Entry 0287: Reflections on the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time by Pope Benedict XVI
On eight occasions during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delivered reflections on the Fourteenth Sunday of
Ordinary Time, on 03 July 2005,
09 July 2006, 08 July 2007, 06 July 2008, 05 July 2009, 04 July 2010, 03 July
2011, and 08 July 2012. Here are the
texts of the eight reflections prior to the recitation of the Angelus and two
homilies delivered on these occasions.
Garibaldi Square
Garibaldi Square
Castel Gandolfo , Sunday, 8 July 2012
The
One who fully understood this reality was the Virgin Mary, who is blessed
because she believed (see Lk 1:45). Mary was not shocked by her Son: her wonder
for him was full of faith, full of love and joy, in seeing him so human and at
the same time so divine. Let us therefore learn from her, our Mother in faith,
to recognize in the humanity of Christ the perfect revelation of God.
BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS
St Peter’s Square, Sunday, 3 July 2005
A few
days ago I had the joy of presenting the Compendium of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church. For several years there has been the need for a
short catechism that would sum up simply but completely all the essential
elements of Catholic doctrine. Divine Providence
brought this project to fruition on the same day that the Cause for the Beatification
of our beloved John Paul II was introduced; this has given the Compendium
a definite boost. While I thank the Lord for this, dear brothers and sisters, I
would like once again to stress the importance of this useful and practical
instrument for the proclamation of Christ and his Gospel of salvation.
The Compendium,
in an imaginary dialogue between master and disciple, summarizes the broadest
explanation of the Church’s faith and of Catholic teaching contained in the Catechism,
which was published by my Venerable Predecessor in 1992. The Compendium takes
up its four closely-connected parts, enabling one to grasp the extraordinary
unity of the mystery of God, his saving plan for all humanity, and the
centrality of Jesus, the Only-begotten Son of God made man in the womb of the
Virgin Mary and who died and rose for us. Present and active in his Church,
particularly in the Sacraments, Christ is the source of our faith, the model
for every believer and the Teacher of our prayers.
Dear
brothers and sisters, how necessary it is at the beginning of this third
millennium that the entire Christian community, unanimously and of one accord,
proclaim, teach and witness to the full to the truths of the Catholic faith,
doctrine and morals! May the Compendium of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church also contribute to the hoped for renewal of catechesis and
evangelization so that all Christians - children, young people, adults,
families and communities -, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, may become
catechists and evangelizers in every environment, helping others to encounter
Christ. We ask this with trust in the Virgin Mother of God, Star of
Evangelization.
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY
OF
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO VALENCIA (SPAIN ) ON OCCASION
OF
THE FIFTH WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES
ANGELUS
City
of Arts and Sciences, Sunday, 9 July 2006
Before
concluding this celebration, we turn to the Virgin Mary, like the many families
which invoke her in the privacy of their homes, so that she will be present to
them with maternal concern. Through the intercession of Mary, open your homes
and your hearts to Christ, so that he will be your strength and your joy, and
help you to live in harmony and to proclaim before the world the invincible
power of true love.
At this time, I
wish to thank all those who contributed to the successful outcome of this
Meeting. Above all I express my profound gratitude to Cardinal Alfonso López
Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and to Archbishop
Agustín García-Gasco of Valencia ,
who brought to a happy end this great World Meeting of Families. In a
particular way, I wish to acknowledge the generous and efficient work of the
many volunteers from so many nations, and I thank them for their selfless
cooperation in all the events. I offer a special word of thanks to the many
consecrated persons and religious communities, especially the cloistered
communities, who have accompanied all the celebrations with persevering prayer.
I now have the
joy of announcing that the next World Meeting of Families will be held in 2009
in Mexico City .
To the beloved pilgrim Church in the noble nation of Mexico and, in a personal way, to
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, the Archbishop of Mexico City, I express even
now my gratitude for his generous offer.
