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Pope Benedict XVI- Audiences |
General Audience
"Alone I Could Not Carry Out This Task"
Address on 1st Anniversary of Pontificate
H.H. Benedict XVI
April 19, 2006
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
At the beginning of today's general audience which is taking place in
the joyful atmosphere of Easter, I would like to thank the Lord together
with you. After calling me, exactly a year ago, to serve the Church as
the Successor of the Apostle Peter -- thank you for your joy, thank you
for your applause -- he never fails to assist me with his indispensable
help.
How quickly time passes! A year has already elapsed since the cardinals
gathered in conclave and, in a way I found absolutely unexpected and
surprising, desired to choose my poor self to succeed the late and
beloved Servant of God, the great Pope John Paul II. I remember with
emotion my first impact with the faithful gathered in this same square,
from the central loggia of the basilica, immediately after my election.
That meeting is still impressed upon my mind and heart. It was followed
by many others that have given me an opportunity to experience the deep
truth of my words at the solemn concelebration with which I formally
began to exercise my Petrine ministry: "I too can say with renewed
conviction: I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth I
could never carry alone" (L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, April
27, 2005, p. 2).
And I feel more and more that alone I could not carry out this task,
this mission. But I also feel that you are carrying it with me: Thus, I
am in a great communion and together we can go ahead with the Lord's
mission. The heavenly protection of God and of the saints is an
irreplaceable support to me and I am comforted by your closeness, dear
friends, who do not let me do without the gift of your indulgence and
your love. I offer very warm thanks to all those who in various ways
support me from close at hand or follow me from afar in spirit with
their affection and their prayers. I ask each one to continue to support
me, praying to God to grant that I may be a gentle and firm Pastor of
his Church.
The Evangelist John says that precisely after his Resurrection Jesus
called Peter to tend his flock (cf. John 21:15,23). Who could have
humanly imagined then the development which was to mark that small group
of the Lord's disciples down the centuries?
Peter, together with the apostles and then their successors, first in
Jerusalem and later to the very ends of the earth, courageously spread
the Gospel message, whose fundamental and indispensable core consists in
the paschal mystery: the passion, the death and the resurrection of
Christ.
The Church celebrates this mystery at Easter, extending its joyous
resonance in the days that follow; she sings the alleluia for Christ's
triumph over evil and death.
The celebration of Easter in accordance with a date on the calendar,
Pope St. Leo the Great remarked, reminds us of the eternal feast that
surpasses all human time. Today's Easter, he noted further, is the
shadow of the future Easter. For this reason we celebrate it, to move on
from an annual celebration to a celebration that will last forever.
The joy of these days extends throughout the liturgical year and is
renewed especially on Sunday, the day dedicated to the memory of the
Lord's resurrection. On Sunday, as it were, the "little Easter" of every
week, the liturgical assembly gathered for holy Mass proclaims in the
Creed that Jesus rose on the third day, adding that we wait for "the
resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come."
This shows that the event of Jesus' death and resurrection constitutes
the center of our faith and that it is on this proclamation that the
Church is founded and develops.
St. Augustine recalled incisively: "Let us consider, dear friends, the
Resurrection of Christ: indeed, just as his Passion stood for our old
life, his Resurrection is a sacrament of new life. ... You have
believed, you have been baptized; the old life is dead, killed on the
Cross, buried in Baptism. The old life in which you lived is buried: The
new life emerges. Live well: Live life in such a way that when death
comes you will not die (Sermo Guelferb. 9, 3).
The Gospel accounts that mention the appearances of the Risen One
usually end with the invitation to overcome every uncertainty, to
confront the event with the Scriptures, to proclaim that Jesus, beyond
death, is alive forever, a source of new life for all who believe in
him.
This is what happened, for example, in the case of Mary Magdalene (cf.
John 20:11-18), who found the tomb open and empty and immediately feared
that the body of the Lord had been taken away. The Lord then called her
by name and at that point a deep change took place within her: Her
distress and bewilderment were transformed into joy and enthusiasm. She
promptly went to the apostles and announced to them: "I have seen the
Lord" (John 20:18).
Behold: Those who meet the risen Jesus are inwardly transformed; it is
impossible "to see" the Risen One without "believing" in him. Let us
pray that he will call each one of us by name and thus convert us,
opening us to the "vision" of faith.
Faith is born from the personal encounter with the Risen Christ and
becomes an impulse of courage and freedom that makes one cry to the
world: "Jesus is risen and alive for ever."
This is the mission of the Lord's disciples in every epoch and also in
our time: "If, then, you have been raised with Christ," St. Paul exhorts
us, "seek the things that are above. ... Set your minds on things that
are above, not on things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:1-2). This
does not mean cutting oneself off from one's daily commitments,
neglecting earthly realities; rather, it means reviving every human
activity with a supernatural breath, it means making ourselves joyful
proclaimers and witnesses of the resurrection of Christ, living for
eternity (cf. John 20:25; Luke 24:33-34).
Dear brothers and sisters, in the Pasch of his Only-begotten Son, God
fully revealed himself, his victorious power over the forces of death,
the power of Trinitarian Love. May the Virgin Mary, who was closely
associated with the Passion, death and Resurrection of the Son and at
the foot of the cross became the Mother of all believers, help us to
understand this mystery of love that changes hearts and makes us
experience fully the joy of Easter, so that we in turn may be able to
communicate it to the men and women of the third millennium.
To special groups
I offer a warm welcome to the newly ordained deacons of the Pontifical
Irish College and their families. I also greet the pilgrims from the
Diocese of Kerry. Upon all the English-speaking visitors, especially
those from Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and the United
States, I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in the Risen Lord.
My thoughts now go to the sick and to the newlyweds. For you, dear sick
people, may the resurrection of Christ be an inexhaustible source of
comfort and hope. And you, dear newlyweds, may you be witnesses of the
Risen Lord with your faithful conjugal love.
© Copyright 2006 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana [adapted]
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