Entry 0297: Reflections on the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary
Time by Pope Benedict XVI
On eight occasions during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delivered reflections on the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, on 04 September 2005, 10 September 2006, 09 September 2007, 07 September 2008, 06 September 2009, 05 September 2010, 04 September 2011, and 09 September 2012. Here are the texts of eight brief reflections prior to the recitation of the Angelus and five homilies delivered on these occasions.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The Year of the
Eucharist is now reaching its end. It will close this coming month of October
with the celebration in the Vatican of the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of
Bishops whose theme will be: “The Eucharist: source and summit of the life
and mission of the Church”.
It was our
beloved Pope John Paul II who desired this special year dedicated to the
Mystery of the Eucharist in order to reawaken in the Christian people faith,
wonder and love for this great Sacrament, which constitutes the true treasure
of the Church. How deep was the devotion with which he celebrated Holy Mass,
the centre of every one of his days! And how much time he used to spend in
silent, adoring prayer before the Tabernacle!
In his last
months, illness brought him ever more closely to resemble the suffering Christ.
It is a striking thought that at the moment of his death he must have found
himself uniting the offering of his own life with that of Christ’s in the Mass
being celebrated at his bedside. His earthly existence ended during the Octave
of Easter in the very heart of this Year of the Eucharist, in which the passage
from his great Pontificate to my own occurred.
From the very
beginning of this service which the Lord has asked of me, I therefore joyfully
reaffirm the centrality of the Sacrament of the Real Presence of Christ in the
Church’s life and in every Christian’s life.
With a view to
the Synodal Assembly in October, the Bishops who will be its members are
examining the working document that has been specially prepared for it.
However, I ask the entire Ecclesial Community to feel involved in this phase of
immediate preparation and to take part in it with prayer and reflection, making
the most of every opportunity, event and meeting.
At the recent
World Youth Day there were also many references to the Mystery of the
Eucharist. I am thinking back, for example, to the evocative Vigil at
Marienfeld on Saturday evening, 20 August, which culminated in Eucharistic
adoration: a courageous choice that brought the eyes and hearts of the young
people to converge on Jesus, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
I also remember
that during those memorable days there was perpetual adoration, day and night,
in certain churches in Cologne , Bonn and Düsseldorf, with
the participation of numerous young people who were thus able to discover
together the beauty of contemplative prayer!
I am confident
that with the commitment of Pastors and faithful, there will be an increasingly
assiduous and fervent participation in the Eucharist in every community. Today
in particular, I would like to urge people to sanctify with joy the “Lord’s Day”,
Sunday, a holy day for Christians.
In this context,
I would like to recall St Gregory the Great, whose liturgical Memorial we
celebrated yesterday. That great Pope made a historically effective contribution
to promoting various aspects of the liturgy and in particular, the proper
celebration of the Eucharist. May his intercession, together with that of Mary
Most Holy, help us every Sunday to live to the full the joy of Easter and of
the encounter with the Risen Lord.
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO
MÜNCHEN, ALTÖTTING AND REGENSBURG
(SEPTEMBER
9-14, 2006)
ANGELUS
Outdoor
site of the Neue Messe, Munich
Dear Brothers
and Sisters!
Before
concluding our Eucharistic celebration with the solemn blessing, let us
recollect ourselves by praying the Angelus. In reflecting on the readings of
the Mass, we have realized how necessary it is – both for the lives of
individuals and for the serene and peaceful coexistence of all people – to see
God as the centre of all there is and the centre of our personal lives. The
supreme example of this attitude is Mary, Mother of the Lord. Throughout her
earthly life, she was the Woman who listened, the Virgin whose heart was open
towards God and towards others. The faithful have understood this since the
earliest centuries of Christianity, and therefore in all their needs and trials
they have confidently turned to her, imploring her help and her intercession
with God.
As a witness to
this, here in our Bavarian homeland there are hundreds of churches and shrines
dedicated to Mary. They are places to which countless pilgrims come flocking
throughout the year, to entrust themselves to her maternal love and concern.
Here in Munich, in the heart of the city, rises the Mariensäule, before
which, exactly 390 years ago, Bavaria was solemnly entrusted to the protection
of the Mother of God, and before which yesterday I implored once more the
blessing of the Patrona Bavariae upon this city and upon this land.
And how can we
not think in a special way of the shrine of Altötting, where I shall go
tomorrow on pilgrimage? There I will have the joy of solemnly inaugurating the
new Adoration Chapel which, precisely in that place, is an eloquent sign of
Mary’s role: she is and remains the handmaid of the Lord who does not put
herself at the centre, but wants to lead us towards God, to teach us a way of
life in which God is acknowledge as the centre of all there is and the centre
of our personal lives. To her let us now address our Angelus prayer.
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO
MÜNCHEN, ALTÖTTING AND REGENSBURG
(SEPTEMBER
9-14, 2006)
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER
Outdoor
site of the Neue Messe, Munich
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
First, I would
like once more to offer all of you an affectionate greeting. I am happy, as I
told you, to be with you once again and to celebrate Holy Mass with you. I am
also happy to revisit familiar places which had a decisive influence on my
life, shaping my thoughts and feelings: places where I learned how to believe
and how to live. This is a time to say thanks to all those - living and
deceased - who guided and accompanied me along the way. I thank God for this
beautiful country and for all the persons who have made it truly my homeland.
We have just
listened to the three biblical readings which the Church’s liturgy has chosen
for this Sunday. All three develop a double theme which is ultimately one,
bringing out - as circumstances dictate - one or another of its aspects. All
three readings speak of God as the center of all reality and the center of our
personal life. “Here is your God!”, exclaims the prophet Isaiah in the first
reading (35:4). In their own way, the Letter of James and the Gospel
passage say the very same thing. They want to lead us to God, to set us on the
right road in life. But to speak of “God” is also to speak of society: of our
shared responsibility for the triumph of justice and love in the world. This is
powerfully expressed in the second reading, in which James, a close relative of
Jesus, speaks to us. He is addressing a community beginning to be marked by
pride, since it included affluent and distinguished persons, and consequently
the risk of indifference to the rights of the poor. James’s words give us a
glimpse of Jesus, of that God who became man. Though he was of Davidic, and
thus royal, stock, he became a simple man in the midst of simple men and women.
He did not sit on a throne, but died in the ultimate poverty of the Cross. Love
of neighbour, which is primarily a commitment to justice, is the touchstone for
faith and love of God. James calls it “the royal law” (see 2:8), echoing the
words which Jesus used so often: the reign of God, God’s kingship. This does
not refer to just any kingdom, coming at any time; it means that God must even
now become the force that shapes our lives and actions. This is what we ask for
when we pray: “Thy Kingdom come”. We are not asking for something off in the
distance, something that, deep down, we may not even want to experience.
Rather, we pray that God’s will may here and now determine our own will, and
that in this way God can reign in the world. We pray that justice and love may
become the decisive forces affecting our world. A prayer like this is naturally
addressed first to God, but it also proves unsettling for us. Really, is this
what we want? Is this the direction in which we want our lives to move? For
James, “the royal law”, the law of God’s kingship, is also “the law of freedom”:
if we follow God in all that we think and do, then we draw closer together, we
gain freedom and thus true fraternity is born. When Isaiah, in the first
reading, talks about God, saying “Behold your God!”, he goes on to talk about
salvation for the suffering, and when James speaks of the social order as a
necessary expression of our faith, he logically goes on to speak of God, whose
children we are.
But now we must
turn our attention to the Gospel, which speaks of Jesus’ healing of a man born
deaf and mute. Here too we encounter the two aspects of this one theme. Jesus
is concerned for the suffering, for those pushed to the margins of society. He
heals them and, by enabling them to live and work together, he brings them to equality
and fraternity. This obviously has something to say to all of us: Jesus points
out to all of us the goal of our activity, how we are to act. Yet the whole
story has another aspect, one which the Fathers of the Church constantly
brought out, one which particularly speaks to us today. The Fathers were
speaking to and about the men and women of their time. But their message also
has new meaning for us modern men and women. There is not only a physical
deafness which largely cuts people off from social life; there is also a “hardness
of hearing” where God is concerned, and this is something from which we
particularly suffer in our own time. Put simply, we are no longer able to hear
God - there are too many different frequencies filling our ears. What is said
about God strikes us as pre-scientific, no longer suited to our age. Along with
this hardness of hearing or outright deafness where God is concerned, we
naturally lose our ability to speak with him and to him. And so we end up
losing a decisive capacity for perception. We risk losing our inner senses.