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY
OF
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO VALENCIA (SPAIN ) ON OCCASION
OF
THE FIFTH WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES
HOLY
MASS
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER
City
of Arts and Sciences, Sunday, 9 July 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In this Holy
Mass which it is my great joy to celebrate, together with many of my Brothers
in the Episcopate and a great number of priests, I give thanks to the Lord for
all of you, the joyful throng of beloved families gathered in this place, and
the many others who in distant lands are following this celebration by radio
and television. I greet all of you with an affectionate embrace.
Both Esther and
Paul, as we have just heard in today’s readings, testify that the family is
called to work for the handing on of the faith. Esther admits: “Ever since I
was born, I have heard in the tribe of my family that you, O Lord, took Israel
out of all the nations” (14:5). Paul follows the tradition of his Jewish
ancestors by worshiping God with a pure conscience. He praises the sincere
faith of Timothy and speaks to him about “a faith that lived first in your
grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, lives in you” (2
Tim 1:15). In these biblical testimonies, the family includes not only
parents and children, but also grandparents and ancestors. The family thus
appears to us as a community of generations and the guarantee of a patrimony of
traditions.
None of us gave
ourselves life or singlehandedly learned how to live. All of us received from
others both life itself and its basic truths, and we have been called to attain
perfection in relationship and loving communion with others. The family,
founded on indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman, is the expression
of this relational, filial and communal aspect of life. It is the setting where
men and women are enabled to be born with dignity, and to grow and develop in
an integral manner.
Once children
are born, through their relationship with their parents they begin to share in
a family tradition with even older roots. Together with the gift of life, they
receive a whole patrimony of experience. Parents have the right and the
inalienable duty to transmit this heritage to their children: to help them find
their own identity, to initiate them to the life of society, to foster the
responsible exercise of their moral freedom and their ability to love on the
basis of their having been loved and, above all, to enable them to encounter
God. Children experience human growth and maturity to the extent that they trustingly
accept this heritage and training which they gradually make their own. They are
thus enabled to make a personal synthesis between what has been passed on and
what is new, a synthesis that every individual and generation is called to
make.
At the origin of
every man and woman, and thus in all human fatherhood and motherhood, we find
God the Creator. For this reason, married couples must accept the child born to
them, not simply as theirs alone, but also as a child of God, loved for his or
her own sake and called to be a son or daughter of God. What is more: each
generation, all parenthood and every family has its origin in God, who is
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Esther’s father
had passed on to her, along with the memory of her forebears and her people,
the memory of a God who is the origin of all and to whom all are called to
answer. The memory of God the Father, who chose a people for himself and who
acts in history for our salvation. The memory of this Father sheds light on our
deepest human identity: where we come from, who we are, and how great is our
dignity. Certainly we come from our parents and we are their children, but we
also come from God who has created us in his image and called us to be his
children. Consequently, at the origin of every human being there is not
something haphazard or chance, but a loving plan of God. This was revealed to
us by Jesus Christ, the true Son of God and a perfect man. He knew whence he
came and whence all of us have come: from the love of his Father and our Father.
Faith, then, is
not merely a cultural heritage, but the constant working of the grace of God
who calls and our human freedom, which can respond or not to his call. Even if
no one can answer for another person, Christian parents are still called to
give a credible witness of their Christian faith and hope. The need to ensure
that God’s call and the good news of Christ will reach their children with the
utmost clarity and authenticity.
As the years
pass, this gift of God which the parents have helped set before the eyes of the
little ones will also need to be cultivated with wisdom and gentleness, in
order to instill in them a capacity for discernment. Thus, with the constant
witness of the their parents’ conjugal love, permeated with a living faith, and
with the loving accompaniment of the Christian community, children will be
helped better to appropriate the gift of their faith, to discover the deepest
meaning of their own lives and to respond with joy and gratitude.
