|
Pope Benedict XVI- Homilies |
Homily
"We Never Do
Enough for God"
Mass in Palermo's Foro Italico Umberto I
October 3, 2010
zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
My joy is great to be able to break the bread of the
Word of God and the Eucharist with you. I greet all
of you with affection and I thank you for your warm
welcome! I greet your pastor in particular,
Archbishop Monsignor Paolo Romeo; I thank him for
the expressions of welcome that he wished to offer
me in the name of everyone, and also for the
meaningful gift that he gave me. I also greet the
archbishops and bishops present, the priests,
religious, the representatives of the ecclesial
associations and movements. I address a deferential
thought to the mayor, Honorable Diego Cammarata,
grateful for the courteous address of greeting, to
the representative of the government and the civil
and military authorities, who wished to honor our
meeting with their presence. A special thank you to
those who generously offered their cooperation for
the organization and preparation of this day.
Dear Friends! My visit occurs on the occasion of an
important regional ecclesial gathering of young
people and families, whom I will meet this
afternoon. But I also came to share the joys and
hopes, toils and commitments, ideals and aspirations
of this diocesan community. When the ancient Greeks
landed in this area, as the mayor also recalled in
his greetings, they called it "Panormo," that is,
"all port": a name that was intended to indicate
security, peace and serenity. Coming among you for
the first time, my wish is that this city, taking
inspiration from the most authentic values of its
history and its tradition, always truly know how to
make the augury of peace and serenity summed up in
its name a reality for its inhabitants and the whole
nation.
I know that in Palermo, as everywhere in Sicily,
there is no lack of difficulties, problems and
worries: I think, in particular, of those who
concretely live their lives in precariousness
because of the lack of work, the uncertainty of the
future, physical and moral suffering and, as the
archbishop noted, because of organized crime. Today
I am with you to bear witness to my nearness to you
and my prayers for you. I am here to give you strong
encouragement to not be afraid to bear clear witness
to the human and Christian values that are so deeply
rooted in the faith and the history of this place
and its people.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, every liturgical assembly
is a space of the presence of God. Gathered for the
Holy Eucharist, the disciples of the Lord are
immersed in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, they
proclaim that he is risen, he lives and is the giver
of life, and they testify that his presence is
grace, strength and joy. Let us open our hearts to
his word and welcome the gift of his presence! All
of the texts of liturgy this Sunday speak to us of
faith, which is the foundation of the whole
Christian life. Jesus taught his disciples how to
grow in faith, to believe in him and entrust
themselves to him more and more, to build their
lives upon the rock. Thus, they ask him: "Increase
our faith" (Luke 17:6). It is a great request that
they make of the Lord, it is the fundamental
request: The disciples do not ask for material
goods, they do not ask for privileges, rather they
ask for the grace of faith, that orients and
illuminates life as a whole; they ask for the grace
to recognize God and to be able to abide in an
intimate relationship with him, receiving from him
all his gifts, including those of courage, love and
hope.
Without responding directly to their prayer, Jesus
has recourse to a paradoxical image to express the
incredible vitality of faith. As a lever lifts much
more than its own weight, faith too, even a modicum
of faith, is capable of accomplishing unthinkable,
extraordinary things, such as uprooting a great tree
and planting it in the sea (Luke 17:6). Faith --
trusting Christ, welcoming him, allowing him to
transform us, following him completely -- makes
humanly impossible things possible in every
situation. The prophet Habakkuk also bears witness
to this in the first reading. He asks the Lord for
deliverance from a situation that is full of
violence, iniquity and oppression; and precisely in
this difficult and uncertain situation, the prophet
introduces a vision that offers a glimpse of the
plan that the God is tracing and actualizing in
history: "He who does not have a upright soul will
falter while the just one shall live because of his
faith" (Habakkuk 2:4). The wicked one, he who does
not act in obedience to God, puts his trust in his
own power, but he is leaning on something fragile
and inconsistent -- that is why he will slip, he is
destined to fall; the just man, however, puts his
trust in a reality that is hidden but unshakable, he
trusts in God and because of this he will have life.
