Entry 0340: Reflections on the Fourth Sunday of Lent
by Pope Benedict XVI
On seven
occasions during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delivered reflections on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, on 26 March 2006, 18 March 2007, 2 March
2008, 22 March 2009, 14 March 2010, 3 April 2011, and 19 March 2012. Here are the texts of seven brief reflections prior to the recitation of the Angelus and three homilies delivered on
these occasions.
Cimangola Square Luanda
Cimangola Square Luanda
St Augustine comments: “So
far, then, as it lies with the physician, he has come to heal the sick. He that
will not observe the orders of the physician destroys himself. He has come a Saviour
to the world... You will not be saved by him; you shall be judged of yourself”.
(On the Gospel of John 12, 12: PL 35, 1190). Therefore, if the merciful
love of God — who went so far as to give his only Son to redeem our life — is infinite,
we have a great responsibility: each one of us, in fact, must recognize that he
is sick in order to be healed. Each one must confess his sin so that God’s forgiveness,
already granted on the Cross, may have an effect in his heart and in his life.
St Augustine writes further:
“God accuses your sins: and if you also accuse them, you are united to God.... When
your own deeds will begin to displease you, from that time your good works begin,
as you find fault with your evil works. The confession of evil works is the beginning
of good works” (ibid., 13: PL 35, 1191).
Dear
friends, tomorrow we shall be celebrating the solemn Feast of St Joseph. I warmly
thank all those who remember me in their prayers on my name day. In particular,
I ask you to pray for my Apostolic Journey to Mexico
and Cuba ,
on which I shall be setting out next Friday. Let us entrust it to the intercession
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so beloved and venerated in these two countries which
I am preparing to visit.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Fourth Sunday of Lent, 26 March 2006.
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The Consistory held
in the past few days for the appointment of 15 new Cardinals was an intense ecclesial
experience that enabled us to sample the spiritual riches of collegiality, of being
together with brothers from various provenances, all of us sharing in one love for
Christ and for his Church.
In a certain way
we relived the reality of the first Christian community, gathered round Mary, Mother
of Jesus, and Peter, to receive the gift of the Spirit and to commit themselves
to spreading the Gospel throughout the world.
Fidelity to this
mission to the point of sacrificing their life is a distinctive feature of Cardinals,
as their oath attests, and is, as it were, symbolized by scarlet, which is the colour
of blood.
By a providential
coincidence, the Consistory took place on 24 March, when we commemorated the missionaries
who died during the past year on the frontiers of evangelization and in the service
of humanity in various parts of the globe.
Thus, the Consistory
was an opportunity to feel closer than ever to all those Christians who suffer persecution
in the cause of the faith. Their witness, news of which we receive every day, and
especially the sacrifice of those who were killed, is edifying to us and spurs us
to make an ever more sincere and generous commitment to evangelize.
My thoughts go in
particular to those communities who live in countries where religious freedom is
lacking or where, despite the fact that it is allowed on paper, it is actually restricted
in many ways. I send them warm encouragement to persevere patiently in the love
of Christ, a seed of the Kingdom of God that is coming, indeed, already exists in
the world.
On behalf of the
entire Church, I would like to express the warmest solidarity to all who work at
the service of the Gospel in these difficult situations, and at the same time I
assure them of my daily remembrance in prayer.
The Church moves
on in history and spreads throughout the earth accompanied by Mary, Queen of the
Apostles. For Christians, as in the Upper Room, the Blessed Virgin always constitutes
the living memorial of Jesus. It is she who enlivens their prayers and sustains
their hope. Let us ask her to guide us on our daily journey and to protect with
special love those Christian communities that live in conditions of greater difficulty
and suffering.
PASTORAL
VISIT TO THE ROMAN PARISH OF «DIO PADRE MISERICORDIOSO»
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Fourth
Sunday of Lent, 26 March 2006
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
This Fourth Sunday
of Lent, traditionally known as “Laetare Sunday”, is permeated with
a joy which, to some extent, attenuates the penitential atmosphere of this holy
season: “Rejoice Jerusalem!”, the Church
says in the Entrance Antiphon, “Be glad for her... you who mourned for her”.
The refrain of the
Responsorial Psalm echoes this invitation:
“The memory of you, Lord, is our joy”.
To think of God gives
joy. We spontaneously ask ourselves: but
why should we rejoice? One reason, of course, is the approach of Easter. The expectation
of Easter gives us a foretaste of the joy of the encounter with the Risen Christ.
The deepest reason,
however, lies in the message offered by the biblical readings that the liturgy presents
to us today and that we have heard. They remind us that despite our unworthiness,
God’s infinite mercy is destined for us. God loves us in a way that we might call
“obstinate” and enfolds us in his inexhaustible tenderness.
This is what already
emerges from the First Reading from the Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament
(see II Chr 36: 14-16, 19-23). The sacred author offers us a concise and meaningful
interpretation of the history of the Chosen People, who suffered God’s punishment
as a consequence of their rebellious behaviour:
the temple was destroyed and the people in exile no longer had a land; it
truly seemed that God had forgotten them.
Then, however, they
saw that God, through punishment, pursues a plan of mercy. It was to be the destruction
of the Holy City
And then the Lord,
demonstrating the absolute primacy of his initiative over every purely human effort,
was to make use of a pagan, King Cyrus of Persia ,
to set Israel
free.