The Christian
family passes on the faith when parents teach their children to pray and when
they pray with them (see Familiaris Consortio, no. 60); when they lead
them to the sacraments and gradually introduce them to the life of the Church;
when all join in reading the Bible, letting the light of faith shine on their
family life and praising God as our Father.
In contemporary
culture, we often see an excessive exaltation of the freedom of the individual
as an autonomous subject, as if we were self-created and self-sufficient, apart
from our relationship with others and our responsibilities in their regard.
Attempts are being made to organize the life of society on the basis of
subjective and ephemeral desires alone, with no reference to objective, prior
truths such as the dignity of each human being and his inalienable rights and
duties, which every social group is called to serve.
The Church does
not cease to remind us that true human freedom derives from our having been
created in God’s image and likeness. Christian education is consequently an
education in freedom and for freedom. “We do not do good as slaves, who are not
free to act otherwise, bur we do it because we are personally responsible for
the world; because we love truth and goodness, because we love God himself and
therefore his creatures as well. This is the true freedom to which the Holy
Spirit wants to lead us (Homily for the Vigil of Pentecost, 9 June
2006).
Jesus Christ is
the perfect human being, an example of filial freedom, who teaches us to share
with others his own love: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you;
abide in my love” (Jn 15:9). And so the Second Vatican Council teaches
that “Christian married couples and parents, following their own way, should
support one another in grace all through life with faithful love, and should
train their children, lovingly received from God, in Christian doctrine and
evangelical virtues. Because in this way they present to all an example of
unfailing and generous love, they build up the brotherhood of charity, and they
stand as witnesses and cooperators of the fruitfulness of Mother Church, as a
sign of and a share in that love with which Christ loved his Bride and gave
himself for her” (Lumen Gentium, no. 41).
The joyful love
with which our parents welcomed us and accompanied our first steps in this
world is like a sacramental sign and prolongation of the benevolent love of God
from which we have come. The experience of being welcomed and loved by God and
by our parents is always the firm foundation for authentic human growth and
authentic development, helping us to mature on the way towards truth and love,
and to move beyond ourselves in order to enter into communion with others and
with God.
To help us
advance along the path of human maturity, the Church teaches us to respect and
foster the marvellous reality of the indissoluble marriage between man and
woman which is also the origin of the family. To recognize and assist this
institution is one of the greatest services which can be rendered nowadays to
the common good and to the authentic development of individuals and societies,
as well as the best means of ensuring the dignity, equality and true freedom of
the human person.
This being the
case, I want to stress the importance and the positive role which the Church’s
various family associations are playing in support of marriage and the family.
Consequently, “I wish to call on all Christians to collaborate cordially and
courageously with all people of good will who are serving the family in
accordance with their responsibility” (Familiaris Consortio, no. 86), so
that by joining forces in a legitimate plurality of initiatives they will
contribute to the promotion of the authentic good of the family in contemporary
society.
Let us return
for a moment to the first reading of this Mass, drawn from the Book of Esther.
The Church at prayer has seen in this humble queen interceding with all her
heart for her suffering people, a prefigurement of Mary, whom her Son has given
to us all as our Mother; a prefigurement of the Mother who protects by her love
God’s family on its earthly pilgrimage. Mary is the image and model of all
mothers, of their great mission to be guardians of life, of their mission to be
teachers of the art of living and of the art of loving.
The Christian family
- father, mother and children - is called, then, to do all these things not as
a task imposed from without, but rather as a gift of the sacramental grace of
marriage poured out upon the spouses. If they remain open to the Spirit and
implore his help, he will not fail to bestow on the them the love of God the
Father made manifest and incarnate in Christ. The presence of the Spirit will
help spouses not to lose sight of the source and criterion of their love and
self-giving, and to cooperate with him to make it visible and incarnate in
every aspect of their lives. The Spirit will also awaken in them a yearning for
the definitive encounter with Christ in the house of his Father and our Father.
