Entry 0306: Reflections on the Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary
Time by Pope Benedict XVI
On eight occasions during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delivered reflections on the Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time, on 30 October 2005, 5 November 2006, 4 November 2007, 2 November 2008, 1 November 2009, 31 October 2010, 30 October 2011, and 4 November 2012. Here are the texts of eight brief reflections prior to the recitation of the Angelus delivered on these occasions.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 30 October 2005
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Forty years ago,
on 28 October 1965, the Seventh Session of the Second Vatican Ecumenical
Council was held. Three more followed shortly thereafter, and the last one, on
8 December, marked the end of the Council.
In the last
phase of that historic ecclesial event, which began three years earlier, the
major part of the Conciliar Documents received approval. Some of them are well
known and are frequently cited, while others are not so well known; however,
all are worth mention because they retain their value and reveal a reality
that, under certain aspects, has actually increased.
Today, I would
like to call to mind the five Documents that the Servant of God Pope Paul VI
and the Council Fathers signed on 28 October 1965. They are: the Decree Christus
Dominus on the pastoral office of Bishop; the Decree Perfectae Caritatis
on the renewal of Religious life; the Decree Optatam Totius on the
formation of priests; the Declaration Gravissimum Educationis on
Christian education; and lastly, the Declaration Nostra Aetate on the
relations of the Church to non-Christian religions.
The themes on
the formation of priests, consecrated life and the episcopal ministry were the
object of three Ordinary Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops in 1990, 1995 and
in 2001. They sounded and deepened the teachings of Vatican II extensively,
proof of which are the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortations Pastores Dabo
Vobis, Vita Consecrata and Pastores Gregis of my beloved
Predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II.
Instead, less
known is the Document on Education. The Church has always been dedicated to the
education of young people, recognized by the Council as something of “paramount
importance” for both the life of men and women and for social progress (see Gravissimum
Educationis, Preface).
Today too, in an
era of global communication, the Ecclesial Community perceives the importance
of an educational system that recognizes the primacy of man as a person, open
to truth and to good. Parents are the primary and principal educators and are
assisted by civil society in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity (see
ibid., no. 3).
The Church, to
whom Christ entrusted the duty to proclaim the “way of salvation” (see ibid.),
feels she has a special educational responsibility. In different ways, she
seeks to fulfil this mission: in families, in the parish, through associations,
movements and groups of formation and of evangelical commitment and, in a
specific way, in schools, institutes of advanced studies and in universities (see
ibid., nos. 5-12).
Even the
Declaration Nostra Aetate is very relevant because it regards the
attitude of the Ecclesial Community in relation to non-Christian religions.
Starting with the principle that “all men and women form but one community” and
that the Church has the duty “to foster unity and charity” among individuals (no.
1), the Council “rejects nothing of what is true and holy” in other religions
and to everyone proclaims Christ, “the way, the truth and the life”, in whom
men and women find the “fullness of their religious life” (no. 2).
With the
Declaration Nostra Aetate the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council
proposed some fundamental truths: they clearly mentioned the special bond that
joins Christians to Jews (no. 4); they confirmed their high regard for the
Muslims (no. 3) and the followers of other religions (no. 2); and they
confirmed the spirit of universal fraternity that rejects any form of
discrimination or religious persecution (no. 5).
Dear brothers
and sisters, as I invite you to look at these Documents again, I encourage you,
together with me, to pray to the Virgin Mary so that she may help all believers
in Christ to keep the spirit of the Second Vatican Council alive, to contribute
to the foundation of that universal fraternity in the world which responds to
the will of God for men and women, created in his image.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 5 November 2006
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
In these days
following the liturgical commemoration of the faithful departed, the Octave of
the Dead is celebrated in many parishes. It is a fitting occasion to remember
our loved ones in prayer and to meditate on the reality of death, which the
so-called “affluent society” often seeks to remove from the consciousness of
people, totally taken up by the concerns of daily life.
