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Pope Benedict XVI- Homily |
"The Lord Asks of You and Gives to You the Service of Love"
Papal
Homily at the Consistory
H.H. Benedict XVI
Vatican City
Saturday, November 24, 2007
www.zenit.org
Lord Cardinals,
Venerable Brothers of the Episcopate and Priesthood,
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today -- in this Vatican basilica, heart of the Christian world --
is renewed a significant and solemn ecclesial event: the ordinary
public consistory for the creation of 23 new cardinals with the
imposition of the biretta and the conferral of the title. It is an
event that every time awakens a special emotion, and not only in
those who with these rites are admitted to the College of Cardinals,
but in the whole Church, joyful over this eloquent sign of Catholic
unity.
The ceremony itself in its structure discloses the value of the task
that the new cardinals are called to perform, closely cooperating
with the Successor of Peter, and it invites the people of God to
pray that in their service, these brothers of ours always remain
faithful to Christ, even unto the sacrifice of life if it is
necessary, and let themselves be guided by his Gospel. For this we
gather around them with faith and raise up to God, first of all, our
prayerful thanksgiving.
In this climate of joy and intense spirituality I offer with
affection my greeting to each one of you, brothers, who from this
day forward are members of the College of Cardinals, chosen to be,
according to an ancient institution, the closest counselors and
co-workers of the Successor of Peter in guiding the Church.
I greet and thank Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, who, in your name
addressed courteous and devout sentiments to me, emphasizing at the
same time the significance and importance of the ecclesial event we
are experiencing. I desire, furthermore, to address a dutiful
thought to Bishop Ignacy Jez, whom we mourn, whom the God of every
grace called to himself, just before his nomination, to offer him a
very different crown: that of the glory of Christ. My cordial
greeting then goes to the lord cardinals who are present and also to
those who were not able to be with us physically, but who are
spiritually united with us. The celebration of the consistory is
always a providential occasion to offer “urbi et orbi” -- to the
city of Rome and to the whole world -- witness to that singular
unity that binds the cardinals to the Pope, Bishop of Rome. In such
solemn circumstances it is also dear to me to address a respectful
and deferential greeting to government representatives and leaders
who have gathered here from every part of the world, and to the
relatives, friends, priests, religious, and faithful of the
particular local Churches from which the new cardinals come.
Finally, I greet all those who have come here to pay their respects
to the new cardinals and to express in festive joy their esteem and
affection for them.
With today’s celebration, you, dear brothers, are with full rights
inserted into the venerable Church of Rome, whose shepherd is the
Successor of Peter. Thus in the College of Cardinals is revived the
ancient “presbyterium” of the Bishop of Rome, whose members, while
they carried out their pastoral and liturgical functions in the
various churches, did not neglect their precious work in the
fulfillment of those tasks connected with assisting the Pope in his
universal apostolic office. The times have changed and today the
great family of Christ’s disciples is spread across every continent
to the most remote corners of the earth. It speaks nearly all the
languages of the world and to it belong people of every culture. The
diversity of the College of Cardinals, which is accounted for by
geographical and cultural provenance, manifests this providential
growth and at the same time demonstrates the changed pastoral needs
to which the Pope must respond. Because of this, the universality,
the catholicity, of the Church, is well reflected in the composition
of the College of Cardinals: Many are pastors of diocesan
communities, others are in direct service of the Apostolic See, and
others have rendered meritorious service in specific pastoral
sectors.
Each one of you, dear and venerable newly created cardinals,
therefore represents a portion of the articulated Mystical Body of
Christ that is the Church everywhere diffused. I know what effort
and sacrifice is necessary today for the care of souls, but I know
the generosity that sustains your daily apostolic activity. For this
reason, in the circumstances in which we live, it is dear to me to
confirm to you my sincere appreciation of the service you have
faithfully given in many years of work in different spheres of
ecclesial ministry, service which now, with this elevation to the
cardinalate, you are called to accomplish with greater
responsibility, in the closest communion with the Bishop of Rome.
