Pope Benedict celebrated Mass in St Peter's Basilica this morning to mark the final Sunday of the liturgical year - the solemnity of Christ the King. Concelebrating with the Pope were the six new cardinals who received their red hats at the consistory on Saturday.
.JPG)
At the beginning of the Mass, Cardinal. Harvey, on behalf of all the new cardinals, had a brief speech of welcome to Benedict XVI. After saying his gratitude at being called in college, card. Harvey has expressed a profound judgment on the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI: "Holy Father, when he accepted the burden of the Petrine Ministry in 2005, the Church and the world will know how a mind elected as one of the great theologians of our time. Now, after more than seven and a half years, the Church and the world have been able to know you better, they have realized that his extraordinary mastery of the truth of Christian doctrine and his unique ability to make live these truths through catechesis and homilies, sink rooted in a deep faith: that your faith, we are sure, has been enriched by a long life of study and teaching, guided by the regula fidei and nourished by the Liturgy of the Church. His life as a scholar - as a priest and teacher, as diocesan bishop, as Prefect of the Roman Curia, and most recently as the Bishop of Rome - was a living lesson stating that the deeper theology is not that articulated at the table, but that elaborated on his knees. "
He then concluded with the decision to participate with the Pope to the new evangelization: "The Church exists to respond to the Great Mission to preach the Gospel ad gentes . providential In this Year of Faith, we will try to put more force in the service of the world the most beautiful gift of which we are enabled: share with all humanity the Way, the Truth and the Life, the One who gently approaching the brothers and sisters to the Throne of Grace to be fully accomplished their human destiny. In accepting from His hands the honor of Cardinalate, we are committed with full intention, sustained by the grace of God, to be persevering and operators responsible for the New Evangelization. "
In his homily the Pope told the new cardinals they had the demanding responsibility of making God's Kingdom known in the world - not a kingdom of political power obtained through weapons and violence, but a kingdom of truth, love and service. The Pope said: "We invoke the kingdom daily in the prayer of the “Our Father” with the words “Thy kingdom come”; in effect we say to Jesus: Lord, make us yours, live in us, gather together a scattered and suffering humanity, so that in you all may be subjected to the Father of mercy and love."
Below is the full text of Pope Benedict's homily:
Your Eminences,
Dear Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today’s Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, the crowning of the liturgical year, is enriched by our reception into the College of Cardinals of six new members whom, following tradition, I have invited to celebrate the Eucharist with me this morning. I greet each of them most cordially and I thank Cardinal James Michael Harvey for the gracious words which he addressed to me in the name of all. I greet the other Cardinals and Bishops present, as well as the distinguished civil Authorities, Ambassadors, priests, religious and all the faithful, especially those coming from the Dioceses entrusted to the pastoral care of the new Cardinals.
In this final Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to celebrate the Lord Jesus as King of the Universe. She calls us to look to the future, or more properly into the depths, to the ultimate goal of history, which will be the definitive and eternal kingdom of Christ. He was with the Father in the beginning, when the world was created, and he will fully manifest his lordship at the end of time, when he will judge all mankind. Today’s three readings speak to us of this kingdom. In the Gospel passage which we have just heard, drawn from the account of Saint John, Jesus appears in humiliating circumstances – he stands accused – before the might of Rome. He had been arrested, insulted, mocked, and now his enemies hope to obtain his condemnation to death by crucifixion. They had presented him to Pilate as one who sought political power, as the self-proclaimed King of the Jews. The Roman procurator conducts his enquiry and asks Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Jn 18:33). In reply to this question, Jesus clarifies the nature of his kingship and his messiahship itself, which is no worldly power but a love which serves. He states that his kingdom is in no way to be confused with a political reign: “My kingship is not of this world … is not from the world” (v. 36).
Jesus clearly had no political ambitions. After the multiplication of the loaves, the people, enthralled by the miracle, wanted to take him away and make him their king, in order to overthrow the power of Rome and thus establish a new political kingdom which would be considered the long-awaited kingdom of God. But Jesus knows that God’s kingdom is of a completely different kind; it is not built on arms and violence. The multiplication of the loaves itself becomes both the sign that he is the Messiah and a watershed in his activity: henceforth the path to the Cross becomes ever clearer; there, in the supreme act of love, the promised kingdom, the kingdom of God, will shine forth. But the crowd does not understand this; they are disappointed and Jesus retires to the mountain to pray in solitude (cf. Jn 6:1-15). In the Passion narrative we see how even the disciples, though they had shared Jesus’ life and listened to his words, were still thinking of a political kingdom, brought about also by force. In Gethsemane, Peter had unsheathed his sword and began to fight, but Jesus stopped him (cf. Jn 18:10-11). He does not wish to be defended by arms, but to accomplish the Father’s will to the end, and to establish his kingdom not by armed conflict, but by the apparent weakness of life-giving love. The kingdom of God is a kingdom utterly different from earthly kingdoms.
