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Pope Benedict XVI- Homilies |
"His
Was a Suffering Lived to the End for Love and With Love"
Fifth Anniversary of Pope John Paul II's Death
H.H. Benedict XVI
March 29, 2010
Venerated Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
We are gathered around the altar, near the tomb of the Apostle
Peter, to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice for the eternal repose of
the chosen soul of Venerable John Paul II, on the fifth anniversary
of his death. We do so a few days early, because this year April 2
is Good Friday. We are, in any case, in Holy Week -- a context that
is much more propitious for recollection and prayer, in which the
Liturgy makes us relive more intensely the last days of Jesus'
earthly life. I wish to express my gratitude to all of you who are
taking part in this Mass. I greet cordially the cardinals -- in a
special way Archbishop Stanislao Dziwisz -- the bishops, priests,
men and women religious, as well as the pilgrims gathered purposely
from Poland, and so many young people and numerous faithful who did
not want to miss this celebration.
In the first biblical reading that was proclaimed, the prophet
Isaiah presents the figure of a "servant of God," who is at the same
time his chosen one, in whom he is well pleased. The servant will
act with unbreakable firmness, with an energy that does not fail
until he has realized the task that was assigned to him. However, he
will not have at his disposition those human means that seem
indispensable to act on such a grandiose plane. He will present
himself with the force of conviction, and it will be the Spirit that
God has put in him that will give him the capacity to act with
meekness and strength, assuring him of final success.
That which the inspired prophet says of the servant, we can apply to
our beloved John Paul II: the Lord called him to his service and, in
entrusting to him tasks of ever greater responsibility, also
accompanied him with his grace and his continual assistance. During
his long Pontificate, he spent himself in proclaiming the law with
firmness, without weakness or hesitation, above all when he had to
face resistance, hostility and rejection. He knew he was taken by
the hand of the Lord, and this enabled him to exercise a very fecund
ministry, for which, once again, we give fervid thanks to God.
The Gospel just proclaimed takes us to Bethany, where, as the
evangelist notes, Lazarus, Martha and Mary offered a supper to the
Master (John 12:1). This banquet in the home of three friends of
Jesus is characterized by presentiments of imminent death: the six
days before Passover, the suggestion of the traitor Judas, Jesus'
reply that recalls one of the pious acts of burial anticipated by
Mary, the hint that they will not always have him with them, the
intention to eliminate Lazarus, in which is reflected the will to
kill Jesus.
In this evangelical account, there is a gesture to which I wish to
draw your attention: Mary of Bethany "took a pound of costly
ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his
feet with her hair" (12:3). Mary's gesture is the expression of
great faith and love toward the Lord: for her it was not enough to
wash the feet of the Master with water, but she spreads them with a
great quantity of precious perfume that -- as Judas will argue --
could have been sold for three hundred denari; she does not, thus,
anoint the head, as was the custom, but the feet: Mary offers Jesus
all that she has that is most precious and with a gesture of
profound devotion. Love does not calculate, does not measure, is not
concerned about expenses, puts no barriers, but is able to give with
joy, seeks only the other's good, overcomes stinginess, miserliness,
resentment, the narrow-mindedness that man bears at times in his
heart.
Mary places herself at Jesus' feet in a humble attitude of service,
as the Master himself will do in the Last Supper, when -- the fourth
Gospel tells us -- he "rose from supper, laid aside his garments,
and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin,
and began to wash the disciples feet" (John 13:4-5), because, he
says, "you also should do as I have done to you" (v. 15): the rule
of Jesus' community is that of love that is able to serve to the
point of giving one's life.
And the perfume spreads: "and the house was filled," notes the
evangelist, "with the fragrance of the ointment" (John 12:3). The
meaning of Mary's gesture, which is a response to the infinite love
of God, is diffused among all the guests; every gesture of charity
and of genuine devotion to Christ does not remain a personal event,
does not concern only the relationship between the individual and
the Lord, but concerns the whole body of the Church, it is
contagious: It infuses love, joy, light.
