Entry 0277: Reflection on the Ascension of the Lord
by Pope Benedict XVI
The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the papal Mass for the possession of the chair of the Bishop of Rome on the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, on 7 May 2005. Here is the text of the homily delivered by the Roman Pontiff on that occasion.
MASS
OF POSSESSION OF THE CHAIR
OF
THE BISHOP OF ROME
ON
THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION
OF
THE LORD
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Basilica
of St John Lateran, Saturday, 7 May 2005
Dear Father Cardinals,
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today, when I
can sit for the first time on the Chair of the Bishop of Rome as Successor of
Peter, is the day on which the Church in Italy celebrates the Feast of the
Ascension of the Lord. At the centre of this day we find Christ. And it is also
only thanks to him, thanks to the mystery of his Ascension, that we can
understand the significance of the Chair, which in turn is the symbol of the
Bishop’s power and responsibility.
So what does the
Feast of the Ascension of the Lord mean for us? It does not mean that the Lord
has departed to some place far from people and from the world. Christ’s
Ascension is not a journey into space toward the most remote stars; for
basically, the planets, like the earth, are also made of physical elements.
Christ’s
Ascension means that he no longer belongs to the world of corruption and death
that conditions our life. It means that he belongs entirely to God. He, the
Eternal Son, led our human existence into God’s presence, taking with him flesh
and blood in a transfigured form.
The human being
finds room in God; through Christ, the human being was introduced into the very
life of God. And since God embraces and sustains the entire cosmos, the
Ascension of the Lord means that Christ has not departed from us, but that he
is now, thanks to his being with the Father, close to each one of us for ever.
Each one of us can be on intimate terms with him; each can call upon him. The
Lord is always within hearing. We can inwardly draw away from him. We can live
turning our backs on him. But he always waits for us and is always close to us.
From the
readings of today’s liturgy we also learn something more about the concrete way
the Lord makes himself close to us. The Lord promises the disciples his Holy
Spirit. The first reading that we heard tells us that the Holy Spirit will give
“power” to the disciples; the Gospel adds that he will guide them to the whole
truth. As the living Word of God, Jesus told his disciples everything, and God
can give no more than himself. In Jesus, God gave us his whole self, that is,
he gave us everything. As well as or together with this, there can be no other
revelation which can communicate more or in some way complete the Revelation of
Christ. In him, in the Son, all has been said to us, all has been given.
But our
understanding is limited: thus, the Spirit’s mission is to introduce the
Church, in an ever new way from generation to generation, into the greatness of
Christ’s mystery. The Spirit places nothing different or new beside Christ; no
pneumatic revelation comes with the revelation of Christ - as some say -, no
second level of Revelation.
No: “He will
have received from me...”, Christ says in the Gospel (Jn 16: 14). And as Christ
says only what he hears and receives from the Father, thus the Holy Spirit is
the interpreter of Christ. “He will have received from me”. He does not lead us
to other places, far from Christ, but takes us further and further into Christ’s
light. Consequently, Christian Revelation is both ever old and new. Thus, all
things are and always have been given to us. At the same time, every
generation, in the inexhaustible encounter with the Lord - an encounter
mediated by the Holy Spirit - always learns something new.
The Holy Spirit,
therefore, is the power through which Christ causes us to experience his
closeness. But the first reading also has something else to say: you will be my
witnesses. The Risen Christ needs witnesses who have met him, people who have
known him intimately through the power of the Holy Spirit; those who have, so
to speak, actually touched him, can witness to him.
It is in this
way that the Church, the family of Christ, “beginning at Jerusalem ”...,
as the Reading
says, spread to the very ends of the earth. It is through witnesses that the
Church was built - starting with Peter and Paul and the Twelve, to the point of
including all who, filled with Christ, have rekindled down the centuries and
will rekindle the flame of faith in a way that is ever new. All Christians in
their own way can and must be witnesses of the Risen Lord.
When we read the
saints’ names we can see how often they have been - and continue to be - first
and foremost simple people from whom shone - and shines - a radiant light that
can lead others to Christ.
But this chorus
of witnesses is also endowed with a clearly defined structure: the successors
of the Apostles, the Bishops, who are publicly responsible for ensuring that
the network of these witnesses survives. The power and grace required for this
service are conferred upon Bishops through the sacrament of Episcopal
Ordination. In this network of witnesses, the Successor of Peter has a special
task. It was Peter who, on the Apostles’ behalf, made the first profession of
faith: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16: 16).
This is the task
of all Peter’s Successors: to be the guide in the profession of faith in
Christ, Son of the living God. The Chair of Rome is above all the Seat of this
belief. From high up on this Chair the Bishop of Rome is constantly bound to
repeat: Dominus Iesus - “Jesus is Lord”, as Paul wrote in his
Letters to the Romans (10: 9) and to the Corinthians (I Cor 12: 3). To the
Corinthians he stressed: “Even though there are so-called gods in the heavens
and on the earth... for us there is one God, the Father... and one Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom everything was made and through whom we live” (I Cor 8:
5).
The Chair of
Peter obliges all who hold it to say, as Peter said during a crisis time among
the disciples when so many wanted to leave him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe; we are convinced that
you are God’s holy one” (Jn 6: 68 ff.).