In fact, death
is part of life, and not only at its end but, upon a closer look, at every
moment. Yet, despite all the distractions, the loss of a loved one enables us
to rediscover the “problem” by making us sense death as a presence radically
hostile and contrary to our natural vocation to life and happiness.
Jesus
revolutionized the meaning of death. He did so with his teaching, but
especially by facing death himself. “By dying he destroyed our death”, the
Liturgy of the Easter Season says.
“With the Spirit
who could not die”, a Father of the Church wrote, “Christ killed death that was
killing man” (Melito of Sardis, On Easter, 66).
The Son of God
thus desired to share our human condition to the very end, to reopen it to
hope. After all, he was born to be able to die and thereby free us from the
slavery of death. The Letter to the Hebrews says: ”so that he might taste
death for everyone” (Heb 2: 9).
Since then,
death has not been the same: it was deprived, so to speak, of its “venom”.
Indeed, God’s love working in Jesus gave new meaning to the whole of human
existence, and thus transformed death as well. If, in Christ, human life is a “[departure]
from this world to the Father” (Jn 13: 1), the hour of death is the moment
when it is concretely brought about once and for all.
Anyone who
strives to live as he did, is freed from the fear of death, which no longer
shows the sarcastic sneer of an enemy but, as St Francis wrote in his Canticle
of the Creature, the friendly face of a “sister” for whom one can also bless
the Lord: ”Praised be the Lord for our Sister, bodily Death”.
Faith reminds us
that there is no need to be afraid of the death of the body because, whether we
live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s [Rm 14: 8]. And with St Paul , we know that even
if we are separated from our bodies we are with Christ, whose Risen Body, which
we receive in the Eucharist, is our eternal and indestructible dwelling place.
True death, on
the other hand, which is to be feared, is the death of the soul which the Book
of Revelation calls “the second death” (see Rv 20: 14-15; 21: 8). In fact,
those who die in mortal sin without repentance, locked into their proud
rejection of God’s love, exclude themselves from the Kingdom of life.
Let us invoke
from the Lord, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy and of St Joseph , the grace to
prepare ourselves serenely to depart this world whenever he may desire to call
us, in the hope of being able to dwell for ever with him in the company of the
Saints and of our departed loved ones.
BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS
St Peter’s Square, Sunday, 4 November 2007
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
Today,
the liturgy presents for our meditation the well-known Gospel episode of Jesus’
meeting with Zacchaeus in the city of Jericho .
Who was Zacchaeus? A rich man who was a “publican” by profession, that is, a
tax collector for the Roman authorities, hence, viewed as a public sinner.
Having heard that Jesus would be passing through Jericho , the man was consumed by a great
desire to see him, and because he was small of stature, he climbed up into a
tree. Jesus stopped exactly under that tree and addressed him by name: “Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Lk 19: 5). What
a message this simple sentence contains! “Zacchaeus”: Jesus called by name a
man despised by all. “Today”: yes, this very moment was the moment of his
salvation. “I must stay”: why “I must”? Because the Father, rich in mercy,
wants Jesus “to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19: 10). The grace of that unexpected
meeting was such that it completely changed Zacchaeus’ life: “Behold, Lord, the
half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of
anything, I restore it fourfold” (Lk 19: 8). Once again, the Gospel tells us
that love, born in God’s heart and working through man’s heart, is the power
that renews the world.
