Entry 0303: Reflections on the Twehty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary
Time by Pope Benedict XVI
On eight occasions during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delivered reflections on the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, on 16 October 2005, 22 October 2006, 21 October 2007, 19 October 2008, 18 October 2009, 17 October 2010, 16 October 2011, and 21 October 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
St
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 16 October 2005
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Exactly 27 years
ago today, the Lord called Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, Archbishop of Krakow, to
succeed John Paul I who had died a little more than a month after his election.
With John Paul II began one of the longest Pontificates in the Church’s
history, during which a Pope “from a far-away country” was also recognized as a
moral authority by many non-Christians and non-believers. This was demonstrated
by the moving expressions of affection on the occasion of his illness, and the
touching condolences after his death.
The pilgrimage
of so many of the faithful to his tomb in the Vatican Grottoes constantly
continues, and this is an eloquent sign of how the beloved John Paul II had a
place in people’s hearts, particularly because of the witness of his love and
dedication amid suffering. In him, we were able to admire the power of faith
and prayer and a complete entrustment to Mary Most Holy, who never failed to
accompany and protect him, especially in the most difficult and dramatic
moments of his life.
We could
describe John Paul II as a Pope totally consecrated to Jesus through Mary, as
his motto highlighted clearly: “Totus tuus”. He was elected in the
middle of the month of the Rosary, and the pair of Rosary beads he often held
in his hands became one of the symbols of his Pontificate, over which the
Immaculate Virgin watched with motherly care.
On radio and
television, the faithful of the entire world were frequently able to join him
in this Marian prayer and, thanks to his example and teachings, rediscover its
authentic, contemplative and Christological meaning (see Apostolic Letter Rosarium
Virginis Mariae, nos. 9-17).
Actually, the
Rosary is not an obstacle to meditation on the Word of God and liturgical
prayer; indeed, it represents a natural and ideal complement to it, especially
as a preparation and thanksgiving for the Eucharistic celebration.
With Mary, we
contemplate Christ encountered in the Gospel and in the Sacrament in the
various moments of his life through the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and
Glorious Mysteries. We thus learn at the school of the Mother to conform
ourselves to her Divine Son and to proclaim him with our own lives. If the
Eucharist for Christians is the centre of the day, the Rosary contributes in a
privileged way to deepening communion with Christ and teaches us to live by
keeping the heart’s gaze fixed on him, to make his merciful love shine upon
everyone and everything.
A contemplative
and a missionary: this is what beloved Pope John Paul II was. He was this way
because of his intimate union with God, nourished each day by the Eucharist and
by extended periods of prayer.
In the hour of
the Angelus that was so dear to him, it is pleasant and a duty to
remember him on this anniversary, renewing our gratitude to God for having
given the Church and the world such a worthy Successor of the Apostle Peter.
May the Virgin Mary help us cherish his precious legacy.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 22 October 2006
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Today, we
celebrate the 80th World Mission Sunday. It was established by Pope Pius XI,
who gave a strong impulse to the missions ad gentes, and in the Jubilee
of 1925 promoted a grandiose exhibition which later became the current
Ethnological-Missionary Collection of the Vatican Museums.
This year, in
the customary Message for the occasion, I have proposed the theme, “Charity,
soul of the mission”. In effect, if the mission is not inspired by love, it is
reduced to a philanthropic and social activity.
For Christians,
however, the words of St Paul
are valid: “The love of Christ impels us” (II Cor. 5: 14). The charity that
moved the Father to send his Son into the world, and moved the Son to offer
himself for us even to death on the Cross, that same charity has been poured
out by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers.
Every baptized
person, as a vine united to the branch, can therefore cooperate in the mission
of Jesus, which can be summarized thus: to bring to every person the good news
that “God is love” and, precisely for this reason, wants to save the world.
The mission
arises from the heart: when one stops to pray before a Crucifix with his glance
fixed on that pierced side, he cannot but experience within himself the joy of
knowing that he is loved and the desire to love and to make himself an
instrument of mercy and reconciliation.
This is what
happened about 800 years ago to the young Francis of Assisi in the little
church of San Damiano, which was then dilapidated. From the height of the
Cross, now preserved in the Basilica of St Clare, Francis heard Jesus tell
him: ”Go, repair my house which, as you see, is all in ruins”.
That “house” was
first of all his own life, which needed repair through authentic conversion; it
was the Church, not the one made of stones but living persons, always needing
purification; it was all of humanity, in whom God loves to dwell.
The mission
always initiates from a heart transformed by the love of God, as the countless
stories of saints and martyrs witness, who in different ways have spent their
life at the service of the Gospel.
The mission,
therefore, is a workshop where there is room for all: for those who commit
themselves to bringing the Kingdom of God into their own family; for those who
live their professional life with a Christian spirit; for those who are totally
consecrated to the Lord; for those who follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in the
ordained ministry to the People of God; for those who in a specific way go to
announce Christ to those who still do not know him.
May Mary Most
Holy help us to live with renewed ardor, each one in the situation in which Providence has placed him,
the joy and courage of the mission.
PASTORAL
VISIT
OF
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO NAPLES
ANGELUS
Piazza
del Plebiscito, Naples
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
At the end of
this solemn celebration, I want to renew to all of you, dear friends of Naples , my greeting and
thanks for your cordial welcome, even with the conditions that are a bit
difficult.
I wish to
address a special greeting to the delegations that have come from different
parts of the world to participate in the International Meeting for Peace
organized by the Sant’Egidio Community on the theme: “For a world without
violence - Religions and cultures in dialogue”. May this important cultural and
religious initiative also contribute to consolidating world peace. Let us pray
for this.
But let us also
pray today particularly for missionaries. Indeed, today we are celebrating
World Mission Sunday, which has a very significant motto: ”All the
Churches for all the world”. Each particular Church is co-responsible for the
evangelization of the whole of humanity, and this inter-Church cooperation was
increased 50 years ago by Pope Pius XII with his Encyclical Fidei Donum.
We should not allow those who work on the mission front to lack our spiritual
and material support: priests, men and women religious and lay people who
in their work often meet with serious difficulties and even persecution.
Let us entrust
these prayer intentions to Mary Most Holy, whom in the month of October we like
to invoke by the title with which she is venerated at the nearby Sanctuary of
Pompei: Queen of the Holy Rosary. Let us entrust to her especially the
many migrants who have gathered here on a pilgrimage from Caserta . May the Blessed Virgin likewise
protect those who commit themselves in various ways to the common good for a
just order in society, as was well emphasized during the 45th Social Week for
Italian Catholics promoted in particular by Giuseppe Toniolo, an illustrious
Christian economist. Many problems and challenges face us today. A strong
commitment is required of all, especially the lay faithful who work in the
social and political arena, in order to guarantee each person, especially
youth, the indispensable conditions to develop their own natural talents and
generous life choices in the service of their own families and of the whole
community, and for this we would like everyone’s collaboration.
And now let us
turn to Our Lady with the customary prayer of the Angelus.
PASTORAL
VISIT
OF
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO NAPLES
EUCHARISTIC
CELEBRATION
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Piazza
del Plebiscito, Naples
Venerable
Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Distinguished
Authorities,
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
I accepted with
great joy the invitation to visit the Christian community that lives in this
historical city of Naples .
