offers us readings that harmonize well with this traditional occasion.

In the first Reading, the prophet Jeremiah speaks to us of his irresistible need to respond to the call he received: “O Lord, thou hast deceived me”, he says, “and I was deceived. … There is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jer 20:7, 9). God revealed to him that He had known and chosen him from his mother’s womb (cf. ibid. 1:5), and that He loved His people with an everlasting love (cf. ibid. 31:3); He spoke to him of His plan of salvation, and he could no longer remain silent. He feels an irresistible urge to bring his message to everyone, even though he knows this will mean having to say and do things that many will not like, and facing suffering and misunderstanding, to the point of becoming “a laughingstock all the day’ (v. 7). But love drives him to act for the good of his people, without compromise, right to the end.

This is what Jesus also teaches us in the Gospel. He has just fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fish (cf. Mt 14:15–21), and then another four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fish (cf. Mt 15:32–38). Now, beyond the success achieved through those deeds, He explains to His disciples the Messianic significance of what He has done: He reveals to them that He must “go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and rise again on the third day’ (Mt 16:21).

Jesus explains how, after the many miracles he has performed, He will definitively manifest His glory: by freely sacrificing His life (cf. Jn 10:17–18) and offering Himself on the cross as broken bread. And He makes it clear that anyone who wishes to continue His mission must do likewise: ‘If any man would come after me”, He tells us, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16. 24).

Jesus thus reveals that only love saves. The love that God has shown us by becoming man, dying and rising again for us; and, in response, the love with which we too humbly offer ourselves to Him and to our brothers and sisters: in the faithful perseverance of daily charity as well as in the most extraordinary acts, even to the point of martyrdom at times, as is unfortunately still the case today for many Christians in various parts of the world.

Saint Augustine said that “the joy of the reaper … reveals the intention of the sower” (cf. Sermon 330, 2), and we wish to make his sentiments our own: with God’s help, we want to scatter the seeds of His infinite charity throughout the world, tirelessly and without measure, so that today and always someone may rejoice in reaping their fruits.

Unfortunately, not everyone understands the beauty, goodness and substance of this dream of the Creator; indeed, many think it is a utopia. Turning the other cheek (cf. Mt 5:39), they say, is for losers; giving in the face of rejection is for the naive; forgiving without limit (cf. Mt 18:21–22) is for the weak. This is not surprising. Even for Peter, it was difficult to accept this new and different way of reasoning (cf. Mt 16:22). But Jesus remains categorical: only the way of love is the way of life.

Let us not delude ourselves. Hatred and violence bring nothing good, but only destruction and death, always, even when they are a response to injustices suffered. We see this every day, from the small matters of our domestic lives to the wider world stage. Everything confirms what Jesus taught us: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:25).

Dear brothers and sisters, we are in such great need of life, of hope, of serenity and of peace – within ourselves, in our cities, and amongst peoples and nations. For this reason, whatever the injury, whatever the offence, let us not allow evil to disfigure our humanity or corrupt our hearts! Let us not adapt to the mindset of the world (cf. Rom 12:2). Let us continue to love, to give, to forgive, offering ourselves as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (v. 1), so as to preserve and nurture, in ourselves and in others, the infinite dignity of the divine image we bear in our souls. And let us not lose heart if it is difficult: our strength lies in the Lord, and with His help all things are possible (cf. Phil 4:13).

The rite of the procession on the lake, which we shall perform shortly, also reminds us of this. It evokes another miracle of Jesus, which took place shortly before the events we have just heard about, when the Master, on the Sea of Tiberias, reached the frightened disciples by walking on the water and led them to shore by calming the storm (cf. Mt 8:23–27). Just when they were most frightened, at the mercy of the headwinds, He urged them to have faith, to pray, so that they might find peace again and, together with Him, continue sailing towards the desired destination.

With this faith, this evening, we will participate in the Eucharist. On the Altar we will offer ourselves, together with the bread and wine. And the Lord will unite our offerings with His own, consecrate them and give them back to us, transformed into His Body and Blood, so that we may share them as sustenance for the journey. Then, like the disciples, we shall leave the shore together, carrying with us the image of Mary, our model and guide, to bring the blessing we have received along the shores of the lake.

They are simple gestures, with which we renew our trust in God and our filial devotion to His Most Holy Mother. And they are all the more evocative in that they are made possible, as Saint Paul VI liked to recall, by the care with which the small community living here safeguards this place of peace throughout the year, so that on solemn occasions the entire People of God may gather there, just as Mary welcomed into her womb and into her home in Nazareth the Son of God made man, so that His salvation might reach all people.

In this way, this place of Marian devotion also becomes a sign of how the Church strives, day after day, to make us all one body, in prayer, in sentiment, in our intentions, and in the orderly and unanimous development of our life together; and a symbol of the love with which the Lord, through His Most Holy Mother, wished to draw near to us as one of us, to the point of becoming one with the great multitude of our humanity (cf. Homily on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 15 August 1977).

Let us, then, draw close this evening to Jesus and Mary, to the Son and the Mother, so that, united, not only on the lake but on every night throughout the world, we may be a soothing reflection of God’s presence and an irresistible echo of His love which invites us to love.