"He came to his own home, and his own people received him not" (John
1:11): Contrasted with Mary's act are the words and attitude of
Judas that, under the pretext of the help to be given to the poor,
hides egoism and the falsehood of the man shut-in on himself,
chained by the greed of possession, who does not let himself be
enveloped by the good perfume of divine love. Judas calculates where
one cannot calculate, he enters with a mean spirit where the space
is one of love, of gift, of total dedication. And Jesus, who up to
that moment has been silent, intervenes in favor of Mary's gesture:
"Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial" (John
12:7).
Jesus understands that Mary intuited the love of God and indicates
that now his "hour" is drawing close, the "hour" in which Love will
find its supreme expression on the wood of the cross: the Son of God
gives himself, so that man can have life, he descends into the abyss
of death to take man to the heights of God, he is not afraid to
humble himself "and become obedient unto death, even death on a
cross" (Philippians 2:8). In the sermon in which he comments on this
evangelical passage, St. Augustine addresses to each one of us, with
pressing words, the invitation to enter into this circuit of love,
imitating Mary's gesture and putting ourselves concretely in the
following of Jesus. Augustine writes: "Every soul that wishes to be
faithful, unites itself to Mary to anoint with precious perfume the
feet of the Lord. [...] Anoint the feet of Jesus: Follow the
footprints of the Lord by leading a worthy life. Dry his feet with
your hair: If there is something superfluous, give it to the poor,
and you will have dried the feet of the Lord" (In Ioh. evang., 50,
6).
Dear brothers and sisters! The whole life of the Venerable John Paul
II unfolded in the sign of this charity, of this capacity to give
himself in a generous way, without reservations, without measure,
without calculation. What moved him was love for Christ, to whom he
had consecrated his life, a superabundant and unconditional love. It
is precisely because he drew ever closer to God in love, that he was
able to make himself a fellow wayfarer with the man of today,
spreading in the world the perfume of the love of God. Whoever had
the joy of knowing and frequenting him, was able to touch with the
hand how alive was in him the certainty "of contemplating the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living," as we heard in the
Responsorial Psalm (26/27:13); a certainty that accompanied him in
the course of his existence and that, in a particular way, was
manifested during the last period of his pilgrimage on this earth:
the progressive physical weakness, in fact, never affected his
rock-like faith, his luminous hope, his fervent charity. He let
himself be consumed by Christ, for the Church, for the whole world:
his was a suffering lived to the end for love and with love.
In the homily for the 25th anniversary of his Pontificate, he
confided having felt strongly in his heart, at the moment of the
election, Jesus' question to Peter: "Do you love me? Do you love me
more than these ...? " (John 21:15-16); and he adds: "Every day
within my heart the same dialogue takes place between Jesus and
Peter. In spirit, I fix my gaze on the benevolent look of the Risen
Christ. He, however, aware of my human frailty, encourages me to
respond with trust as Peter: "Lord, you know everything; you know
that I love you" (John 21:17). And then he invites me to assume the
responsibility that He himself has entrusted to me" (Oct. 16, 2003).
They are words charged with faith and love, love of God, who
conquers all."
[In Polish, he said:]
Finally I wish to greet the Poles here present. Many of you have
gathered around the tomb of the Venerable Servant of God with a
special sentiment, as daughters and sons of the same land, raised in
the same culture and spiritual tradition. The life and work of John
Paul II, great Pole, can be a reason for pride for you.
However, it is necessary for you to remember that this is also a
great call to be faithful witnesses of the faith, the hope and the
love, that he taught us uninterruptedly. Through the intercession of
John Paul II, may the Lord's blessing always sustain you.
[He continued in Italian]
While we continue the Eucharistic celebration, being on the point of
living the glorious days of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of
the Lord, let us entrust ourselves with confidence -- following the
example of the Venerable John Paul II -- to the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, so that she will sustain
us in the commitment to be, in every circumstance, tireless apostles
of her divine Son and of his merciful Love. 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
