Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - The exhortation pronounced this morning in St Peter’s Basilica by Cardinal Ratzinger, to “carry to all the gift of faith” was warmly welcomed by the missionary world judging by the many positive comments sent in to Fides. The Cardinal, Dean of the College of Cardinals was speaking during his homily at the Mass “for the election of a Roman Pontiff” which he presided and which was concelebrated by the Cardinal electors. Referring to the Gospel the Cardinal said: “The Lord addresses to us these wonderful words: “I no longer call you servants… I call you friends” (Jn 15, 15)… The Lord calls us friends, he makes us his friends, he offers us his friendship”. The other element of the Gospel is what Jesus aid about bearing fruit: “We must be filled with holy restlessness: restlessness to carry to all the gift of faith, of friendship with Christ. In truth, God’s love and friendship is given to us so it may reach others. We receive the faith to give it to others, we are priests to serve others. And we must bear fruit which lasts...the only thing which lasts forever is the human soul, man and woman created by God for all eternity. The fruit which lasts therefore is all that we have sown in human souls, love, knowledge; a gesture which touches hearts; a word which opens minds to the joy of the Lord. Let us go then and let us pray to the Lord that he may help us to bear fruit, lasting fruit. Only then will the earth be transformed from a vale of tears to the garden of God”.
“At this moment of great responsibility, let us listen with careful attention to what the Lord tells us with his word” Cardinal Ratzinger said at the beginning of the homily in which he reflected on the readings highlighting just a few passages. “The first reading (Is 61, 1 - 3a. 6a. 8b - 9) offered a prophetic portrayal of the figure of the Messiah … Christ’s mandate has become our mandate through priestly anointing; we are called to promulgate - not only with words but also with our life and with the effective signs of the Sacraments- ‘the Year of the Lord’s mercy’.”
In the second reading, St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 4,11-16), Cardinal Ratzinger underlined three points: ministries and charisma in the Church, the gifts of the risen Lord who has ascended into heaven; mature faith and knowledge of the Son of God, as condition and content of the unity of the Body of Christ; common sharing in the growth of the Body of Christ. In particular the Cardinal reflected on what it means to be truly “adults in the faith”. “How many winds of doctrine we have known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many modes of thought...the little ship of the thought of many Christians has been not rarely agitated by these waves - thrown from one extreme to the other: by 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 born … To have a faith which is limpid according to the Creed of the Church, is often labelled as fundamentalism… We see the constitution of a dictatorship of relativism which recognises nothing as definitive and leaves as a last measure only one’s own ego, and its whims. We, instead, have another measure: the Son of God, the authentic man. He is the measure of authentic humanism. An “adult” faith is not one which follows the waves of fashion or the latest novelty; an adult and mature faith is one profoundly rooted in friendship with Christ.”
The German born Cardinal ended his homily with this exhortation: “At this time, above all, we pray that after the great gift of Pope John Paul II, the Lord will give us another shepherd, after his own heart, a shepherd to guide us to knowledge of Christ, of his love and true happiness.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 18/4/2005; righe 43, parole 652)