And this is the message of hope that, from Valencia , I wish to share with all
the families of the world. Amen.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 8 July 2007
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Gospel today
(see Lk 10: 1-12, 17-20) presents Jesus sending out 72 disciples to the
villages he is about to visit in order to prepare the way. This is a particular
feature of the Evangelist Luke, who stressed that the mission was not exclusive
to the Twelve Apostles but extended also to the other disciples. Indeed, Jesus
said: “The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few” (Lk 10: 2). There is
work for all in God’s field. Christ, however, did not limit himself to sending
out his missionaries: he also gave them clear and precise instructions on how
to behave. He first sent them out “two by two” so that they might help each
other and bear witness to brotherly love. He warned them that they would be
like “lambs in the midst of wolves”. They were to be peaceful in spite of
everything, and were to bear a message of peace in every situation; they were
not to take clothes or money with them in order to live on whatever Providence
offered them; they were to heal the sick as a sign of God’s mercy; wherever
people rejected them, they were to depart, doing no more than to alert them to
their responsibility for rejecting the Kingdom of God. St Luke highlighted the
disciples’ enthusiasm at the good results of their mission and recorded Jesus’
beautiful expression: “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to
you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Lk 10: 20). May this
Gospel reawaken in all the baptized the awareness that they are missionaries of
Christ, called to prepare the way for him with words and with the witness of
their lives.
It is vacation
time and tomorrow I am leaving for Lorenzago di Cadore, where I shall be a
guest of the Bishop of Treviso in the house in which the venerable John Paul II
used to stay. The mountain air will do me good and I shall be able - I hope so
- to dedicate myself more freely to reflection and prayer. I hope everyone,
especially those in greatest need, will be able to take a bit of vacation to
restore their physical and spiritual energy and recover a healthy contact with
nature. The mountains call to mind in particular the spirit’s ascent towards
the heavens, its uplifting towards the “high standard” of our humanity, which
daily life unfortunately tends to debase. In this regard, I would like to
recall the fifth pilgrimage of young people to the Cross on Mount Adamello
May the Virgin
Mary protect us always, both in our mission and in well-deserved rest, so that
we may joyfully and fruitfully carry out our work in the Lord’s vineyard.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Papal
Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo , Sunday, 6
July 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would first
like to address an affectionate and grateful greeting to the Authorities and to
the entire Civil and Ecclesial community of Castel
Gandolfo who always give me a warm and attentive welcome during my
stay. My thoughts are now already turning to Australia where, please God, I
shall be going next Saturday, 12 July. Indeed, the Twenty-Third World Youth Day
will take place in Sydney ,
in the south-east of the Country. In recent months the “Youth Day Cross” has
travelled through the whole of Oceania and in Sydney will once again be a silent witness of
the pact of alliance between the Lord Jesus Christ and the new generations. The
celebration to welcome the young people is planned for 15 July. The great
Prayer Vigil will take place on Saturday, 19 July, and the Eucharistic
celebration, the culminating and conclusive event, on Sunday the 20th. The
Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has organized everything very
carefully, with the practical supported and cooperation of the Civil
Authorities. The first groups of young men and women are now setting out from
the other continents bound for Australia .
I invite the whole Church to feel that she shares in this new phase of the
great youth pilgrimage through the world, begun in 1985 by the Servant of God
John Paul II.
The upcoming
World Youth Day announces in advance to be a new Pentecost: indeed, Christian
Communities began preparation already a year ago, following the guidelines I
indicated in my Message on the theme: “You will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1: 8). This is
the promise that Jesus made to his disciples after the Resurrection and that is
still valid and timely in the Church: the Holy Spirit, awaited and received in
prayer, instils in believers the ability to be witnesses of Jesus and his
Gospel. The Divine Spirit, filling the Church’s sails, urges her “to put out
into the deep” ever anew, from generation to generation, to bring everyone the
Good News of God’s love, fully revealed in Jesus Christ who died and rose for
our sake. I am sure that Catholics from every corner of the earth will join me
and the young people gathered in Sydney, as if in an Upper Room, insistently
invoking the Holy Spirit so that he will fill their hearts with inner light,
with love for God and for their brethren and with courageous initiative in
introducing Jesus’ eternal message into the variety of languages and cultures.
