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Pope
Benedict XVI - Homilies |
"The Eucharistic Sacrifice Has Always
Been at the Heart of Catholic Faith"
Homily at Westminster Cathedral
H.H. Benedict XVI
September 18, 2010
www.zenit.org
Dear Friends in Christ,
I greet all of you with joy in the Lord and
I thank you for your warm reception. I am
grateful to Archbishop Nichols for his words
of welcome on your behalf. Truly, in this
meeting of the Successor of Peter and the
faithful of Britain, "heart speaks unto
heart" as we rejoice in the love of Christ
and in our common profession of the Catholic
faith which comes to us from the Apostles. I
am especially happy that our meeting takes
place in this Cathedral dedicated to the
Most Precious Blood, which is the sign of
God's redemptive mercy poured out upon the
world through the passion, death and
resurrection of his Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ. In a particular way I greet the
Archbishop of Canterbury, who honours us by
his presence.
The visitor to this Cathedral cannot fail to
be struck by the great crucifix dominating
the nave, which portrays Christ's body,
crushed by suffering, overwhelmed by sorrow,
the innocent victim whose death has
reconciled us with the Father and given us a
share in the very life of God. The Lord's
outstretched arms seem to embrace this
entire church, lifting up to the Father all
the ranks of the faithful who gather around
the altar of the Eucharistic sacrifice and
share in its fruits. The crucified Lord
stands above and before us as the source of
our life and salvation, "the high priest of
the good things to come", as the author of
the Letter to the Hebrews calls him in
today's first reading (Heb 9:11).
It is in the shadow, so to speak, of this
striking image, that I would like to
consider the word of God which has been
proclaimed in our midst and reflect on the
mystery of the Precious Blood. For that
mystery leads us to see the unity between
Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, the
Eucharistic sacrifice which he has given to
his Church, and his eternal priesthood,
whereby, seated at the right hand of the
Father, he makes unceasing intercession for
us, the members of his mystical body.
Let us begin with the sacrifice of the
Cross. The outpouring of Christ's blood is
the source of the Church's life. Saint John,
as we know, sees in the water and blood
which flowed from our Lord's body the
wellspring of that divine life which is
bestowed by the Holy Spirit and communicated
to us in the sacraments (Jn 19:34; cf. 1 Jn
1:7; 5:6-7). The Letter to the Hebrews draws
out, we might say, the liturgical
implications of this mystery. Jesus, by his
suffering and death, his self-oblation in
the eternal Spirit, has become our high
priest and "the mediator of a new covenant"
(Heb 9:15). These words echo our Lord's own
words at the Last Supper, when he instituted
the Eucharist as the sacrament of his body,
given up for us, and his blood, the blood of
the new and everlasting covenant shed for
the forgiveness of sins (cf. Mk 14:24; Mt
26:28; Lk 22:20).
Faithful to Christ's command to "do this in
memory of me" (Lk 22:19), the Church in
every time and place celebrates the
Eucharist until the Lord returns in glory,
rejoicing in his sacramental presence and
drawing upon the power of his saving
sacrifice for the redemption of the world.
The reality of the Eucharistic sacrifice has
always been at the heart of Catholic faith;
called into question in the sixteenth
century, it was solemnly reaffirmed at the
Council of Trent against the backdrop of our
justification in Christ. Here in England, as
we know, there were many who staunchly
defended the Mass, often at great cost,
giving rise to that devotion to the Most
Holy Eucharist which has been a hallmark of
Catholicism in these lands.
The Eucharistic sacrifice of the Body and
Blood of Christ embraces in turn the mystery
of our Lord's continuing passion in the
members of his Mystical Body, the Church in
every age. Here the great crucifix which
towers above us serves as a reminder that
Christ, our eternal high priest, daily
unites our own sacrifices, our own
sufferings, our own needs, hopes and
aspirations, to the infinite merits of his
sacrifice. Through him, with him, and in
him, we lift up our own bodies as a
sacrifice holy and acceptable to God (cf.
Rom 12:1). In this sense we are caught up in
his eternal oblation, completing, as Saint
Paul says, in our flesh what is lacking in
Christ's afflictions for the sake of his
body, the Church (cf. Col 1:24). In the life
of the Church, in her trials and
tribulations, Christ continues, in the stark
phrase of Pascal, to be in agony until the
end of the world (Pensées, 553, éd.
Brunschvicg).
We see this aspect of the mystery of
Christ's precious blood represented, most
eloquently, by the martyrs of every age, who
drank from the cup which Christ himself
drank, and whose own blood, shed in union
with his sacrifice, gives new life to the
Church. It is also reflected in our brothers
and sisters throughout the world who even
now are suffering discrimination and
persecution for their Christian faith. Yet
it is also present, often hidden in the
suffering of all those individual Christians
who daily unite their sacrifices to those of
the Lord for the sanctification of the
Church and the redemption of the world. My
thoughts go in a special way to all those
who are spiritually united with this
Eucharistic celebration, and in particular
the sick, the elderly, the handicapped and
those who suffer mentally and spiritually.
Here too I think of the immense suffering
caused by the abuse of children, especially
within the Church and by her ministers.
Above all, I express my deep sorrow to the
innocent victims of these unspeakable
crimes, along with my hope that the power of
Christ's grace, his sacrifice of
reconciliation, will bring deep healing and
peace to their lives. I also acknowledge,
with you, the shame and humiliation which
all of us have suffered because of these
sins; and I invite you to offer it to the
Lord with trust that this chastisement will
contribute to the healing of the victims,
the purification of the Church and the
renewal of her age-old commitment to the
education and care of young people. I
express my gratitude for the efforts being
made to address this problem responsibly,
and I ask all of you to show your concern
for the victims and solidarity with your
priests.
Dear friends, let us return to the
contemplation of the great crucifix which
rises above us. Our Lord's hands, extended
on the Cross, also invite us to contemplate
our participation in his eternal priesthood
and thus our responsibility, as members of
his body, to bring the reconciling power of
his sacrifice to the world in which we live.
The Second Vatican Council spoke eloquently
of the indispensable role of the laity in
carrying forward the Church's mission
through their efforts to serve as a leaven
of the Gospel in society and to work for the
advancement of God's Kingdom in the world
(cf. Lumen Gentium, 31; Apostolicam
Actuositatem, 7). The Council's appeal to
the lay faithful to take up their baptismal
sharing in Christ's mission echoed the
insights and teachings of John Henry Newman.
May the profound ideas of this great
Englishman continue to inspire all Christ's
followers in this land to conform their
every thought, word and action to Christ,
and to work strenuously to defend those
unchanging moral truths which, taken up,
illuminated and confirmed by the Gospel,
stand at the foundation of a truly humane,
just and free society.
How much contemporary society needs this
witness! How much we need, in the Church and
in society, witnesses of the beauty of
holiness, witnesses of the splendour of
truth, witnesses of the joy and freedom born
of a living relationship with Christ! One of
the greatest challenges facing us today is
how to speak convincingly of the wisdom and
liberating power of God's word to a world
which all too often sees the Gospel as a
constriction of human freedom, instead of
the truth which liberates our minds and
enlightens our efforts to live wisely and
well, both as individuals and as members of
society.
Let us pray, then, that the Catholics of
this land will become ever more conscious of
their dignity as a priestly people, called
to consecrate the world to God through lives
of faith and holiness. And may this increase
of apostolic zeal be accompanied by an
outpouring of prayer for vocations to the
ordained priesthood. For the more the lay
apostolate grows, the more urgently the need
for priests is felt; and the more the
laity's own sense of vocation is deepened,
the more what is proper to the priest stands
out. May many young men in this land find
the strength to answer the Master's call to
the ministerial priesthood, devoting their
lives, their energy and their talents to
God, thus building up his people in unity
and fidelity to the Gospel, especially
through the celebration of the Eucharistic
sacrifice.
Dear friends, in this Cathedral of the Most
Precious Blood, I invite you once more to
look to Christ, who leads us in our faith
and brings it to perfection (cf. Heb 12:2).
I ask you to unite yourselves ever more
fully to the Lord, sharing in his sacrifice
on the Cross and offering him that
"spiritual worship" (Rom 12:1) which
embraces every aspect of our lives and finds
expression in our efforts to contribute to
the coming of his Kingdom. I pray that, in
doing so, you may join the ranks of faithful
believers throughout the long Christian
history of this land in building a society
truly worthy of man, worthy of your nation's
highest traditions.
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice
Vaticana
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