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Pope Benedict XVI- Homilies |
 "Why Have You Wounded the Unity of My Body?"
Homily
at Conclusion of Unity Week
H.H. Benedict XVI
January 25, 2009
www.zenit.org
The following homily was given at the celebration of vespers
for the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. With this ceremony,
held at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity concluded. Representatives of
Churches and ecclesial communities of Rome were present at the
event.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is a great joy every time we find ourselves gathered at the
tomb of the Apostle Paul on the liturgical feast of his
conversion to conclude the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. I
greet all of you with affection. I greet in a special way
Cardinal Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, the abbot and the
community of monks who are hosting us. I also greet Cardinal
Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity. I greet along with him the lord cardinals who
are present, the bishops and the pastors of the various Churches
and ecclesial communities gathered here this evening.
A special word of recognition goes to those who worked together
in preparing the prayer guides, experiencing firsthand the
exercise of reflecting and meeting in listening to each other
and, all together, to the Word of God.
St. Paul's conversion offers us a model that shows us the way to
full unity. Unity in fact requires a conversion: from division
to communion, from broken unity to healed and full unity. This
conversion is the gift of the Risen Christ, as it was for St.
Paul. We heard this from the Apostle himself in the reading
proclaimed just a moment ago: "By the grace of God I am what I
am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).
The same Lord, who called Saul on the road to Damascus,
addresses himself to the members of the Church -- which is one
and holy -- and calling each by name asks: Why have you divided
me? Why have you wounded the unity of my body?
Conversion implies two dimensions. In the first step we
recognize our faults in the light of Christ, and this
recognition becomes sorrow and repentance, desire for a new
beginning. In the second step we recognize that this new road
cannot come from us. It consists in letting ourselves be
conquered by Christ. As St. Paul says: "I continue my pursuit in
hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been conquered
by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12).
Conversion demands our yes, my "pursuit"; it is not ultimately
my activity, but a gift, a letting ourselves be formed by
Christ; it is death and resurrection. This is why St. Paul does
not say: "I converted" but rather "I died" (Galatians 2:19), I
am a new creature. In reality, St. Paul's conversion was not a
passage from immorality to morality, from a mistaken faith to a
right faith, but it was a being conquered by Christ: the
renunciation of his own perfection; it was the humility of one
who puts himself without reserve in the service of Christ for
the brethren. And only in this renunciation of ourselves, in
this conforming to Christ are we also united among ourselves; we
become "one" in Christ. It is communion with the risen Christ
that gives us unity.
 We
can observe an interesting analogy with the dynamic of St.
Paul's conversion also in meditating on the biblical text of the
prophet Ezekiel (37:15-28), which was chosen as a basis for our
prayer this year. In it, in fact, the symbolic gesture is
presented of two sticks being joined into one in the prophet's
hand, who represents God's future action with this gesture. It
is the second part of Chapter 37, which in the first part
contains the celebrated vision of the dry bones and the
resurrection of Israel, worked by the Spirit of God.
How can we not see that the prophetic sign of the reunification
of the people of Israel is placed after the great symbol of the
dry bones brought to life by the Spirit? There follows from this
a theological pattern analogous to that of St. Paul's
conversion: God's power is first and he works the resurrection
as a new creation by his Spirit. This God, who is the Creator
and is able to resurrect the dead, is also able to bring a
people divided in two back to unity.
Paul -- like Ezekiel but more than Ezekiel -- becomes the chosen
instrument of the preaching of the unity won by Christ through
his cross and resurrection: the unity between the Jews and the
pagans, to form one new people. Christ's resurrection extends
the boundary of unity: not only the unity of the tribes of
Israel, but the unity of the Jews and the pagans (cf. Ephesians
2; John 10:16); the unification of humanity dispersed by sin and
still more the unity of all who believe in Christ.
