HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
Washington Nationals Stadium
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters in
Christ,
“Peace be with you!” (Jn
20:19). With these, the first words of the Risen Lord to his
disciples, I greet all of you in the joy of this Easter season.
Before all else, I thank God for the blessing of being in your
midst. I am particularly grateful to Archbishop Wuerl for his kind
words of welcome.
Our Mass today brings the
Church in the United States back to its roots in nearby Maryland,
and commemorates the bicentennial of the first chapter of its
remarkable growth – the division by my predecessor, Pope Pius VII,
of the original Diocese of Baltimore and the establishment of the
Dioceses of Boston, Bardstown (now Louisville), New York and
Philadelphia. Two hundred years later, the Church in America can
rightfully praise the accomplishment of past generations in bringing
together widely differing immigrant groups within the unity of the
Catholic faith and in a common commitment to the spread of the
Gospel. At the same time, conscious of its rich diversity, the
Catholic community in this country has come to appreciate ever more
fully the importance of each individual and group offering its own
particular gifts to the whole. The Church in the United States is
now called to look to the future, firmly grounded in the faith
passed on by previous generations, and ready to meet new challenges
– challenges no less demanding than those faced by your forebears –
with the hope born of God’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5).
In the exercise of my
ministry as the Successor of Peter, I have come to America to
confirm you, my brothers and sisters, in the faith of the Apostles
(cf. Lk 22:32). I have come to proclaim anew, as Peter proclaimed on
the day of Pentecost, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Messiah, risen
from the dead, seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, and
established as judge of the living and the dead (cf. Acts 2:14ff.).
I have come to repeat the Apostle’s urgent call to conversion and
the forgiveness of sins, and to implore from the Lord a new
outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country. As we
have heard throughout this Easter season, the Church was born of the
Spirit’s gift of repentance and faith in the risen Lord. In every
age she is impelled by the same Spirit to bring to men and women of
every race, language and people (cf. Rev 5:9) the good news of our
reconciliation with God in Christ.
The readings of today’s Mass
invite us to consider the growth of the Church in America as one
chapter in the greater story of the Church’s expansion following the
descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In those readings we see
the inseparable link between the risen Lord, the gift of the Spirit
for the forgiveness of sins, and the mystery of the Church. Christ
established his Church on the foundation of the Apostles (cf. Rev
21:14) as a visible, structured community which is at the same time
a spiritual communion, a mystical body enlivened by the Spirit’s
manifold gifts, and the sacrament of salvation for all humanity (cf.
Lumen Gentium, 8). In every time and place, the Church is called
to grow in unity through constant conversion to Christ, whose saving
work is proclaimed by the Successors of the Apostles and celebrated
in the sacraments. This unity, in turn, gives rise to an unceasing
missionary outreach, as the Spirit spurs believers to proclaim “the
great works of God” and to invite all people to enter the community
of those saved by the blood of Christ and granted new life in his
Spirit.
I pray, then, that this
significant anniversary in the life of the Church in the United
States, and the presence of the Successor of Peter in your midst,
will be an occasion for all Catholics to reaffirm their unity in the
apostolic faith, to offer their contemporaries a convincing account
of the hope which inspires them (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), and to be renewed
in missionary zeal for the extension of God’s Kingdom.
The world needs this
witness! Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not
only for the Church in America but also for society as a whole? It
is a time of great promise, as we see the human family in many ways
drawing closer together and becoming ever more interdependent. Yet
at the same time we see clear signs of a disturbing breakdown in the
very foundations of society: signs of alienation, anger and
polarization on the part of many of our contemporaries; increased
violence; a weakening of the moral sense; a coarsening of social
relations; and a growing forgetfulness of Christ and God. The
Church, too, sees signs of immense promise in her many strong
parishes and vital movements, in the enthusiasm for the faith shown
by so many young people, in the number of those who each year
embrace the Catholic faith, and in a greater interest in prayer and
catechesis. At the same time she senses, often painfully, the
presence of division and polarization in her midst, as well as the
troubling realization that many of the baptized, rather than acting
as a spiritual leaven in the world, are inclined to embrace
attitudes contrary to the truth of the Gospel.
“Lord, send out your Spirit,
and renew the face of the earth!” (cf. Ps 104:30). The words of
today’s Responsorial Psalm are a prayer which rises up from the
heart of the Church in every time and place. They remind us that the
Holy Spirit has been poured out as the first fruits of a new
creation, “new heavens and a new earth” (cf. 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1),
in which God’s peace will reign and the human family will be
reconciled in justice and love. We have heard Saint Paul tell us
that all creation is even now “groaning” in expectation of that true
freedom which is God’s gift to his children (Rom 8:21-22), a freedom
which enables us to live in conformity to his will. Today let us
pray fervently that the Church in America will be renewed in that
same Spirit, and sustained in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel
to a world that longs for genuine freedom (cf. Jn 8:32), authentic
happiness, and the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations!
