This is the Vatican translation of the homily
Benedict XVI gave today in a Mass at the Eleftheria Sports Centre in Nicosia,
in which he presented the “instrumentum laboris” (working document)
for the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, which
will take place in Rome in October (see the end of the post)
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I greet with joy the Patriarchs and Bishops of the various
ecclesial communities of the Middle East who have come to Cyprus for this
occasion, and I thank especially the Most Reverend Youssef Soueif, Maronite
Archbishop of Cyprus, for the words that he addressed to me at the start of
Mass.
Let me also say how glad I am to have this opportunity to
celebrate the Eucharist in the company of so many of the faithful of Cyprus, a
land blessed by the apostolic labours of Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas. I greet
all of you most warmly and I thank you for your hospitality and for the
generous welcome you have given me. I extend a particular greeting to the
Filipino, Sri Lankan and other immigrant communities who form such a
significant grouping within the Catholic population of this island. I pray that
your presence here will enrich the life and worship of the parishes to which
you belong, and that you in turn will draw much spiritual sustenance from the
ancient Christian heritage of the land that you have made your home.
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Lord’s Body and Blood.
Corpus Christi, the name given to this feast in the West, is used in the
Church’s tradition to designate three distinct realities: the physical body of
Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, his Eucharistic body, the bread of heaven which
nourishes us in this gr eat sacrament, and his ecclesial body, the Church. By
reflecting on these different aspects of the Corpus Christi, we come to a
deeper understanding of the mystery of communion which binds together those who
belong to the Church. All who feed on the body and blood of Christ in the
Eucharist are “brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit”
(Eucharistic Prayer II) to form God’s one holy people. Just as the Holy Spirit
came down upon the Apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, so too the same
Holy Spirit is at work in every celebration of Mass for a twofold purpose: to
sanctify the gifts of bread and wine, that they may become the body and blood
of Christ, and to fill all who are nourished by these holy gifts, that they may
become one body, one spirit in Christ.
St. Augustine expresses this process beautifully (cf. Sermon 272).
He reminds us that the bread is not made from a single grain, but many. Before
all these grains become bread, they must be ground. He is referring here to the
exorcism which catechumens must undergo before their baptism. Each of us who
belong to the Church needs to leave the closed world of his individuality and
accept the ‘companionship’ of others who “break bread” with us. We
must think not in terms of ‘me’ but ‘we’. That’s why every day we pray ‘our’
Father, ‘our’ daily bread. Breaking down the barriers between us and our
neighbours is the first prerequisite for entering the divine life to which we
are called. We need to be liberated from all that imprisons us and isolates us:
fear and mistrust towards others, greed and selfishness, unwillingness to run
the risk of vulnerability to which we expose ourselves when we are open to
love”.
The grains of wheat, once crushed, are mixed into the dough and
baked. Here, Augustine refers to immersion in the baptismal waters followed by
the sacramental gift of the Holy Spirit, which inflames the heart of the
faithful with the fire of God’s love. Th is process unites and transforms a
single isolated grain into bread, it gives us an evocative image of the
unifying action of the Holy Spirit upon the church members, made so prominent
in the celebration of the Eucharist. Those who take part in this great
sacrament become the Body of Christ’s Church, so they feed his Eucharistic
Body. “Be what you can see,” says St. Augustine encouraging, “and
receive what you are.”
These strong words invite us to respond generously to the call to
“be Christ” to those around us. We are his body now on earth. To
paraphrase a famous remark attributed to Saint Teresa of Avila, we are the eyes
with which he looks with compassion on those in need, we are the hands with
which he seeks to bless and to heal, we are the feet that on which he walks to
do well, and we are the lips by which his Gospel is proclaimed. However, it is
important to understand that when we participate in his healing work, we are
not honouring the memory of a dead hero in extending what he did: on the
contrary, Christ is alive in us, his body, the Church, his priestly people. By
feeding on Him in the Eucharist and receiving the Holy Spirit in our hearts we
truly become the Body of Christ that we receive, we are truly in communion with
him and with each other, and we truly become instruments, in witness to him
before the world.
“Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and
soul” (Acts 4:32). In the first Christian community, nourished at the
Lord’s Table, we see the effects of the Holy Spirit’s unifying action. They
shared their goods in common, all material attachment being overcome by love
for the brethren. They found equitable solutions to their differences, as we
see for example in the resolution of the dispute between Hellenists and Hebrews
over the daily distribution (cf. Acts 6:1-6). As one observer commented at a
later date: “See how these Christians love one another, and how they are
ready to die for one another” (Tertullian, Apology, 39). Yet their love
was by no means limited to their fellow believers. They never saw themselves as
exclusive, privileged beneficiaries of divine favour, but rather as messengers,
sent to bring the good news of salvation in Christ to the ends of the earth.
