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Pope Benedict XVI- Homilies |
"Mary Shines on the Sea of Life and History as a Star of Hope"
Homily
at Shrine of Mary, De Finibus Terrae
Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy
H.H. Benedict XVI
June 14, 2008
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
My Visit in Apulia, the second after the Eucharistic Congress in
Bari, begins as a Marian pilgrimage, on this extreme tip of
Italy and Europe, at the Shrine of St Mary de finibus terrae.
With great joy I address my affectionate greeting to you all. I
warmly greet Bishop Vito De Grisantis for having invited me and
for his cordial welcome; together with him I greet the other
Bishops of the Region, in particular Archbishop Cosmo Francesco
Ruppi of Lecce, as well as all the priests and deacons,
consecrated persons and all the faithful. With gratitude I greet
Minister Raffaele Fitto, who is representing the Italian
Government, and the various civil and military Authorities
present.
In this place, so important historically for devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, I wanted the liturgy to be dedicated to
her, Star of the Sea and Star of Hope. "Ave, maris stella, /
Dei Mater alma, / atque semper virgo, / felix caeli porta!".
The words of this ancient hymn are a greeting which in some way
echoes that of the Angel at Nazareth. All Marian titles, in
fact, have as it were budded and blossomed from that first name
with which the heavenly messenger addressed the Virgin: "Hail,
full of grace" (Lk 1: 28). We heard it in St Luke's Gospel, most
appropriately because this Shrine - as the memorial tablet above
the central door of the atrium attests - is called after the
Most Holy Virgin of the "Annunciation". When God called Mary
"full of grace" the hope of salvation for the human race was
enkindled: a daughter of our people found grace in the Lord's
eyes, he chose her as Mother of the Redeemer. In the simplicity
of Mary's home, in a poor village of Galilee, the solemn
prophecy of salvation began to be fulfilled: "I will put enmity
between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gn 3:
15). Therefore the Christian people have made their own the
canticle of praise that the Jews raised to Judith and that just
a little while ago we prayed as a Responsorial Psalm: "O
daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women
on earth" (Jdt 13: 18). Without violence but with the meek
courage of her "yes", the Virgin freed us, not from an earthly
enemy but from the ancient adversary, by giving a human body to
the One who was to crush his head once and for all.
This is why Mary shines on the sea of life and history as a Star
of Hope. She does not shine with her own light, but reflects the
light of Christ, the Sun who appeared on humanity's horizon so
that in following the Star of Mary we can steer ourselves on the
journey and keep on the route towards Christ, especially in dark
and stormy moments. The Apostle Peter was well acquainted with
this experience because he had lived it in the first person. One
night, while he was crossing the Sea of Galilee with the other
disciples, he was caught in a storm. Their boat, at the mercy of
the waves, was unable to sail on. Walking on the waters, Jesus
came to them at that very moment and asked Peter to get out of
the boat and walk towards him. Peter took a few steps on the
waves but then felt himself sinking and cried out: "Lord, save
me!". Jesus grasped him by the hand and he brought him to safety
(cf. Mt 14: 24-33). This episode later proved to be a sign of
the trial that Peter would have to pass through at the time of
Jesus' Passion. When the Lord was arrested, he was afraid and
denied him three times: he was overcome by the storm. But when
his eyes met Christ's gaze, God's mercy renewed him and, causing
him to dissolve in tears, raised him from his fall.
I have wished to recall the story of St Peter because I know
that this place and your whole Church have a special link with
the Prince of the Apostles. Tradition credits him with the first
proclamation of the Gospel in this land, as your Bishop recalled
at the outset. The Fisherman "caught" by Jesus cast his nets as
far as here and today we give thanks for having been the object
of this "miraculous catch" that has lasted 2,000 years, a catch
that, exactly as St Peter wrote: "called [us] out of darkness
into the marvellous light [of God]" (cf. 1 Pt 2: 9). In order to
become fishers of men with Christ one first needs to be "caught"
by him. St Peter is a witness of this reality, as also is St
Paul, the great convert, the 2,000th anniversary of whose birth
we shall be celebrating in a few days. As Successor of Peter and
Bishop of the Church founded on the blood of these two
outstanding Apostles, I have come to confirm you in the faith of
Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of man and of the world.
Peter's faith and Mary's faith are combined at this Shrine. Here
one can draw from the double principle of the Christian
experience: Marian and Petrine. Both, together, help us, dear
brothers and sisters, to "start afresh from Christ", to renew
your faith so that it may respond to the demands of our time.