The World Youth
Day Cross is accompanied by the icon of the Virgin Mary. Let us entrust this
journey in Australia and the
Youth Meeting in Sydney
to her motherly protection. In addition, on this first Sunday in July I wish to
invoke Mary’s intercession so that the summer season may offer to all the
opportunity for a period of rest and of physical and spiritual renewal.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 5 July 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The first Sunday
of July was formerly marked by the devotion to the Most Precious Blood of
Christ. Several of my venerable Predecessors confirmed this in the past century
and Bl. John XXIII, with his Apostolic Letter Inde a Primis (30 June
1960), explained its meaning and approved its Litanies. The theme of blood,
linked to that of the Paschal Lamb, is of primary importance in Sacred
Scripture. In the Old Testament, aspersion with the blood of sacrificed animals
represented and established the covenant between God and his People, as we read
in the Book of Exodus: “and Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people,
and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in
accordance with all these words’ “ (Ex 24: 8).
Jesus refers
explicitly to this formula during the Last Supper, when, offering the cup to
the disciples, he says: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26: 28). And effectively, from the
scourging to the piercing of his side after his death on the Cross, Christ
poured out all his Blood as the true Lamb sacrificed for the redemption of all.
The salvific value of his Blood is expressly stated in many passages of the New
Testament. It suffices to mention, in this Year for Priests, the beautiful
words of the Letter to the Hebrews: “Christ... entered once for all into the Holy Place , taking
not the blood of goats and calves but his own Blood, thus securing an eternal
redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats
and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the
flesh, how much more shall the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God” (9: 11-14).
Dear Brothers,
it is written in Genesis that the blood of Abel, killed by his brother Caine,
cries to God from the earth (see 4: 10). And, unfortunately, today as in the
past, this cry never ceases, as human blood continues to be shed because of
violence, injustice and hatred. When will human beings learn that life is
sacred and belongs to God alone? When will they understand that we are all
brothers and sisters? To the cry which rises from so many parts of the earth
for the blood that is spilled, God responds with the Blood of his Son, who gave
his life for us. Christ did not respond to evil with evil but with goodness,
with his infinite love. The Blood of Christ is the pledge of God’s faithful
love for humanity. Every human being, even in conditions of extreme moral
wretchedness can say, fixing his eyes on the wounds of the Crucified One: “God
has not abandoned me, he loves me, he has given his life for me”, and thus
rediscover hope. May the Virgin Mary, who at the foot of the Cross together
with the Apostle John received the testament of Jesus’ Blood, help us to
rediscover the inestimable richness of this grace and to feel deep and
everlasting gratitude for it.
PASTORAL
VISIT TO SULMONA
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
At the end of
this solemn celebration, at the time of our usual Sunday appointment, I invite
you to recite the Angelus prayer together. To the Virgin Mary, whom you
venerate with particular devotion in the Shrine of the “Madonna della Libera”,
I entrust this Church of Sulmona-Valva: the Bishop, the priests and all the
People of God. May this Church, united and joyful, walk on the path of faith,
hope and charity. Faithful to the legacy of St Peter Celestine, may she always
know how to combine evangelical radicalism and mercy so that all who seek God
may find him.
In Mary, Virgin
of silence and of listening, St Peter Morrone found the perfect model of
obedience to the Divine Will in a simple and humble life, committed to seeking
what is truly essential, always ready to thank the Lord, recognizing everything
as a gift of his Goodness.
We too, who live
in a time of greater comfort and amenities, are called to appreciate a moderate
way of life, to keep our minds and hearts free and to be able to share what we
have with our brothers and sisters. May Mary Most Holy, whose maternal presence
enlivened the first community of Jesus’ disciples also help the Church of today
to bear a credible witness to the Gospel.
