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Pope Benedict XVI- Homilies |
"Courage!
Get on Your Feet, Continent of Africa"
Homily at the Close of the African Synod
H.H. Benedict XVI
October 25, 2009
The following is a translation of the homily Pope Benedict XVI
gave at the concluding Mass of the Second Special Assembly for
Africa of the Synod of Bishops. The three-week assembly considered
the theme "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation,
Justice and Peace."
Venerable brothers!
Dear brothers and sisters!
Here is a message of hope for Africa: We have just heard it from the
Word of God. It is the message that the Lord of history does not
tire of repeating to the oppressed and overwhelmed humanity of every
age and land, from the time that he revealed to Moses his will for
the Israelite slaves of Egypt: "I have witnessed the affliction of
my people … I have heard their cry … I know their suffering.
Therefore I have come down to rescue them … and lead them out of
that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk
and honey."
What is this land? Is it not perhaps the kingdom of reconciliation,
of justice and peace, to which the whole of mankind is called? God's
plan does not change. It is the same one that was prophesied by
Jeremiah, in the magnificent oracles called "The Book of
Consolation," from which the first reading is taken today. It is an
announcement of hope for the people of Israel, laid low by the
invasion of Nebuchadnezzar's army, by the devastation of Jerusalem
and the Temple and by the deportation in Babylon. It is a message of
joy for the remnant of the sons of Jacob that announces a future for
them, because the Lord will bring them back to their land by way of
a straight and smooth road. Persons in need of support, like the
blind man and the cripple, the pregnant woman and the one giving
birth, will experience the power of the Lord's tenderness: He is a
father for Israel, ready to take care of Israel as the firstborn
(cf. Jeremiah 31:7-9).
God's plan does not change. Through the centuries and the upheavals
of history, he always points to the same goal: the Kingdom of
freedom and of peace for all. And this implies his predilection for
those who are deprived of freedom and peace, for those whose dignity
as human persons is violated. We think in particular of the brothers
and sisters in African who suffer from poverty, disease, injustice,
war and violence, forced migrations.
These favored children of the heavenly Father are like the blind man
of the Gospel, Bartimaeus, who "sat begging by the road" (Mark
10:46) at the gates of Jericho. It is just along this road that
Jesus the Nazarene passes. It is the road that leads to Jerusalem,
where the Passover will be celebrated, his Passover sacrifice, to
which the Messiah goes for us. It is the road of his exodus, which
is also ours: it is the only road that leads to the land of
reconciliation, of justice and of peace.
The Lord meets Bartimaeus, who has lost his sight, on that road.
There paths meet and they become the one path. "Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!" the blind man confidently says. Jesus answers:
"Call him!" and adds: "What do you want me to do for you?" God is
light and the creator of light. Man is son of the light, made to see
the light, but he has lost his sight, and he finds himself forced to
beg. The Lord, who has made himself a beggar for our sake, passes by
him: hungry for our faith and our love. "What do you want me to do
for you?" God knows but asks; it wants that it be man who speaks.
He wants man to stand up on his feet, to rediscover the courage to
ask for what belongs to his dignity. The Father wants to hear from
the living voice of the son the free decision to see the light
again, that light for which he created him. "Master, that I can see
again!" And Jesus says to him: "'Go your way; your faith has saved
you.' And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the
way" (Mark 10:51-52).
Dear brothers, we give thanks because this "mysterious meeting
between our poverty and the grandeur" of God has been realized even
in this synodal assembly for Africa that concludes today. God has
renewed his call: "Courage! Get on your feet!" (Mark 10:49). And
also the Church that is in Africa, through her Pastors, who have
come from every country on the continent, from Madagascar and from
the other islands, has welcomed the message of hope and the light to
walk along the road that leads to the Kingdom of God. "Go, your
faith has saved you" (Mark 10:52).
Yes, the faith in Jesus Christ -- when it is well understood and
practiced -- guides men and nations to freedom in truth, or, to use
the three words of the Synod's theme, to reconciliation, to justice
and to peace.
Bartimaeus who, after he is healed, follows Jesus along the road, is
the image of humanity that, enlightened by faith, sets out on the
journey to the promised land. Bartimaeus, in turn, becomes a witness
of the light, recounting and showing in the first person that he has
been healed, renewed, reborn. This is the Church in the world: the
community of reconciled persons, workers for peace and justice;
"salt and light" in the midst of the society of men and the nations.
For this reason the Synod has forcefully reemphasized -- and has
manifested -- that the Church is the Family of God, in which there
cannot be ethnic, linguistic or cultural divisions. Moving
testimonies have shown us that, even in the darkest moments of human
history, the Holy Spirit is at work and transforms hearts of the
victims and persecutors so that they recognize each other as
brothers. The reconciled Church is a powerful leaven of
reconciliation in individual countries and in the whole African
continent.
The second reading offers us another perspective: the Church, the
community that follows Christ on the way of love, has a sacerdotal
form. The category of the priesthood, as interpretive key of the
mystery of Christ and, in consequence, the Church, was introduced
into the New Testament by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews.
His intuition has its origin in Psalm 110, cited in today’s passage,
where the Lord God, with a solemn pledge, assures the Messiah: "You
are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek"
(110:4). The reference, which recalls another, taken from Psalm 2,
in which the Messiah announces the Lord’s decree about him: "You are
my son, today I have begotten you" (2:7).