The One who sits
on the Chair of Peter must remember the Lord’s words to Simon Peter at the Last
Supper: “...You in turn must strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22: 32). The one who
holds the office of the Petrine ministry must be aware that he is a frail and
weak human being - just as his own powers are frail and weak - and is
constantly in need of purification and conversion.
But he can also
be aware that the power to strengthen his brethren in the faith and keep them
united in the confession of the Crucified and Risen Christ comes from the Lord.
In St Paul ’s
First Letter to the Corinthians, we find the oldest account we have of the
Resurrection. Paul faithfully received it from the witnesses. This account
first speaks of Christ’s death for our sins, of his burial and of his
Resurrection which took place the third day, and then says: “[Christ] was seen
by Cephas, then by the Twelve...” (I Cor 15: 4). Thus, the importance of the
mandate conferred upon Peter to the end of time is summed up: being a witness
of the Risen Christ.
The Bishop of
Rome sits upon the Chair to bear witness to Christ. Thus, the Chair is the
symbol of the potestas docendi, the power to teach that is an essential
part of the mandate of binding and loosing which the Lord conferred on Peter,
and after him, on the Twelve. In the Church, Sacred Scripture, the
understanding of which increases under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and
the ministry of its authentic interpretation that was conferred upon the
Apostles, are indissolubly bound. Whenever Sacred Scripture is separated from
the living voice of the Church, it falls prey to disputes among experts.
Of course, all
they have to tell us is important and invaluable; the work of scholars is a
considerable help in understanding the living process in which the Scriptures
developed, hence, also in grasping their historical richness.
Yet science
alone cannot provide us with a definitive and binding interpretation; it is
unable to offer us, in its interpretation, that certainty with which we can
live and for which we can even die. A greater mandate is necessary for this,
which cannot derive from human abilities alone. The voice of the living Church
is essential for this, of the Church entrusted until the end of time to Peter
and to the College of the Apostles.
This power of
teaching frightens many people in and outside the Church. They wonder whether
freedom of conscience is threatened or whether it is a presumption opposed to
freedom of thought. It is not like this. The power that Christ conferred upon
Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The
power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of
obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and
desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of
obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but
rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in
the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of
opportunism.
Pope John Paul
II did this when, in front of all attempts, apparently benevolent to the human
person, and in the face of erroneous interpretations of freedom, he
unequivocally stressed the inviolability of the human being and of human life
from the moment of conception until natural death. The freedom to kill is not true
freedom, but a tyranny that reduces the human being to slavery.
The Pope knows
that in his important decisions, he is bound to the great community of faith of
all times, to the binding interpretations that have developed throughout the
Church’s pilgrimage. Thus, his power is not being above, but at the service of,
the Word of God. It is incumbent upon him to ensure that this Word continues to
be present in its greatness and to resound in its purity, so that it is not
torn to pieces by continuous changes in usage.
The Chair is -
let us say it again - a symbol of the power of teaching, which is a power of
obedience and service, so that the Word of God- the truth! - may shine out
among us and show us the way of life.
But in speaking
of the Chair of the Bishop of Rome, how can we forget St Ignatius of Antioch ’s words addressed
to the Romans? Peter came from Antioch , his
first See, to Rome ,
his permanent See. His martyrdom decreed that he stay here definitively and
bound his succession to Rome
for ever.
Ignatius, for
his part, while remaining Bishop of Antioch, was also heading for the martyrdom
that he was to suffer in Rome .
In his Letter to the Romans, he refers to the Church of Rome as “She who
presides in love”, a deeply meaningful phrase. We do not know with any
certainty what Ignatius may have had in mind when he used these words. But for
the ancient Church, the word love, agape, referred to the mystery of the
Eucharist. In this mystery, Christ’s love becomes permanently tangible among
us. Here, again and again he gives himself. Here, again and again his heart is
pierced; here he keeps his promise, the promise which, from the Cross, was to
attract all things to himself.
In the
Eucharist, we ourselves learn Christ’s love. It was thanks to this centre and
heart, thanks to the Eucharist, that the saints lived, bringing to the world
God’s love in ever new ways and forms. Thanks to the Eucharist, the Church is
reborn ever anew! The Church is none other than that network - the Eucharistic
community! - within which all of us, receiving the same Lord, become one body
and embrace all the world.
Presiding in
doctrine and presiding in love must in the end be one and the same: the whole
of the Church’s teaching leads ultimately to love. And the Eucharist, as the
love of Jesus Christ present, is the criterion for all teaching. On love the
whole law is based, and the prophets as well, the Lord says (see Mt 22: 40).
Love is the fulfilment of the law, St
Paul wrote to the Romans (see 13: 10).
Dear Romans, I
am now your Bishop. Thank you for your generosity, thank you for your sympathy,
thank you for your patience with me! As Catholics, in some way we are also all
Romans.
With the words
of Psalm 87, a hymn of praise to Zion , mother of
all the peoples, Israel sang
and the Church sings: “Of Zion
they shall say: “One and all were born in her...’“ (v. 5). We too can likewise
say: as Catholics, in a certain way, we are all born in Rome .
Thus, I want to
try with all my heart to be your Bishop, the Bishop of Rome. And let us all
seek to be more and more Catholic - more and more brothers and sisters in the
great family of God, that family where no one is a stranger.
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