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Newsflash
> Homily at the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff
Homily at the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff
The text below is a very strong call for a return
to Christian witness in the face of all the problems that
the Church been going through in recent years. - Editor
VATICAN CITY—April 18, 2005: Here is the text of Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger's homily at the Mass for the Election of
the Roman Pontiff
At this hour of great responsibility, we hear with special
consideration what the Lord says to us in his own words. From
the three readings I would like to examine just a few passages
which concern us directly at this time.
The first reading gives us a prophetic depiction of the person
of the Messiah – a depiction which takes all its meaning
from the moment Jesus reads the text in the synagogue in Nazareth,
when he says: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled
in your hearing” (Lk 4,21). At the core of the prophetic
text we find a word which seems contradictory, at least at
first sight. The Messiah, speaking of himself, says that he
was sent “To announce a year of favor from the Lord
and a day of vindication by our God” (Is 61,2). We hear
with joy the news of a year of favor: divine mercy puts a
limit on evil – the Holy Father told us. Jesus Christ
is divine mercy in person: encountering Christ means encountering
the mercy of God. Christ’s mandate has become our mandate
through priestly anointing. We are called to proclaim –
not only with our words, but with our lives, and through the
valuable signs of the sacraments, the “year of favor
from the Lord”. But what does the prophet Isaiah mean
when he announces the “day of vindication by our God”?
In Nazareth, Jesus did not pronounce these words in his reading
of the prophet’s text – Jesus concluded by announcing
the year of favor. Was this, perhaps, the reason for the scandal
which took place after his sermon? We do not know. In any
case, the Lord gave a genuine commentary on these words by
being put to death on the cross. Saint Peter says: “He
himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross” (1
Pe 2,24). And Saint Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians:
“Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming
a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone
who hangs on a tree’, that the blessing of Abraham might
be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
(Gal 3, 13s).
The mercy of Christ is not a cheap grace; it does not presume
a trivialization of evil. Christ carries in his body and on
his soul all the weight of evil, and all its destructive force.
He burns and transforms evil through suffering, in the fire
of his suffering love. The day of vindication and the year
of favor meet in the paschal mystery, in Christ died and risen.
This is the vindication of God: he himself, in the person
of the Son, suffers for us. The more we are touched by the
mercy of the Lord, the more we draw closer in solidarity with
his suffering – and become willing to bear in our flesh
“what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ”
(Col 1, 24).
In the second reading, the letter to the Ephesians, we see
basically three aspects: first, the ministries and charisms
in the Church, as gifts of the Lord risen and ascended into
heaven. Then there is the maturing of faith and knowledge
of the Son of God, as a condition and essence of unity in
the body of Christ. Finally, there is the common participation
in the growth of the body of Christ - of the transformation
of the world into communion with the Lord.
Let us dwell on only two points. The first is the journey
towards “the maturity of Christ” as it is said
in the Italian text, simplifying it a bit. More precisely,
according to the Greek text, we should speak of the “measure
of the fullness of Christ”, to which we are called to
reach in order to be true adults in the faith. We should not
remain infants in faith, in a state of minority. And what
does it mean to be an infant in faith? Saint Paul answers:
it means “tossed by waves and swept along by every wind
of teaching arising from human trickery” (Eph 4, 14).
This description is very relevant today!
How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades,
how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking…
The small boat of thought of many Christians has often been
tossed about by these waves – thrown from one extreme
to the other: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism;
from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to
a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism,
and so forth. Every day new sects are created and what Saint
Paul says about human trickery comes true, with cunning which
tries to draw those into error (cf Eph 4, 14). Having a clear
faith, based on the Creed of the Church, is often labeled
today as a fundamentalism. Whereas, relativism, which is letting
oneself be tossed and “swept along by every wind of
teaching”, looks like the only attitude (acceptable)
to today’s standards. We are moving towards a dictatorship
of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain
and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and
one’s own desires.
However, we have a different goal: the Son of God, true man.
