Venerable Brothers,
Illustrious Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
The Eucharistic celebration, the rendering of thanks to God par
excellence, is marked for us today, gathered around the Tomb of Saint Peter, by
an extraordinary reason: the grace of seeing gathered together for the first
time at a Synod, around the Bishop of Rome and the Universal Shepherd, the
bishops of the Middle Eastern region. Such a singular event demonstrates the
interest of the whole Church for that pre cious and beloved part of God’s
people who live in the Holy Land and the whole of the Middle East.
Above all, we give thanks to the Lord of history, because he has
allowed, despite the often difficult and tormented events, the Middle East to
see, from the time of Jesus all the way up to today, a continuity in the
presence of Christians. In those lands, the one Church of Christ is expressed
in the variety of liturgical, spiritual, cultural and teaching traditions of
the six Venerable Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris, as well as in the Latin
tradition. This fraternal greeting which I direct with great affection to the
Patriarchs of each of these wishes to be extended at this time to all the
faithful entrusted to their pastoral care in their respective countries as well
as in the Diaspora. On this Sunday, the 28th of Ordinary Time, the Word of God
offers a theme for meditation which brings us closer in a meaningful way to the
event of the Synod that we open today. Continued r eading of the Gospel of Luke
leads us to the story of the healing of the ten lepers, of whom only one, a
Samaritan, turns back to thank Jesus. Connected with this text, the first
reading, from the Second Book of Kings, tells the story of the healing of
Naaman, head of the Aramaean army, another leper, who was cured by immersing
himself seven times in the waters of the Jordan River, on the orders of the
prophet Eliseus. Naaman too returns to the prophet and, recognizing him as the
mediator of God, professes his faith in the one Lord. So two lepers, two
non-Jews, who are cured because they believe in the word of God’s messenger.
Their bodies are healed, but they are open to faith, and this heals their
souls, that is, it saves them.
The Responsorial Psalm sings of this reality: “Yahweh has
made known his saving power,/ revealed his saving justice for the nations to
see. /Mindful of his faithful love and his constancy to the House of
Israel” (Ps 98:2-3). This then is the theme: salvation is universal, but
it passes through a specific historical mediation: the mediation of the people
of Israel, which goes on to become that of Jesus Christ and the Church. The
door of life is open for everyone, but this is the point, it is a
“door”, that is a definite and necessary passage. This is summed up
in the Pauline formula we heard in the Second Letter to Timothy: “the
salvation that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 2:10). It is the mystery of the
universality of Salvation and at the same time of its necessary link with the
historical mediation of Christ Jesus, preceded by that of the people of Israel and
continued by that of the Church. God is love and wants all men to be part of
His life; to carry out this plan He, who is One and Trine, creates in the world
a mystery of a communion that is human and divine, historical and transcendent:
He creates it with the “method” – so to speak – of the covenant,
tying himself to men with faithful a nd inexhaustible love, forming a holy
people, that becomes a blessing for all the families of the earth (cf Gen
12:13). Thus He reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (cf Ex
3:6), who wants to lead his people to the “land” of freedom and
peace. This “land” is not of this world; the whole of the divine plan
goes beyond history, but the Lord wants to build it with men, for men and in
men, beginning with the coordinates of space and time in which they live and
which He Himself gave them.
With its own specificity, that which we call the “Middle
East”, makes up part of those coordinates. God sees this region of the
world, too, from a different perspective, one might say, “from on
high”: it is the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the land of the Exodus
and the return from exile; the land of the Temple and of the Prophets, the land
in which the Only Begotten Son of Mary was born, lived, died, and rose from the
dead; the cr adle of the Church, established in order to carry Christ’s Gospel
to the ends of the earth. And we too, as believers, look at the Middle East
with this view, from the perspective of the history of salvation. It is this
internal point of view which guided me during Apostolic visits to Turkey, the
Holy Land-Jordan, Israel, Palestine-and Cyprus, where I was able to experience
firsthand the joys and concerns of the Christian communities. It was for this
reason, too, that I willingly accepted the proposal of the Patriarchs and
Bishops to convoke a Synodal Assembly to reflect together, in light of Sacred
Scripture and Church traditions, on the present as well as the future of the
faithful and populations of the Middle East.