In the text we have
heard, the anger and mercy of the Lord alternate in a dramatic sequence, but love
triumphs in the end, for God is love.
How can we fail to
grasp from the memory of those distant events a message valid for all times, including
our own? In thinking of the past centuries, we can see that God continues to love
us even when he punishes us. Even when God’s plans pass through trial and punishment,
they always aim at an outcome of mercy and forgiveness.
This is what the
Apostle Paul confirmed for us in the Second Reading, recalling that “God, who is
rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead
through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2: 4-5).
To express this reality
of salvation the Apostle, together with the term “mercy”, eleos in Greek,
uses the word for love, agape, taken up and further amplified in the most
beautiful statement which we heard in the Gospel passage: “God so loved the world that he gave his Only-begotten
Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:
16).
As we know, that
“giving” on the part of the Father had a dramatic development: it even went to the point of the sacrifice of
the Son on the Cross.
If Jesus’ entire
mission in history is an eloquent sign of God’s love, his death, in which God’s
redeeming tenderness is fully expressed, is quite uniquely so. Always, but particularly
in this Lenten Season, our meditation must be centred on the Cross. In it we contemplate
the glory of the Lord that shines out in the martyred body of Jesus.
God’s greatness,
his being love, becomes visible precisely in this total gift of himself. It is the
glory of the Crucified One that every Christian is called to understand, live and
bear witness to with his life.
The Cross - the giving
of himself on the part of the Son of God - is the definitive “sign” par excellence
given to us so that we might understand the truth about man and the truth about
God: we have all been created and redeemed
by a God who sacrificed his only Son out of love.
This is why the Crucifixion,
as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, “is the culmination of that
turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up
and save him. This is love in its most radical form” (no. 12).
How should we respond
to this radical love of the Lord?
The Gospel presents
to us a person by the name of Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem
who sought out Jesus by night. He was a well-to-do man, attracted by the Lord’s
words and example, but one who hesitated to take the leap of faith because he was
fearful of others. He felt the fascination of this Rabbi, so different from the
others, but could not manage to rid himself of the conditioning of his environment
that was hostile to Jesus, and stood irresolute on the threshold of faith.
How many people also
in our time are in search of God, in search of Jesus and of his Church, in search
of divine mercy, and are waiting for a “sign” that will touch their minds and their
hearts!
Today, as then, the
Evangelist reminds us that the only “sign” is Jesus raised on the Cross: Jesus who died and rose is the absolutely sufficient
sign. Through him we can understand the truth about life and obtain salvation.
This is the principal
proclamation of the Church, which remains unchanged down the ages.
The Christian faith,
therefore, is not an ideology but a personal encounter with the Crucified and Risen
Christ. From this experience, both individual and communitarian, flows a new way
of thinking and acting: an existence marked
by love is born, as the saints testify.
Dear friends, this
mystery is particularly eloquent in your parish, dedicated to “God, the merciful
Father”. It was desired, as we well know, by my beloved Predecessor John Paul II
in memory of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, to effectively condense that extraordinary
spiritual event.
In meditating on
the Lord’s mercy that was revealed totally and definitively in the mystery of the
Cross, the text that John Paul II had prepared for his meeting with the faithful
on 3 April, Sunday in Albis, the Second Sunday of Easter last year, comes
to my mind.
In the divine plans
it was written that he would leave us precisely on the eve of that day, Saturday,
2 April - we all remember it well -, and for that reason he was unable to address
his words to you. I would like to address them to you now, dear brothers and sisters. “To humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered
and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the Risen Lord offers
his love that pardons, reconciles and reopens hearts to hope. It is a love that
converts hearts and gives peace”.
The Pope, in this
last text which is like a testament, then added: “How much the world needs to understand and accept
Divine Mercy!” (Regina Caeli Reflection, read by Archbishop Leonardo Sandri,
Substitute of the Secretariat of State, to the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square,
3 April 2005; L’Osservatore Romano English Edition, 6 April, p. 1,
no. 2).
To understand and
accept God’s merciful love: may this be your
commitment, first of all in your families and then in every neighbourhood milieu.
I hope for this with
all my heart as I offer you my cordial greeting, starting with the priests who care
for your community under the guidance of the parish priest, Fr Gianfranco Corbino,
to whom I offer sincere thanks for having interpreted your sentiments in a beautiful
presentation of this building, this “barque” of Peter and of the Lord.
I next extend my
greeting to the Cardinal Vicar, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, and to Cardinal Crescenzio
Sepe, the titular of your church, to the Vicegerent and the Bishop of the Eastern
Sector of Rome and to all those who cooperate actively in the various parish services.
I know that yours
is a young community, barely 10 years old, which spent its early days in precarious
conditions while waiting for the completion of its current structures.
I also know that
rather than discouraging you, the initial problems impelled you to unanimous apostolic
work with special attention to the area of catechesis, the liturgy and charity.
Continue, dear friends,
on the path on which you have set out, striving to make your parish a true family
in which fidelity to the Word of God and the Church’s Tradition may become, day
after day, more and more your rule of life.
