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Pope Benedict XVI- Homilies |
"God
Never Annuls That Which Is Human, but He Transforms It"
Homily at St. Pio of Pietrelcina Church
H.H. Benedict XVI
San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
June 21, 2009
Dear brothers and sisters!
In the heart of my pilgrimage to this place, where everything speaks
of the life and the holiness of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, I have the
joy of celebrating for you and with you the Eucharist, the mystery
that was the center of his whole existence: the origin of his
vocation, the strength of his testimony, the consecration of his
sacrifice. With great affection I greet all of you, those who have
gathered here in such numbers, and those connected with us through
radio and television. I greet, first of all, Archbishop Domenico
Umberto D'Ambrosio, who, after years of faithful service to the
diocesan community, is preparing to take on the care of the
Archdiocese of Lecce. I thank him warmly also because he has made
himself the spokesman of your affections. I greet the other bishop
concelebrants. A special greeting goes to the Capuchin friars with
the minister general, Fra Mauro Jöhri, the definitor general, the
provincial minister, the father guardian of the convent, the rector
of the shrine and the Capuchin fraternity of San Giovanni Rotondo. I
also greet with great gratitude those who give their contribution in
the service of the sanctuary and adjoining works; I greet the civil
and military authorities; I greet the priests, deacons, male and
female religious and all the faithful. I dedicate an affectionate
thought to those in the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, to the
lonely and to all the inhabitants of your city.
We have just heard the Gospel of the calmed storm, which was
preceded by a short but incisive text of the Book of Job, where God
reveals himself as the Lord of the sea. Jesus threatened the wind
and ordered the sea to calm itself; he addresses it as if it was
identified with the diabolical power. Indeed, according to what we
hear from the first reading and Psalm 106/107, the sea in the Bible
is regarded as a threatening, chaotic, and potentially destructive
element, that only God, the Creator, can dominate, govern and
silence.
But there is another force -- a positive force -- that moves the
world, able to transform and renew creation: the strength of the
"love of Christ," ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ (2 Cor 5:14 ) -- as St. Paul
calls it in the Second Letter to the Corinthians -- not essentially
a cosmic force, but divine, transcendent. It acts on the universe
but also, in itself, the love of Christ is a power that is "other,"
and this, his transcendent otherness, the Lord has manifested in his
Passover, the "sanctity" of the "way" chosen by him to liberate us
from the domination of evil, as was done by the exodus from Egypt,
when he brought the Jews out through the waters of the Red Sea. "O
God -- says the Psalmist -- holy is your way ... On the sea your
way, / your paths over the great waters" (Psalms 77/76, 14:20). In
the paschal mystery, Jesus has passed through the abyss of death,
since God so willed to renew the world: through the death and
resurrection of his Son "slain for all," so that all may live for
him who has died and risen for them" (2 Cor 5, 16).
The solemn gesture of calming the stormy sea is clearly a sign of
the lordship of Christ over the negative powers and leads us to
think of his divinity: "Who is this -- the disciples ask stupefied
and terrified -- that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mk
4:41). Theirs is not yet a strong faith; it is taking shape; it is a
mixture of fear and trust; Jesus' trusting abandonment to the Father
is, on the contrary, total and pure. Because of this he sleeps
during the storm, completely safe in the arms of God. But a time
will come when even Jesus will taste anxiety and fear: When his hour
comes, he will feel upon himself the entire burden of the sins of
humanity, like a gigantic wave that is about to crash down upon him.
That will truly be a terrible storm, not cosmic, but spiritual. It
will be the last, extreme assault of evil against the Son of God.
But in that hour Jesus did not doubt the power and presence of God
the Father, even if he had to experience the full distance of hatred
from love, of lies from truth, of sin from grace. He experienced
this tragedy in himself in a lacerating way, especially in the
Garden of Gethsemane, before the arrest, and then during the entire
Passion, until his death on the cross. In that hour, Jesus was, on
the one hand, one with the Father, fully abandoned to him, and on
the other, in as much as he was in solidarity with sinners, he was
as one separated from him and felt abandoned by him.
Some saints have lived intensely and personally this experience of
Jesus. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina is one of them. A simple man of
humble origins, "seized by Christ" (Phil. 3:12) -- as the Apostle
Paul writes of himself -- to make of him an instrument chosen by the
perennial power of his cross: power of love for souls, of
forgiveness and of reconciliation, of spiritual paternity, of
effective solidarity with those who suffer. The stigmata, which
marked his body, united him closely to the Crucified and Risen One.