I first offer Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, your Archbishop, a fraternal embrace
and my special thanks for his words on your behalf at the beginning of this
solemn Eucharistic Celebration. I sent him to your Community knowing of his
apostolic zeal and I am happy to see that you appreciate him for his gifts of
mind and heart. I greet with affection the Auxiliary Bishops and diocesan
priests, as well as the men and women religious and other consecrated persons,
the catechists and the lay people, especially the youth actively involved in
various pastoral, apostolic and social initiatives. I greet the distinguished
civil and military Authorities who honor us with their presence, starting with
the Prime Minister, the Mayor of Naples and the Presidents of the Province and
Region. To you all, gathered in this Square in front of the monumental Basilica
dedicated to St Francis of Paola, the fifth centenary of whose death is being
celebrated this year, I address my cordial thoughts, which I willingly extend
to all those who have joined us via radio and television, especially the
cloistered communities, the elderly, those in the hospital or prison and those
whom I will be unable to meet in this short Visit to Naples. In a word, I greet
the entire family of believers and all citizens of Naples :
I am among you, dear friends, to break with you the Word and the Bread of Life,
and the bad weather does not discourage us because Naples is always beautiful!
In meditating on
the biblical Readings for this Sunday and thinking of the situation of Naples,
I was struck by the fact that today the main theme of the Word of God is
prayer; indeed, we “ought always to pray and not lose heart”, as the Gospel
says (see Lk 18: 1). At first sight, this might seem a message not particularly
relevant, unrealistic, not very incisive with regard to a social reality with
so many problems such as yours. But, if we think about it, we understand that
this Word contains a message that certainly goes against the tide and yet is
destined to illuminate in depth the conscience of this Church and city of
yours. I would sum it up like this: the power that changes the world and
transforms it into the Kingdom
of God
The biblical Readings we have heard
present several models to inspire us in our profession of faith, which is also
always a profession of hope because faith and hope open the earth to divine
power, to the power for good. They are the figures of the widow, whom we
encounter in the Gospel parable, and of Moses, of whom the Book of Exodus
speaks. The widow of the Gospel (see Lk 18: 1-8) makes us think of the “little”,
the lowliest, but also of so many simple, upright people who suffer because of
abuse, who feel powerless in the face of the perduring social malaise and are
tempted to despair. To them Jesus repeats: look at this poor widow, with what
tenacity does she insist and in the end succeeds in being heard by a dishonest
judge! How could you imagine that your Heavenly Father, who is good and
faithful and powerful, who desires only his children’s good, would not do
justice to you in his own time? Faith assures us that God hears our prayers and
grants them at the appropriate moment, although our daily experience seems to
deny this certainty. In fact, in the face of certain events in the news or of
life’s numerous daily hardships which the press does not even mention, the supplication
of the ancient Prophet: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will
not hear? Or cry to you, “Violence!’ and you will not save?” (Heb 1: 2) wells
up in the heart spontaneously. There is one answer to this heartfelt
invocation: God cannot change things without our conversion, and our true
conversion begins with the “cry” of the soul imploring forgiveness and
salvation. Christian prayer is not, therefore, an expression of fatalism or
inertia; on the contrary, it is the opposite of evasion from reality, from
consoling intimism. It is the force of hope, the maximum expression of faith in
the power of God who is Love and does not abandon us. The prayer Jesus taught
us which culminated in Gethsemane has the
character of “competitiveness”, that is, of a struggle because we line up with
determination at the Lord’s side to fight injustice and conquer evil with good;
it is the weapon of the lowly and the poor in spirit, who reject every type of
violence. Indeed, they respond to it with evangelical non-violence, thereby
testifying that the truth of Love is stronger than hatred and death.
This also
emerges in the First Reading, the famous account of the battle between the
Israelites and Amalek’s men (see Ex 17: 8-13a). It was precisely prayer, addressed
with faith to the true God, that determined the fate of that harsh conflict.
While Joshua and his men were tackling their adversaries on the battlefield,
Moses was standing on the hilltop, his hands uplifted in the position of a
person praying. These raised hands of the great leader guaranteed Israel ’s
victory. God was with his people; he wanted them to win but made Moses’
uplifted hands the condition for his intervention.
It seems
incredible, but that is how it is: God needs the raised hands of his servant!
Moses’ raised arms are reminiscent of the arms of Jesus on the Cross: the
outspread, nailed arms with which the Redeemer won the crucial battle against
the infernal enemy. His fight, his arms raised to the Father and wide open for
the world, ask for other arms, other hearts that continue to offer themselves
with his same love until the end of the world. I am addressing you in
particular, dear Pastors of the Church in Naples ,
making my own the words that St Paul
address to Timothy and that we heard in the Second Reading: remain firm in what
you have learned and have believed. Preach the word, persevere on every
occasion, in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort, be
unfailing in patience and in teaching (see II Tim 3: 14, 16; 4: 2). And like
Moses on the mountain, persevere in prayer for and with the faithful entrusted
to your pastoral care, so that every day they may be able to face together the
good fight of the Gospel.
And now,
inwardly enlightened by the Word of God, let us return to look at the reality
of your city, where there is no lack of healthy energy, good people, cultured
and with a keen sense of family.
For many,
however, life is far from simple. There are so many situations of poverty,
housing shortages, unemployment or under-employment, the lack of any future
prospects. Then there is the sad phenomenon of violence. It is not only a
question of the deplorable crimes of the Camorra but also of the fact that
violence unfortunately tends to breed a widespread mentality, creeping into the
recesses of social life in the historical districts of the centre and in the
new and anonymous suburbs, with the risk of attracting especially young people
who grow up in contexts where unlawfulness, the “black economy” and the culture
of “fending for oneself” thrive. How important it is, therefore, to redouble
our efforts for a serious strategy of prevention that focuses on school, work
and helping youth to manage their leisure time - an intervention which involves
everyone in the fight against every form of violence, which begins with the
formation of consciences and the transformation of everyday mindsets, attitudes
and behavior. I address this invitation to every man and woman of good will
while the meeting for peace by religious leaders is being held here in Naples on the theme: “For
a world without violence - Religions and cultures in dialogue”.
Dear brothers
and sisters, beloved Pope John Paul II visited Naples for the first time in 1979: it was,
like today, on Sunday, 21 October! He came a second time in November 1990: a
Visit that encouraged the rebirth of hope. The Church’s mission is always
nourished by the faith and hope of the Christian people. This is also what your
Archbishop is doing. He recently wrote a Pastoral Letter with the significant
title: “Blood and hope”. Yes, true hope is only born from the Blood of
Christ and blood poured out for him. There is blood which is the sign of death,
but there is also blood that expresses love and life. The Blood of Jesus and
the blood of the Martyrs, like that of your own beloved Patron St Januarius, is
a source of new life. I would like to conclude by making my own a saying from
your Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter that sounds like this: “The seed of hope may
be the tiniest but can give life to a flourishing tree and bear abundant fruit”.
This seed exists and is active in Naples ,
despite the problems and difficulties. Let us pray to the Lord that he will
cause an authentic faith and firm hope to grow in the Christian community that
can effectively oppose discouragement and violence. Naples certainly needs appropriate political
interventions, but first it needs a profound spiritual renewal; it needs
believers who put their full trust back in God and with his help work hard to
spread Gospel values in society. Let us ask Mary’s help with this, as well as
that of your holy Protectors, especially St Januarius. Amen!