I know, moreover,
that because of its original architectural structure, your church attracts many
visitors. Make them appreciate not only the particular beauty of this sacred building,
but especially the riches of a lively Community, eager to witness to the love of
God, the merciful Father. That love is the true secret of Christian joy to which
today, Laetare Sunday, invites us.
As we turn our gaze
to Mary, “Mother of holy joy”, let us ask her to help us deepen the reasons for
our faith, so that, as today’s liturgy urges us, renewed in the spirit and with
a joyful heart, we may respond to the eternal and boundless love of God. Amen!
BENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS
St Peter’s Square, Fourth Sunday of Lent, 18 March 2007
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
I have just
returned from Casal del Marmo, the reformatory for minors in Rome ,
where I went to visit on this Fourth Sunday of Lent, in Latin called Laetare
Sunday, that is, “Rejoice”, from the first word of the entrance antiphon in
the liturgy of Mass.
The liturgy
today invites us to rejoice because Easter, the day of Christ’s victory over sin
and death, is approaching. But where is the source of Christian joy to be found
if not in the Eucharist, which Christ left us as spiritual Food while we are pilgrims
on this earth?
The Eucharist
nurtures in believers of every epoch that deep joy which makes us one with love
and peace and originates from communion with God and with our brothers and sisters.
Last Tuesday
the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis was presented.
Its theme, precisely, is the Eucharist, the source and summit of the Church’s life
and mission. I wrote it gathering the fruits of the 11th General Assembly of the
Synod of Bishops, which took place in the Vatican in October 2005.
I mean to
return to this important text, but I want to emphasize from this moment that it
is an expression of the universal Church’s faith in the Eucharistic Mystery and
is in continuity with the Second Vatican Council and the Magisterium of my venerable
Predecessors, Paul VI and John Paul II.
In this
Document, I wanted among other things to highlight its connection with the Encyclical
Deus Caritas Est: that is why I chose as its title Sacramentum
Caritatis, taking up St Thomas Aquinas’ beautiful definition of the Eucharist
(see Summa Th. III, q. 73, a. 3, ad 3), the “Sacrament of charity”.
Yes, in
the Eucharist Christ wanted to give us his love, which impelled him to offer
his life for us on the Cross. At the Last Supper, in washing the disciples’ feet,
Jesus left us the commandment of love: “even as I have loved you, that you also
love one another” (Jn 13: 34).
However,
since this is only possible by remaining united to him like branches to the vine
(see Jn 15: 1-8), he chose to remain with us himself in the Eucharist so that we
could remain in him.
When, therefore,
we nourish ourselves with faith on his Body and Blood, his love passes into us and
makes us capable in turn of laying down our lives for our brethren (see I Jn 3:
16) and not to grasp it for ourselves. From this flows Christian joy, the joy of
love and the joy to be loved.
Mary is
the “Woman of the Eucharist” par excellence, a masterpiece of divine grace: the
love of God has made her immaculate, “holy and blameless before him” (see Eph 1:
4).
At her side,
as Custodian of the Redeemer, God placed St
Joseph , whose liturgical Solemnity we will be celebrating
tomorrow. I invoke this great Saint, my Patron, in particular so that by believing,
celebrating and living the Eucharistic Mystery with faith, the People of God will
be pervaded by Christ’s love and spread its fruits of joy and peace to all humanity.
VISIT TO ROME ’S
PRISON FOR MINORS, “CASAL DEL MARMO”
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Chapel of the Merciful Father, Fourth Sunday of Lent, 18 March
2007
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
Dear
Boys and Girls,
I have willingly
come to pay you a Visit, and the most important moment of our meeting is Holy Mass,
where the gift of God’s love is renewed: a love that comforts us and gives us peace,
especially in life’s difficult moments.
In this
prayerful atmosphere I would like to address my greeting to each one of you: to
the Hon. Mr Clemente Mastella, Minister of Justice, to whom I express a special
“thank you”; to Mrs Melìta Cavallo, Department Head of Justice for Minors, to the
other Authorities who have spoken, to those in charge, to the operators, teachers
and personnel of this juvenile penitentiary, to the volunteers, to your relatives
and to everyone present.
I greet
the Cardinal Vicar and Auxiliary Bishop Benedetto Tùzia.
I greet
in particular, Mons .
Giorgio Caniato, General Inspector of the Prisons Chaplaincy, and your Chaplain,
whom I thank for expressing your sentiments at the beginning of Holy Mass.
In the Eucharistic
celebration it is Christ himself who becomes present among us; indeed, even more:
he comes to enlighten us with his teaching - in the Liturgy of the Word - and to
nourish us with his Body and his Blood - in the Eucharistic Liturgy and in Communion.
Thus, he
comes to teach us to love, to make us capable of loving and thereby capable of living.
But perhaps
you will say, how difficult it is to love seriously and to live well! What is the
secret of love, the secret of life? Let us return to the Gospel [of the Prodigal
Son].
In this
Gospel three persons appear: the father and two sons. But these people represent
two rather different life projects. Both sons lived peacefully, they were fairly
well-off farmers so they had enough to live on, selling their produce profitably,
and life seemed good.
Yet little
by little the younger son came to find this life boring and unsatisfying: “All of
life can’t be like this”, he thought: rising every day, say at six o’clock, then
according to Israel’s traditions, there must have been a prayer, a reading from
the Holy Bible, then they went to work and at the end of the day another prayer.