That is why, faced with a defenceless, weak and humiliated man, as Jesus was, a man of power like Pilate is taken aback; taken aback because he hears of a kingdom and servants. So he asks an apparently odd question: “So you are a king?” What sort of king can such a man as this be? But Jesus answers in the affirmative: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice” (18:37). Jesus speaks of kings and kingship, yet he is not referring to power but to truth. Pilate fails to understand: can there be a power not obtained by human means? A power which does not respond to the logic of domination and force? Jesus came to reveal and bring a new kingship, that of God; he came to bear witness to the truth of a God who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8,16), who wants to establish a kingdom of justice, love and peace (cf. Preface). Whoever is open to love hears this testimony and accepts it with faith, to enter the kingdom of God.
We find this same perspective in the first reading we heard. The prophet Daniel foretells the power of a mysterious personage set between heaven and earth: “Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (7:13-14). These words present a king who reigns from sea to sea, to the very ends of the earth, possessed of an absolute power which will never be destroyed. This vision of the prophet, a messianic vision, is made clear and brought to fulfilment in Christ: the power of the true Messiah, the power which will never pass away or be destroyed, is not the power of the kingdoms of the earth which rise and fall, but the power of truth and love. In this way we understand how the kingship proclaimed by Jesus in the parables and openly and explicitly revealed before the Roman procurator, is the kingship of truth, the one which gives all things their light and grandeur.
In the second reading, the author of the Book of Revelation states that we too share in Christ’s kingship. In the acclamation addressed “to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood”, he declares that Christ “has made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (1:5-6). Here too it is clear that we are speaking of a kingdom based on a relationship with God, with truth, and not a political kingdom. By his sacrifice, Jesus has opened for us the path to a profound relationship with God: in him we have become true adopted children and thus sharers in his kingship over the world. To be disciples of Jesus, then, means not letting ourselves be allured by the worldly logic of power, but bringing into the world the light of truth and God’s love. The author of the Book of Revelation broadens his gaze to include Jesus’ second coming to judge mankind and to establish forever his divine kingdom, and he reminds us that conversion, as a response to God’s grace, is the condition for the establishment of this kingdom (cf. 1:7). It is a pressing invitation addressed to each and all: to be converted ever anew to the kingdom of God, to the lordship of God, of Truth, in our lives. We invoke the kingdom daily in the prayer of the “Our Father” with the words “Thy kingdom come”; in effect we say to Jesus: Lord, make us yours, live in us, gather together a scattered and suffering humanity, so that in you all may be subjected to the Father of mercy and love.
To you, dear and venerable Brother Cardinals – I think in particular of those created yesterday – is is entrusted this demanding responsibility: to bear witness to the kingdom of God, to the truth. This means working to bring out ever more clearly the priority of God and his will over the interests of the world and its powers. Become imitators of Jesus, who, before Pilate, in the humiliating scene described by the Gospel, manifested his glory: that of loving to the utmost, giving his own life for those whom he loves. This is the revelation of the kingdom of Jesus. And for this reason, with one heart and one soul, let us pray: Adveniat regnum tuum – Thy kingdom come. Amen.
.JPG)
.JPG)
After the Holy Mass, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter's Square. He still remembered the value of today's feast and the kingship of Jesus Christ: "The whole mission of Jesus and the content of his message - he said - consist in proclaiming the Kingdom of God and its practical application in the midst of men with signs and wonders. "But - as recalled by the Second Vatican Council - first the Kingdom manifests itself in the person of Christ" (Dogmatic Constitution. Lumen Gentium , 5), which has established through his death on the cross and his resurrection, with which was manifested as Lord and Messiah and Priest forever. This Kingdom of Christ has been given to the Church, which is "the seed" and "beginning" and has the task to proclaim and spread it among all nations by the power of Holy Spirit (cf. ibid.). At the end of the prescribed time, the Lord will deliver the kingdom to God the Father and to offer him all those who have lived according to the commandment of love. "
The pontiff then invited the faithful to pray for the new cardinals: "These new members of the College of Cardinals - he said - well represent the universal dimension of the Church are pastors of churches in Lebanon, India, Nigeria, Colombia, in Philippines, and one of them has long been at the service of the Holy See. invoke the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary on each of them and the faithful entrusted to their service. Our Lady help us all to live the present time awaiting the return of the Lord , asking forcefully God: "Thy kingdom come," and by doing the works of light that we draw ever closer to heaven, knowing that, in the troubled events of history, God continues to build His Kingdom of love. "
No comments:
Post a Comment