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Pope Benedict XVI- Apostolic Journey to the Holy Land |
"let
us reaffirm our faith in the victory of life"
Homily at the Mount of Olives
H.H. Benedict XVI
Valley of Josaphat, in front of the basilica of Gethsemane and the
Mount of Olives
May 12, 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
"Christ is risen, alleluia!" With these words I greet you with
immense affection. I thank Patriarch Fouad Twal for his words of
welcome on your behalf, and before all else I express my joy at
being able to celebrate this Eucharist with you, the Church in
Jerusalem. We are gathered beneath the Mount of Olives, where our
Lord prayed and suffered, where he wept for love of this City and
the desire that it should know "the path to peace" (Lk 19:42), and
whence he returned to the Father, giving his final earthly blessing
to his disciples and to us. Today let us accept this blessing. He
gives it in a special way to you, dear brothers and sisters, who
stand in an unbroken line with those first disciples who encountered
the Risen Lord in the breaking of the bread, those who experienced
the outpouring of the Spirit in the Upper Room and those who were
converted by the preaching of Saint Peter and the other apostles. My
greeting also goes to all those present, and in a special way to
those faithful of the Holy Land who for various reasons were not
able to be with us today.
As the Successor of Saint Peter, I have retraced his steps in order
to proclaim the Risen Christ in your midst, to confirm you in the
faith of your fathers, and to invoke upon you the consolation which
is the gift of the Paraclete. Standing before you today, I wish to
acknowledge the difficulties, the frustration, and the pain and
suffering which so many of you have endured as a result of the
conflicts which have afflicted these lands, and the bitter
experiences of displacement which so many of your families have
known and -- God forbid -- may yet know. I hope my presence here is
a sign that you are not forgotten, that your persevering presence
and witness are indeed precious in God's eyes and integral to the
future of these lands. Precisely because of your deep roots in this
land, your ancient and strong Christian culture, and your unwavering
trust in God's promises, you, the Christians of the Holy Land, are
called to serve not only as a beacon of faith to the universal
Church, but also as a leaven of harmony, wisdom and equilibrium in
the life of a society which has traditionally been, and continues to
be, pluralistic, multiethnic and multireligious.
In today's second reading, the Apostle Paul tells the Colossians to
"seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God" (Col 3:1). His words resound with particular force
here, beneath the Garden of Gethsemani, where Jesus accepted the
chalice of suffering in complete obedience to the Father's will, and
where, according to tradition, he ascended to the right hand of the
Father to make perpetual intercession for us, the members of his
Body. Saint Paul, the great herald of Christian hope, knew the cost
of that hope, its price in suffering and persecution for the sake of
the Gospel, yet he never wavered in his conviction that Christ's
resurrection was the beginning of a new creation. As he tells us:
"When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, you too will be
revealed with him in glory!" (Col 3:4).
Paul's exhortation to "set our minds on the things that are above"
must constantly echo in our hearts. His words point us to the
fulfillment of faith's vision in that heavenly Jerusalem where, in
fidelity to the ancient prophecies, God will wipe away the tears
from every eye, and prepare a banquet of salvation for all peoples
(cf. Is 25:6-8; Rev 21:2-4).
This is the hope, this the vision, which inspires all who love this
earthly Jerusalem to see her as a prophecy and promise of that
universal reconciliation and peace which God desires for the whole
human family. Sadly, beneath the walls of this same City, we are
also led to consider how far our world is from the complete
fulfillment of that prophecy and promise. In this Holy City where
life conquered death, where the Spirit was poured out as the
first-fruits of the new creation, hope continues to battle despair,
frustration and cynicism, while the peace which is God's gift and
call continues to be threatened by selfishness, conflict, division
and the burden of past wrongs. For this reason, the Christian
community in this City which beheld the resurrection of Christ and
the outpouring of the Spirit must hold fast all the more to the hope
bestowed by the Gospel, cherishing the pledge of Christ's definitive
victory over sin and death, bearing witness to the power of
forgiveness, and showing forth the Church's deepest nature as the
sign and sacrament of a humanity reconciled, renewed and made one in
Christ, the new Adam.
Gathered beneath the walls of this city, sacred to the followers of
three great religions, how can we not turn our thoughts to
Jerusalem's universal vocation? Heralded by the prophets, this
vocation also emerges as an indisputable fact, a reality irrevocably
grounded in the complex history of this city and its people. Jews,
Muslims and Christians alike call this city their spiritual home.
How much needs to be done to make it truly a "city of peace" for all
peoples, where all can come in pilgrimage in search of God, and hear
his voice, "a voice which speaks of peace" (cf. Ps 85:8)!
Jerusalem, in fact, has always been a city whose streets echo with
different languages, whose stones are trod by people of every race
and tongue, whose walls are a symbol of God's provident care for the
whole human family. As a microcosm of our globalized world, this
City, if it is to live up to its universal vocation, must be a place
which teaches universality, respect for others, dialogue and mutual
understanding; a place where prejudice, ignorance and the fear which
fuels them, are overcome by honesty, integrity and the pursuit of
peace. There should be no place within these walls for narrowness,
discrimination, violence and injustice. Believers in a God of mercy
-- whether they identify themselves as Jews, Christians or Muslims
-- must be the first to promote this culture of reconciliation and
peace, however painstakingly slow the process may be, and however
burdensome the weight of past memories.
Here I would like to speak directly to the tragic reality -- which
cannot fail to be a source of concern to all who love this City and
this land -- of the departure of so many members of the Christian
community in recent years. While understandable reasons lead many,
especially the young, to emigrate, this decision brings in its wake
a great cultural and spiritual impoverishment to the City. Today I
wish to repeat what I have said on other occasions: in the Holy Land
there is room for everyone! As I urge the authorities to respect, to
support and to value the Christian presence here, I also wish to
assure you of the solidarity, love and support of the whole Church
and of the Holy See.
Dear friends, in the Gospel we have just heard, Saint Peter and
Saint John run to the empty tomb, and John, we are told, "saw and
believed" (Jn 20:8). Here in the Holy Land, with the eyes of faith,
you, together with the pilgrims from throughout the world who throng
its churches and shrines, are blessed to "see" the places hallowed
by Christ's presence, his earthly ministry, his passion, death and
resurrection, and the gift of his Holy Spirit. Here, like the
Apostle Saint Thomas, you are granted the opportunity to "touch" the
historical realities which underlie our confession of faith in the
Son of God. My prayer for you today is that you continue, day by
day, to "see and believe" in the signs of God's providence and
unfailing mercy, to "hear" with renewed faith and hope the consoling
words of the apostolic preaching, and to "touch" the sources of
grace in the sacraments, and to incarnate for others their pledge of
new beginnings, the freedom born of forgiveness, the interior light
and peace which can bring healing and hope to even the darkest of
human realities.
In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, pilgrims in every century have
venerated the stone which tradition tells us stood before the
entrance to the tomb on the morning of Christ's resurrection. Let us
return frequently to that empty tomb. There let us reaffirm our
faith in the victory of life, and pray that every "heavy stone" that
stands before the door of our hearts, blocking our complete
surrender to the Lord in faith, hope and love, may be shattered by
the power of the light and life which shone forth from Jerusalem to
all the world that first Easter morn. Christ is risen, alleluia! He
is truly risen, alleluia!
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