Thus, day
after day he thought: “But no, life is something more. I must find another life
where I am truly free, where I can do what I like; a life free from this discipline,
from these norms of God’s commandments, from my father’s orders; I would like to
be on my own and have life with all its beauties totally for myself. Now, instead,
it is nothing but work...”.
And so he
decided to claim the whole of his share of his inheritance and leave. His father
was very respectful and generous and respected the son’s freedom: it was he who
had to find his own life project. And he departed, as the Gospel says, to a far-away
country. It was probably geographically distant because he wanted a change, but
also inwardly distant because he wanted a completely different life.
So his idea
was: freedom, doing what I want to do, not recognizing these laws of a God who is
remote, not being in the prison of this domestic discipline, but rather doing what
is beautiful, what I like, possessing life with all its beauty and fullness.
And at first
- we might imagine, perhaps for a few months - everything went smoothly: he found
it beautiful to have attained life at last, he felt happy.
Then, however,
little by little, he felt bored here, too; here too everything was always the same.
And in the end, he was left with an emptiness that was even more disturbing: the
feeling that this was still not life became ever more acute; indeed, going ahead
with all these things, life drifted further and further away. Everything became
empty: the slavery of doing the same things then also re-emerged. And in the end,
his money ran out and the young man found that his standard of living was lower
than that of swine.
It was then
that he began to reflect and wondered if that really was the path to life: a freedom
interpreted as doing what I want, living, having life only for me; or if instead
it might be more of a life to live for others, to contribute to building the world,
to the growth of the human community....
So it was
that he set out on a new journey, an inner journey. The boy pondered and considered
all these new aspects of the problem and began to see that he had been far freer
at home, since he had also been a landowner contributing to building his home and
society in communion with the Creator, knowing the purpose of his life and guessing
the project that God had in store for him.
During this
interior journey, during this development of a new life project and at the same
time living the exterior journey, the younger son was motivated to return, to start
his life anew because he now understood that he had taken the wrong track. I must
start out afresh with a different concept, he said to himself; I must begin again.
And he arrived
at the home of the father who had left him his freedom to give him the chance to
understand inwardly what life is and what life is not. The father embraced him with
all his love, he offered him a feast and life could start again beginning from this
celebration.
The son
realized that it is precisely work, humility and daily discipline that create the
true feast and true freedom. So he returned home, inwardly matured and purified:
he had understood what living is.
Of course,
in the future his life would not be easy either, temptations would return, but he
was henceforth fully aware that life without God does not work; it lacks the essential,
it lacks light, it lacks reason, it lacks the great sense of being human. He understood
that we can only know God on the basis of his Word.
We Christians
can add that we know who God is from Jesus, in whom the face of God has been truly
shown to us. The young man understood that God’s Commandments are not obstacles
to freedom and to a beautiful life, but signposts on the road on which to travel
to find life.
He realized
too that work and the discipline of being committed, not to oneself but to others,
extends life. And precisely this effort of dedicating oneself through work gives
depth to life, because one experiences the pleasure of having at last made a contribution
to the growth of this world that becomes freer and more beautiful.
I do not
wish at this point to speak of the other son who stayed at home, but in his reaction
of envy we see that inwardly he too was dreaming that perhaps it would be far better
to take all the freedoms for himself. He too in his heart was “returning home” and
understanding once again what life is, understanding that it is truly possible to
live only with God, with his Word, in the communion of one’s own family, of work;
in the communion of the great Family of God.
I do not
wish to enter into these details now: let each one of us apply this Gospel to himself
in his own way. Our situations are different and each one has his own world. Nonetheless,
the fact remains that we are all moved and that we can all enter with our inner
journey into the depths of the Gospel.
Only a few
more remarks: the Gospel helps us understand who God truly is. He is the Merciful
Father who in Jesus loves us beyond all measure.
The errors
we commit, even if they are serious, do not corrode the fidelity of his love. In
the Sacrament of Confession we can always start out afresh in life. He welcomes
us, he restores to us our dignity as his children.
Let us therefore
rediscover this sacrament of forgiveness that makes joy well up in a heart reborn
to true life.
Furthermore,
this parable helps us to understand who the human being is: he is not a “monad”,
an isolated being who lives only for himself and must have life for himself alone.
On the contrary,
we live with others, we were created together with others and only in being with
others, in giving ourselves to others, do we find life.
The human
being is a creature in whom God has impressed his own image, a creature who is attracted
to the horizon of his Grace, but he is also a frail creature exposed to evil but
also capable of good. And lastly, the human being is a free person.
We must
understand what freedom is and what is only the appearance of freedom.
Freedom,
we can say, is a springboard from which to dive into the infinite sea of divine
goodness, but it can also become a tilted plane on which to slide towards the abyss
of sin and evil and thus also to lose freedom and our dignity.
Dear friends,
we are in the Season of Lent, the 40 days before Easter. In this Season of Lent,
the Church helps us to make this interior journey and invites us to conversion,
which always, even before being an important effort to change our behaviour, is
an opportunity to decide to get up and set out again, to abandon sin and to choose
to return to God.
Let us -
this is the imperative of Lent - make this journey of inner liberation together.
Every time,
such as today, that we participate in the Eucharist, the source and school of love,
we become capable of living this love, of proclaiming it and witnessing to it with
our life.