In past centuries the Church in Palermo was enriched
and animated by a fervid faith that found its
highest and most successful expression in the
saints. I think of St. Rosalia, whom you venerate
and honor and who watches over your city, of which
she is the patroness, from Monte Pellegrino. Neither
must it be forgotten how your religious sense has
always inspired and guided family life, nourishing
values like your capacity to give and be in
solidarity with others, especially the suffering,
and your innate respect for life, which constitute a
precious legacy to be jealously guarded and
revivified in our day. Dear Friends, conserve this
precious treasure of faith of your Church; may
Christian values always guide your decisions and
your actions!
The second part of today's Gospel presents another
teaching, a teaching about humility that,
nevertheless, is closely connected with faith. Jesus
invites us to be humble and offers the example of a
servant who works in the fields. When he returns
home the master asks him to continue working.
According to the mentality of Jesus' time the master
had every right to do this. The servant owed the
master his complete availability; and the master did
not think himself obligated to him if he carried out
his orders. Jesus makes us aware that, before God,
we find ourselves in a similar situation: we are
God's servants; we are not his creditors but we are
always debtors in relation to him because we owe him
everything, because everything is his gift.
Accepting and doing his will is the way that we must
live every day, in every moment of our life. Before
God we must not present ourselves as those who
believe that they have done a service and deserve a
great recompense. This is an illusion that can arise
in everyone, even in persons who do a much work in
the Lord's service, in the Church. We must instead
be aware that we never do enough for God. We must
say, as Jesus suggests: "We are useless servants. We
did what we were obliged to do" (Luke 17:10). This
is an attitude of humility that truly puts us in our
place and permits the Lord to be very generous with
us. In fact, in another passage of the Gospel, he
promises us that "he will gird himself, have us sit
at table and will serve us" (cf. Luke 12:37). Dear
Friends, if we do the Lord's will every day, with
humility, without expecting anything from him, Jesus
himself will serve us, help us, encourage us, give
us strength and peace.
In today's second reading the Apostle Paul also
speaks of faith. Timothy is invited to have faith,
and through it, to exercise charity. The disciple is
exhorted to stir up in faith the gift of God that is
in him through the imposition of Paul's hands, that
is, the gift of priestly ordination, received to
carry out the apostolic ministry as Paul's co-worker
(cf. 2 Timothy 1:6). He must not let this gift be
extinguished but must make it ever more alive
through faith. And the Apostle adds: "God, in fact,
has not given us a spirit of fear but of strength,
of charity and of prudence" (1:7).
Dear Citizens of Palermo and dear Sicilians! Your
beautiful island was among the first regions of
Italy to accept the faith of the Apostles, to
receive the proclamation of the Word of God, to
adhere to the faith in a generous way so that even
in the midst of hardships and persecutions the
flower of sanctity blossomed in it. Sicily was and
is a land of saints, who belonged to every condition
of life, who lived the Gospel with simplicity and
integrity. To you, faithful laypeople, I repeat: Do
not be afraid to live and bear witness to the faith
in the various spheres of society, in the multiple
situations of human existence, above all in the
difficult ones! Faith gives you the strength of God
to be always confident and courageous, to go forward
with new decision, to embark on the initiatives that
are necessary to give a face to your land that is
ever more beautiful. And when you encounter the
world's opposition, listen to the words of the
Apostle: "Do not be ashamed therefore to bear
witness to our Lord" (v. 8).
We must be ashamed of evil, of that which offends
God, of that which offends man; we must be ashamed
of the evil that afflicts the civil and religious
community with actions that do not like to come into
the light! The temptation of discouragement, of
resignation, comes to those who are weak in faith,
to those who confuse evil with good, to those who
think that in the face of evil, often great evil,
there is nothing to be done. But those who stand
firmly on faith, those who are full of trust in God
and live in the Church, are able to unleash the
explosive power of the Gospel. This is how the
saints lived, who flourished over the course of the
centuries in Palermo and in every part of Sicily,
and how the laypeople and priests of today live whom
you know well, like, for example, Don Pino Puglisi.
May they be the ones who always keep you united and
who encourage you in the desire to proclaim, with
words and with deeds, the presence and the love of
Christ. People of Sicily, look with hope to your
future! Bring forth in all of its splendor the good
that you wish for, that you seek and that you have!
Live the values of the Gospel with courage to make
the light of the good shine! With the power of God
all things are possible! May the Mother of Christ,
the Virgin Odigitria greatly venerated by you,
assist you and lead you to the profound knowledge of
her Son. Amen!
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Look
at the One they Pierced!
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