PASTORAL
VISIT
TO
THE PONTIFICAL SHRINE OF POMPEII
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Square
outside the Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
After the solemn
Eucharistic celebration and the traditional prayer to Our Lady of Pompeii, let
us turn our gaze once again to Mary with the recitation of the Angelus, as we
do every Sunday, and entrust to her the important intentions of the Church and
of humanity. Let us pray especially for the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of
Bishops currently taking place in Rome and whose theme is: “The Word of God
in the life and mission of the Church”, so that it may bear the fruits of
authentic renewal in every Christian community. A special prayer intention is
offered to us by World Mission Day which proposes for our meditation during
this Pauline Year a celebrated saying of the Apostle to the Gentiles: “Woe to
me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9: 16). In this month of October, the
month of missions and of the Rosary, how many faithful and how many communities
offer the holy Rosary for missionaries and for evangelization! I am therefore
pleased to be here in Pompeii
on this very day, in the most important Shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin,
Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. In fact, it gives me the opportunity to emphasize
increasingly that the first missionary commitment of each one of us is prayer.
It is first and foremost in praying that the way is prepared for the Gospel; it
is in praying that hearts are opened to the mystery of God and souls disposed
to welcome his Word of Salvation.
Then there is
another happy coincidence today: on this very day Louis Martin and Zélie
Guérin, the parents of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus whom Pius xi declared
Patroness of Missions, are being beatified at Lisieux. These new Blesseds,
accompanied and shared, with their prayers and their Gospel witness, the
journey of their daughter, called by the Lord to consecrate herself to him
without reserve within the walls of Carmel. It was there, in the concealment of
the cloister, that the little St Thérèse fulfilled her vocation: “In the heart
of the Church, my mother, I will be love” (Manuscripts autobiographiques, Lisieux,
1957, p. 229). In thinking of the beatification of the Martin couple, I am keen
to recall another intention very dear to my heart: the family, whose role in
teaching children a universal outlook that is both responsible and open to the
world and its problems is fundamental, as it also is in the formation of
vocations to missionary life. And then, so as to follow in spirit on the
pilgrimage that so many families made a month ago to this Shrine, let us invoke
the motherly protection of Our Lady of Pompeii upon all the families in the
world, thinking already of the Fourth World Meeting of Families, scheduled to
take place in Mexico City
in January 2009.
On this World Mission
Sunday, let us join in particular the pilgrims who have gathered at Lisieux for
the beatification of Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St Thérèse of the
Child Jesus, Patroness of Missions. With their life as an exemplary couple they
proclaimed Christ’s Gospel. They lived their faith ardently and passed it on to
their family and those around them. May their common prayer be a source of joy
and hope for all parents and all families.
PASTORAL
VISIT
TO
THE PONTIFICAL SHRINE OF POMPEII
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square
outside the Pontifical Shrine of Pompeii
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Following in the
footsteps of the Servant of God John Paul II, today I have come on pilgrimage
to Pompeii to
venerate the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary, together with you. I have
come in particular to entrust to the Mother of God, in whose womb the Word was
made flesh, the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which is under way at the Vatican on the
theme of the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. My Visit
also coincides with World Mission Sunday; contemplating in Mary she who
accepted within her the Word of God and gave him to the world, we shall pray at
this Mass for all those in the Church who spend their energy in the service of
proclaiming the Gospel to all the nations. Thank you, dear brothers and
sisters, for your welcome! I embrace you all with fatherly affection, and I am
grateful to you for the prayers you raise ceaselessly to Heaven for the
Successor of Peter and for the needs of the universal Church.
I address a
cordial greeting in the first place to Archbishop Carlo Liberati, Prelate of
Pompeii and Pontifical Delegate for this Shrine, and I thank him for his words
expressing your sentiments. I extend my greeting to the civil and military
Authorities present here, and in a special way to the government
Representative, the Minister for Cultural Assets and Activities and
the Mayor of Pompeii, who, on my arrival, addressed words of reverent
welcome to me on behalf of all the townspeople. I greet the
priests of the Prelature, the men and women religious who offer their
daily service at the Shrine, among whom I am pleased to mention
the Dominican Sisters Daughters of the Holy Rosary of Pompeii and the Brothers
of the Christian Schools
Let
us now allow her, our mother and teacher, to guide us in reflecting
on the Word of God that we have just heard. The First Reading and the
Responsorial Psalm express the joy of the People of Israel at the salvation
given by God, salvation that is liberation from evil and the hope of a new
life. The oracle of Zephaniah is addressed to Israel
who is designated with such names as “daughter of Zion ”
and “daughter of Jerusalem ”,
and is invited to rejoice: “Sing aloud... rejoice and exult!” (Zep
3: 14). It is the same appeal that the Angel Gabriel addresses to Mary at Nazareth “Hail, full of
grace” (Lk 1: 28). “Do not fear, O Zion” (Zep 3: 16), the Prophet
says; “Do not be afraid, Mary” (Lk 1: 30), the Angel says. And the reason
for trust is the same: “The Lord your God is in your midst; a warrior who gives
victory” (Zep 3: 17), the Prophet says; “The Lord is with you” (Lk
1: 28), the Angel assures the Virgin. The Canticle of Isaiah also
ends: ”Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion , for great in your midst is the Holy One
of Israel” (Is 12: 6). The Lord’s presence is a source of joy, for
wherever he is, evil is overcome and life and peace triumph. I would like in
particular to emphasize Zephaniah’s wonderful expression, which in addressing Jerusalem says: the
Lord “will renew you in his love” (3: 17). Yes, God’s love has this
power: to renew all things, starting from the human heart which is his
masterpiece and in which the Holy Spirit best brings about his transforming
action. With his grace, God renews man’s heart, forgiving him his sins,
reconciling him and instilling in him an impetus for good. All of this is
expressed in the lives of the Saints and we see it here in particular in the
apostolic work of Bl. Bartolo Longo, Founder of the new Pompeii . And so, in this hour, we open our
hearts to this love, renewer of man and of all things.
From its
beginnings, the Christian community has seen the personification of Israel and
Jerusalem in a female figure as an important and prophetic approach to the
Virgin Mary, who is recognized precisely as a “daughter of Zion” and the
archetype of the people who “found grace” in the eyes of the Lord. This is an
interpretation we find again in the Gospel account of the wedding feast at Cana (Jn 2: 1-11). The Evangelist John sheds
symbolic light on the fact that Jesus is the Bridegroom of Israel, the new Israel
that all of us are in faith, the spouse who has come to bring the grace of the
new Covenant, represented by the “good wine”. At the same time the Gospel
emphasizes Mary’s role, who at the beginning is called “the Mother of Jesus”
but the Son himself later addresses her as “woman” and this has a very profound
meaning: indeed, it implies that Jesus, to our wonder, before kinship
places the spiritual bond according to which Mary herself impersonates the
beloved Bride of the Lord, that is, the People he has chosen to shower his
blessings upon the whole human family. The symbol of the
wine, together with that of the banquet, reproposes the theme of joy and of the
feast. In addition, the wine, like the other biblical images of the vineyard
and the vine, alludes metaphorically to love: God is the owner of the
vineyard, Israel is the vineyard, a vineyard that will find its perfect
fulfilment in Christ, of whom we are the branches; and the wine is the fruit,
that is, love, because it is exactly love that God expects of his children. And
we pray to the Lord, who has given Bartolo Longo the grace to bring love in
this land, so that also our life and our heart bears this fruit of love and
thus renews the earth.
The Apostle Paul
also urges us to love in the Second Reading from the Letter to the Romans. We
find outlined in this passage the itinerary of life of a Christian community,
whose members are renewed by love and strive to renew themselves ceaselessly,
to discern God’s will always and not to relapse into conformity with a worldly
mindset (see 12: 1-2). The new Pompeii ,
even with the limitations proper to any human reality, is an example of this
new civilization, which emerged and developed under Mary’s motherly gaze. And
the characteristic of Christian civilization, as my venerable Predecessors so
often affirmed, is love: God’s love that is expressed in love of neighbor.