This weakening of our capacity for perception drastically and dangerously
curtails the range of our relationship with reality in general. The horizon of
our life is disturbingly foreshortened.
The Gospel tells
us that Jesus put his fingers in the ears of the deaf-mute, touched the sick
man’s tongue with spittle and said “Ephphatha” - “Be opened”. The
Evangelist has preserved for us the original Aramaic word which Jesus spoke,
and thus he brings us back to that very moment. What happened then was unique,
but it does not belong to a distant past: Jesus continues to do the same thing
anew, even today. At our Baptism he touched each of us and said “Ephphatha”
- “Be opened” -, thus enabling us to hear God’s voice and to be able to
talk to him. There is nothing magical about what takes place in the Sacrament
of Baptism. Baptism opens up a path before us. It makes us part of the
community of those who are able to hear and speak; it brings us into fellowship
with Jesus himself, who alone has seen God and is thus able to speak of him (see
Jn 1:18): through faith, Jesus wants to share with us his seeing God,
his hearing the Father and his converse with him. The path upon which we set
out at Baptism is meant to be a process of increasing development, by which we
grow in the life of communion with God, and acquire a different way of looking
at man and creation.
The Gospel
invites us to realize that we have a “deficit” in our capacity for perception -
initially, we do not notice this deficiency as such, since everything else
seems so urgent and logical; since everything seems to proceed normally, even
when we no longer have eyes and ears for God and we live without him. But it is
true that everything goes on as usual when God no longer is a part of our lives
and our world? Before raising any further questions, I would like to share some
of my experience in meeting Bishops from throughout the world. The Catholic
Church in Germany
is outstanding for its social activities, for its readiness to help wherever
help is needed. During their visits ad Limina, the Bishops, most
recently those of Africa , have always
mentioned with gratitude the generosity of German Catholics and ask me to
convey that gratitude, and that is what I wish to do now, publically. The
Bishops of the Baltic Countries, who came before vacations began, also told me
about how German Catholics assisted them greatly in rebuilding their churches,
which were badly in need of repair after decades of Communist rule. Every now
and then, however, some African Bishop will say to me: “If I come to Germany
and present social projects, suddenly every door opens. But if I come with a
plan for evangelization, I meet with reservations”. Clearly some people have
the idea that social projects should be urgently undertaken, while anything
dealing with God or even the Catholic faith is of limited and lesser urgency.
Yet the experience of those Bishops is that evangelization itself should be
foremost, that the God of Jesus Christ must be known, believed in and loved,
and that hearts must be converted if progress is to be made on social issues
and reconciliation is to begin, and if - for example - AIDS is to be combated
by realistically facing its deeper causes and the sick are to be given the
loving care they need. Social issues and the Gospel are inseparable. When we
bring people only knowledge, ability, technical competence and tools, we bring
them too little. All too quickly the mechanisms of violence take over: the
capacity to destroy and to kill becomes dominant, becomes the way to gain power
- a power which at some point should bring law, but which will never be able to
do so. Reconciliation, and a shared commitment to justice and love, recede into
the distance. The criteria by which technology is placed at the service of law
and love are then no longer clear: yet it is precisely on these criteria that
everything depends: criteria which are not only theories, but which enlighten
the heart and thus set reason and action on the right path.
People in Africa
and Asia admire, indeed, the scientific and
technical prowess of the West, but they are frightened by a form of rationality
which totally excludes God from man’s vision, as if this were the highest form
of reason, and one to be taught to their cultures too. They do not see the real
threat to their identity in the Christian faith, but in the contempt for God
and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of
freedom and that holds up utility as the supreme criterion for the future of
scientific research. Dear friends, this cynicism is not the kind of tolerance
and cultural openness that the world’s peoples are looking for and that all of
us want! The tolerance which we urgently need includes the fear of God - respect
for what others hold sacred. This respect for what others hold sacred demands
that we ourselves learn once more the fear of God. But this sense of respect
can be reborn in the Western world only if faith in God is reborn, if God
become once more present to us and in us.
We impose our
faith on no one. Such proselytism is contrary to Christianity. Faith can
develop only in freedom. But we do appeal to the freedom of men and women to
open their hearts to God, to seek him, to hear his voice. As we gather here,
let us here ask the Lord with all our hearts to speak anew his “Ephphatha”,
to heal our hardness of hearing for God’s presence, activity and word, and to
give us sight and hearing. Let us ask his help in rediscovering prayer, to
which he invites us in the liturgy and whose essential formula he has taught us
in the Our Father.
The world needs
God. We need God. But what God do we need? In the first reading, the prophet
tells a people suffering oppression that: “He will come with vengeance” (Is
35:4). We can easily suppose how the people imagined that vengeance. But the
prophet himself goes on to reveal what it really is: the healing goodness of
God. And the definitive explanation of the prophet’s word is to be found in the
one who died for us on the Cross: in Jesus, the Son of God incarnate, who here
looks at us so closely. His “vengeance” is the Cross: a “No” to violence and a “love
to the end”. This is the God we need. We do not fail to show respect for other
religions and cultures, we do not fail to show profound respect for their
faith, when we proclaim clearly and uncompromisingly the God who has countered
violence with his own suffering; who in the face of the power of evil exalts
his mercy, in order that evil may be limited and overcome. To him we now lift
up our prayer, that he may remain with us and help us to be credible witnesses
to himself. Amen!
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY
OF
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO AUSTRIA
ON
THE OCCASION OF THE 850th ANNIVERSARY
OF
THE FOUNDATION OF THE SHRINE OF MARIAZELL
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Stephansplatz,
Vienna
Dear Brothers
and Sisters!
It was a
particularly beautiful experience this morning to be abke to celebrate the Lord’s
Day with all of you in such a dignified and solemn manner in the magnificent
Cathedral of Saint Stephen. The celebration of the Eucharist, carried out with
due dignity, helps us to realize the immense grandeur of God’s gift to us in
the Holy Mass. In this way, we also draw near to each another and experience
the joy of God. So I thank all those who, by their active contribution to the
preparation of the liturgy or by their recollected participation in the sacred
mysteries, created an atmosphere in which we truly felt God’s presence.
Heartfelt thanks and Vergelt’s Gott to all!
In my homily I
wished to say something about the meaning of Sunday and about today’s Gospel,
and I think that this led us to discover that the love of God, who surrendered
himself into our hands for our salvation, gives us the inner freedom to let go
of our own own lives, in order to find true life. Mary’s participation in this
love gave her the strength to say “yes” unconditionally. In her encounter with
the gentle, respectful love of God, who awaits the free cooperation of his
creature in order to bring about his saving plan, the Blessed Virgin was able
to overcome all hesitation and, in view of this great and unprecedented plan,
to entrust herself into his hands. With complete availability, interior
openness and freedom, she allowed God to fill her with love, with his Holy
Spirit. Mary, the simple woman, could thus receive within herself the Son of
God, and give to the world the Saviour who had first given himself to her.
In today’s
celebration of the Eucharist, the Son of God has also been given to us. Those
who have received Holy Communion, in a special way, carry the Risen Lord within
themselves. Just as Mary bore him in her womb – a defenceless little child,
totally dependent on the love of his Mother – so Jesus Christ, under the species
of bread, has entrusted himself to us, dear brothers and sisters. Let us love
this Jesus who gives himself so completely into our hands! Let us love him as
Mary loved him! And let us bring him to others, just as Mary brought him to Elizabeth as the source of
joyful exultation! The Virgin gave the Word of God a human body, and thus
enabled him to come into the world as a man. Let us give our own bodies to the
Lord, and let them become ever more fully instruments of God’s love, temples of
the Holy Spirit! Let us bring Sunday, and its immense gift, into the world!
