Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 19 October 2014
We have just heard one of the
most famous phrases in the entire Gospel: “Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mt 22:21).
Goaded by the Pharisees who
wanted, as it were, to give him an exam in religion and catch him in error,
Jesus gives this ironic and brilliant reply.
It is a striking phrase which the Lord has bequeathed to all those who
experience qualms of conscience, particularly when their comfort, their wealth,
their prestige, their power and their reputation are in question. This happens
all the time; it always has.
Certainly Jesus puts the stress
on the second part of the phrase: “and [render] to God the things that are
God’s”. This calls for acknowledging and professing – in the face of any sort
of power – that God alone is the Lord of mankind, that there is no other. This
is the perennial newness to be discovered each day, and it requires mastering
the fear which we often feel at God’s surprises.
God is not afraid of new things!
That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us
in unexpected ways. He renews us: he constantly makes us “new”. A Christian who
lives the Gospel is “God’s newness” in the Church and in the world. How much
God loves this “newness”!
“Rendering to God the things that
are God’s” means being docile to his will, devoting our lives to him and
working for his kingdom of mercy, love and peace.
Here is where our true strength
is found; here is the leaven which makes it grow and the salt which gives flavour
to all our efforts to combat the prevalent pessimism which the world proposes
to us. Here too is where our hope is found, for when we put our hope in God we
are neither fleeing from reality nor seeking an alibi: instead, we are striving
to render to God what is God’s. That is why we Christians look to the future,
God’s future. It is so that we can live this life to the fullest – with our
feet firmly planted on the ground – and respond courageously to whatever new
challenges come our way.
In these days, during the
extraordinary Synod of Bishops, we have seen how true this is. “Synod” means
“journeying together”. And indeed pastors and lay people from every part of the
world have come to Rome, bringing the voice of their particular Churches in
order to help today’s families walk the path the Gospel with their gaze fixed
on Jesus. It has been a great experience, in which we have lived synodality and
collegiality, and felt the power of the Holy Spirit who constantly guides and
renews the Church. For the Church is called to waste no time in seeking to bind
up open wounds and to rekindle hope in so many people who have lost hope.
For the gift of this Synod and
for the constructive spirit which everyone has shown, in union with the Apostle
Paul “we give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in
our prayers” (1 Th 1:2). May the Holy Spirit, who during these busy days has
enabled us to work generously, in true freedom and humble creativity, continue
to guide the journey which, in the Churches throughout the world, is bringing
us to the Ordinary Synod of Bishops in October 2015. We have sown and we
continued to sow, patiently and perseveringly, in the certainty that it is the
Lord who gives growth to what we have sown (cf. 1 Cor 3:6).
On this day of the Beatification
of Pope Paul VI, I think of the words with which he established the Synod of
Bishops: “by carefully surveying the signs of the times, we are making every
effort to adapt ways and methods… to the growing needs of our time and the changing
conditions of society” (Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio Apostolica Sollicitudo).
When we look to this great Pope,
this courageous Christian, this tireless apostle, we cannot but say in the
sight of God a word as simple as it is heartfelt and important: thanks! Thank
you, our dear and beloved Pope Paul VI! Thank you for your humble and prophetic
witness of love for Christ and his Church!
In his personal journal, the
great helmsman of the Council wrote, at the conclusion of its final session:
“Perhaps the Lord has called me and preserved me for this service not because I
am particularly fit for it, or so that I can govern and rescue the Church from
her present difficulties, but so that I can suffer something for the Church,
and in that way it will be clear that he, and no other, is her guide and
saviour” (P. Macchi, Paolo VI nella sua parola, Brescia, 2001, pp. 120-121). In
this humility the grandeur of Blessed Paul VI shines forth: before the advent
of a secularized and hostile society, he could hold fast, with farsightedness
and wisdom – and at times alone – to the helm of the barque of Peter, while
never losing his joy and his trust in the Lord.
Paul VI truly “rendered to God
what is God’s” by devoting his whole life to the “sacred, solemn and grave task
of continuing in history and extending on earth the mission of Christ” (Homily
for the Rite of Coronation: Insegnamenti I, (1963), 26), loving the Church and
leading her so that she might be “a loving mother of the whole human family and
at the same time the minister of its salvation” (Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam
Suam, Prologue).
No comments:
Post a Comment