From these texts comes the attribution of a priestly character to
Jesus Christ, not in a generic sense, rather "according to the order
of Melchizedek." In other words the supreme and eternal priesthood
that is not of human but of divine origin. If every high priest "is
chosen from among men and is made their representative before God"
(Hebrews 5:1), only he, the Christ, the Son of God, possesses a
priesthood that is identified with his Person itself, a singular and
transcendent priesthood, on which universal salvation depends.
Christ has transmitted this priesthood of his to the Church through
the Holy Spirit; thus the Church has in herself, in each of her
members, in virtue of Baptism, a sacerdotal character. But -- here
is a decisive aspect -- Jesus Christ's priesthood is no longer
primarily a ritual one but an existential one. The ritual dimension
is not abolished, but, as clearly appears in the institution of the
Eucharist, it takes its significance from the paschal mystery, which
brings the ancient sacrifices to fulfillment and surpasses them.
Thus, a new sacrifice, a new priesthood and also a new temple are
born simultaneously and all three coincide with the mystery of Jesus
Christ. United to him through the Sacraments, the Church prolongs
his salvific action, permitting men to be restored through faith,
like the blind Bartimaeus. In this way the ecclesial community, in
the footsteps of her Master and Lord, is called to take the road of
service in a decisive manner, to share completely in the situation
of the men and women of her time, to witness before all to God's
love and thus to sow hope.
Dear friends, the Church transmits this message of salvation always
joining together evangelization and human promotion. Let us take,
for example, the historic encyclical "Populorum Progressio": that
which the Servant of God Paul VI elaborated in terms of reflection,
missionaries have realized and continue to realize in the field,
promoting a development respectful of local cultures and the
environment, according to a logic that now, after 40 years, appears
to be the only one able to bring the African people out of the
slavery of hunger and disease.
This means transmitting the announcement of hope according to a
"priestly form," that is, living the Gospel in the first person,
trying to translate it into projects and deeds consistent with the
fundamental dynamic principle that is love.
In these three weeks, the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the
Synod of Bishops has confirmed that which my venerable predecessor
John Paul II had already brought well into focus, and which I also
wanted to delve into in the recent encyclical "Caritas in Veritate":
It is necessary to renew the global model of development in such a
way that it is capable "of including within its range all peoples
and not just the better off" (no. 39).
What the social doctrine of the Church has always upheld on the
basis of its vision of man and society, today is also asked of
globalization (cf. ibid.). This -- it is necessary to recall -- must
not be understood fatalistically as if its dynamics produced by
anonymous impersonal forces and independently of human will.
Globalization is a human reality and as such it can be changed
according to one cultural position or another.
The Church works with her personalistic and communitarian conception
to orient the process in terms of relationality, of fraternity and
sharing (cf. ibid., no. 42). "Courage! Get on your feet!" In this
way the Lord of life and hope speaks to the Church and the African
people, at the end of these weeks of synodal reflection.
Get up, Church in Africa, family of God, because you are being
called by the heavenly Father, whom your ancestors invoked as
Creator, before knowing the merciful nearness, revealed in his
only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Take the journey of a new
evangelization with the courage that comes from the Holy Spirit.
The urgent evangelizing action that has been much discussed in these
weeks also carries with it a pressing call to reconciliation, the
indispensable condition for creating in Africa relationships of
justice between men and for building an equitable and lasting peace
in respect to every individual and every people; a peace that needs
and opens up to the contribution of all persons of good will beyond
the respective religious, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and social
affiliations. You are not alone in this demanding mission, pilgrim
Church in the Africa of the 3rd millennium. The whole Catholic
Church is near you with prayer and active solidarity, and you are
accompanied from heaven by the men and women saints of Africa, who
with their life -- sometimes to the point of martyrdom -- have
witnessed to total fidelity to Christ.
Courage! Get on your feet, continent of Africa, land that welcomed
the Savior of the world when as a child he had to flee with Joseph
and Mary to Egypt for safety during Herod’s persecution. Welcome
with renewed enthusiasm the proclamation of the Gospel so that the
face of Christ might illuminate with its splendor the multiplicity
of the cultures and languages of your populations. As she offers the
bread of the Word and the Eucharist, the Church dedicates herself
also to work, with every means available, so that no African will be
without daily bread. This is why, along with the task of primary
urgency of evangelization, Christians are active in the
interventions of human promotion.
Dear synodal fathers, at the end of these reflections of mine, I
would like to offer you my most cordial greeting, thanking you for
your edifying participation. Returning home, Pastors of the Church
of Africa, bring my blessing to your communities. Transmit to all
the call that so often resounded in this Synod, of reconciliation,
justice and peace.
As this synodal assembly closes, I cannot not renew my deep
gratitude to the secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops and his
aides. I express a grateful thought to the choirs of the Nigerian
community of Rome and the Ethiopian College, who contribute to the
animation of this liturgy. And finally I would like to thank those
who accompanied the synodal work with prayer. May the Virgin Mary
recompense each and every one, and obtain that the Church in Africa
grow in every part of that great continent, spreading the "salt" and
the "light" of the Gospel everywhere.
[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