And so it was that the message entrusted to the Apostles by the Risen Lord was
spread throughout the Middle East, and outwards from there across the whole of
the world.
[The Holy Father said in Greek:] Dear brothers and sisters in
Christ, today we are called, just as they were, to be of one heart and one
soul, to deepen our communion with the Lord and with one another, and to bear
witness to him before the world.
We are called to overcome our differences, to bring peace and
reconciliation where there is conflict, to offer the world a message of hope.
We are called to reach out to those in need, generously sharing our earthly
goods with those less fort unate than ourselves. And we are called to proclaim
unceasingly the death and resurrection of the Lord, until he comes. Through
him, with him and in him, in the unity that is the Holy Spirit’s gift to the
Church, let us give honour and glory to God our heavenly Father in the company
of all the angels and saints who sing his praises forever. Amen.
© Copyright 2010 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Here is the address the Pope later made on presenting the Instrumentum Laboris for the forthcoming Synod.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I thank Archbishop Eterović for his kind words, and I renew my
greetings to all of you who have come here in connection with the launch of the
forthcoming Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. I
thank you for all the work that has been accomplished already in anticipation
of the Synodal Assembly, and I promise you t he support of my prayers as you enter
this final phase of preparation.
Before I begin, it is only fitting that I recall the late Bishop
Luigi Padovese who, as President of the Turkish Catholic Bishops, contributed
to the preparation of the Instrumentum Laboris that I am consigning to you today.
News of his unforeseen and tragic death on Thursday surprised and shocked all
of us. I entrust his soul to the mercy of almighty God, mindful of how
committed he was, especially as a bishop, to interreligious and cultural
understanding, and to dialogue between the Churches. His death is a sobering
reminder of the vocation that all Christians share, to be courageous witnesses
in every circumstance to what is good, noble and just.
The motto chosen for the Assembly speaks to us of communion and
witness, and it reminds us how the members of the early Christian community
“were of one heart and soul”. At the centre of the Church’s unity is
the Eucharist, Christ’s inestimab le gift to his people and the focus of our
liturgical celebration today on this Solemnity of the Lord’s Body and Blood. So
it is not without significance that the date chosen for the Instrumentum
Laboris of the Special Assembly to be consigned should be today.
The Middle East has a special place in the hearts of all
Christians, since it was there that God first made himself known to our fathers
in faith. From the time when Abraham set out from Ur of the Chaldeans in
obedience to the Lord’s call, right up until the death and resurrection of
Jesus, God’s saving work was accomplished through particular individuals and
peoples in your homelands. Since then, the message of the Gospel has spread all
over the world, but Christians everywhere continue to look to the Middle East with
special reverence, on account of the prophets and patriarchs, apostles and
martyrs to whom we owe so much, the men and women who heard God’s word, bore
witness to it, and handed it on to us who belong to th e great family of the
Church.
The Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, convened at your
request, will attempt to deepen the bonds of communion between the members of
your local Churches, and the communion of these churches with each other and
with the universal Church. The Assembly also aims to encourage you in the
witness of your faith in Christ in those countries where the faith was born and
from where it spread. It is also known that some of you have endured great
hardships due to the current situation in the region. The Special Assembly is an
opportunity for Christians from the rest of the world to offer spiritual
support and solidarity to their brothers and sisters in the Middle East. This
is an opportunity to highlight the significant value of the Christian presence
and witness in countries of the Bible, not only for the Christian community
worldwide, but also for your neighbours and fellow citizens. You are help the
common good in countless ways, for example through education, health care and
social assistance, and you work to build society. You want to live in peace and
harmony with your Jew and Muslim neighbours. Often, you act as peacemakers in
the difficult process of reconciliation. You deserve recognition for the
invaluable role you fill. This is my serious hope that your rights are increasingly
respected, including the right to freedom of worship and religious freedom, and
that you will never again suffer discrimination of any kind.
I pray that the work of the Special Assembly will help to focus
the attention of the international community on the plight of those Christians
in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs, so that just and lasting
solutions may be found to the conflicts that cause so much hardship. On this
grave matter, I reiterate my personal appeal for an urgent and concerted
international effort to resolve the ongoing tensions in the Middle East,
especially in the Holy Land, before such conflicts lead to gr eater bloodshed.
With these thoughts, I now present to you the text of the
Instrumentum Laboris of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod
of Bishops. God bless your work abundantly! God bless all the peoples of the
Middle East!
© Copyright 2010 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana