Pope Benedict XVI’s Visit to the USA, 2008 April 15-20

Homily, Mass for Clergy and Religious, Saint Patric’s Cathedral, New York, 2008 april 19

FROM: “Dan Frezza” <dan@frezza.org>

TO: <ASSISI-L@LISTSERV.ND.EDU>

DATE: 19 April 2008 10:25 [EDT]

SUBJECT: Homily, Mass for Clergy and Religious, St. Patricks’s Cathedral

Homily, Mass for Clergy and Religious, St. Patrick's Cathedral

During the Mass for Clergy and Religious at New York's St. Patrick's
Cathedral on Saturday 19 April 2008, the third anniversary of his
election to the Chair of St. Peter, the Holy Father delivered the
following homily.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

With great affection in the Lord, I greet all of you, who represent the
Bishops, priests and deacons, the men and women in consecrated life, and
the seminarians of the United States. I thank Cardinal Egan for his warm
welcome and the good wishes which he has expressed in your name as I
begin the fourth year of my papal ministry. I am happy to celebrate this
Mass with you, who have been chosen by the Lord, who have answered his
call, and who devote your lives to the pursuit of holiness, the spread
of the Gospel and the building up of the Church in faith, hope and love.

Gathered as we are in this historic cathedral, how can we not think of
the countless men and women who have gone before us, who labored for the
growth of the Church in the United States, and left us a lasting legacy
of faith and good works? In today’s first reading we saw how, in the
power of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles went forth from the Upper Room to
proclaim God’s mighty works to people of every nation and tongue. In
this country, the Church’s mission has always involved drawing people
“from every nation under heaven” (cf. Acts 2:5) into spiritual unity,
and enriching the Body of Christ by the variety of their gifts. As we
give thanks for past blessings, and look to the challenges of the
future, let us implore from God the grace of a new Pentecost for the
Church in America. May tongues of fire, combining burning love of God
and neighbor with zeal for the spread of Christ’s Kingdom, descend on
all present!

In this morning’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that spiritual
unity – the unity which reconciles and enriches diversity – has its
origin and supreme model in the life of the triune God. As a communion
of pure love and infinite freedom, the Blessed Trinity constantly brings
forth new life in the work of creation and redemption. The Church, as “a
people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Spirit” (cf.
Lumen Gentium, 4), is called to proclaim the gift of life, to serve
life, and to promote a culture of life. Here in this cathedral, our
thoughts turn naturally to the heroic witness to the Gospel of life
borne by the late Cardinals Cooke and O’Connor. The proclamation of
life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization.
For true life – our salvation – can only be found in the reconciliation,
freedom and love which are God’s gracious gift.

This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a
world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often
seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts. Saint
Irenaeus, with great insight, understood that the command which Moses
enjoined upon the people of Israel: “Choose life!” (Dt 30:19) was the
ultimate reason for our obedience to all God’s commandments (cf. Adv.
Haer. IV, 16, 2-5). Perhaps we have lost sight of this: in a society
where the Church seems legalistic and “institutional” to many people,
our most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and
the experience of God’s love.

I am particularly happy that we have gathered in Saint Patrick’s
Cathedral. Perhaps more than any other church in the United States, this
place is known and loved as “a house of prayer for all peoples” (cf. Is
56:7; Mk 11:17). Each day thousands of men, women and children enter its
doors and find peace within its walls. Archbishop John Hughes, who – as
Cardinal Egan has reminded us – was responsible for building this
venerable edifice, wished it to rise in pure Gothic style. He wanted
this cathedral to remind the young Church in America of the great
spiritual tradition to which it was heir, and to inspire it to bring the
best of that heritage to the building up of Christ’s body in this land.
I would like to draw your attention to a few aspects of this beautiful
structure which I think can serve as a starting point for a reflection
on our particular vocations within the unity of the Mystical Body.

The first has to do with the stained glass windows, which flood the
interior with mystic light. From the outside, those windows are dark,
heavy, even dreary. But once one enters the church, they suddenly come
alive; reflecting the light passing through them, they reveal all their
splendor. Many writers – here in America we can think of Nathaniel
Hawthorne – have used the image of stained glass to illustrate the
mystery of the Church herself. It is only from the inside, from the
experience of faith and ecclesial life, that we see the Church as she
truly is: flooded with grace, resplendent in beauty, adorned by the
manifold gifts of the Spirit. It follows that we, who live the life of
grace within the Church’s communion, are called to draw all people into
this mystery of light.

This is no easy task in a world which can tend to look at the Church,
like those stained glass windows, “from the outside”: a world which
deeply senses a need for spirituality, yet finds it difficult to “enter
into” the mystery of the Church. Even for those of us within, the light
of faith can be dimmed by routine, and the splendor of the Church
obscured by the sins and weaknesses of her members. It can be dimmed
too, by the obstacles encountered in a society which sometimes seems to
have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of
Christian morality. You, who have devoted your lives to bearing witness
to the love of Christ and the building up of his Body, know from your
daily contact with the world around us how tempting it is at times to
give way to frustration, disappointment and even pessimism about the
future. In a word, it is not always easy to see the light of the Spirit
all about us, the splendor of the Risen Lord illuminating our lives and
instilling renewed hope in his victory over the world (cf. Jn 16:33).