Mary teaches you to continue ceaselessly to listen to the Lord
in the silence of prayer, to welcome his word with generous
openness and the deep desire to offer yourselves, your actual
lives, to God so that by the power of the Holy Spirit his
eternal Word may "become flesh" once again today, in our
history. Mary will help you to follow Jesus faithfully and to
unite yourselves to him in the Sacrificial offering, to carry in
your hearts the joy of the Resurrection and to live in constant
docility to the Spirit of Pentecost. In a complimentary manner
St Peter too will teach you to feel and believe with the Church,
steadfast in the Catholic faith. He will bring you to have the
taste and passion for unity, communion and joy in walking
together with your Pastors. And, at the same time, you will
participate in the missionary concern to share the Gospel with
everyone, to take it to the ends of the earth.
"De finibus terrae": the name of this holy place is very
beautiful and evocative because it re-echoes one of Jesus' last
words to his disciples. Jutting out between Europe and the
Mediterranean, between the West and the East, it reminds us that
the Church has no boundaries, she is universal. And
geographical, cultural, ethnic, and even religious frontiers are
an invitation to the Church to evangelize with a view to
"communion in diversity". The Church was born at Pentecost, she
was born universal and her vocation is to speak all the world's
languages. The Church exists, according to her original vocation
and mission that were revealed to Abraham, to be a blessing to
benefit all the peoples of the earth (cf. Gn 12: 1-3); to be, in
the language of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, a sign
and instrument of unity for the entire human race (cf. Lumen
Gentium, n. 1). The Church in Apulia possesses a marked
vocation to be a bridge between peoples and cultures. This land
and this Shrine are effectively an "outpost" in this sense and I
was very pleased to note, both in your Bishop's letter and also
in his words today, how this sensitivity is alive among you and
perceived positively, with a genuine Gospel spirit.
Dear friends, we know well, because the Lord Jesus was very
clear about this, that the effectiveness of witness is
proportional to the intensity of love. It is pointless reaching
out to the ends of the earth if we do not love one another first
and help one another within the Christian community. The
exhortation of the Apostle Paul, which we listened to in the
Second Reading (Col 3: 12-17), is therefore not only fundamental
for the life of your ecclesial family but also for your
commitment to animate the social milieu. In fact, in a context
that is tending increasingly to encourage individualism, the
first service of the Church is that of educating in the social
sense, in attention for one's neighbour and in solidarity and
sharing. The Church, endowed by her Lord as she is with
continuously renewed spiritual energy, can also exercise a
positive influence at the social level because she fosters a
renewed humanity and open and constructive human relationships,
in respect and at the service, in the first place, of the least
and of the weakest.
Here in the Salento, as in all of Southern Italy, ecclesial
communities are places where the young generations can learn
hope, not as a utopia but rather as a tenacious confidence in
the power of goodness. Goodness wins through and although at
times it can seem to have been defeated by oppression and
cunning, in reality it continues to work in silence and
discretion, bearing fruit in the long term. This is Christian
social renewal, based on the transformation of consciences, on
moral formation and on prayer; yes, because prayer gives the
strength to believe and to fight for goodness even when humanly
it would tempt one to be discouraged and to withdraw. The
initiatives your Bishop mentioned at the start, those of the
Marcelline Sisters and of the Trinitarian Fathers, as well as
others that are being implemented in your territory, are
eloquent signs of this typically ecclesial style of human and
social promotion. At the same time, making the most of the
opportunity of the Civil Authorities' presence, I am pleased to
recall that the Christian community cannot and does not wish to
encroach upon the legitimate and rightful domains of the
Institutions; rather, it urges and supports them in their tasks
and always offers to collaborate with them for the good of all,
starting with the most unfavourable and difficult situations.
Lastly, my thoughts return to the Most Holy Virgin. From this
Shrine of St Mary de finibus terrae I would like to go on a
spiritual pilgrimage to the various Marian Shrines in the
Salento, true gems set in this peninsula, set like a bridge over
the sea. The Marian piety of the populations was formed under
the wonderful influence of the Basilian devotion to the
Theotokos, a devotion cultivated later by the sons of St
Benedict, St Dominic and St Francis, and expressed in the most
beautiful churches and simple holy chapels that are cared for
and preserved as signs of the rich religious and civil heritage
of your people. Let us therefore turn once again to you, Virgin
Mary, who stood unwavering at the foot of your Son's Cross. You
are a model of faith and hope in the power of truth and
goodness. With the words of the ancient hymn we invoke you:
"Break the fetters of the oppressed, / give light to the blind,
/ cast all evil from us, / beseech our every good". And,
extending our gaze to the horizon where heaven and sea meet, we
want to entrust to you the peoples who look out on the
Mediterranean and those of the whole world, invoking development
and peace for all: "Grant us peace in our day, / watch over our
way, / grant that we may see your Son, / in the fullness of joy
in heaven". Amen.
[Translation by ZENIT]
Look
at the One they Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