I also wished to dedicate my first Encyclical, Deus caritas est, to this
fundamental reality of the Church. Now when St Paul writes to the Christians of
Rome: “Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord
(12: 11), we are reminded of Bartolo Longo and the many charitable
initiatives he implemented for his neediest brethren. Impelled by love, he was
able to plan a new city
which then sprung up around the Marian Shrine, as if to be the radiation of the
light of her faith and hope. It became a citadel of Mary and of charity, but
not one that was isolated from the world not, as people say “a cathedral in the
desert” but rather integrated into the territory of this valley to
redeem and advance it. The Church’s history, thanks be to God,
is rich in experiences of this kind and also today a great number can be
counted in every part of the world. These are experiences of fraternity, that
show the face of a different society, placed as leaven within the civil
context. The power of love, in fact, is irresistible: it is love that
truly drives the world onwards!
Who could have
thought that a Marian Shrine of world-wide importance would have come into
being here, beside the ruins of ancient Pompeii ;
as well as so many social practices aimed to express the Gospel in concrete
service to those most in difficulty? Wherever God arrives, the desert blooms!
Bl. Bartolo Longo, with his personal conversion, also bore witness to this
spiritual power that transforms the human being from within and makes him
capable of doing great things in accordance with God’s plan. Remembering the
early times after his arrival in Pompeii ,
Bartolo Longo thanked the Lord with these words: “The first fruit of your
grace inspired within me an irrepressible, insatiable desire for you, truth,
light, food, the peace of man, your creature” (Bartolo Longo, Storia del
Santuario di Pompei, 1990, p. 58). The episode of Bartolo Longo’s spiritual
crisis and conversion appears very relevant today. In fact, in the period of
his university studies in Naples ,
influenced by immanentist and positivist philosophers, he had drifted from the
Christian faith. He had become a militant anti-clerical, and even indulged
in spiritualistic and superstitious practices. His conversion, with the
discovery of God’s true Face, contains a very eloquent message for us since,
unfortunately, such tendencies are not lacking in our day. In this Pauline
Year, I am pleased to emphasize that like St Paul, Bartolo Longo was
transformed from persecutor to apostle: an apostle of Christian faith, of
Marian devotion and, in particular, of the Rosary, in which he found a
synthesis of the whole Gospel.
This city, which
Longo refounded, is thus a historical demonstration of how God transforms the
world: filling the human heart with love and making it a “vehicle” of
religious and social renewal.
May this Shrine
and this city continue above all to be ever linked in a unique Marian
gift: the prayer of the Rosary. When we see, in the famous painting of
Our Lady of Pompeii, the Virgin Mother and the Child Jesus giving the Rosary
beads to St Catherine of Siena and St Dominic respectively, we immediately
understand that this prayer leads us through Mary to Jesus, as Pope John Paul
II taught us in his Letter Rosarium virginis Mariae, in which he
explicitly mentions Bl. Bartolo Longo and the charism of Pompeii. The Rosary is
a spiritual “weapon” in the battle against evil, against all violence, for
peace in hearts, in families, in society and in the world.
Dear brothers
and sisters, in this Eucharist, the inexhaustible source of life and hope, of
personal and social renewal, let us thank God because in Bartolo Longo he has
given us a luminous witness of this Gospel truth. And let us once again turn
our hearts to Mary with the words of the Supplication that in a little while we
shall be reciting together: ”As our Mother, thou art our Advocate and our
Hope. To thee, amidst sighs, do we lift up our hands, crying for mercy!” Amen.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 18 October 2009
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Today, the Third
Sunday of October, we are celebrating World Mission Day. To every ecclesial
community and to each Christian it is a strong appeal for commitment to
witnessing and proclaiming the Gospel to all, especially those who do not yet
know it. In the Message I wrote for this occasion, I found inspiration in a
phrase in the Book of Revelation which echoes a prophecy of Isaiah: “By its
light shall the nations walk” (Rv 21: 24). The light mentioned is that of God,
revealed by the Messiah and reflected on the face of the Church, portrayed as
the new Jerusalem, a marvelous city in which the glory of God shines out in its
fullness. It is the light of the Gospel which directs the people’s journey and
guides them towards the fulfilment of a great family in justice and in peace,
under the fatherhood of the one, good and merciful God. The Church exists to
proclaim this message of hope to the whole of humanity, which in our time “has
experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of
ultimate realities and of existence itself” (Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, no.
2).
In the month of
October, especially on this Sunday, the universal Church highlights her
missionary vocation. Guided by the Holy Spirit she knows she is called to
pursue the work of Jesus himself, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God Brazil ;
of Fr Michael Sinott, a religious kidnapped a few days ago in the Philippines ; and how can we forget all that is
emerging from the Synod of Bishops for Africa ,
in terms of extreme sacrifice and love for Christ and for his Church? I thank
the Pontifical Mission Societies for the valuable service they render to
missionary animation and formation. Further, I ask all Christians for a gesture
of material and spiritual sharing in order to help the young Churches in the
poorest countries.
Dear friends,
today, 18 October, is also the Feast of St Luke the Evangelist, who, in
addition to the Gospel, wrote the Acts of the Apostles in order to spread the
Christian message to the ends of the known world in his time. Let us invoke his
intercession, together with that of St Francis Xavier and St Thérèse of the
Child Jesus, Patrons of the missions, and of the Virgin Mary, so that the
Church may continue to make Christ’s light shine out among all the peoples. I
also ask you to pray for the Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of
Bishops, which is taking place here in the Vatican in these weeks.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 17 October 2010
At the end of
this solemn celebration, I wish to renew my cordial greeting to all the
pilgrims who came to honor the new Saints.
I greet with
pleasure the French-speaking pilgrims and in particular the Official Delegation
from Canada
and all the Canadians present here for the Canonization of Bro. André Bessette.
In taking up his message, I encourage you to follow in his footsteps to welcome
God’s will in your life freely and through love. May you too, as he was, be
overflowing with charity for your brothers and sisters who are experiencing
distress. May God bless you all and your families! Have a pleasant stay in Rome !
I warmly greet
all the English-speaking pilgrims, especially those who have come in such great
numbers for today’s Canonization. May these new Saints accompany you with their
prayers and inspire you by the example of their holy lives. I greet especially
the Official Delegations from Canada
and Australia who have traveled
to Rome in honor
of St André Besette and St Mary MacKillop. May God bless and keep you all, as
well as your families and loved ones at home.
I offer a warm
welcome to the German-speaking pilgrims and visitors. Saints are the living
image of God’s love. Today, therefore, we are rejoicing in the six new Saints,
Stanisław Kazimierczyk Sołtys, André Besette, Cándida María Cipitria, Mary
MacKillop, Giulia Salzano and Camilla da Varano. May they be models and
intercessors for our Christian life. May the Lord bless you all.
I cordially
greet the Spanish-speaking pilgrims who have taken part in the solemn ceremony
of Canonization this morning, especially the Cardinals and Bishops, as well as
the Official Delegation from Spain .
I entrust the Religious, the Daughters of Jesus, to the intercession of St
Cándida, their Foundress. I also ask God that the new Saints may serve as
models to the Christian people, particularly to youth, so that those who accept
the Lord’s call and give their whole lives to proclaiming the greatness of his
love may be ever more numerous.