We owe this choice of the passage from the prophet Ezekiel to
our Korean brothers, who felt the call of this biblical passage
strongly, both as Koreans and Christians. In the division of the
Jewish people into two kingdoms they saw themselves reflected,
the children of one land who, on account of political events,
have been divided, north from south. Their human experience
helped them to better understand the drama of the division among
Christians.
Now, from this Word of God, chosen by our Korean brothers and
proposed to all, a truth full of hope emerges: God allows his
people a new unity, which must be a sign and an instrument of
reconciliation and peace, even at the historical level, for all
nations. The unity that God gives his Church, and for which we
pray, is naturally communion in the spiritual sense, in faith
and in charity; but we know that this unity in Christ is also
the ferment of fraternity in the social sphere, in relations
between nations and for the whole human family. It is the leaven
of the Kingdom of God that makes all the dough rise (cf. Matthew
13:33).
In this sense, the prayer that we offer up in these days, taking
our cue from the prophecy of Ezekiel, has also become
intercession for the different situations of conflict that
afflict humanity at present. There where human words become
powerless, because the tragic noise of violence and arms
prevails, the prophetic power of the Word of God does not weaken
and it repeats to us that peace is possible, and that we must be
instruments of reconciliation and peace. For this reason our
prayer for unity and peace always requires confirmation by
courageous gestures of reconciliation among us Christians.
Once again I think of the Holy Land: how important it is that
the faithful who live there, and the pilgrims who travel there,
offer a witness to everyone that diversity of rites and
traditions need not be an obstacle to mutual respect and to
fraternal charity. In the legitimate diversity of different
positions we must seek unity in faith, in our fundamental "yes"
to Christ and to his one Church. And thus the differences will
no longer be an obstacle that separates but richness in the
multiplicity of the expressions of a common faith.
I would like to conclude this reflection of mine with a
reference to an event that we older people here have certainly
not forgotten. In this place on Jan. 25, 1959, exactly 50 years
ago, Blessed Pope John XXIII announced for this first time his
desire to convoke "an ecumenical Council for the universal
Church" (AAS LI [1959], p. 68). He made this announcement to the
cardinals in the chapter room of the Monastery of St. Paul,
after having celebrated solemn Mass in the Basilica.
From the providential decision, suggested to my venerable
predecessor, according to his firm conviction, by the Holy
Spirit, there also derived a fundamental contribution to
ecumenism, condensed in the decree "Unitatis Redintegratio." In
that document we read: "There can be no ecumenism worthy of the
name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the
inner life of our minds, from self-denial and an unstinted love
that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature
way" (7).
The attitude of interior conversion in Christ, of spiritual
renewal, of increased charity toward other Christians, created a
new situation in ecumenical relations. The fruits of theological
dialogues, with their convergences and with the more precise
identification of the differences that still remain, led to a
courageous pursuit in two directions: in the reception of what
was positively achieved and a renewed dedication to the future.
Opportunely, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity, which I thank for the service it renders to all the
disciples of the Lord, has recently reflected on the reception
and future of ecumenical dialogue. Such a reflection, if on one
hand rightly desires to emphasize what has already been
achieved, on the other hand intends to find new ways to continue
the relations between the Churches and the ecclesial Communities
in the present context.
The horizon of full unity remains open before us. It is an
arduous task, but it is exciting for those Christians who want
to live in harmony with the prayer of the Lord: "that all be one
so that the world believes" (John 17:21). The Second Vatican
Council explained to us "that human powers and capacities cannot
achieve this holy objective -- the reconciling of all Christians
in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ" ("Unitatis
redintegratio," 24).
Trusting in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ, and encouraged
by the significant steps made by the ecumenical movement, with
faith we invoke the Holy Spirit that he continue to illumine our
path. May the Apostle Paul, who worked so hard and suffered for
the unity of the mystical body of Christ, spur us on from
heaven; and may the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the unity of
the Church, accompany and sustain us.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
Look
at the One they Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
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