Let us ask Mary
to teach us how to become, like her, inwardly free, so that in openness to God
we may find true freedom, true life, genuine and lasting joy.
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY
OF
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO AUSTRIA
ON
THE OCCASION OF THE 850th ANNIVERSARY
OF
THE FOUNDATION OF THE SHRINE OF MARIAZELL
EUCHARISTIC
CELEBRATION
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Saint
Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, Sunday, 9 September 2007
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
“Sine
dominico non possumus!” Without the gift of the Lord, without the Lord’s
day, we cannot live: That was the answer given in the year 304 by Christians
from Abitene in present-day Tunisia ,
when they were caught celebrating the forbidden Sunday Eucharist and brought
before the judge. They were asked why they were celebrating the Christian
Sunday Eucharist, even though they knew it was a capital offence. “Sine
dominico non possumus”: in the word dominicum/dominico two meanings
are inextricably intertwined, and we must once more learn to recognize their
unity. First of all there is the gift of the Lord – this gift is the Lord
himself: the Risen one, whom the Christians simply need to have close and
accessible to them, if they are to be themselves. Yet this accessibility is not
merely something spiritual, inward and subjective: the encounter with the Lord
is inscribed in time on a specific day. And so it is inscribed in our everyday,
corporal and communal existence, in temporality. It gives a focus, an inner
order to our time and thus to the whole of our lives. For these Christians, the
Sunday Eucharist was not a commandment, but an inner necessity. Without him who
sustains our lives, life itself is empty. To do without or to betray this focus
would deprive life of its very foundation, would take away its inner dignity
and beauty.
Does this
attitude of the Christians of that time apply also to us who are Christians
today? Yes, it does, we too need a relationship that sustains us, that gives
direction and content to our lives. We too need access to the Risen one, who
sustains us through and beyond death. We need this encounter which brings us
together, which gives us space for freedom, which lets us see beyond the bustle
of everyday life to God’s creative love, from which we come and towards which
we are travelling.
Of course, if we
listen to today’s Gospel, if we listen to what the Lord is saying to us, it
frightens us: “Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has and all links
with his family cannot be my disciple.” We would like to object: What are you
saying, Lord? Isn’t the family just what the world needs? Doesn’t it need the
love of father and mother, the love between parents and children, between
husband and wife? Don’t we need love for life, the joy of life? And don’t we
also need people who invest in the good things of this world and build up the
earth we have received, so that everyone can share in its gifts? Isn’t the
development of the earth and its goods another charge laid upon us? If we
listen to the Lord more closely, and above all if we listen to him in the
context of everything he is saying to us, then we understand that Jesus does
not demand the same from everyone. Each person has a specific task, to each is
assigned a particular way of discipleship. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking
directly of the specific vocation of the Twelve, a vocation not shared by the
many who accompanied Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem . The Twelve must first of all
overcome the scandal of the Cross, and then they must be prepared truly to
leave everything behind; they must be prepared to assume the seemingly absurd
task of travelling to the ends of the earth and, with their minimal education,
proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world filled with claims to
erudition and with real or apparent education – and naturally also to the poor
and the simple. They must themselves be prepared to suffer martyrdom in the
course of their journey into the vast world, and thus to bear witness to the
Gospel of the Crucified and Risen Lord. If Jesus’s words on this journey to Jerusalem , on which a
great crowd accompanies him, are addressed in the first instance to the Twelve,
his call naturally extends beyond the historical moment into all subsequent
centuries. He calls people of all times to count exclusively on him, to leave
everything else behind, so as to be totally available for him, and hence
totally available for others: to create oases of selfless love in a world where
so often only power and wealth seem to count for anything. Let us thank the
Lord for giving us men and women in every century who have left all else behind
for his sake, and have thus become radiant signs of his love. We need only
think of people like Benedict and Scholastica, Francis and Clare of Assisi,
Elizabeth of Hungary and Hedwig of Silesia, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of
Avila, and in our own day, Mother Teresa and Padre Pio. With their whole lives,
these people have become a living interpretation of Jesus’s teaching, which
through their lives becomes close and intelligible to us. Let us ask the Lord
to grant to people in our own day the courage to leave everything behind and so
to be available to everyone.
Yet if we now
turn once more to the Gospel, we realize that the Lord is not speaking merely
of a few individuals and their specific task; the essence of what he says
applies to everyone. The heart of the matter he expresses elsewhere in these
words: “For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his
life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains
the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Lk 9:24f.). Whoever
wants to keep his life just for himself will lose it. Only by giving ourselves
do we receive our life. In other words: only the one who loves discovers life.
And love always demands going out of oneself, it always demands leaving
oneself. Anyone who looks just to himself, who wants the other only for
himself, will lose both himself and the other. Without this profound losing of
oneself, there is no life. The restless craving for life, so widespread among
people today, leads to the barrenness of a lost life. “Whoever loses his life
for my sake … “, says the Lord: a radical letting-go of our self is only
possible if in the process we end up, not by falling into the void, but into
the hands of Love eternal. Only the love of God, who loses himself for us and
gives himself to us, makes it possible for us also to become free, to let go,
and so truly to find life. This is the heart of what the Lord wants to say to
us in the seemingly hard words of this Sunday’s Gospel. With his teaching he
gives us the certainty that we can build on his love, the love of the incarnate
God. Recognition of this is the wisdom of which today’s reading speaks to us.
Once again, we find that all the world’s learning profits us nothing unless we
learn to live, unless we discover what truly matters in life.
“Sine
dominico non possumus!” Without the Lord and without the day that belongs
to him, life does not flourish. Sunday has been transformed in our Western
societies into the week-end, into leisure time. Leisure time is something good
and necessary, especially amid the mad rush of the modern world; each of us
knows this. Yet if leisure time lacks an inner focus, an overall sense of
direction, then ultimately it becomes wasted time that neither strengthens nor
builds us up. Leisure time requires a focus – the encounter with him who is our
origin and goal. My great predecessor in the see of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Faulhaber, once
put it like this: Give the soul its Sunday, give Sunday its soul.
Because Sunday
is ultimately about encountering the risen Christ in word and sacrament, its
span extends through the whole of reality. The early Christians celebrated the
first day of the week as the Lord’s day, because it was the day of the
resurrection. Yet very soon, the Church also came to realize that the first day
of the week is the day of the dawning of creation, the day on which God said: “Let
there be light” (Gen 1:3). Therefore Sunday is also the Church’s weekly
feast of creation – the feast of thanksgiving and joy over God’s creation. At a
time when creation seems to be endangered in so many ways through human
activity, we should consciously advert to this dimension of Sunday too. Then,
for the early Church, the first day increasingly assimilated the traditional
meaning of the seventh day, the Sabbath. We participate in God’s rest, which
embraces all of humanity. Thus we sense on this day something of the freedom and
equality of all God’s creatures.
In this Sunday’s
Opening Prayer we call to mind firstly that through his Son God has redeemed us
and made us his beloved children. Then we ask him to look down with
loving-kindness upon all who believe in Christ and to give us true freedom and
eternal life. We ask God to look down with loving-kindness. We ourselves need
this look of loving-kindness not only on Sunday but beyond, reaching into our
everyday lives. As we ask, we know that this loving gaze has already been granted
to us. What is more, we know that God has adopted us as his children, he has
truly welcomed us into communion with himself. To be someone’s child means, as
the early Church knew, to be a free person, not a slave but a member of the
family. And it means being an heir. If we belong to God, who is the power above
all powers, then we are fearless and free. And then we are heirs. The
inheritance he has bequeathed to us is himself, his love. Yes, Lord, may this
inheritance enter deep within our souls so that we come to know the joy of
being redeemed. Amen.