I warmly greet
all the Poles who have come for the Canonization. I welcome in particular the
Representatives of the Episcopate and the President of the Republic of Poland Church of Poland
I greet the
Italian pilgrims who are celebrating St Battista da Varano and St Giulia
Salzano, as well as the Official Delegation who has come here for this happy
occasion. In particular, my thoughts turn to their spiritual daughters, as well
as to the faithful who have come from the Marches
and Campania .
In thinking of Italy ,
I am anxious to recall that today, in Reggio Calabria, the 46th Social Week for
Italian Catholics is drawing to a close. It has marked out a “programme of hope”
for the country’s future. I address a cordial greeting to the participants in
the Congress, who are connected via live broadcast at this moment, and I hope
that the search for the common good will always be the reliable reference for
the commitment of Catholics in social and political action.
Let us now turn
in prayer to Mary Most Holy, whom God has placed in the centre of the great
assembly of Saints. Let us entrust the whole Church to her so that illumined by
their example and sustained by their intercession she may walk with ever new
enthusiasm towards the heavenly Homeland.
PAPAL
MASS FOR THE CANONIZATION OF NEW SAINTS:
STANISŁAW
KAZIMIERCZYK SOŁTYS (1433 - 1489)
ANDRÉ BESSETTE (1845 - 1937)
CÁNDIDA
MARÍA DE JESÚS CIPITRIA y BARRIOLA (1845 - 1912)
MARY
OF THE CROSS MacKILLOP (1842 - 1909)
GIULIA
SALZANO (1846 - 1929)
BATTISTA
CAMILLA DA VARANO (1458 - 1524)
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
St.
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 17 October 2010
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The celebration
of holiness is renewed today in St Peter’s Square. I joyfully address my
cordial welcome to you who have come from even very far away to take part in
it. I offer a special greeting to the Cardinals, to the Bishops and to the
Superiors General of the Institutes founded by the new Saints, as well as to
the Official Delegations and to all the Civil Authorities. Let us seek together
to understand what the Lord tells us in the Sacred Scriptures proclaimed just
now. This Sunday’s Liturgy offers us a fundamental teaching: the need to pray
always, without tiring. At times we grow weary of praying, we have the
impression that prayer is not so useful for life, that it is not very
effective. We are therefore tempted to throw ourselves into activity, to use
all the human means for attaining our goals and we do not turn to God. Jesus
himself says that it is necessary to pray always, and does so in a specific
parable (see Lk 18: 1-8).
This parable
speaks to us of a judge who does not fear God and is no respecter of persons: a
judge without a positive outlook, who only seeks his own interests. He neither
fears God’s judgment nor respects his neighbor. The other figure is a widow, a
person in a situation of weakness. In the Bible, the widow and the orphan are
the neediest categories, because they are defenseless and without means. The
widow goes to the judge and asks him for justice. Her possibilities of being
heard are almost none, because the judge despises her and she can bring no
pressure to bear on him. She cannot even appeal to religious principles because
the judge does not fear God. Therefore this widow seems without any recourse.
But she insists, she asks tirelessly, importuning him, and in the end she succeeds
in obtaining a result from the judge. At this point Jesus makes a reflection,
using the argument a fortiori: if a dishonest judge ends by letting
himself be convinced by a widow’s plea, how much more will God, who is good,
answer those who pray to him. God in fact is generosity in person, he is
merciful and is therefore always disposed to listen to prayers. Therefore we
must never despair but always persist in prayer.
The conclusion
of the Gospel passage speaks of faith: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on earth?” (Lk 18: 8). It is a question that intends to elicit an
increase of faith on our part. Indeed it is clear that prayer must be an
expression of faith, otherwise it is not true prayer. If one does not believe
in God’s goodness, one cannot pray in a truly appropriate manner.
Faith is
essential as the basis of a prayerful attitude. It was so for the six new
Saints who are held up today for the veneration of the universal Church:
Stanisław Sołtys, André Bessette, Cándida María de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola,
Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Giulia Salzano and Battista Camilla Varano.
St Stanisław
Kazimierczyk, a religious of the 15th century, can also be an example and an
intercessor for us. His whole life was bound to the Eucharist, first of all in
the Church of Corpus
Domini in Kazimierz, known today as Krakow ,
where, beside his mother and father, he learned faith and piety. Here he made
his religious vows with the Canons Regular; here he worked as a priest and
educator, attentive to the care of the needy. However, he was linked in a
special way to the Eucharist through his ardent love for Christ present under
the species of the Bread and the Wine; by living the mystery of his death and
Resurrection, which is fulfilled in an unbloody way in the Holy Mass; by the
practice of love for neighbor, of which Communion is a source and a sign.
Bro. André
Bessette, a native of Quebec in Canada ,
and a religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, experienced suffering
and poverty at a very early age. They led him to have recourse to God through
prayer and an intense inner life. As porter of the College of Notre Dame in Montreal , he demonstrated
boundless charity and strove to relieve the distress of those who came to
confide in him. With very little education, he had nevertheless understood
where the essential of his faith was situated. For him, believing meant
submitting freely and through love to the divine will. Wholly inhabited by the
mystery of Jesus, he lived the beatitude of pure of heart, that of personal
rectitude. It is thanks to this simplicity that he enabled many people to see
God. He had built the Oratory of St Joseph of Mount Royal, whose faithful
custodian he remained until his death in 1937. He was the witness of
innumerable cures and conversions. “Do not seek to have your trials removed”,
he said, “ask rather for the grace to bear them well”. For him, everything
spoke of God and of God’s presence. May we, in his footsteps, seek God with
simplicity in order to discover him ever present in the heart of our life! May
the example of Bro. André inspire Canadian Christian life!
When the Son of
man comes to do justice to the chosen ones, will he find this faith on earth? (see
Lk 18: 8). Today, contemplating figures such as Mother Cándida María de Jesus
Cipitria y Barriola, we can say “yes” with relief and firmness. That girl of
simple origins on whose heart God had set his seal and whom he brought very
soon, with the guidance of her Jesuit spiritual directors, to make the firm
decision to live “for God alone”. She faithfully kept to her decision as she
herself recalled when she was about to die. She lived for God and for what he
most desires: to reach everyone, to bring everyone the hope that does not
disappoint, especially to those who need it most. “Where there is no room for
the poor, there is no room for me either” the new Saint said, and with limited
means she imbued the other Sisters with the desire to follow Jesus and to
dedicate themselves to the education and advancement of women. So it was that
the Hijas de Jesus [Daughters of Jesus] came into being; today they have in
their Foundress a very lofty model of life to imitate and an exciting mission
to carry on Mother Cándida’s apostolate with her spirit and aspirations, in
many countries.
“Remember who
your teachers were from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus”. For many years countless young people
throughout Australia
have been blessed with teachers who were inspired by the courageous and saintly
example of zeal, perseverance and prayer of Mother Mary MacKillop. She
dedicated herself as a young woman to the education of the poor in the
difficult and demanding terrain of rural Australia , inspiring other women to
join her in the first women’s community of religious sisters of that country.
She attended to the needs of each young person entrusted to her, without regard
for station or wealth, providing both intellectual and spiritual formation.
Despite many challenges, her prayers to St
Joseph and her unflagging devotion to the Sacred Heart
of Jesus, to whom she dedicated her new congregation, gave this holy woman the
graces needed to remain faithful to God and to the Church. Through her
intercession, may her followers today continue to serve God and the Church with
faith and humility!
