Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Munich (Agenzia Fides) - On Sunday 10 September 23rd Sunday of Ordinary time, Pope Benedict XVI presided an outdoor Mass at Munich’s new exhibition NeuMesse centre and led the recitation of the Angelus prayer at midday.
In his homily the Pope reflected on the theme of “God, the centre of reality and centre of our personal life”, proposed by the biblical readings. The first reading and the Gospel “lead us to God” the Pope explained. “However the theme of ‘God’, is connected with the social theme: our reciprocal responsibility for the supremacy of justice and love in the world. This is expressed dramatically in the second reading … James’ words offer a glimpse of the image of Jesus, God who became man and, while of the Davidic therefore royal lineage, an ordinary man among ordinary people... Love of neighbour which is first of all concern for justice, is the test of our faith and love of God. James calls this "royal law" revealing Jesus’ favourite words: God’s sovereignty, God’s lordship. This does not mean any sort of reign which will come sooner or later, it means that now God must become the force which shapes our life and actions .”
The Gospel told how Jesus healed a man who was deaf and dumb. “Jesus cares for those who suffer, for those pushed to the margins of society. He heals them and in doing so enables them to live and decide with others, he introduces them to equality and brotherhood” the Pope said and continued: “There exists not only physical deafness which to a great extent cuts people off from social life. There exists difficulty in hearing God something of which we suffer today. We simply cannot hear Him anymore... What we hear about him appears pre-scientific, no longer suited to our times”. The Gospel tells how Jesus put his fingers in the deaf man’s ears, put his own saliva on the man’s tongue and said : "Ephphatha" - "be opened!". “Jesus does this same thing today in a different way again and again- the Pope said -. In our Baptism he made the same gesture of touching and said: "Ephphatha" - be opened!", to enable us to hear God, to make it possible for us to speak to God once again … the path of the baptised must become a process of progressive development, in which we grow in communion of life with God, and acquire a different way of looking at humanity and creation.”
Pope Benedict then shared his experience of meeting with Bishops from all over the world: “The Bishops tell me with gratitude about the generosity of German Catholics …Sometimes however an African Bishop will say to me: ‘If in Germany I present social projects I find the doors open immediately. But if I come with a project for evangelisation I meet with reserve’. Obviously for some people social projects must be promoted with maximum urgency whereas the things of God, or even the Catholic faith itself are another matter and not so important. Nevertheless those Bishops realise that evangelisation must take priority, that the God of Jesus Christ must be known, believed and loved, hearts must be converted even for social things to make progress, for reconciliation to start … the social and the Gospel are inseparable. If we bring men and women only knowledge, ability, technical capacity and tools, we bring too little. Mechanisms of violence, the capacity to destroy and kill will soon prevail and become a means for reaching power”.
The Holy Father continued: “The people of Africa and Asia admire the technical achievements of the West and our science but they fear a type of reasoning which totally excludes God from human vision, as if this were the supreme form of reason to be imposed also on their cultures. What they perceive as a threat to their identity is not the Christian faith but rather contempt and cynicism which considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom and holds up utility as the supreme moral criterion for the future of scientific research." … The tolerance we so urgently need includes fear of God - respect for that which for others is sacred. However this respect for that with others consider sacred demands that we too learn once again to fear God. This sense of respect can be regenerated in the western world only with the return of faith in God, if God is once again present for us and in us. We do not impose our faith on anyone. This kind of proselytising is contrary to Christianity. Faith can happen only in freedom. But the human freedom, which we invoke is freedom for men and women to open to God, to seek Him, to listen to Him”.
"The world needs God," exclaimed Pope Benedict. "We need God. But what God? ... Jesus, the Son of God incarnate. His 'vengeance' is the Cross: a 'no' to violence and a 'love to the end.' This is the God we need. We do not fail to show respect for other religions and cultures, profound respect for their faith, when we proclaim clearly and uncompromisingly the God Who counters violence with His own suffering; who in the face of the power of evil exalts his mercy, in order that evil may be limited and overcome. To Him we now lift up our prayer, that He may remain with us and help us to be His credible witnesses.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 11/9/2006 - righe 48, parole 732)