Nevertheless,
we need to decide to walk towards Jesus as the Prodigal Son did, returning inwardly
and outwardly to his father.
At the same
time, we must abandon the selfish attitude of the older son who was sure of himself,
quick to condemn others and closed in his heart to understanding, acceptance and
forgiveness of his brother, and who forgot that he too was in need of forgiveness.
May the
Virgin Mary and St Joseph ,
my Patron Saint whose Feast it will be tomorrow, obtain this gift for us; I now
invoke him in a special way for each one of you and for your loved ones.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Fourth Sunday of Lent, 2 March 2008
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
On these Sundays
in Lent the liturgy takes us on a true and proper baptismal route through the texts
of John’s Gospel: last Sunday, Jesus promised the gift of “living water” to the
Samaritan woman; today, by healing the man born blind, he reveals himself as “the
light of the world”; next Sunday, in raising his friend Lazarus, he will present
himself as “the resurrection and the life”. Water, light and life are symbols of
Baptism, the Sacrament that “immerses” believers in the mystery of the death and
Resurrection of Christ, liberating them from the slavery of sin and giving them
eternal life.
Let us reflect briefly
on the account of the man born blind (Jn 9: 1-41). According to the common mentality
of the time, the disciples take it for granted that his blindness was the result
of a sin committed by him or his parents. Jesus, however, rejects this prejudice
and says: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of
God might be made manifest in him” (Jn 9: 3).
What comfort these
words offer us! They let us hear the living voice of God, who is provident and wise
Love! In the face of men and women marked by limitations and suffering, Jesus did
not think of their possible guilt but rather of the will of God who created man
for life. And so he solemnly declares: “We must work the works of him who sent me....
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (Jn 9: 5).
And he immediately
takes action: mixing a little earth with saliva he made mud and spread it on the
eyes of the blind man. This act alludes to the creation of man, which the Bible
recounts using the symbol of dust from the ground, fashioned and enlivened by God’s
breath (Gn 2: 7). In fact, “Adam” means “ground” and the human body was in effect
formed of particles of soil. By healing the blind man Jesus worked a new creation.
But this healing
sparked heated debate because Jesus did it on the Sabbath, thereby in the Pharisees’
opinion violating the feast-day precept. Thus, at the end of the account, Jesus
and the blind man are both cast out, the former because he broke the law and the
latter because, despite being healed, he remained marked as a sinner from birth.
Jesus reveals to
the blind man whom he had healed that he had come into the world for judgement,
to separate the blind who can be healed from those who do not allow themselves to
be healed because they consider themselves healthy. Indeed, the temptation to build
himself an ideological security system is strong in man: even religion can become
an element of this system, as can atheism or secularism, but in letting this happen
one is blinded by one’s own selfishness.
Dear brothers and
sisters, let us allow ourselves to be healed by Jesus, who can and wants to give
us God’s light! Let us confess our blindness, our shortsightedness, and especially
what the Bible calls the “great transgression” (see Ps 19[18]: 13): pride. May Mary
Most Holy, who by conceiving Christ in the flesh gave the world the true light,
help us to do this.
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY
OF THE
HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
TO CAMEROON AND ANGOLA
(MARCH
17-23, 2009)
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
At the conclusion
of our Eucharistic celebration, as my Pastoral Visit to Africa
comes to its close, let us now turn to Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer, to implore
her loving intercession upon us, our families, and our world.
In this Angelus prayer,
we recall Mary’s complete “yes” to the will of God. Through Mary’s obedience of
faith, the Son of God came into the world to bring us forgiveness, salvation and
life in abundance. By becoming a man like us in all things but sin, Christ taught
us the dignity and worth of each member of the human family. He died for our sins,
to gather us together into God’s family.
Our prayer rises
today from Angola , from Africa , and embraces the whole world. May the men and women
from throughout the world who join us in our prayer, turn their eyes to Africa,
to this great Continent so filled with hope, yet so thirsty for justice, for peace,
for a sound and integral development that can ensure a future of progress and peace
for its people.
Today I commend to
your prayers the work of preparation for the coming Second Special Assembly for
Africa of the Synod of Bishops, scheduled to meet
in October. Inspired by faith in God and trust in Christ’s promises, may the Catholics
of this Continent become ever more fully a leaven of evangelical hope for all people
of good will who love Africa, who are committed to the material and spiritual advancement
of its children, and the spread of freedom, prosperity, justice and solidarity in
the pursuit of the common good.
May Mary, Queen of
Peace, continue to guide Angola ’s
people in the task of national reconciliation following the devastating and inhuman
experience of the civil war. May her prayers obtain for all Angolans the grace of
authentic forgiveness, respect for others, and cooperation which alone can carry
forward the immense work of rebuilding. May the Holy Mother of God, who points us
to her Son, our brother, remind Christians everywhere of our duty to love our neighbour,
to be peacemakers, to be the first to forgive those who have sinned against us,
even as we have been forgiven.
Here in Southern
Africa, let us ask our Lady in a particular way to intercede for peace, the conversion
of hearts, and an end to the conflict in the neighbouring Great
Lakes region. May her Son, the Prince of Peace, bring healing to the
suffering, consolation to those who mourn, and strength to all who carry forward
the difficult process of dialogue, negotiation and the cessation of violence.