In the second
half of the 19th century, in Campania , in the
south of Italy ,
the Lord called a young elementary teacher, Giulia Salzano, and made her an
apostle of Christian education, Foundress of the Congregation of the Catechist
Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Mother Gulia understood well the importance of
catechesis in the Church and, combining pedagogical training with spiritual fervor,
dedicated herself with generosity and intelligence, contributing to the
formation of people of every age and social class. She would repeat to the
Sisters that she wished to catechize to the very last hour of her life, showing
with her whole self that if “God created us to know him, love him and serve him
in this life”, it is necessary to put nothing before this task. May the example
and intercession of St Giulia Salzano sustain the Church in her perennial duty
to proclaim Christ and to form authentic Christian consciences.
St Battista
Camilla Varano, a Poor Clare nun of the 15th century, witnessed to the deep
evangelical meaning of life, especially through persevering prayer. She entered
the monastery in Urbino at the age of 23, fitting into that vast movement of
the reform of Franciscan female spirituality which aimed to recover fully the
charism of St Clare of Assisi .
She promoted new monastic foundations in Camerino where she was several times
elected Abbess, in Fermo and in San Severino. St Battista’s life, totally
immersed in divine depths, was a constant ascent on the way of perfection, with
a heroic love of God and neighbor. She was marked by profound suffering and
mystic consolation; in fact she had decided, as she herself writes, “to enter
the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and to drown in the ocean of his most bitter
suffering”. In a period in which the Church was undergoing a period of moral
laxity, she took with determination the road of penance and prayer, enlivened
by an ardent desire for the renewal of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Dear brothers
and sisters, let us thank the Lord for the gift of holiness that is resplendent
in the Church and today shines out on the faces of these brothers and sisters
of ours. Jesus also invites each one of us to follow him in order to inherit
eternal life. Let us allow ourselves to be attracted by these luminous examples
and to be guided by their teaching, so that our life may be a canticle of
praise to God. May the Virgin Mary and the intercession of the six new Saints
whom we joyfully venerate today obtain this for us. Amen.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 16 October 2011
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Yesterday and
today an important meeting has taken place in the Vatican on the theme of the New
Evangelization, a meeting that ended this morning with the Eucharistic
celebration at which I presided in St Peter’s Basilica. The main aim of the
project, organized by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New
Evangelization, was to examine in depth the context for a renewed proclamation
of the Gospel in countries with an ancient Christian tradition, and at the same
time it presented several significant testimonies and experiences.
The invitation
was accepted by many people from every part of the world who are committed to
this mission, which Bl. John Paul II had already clearly indicated to the
Church as an urgent and exciting task. In the wake of the Second Vatican
Council and of Pope Paul VI, the one who began its implementation, John Paul II
was in fact both a strenuous supporter of the mission ad gentes — that
is, to the people and territories where the Gospel has not yet put down roots —
and a herald of the New Evangelization. These are aspects of the Church’s one
mission and it is particularly meaningful to consider them together in this
month of October, characterized by the celebration of World Mission Day next
Sunday itself.
As I did a short
while ago in the Homily at Mass, I gladly take the opportunity on this occasion
to announce that I have decided to proclaim a special Year of Faith which
will begin on 11 October 2012 — the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second
Vatican Council — and will end on 24 November 2013, the Solemnity of Our Lord
Jesus Christ, Universal King. I have explained the reasons, aims and guidelines
of this “year” in an Apostolic Letter that will be published in the next few
days. The Servant of God Paul vi
proclaimed a similar “Year of Faith” in 1967, on the occasion of the 19th
centenary of the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul and in a period of
great cultural turmoil.
I consider that
as half a century has passed since the opening of the Council, associated with
the happy memory of Bl. Pope John XXIII it is appropriate to recall the beauty
and centrality of the faith, the need to reinforce it and to deepen it at the
personal and the community level and to do so in a perspective that is not so
much celebratory as missionary, with a view precisely to the mission ad
gentes and the New Evangelization.
Dear friends, in
this Sunday’s Liturgy we read what St
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “our Gospel came to
you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full
conviction”. May these words of the Apostle to the Gentiles be auspicious and
be the programme for missionaries in our day — priests, religious and lay
people — involved in proclaiming Christ to those who do not know him or who
have reduced him to a mere historical figure. May the Virgin Mary help every
Christian to be an effective witness of the Gospel.
HOLY MASS
FOR
THE NEW EVANGELIZATION
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Venerable
Brothers,
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Today I
celebrate Holy Mass with joy for you who are involved in many parts of the
world on the front of the New Evangelization. This liturgy concludes of the
meeting that called you yesterday to an exchange on the areas of this mission
and to listen to several significant testimonies. I myself wished to offer you
some thoughts, whereas today I break the bread of the Word and of the Eucharist
with you, in the certainty – shared by us all – that without Christ, the Word
and Bread of Life, we can do nothing (see Jn 15:5). I am glad that this
congress fits into the context of the month of October, exactly a week before
World Mission Day: this reminds us of the proper universal dimension of the New
Evangelization, in harmony with that of the mission ad gentes.
I address a
cordial greeting to all of you who have accepted the invitation of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. In particular, I greet
and thank the President of this recently established dicastery, Archbishop
Salvatore Fisichella, and his collaborators.
Let us now come
to the biblical Readings
in which the Lord speaks to us today. The first, taken from the Second Book of
Isaiah, tells us that God is one, there is no other; there are no gods other
than the Lord and even the powerful Cyrus, Emperor of the Persians, was part of
a larger plan that God alone knew and carried ahead. This Reading gives us the theological meaning of
history: the epochal upheavals and the succession of great powers are under the
supreme domination of God; no earthly power can stand in his stead. The
theology of history is an important and essential aspect of the New
Evangelization because the people of our time, after the inauspicious season of
the totalitarian empires in the 20th century, need to rediscover an overall
look at the world and at time, a truly free, peaceful look, that look which the
second Vatican Council communicated in its documents and which my predecessors,
the Servant of God Paul VI and Bl. John Paul II, illustrated with their Magisterium.
The Second
Reading is the beginning of the First Letter to the Thessalonians and this is
already very evocative because it is the oldest letter that has come down to us
of the greatest evangelizer of all time, the Apostle Paul. He tells us first of
all that one does not evangelize by oneself: in fact he too had collaborators,
Silvanus and Timothy (see 1 Thes 1:1) and many others. And he immediately adds
something else that is very important: that proclamation must always be
preceded, accompanied and followed by prayer. Indeed, he writes: “We give
thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers” (v.
2). The Apostle then says he is well aware of the fact that he did not choose
the members of the community, but that [God]: “has chosen you”, he says (v. 4).
Every Gospel
missionary must always bear in mind this truth: it is the Lord who touches
hearts with his word and with his Spirit, calling people to faith and to
communion in the Church. Lastly, Paul leaves us a very valuable teaching, taken
from his experience. He writes: “our gospel came to you not only in word, but
also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (v. 5).
Evangelization, to be effective, needs the power of the Spirit, who gives life
to proclamation and imbues those who convey it with the “full conviction” of
which the Apostle speaks. This term “conviction” or “full conviction” in the
original Greek is pleroforia: a word that does not so much express the
subjective, psychological aspect, rather the fullness, fidelity, completeness,
in this case of the proclamation of Christ. It is a proclamation which, to be
complete and faithful, asks to be accompanied by signs and gestures, like the
preaching of Jesus. Word, Spirit and certainty — understood in this way — are
therefore inseparable and compete to ensure that the Gospel message is spread
effectively.