Here I wish to offer a
special word of gratitude and encouragement to all those who have
taken up the challenge of the Second Vatican Council, so often
reiterated by Pope John Paul II, and committed their lives to the
new evangelization. I thank my brother Bishops, priests and deacons,
men and women religious, parents, teachers and catechists. The
fidelity and courage with which the Church in this country will
respond to the challenges raised by an increasingly secular and
materialistic culture will depend in large part upon your own
fidelity in handing on the treasure of our Catholic faith. Young
people need to be helped to discern the path that leads to true
freedom: the path of a sincere and generous imitation of Christ, the
path of commitment to justice and peace. Much progress has been made
in developing solid programs of catechesis, yet so much more remains
to be done in forming the hearts and minds of the young in knowledge
and love of the Lord. The challenges confronting us require a
comprehensive and sound instruction in the truths of the faith. But
they also call for cultivating a mindset, an intellectual “culture”,
which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of
faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith’s
vision to bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of
American society.
Dear friends, my visit to
the United States is meant to be a witness to “Christ our Hope”.
Americans have always been a people of hope: your ancestors came to
this country with the expectation of finding new freedom and
opportunity, while the vastness of the unexplored wilderness
inspired in them the hope of being able to start completely anew,
building a new nation on new foundations. To be sure, this promise
was not experienced by all the inhabitants of this land; one thinks
of the injustices endured by the native American peoples and by
those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves. Yet hope, hope
for the future, is very much a part of the American character. And
the Christian virtue of hope – the hope poured into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit, the hope which supernaturally purifies and corrects
our aspirations by focusing them on the Lord and his saving plan –
that hope has also marked, and continues to mark, the life of the
Catholic community in this country.
It is in the context of this
hope born of God’s love and fidelity that I acknowledge the pain
which the Church in America has experienced as a result of the
sexual abuse of minors. No words of mine could describe the pain and
harm inflicted by such abuse. It is important that those who have
suffered be given loving pastoral attention. Nor can I adequately
describe the damage that has occurred within the community of the
Church. Great efforts have already been made to deal honestly and
fairly with this tragic situation, and to ensure that children –
whom our Lord loves so deeply (cf. Mk 10:14), and who are our
greatest treasure – can grow up in a safe environment. These efforts
to protect children must continue. Yesterday I spoke with your
Bishops about this. Today I encourage each of you to do what you can
to foster healing and reconciliation, and to assist those who have
been hurt. Also, I ask you to love your priests, and to affirm them
in the excellent work that they do. And above all, pray that the
Holy Spirit will pour out his gifts upon the Church, the gifts that
lead to conversion, forgiveness and growth in holiness.
Saint Paul speaks, as we
heard in the second reading, of a kind of prayer which arises from
the depths of our hearts in sighs too deep for words, in “groanings”
(Rom 8:26) inspired by the Spirit. This is a prayer which yearns, in
the midst of chastisement, for the fulfillment of God’s promises. It
is a prayer of unfailing hope, but also one of patient endurance
and, often, accompanied by suffering for the truth. Through this
prayer, we share in the mystery of Christ’s own weakness and
suffering, while trusting firmly in the victory of his Cross. With
this prayer, may the Church in America embrace ever more fully the
way of conversion and fidelity to the demands of the Gospel. And may
all Catholics experience the consolation of hope, and the Spirit’s
gifts of joy and strength.
In today’s Gospel, the risen
Lord bestows the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and
grants them the authority to forgive sins. Through the surpassing
power of Christ’s grace, entrusted to frail human ministers, the
Church is constantly reborn and each of us is given the hope of a
new beginning. Let us trust in the Spirit’s power to inspire
conversion, to heal every wound, to overcome every division, and to
inspire new life and freedom. How much we need these gifts! And how
close at hand they are, particularly in the sacrament of Penance!
The liberating power of this sacrament, in which our honest
confession of sin is met by God’s merciful word of pardon and peace,
needs to be rediscovered and reappropriated by every Catholic. To a
great extent, the renewal of the Church in America and throughout
the world depends on the renewal of the practice of Penance and the
growth in holiness which that sacrament both inspires and
accomplishes.
“In hope we were saved!”
(Rom 8:24).” As the Church in the United States gives thanks for the
blessings of the past two hundred years, I invite you, your
families, and every parish and religious community, to trust in the
power of grace to create a future of promise for God’s people in
this country. I ask you, in the Lord Jesus, to set aside all
division and to work with joy to prepare a way for him, in fidelity
to his word and in constant conversion to his will. Above all, I
urge you to continue to be a leaven of evangelical hope in American
society, striving to bring the light and truth of the Gospel to the
task of building an ever more just and free world for generations
yet to come.
Those who have hope must
live different lives! (cf.
Spe Salvi, 2). By your prayers, by the witness of your faith, by
the fruitfulness of your charity, may you point the way towards that
vast horizon of hope which God is even now opening up to his Church,
and indeed to all humanity: the vision of a world reconciled and
renewed in Christ Jesus, our Savior. To him be all honor and glory,
now and forever. Amen! Top
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