A true follower of St. Francis of Assisi, he made his own, like the
Poverello, the experience of the Apostle Paul which he describes in
his letters: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20), or: "in us death is at
work, but in you life" (2 Cor 5, 12). This does not mean alienation,
loss of personality: God never annuls that which is human, but he
transforms it with his Spirit and he ordains it to the service of
his plan of salvation. Padre Pio kept his natural gifts, and even
his own temperament, but he offered everything to God, who has been
able to freely use them to extend the work of Christ: to proclaim
the Gospel, forgive sins and heal the sick in body and spirit.
As it was for Jesus, the real struggle, the radical combat Padre Pio
had to sustain, was not against earthly enemies, but against the
spirit of evil (cf. Ephesians 6, 12). The biggest "storms" that
threatened him were the assaults of the devil, against which he
defended himself with "the armor of God" with "the shield of faith"
and "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians
6:11,16,17). Remaining united to Jesus, he always kept in mind the
depths of the human drama, and because of this he offered himself
and offered his many sufferings, and he knew how to spend himself in
the care and relief of the sick, a privileged sign of God's mercy,
of his kingdom which is coming, indeed, which is already in the
world, of the victory of love and life over sin and death. Guide
souls and relieve suffering: thus we can sum up the mission of St.
Pio of Pietrelcina, as the servant of God, Pope Paul VI said about
him: "He was a man of prayer and suffering" (To the Capuchin Chapter
Fathers, 20 February 1971).
Dear friends, Capuchin Friars Minor, members of prayer groups and
all the faithful of San Giovanni Rotondo, you are the heirs of Padre
Pio, and the inheritance that he left for you is holiness. In one of
his letters he writes: "It seems that Jesus has no need for your
hands other than to sanctify your soul" (Epist. II, p. 155). That
was always his first concern, his priestly and fatherly concern:
that people return to God, that they would experience his mercy,
and, inwardly renewed, that they would rediscover the beauty and joy
of being a Christian, of living in communion with Jesus, of
belonging to his Church and of practicing the Gospel. Padre Pio
attracted others to the path of holiness by his own testimony,
showing by example the "track" that leads to it: prayer and charity.
First of all prayer. Like all great men of God, Padre Pio had
himself become prayer, soul and body. His days were a living rosary,
that is, a continuous meditation and assimilation of the mysteries
of Christ in spiritual union with the Virgin Mary. This explains the
unusual presence within him of supernatural gifts and of human
existence. And everything had its climax in the celebration of Holy
Mass: there he joined himself fully to the crucified and risen Lord.
From prayer, as from an ever-living source, love flowed. The love
that he bore in his heart and transmitted to others was full of
tenderness, always attentive to the real situations of individuals
and families. Especially towards the sick and suffering, he
cultivated the predilection of the Heart of Christ, and precisely
from this origin the form of a great work dedicated to the "relief
of suffering" took shape. One cannot understand or properly
interpret this institution divorced from its inspirational source,
which is evangelical charity, which in turn, is inspired by prayer.
All this, my beloved brothers and sisters, Padre Pio today puts
before our eyes. The risks of activism and secularization are always
present; because of this my visit has also the purpose of confirming
you in your fidelity to the mission you inherited from your beloved
father. Many of you, men and women religious and laity, are so taken
by the complex duties required by the service to pilgrims, or to the
sick in the hospital, that you run the risk of neglecting that which
is truly needed: to listen to Christ to do the will of God. When you
see that you are close to running this risk, look to Padre Pio: to
his example, to his sufferings; and invoke his intercession, so that
he obtain from the Lord the light and strength that you need to
continue his mission permeated with love for God and fraternal love.
And from heaven may he continue to pursue the exquisite spiritual
fatherhood that has distinguished his earthly existence; may he
continue to accompany his confreres, his spiritual children and the
entire work that he has begun. Along with St. Francis, and the
Blessed Virgin, who he loved so much and made others love in this
world, may he watch over you all and protect you always. And then,
even in the storms that can suddenly rise up, you can experience the
breath of the Holy Spirit that is stronger than any contrary wind
and which pushes the boat of the Church and each of us. That is why
we must always live in serenity and cultivate joy in our hearts,
giving thanks to the Lord. "His love is forever" (Psalm resp.).
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