Let us now
reflect on the Gospel passage. It is the text about the legitimacy of the
tribute to be paid to Caesar which contains Jesus’ famous answer: “render
therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that
are God’s” (Mt 22:21). But, before reaching this point there is a passage that
can be applied to those who have the mission of evangelizing. Indeed, those who
are speaking with Jesus — disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians —
compliment him, saying “we know that you are true, and teach the way of God
truthfully, and care for no man” (v. 16). It is this affirmation itself,
although it is prompted by hypocrisy, that must attract our attention. The
disciples of the Pharisees and Herodians do not believe in what they say. They
are only affirming it as a captatio benevolentiae to make people listen
to them, but their heart is far from that truth; indeed, they want to lure
Jesus into a trap to be able to accuse him. For us, instead, those words are
precious: indeed, Jesus is true and teaches the way of God according to the
truth, and stands in awe of none. He himself is that “way of God”, which we are
called to take. Here we may recall the words of Jesus himself in John’s Gospel:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6).
In this regard St Augustine ’s comment is
illuminating: “It was necessary for Jesus to say ‘I am the way, the truth, and
the life’, when knowing the way by which he went they had to learn where he was
going. The way led to truth, it led to life.... And where are we going, but to
him, and by what way do we go, but by him? (In Evangelium Johannis tractatus
69, 2). The new evangelizers are called to walk first on this Way that is
Christ, to make others know the beauty of the Gospel that gives life. And on
this Way one never walks alone but in company, an experience of communion and
brotherhood that is offered to all those we meet, to share with them our experience
of Christ and of his Church. Thus testimony combined with proclamation can open
the hearts of those who are seeking the truth so that they are able to arrive
at the meaning of their own life.
A brief
reflection also on the central question of the tribute to Caesar. Jesus replies
with a surprising political realism, linked to the theocentrism of the
prophetic tradition. The tribute to Caesar must be paid because his image is on
the coin; but the human being, every person, carries in him- or herself another
image, that of God, and therefore it is to him and to him alone that each one
owes his or her existence. The Fathers of the Church, drawing inspiration from
the fact that Jesus was referring to the image of the Emperor impressed on the
coin of the tribute, interpreted this passage in the light of the fundamental
concept of the human being as an image of God, contained in the first chapter
of the Book of Genesis.
An anonymous
author wrote: “The image of God is not impressed on gold, but on the human
race. Caesar’s coin is gold, God’s coin is humanity…. Therefore give your
riches to Caesar but keep for God the unique innocence of your conscience,
where God is contemplated…. Caesar, in fact, asked that his image be on every
coin, but God chose man, whom he created to reflect his glory” (Anonymous, Incomplete
Work on Matthew, Homily 42). And St
Augustine used this reference several times in his
homilies: “If Caesar reclaims his own image impressed on the coin”, he says, “will
not God demand from man the divine image sculpted within him?” (En. Ps.,
Psalm 94:2). And further, “as the tribute money is rendered to him [Caesar], so
should the soul be rendered to God, illumined and stamped with the light of his
countenance” (ibid., Ps 4:8).
This word of
Jesus is rich in anthropological content and it cannot be reduced only to the
political context. The Church, therefore, is not limited to reminding human
beings of the right distinction between the sphere of Caesar’s authority and
that of God, between the political and religious contexts. The mission of the
Church, like that of Christ, is essentially to speak of God, to remember his
sovereignty, to remind all, especially Christians who have lost their own
identity, of the right of God to what belongs to him, that is, our life.
Precisely in
order to give a fresh impetus to the mission of the whole Church to lead human
beings out of the wilderness in which they often find themselves to the place
of life, friendship with Christ that gives us life in fullness, I have decided
to proclaim a “Year of Faith”, which I shall have the opportunity to illustrate
with a special Apostolic Letter. It will begin on 11 October 2012 on the 50th
anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and will end on 24
November 2013, the Solemnity of Christ the King. It will be a moment of grace
and commitment for an ever fuller conversion to God, to strengthen our faith in
him and to proclaim him with joy to the people of our time.
Dear brothers
and sisters, you are among the protagonists of the New Evangelization that the
Church has undertaken and carries forth, not without difficulties but with the
same enthusiasm as the first Christians. To conclude, I make my own the words
of the Apostle Paul that we have heard: I give thanks to God always for you
all, constantly mentioning you in my prayers, remembering before our God and
Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our
Lord Jesus Christ.
May the Virgin
Mary, who was not afraid to answer “yes” to the Word of the Lord and, after
conceiving in her womb, set out full of joy and hope, always be your model and
your guide. Learn from the Mother of the Lord and our Mother to be humble and
at the same time courageous, simple and prudent; meek and strong, not with the
strength of the world but with the strength of the truth. Amen.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St.
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 21 October 2012
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Before
concluding this celebration, let us address the Virgin Mary, the One who is
Queen of all saints, with a thought for Lourdes ,
hit by the severe flooding of the Gave that has also inundated the Grotto of
the Apparitions of Our Lady. In particular, let us entrust today to the
motherly protection of the Virgin Mary the missionaries “men and women,
priests, religious and lay people” who sow the good seed of the Gospel in every
part of the world. Let us also pray for the Synod of Bishops which in these
weeks is taking on the challenge of new evangelization for the transmission of
the Christian faith.
In French:
I cordially greet the French-speaking pilgrims, especially the official
delegations of Canada , Madagascar and France
that have come to Rome
for the canonization of Fr Jacques Berthieu and Kateri Tekakwitha. May the
example of these new saints encourage you to welcome Christ’s love into your
life and to bear witness to it around you! Through their prayers may numerous
young people respond to the Lord’s call to live and proclaim the Gospel! As I
entrust the Church in your countries to their protection, I wholeheartedly
bless you all as well as your families! I wish you all a good pilgrimage!
In English:
On the happy occasion of the canonizations today, I greet the official
delegations and all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially
those from the Philippines , Canada and the United States of America . May the
holiness and witness of these saints inspire us to draw closer to the Son of
God who, for such great love, came to serve and offer his life for our
salvation. God bless you all!
In German:
I address a warm greeting to all the German-speaking guests, especially the
official delegation from Bayern and the many pilgrims from the Diocese of
Regensburg. Looking into God’s heart is what St Anna Schaffer learned in her “workshop
of suffering.” She was thereby able to know that God’s love brings comfort,
which becomes even greater when it is given to others. May the new saints
strengthen us and help us through their example and their prayers of
intercession, so that with faith we too may become witnesses and heralds of the
Gospel.
In Spanish:
I cordially greet the Spanish-speaking pilgrims, and in particular Spain ’s
official delegation, as well as the pastors and faithful present here for the
canonization of Mother Carmen Salles y Barangueras. From heaven, she continues
to urge everyone, but especially her daughters, the Conceptionist Missionary
Sisters of Teaching, to welcome and meditate on the word of God faithfully in
their hearts, putting it into practice with a spirit of service, trust and
humility, after the example of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Aided by the
intercession of the new saint, may an ever increasing number of people
courageously proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
especially among the young. Have a happy Sunday!
In Polish:
I cordially greet the Poles. Today the new saints usher us into Mission Week.
In a special way let us sustain spiritually and materially those who proclaim
Christ on the different continents. I thank all those who, through the
Pontifical Mission Societies, care for the missions throughout the world. May
the Year of Faith rekindle in Poland
the missionary enthusiasm both of clerics and of the lay faithful! I warmly
bless you.
In Italian:
I address my cordial greeting to the official Italian Delegation and to all the
pilgrims, who have come to celebrate the canonization of Giovanni Battista
Piamarta, and in particular the members of the Institutes he founded. May you,
as he did, him, always combine intense prayer with generous service to your
neighbor.