PASTORAL
VISIT TO SULMONA
EUCHARISTIC
CONCELEBRATION
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am delighted
to be with you today and to celebrate this solemn Eucharist with you and for
you. I greet your Pastor, Bishop Angelo Spina: I thank him for his warm
expressions of welcome on behalf of you all and for his gifts, which I truly
appreciate as “signs”, as he himself called them, of the affective and effective
communion that binds the people of this beloved region of the Abruzzo to the
Successor of Peter. I greet the Archbishops and Bishops present, the priests,
the men and women religious and the Representatives of the Ecclesial
Associations and Movements. I address a respectful thought to Hon. Mr Fabio
Federico, the Mayor with gratitude for his courteous greeting and for the “signs”,
the gifts to the Government Representative and to the Civil and Military
Authorities. I address special thanks to those who generously offered their
cooperation in the organization of my Pastoral Visit. Dear brothers and
sisters, I have come to share with you the joys and hopes, the efforts and
tasks, the ideals and aspirations of this diocesan community. I know well that
Sulmona is not exempt from difficulties, nor from problems and worries. I am
thinking in particular of all the people who are living in precarious
conditions because of the lack of work, uncertainty about the future, physical
and moral suffering and, as the Bishop recalled, a sense of loss due to the
earthquake of 6 April 2009. I want to reassure every one of my closeness and my
remembrance in prayer, while I encourage you to persevere in witnessing to the
human and Christian values so deeply rooted in the faith and history of this
area and its population.
Dear friends, my
Visit is taking place on the occasion of the special Jubilee Year proclaimed by
the Bishops of Abruzzo and Molise to celebrate the 800th anniversary of St
Peter Celestine’s birth. In flying over your region I was able to contemplate
the beauty of its landscape and, especially, to admire some of the places
closely linked to the life of this outstanding figure: Monte Morrone, where
Peter lived as a hermit for many years; the Hermitage of Sant’Onofrio, where,
in 1294, he learned the news of his election as Supreme Pontiff at the Conclave
held in Perugia; and the Abbey of Santo Spirito, whose main altar he
consecrated after his coronation in the Basilica of Collemaggio in L’Aquila. I
visited this Basilica myself in April last year, after the earthquake that
devastated the region, to venerate the urn in which his remains are preserved
and to lay upon it the pallium I received on the day of the inauguration of my
Pontificate.
More than 800
years have passed since the birth of St Peter Celestine V, but he lives on in
history on account of the well-known events of his Pontificate and, above all,
his holiness. Indeed, holiness never loses its power of attraction, it does not
fade into oblivion, it never goes out of fashion; on the contrary, with the
passage of time it shines out ever more brightly, expressing man’s perennial
effort to reach God. I would like to draw from St Peter Celestine’s life some
lessons that also apply in our day.
From his youth
Pietro Angelerio was a “seeker of God”, a man who sought the answers to the
great questions of our existence: Who am I? Where do I come from? Why am I
alive? For whom do I live? He set out in quest of truth and happiness, he went
in search of God and in order to hear God’s voice decided to detach himself
from the world and live as a hermit. Thus silence became a characteristic
feature of his daily life. And it was precisely in exterior but especially
interior silence that he succeeded in perceiving God’ voice, able to guide his
life. Here there is a first important aspect for us: we live in a society in
which it seems that every space, every moment must be “filled” with projects,
activities and noise; there is often no time even to listen or to converse. Dear
brothers and sisters, let us not fear to create silence, within and outside
ourselves, if we wish to be able not only to become aware of God’s voice but
also to make out the voice of the person beside us, the voices of others.
