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Pope Benedict XVI- Apostolic Journey to USA |
 Homily
of Pope Benedict XVI at Nationals Park
"Americans Have Always Been a People of Hope"
Washington D.C.
April 17, 2008
www.zenit.org
The following is the
homily Benedict XVI gave while celebrating the Votive Mass of the
Holy Spirit at Washington Nationals stadium.
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 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 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.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[The Pope continued in Spanish]
Dear Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters:
I want to greet you with the same words that the Risen Jesus
spoke to his apostles, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19). May the
joy of knowing that the Lord has triumphed over death and sin
help you to be, wherever you are, witnesses of his love and
sowers of the hope that he came to bring us and that never
disappoints.
Do not allow yourselves to be overcome by pessimism, inertia or
problems. Instead, faithful to the commitments you acquired in
your baptism, go deeper each day in the knowledge of Christ and
allow your hearts to be conquered by his love and pardon.
The Church in the United States, welcoming in its bosom so many
of its immigrant children, has been growing also thanks to the
vitality of the testimony of faith from Spanish-speaking
faithful. For this, the Lord calls you to continue contributing
to the future of the Church in this country and the spreading of
the Gospel. Only if you are united to Christ and among
yourselves, will your evangelizing testimony be credible and
bloom with copious fruits of peace and reconciliation in the
midst of a world many times marked by division and conflicts.
The Church hopes much from you. In your generous commitment, do
not let it down. "What you have received freely, give freely"
(Matthew 10:8).
Look
at the One they Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
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