PASTORAL
VISIT TO CAGLIARI - SARDINIA
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Esplanade
in front of the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, Sunday, 7 September 2008
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
At the end of
this solemn Eucharistic celebration I would like to express again my greetings
and my gratitude. Above all I would like to acknowledge and thank for their
welcome and their presence Hon. Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister; Hon. Dr
Giovanni Letta, Undersecretary, and all of the civil and military authorities
present here. And finally let us cast yet another glance toward the “Sweet
Queen of the Sardinian people”, venerated on this hill of Bonaria. Over the
course of centuries, how many renowned personages have come to render her
homage! How many of my Predecessors have wished to honour her with particular
affection! Bl. Pius IX decreed her coronation; St Pius X, about 100 years ago,
proclaimed her Patroness of All of Sardinia; Pius XI attributed the title of
Minor Basilica to the new church; Pius XII, 50 years ago, made himself
spiritually present with a special Message transmitted directly by Vatican
Radio and Bl. John XXIII, who in 1960 sent a Letter for the reopening of the
Shrine to her cult after its restoration. The first Pope to return to the Island after 1,650 years was the Servant of God Paul VI,
who visited the Shrine on 24 April 1970. And before the holy effigy of the
Blessed Mother, the beloved John Paul II paused in prayer on 20 October 1985.
In the footsteps of the Popes who have preceded me, I too have chosen the
Shrine of Bonaria to round off a Pastoral Visit that aspires to embrace the
whole of Sardinia .
Today we have
renewed the entrustment of the city of Cagliari ,
of Sardinia and all its inhabitants to Mary.
May the holy Virgin continue to watch over each and every one, so that the
patrimony of Gospel values may be transmitted integrally to the new generations
and so that Christ may reign in the families, in the communities and in the
various spheres of society. May the Blessed Mother particularly protect those
who, at this moment, are most in need of her maternal intervention: children
and youth, elderly and families, the sick and all the suffering.
Aware of the
important role that Mary has in the existence of every one of us, as devoted
children we celebrate her birth today. This event constitutes a fundamental
step for the Family of Nazareth, crib of our redemption - an event that regards
each one of us, because every gift that God has granted to her, the Mother, he
has granted thinking also of each one of us, her children. Therefore, with
immense gratitude, let us ask Mary, Mother of the Word Incarnate and our
Mother, to protect every earthly mother: those who, together with their
husband, raise their children in a harmonious family context, and those who,
for many reasons, find themselves alone to face a very difficult duty. May they
carry out with dedication and loyalty their daily service within the family,
the Church and society. May the Blessed Mother be for all a support, comfort
and hope!
Under Mary’s
gaze I would like to recall the dear peoples of Haiti , so sorely tried in the past
days by the passage of three hurricanes. I pray for the victims, unfortunately
numerous, and for the homeless. I am close to the entire nation and I hope that
the help needed reaches them as soon as possible. I entrust all to the maternal
protection of Our Lady of Bonaria.
PASTORAL
VISIT TO CAGLIARI - SARDINIA
EUCHARISTIC
CELEBRATION
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Esplanade
in front of the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria, Sunday, 7 September 2008
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The most
beautiful sight that a people can offer is without any doubt is that of its own
faith. At this moment I feel tangibly a moving manifestation of the faith that
enlivens you and I would like immediately to express to you my admiration of
this. I gladly accepted the invitation to come to your most beautiful Island on the occasion of the centenary of the
proclamation of Our Lady of Bonaria as your principal Patroness. Today,
together with the panorama of the wonderful nature that surrounds us, you offer
me a view of your fervent devotion to the Most Holy Virgin. Thank you for this
beautiful witness!
I greet you all
with deep affection, starting with Archbishop Giuseppe Mani of Cagliari ,
President of the Sardinian Bishops’ Conference, whom I thank for his courteous
words at the beginning of this Holy Mass also on behalf of the other Bishops,
to whom I extend my cordial thoughts, and on behalf of the whole ecclesial
community which lives in Sardinia . Thank you,
above all, for the dedication with which you prepared my Pastoral Visit. And I
see that everything was indeed prepared perfectly. I greet the Civil
Authorities and in particular the Mayor, who will address to me both his
greeting and that of the City. I greet the other Authorities present and
express my gratitude to them for the generous collaboration they offered to the
organization of my Visit here in Sardinia .
Thus I would like to greet the priests, and especially the Community of
Mercedarian Fathers, the deacons, the men and women religious, those
responsible for the associations and ecclesial movements, the youth and all the
faithful, with a cordial remembrance for the elderly centenarians who I was
able to greet at the Church entrance, and all those who have joined us in
spirit or via the radio and television. In a very special way I greet the sick
and the suffering, with a particular thought for the lowliest.
It is the Lord’s
Day, but - given this special circumstance - the Liturgy of the Word has
proposed to us the Readings
for the celebrations dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. These are in particular
texts planned for the Feast of the Birth of Mary which for centuries has been
fixed on 8 September, the date of the consecration of the basilica built in Jerusalem above the house
of St Anne, Mother of Our Lady. They are Readings
which effectively always contain the reference to the mystery of her birth.
First of all there is the Prophet Micah’s marvellous oracle concerning Bethlehem , in which the
birth of the Messiah is announced. The Messiah, the oracle says, was to be a
descendant of King David, like him a native of Bethlehem but a figure who would
exceed human limitations: his “origin”, it says, are “from ancient times”, lost
in the most remote ages, at the frontier of eternity. His greatness would reach
“to the ends of the earth”, as would also be his peace (see Mi 5: 1-4a). The
coming of the “Lord’s anointed”, who was to mark the beginning of the people’s
liberation was described by the Prophet with an enigmatic expression: “until
the time when she who is in travail has brought forth” (Mi 5: 3). Thus the
Liturgy - which is a privileged school of the faith - teaches us to see in Mary’s
birth a direct connection with that of the Messiah, Son of David.
The Gospel, a
passage from the Apostle Matthew, proposed to us precisely the account of Jesus’
birth. However, the Evangelist introduces it with a summary of his genealogy,
which he sets at the beginning as a prologue. Here too the full evidence of
Mary’s role in salvation history stands out: Mary’s being is totally relative
to Christ and in particular to his Incarnation. “Jacob the father of Joseph the
husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ” (Mt 1: 16). The
lack of continuity in the layout of the genealogy immediately meets the eye; we
do not read “begot” but instead: “Mary, of whom Jesus was born who is called
Christ”. Precisely in this we perceive the beauty of the plan of God who,
respecting the human being, makes him fertile from within, causing the most
beautiful fruit of his creative and redeeming work to develop in the humble
Virgin of Nazareth. Then the Evangelist brings on stage the figure of Joseph,
his inner drama, his robust faith and his exemplary rectitude. Behind Joseph’s
thoughts and deliberations is his love for God and his firm determination to
obey him. But how is it possible not to feel that Joseph’s distress, hence his
prayers and his decision, were motivated at the same time by esteem and love
for his betrothed? God’s beauty and that of Mary are inseparable in Joseph’s
heart; he knows that there can be no contradiction between them; he seeks the
answer in God and finds it in the light of the Word and of the Holy Spirit: “The
Virgin shall be with child and give birth to a son, and they shall call him
Emmanuel (which means, God with us)” (Mt 1: 23; see Is 7: 14).
Thus, once
again, we can contemplate Mary’s place in the saving plan of God, that “purpose”
which we find in the Second Reading, taken from the Letter to the Romans. Here
the Apostle Paul expresses in two verses, unusually dense with meaning, the
synthesis of what human life is from a meta-historical viewpoint: a parabola of
salvation that starts from God and returns to him; a parabola entirely
motivated and governed by his love. This is a salvific design totally permeated
by divine freedom, which nonetheless awaits a fundamental contribution by human
freedom: the creature’s corresponds to the Creator’s love. And it is here, in
this space of human freedom, that we perceive the presence of the Virgin Mary,
without her ever having been explicitly mentioned: she is in fact, in Christ,
the first fruits and model of “those who love him [God]” (Rm 8: 28). The
predestination of Mary is inscribed in the predestination of Jesus, as likewise
is that of every human person. The “here I am” of the Mother faithfully echoes
the “here I am” of the Son (see Heb 10: 6), as does the “here I am” of all adoptive
children in the Son, that of us all, precisely.
