VATICAN-Benedict XVI: "The Lord challenges us to move beyond the boundaries of our own world and to bring the Gospel to the world of others, so that it pervades everything"

Vatican City (Fides Service) – On Wednesday, June 29, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, and the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of His priestly ordination, the Holy Father Benedict XVI presided in St. Peter's Basilica a concelebrated Mass with 41 metropolitan archbishops of different nations, to whom the Pope gave the Pallium. As usual, a Delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was present at the Mass.
"No longer servants, but friends": "this saying contains within itself the entire program of a priestly life", the Pope said in his homily, recalling the day of his ordination to priesthood. "Friendship is a communion of thinking and willing", said the Pope, underlining that Jesus’ words on friendship should be seen in the context of the discourse on the vine. "The Lord associates the image of the vine with a commission to the disciples: 'I appointed you that you should go out and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide' (Jn 15:16). The first commission to the disciples, to his friends, is that of setting out – appointed to go out-, stepping outside oneself and towards others... The Lord challenges us to move beyond the boundaries of our own world and to bring the Gospel to the world of others, so that it pervades everything, and hence the world is opened up for the kingdom of God".
Then, regarding the fruit that the Lord expects from us, the Pope recalled that the fruit of the vine is the grape and it is from the grape that wine is made. "For good grapes to ripen, sun is needed, but so too is rain, by day and by night – he continued -. For noble wine to mature, the grapes need to be pressed, patience is needed while the juice ferments, watchful care is needed to assist the processes of maturation. Noble wine is marked not only by sweetness, but by rich and subtle flavors, the manifold aroma that develops during the processes of maturation and fermentation. Is this not already an image of human life, and especially of our lives as priests? We need both sun and rain, festivity and adversity, times of purification and testing, as well as times of joyful journeying with the Gospel".
Finally, " wine is the image of love... Let us not forget, however, that in the Old Testament the wine expected from noble grapes is above all an image of justice, which arises from a life lived in accordance with God's law! .. . The true content of the Law, its summa, is love for God and for one’s neighbor. But this twofold love, however, is not simply saccharine. It bears within itself the precious cargo of patience, humility, and growth in the conforming of our will to God's will, to the will of Jesus Christ, our Friend. Only in this way, as the whole of our being takes on the qualities of truth and righteousness, is love also true, only thus is it ripe fruit. Its inner demand-faithfulness to Christ and to his Church, seeks a fulfilment that always includes suffering. This is the way that true joy grows".
Speaking to the metropolitan archbishops, the Holy Father explained the triple meaning of the imposition of the pallium: "it may remind us in the first instance of Christ’s easy yoke that is laid upon us(cf. Mt 11.29 s) ... It is the yoke of his will, which is a will to truth and love. For us, then, it is first and foremost the yoke of leading others to friendship with Christ and being available to others, caring for them as shepherds". The pallium is also woven from the wool of lambs, and "reminds us of the Shepherd who himself became a Lamb, out of love for us ... It reminds us of Him who took the lamb- humanity-me-upon his shoulders, in order to carry me home. It thus reminds us that we too, as shepherds in his service, are to carry others with us, taking them as it were upon our shoulders and bringing them to Christ. It reminds us that we are called to be shepherds of his flock, which always remains his and does not become ours. Finally, the pallium also means quite concretely the communion of the shepherds of the Church with Peter and with his successors – it means that we must be shepherds for unity and in unity, and that it is only in unity represented by Peter that we truly lead people to Christ".(SL) (Agenzia Fides 30/06/2011)