This
truth shines out in a special way in the testimony of the Saint whose Memorial
is celebrated today: Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan. His figure stands
out in the 16th century as a model of an exemplary Pastor because of his
charity, doctrine, apostolic zeal and above all, his prayer. “Souls are won”,
he said, “on one’s knees”. Charles Borromeo was consecrated a Bishop when he
was only 25 years old. He enforced the teaching of the Council of Trent that
obliged Pastors to reside in their respective dioceses, and gave himself heart
and soul to the Ambrosian Church. He travelled up and down his Diocese three
times; he convoked six provincial and 11 diocesan synods; he founded seminaries
to train a new generation of priests; he built hospitals and earmarked his
family riches for the service of the poor; he renewed religious life and
founded a new congregation of secular priests, the Oblates. In 1576, when the
plague was raging in Milan ,
he visited, comforted and spent all his money on the sick. His motto consisted
in one word: “Humilitas”. It was humility that motivated
him, like the Lord Jesus, to renounce himself in order to make himself the
servant of all.
Recalling
my venerable Predecessor John Paul II who bore his name with devotion - today
is his name day - let us entrust to St
Charles ’ intercession all the Bishops of the world,
for whom we invoke as always the heavenly protection of Mary Most Holy, Mother
of the Church.
COMMEMORATION
OF ALL SOULS
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 2 November 2008
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Yesterday the
feast of All Saints brought us to contemplate “your holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem , our mother” (Preface,
All Saints). Today, with our heart still turned toward this ultimate
reality, we commemorate all of the faithful departed, who have “gone before us
marked with the sign of faith and... who sleep in Christ” (Eucharistic
Prayer I). It is very important that we Christians live a relationship of
the truth of the faith with the deceased and that we view death and the
afterlife in the light of Revelation. Already the Apostle Paul, writing to the
first communities, exhorted the faithful to “not grieve as others do who have
no hope. For since”, he wrote, “we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1
Thes 4: 13-14). Today too, it is necessary to evangelize about the reality of
death and eternal life, realities particularly subject to superstitious beliefs
and syncretisms, so that the Christian truth does not risk mixing itself with
myths of various types.
In my Encyclical
on Christian hope, I questioned myself about the mystery of eternal life (see Spe
salvi, nos. 10-12). I asked myself: “Is the Christian faith a hope that
transforms and sustains the lives of people still today?” (see ibid., no.
10). And more radically: “Do men and women of our time still long for eternal
life? Or has earthly existence perhaps become their only horizon?” In reality,
as St Augustine
had already observed, all of us want a “blessed life”, happiness. We rarely
know what it is like or how it will be, but we feel attracted to it. This is a
universal hope, common to men and women of all times and all places. The
expression “eternal life” aims to give a name to this irrepressible longing; it
is not an unending succession of days, but an immersion of oneself in the ocean
of infinite love, in which time, before and after, no longer exists. A fullness
of life and of joy: it is this that we hope and await from our being with
Christ (see ibid, no. 12).
Today we renew
the hope in eternal life, truly founded on Christ’s death and Resurrection. “I
am risen and I am with you always”, the Lord tells us, and my hand supports
you. Wherever you may fall, you will fall into my hands and I will be there
even to the gates of death. Where no one can accompany you any longer and where
you can take nothing with you, there I will wait for you to transform for you
the darkness into light. Christian hope, however, is not solely individual, it
is also always a hope for others. Our lives are profoundly linked, one to the
other, and the good and the bad that each of us does always effects others too.
Hence, the prayer of a pilgrim soul in the world can help another soul that is
being purified after death. This is why the Church invites us today to pray for
our beloved deceased and to pause at their tombs in the cemeteries. Mary, Star
of Hope, renders our faith in eternal life stronger and more authentic, and
supports our prayer of suffrage for our deceased brethren.
SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS
BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS
St Peter’s Square, Sunday, 1 November 2009
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
This
Sunday coincides with the Solemnity of All Saints, which invites the pilgrim Church
Subsequently,
the celebration of all the martyrs was extended to all the saints: “a great multitude
which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and
tongues” (Rev 7: 9) according to St
John . In this Year for Priests, I would like to
remember with special veneration all the priest saints those whom the Church
has canonized upholding them as examples of spiritual and pastoral virtue, and
those much more numerous who are known to the Lord. Each one of us treasures a
grateful memory of some of them who have helped us to grow in faith and made us
feel the goodness and closeness of God.