Dear friends of Cagliari and Sardinia ,
thanks to their faith in Christ and through the spiritual motherhood of Mary
and of the church, your people too are called to be integrated in the spiritual
“genealogy” of the Gospel. Christianity did not arrive in Sardinia
with the swords of conquerors or by foreign imposition but germinated from the
blood of the martyrs who gave their life here as an act of love for God and for
men and women. It is in your mines that the Good News rang out for the first
time. It had been brought by Pope Pontianus and the priest Hyppolitus and by
many brothers condemned ad metalla [to work the silver, lead and iron
mines] for their faith in Christ. Saturnius, Gavin, Protus, and Januarius,
Simplicius, Lussorius, Ephysius and Antiochus were witnesses of total
dedication to Christ as true God and Lord. The witness of martyrdom conquered a
proud spirit such as that of the Sardinians, instinctively recalcitrant to all
that came from over the sea. From the martyrs’ example Bishop Lucifer of Cagliari drew the strength to defend orthodoxy against
Arianism and, together with Eusebius of Vercelli, also from Cagliari , opposed the condemnation of
Athanasius at the Council of Milan in 335, and for this both of them, Lucifer
and Eusebius, were sentenced to exile, a very harsh exile. Sardinia
has never been a land of heresies; its people have always shown filial fidelity
to Christ and to the See of Peter. Yes, dear friends, in the sequence of invasions
and dominations, faith in Christ endured in your peoples’ soul as a
constitutive element of your Sardinian identity itself.
In the fifth
century, after the martyrs, many Bishops arrived from Africa
who were obliged to suffer exile for refusing to adhere to the Arian heresy.
They brought the riches of their faith with them to the Island .
More than 100 Bishops, under the guidance of Fulgentius of Ruspe, founded
monasteries and intensified the task of evangelization. Together with Augustine’s
glorious relics, they brought the wealth of their liturgical and spiritual
tradition, traces of which you still preserve. Thus the faith became ever more
deeply rooted in the hearts of the faithful until it became a culture and
produced fruits of holiness. Ignatius of Laconi and Nicholas of Gésturi are
Saints with whom Sardinia identifies. The
martyr Antonia Mesina, the contemplative Gabriella Sagheddu, and the Sister of
Charity, Josephine Nicóli, are the expression of a youth that was able to
pursue great ideals. This simple and courageous faith continues to thrive in
your communities, in your families, where one breathes the Gospel fragrance of
the virtues that belong to your land: faithfulness, dignity, discretion,
sobriety, the sense of duty.
And then,
obviously, there is your love for Our Lady. Indeed, we are here today to
commemorate a great act of faith made by your ancestors a century ago when they
entrusted their lives to the Mother of Christ, choosing her to be the most
important Patroness of the Island . They could
not have known then that the 20th century was to be a very difficult century
but it was certainly in that consecration to Mary that they subsequently found
the strength to face the difficulties that arose, especially with the two World
Wars. It could only be like this. Your Island, dear friends of Sardinia , could have no other protectress than Our Lady.
She is the Mother, Daughter and Wife par excellence: “Sa Mama, Fiza, Isposa
de su Segnore”, as you like to sing. She is the Mother who loves, protects,
advises, consoles and gives life so that life may be born and endure. She is
the Daughter who honours her family, is ever attentive to the needs of her
brothers and sisters and is prompt in making her home beautiful and welcoming;
she is the Wife capable of faithful, patient love, of sacrifice and of hope. In
Sardinia at least 350 churches and shrines are
dedicated to Mary. A people of mothers is reflected in that humble girl from Nazareth who with her “yes”
enabled the Word to become flesh.
I well know that
Mary is in your hearts. A hundred years later, let us thank her today for her
protection and renew our trust in her, recognizing her as the “Star of the New
Evangelization” at whose school we may learn how to bring Christ the Saviour to
the men and women of our time.
May Mary help
you to bring Christ to families, little domestic churches and cells of society,
which today more than ever are in need of both spiritual and social trust and
support. May she help you to find appropriate pastoral strategies to ensure
that Christ is encountered by young people who by their nature bring new
dynamism but often fall prey to the widespread nihilism, thirsting for truth
and ideals precisely when they seem to deny them. May she render you capable of
evangelizing the world of work, the economy and politics which need a new
generation of committed lay Christians who can seek competently and with moral
rigour sustainable solutions of development. In all these aspects of Christian
commitment you can always count on the guidance and support of the Blessed
Virgin. Let us therefore entrust ourselves to her maternal intercession.
Mary is the
harbour, refuge and protection for the Sardinian people who have within them
the strength of oak. When the storm has passed the oak stands strong; fires
rage and it sends out new shoots; the drought comes and it wins through once
again. Let us therefore renew joyfully our consecration to such a caring
Mother. I am sure that generations of Sardinians will continue to climb to the
Shrine at Bonaria to invoke the Virgin’s protection. Those who entrust
themselves to Our Lady of Bonaria, a merciful and powerful Mother, will never
be disappointed. May Mary Queen of Peace and Star of Hope intercede for us.
Amen!
PASTORAL
VISIT TO VITERBO AND BAGNOREGIO
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Valle
Faul – Viterbo, Sunday, 6 September 2009
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
At the end of
this solemn Eucharistic Celebration, I once again thank the Lord for having
given me the joy of making this Pastoral Visit to your diocesan community. I
have come to encourage you and to strengthen you in your fidelity to Christ, as
the theme you have chosen clearly shows: “Strengthen your brethren” (Lk 22:
31). Jesus addressed these words to the Apostle Peter during the Last Supper,
entrusting to him the task of being Pastor of his whole Church here on earth.
Your Diocese has
been distinguished for many centuries by a unique bond of affection and
communion with the Successor of Peter. I was was able to see this when I visited
the Palace of the Popes, and in particular, the Conclave Hall. St Leo the Great
was born in the vast territory of ancient Tuscia. He rendered a great service
to the truth in charity by diligently preaching the word, as his Sermons and
his Letters testify. Pope Sabinian, the Successor of Gregory the Great was born
in Blera; Paul III was born in Canino. The Roman Pontiffs chose Viterbo for
their residence during the whole of the second part of the 13th century. Five
of my Predecessors were elected here and four of them are buried here. At least
50 visited the city the last of whom was the Servant of God John Paul II, 25
years ago. These figures have historical significance, but above all I would
like to here emphasize their spiritual value. Viterbo is rightly called the “City
of Popes ”, and
this provides a further incentive for you to live and bear witness to the
Christian faith, the same faith for which the Martyr Saints, Valentine and
Hilary, gave their lives. They are buried in the Cathedral Church
“Strengthen your
brethren”: I am aware that the Lord’s invitation is addressed to me today with
particular intensity. Pray, dear brothers and sisters, that I may always carry
out my mission as Pastor of the whole of Christ’s flock (see Jn 21: 15 ff.)
with fidelity and love. For my part, I assure you of my constant remembrance of
your diocesan community to the Lord, so that its different sections of which I
have been able to admire a symbolic portrayal on the new doors of the Cathedral
may converge towards fuller unity and fraternal communion. These are the
indispensable conditions for offering the world an effective Gospel witness. I
shall entrust these intentions to the Virgin Mary this afternoon, when I visit
the Shrine of Our Lady of the Oak. Let us now ask her, with the prayer that
recalls her “Yes” to the Angel’s announcement, to keep our faith ever strong
and joyful.
PASTORAL
VISIT TO VITERBO AND BAGNOREGIO
EUCHARISTIC
CONCELEBRATION
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
Valle
Faul – Viterbo, Sunday, 6 September 2009
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The setting in
which we are celebrating Mass is truly original and evocative: we are in the “Valley”
overlooking the ancient Port called Faul, a word whose four letters
recall the four hills of the ancient Viterbium:
Fanum-Arbanum-Vetulonia-Longula. On one side stands the imposing Palace,
once the residence of the Popes, which as your Bishop recalled witnessed five
conclaves in the 13th century. We are surrounded by buildings and spaces, the
testimony of many events in the past and today woven into the life of your City
and Province. In this context, which evokes centuries of civil and religious
history, the whole of your Diocesan Community is gathered here, with the
Successor of Peter, to be strengthened by him in fidelity to Christ and to his
Gospel.
