Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On Monday 29 June, the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, in St Peter's Basilica, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, presided a Concelebration of the Eucharist with 34 new Archbishops to whom he consigned the Pallium. Present for the occasion, as it is now customary, a Delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the homily, taking his cue from the Collect of the Mass ,the Holy Father asked himself if Christians today are truly loyal to the teaching of the great Apostles. “During the Year of St Paul which concluded yesterday– said the Pontiff - we sought to listen once again to the ‘teacher of the nations', and to learn once again the alphabet of the faith. With Paul and through Paul we sought to recognise Christ and so find the path for authentic Christian life ”.
Reflecting on the first Letter of St Peter, the Holy Father said “its core is the figure of Christ described as One who suffers and one who loves, who is Crucified and is Risen... the Letter consists of an introduction to the fundamental Christian Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist and a discourse to priests, whom Peter addresses as their co-presbyter”. He “understands the priestly ministry solely starting from Christ ” and refers to Christ with the Greek word for bishop episcopus, a word which contains at its root the verb to see “scope”. “Christ is the ‘bishop of souls', Peter tells us. This means: He sees us in the perspective of God – Pope Benedict XVI explained-. If we look from God's perspective, we have an overall vision which sees dangers, hopes and opportunities. From God's perspective, we see the essence, the interior man.. If Christ is the bishop of souls, the goal is to save the man's soul from impoverishment, and to ensure that man does not lose his essence, his capacity for truth and love … To be a bishop, or to be a priest, means, from this perspective: to assume the position of Christ. To think, to see and to act from his elevated position. Being like Him, willing to be at the disposal of men, that they may find life”.
The word “bishop” – the Holy Father said - is very similar to the word “shepherd”, and in fact the concepts are inter-changeable. “It is the duty of the shepherd to tend and protect the flock and lead it to the right pastures. To tend to the flock means helping the sheep to find proper nourishment, to satisfy their hunger and quench their thirst. Out of metaphor, this means: the word of God is the food of which man has need. To render ever present the word of God and thus nourish men, this is the task of the upright shepherd ”. Again reflecting to St Peter's discourse to presbyters, the Holy Father said “words are not enough. Shepherds must be ‘models for the flock.”
Still commenting the first letter of St Peter, the Pontiff recalled the passage “Adore Christ the Lord, in your hearts, always ready to respond to those who ask the reason for your hope” (3,15), and he explained: “Christian faith is hope. It opens to way to the future. It is hope which possesses reason; hope whose reason we can and we must expose. Faith comes from the eternal Reason who has entered our world and revealed to us the true God … It is part of our duty as shepherds to penetrate the faith with thought in order to be able to demonstrate the reason for our hope in the dispute of our times. However, thought alone is not enough … besides thinking and speaking we need to experience the faith; a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. Faith should not remain only theory: it must be life ”.
The Holy Father then returned to the beginning of the Letter where Peter says that the goal of our faith is the salvation of souls (cfr 1,9): “Without the healing of souls, without the healing of man from within, - the Pope said - there can be no salvation for humanity. The real illness of souls, according to St Peter, is ignorance of God, not knowing God. A person who does not know God, who does not at least seek him sincerely, remains outside authentic life … It is obedience to the truth which purifies the soul. And is it living with mistruth which pollutes the soul. Obedience to the truth begins with small truths of daily life, which can often be arduous and painful. This obedience extends to obedience without reserve in the face of Truth itself who is Christ ”.
At the end of his homily, addressing the metropolitan Archbishops Benedict XVI said the Pallium “reminds us of the sheep and the lambs of Christ, which the risen Lord entrusted to Peter, commanding him to tend to them. It reminds us of the flock of Jesus Christ, which you, beloved Brothers, are called to feed in communion with Peter. It reminds us of Christ, who, like the Good Shepherd, takes upon his shoulders the lost sheep, humanity, and carries it home. It reminds us of the fact that He, the supreme Shepherd, became himself the Lamb, in order to shoulder from within the destiny of each and every one of us; in order to carry us and to heal us from within ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 30/6/2009; righe 58, parole 877)