Tomorrow,
then, is the annual commemoration of All Souls’ Day, of all the faithful
departed. I would like to invite you to live this occasion in an authentic
Christian spirit, that is, in the light that comes from the Paschal Mystery.
Christ died and rose again, and has opened for us the way to the house of the
Father, the Kingdom of life and peace. Whoever follows Jesus in this life is
welcome where he has preceded us. Therefore, as we visit the cemeteries, let us
remember that resting in those tombs are merely the mortal remains of our dear
ones who await the final resurrection. Their souls, as Scripture tells us, are
already “in the hand of God” (Wis
3: 1). Thus, the most proper and effective way to honour them is to pray for
them, offering acts of faith, hope and charity. In union with the Eucharistic
Sacrifice, we can intercede for their eternal salvation, and experience the
most profound communion in the expectation of being together, enjoying forever
the Love which created and redeemed us.
Dear
friends, how beautiful and comforting is the communion of Saints! It is a
reality that instils a different dimension into our whole life. We are never
alone! We are part of a spiritual “company” where profound solidarity reigns:
the good of each one is for the benefit of everyone, and vice versa, common
happiness shines on every individual. It is a mystery which, in some measure,
we can already experience in this world, in the family, in friendship, and
especially in the spiritual community of the Church. May Mary Most Holy help us
to walk quickly on the way to holiness, and may she be the Mother of mercy for
the souls of the departed.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 31 October 2010
Dear Brothers
and Sisters!
The Evangelist St
Luke pays special attention to the theme of Jesus’ mercy. In fact, in his
narration we find some episodes that highlight the merciful love of God and of
Christ, who said that he had come to call, not the just, but sinners (see Lk
5:32). Among Luke’s typical accounts there is that of the conversion of
Zacchaeus, which is read in this Sunday’s Liturgy. Zacchaeus is a publican,
indeed, he is the head of the publicans of Jericho , an important city on the River
Jordan. The publicans were the tax collectors who collected the tribute that
the Jews had to pay to the Roman Emperor, and already for this reason they were
considered public sinners. What is more, they often took advantage of their
position to extort money from the people. Because of this Zacchaeus was very
rich but despised by his fellow citizens. So when Jesus was passing through Jericho and stopped at
the house of Zacchaeus, he caused a general scandal. The Lord, however, knew
exactly what he was doing. He wanted, so to speak, to gamble, and he won the
bet: Zacchaeus, deeply moved by Jesus’ visit, decided to change his life, and
promised to restore four times what he had stolen. “Today salvation has come to
this house”, Jesus says, and concludes: “The Son of Man came to seek and to
save the lost”.
God excludes no
one, neither the poor nor the rich. God does not let himself be conditioned by
our human prejudices, but sees in everyone a soul to save and is especially
attracted to those who are judged as lost and who think themselves so. Jesus
Christ, the Incarnation of God, has demonstrated this immense mercy, which
takes nothing away from the gravity of sin, but aims always at saving the
sinner, at offering him the possibility of redemption, of starting again from
the beginning, of converting. In another passage of the Gospel Jesus states
that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven St Jerome
comments, “gave away his wealth and immediately replaced it with the wealth of
the Kingdom of Heaven Turin
adds: “Riches, for the foolish, feed dishonesty, but for the wise they are a
help to virtue; for the latter they offer a chance of salvation, for the former
they procure a stumbling block and perdition” (Sermons, 95).
Dear Friends,
Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus and he converted because Jesus first welcomed him! He
did not condemn him but he met his desire for salvation. Let us pray to the Virgin
Mary, perfect model of communion with Jesus, to be renewed by his love, so that
we too may experience the joy of being visited by the Son of God, of being
renewed by his love and of transmitting his mercy to others.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 30 October 2011
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
In this Sunday’s
Liturgy, the Apostle Paul invites us to draw near to the Gospel “not as the
word of men but as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thess 2:13). Thus we
can accept with faith the warning that Jesus offers to our conscience, in order
to conform our way of living to it. In today’s passage he rebukes the scribes
and the Pharisees, who were the teachers of the community, because their own
conduct was openly in conflict with the teaching they rigorously taught others.