Dear brothers
and sisters, I address to all of you my thoughts of gratitude for your warm
welcome. I greet in the first place your beloved Pastor, Bishop Lorenzo
Chiarinelli, whom I thank for his words of welcome. I greet the other Bishops,
in particular those of Lazio, together with the Cardinal Vicar of Rome , the beloved diocesan
priests, the deacons, the seminarians, the men and women religious, the young
people and the children, and I extend my remembrance to all the members of the
diocese.
Your Diocese has
recently been united with Viterbo, with the Abbey of San Martino of Monte
Cimino, with the Dioceses of Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Montefiascone and
Tuscania. This new configuration is now artistically portrayed, sculpted on the
“Bronze Doors” of the Cathedral
Church
Dear brothers
and sisters, every liturgical assembly is a space for the presence of God.
Gathered for the Blessed Eucharist, disciples of the Lord proclaim that he is
risen, that he is alive and is the Giver of life; and let us witness that his
presence is grace, it is fulfilment, it is joy. Let us open our hearts to his
word and welcome the gift of his presence! In this Sunday’s First Reading, the
Prophet Isaiah (35: 4-7) encourages those “who are of a fearful heart” and
proclaims this marvellous newness which experience has confirmed: when the Lord
is present the eyes of the blind are reopened, the ears of the deaf unstopped
and the lame man leaps like a hart. All things are reborn and all things are
revived, for beneficial waters irrigate the desert. The “desert”, in Isaiah’s
symbolic language, can call to mind the tragic events, difficult situations and
loneliness that often mark life; the deepest desert is the human heart when it
loses the capacity for listening, speaking and communicating with God and with
others. Eyes then become blind because they are incapable of seeing reality;
ears are closed so as not to hear the cry of those who implore help; hearts are
hardened in indifference and selfishness. But now, the Prophet proclaims, all
is destined to change; the “dry land” of a closed heart will be watered by a
new, divine sap. And when the Lord comes, to those who are fearful of heart in
every epoch he says authoritatively: “Be strong, fear not!” (v. 4).
Here the Gospel
episode recounted by St Mark (7: 31-37) fits in perfectly. Jesus heals a
deaf-mute in the pagan land. First he welcomes him and takes care of him with
the language of gestures which is more direct than words; and then, using an
Aramaic term, he says “Eph’phatha”, that is, “be opened”, restoring the
man’s hearing and speech. Full of wonder, the crowd exclaims: “he has done all
things well” (v. 37). We can see in this “sign” Jesus’ ardent desire to
overcome man’s loneliness and incommunicability created by selfishness, in
order to bring about a “new humanity”, the humanity of listening and speech, of
dialogue, of communication, of communion with God. A “good” humanity, just as
all of God’s Creation is good; a humanity without discrimination, without
exclusion as the Apostle James recommends in his Letter (2: 1-5) so that the
world is truly and for all a “scene of true brotherhood” (Gaudium et Spes, no.
37), in an opening to love of our common Father, who created us and made us his
sons and daughters.
Dear Church of
Viterbo, may Christ, whom we see in the Gospel opening ears and releasing the
tongue of the deaf-mute, open your hearts and always give you the joy of
listening to his word, the courage to proclaim his Gospel, the ability to speak
of God and to speak in this way with your brothers and sisters and, finally,
the courage to discover God’s Face and his Beauty! However, for this to happen,
as St Bonaventure of Bagnoregio where I shall go this afternoon recalls, the
mind must, “in beholding these things, transcend and pass over, not only this
visible world, but even itself” (Itinerarium mentis in Deum VII, 1).
This is the itinerary of salvation, illumined by the light of God’s word and
nourished by the sacraments that bring together all Christians.
I would now like
to take up certain spiritual and pastoral paths of this journey which you too
are called to take, beloved Church which dwells in this region. One priority
that is very close to your Bishop’s heart is education in the faith, as
research, as Christian initiation, as life in Christ. It is “becoming Christian”
that consists in that “learning Christ” which St Paul expresses with the phrase: “It is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2: 20). Parishes, families
and the various associations are involved together in this experience.
Catechists and all educators are called to commit themselves. Schools from
primary schools to the University
of Tuscia
Education goes
together with the witness of faith. “Faith”, St Paul writes, “work[s] through love” (Gal
5: 6). It is from this perspective that the Church’s charitable action gains
her identity: her initiatives, her works, are signs of faith and of the love of
God who is Love, as I recalled frequently in my Encyclicals Deus Caritas Est
and Caritas in Veritate. Here the presence of volunteers is
flourishing and ever increasing both at the personal level and as voluntary
associations Caritas is the organization that serves as their vehicle
and for their education. The young St Rose (1233-1251), Co-Patroness of the
Diocese whose feast falls precisely in these days, is a shining example of
faith and generosity to the poor. Furthermore, how can we omit to mention that
St Giacinta Marescotti (1585-1640) from her monastery encouraged Eucharistic
Adoration in the city and gave life to institutions and projects for prisoners
and social outcasts? Nor can we forget the Franciscan witness of St Crispin, a
Capuchin (1668-1759), which still inspires the presence of praiseworthy social
aid. It is significant that in this atmosphere of Gospel fervour many houses of
consecrated life came into being and in particular, cloistered monasteries,
which constitute a visible reminder of the primacy of God in our lives and
remind us that the first form of charity is, precisely, prayer. Emblematic in
this regard is the example of Bl. Gabriella Sagheddu (1914-1939), a Trappist
nun. In the Monastery of Vitorchiano, where she is buried, the spiritual
ecumenism that was urgently pressed for by the Second Vatican Council (see Unitatis
Redintegratio, no. 8) continues to be presented, nourished by ceaseless
prayer. I also recall Bl. Domenico Bàrberi (1792-1849), a Passionist from
Viterbo. In 1845 he accepted into the Church John Henry Newman, who later
became a Cardinal, a high-profile intellectual of luminous spirituality.
Lastly, I would
like to mention a third aspect of your pastoral plan: attention to the signs
of God. As Jesus did with the deaf-mute, God continues likewise to reveal
to us his project through “events and words”. Listening to his word and
discerning his signs must therefore be the task of every Christian and every
community. The most immediate of God’s signs is undoubtedly attention to one’s
neighbour in accordance with what Jesus said: “As you did it to one of the
least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25: 40). Furthermore, as the
Second Vatican Council affirmed, the Christian is called to be “a witness
before the world to the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus, and a sign of
the living God” (Lumen Gentium, no. 38). The priest whom Christ has
chosen all for himself must be such in the first place. During this Year for
Priests, pray with greater intensity for priests, for seminarians and for
vocations, so that they may be faithful to this vocation of theirs! Likewise,
every consecrated and every baptized person must be a sign of the living God.
Lay faithful,
young people and families, do not be afraid to live and to bear witness to the
faith in the various sectors of society, in the many situations of human
existence! In this context also Viterbo has contributed prestigious figures. On
this occasion it is a duty and a joy to commemorate Mario Fani of Viterbo the
young man who founded the “Circolo Santa Rosa” who, together with Giovanni
Acquaderni of Bologna , kindled that first spark
which was later to become the historic experience of the laity in Italy :
Catholic Action. The seasons of history come and go, social contexts change,
but the vocation of Christians to live the Gospel in solidarity with the human
family, in step with the times, has not been silenced and does not go out of
fashion. This is social commitment, this is the service proper to political
action, this is integral human development.