However it is
also important to emphasize a second element: Pietro Angelerio’s discovery of
God was not the result of his own efforts but was made possible by the Grace of
God itself that prepared him. What he had, what he was, did not come from
himself: it was given to him, it was Grace, and so it also entailed
responsibility to God and to others. Although our life is very different from
his, the same also applies for us: all that is essential in our existence was
bestowed upon us without our contribution. The fact that I am alive does not
depend on me. The fact that there were people who introduced me to life, who
taught me what it means to love and to be loved, who handed down the faith to
me and opened my eyes to God: all of this is Grace, it was not “done by me”. We
would not have been able to do anything on our own had we not been granted to
do so: God always anticipates our needs and in every individual life there is a
beauty and goodness that we can easily recognize as his grace, as a ray of the
light of his goodness. For this reason we must be attentive, we must always
keep open our “inner eyes”, the eyes of our heart. And if we learn to know God
in his infinite goodness, then we shall be able to see in our lives with
wonder, like the Saints, the signs of that God who is always close to us, who
is always good to us, who says: “Have faith in me!”.
In addition, in
inner silence, in the perception of the Lord’s presence, Peter of Morrone
developed a vivid experience of the beauty of creation, the work of God’s
hands: he was able to grasp its profound meaning, he respected its signs and
rhythms, he made use of it for what is essential to life.
I know that this
local Church, like the other Churches in the Abruzzo and the Molise, is
actively engaged in a campaign of sensitization to promote the common good and
to safeguard creation: I encourage you in this effort and urge you all to feel
responsible for your own future and the future of others, also respecting and
caring for creation, the fruit and sign of God’s Love.
In today’s
Second Reading from the Letter to the Galatians we heard a beautiful expression
of St Paul that is also a perfect spiritual portrait of St Peter Celestine: “Far
be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which
the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (6:14). The Cross was
indeed the centre of his life. It gave him the strength to endure the harsh
penances and to face the most demanding moments, from his youth to his last
hour: he was always aware that from it salvation comes. The Cross also gave St
Peter Celestine a clear awareness of sin that was always accompanied by an
equally clear awareness of God’s infinite mercy for his creature. Seeing the
wide-open arms of his Crucified God, he felt himself to be carried through the
boundless ocean
of God
Finally, one
last element: Although St Peter lived as a hermit he was not “closed in on
himself”; rather he was full of enthusiasm at bringing the Good News of the
Gospel to his brethren. Moreover the secret of his pastoral fruitfulness lay,
precisely, in “abiding” with the Lord, in prayer, as we were also reminded by
today’s Gospel passage: our top priority is always to pray to the Lord of the
harvest (see Lk 10:2). And it is only after this invitation that Jesus outlines
some of the essential duties of his disciples: the serene, clear and courageous
proclamation of the Gospel message even in moments of persecution without
giving in to the allure of fashion or those of violence or of domination;
detachment from anxiety about things, money and dress trusting in the Father’s
Providence; attention and care, particularly for those sick in body and mind (see
Lk10:5-9). These were also the characteristics of the brief and troubled
Pontificate of Celestine V and are the characteristics of the Church’s
missionary activity in every epoch.
Dear brothers
and sisters, I am here among you to strengthen you in the faith. I would like
to exhort you, forcefully and with affection, to stay firm in the faith you
have received, which gives meaning to life and gives the strength to love. May
we be accompanied on this journey by the example and intercession of the Mother
of God and of St Peter Celestine. Amen!
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 3 July 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the Gospel
today the Lord Jesus repeats to us the words that we know so well but that
never fail to move us: “Come to me, all who labour and are heavily laden, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light” (Mt 11:28-30).
As Jesus went
along the roads of Galilee proclaiming the Kingdom of God
Jesus’ gaze
seems to extend to this day, to our world. Today, too, it rests on so many
people oppressed by difficult living conditions and lacking valid reference
points to find a meaning and a purpose for their existence. Exhausted
multitudes are found in the poorest countries, harshly tried by poverty; and
even in the richer countries there are numerous dissatisfied men and women who
are even ill with depression. Let us think of the many evacuees and refugees,
of all those who emigrate, putting their own lives at risk. Christ’s gaze then
rests his gaze upon all these people, indeed upon each one of these children of
the Father who is in Heaven and repeats: “Come to me, all...” of you.