Jesus underlines that they “preach, but do not practise” (Mt 23:3); rather “they
bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they
themselves will not move them with their finger” (Mt 23:4). Good teaching must
be received but it risks being contradicted by inconsistent behaviour. Thus
Jesus says: “practise and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do”
(Mt 23:3). Jesus’ attitude is exactly the opposite: he is the first to practise
the commandment of love, which he teaches to everyone, and he can say the
burden is light and easy because he helps us carry it (see Mt 11:29-30).
Thinking of
teachers who oppress the freedom of others in the name of authority, St
Bonaventure points out who the authentic teacher is, affirming that, “No one
can teach or practise, or reach knowable truths unless the Son of God is
present” (Sermo I de Tempore, Dom. XXII post Pentecosten, Opera omnia,
IX, Quaracchi, 1901, 442). “Jesus sits on the cathedra of Moses... as the
greater Moses, who broadens the Covenant to include all nations” (see Jesus
of Nazareth, Doubleday ,
New York
Dear friends,
the Lord Jesus presented himself to the world as a servant, completely
stripping himself and lowering himself to give on the Cross the most eloquent
lesson of humility and love. His example gives rise to a proposal of life: “He
who is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Mt 23:11). We invoke the
intercession of Mary Most Holy and we ask especially for those in Christian
communities, who are called to the ministry of teaching, that they may always
witness by their works to the truths that they communicate by their words.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 4 November 2012
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
This
Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 12:28-34) offers us Jesus’ teaching on the greatest
commandment, the commandment of love, which is two-fold: love of God and love
of neighbour. The Saints, who we have recently celebrated together in a single
solemn Feast are precisely those who, trusting in God’s grace, tried to live
according to this fundamental law. In fact, those who live a profound
relationship with God, just as a child becomes capable of loving, starting from
a good relationship with his mother and father, may put the commandment of love
fully into practice. St John of Avila, who I recently proclaimed a Doctor of
the Church, writes at the beginning of his Treatise on the Love of God: “the
cause”, he says, “that mostly pushes our hearts to love of God is considering
deeply the love that He had for us.... This, beyond any benefit, pushes the
heart to love; because he who gives something of benefit to another, gives him
something he possesses; but he who loves, gives himself with everything he has,
until he has nothing left to give” (no. 1). Before being a command — love is
not a command — it is a gift, a reality that God allows us to know and
experience, so that, like a seed, it can also germinate within us and develop
throughout our life.
If
the love of God has planted deep roots in a person, then he is able to love
even those who do not deserve it, as God does us. Fathers and mothers do not
love their children only when they deserve love; they always love them, though
of course, they make them understand when they are wrong. We learn from God to
seek only what is good and never what is evil. We learn to look at each other
not only with our eyes, but with the eyes of God, which is the gaze of Jesus
Christ. A gaze that begins in the heart and does not stop at the surface, that
goes beyond appearances and manages to capture the deepest aspirations of the
other: waiting to be heard, for caring attention, in a word: love. But the
opposite is also true: that by opening myself to another, just as he or she is,
by reaching out, by making myself available, I am also opening myself to know
God, to feel that he is there and is good. Love of God and love of neighbour
are inseparable and are mutually related. Jesus did not invent one or the other
but revealed that they are essentially a single commandment and did so not only
through the Word, but especially with his testimony: the person of Jesus and
his whole Mystery embody the unity of love of God and neighbour, like the two
arms of the Cross, vertical and horizontal. In the Eucharist he gives us this
two-fold love, giving himself, because, nourished by this Bread, we love one another
as he has loved us.
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