Dear brothers
and sisters, when the heart is fearful in the desert of life do not be afraid,
entrust yourselves to Christ, the first-born of the new humanity: a family of
brothers and sisters built in freedom and justice, in the truth and charity of
God’s children. Saints dear to you belong to this great family: Lawrence,
Valentine, Hilary, Rose, Lucia, Bonaventure and many others. Our common Mother
is Mary whom you venerate with the title of Our Lady of the Oak as Patroness of
the whole Diocese in its new configuration. May they keep you ever united and
nourish in each one the desire to proclaim Christ’s presence and love with
words and with deeds! Amen.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Courtyard
of the Papal Residence, Castel Gandolfo , Sunday,
5 September 2010
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
First I would
like to apologize for arriving late! I have just returned from Carpineto Romano
where, 200 years ago, Pope Leo XIII, Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci, was born. I
thank the Lord for having been able to celebrate the Eucharist with his
fellowcitizens on this important anniversary. I now wish briefly to present my
Message published a few days ago addressed to the young people of the world for
the 26th World Youth Day that will be taking place in Madrid in a little less
than a year.
The theme I have
chosen for this Message uses an expression from St Paul ’s Letter to the Colossians: “Planted
and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (2: 7). It is
definitely a proposal that goes against the tide! Indeed who today suggests to
young people that they be “rooted” and “firm”? Rather uncertainty, mobility and
volubility are extolled... all aspects that reflect a culture unsure about
basic values, about the principles on whose basis to direct and regulate life.
In fact, because of my experience and the contacts I have with youth I know
well that every generation, indeed, every individual person, is called to take
anew the path of the discovery of life’s meaning. And it is for this very
reason that I chose to propose again a Message in the biblical style that
evokes the images of a tree and a house. A young person, in fact, is like a
growing tree: to develop healthily it needs deep roots which when stormy gales
come will keep it firmly planted in the ground. The image of the building under
construction also recalls the need for good foundations so that the house will
be solid and safe.
And this is the
heart of the Message: it is inherent in the words “in Christ” and “in the faith”.
The full maturity of the person, his or her inner stability, are founded in the
relationship with God, a relationship that passes through an encounter with
Jesus Christ. A relationship of deep trust, of authentic friendship with Jesus,
can give a young person what he or she needs to face life: serenity and
interior enlightenment, an aptitude for thinking positively, broadmindedness
with regard to others, the readiness to pay in person for goodness, justice and
truth. One last and very important aspect: in order to become a believer a
young person is supported by the faith of the Church; if no one is an island,
neither is the Christian who discovers in the Church the beauty of faith shared
with others in brotherhood and in the service of charity.
My Message to
young people is dated 6 August, the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
May the light of Christ’s Face shine in the heart of every young person! And
may the Virgin Mary accompany and protect communities and youth groups towards
the important Meeting in Madrid
in 2011.
PASTORAL
VISIT TO CARPINETO ROMANO
EUCHARISTIC
CELEBRATION
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
May I first of
all express my joy at being here with you at Carpineto Romano, treading in the
footsteps of my beloved Predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II! The circumstance
that has brought me here is also a joyful one: the bicentenary of the birth in
this beautiful town of Pope Leo XIII, Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci, on 2 March
1810. I thank you all for your welcome! In particular, I greet with gratitude
Bishop Lorenzo Loppa of Anagni-Alatri, and the Mayor of Carpineto, who have
welcomed me at the beginning of the celebration, as well as the other
Authorities present. I address a special thought to the young people,
especially those who have made the diocesan pilgrimage. Unfortunately, my Visit
is very short and it is entirely concentrated in this Eucharistic celebration;
but here we find everything: the Word and the Bread of Life that nourishes
faith, hope and charity; and we renew the bond of communion that makes us the
one Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have listened
to the Word of God and it comes naturally to welcome it, on this occasion,
thinking again of Pope Leo XIII and of the legacy he has bequeathed to us. The
main theme that emerges from the biblical Readings
is that of the primacy of God and of Christ. In the Gospel passage from St
Luke, Jesus himself frankly states the three conditions necessary for being his
disciples: to love him more than anyone else and more than life itself; to
carry one’s cross and to walk after him; to renounce all one’s possessions.
Jesus sees a great crowd following him with his disciples and wants to make it
quite clear to all that following him is demanding and cannot depend on
enthusiasm or opportunism. It must be a carefully considered decision taken
after asking oneself, in all conscience: who is Jesus for me? Is he truly “Lord”,
does he take first place, like the sun around which all the planets rotate? And
the First Reading from the Book of Wisdom indirectly suggests to us the reason
for this absolute primacy of Jesus Christ: in him we find the answers to the
questions of human beings in every epoch who seek the truth about God and about
themselves. God is out of our reach and his plans are unknown to us. Yet he has
chosen to reveal himself, in creation and especially in the history of
salvation, while in Christ he fully manifested himself and his will. Although
it remains true that “No one has ever seen God” (Jn 1: 18), we now know his “name”
and his “face” and even his will, because Jesus, who is the Wisdom of God made
man, has revealed them to us. “Thus”, writes the sacred author of the First
Reading, “men were taught what pleases you, and were saved by wisdom” (Wis 9: 18).
This fundamental
reminder of the Word of God makes us think of two aspects of the life and
ministry of your venerable Fellow Citizen whom we are commemorating today, the
Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII. First of all it should be emphasized that he was a
man of great faith and profound devotion. This still continues to be the basis
of everything for every Christian, including the Pope. Without prayer, that is,
without inner union with God, we can do nothing, as Jesus clearly tells his
disciples at the Last Supper (see Jn 15: 5). Pope Pecci’s deep religious
feeling shone out through his words and actions and was also reflected in his
Magisterium: among his numerous Encyclicals and Apostolic Letters, like the
theme running through a series of books, there are those of a properly
spiritual character which aim above all at increasing Marian devotion,
especially through the Holy Rosary. It is a true and proper “catechesis”, which
marks the 25 years of his Pontificate from beginning to end. Yet we also find
Documents on Christ the Redeemer, on the Holy Spirit, on the consecration to
the Sacred Heart, on the devotion to St Joseph ,
on St Francis of Assisi .
Leo XIII had special ties with the Franciscan Family as he belonged to the
Third Order. I like to consider all these different elements as facets of a
single reality: love of God and of Christ, to which absolutely nothing must be
preferred. And Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci assimilated this, his first and
principal quality, here in his native town from his parents and from his
parish.
However there is
also a second aspect which once again derives from the primacy of God and of
Christ. It is found in the public action of every Pastor of the Church in
particular of every Supreme Pontiff with the characteristics proper to the
personality of each one. I would say that the very concept of “Christian wisdom”,
which emerged earlier in the First Reading and in the Gospel, offers us the synthesis
of this structure according to Leo xiii it is not by chance that it is also the
incipit of one of his Encyclicals. Every Pastor is called to pass on to
the People of God “wisdom” not abstract truths; in other words a message that
combines faith and life, truth and practical reality. Pope Leo XIII, with the
help of the Holy Spirit was able to do this in one of the most difficult
periods of history for the Church by, staying faithful to tradition and, at the
same time, measuring up to the great open questions. And he succeeded precisely
on the basis of “Christian wisdom”, founded on the Sacred Scriptures, on the
immense theological and spiritual patrimony of the Catholic Church and also on
the sound and crystal clear philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas, whom he esteemed
highly and promoted throughout the Church.
At this point
after considering the basis, in other words the faith and spiritual life and
hence the general framework of Leo XIII’s Message, I shall refer to his social
Magisterium. The Encyclical Rerum Novarum brought it undying fame but
it was enriched by many other interventions that constitute an organic body,
the first nucleus of the Church’s social doctrine. Let us start with St Paul ’s Letter to
Philemon. Which the Liturgy felicitously makes us read this very day. It is the
shortest text of all the Pauline Letters. During a period in prison the Apostle
transmitted the faith to Onesimus, a slave originally from Colossae , after he had escaped from his
master Philemon, a rich inhabitant of that city, and had become Christian
together with his relatives, thanks to Paul’s preaching. The Apostle now writes
to Philemon asking him to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave but as a
brother in Christ. The new Christian brotherhood overcame the separation
between slaves and free men, and grafted on to history a principle of the
promotion of the individual that was to lead to the abolition of slavery and
also to surmounting other barriers that still exist today. Pope Leo XIII
dedicated to the theme of slavery his Encyclical Catholicae Ecclesiae, of
1890.