Jesus promised
he would give everyone “rest”, but on one condition: “Take my yoke upon you,
and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart”. What is this “yoke” which
lightens instead of burdening, which instead of oppressing, uplifts? The “yoke”
of Christ is the law of love, it is his commandment which he bequeathed to his
disciples (see Jn 13:34; 15:12). The true remedy for humanity’s wounds, both
material — such as hunger and injustice in all its forms — and psychological
and moral, caused by a false well-being, is a rule of life based on fraternal
love, whose source is in the love of God. For this reason it is necessary to
abandon the way of arrogance, of violence used to obtain ever more powerful
positions, to assure oneself of success at any price.
It is also
necessary to give up the aggressive attitude with regard to the environment
which has prevailed in recent centuries and to adopt a reasonable “gentleness”.
However, in human, interpersonal and social relations above all, the rule of
respect and of non-violence, namely, the power of the truth against every kind
of abuse is what can assure a future worthy of the human being.
Dear friends,
yesterday we celebrated a particular liturgical Memorial of Mary Most Holy,
praising God for her Immaculate Heart. May the Virgin help us to “learn” true
humility from Jesus, to take up his light yoke with determination, to
experience inner peace and to become in our turn capable of comforting other
brothers and sisters who are walking with difficulty on life’s path.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
I
would like to reflect briefly on this Sunday’s Gospel passage. It is taken from
the text that has the famous saying “Nemo propheta in patria”. In other
words no prophet is properly accepted among his own people who watched him grow
up (see Mk 6:4). Indeed after Jesus, when he was about 30 years old, had left
Nazareth and had already been travelling about preaching and working miracles
of healing elsewhere, he once returned to his birthplace and started teaching
in the synagogue. His fellow citizens “were astonished” by his wisdom, and
knowing him as “the son of Mary”, as the carpenter who had lived in their
midst, instead of welcoming him with faith were shocked and took offence (see
Mk 6:2-3). This reaction is understandable because familiarity at the human
level makes it difficult to go beyond this in order to be open to the divine
dimension. That this son of a carpenter was the Son of God was hard for them to
believe. Jesus actually takes as an example the experience of the prophets of Israel , who in
their own homeland were an object of contempt, and identifies himself with
them. Due to this spiritual closure Jesus “could do no mighty work there [Nazareth ], except that he
laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them” (Mk 6:5). In fact Christ’s
miracles are not a display of power but signs of the love of God that is
brought into being wherever it encounters reciprocated human faith. Origen
writes: “as in the case of material things there exists in some things a
natural attraction towards some other thing, as in the magnet for iron... so
there is an attraction in such faith towards the divine power” (Commentary
on the Gospel of Matthew, 10, 19).
It
would therefore seem that Jesus—as is said—is making sense of the negative
welcome he received in Nazareth .
Instead, at the end of the account, we find a remark that says precisely the
opposite. The Evangelist writes that Jesus “marvelled because of their unbelief”
(Mk 6:6). The astonishment of Jesus’ fellow townspeople is matched by his own
surprise. In a certain sense he too is shocked! Although he knows that no
prophet is well accepted in his homeland, the closed heart of his people was
nevertheless obscure and impenetrable to him: how could they fail to recognize
the light of the Truth? Why did they not open themselves to the goodness of God
who deigned to share in our humanity? Effectively Jesus of Nazareth the man is
the transparency of God, in him God dwells fully. And while we are constantly
seeking other signs, other miracles, we do not realize that he is the true
Sign, God made flesh, he is the greatest miracle in the world: the whole of God’s
love contained in a human heart, in a man’s face.
© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Book by Orestes J. González