He is the measure of true humanism. Being an “Adult”
means having a faith which does not follow the waves of today’s
fashions or the latest novelties. A faith which is deeply
rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is
this friendship which opens us up to all that is good and
gives us the knowledge to judge true from false, and deceit
from truth. We must become mature in this adult faith; we
must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this
faith – only faith – which creates unity and takes
form in love. On this theme, Saint Paul offers us some beautiful
words - in contrast to the continual ups and downs of those
were are like infants, tossed about by the waves: (he says)
make truth in love, as the basic formula of Christian existence.
In Christ, truth and love coincide. To the extent that we
draw near to Christ, in our own life, truth and love merge.
Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would
be like “a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal”
(1 Cor 13,1).
Looking now at the richness of the Gospel reading, I would
like to make only two small observations. The Lord addresses
to us these wonderful words: “I no longer call you slaves…I
have called you friends” (Jn 15,15). So many times we
feel like, and it is true, that we are only useless servants.
(cf Lk 17,10). And despite this, the Lord calls us friends,
he makes us his friends, he gives us his friendship. The Lord
defines friendship in a dual way. There are no secrets among
friends: Christ tells us all everything he hears from the
Father; he gives us his full trust, and with that, also knowledge.
He reveals his face and his heart to us. He shows us his tenderness
for us, his passionate love that goes to the madness of the
cross. He entrusts us, he gives us power to speak in his name:
“this is my body…,” “I forgive you….”
He entrusts us with his body, the Church. He entrusts our
weak minds and our weak hands with his truth – the mystery
of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the mystery of God
who “so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son” (Jn 3, 16). He made us his friends – and
how do we respond?
The second element with which Jesus defines friendship is
the communion of wills. For the Romans “Idem velle –
idem nolle,” (same desires, same dislikes ) was also
the definition of friendship. “You are my friends if
you do what I command you.” (Jn 15, 14). Friendship
with Christ coincides with what is said in the third request
of the Our Father: “Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven”. At the hour in the Garden of Gethsemane,
Jesus transformed our rebellious human will in a will shaped
and united to the divine will. He suffered the whole experience
of our autonomy – and precisely bringing our will into
the hands of God, he have us true freedom: “Not my will,
but your will be done." In this communion of wills our
redemption takes place: being friends of Jesus to become friends
of God. How much more we love Jesus, how much more we know
him, how much more our true freedom grows as well as our joy
in being redeemed. Thank you, Jesus, for your friendship!
The other element of the Gospel to which I would like to
refer is the teaching of Jesus on bearing fruit: “I
who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that
will remain” (Jn 15, 16). It is here that is expressed
the dynamic existence of the Christian, the apostle: I chose
you to go and bear fruit….” We must be inspired
by a holy restlessness: restlessness to bring to everyone
the gift of faith, of friendship with Christ. In truth, the
love and friendship of God was given to us so that it would
also be shared with others. We have received the faith to
give it to others – we are priests meant to serve others.
And we must bring a fruit that will remain. All people want
to leave a mark which lasts. But what remains? Money does
not. Buildings do not, nor books. After a certain amount of
time, whether long or short, all these things disappear. The
only thing which remains forever is the human soul, the human
person created by God for eternity. The fruit which remains
then is that which we have sowed in human souls – love,
knowledge, a gesture capable of touching the heart, words
which open the soul to joy in the Lord. Let us then go to
the Lord and pray to him, so that he may help us bear fruit
which remains. Only in this way will the earth be changed
from a valley of tears to a garden of God.
In conclusion, returning again to the letter to the Ephesians,
which says with words from Psalm 68 that Christ, ascending
into heaven, “gave gifts to men” (Eph 4,8). The
victor offers gifts. And these gifts are apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers. Our ministry is a gift
of Christ to humankind, to build up his body – the new
world. We live out our ministry in this way, as a gift of
Christ to humanity! But at this time, above all, we pray with
insistence to the Lord, so that after the great gift of Pope
John Paul II, he again gives us a pastor according to his
own heart, a pastor who guides us to knowledge in Christ,
to his love and to true joy. Amen.
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