This particular
experience of St Paul with Onesimus can give rise to a broad reflection on the
incentive to human promotion contributed by Christianity in the process of
civilization and also on the method and style of this contribution, that are in
conformity with the Gospel images of “seed” and “leaven”: within historical
reality Christians, acting as individual citizens or in an association,
constitute a beneficial and peaceful force for profound change, encouraging the
development of the potentials inherent in reality itself. It is this form of
presence and action in the world that is proposed by Church’s social doctrine,
which always focuses on the development of consciences as a condition for
effective and lasting transformations.
We must now ask
ourselves: what was the context into which, 200 years ago, was born the man who
68 years later was to become Pope Leo XIII? Europe
was then weathering the great Napoleonic storm that followed the French Revolution.
The Church and many expressions of Christian culture were radically disputed
(think only of examples such as, calculating the years no longer from Christ’s
birth but from the beginning of the new revolutionary era, or of removing the
names of Saints from the calendar, from streets, from villages...). Rural
populations were not of course favourable to these overwhelming changes and
remained firm to religious traditions. Daily life was hard and difficult: the
conditions of health and of nourishment left much to be desired. In the
meantime industry was developing and with it the workers’ movement, more and
more politically organized. The Magisterium of the Church, at its highest
level, was driven and aided by local thoughts and experiences to compile an
overall interpretation in view, of the new society and of its common good. Thus
when Leo XIII was elected Pope in 1878 he felt called to bring this
interpretation to completion in the light of his extensive knowledge of
international breadth, but also of many projects put into practice “on the spot”
by Christian communities and men and women of the Church.
Indeed, dozens
and dozens of Saints and Blesseds, from the end of the 18th century to the
beginning of the 20th, sought and tested, with the creativity of charity, many
ways to put the Gospel message into practice in the new social situations.
There is no doubt that such initiatives, with the sacrifices and reflection of
these men and women, prepared the ground for Rerum Novarum and for Pope
Pecci’s other social Documents. Since the time when he was Apostolic Nuncio in Belgium ,
he had realized that the social question could be positively and effectively
confronted with dialogue and mediation. In a time of harsh anti-clericalism and
passionate demonstrations against the Pope, Leo XIII knew how to guide and
support Catholics on the path to a constructive participation, rich in content,
firm on principles and capable of openness. Subsequent to Rerum Novarum, in
Italy
and in other countries an authentic explosion of initiatives arose:
associations, rural and artisan country banks, newspapers... a vast “movement”
of which the Servant of God Giuseppe Toniolo was an enlightened animator. A
very elderly Pope but, wise and far-sighted, Leo XIII was able to usher into
the 20th century a rejuvenated Church with the right approach to facing the new
challenges. He was a Pope still politically and physically a “prisoner” in the Vatican ,
but in reality, with his Magisterium, he represented a Church which could face
without complexes the important questions of the contemporary age.
Dear friends of
Carpineto Romano, we do not have time to examine these subjects in depth. The
Eucharist which we are celebrating, the Sacrament of Love, recalls to us the
essential: charity, the love of Christ that renews men and women and the world.
This is the essential and we see it clearly, we almost perceive it in the words
of St Paul in
his Letter to Philemon. In that short note, in fact, can be felt all the
gentleness at the same time as the revolutionary force of the Gospel; one feels
the discreet and at the same time irresistible style of charity, which, as I
wrote in my social Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, it is “the principal
driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all
humanity” (no. 1). With joy and affection I therefore leave you the old and
ever new commandment: love one another as Christ has loved us, and with this
love may you be the salt and light of the world. Thus you will be faithful to
the legacy of your great and venerable Fellow Citizen, Pope Leo XIII; and so
may it be throughout the Church! Amen.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Courtyard
of the Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo ,
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The biblical
Readings of Mass this Sunday converge on the theme of brotherly love in the
community of believers whose source lies in the communion of the Trinity. The
Apostle Paul says that the whole Law of God finds fullness in love, so that in
our relationships with others the Ten Commandments and every other precept are
summed up in these words: “Love your neighbour as yourself” (see Rom 13:8-10).
The Gospel text
from chapter 18 of Matthew on the life of the Christian community tells us that
brotherly love also involves a sense of mutual responsibility. For this reason
if my brother commits a sin against me I must treat him charitably and first of
all, speak to him privately, pointing out that what he has said or done is
wrong. This approach is known as “fraternal correction”: it is not a reaction
to the offence suffered but is motivated by love for one’s brethren.
And what if my
brother does not listen to me? In today’s Gospel Jesus points to a gradual
approach: first, speak to him again with two or three others, the better to
help him realize what he has done; if, in spite of this, he still refuses to
listen, it is necessary to tell the community; and if he refuses to listen even
to the community, he must be made to perceive that he has cut himself off by
separating himself from the communion of the Church.
All this
demonstrates that we are responsible for each other in the journey of Christian
life; each person, aware of his own limitations and shortcomings, is called to
accept fraternal correction and to help others with this specific service.
Another fruit of
love in the community is unanimous prayer. Jesus said: “If two of you agree on
earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in Heaven.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them”
(Mt 18:19-20). Personal prayer is of course important, indeed indispensable,
but the Lord guarantees his presence to the community — even if it is very
small — which is united and in agreement, because this reflects the very
reality of the Triune God, perfect communion of love. Origen says “we should
practise this symphony” (Commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew,
14,1), in other words this harmony within the Christian community. We should
practise both fraternal correction — which demands deep humility and simplicity
of heart — and prayer so that it may rise to God from a community truly united
in Christ.
Let us ask all
this through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Church and of St
Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor, whom we commemorated in the liturgy
yesterday.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
At the centre of
today’s Gospel (Mk 7:31-37), there is a small but very important word. A word
that — in its deepest sense — sums up Christ’s whole message and all his work.
The Evangelist Mark records this word in the very language of Jesus in which
Jesus spoke it so that we may hear it even more vividly. The word is “Ephphatha”,
which means “be opened”. Let us look at the context in which it is used. Jesus
was crossing the region known as Decapolis, between the coast of Tyre and Sidon and Galilee , hence an area that was not Jewish. They brought
him a deaf-mute to be healed — evidently Jesus’ fame had spread that far. Jesus
took him aside and touched his ears and his tongue and then, looking up to
heaven, said with a deep sigh: “Ephphatha” which means “be opened”. Then the
man immediately began to hear and to speak plainly (see Mk 7:35).
This, therefore
is the historical and literal meaning of this word: thanks to Jesus’
intervention, the deaf-mute “was opened”; previously he had been closed,
isolated, it had been very difficult for him to communicate. For him healing
meant an “opening” to others and to the world, an opening which, starting with
the organs of hearing and speech, involved his whole self and his life: he
could at last communicate and thus relate in a new way.
However, we all
know that a person’s closure and isolation do not only depend on the sense
organs. There is an inner closure that affects the person’s inmost self, which
the Bible calls the “heart”. It is this that Jesus came to “open”, to liberate,
so as to enable us to live to the full our relationship with God and with
others. This is why I said that this small word, “ephphatha — be opened”, sums
up in itself Christ’s entire mission. He was made man so that man, rendered
inwardly deaf and mute by sin, might be able to hear God’s voice, the voice of
Love that speaks to his heart, and thus in his turn learn to speak the language
of love, to communicate with God and with others. For this reason the word and
the action of the “ephphatha” have been integrated into the Rite of Baptism as
one of the signs that explain its meaning: the priest, touching the mouth and
ears of the newly baptized person says: “ephphatha”, praying that he or she may
soon hear the word of God and profess the faith. Through Baptism, the human
person begins, so to speak, to breathe the Holy Spirit whom Jesus invoked from
the Father with that deep sigh in order to heal the deaf-mute.
© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Book by Orestes J. González