I now think with affection of the communities entrusted to your care
and, in a special way, of those that are most tried by suffering, by
challenges and difficulties of different sorts. Among these, how can
I not turn my gaze with apprehension and affection, in this moment
of joy, to the dear Christian communities of Iraq? These brothers
and sisters of ours in the faith are experiencing in their own flesh
the dramatic consequences of a long conflict and are living in an
ever more fragile and delicate political situation. Calling the
patriarch of the Chaldean Church to enter into the College of
Cardinals, I intended to express in a concrete way my spiritual
nearness and my affection for those populations. We would like, dear
and venerable brothers, together to reaffirm the solidarity of the
whole Church with the Christians of that beloved land and to invite
and to implore from the merciful God, for all peoples involved, the
longed-for coming of reconciliation and peace.
A short while ago we heard the Word of God that helps us better to
understand the solemn moment we are now experiencing. In the Gospel
passage, Jesus had just recalled for the third time the fate that
awaits him in Jerusalem, but the ambition of the disciples gets the
upper hand on the fear that for a moment assailed them. After
Peter’s confession at Caesarea and the discussion along the way
about who was greatest, ambition drives the sons of Zebedee to claim
for themselves the best positions in the messianic kingdom at the
end of time. In the race for privileges, the two know well what they
want, just as the other 10 do, despite their “righteous”
indignation. In truth, however, they do not know what they are
asking for. It is Jesus who makes them understand, speaking in very
different terms of the “service” that awaits them. He corrects the
coarse conception of merit that they have, according to which man
can acquire rights before God.
The Evangelist Mark reminds us, dear and venerable brothers, that
every true disciple of Christ can aspire for one thing only: to
share in his passion without claiming recompense. The Christian is
called to assume the condition of “servant,” following in the
footsteps of Jesus, spending his life for others in a gratuitous and
disinterested way. It is not the quest for power and success but the
humble gift of self for the good of the Church that should
characterize each gesture and each word of ours. True Christian
greatness, in fact, does not consist in dominating but in serving.
Today Jesus repeats to each of us that he “did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life for the many” (Mark 10:45). This
is the ideal that must orient your service. Dear brothers, in
entering the College of Cardinals, the Lord asks of you and gives to
you the service of love: love for God, love for his Church, love for
our brothers, with a total and unconditional dedication, “usque ad
sanguinis effusionem” [even to the shedding of blood], as is said in
the formula for the imposition of the biretta and as is shown in the
garments that you will put on.
Be apostles of God, who is love, and witnesses of evangelical hope:
The Christian people expects this of you. Today’s ceremony
highlights the great responsibility that weighs on each of you,
venerable and dear brothers, and which finds confirmation in the
words of the Apostle Peter that we have just heard: “Adore the Lord,
Christ, in your hearts, always ready to answer whoever asks you the
reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). Such a
responsibility does not exempt you from risks, rather, as St. Peter
adds, “It is better, if God wills it, to suffer for doing the good
than for doing evil” (1 Peter 3:17). Christ asks you to confess his
truth before men, to embrace and share his cause; and to accomplish
all of this “with sweetness and respect, with a good conscience” (1
Peter 3:1-16), that is, with that interior humility that is a fruit
of cooperation with the grace of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, tomorrow, in this same basilica, I will
have the joy of celebrating the Eucharist of Christ the King of the
Universe, together with the new cardinals, and I will give them the
ring. It will be a very important and opportune occasion to reaffirm
our unity in Christ and to renew our common will to serve him with
total generosity. Accompany them with your prayer, so that they will
respond to the gift given with complete and constant dedication. To
Mary, Queen of the Apostles, we turn our confidence. May her
spiritual presence today in this singular cenacle be a pledge for
the new cardinals and for all of us a constant effusion of the Holy
Spirit that guides the Church on her way in history. Amen!
[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
Mary