CAPPELLA
PAPALE
FOR
THE CANONIZATION OF THE BLESSEDS:
JAMES
BERTHIEU
PEDRO
CALUNGSOD
JOHN
BAPTIST PIAMARTA
MARIA
OF MT CARMEL
SALLÉS Y BARANGUERAS
MARIANNE
COPE
KATERI
TEKAKWITHA
ANNA
SCHÄFFER
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
Saint
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 21 October 2012
The Son of
Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Mk
10:45)
Dear Brother
Bishops,
Dear
brothers and sisters!
Today the Church
listens again to these words of Jesus, spoken by the Lord during his journey to
Jerusalem ,
where he was to accomplish the mystery of his passion, death and resurrection.
They are words which enshrine the meaning of Christ’s mission on earth, marked
by his sacrifice, by his total self-giving. On this third Sunday of October, on
which we celebrate World Mission Sunday, the Church listens to them with special
attention and renews her conviction that she should always be fully dedicated
to serve mankind and the Gospel, after the example of the One who gave himself
up even to the sacrifice of his life.
I extend warm
greetings to all of you who fill Saint Peter’s Square, especially the official
delegations and the pilgrims who have come to celebrate the seven new saints. I
greet with affection the Cardinals and Bishops who, during these days, are
taking part in the Synodal Assembly on the New Evangelization. The coincidence
between this ecclesiastical meeting and World Mission Sunday is a happy one;
and the word of God that we have listened to sheds light on both subjects. It
shows how to be evangelizers, called to bear witness and to proclaim the
Christian message, configuring ourselves to Christ and following his same way
of life. This is true both for the mission ad Gentes and for the new
evangelization in places with ancient Christian roots.
The Son of
Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Mk
10:45)
These words were
the blueprint for living of the seven Blessed men and women that the Church
solemnly enrolls this morning in the glorious ranks of the saints. With heroic
courage they spent their lives in total consecration to the Lord and in the
generous service of their brethren. They are sons and daughters of the Church
who chose a life of service following the Lord. Holiness always rises up in the
Church from the well-spring of the mystery of redemption, as foretold by the
prophet Isaiah in the first reading: the Servant of the Lord is the righteous
one who “shall make many to be accounted as righteous; and he shall bear their
iniquities” (Is 53:11); this Servant is Jesus Christ, crucified, risen
and living in glory. Today’s canonization is an eloquent confirmation of this
mysterious saving reality. The tenacious profession of faith of these seven
generous disciples of Christ, their configuration to the Son of Man shines out
brightly today in the whole Church.
Jacques
Berthieu, born in 1838 in France ,
was passionate about Jesus Christ at an early age. During his parish ministry,
he had the burning desire to save souls. Becoming a Jesuit, he wished to
journey through the world for the glory of God. A tireless pastor on the island of Sainte Marie ,
then in Madagascar ,
he struggled against injustice while bringing succor to the poor and sick. The
Malagasies thought of him as a priest come down from heaven, saying, You are
our “father and mother!” He made himself all things to all men, drawing from
prayer and his love of the sacred heart of Jesus the human and priestly force
to face martyrdom in 1896. He died, saying “I prefer to die rather than
renounce my faith”. Dear friends, may the life of this evangelizer be an
encouragement and a model for priests that, like him, they will be men of God!
May his example aid the many Christians of today persecuted for their faith! In
this Year of Faith, may his intercession bring forth many fruits for Madagascar and
the African Continent! May God bless the Malagasy people!
Pedro Calungsod
was born around the year 1654, in the Visayas region of the Philippines . His love for Christ
inspired him to train as a catechist with the Jesuit missionaries there. In
1668, along with other young catechists, he accompanied Father Diego Luís de
San Vitores to the Marianas
Islands Philippines
to announce the Kingdom bravely and to win souls for God!
Giovanni
Battista Piamarta, priest of the Diocese of Brescia, was a great apostle of
charity and of young people. He raised awareness of the need for a cultural and
social presence of Catholicism in the modern world, and so he dedicated himself
to the Christian, moral and professional growth of the younger generations with
an enlightened input of humanity and goodness. Animated by unshakable faith in
divine providence and by a profound spirit of sacrifice, he faced difficulties
and fatigue to breathe life into various apostolic works, including the Artigianelli
Institute, Queriniana Publishers, the Congregation of the Holy Family of
Nazareth for men, and for women the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants
of the Lord. The secret of his intense and busy life is found in the long hours
he gave to prayer. When he was overburdened with work, he increased the length
of his encounter, heart to heart, with the Lord. He preferred to pause before
the Blessed Sacrament, meditating upon the passion, death and resurrection of
Christ, to gain spiritual fortitude and return to gaining people’s hearts,
especially the young, to bring them back to the sources of life with fresh
pastoral initiatives.
“May your love
be upon us, O Lord, as we place all our hope in you” (Ps 32:22). With
these words, the liturgy invites us to make our own this hymn to God, creator
and provider, accepting his plan into our lives. María Carmelo Salles y
Barangueras, a religious born in Vic in Spain in 1848, did just so. Filled
with hope in spite of many trials, she, on seeing the progress of the
Congregation of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching, which she
founded in 1892, was able to sing with the Mother of God, “His mercy is on
those who fear him from generation to generation” (Lk 1:50). Her
educational work, entrusted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, continues to bear
abundant fruit among young people through the generous dedication of her
daughters who, like her, entrust themselves to God for whom all is possible.
I now turn to
Marianne Cope, born in 1838 in Heppenheim ,
Germany United States ,
in 1862 she entered the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis at Syracuse , New
York Hawaii after many others
had refused. She personally went, with six of her fellow sisters, to manage a
hospital on Oahu, later founding Malulani
Hospital on Maui
and opening a home for girls whose parents were lepers. Five years after that
she accepted the invitation to open a home for women and girls on the island of Molokai
Kateri
Tekakwitha was born in today’s New
York state in 1656 to a Mohawk father and a Christian
Algonquin mother who gave to her a sense of the living God. She was baptized at
twenty years of age and, to escape persecution, she took refuge in Saint
Francis Xavier Mission near Montreal .
There she worked, faithful to the traditions of her people, although renouncing
their religious convictions until her death at the age of twenty-four. Leading
a simple life, Kateri remained faithful to her love for Jesus, to prayer and to
daily Mass.
Her greatest wish was to know and to do what pleased God. She lived a life
radiant with faith and purity.
Kateri impresses
us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help
and by the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture. In her, faith
and culture enrich each other! May her example help us to live where we are,
loving Jesus without denying who we are. Saint Kateri, Protectress of Canada
and the first native American saint, we entrust to you the renewal of the faith
in the first nations and in all of North America !
May God bless the first nations!
Anna Schaeffer,
from Mindelstetten, as a young woman wished to enter a missionary order. She
came from a poor background so, in order to earn the dowry needed for
acceptance into the cloister, she worked as a maid. One day she suffered a
terrible accident and received incurable burns on her legs which forced her to
be bed-ridden for the rest of her life. So her sick-bed became her cloister
cell and her suffering a missionary service. She struggled for a time to accept
her fate, but then understood her situation as a loving call from the crucified
One to follow him. Strengthened by daily communion, she became an untiring
intercessor in prayer and a mirror of God’s love for the many who sought her
counsel. May her apostolate of prayer and suffering, of sacrifice and
expiation, be a shining example for believers in her homeland, and may her
intercession strengthen the Christian hospice movement in its beneficial
activity.
© Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Book by Orestes J. González