Looking at that part of the world from God’s perspective means
recognizing in it the “cradle” of a universal design of salvation in
love, a mystery of communion which becomes true in freedom and thus asks man
for a response. Abraham, the prophets, and th e Virgin Mary are the protagonists
of this response which, however, has its completion in Jesus Christ, son of
that same land, yet descended from Heaven. From Him, from his Heart and his
Spirit was born the Church, which is a pilgrim in this world, yet belongs to
Him. The Church was established to be a sign and an instrument of the unique
and universal saving project of God among men; She fulfils this mission simply
by being herself, that is, “Communion and witness”, as it says in the
theme of this Synodal Assembly which opens today, referring to Luke’s famous
definition of the first Christian community: “The whole group of believers
was united, heart and soul” (Acts 4:32). Without communion there can be no
witness: the life of communion is truly the great witness. Jesus said it
clearly: “It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognize
you as my disciples” (Jn 13:35). This communion is the same life of God
which is communicated in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ. It is thus a
gift, not something which we ourselves must build through our own efforts. And
it is precisely because of this that it calls upon our freedom and waits for
our response: communion always requires conversion, just as a gift is better if
it is welcomed and utilized. In Jerusalem the first Christians were few. Nobody
could have imagined what was going to take place. And the Church continues to
live on that same strength which enabled it to begin and to grow. Pentecost is
the original event but also a permanent dynamism, and the Synod of Bishops is a
privileged moment in which the grace of Pentecost may be renewed in the
Church’s journey, so that the Good News may be announced openly and heard by
all peoples.
Therefore, the reason for this synodal assembly is mainly a
pastoral one. While not being able to ignore the delicate and at times dramatic
social and political situation of some countries, the Pastors of the Middle
Easte rn Churches wish to concentrate on the aspects of their own mission. As
regards this, the Instrumentum laboris, elaborated by a Presynodal Council
whose members we thank for their work, underlined these ecclesial finalities of
the Assembly, pointing out that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it
wishes to re-enliven communion of the Catholic Church in the Middle East. First
of all within each Church, between all its members: Patriarch, Bishop, priests,
religious persons, persons of consecrated life and the laity. And, thereby, in
the relationships with the other Churches. Ecclesial life, corroborated in this
way, will see the development of very positive fruits in the ecumenical path
with the other Churches and ecclesial Communities present in the Middle East.
This occasion is also propitious to constructively continue the dialogue with
Jews, to whom we are tied by an indissoluble bond, the lengthy history of the
Covenant, as we are with the Muslims. Also, the workings of t he Synodal
assembly are oriented to the witness of Christians on a personal, family and
social level. This requires the reinforcing of their Christian identity through
the Word of God and the Sacraments. We all hope that the faithful feel the joy
in living in the Holy Land, a land blessed by the presence and by the Paschal
Mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ. Over the centuries those Places attracted
multitudes of pilgrims and even men and women in religious communities, who
have considered it a great privilege to be able to live and bear witness in the
land of Jesus. Despite the difficulties, the Christians in the Holy Land are
called to enliven their consciousness of being the living stones of the Church
in the Middle East, at the holy Places of our salvation. However, living in a
dignified manner in one’s own country is above all a fundamental human right:
therefore, the conditions of peace and justice, which are necessary for the
harmonious development of all those living in th e region, should be promoted.
Therefore all are called to give their personal contribution: the international
community, by supporting a stable path, loyal and constructive, towards peace;
those most prevalent religions in the region, in promoting the spiritual and
cultural values that unite men and exclude any expression of violence.
Christians will continue to contribute not only with the work of social
promotion, such as institutes of education and health, but above all with the
spirit of the Evangelical Beatitudes, which enliven the practice of forgiveness
and reconciliation. In this commitment, they will always have the support of
the entire Church, as is solemnly attested by the presence here of the
Delegates of the Episcopacies of other continents.
Dear friends, let us entrust the workings of the Synodal Assembly
for the Middle East to the many Saints of that blessed land; let us invoke upon
it the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that the coming days
of prayer, of reflection and of fraternal communion may be the harbingers of
the good fruits for the present and for the future of the beloved Middle
Eastern populations. To them we address a hopeful greeting with all our heart: “Peace
to you, peace to your family, peace to all that is yours!” (1 Sam 25:6).
October 10, 2010
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