With this confidence,
then, we now turn to Mary, our Mother, and, in reciting this Angelus prayer, let
us pray for the peace and salvation of the whole human family.
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY
OF THE
HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
TO CAMEROON AND ANGOLA
(MARCH
17-23, 2009)
EUCHARISTIC
CELEBRATION WITH THE BISHOPS OF I.M.B.I.S.A.
(INTER-REGIONAL
MEETING OF BISHOPS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA )
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
Dear Cardinals,
Brother Bishops
and Priests,
Dear Brothers
and Sisters in Christ,
“God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish,
but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). These words fill us with joy and hope,
as we await the fulfilment of God’s promises! Today it is my particular joy, as
the Successor of the Apostle Peter, to celebrate this Mass with you, my brothers
and sisters in Christ from throughout Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, and
so many other countries. With great affection in the Lord I greet the Catholic communities
from Luanda, Bengo, Cabinda, Benguela, Huambo, Huìla, Kuàndo Kubàngo, Kunène, North
Kwanza, South Kwanza, North Lunda, South Lunda, Malanje, Namibe, Moxico, Uíje and
Zàire.
In a special way,
I greet my brother Bishops, the members of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops
of Southern Africa, assembled around this altar of the Lord’s sacrifice. I thank
the President of CEAST, Archbishop Damião Franklin, for his kind words of
welcome, and, in the person of their Pastors, I greet all the faithful in the nations
of Botswana , Lesotho , Mozambique ,
Namibia , South Africa , Swaziland
and Zimbabwe .
Today’s first reading
has a particular resonance for God’s people in Angola . It is a message of hope addressed
to the Chosen People in the land of their Exile, a summons to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Lord’s Temple . Its vivid description of the destruction
and ruin caused by war echoes the personal experience of so many people in this
country amid the terrible ravages of the civil war. How true it is that war can
“destroy everything of value” (see 2 Chr 36:19): families, whole communities,
the fruit of men’s labour, the hopes which guide and sustain their lives and work!
This experience is all too familiar to Africa as
a whole: the destructive power of civil strife, the descent into a maelstrom of
hatred and revenge, the squandering of the efforts of generations of good people.
When God’s word – a word meant to build up individuals, communities and the whole
human family – is neglected, and when God’s law is “ridiculed, despised, laughed
at” (ibid., v. 16), the result can only be destruction and injustice: the
abasement of our common humanity and the betrayal of our vocation to be sons and
daughters of a merciful Father, brothers and sisters of his beloved Son.
So let us draw comfort
from the consoling words which we have heard in the first reading! The call to return
and rebuild God’s Temple
has a particular meaning for each of us. Saint Paul, the two thousandth anniversary
of whose birth we celebrate this year, tells us that “we are the temple of the living
God” (2 Cor 6:16). God dwells, we know, in the hearts of all who put their
faith in Christ, who are reborn in Baptism and are made temples of the Holy Spirit.
Even now, in the unity of the Body of Christ which is the Church, God is calling
us to acknowledge the power of his presence within us, to reappropriate the gift
of his love and forgiveness, and to become messengers of that merciful love within
our families and communities, at school and in the workplace, in every sector of
social and political life.
Here in Angola ,
this Sunday has been set aside as a day of prayer and sacrifice for national reconciliation.
The Gospel teaches us that reconciliation, true reconciliation, can only be the
fruit of conversion, a change of heart, a new way of thinking. It teaches us that
only the power of God’s love can change our hearts and make us triumph over the
power of sin and division. When we were “dead through our sins” (Eph 2:5),
his love and mercy brought us reconciliation and new life in Christ. This is the
heart of the Apostle Paul’s teaching, and it is important for us to remind ourselves:
only God’s grace can create a new heart in us! Only his love can change our “hearts
of stone” (see Ezek 11:19) and enable us to build up, rather than tear down.
Only God can make all things new!
It is to preach this
message of forgiveness, hope and new life in Christ that I have come to Africa . Three days ago, in Yaoundé, I had the joy of promulgating
the Instrumentum Laboris for the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the
Synod of Bishops, which will be devoted to the theme: The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace.
I ask you today, in union with all our brothers and sisters throughout Africa, to
pray for this intention: that every Christian on this great continent will experience
the healing touch of God’s merciful love, and that the Church in Africa will become
“for all, through the witness borne by its sons and daughters, a place of true reconciliation”
(Ecclesia in Africa, 79).
Dear friends, this
is the message that the Pope is bringing to you and your children. You have received
power from the Holy Spirit to be the builders of a better tomorrow for your beloved
country. In Baptism you were given the Spirit in order to be heralds of God’s Kingdom
of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace (see Roman
Missal, Preface of Christ the King). On the day of your Baptism you received
the light of Christ. Be faithful to that gift! Be confident that the Gospel can
affirm, purify and ennoble the profound human values present in your native culture
and traditions: your strong families, your deep religious sense, your joyful celebration
of the gift of life, your appreciation of the wisdom of the elderly and the aspirations
of the young. Be grateful, then, for the light of Christ! Be grateful for those
who brought it, the generations of missionaries who contributed – and continue to
contribute – so much to this country’s human and spiritual development. Be grateful
for the witness of so many Christian parents, teachers, catechists, priests and
religious, who made personal sacrifices in order to pass this precious treasure
down to you! And take up the challenge which this great legacy sets before you.
Realize that the Church, in Angola
and throughout Africa , is meant to be a sign before
the world of that unity to which the whole human family is called, through faith
in Christ the Redeemer.
The words which Jesus
speaks in today’s Gospel are quite striking: He tells us that God’s sentence has
already been pronounced upon this world (see Jn 3:19ff). The light has already
come into the world. Yet men preferred the darkness to the light, because their
deeds were evil. How much darkness there is in so many parts of our world! Tragically,
the clouds of evil have also overshadowed Africa, including this beloved nation
of Angola .
We think of the evil of war, the murderous fruits of tribalism and ethnic rivalry,
the greed which corrupts men’s hearts, enslaves the poor, and robs future generations
of the resources they need to create a more equitable and just society – a society
truly and authentically African in its genius and values. And what of that insidious
spirit of selfishness which closes individuals in upon themselves, breaks up families,
and, by supplanting the great ideals of generosity and self-sacrifice, inevitably
leads to hedonism, the escape into false utopias through drug use, sexual irresponsibility,
the weakening of the marriage bond and the break-up of families, and the pressure
to destroy innocent human life through abortion?
Yet the word of God
is a word of unbounded hope. “God loved the world so much that he gave his only
Son … so that through him, the world might be saved” (Jn 3:16-17). God does
not give up on us! He continues to lift our eyes to a future of hope, and he promises
us the strength to accomplish it. As Saint
Paul tells us in today’s second reading, God created us
in Christ Jesus “to live the good life”, a life of good deeds, in accordance with
his will (see Eph 2:10). He gave us his commandments, not as a burden, but
as a source of freedom: the freedom to become men and women of wisdom, teachers
of justice and peace, people who believe in others and seek their authentic good.
God created us to live in the light, and to be light for the world around us! This
is what Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel: “The man who lives by the truth comes
out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in
God” (Jn 3:21).
“Live”, then, “by
the truth!” Radiate the light of faith, hope and love in your families and communities!
Be witnesses of the holy truth that sets men and women free! You know from bitter
experience that, in comparison with the sudden, destructive fury of evil, the work
of rebuilding is painfully slow and arduous. Living by the truth takes time, effort
and perseverance: it has to begin in our own hearts, in the small daily sacrifices
required if we are to be faithful to God’s law, in the little acts by which we demonstrate
that we love our neighbours, all our neighbours, regardless of race, ethnicity or
language, and by our readiness to work with them to build together on foundations
that will endure. Let your parishes become communities where the light of God’s
truth and the power of Christ’s reconciling love are not only celebrated, but proclaimed
in concrete works of charity. And do not be afraid! Even if it means being a “sign
of contradiction” (Lk 2:34) in the face of hardened attitudes and a mentality
that sees others as a means to be used, rather than as brothers and sisters to be
loved, cherished and helped along the path of freedom, life and hope.
Let me close by addressing
a special word to the young people of Angola ,
and to all young people throughout Africa . Dear
young friends: you are the hope of your country’s future, the promise of a better
tomorrow! Begin today to grow in your friendship with Jesus, who is “the way, and
the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6): a friendship nurtured and deepened by
humble and persevering prayer. Seek his will for you by listening to his word daily,
and by allowing his law to shape your lives and your relationships. In this way
you will become wise and generous prophets of God’s saving love. Become evangelizers
of your own peers, leading them by your own example to an appreciation of the beauty
and truth of the Gospel, and the hope of a future shaped by the values of God’s
Kingdom. The Church needs your witness! Do not be afraid to respond generously to
God’s call, whether it be to serve him as a priest or a religious, as a Christian
parent, or in the many forms of service to others which the Church sets before you.
Dear brothers and
sisters! At the end of today’s first reading, Cyrus, King of Persia, inspired by
God, calls the Chosen People to return to their beloved land and to rebuild the
Temple of the Lord.
May his words be a summons to all God’s People in Angola
and throughout Southern Africa : Arise! Ponde-vos
a caminho!(see 2 Chr 36:23) Look to the future with hope, trust
in God’s promises, and live in his truth. In this way, you will build something
destined to endure, and leave to future generations a lasting inheritance of reconciliation,
justice and peace. Amen.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Fourth Sunday of Lent, 14 March 2010
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
On this Fourth Sunday
of Lent, the Gospel of the father and the two sons better known as the Parable of
the “Prodigal Son” (Lk 15:11-32) is proclaimed. This passage of St Luke constitutes
one of the peaks of spirituality and literature of all time. Indeed, what would
our culture, art and more generally our civilization be without this revelation
of a God the Father so full of mercy? It never fails to move us and every time we
hear or read it, it can suggest to us ever new meanings. Above all, this Gospel
text has the power of speaking to us of God, of enabling us to know his Face and,
better still, his Heart. After Jesus has told us of the merciful Father, things
are no longer as they were before. We now know God; he is our Father who out of
love created us to be free and endowed us with a conscience, who suffers when we
get lost and rejoices when we return. For this reason, our relationship with him
is built up through events, just as it happens for every child with his parents:
at first he depends on them, then he asserts his autonomy; and, in the end if he
develops well he reaches a mature relationship based on gratitude and authentic
love.
In these stages we
can also identify moments along man’s journey in his relationship with God. There
can be a phase that resembles childhood: religion prompted by need, by dependence.
As man grows up and becomes emancipated, he wants to liberate himself from this
submission and become free and adult, able to organize himself and make his own
decisions, even thinking he can do without God. Precisely this stage is delicate
and can lead to atheism, yet even this frequently conceals the need to discover
God’s true Face. Fortunately for us, God never fails in his faithfulness and even
if we distance ourselves and get lost he continues to follow us with his love, forgiving
our errors and speaking to our conscience from within in order to call us back to
him. In this parable the sons behave in opposite ways: the younger son leaves home
and sinks ever lower whereas the elder son stays at home, but he too has an immature
relationship with the Father. In fact, when his brother comes back, the elder brother
does not rejoice like the Father; on the contrary he becomes angry and refuses to
enter the house. The two sons represent two immature ways of relating to God: rebellion
and childish obedience. Both these forms are surmounted through the experience of
mercy. Only by experiencing forgiveness, by recognizing one is loved with a freely
given love a love greater than our wretchedness but also than our own merit do we
at last enter into a truly filial and free relationship with God.
Dear friends, let
us meditate on this parable. Let us compare ourselves to the two sons and, especially,
contemplate the Heart of the Father. Let us throw ourselves into his arms and be
regenerated by his merciful love. May the Virgin Mary, Mater Misericordiae, help
us to do this.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Fourth Sunday of Lent, 3 April 2011
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The Lenten journey
that we are taking is a special time of grace during which we can experience the
gift of the Lord’s kindness to us. The Liturgy of this Sunday, called “Laetare”,
invites us to be glad and rejoice as the Entrance Antiphon of the Eucharistic celebration
proclaims: “Rejoice, Jerusalem !
Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her, and
you will find contentment at her consoling breasts” (see Is 66: 10-11).
What is the profound
reason for this joy? Today’s Gospel in which Jesus heals a man blind from birth
tells us. The question which the Lord Jesus asks the blind man is the high point of the story: “Do
you believe in the Son of Man?” (Jn 9:35). The man recognizes the sign worked by
Jesus and he passes from the light of his eyes to the light of faith: “Lord, I believe!”
(Jn 9:38).
It should be noted
that as a simple and sincere person he gradually completes the journey of faith.
In the beginning he thinks of Jesus as a “man” among others, then he considers him
a “prophet” and finally his eyes are opened and he proclaims him “Lord”. In opposition
to the faith of the healed blind man is the hardening of the hearts of the Pharisees
who do not want to accept the miracle because they refuse to receive Jesus as the
Messiah. Instead the crowd pauses to discuss the event and continues to be distant
and indifferent. Even the blind man’s parents are overcome by the fear of what others
might think.
And what attitude
to Jesus should we adopt? Because of Adam’s sin we too are born “blind” but in the
baptismal font we are illumined by the grace of Christ. Sin wounded humanity and
destined it to the darkness of death, but the newness of life shines out in Christ,
as well as the destination to which we are called. In him, reinvigorated by the
Holy Spirit, we receive the strength to defeat evil and to do good.
In fact the Christian
life is a continuous conformation to Christ, image of the new man, in order to reach
full communion with God. The Lord Jesus is the “light of the world” (Jn 8:12), because
in him shines “the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Cor 4:6) that continues in
the complex plot of the story to reveal the meaning of human existence.
In the rite of Baptism,
the presentation of the candle lit from the large Paschal candle, a symbol of the
Risen Christ, is a sign that helps us to understand what happens in the Sacrament.
When our lives are enlightened by the mystery of Christ, we experience the joy of
being liberated from all that threatens the full realization.
In these days which
prepare us for Easter let us rekindle within us the gift received in Baptism, that
flame which sometimes risks being extinguished. Let us nourish it with prayer and
love for others. Let us entrust our Lenten journey to the Virgin Mary, Mother of
the Church so that all may encounter Christ, Saviour of the world.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St.
Peter’s Square, Sunday, 18 March 2012
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
On our
way towards Easter we have reached the Fourth Sunday of Lent. It is a journey with
Jesus through the “wilderness”, that is, a time in which to listen more attentively
to God’s voice and also to unmask the temptations that speak within us. The Cross
is silhouetted against the horizon of this wilderness. Jesus knows that it is the
culmination of his mission: in fact the Cross of Christ is the apex of love which
gives us salvation. Christ himself says so in today’s Gospel: just “as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15).
The
reference is to the episode in which, during the Exodus from Egypt , the Jews were attacked by poisonous
serpents and many of them died. God then commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent
and to set it on a pole; anyone bitten by serpents was cured by looking at the bronze
serpent (see Num 21:4-9). Jesus was to be raised likewise on the Cross, so that
anyone in danger of death because of sin, may be saved by turning with faith to
him who died for our sake: “for God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn
the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:17).
Sometimes
men and women prefer the darkness to the light because they are attached to their
sins. Nevertheless it is only by opening oneself to the light and only by sincerely
confessing one’s sins to God that one finds true peace and true joy. It is therefore
important to receive the Sacrament of Penance regularly, especially during Lent,
in order to receive the Lord’s forgiveness and to intensify our process of conversion.
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