Yet the word of God reminds us that, in faith, we see the heavens
opened, and the grace of the Holy Spirit lighting up the Church and
bringing sure hope to our world. “O Lord, my God,” the Psalmist sings,
“when you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the
face of the earth” (Ps 104:30). These words evoke the first creation,
when the Spirit of God hovered over the deep (cf. Gen 1:2). And they
look forward to the new creation, at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit
descended upon the Apostles and established the Church as the first
fruits of a redeemed humanity (cf. Jn 20:22-23). These words summon us
to ever deeper faith in God’s infinite power to transform every human
situation, to create life from death, and to light up even the darkest
night. And they make us think of another magnificent phrase of Saint
Irenaeus: “where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; where the
Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace” (Adv. Haer. III,
24, 1).

This leads me to a further reflection about the architecture of this
church. Like all Gothic cathedrals, it is a highly complex structure,
whose exact and harmonious proportions symbolize the unity of God’s
creation. Medieval artists often portrayed Christ, the creative Word of
God, as a heavenly “geometer”, compass in hand, who orders the cosmos
with infinite wisdom and purpose. Does this not bring to mind our need
to see all things with the eyes of faith, and thus to grasp them in
their truest perspective, in the unity of God’s eternal plan? This
requires, as we know, constant conversion, and a commitment to acquiring
“a fresh, spiritual way of thinking” (cf. Eph 4:23). It also calls for
the cultivation of those virtues which enable each of us to grow in
holiness and to bear spiritual fruit within our particular state of
life. Is not this ongoing “intellectual” conversion as necessary as
“moral” conversion for our own growth in faith, our discernment of the
signs of the times, and our personal contribution to the Church’s life
and mission?

For all of us, I think, one of the great disappointments which followed
the Second Vatican Council, with its call for a greater engagement in
the Church’s mission to the world, has been the experience of division
between different groups, different generations, different members of
the same religious family. We can only move forward if we turn our gaze
together to Christ! In the light of faith, we will then discover the
wisdom and strength needed to open ourselves to points of view which may
not necessarily conform to our own ideas or assumptions. Thus we can
value the perspectives of others, be they younger or older than
ourselves, and ultimately hear “what the Spirit is saying” to us and to
the Church (cf. Rev 2:7). In this way, we will move together towards
that true spiritual renewal desired by the Council, a renewal which can
only strengthen the Church in that holiness and unity indispensable for
the effective proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world.

Was not this unity of vision and purpose – rooted in faith and a spirit
of constant conversion and self-sacrifice – the secret of the impressive
growth of the Church in this country? We need but think of the
remarkable accomplishment of that exemplary American priest, the
Venerable Michael McGivney, whose vision and zeal led to the
establishment of the Knights of Columbus, or of the legacy of the
generations of religious and priests who quietly devoted their lives to
serving the People of God in countless schools, hospitals and parishes.

Here, within the context of our need for the perspective given by faith,
and for unity and cooperation in the work of building up the Church, I
would like say a word about the sexual abuse that has caused so much
suffering. I have already had occasion to speak of this, and of the
resulting damage to the community of the faithful. Here I simply wish to
assure you, dear priests and religious, of my spiritual closeness as you
strive to respond with Christian hope to the continuing challenges that
this situation presents. I join you in praying that this will be a time
of purification for each and every particular Church and religious
community, and a time for healing. I also encourage you to cooperate
with your bishops who continue to work effectively to resolve this
issue. May our Lord Jesus Christ grant the Church in America a renewed
sense of unity and purpose, as all – Bishops, clergy, religious and
laity – move forward in hope, in love for the truth and for one another.

Dear friends, these considerations lead me to a final observation about
this great cathedral in which we find ourselves. The unity of a Gothic
cathedral, we know, is not the static unity of a classical temple, but a
unity born of the dynamic tension of diverse forces which impel the
architecture upward, pointing it to heaven. Here too, we can see a
symbol of the Church’s unity, which is the unity – as Saint Paul has
told us – of a living body composed of many different members, each with
its own role and purpose. Here too we see our need to acknowledge and
reverence the gifts of each and every member of the body as
“manifestations of the Spirit given for the good of all” (1 Cor 12:7).
Certainly within the Church’s divinely-willed structure there is a
distinction to be made between hierarchical and charismatic gifts (cf.
Lumen Gentium, 4). Yet the very variety and richness of the graces
bestowed by the Spirit invite us constantly to discern how these gifts
are to be rightly ordered in the service of the Church’s mission. You,
dear priests, by sacramental ordination have been configured to Christ,
the Head of the Body. You, dear deacons, have been ordained for the
service of that Body. You, dear men and women religious, both
contemplative and apostolic, have devoted your lives to following the
divine Master in generous love and complete devotion to his Gospel. All
of you, who fill this cathedral today, as wells as your retired, elderly
and infirm brothers and sisters, who unite their prayers and sacrifices
to your labors, are called to be forces of unity within Christ’s Body.
By your personal witness, and your fidelity to the ministry or
apostolate entrusted to you, you prepare a path for the Spirit. For the
Spirit never ceases to pour out his abundant gifts, to awaken new
vocations and missions, and to guide the Church, as our Lord promised in
this morning’s Gospel, into the fullness of truth (cf. Jn 16:13).

So let us lift our gaze upward! And with great humility and confidence,
let us ask the Spirit to enable us each day to grow in the holiness that
will make us living stones in the temple which he is even now raising up
in the midst of our world. If we are to be true forces of unity, let us
be the first to seek inner reconciliation through penance. Let us
forgive the wrongs we have suffered and put aside all anger and
contention. Let us be the first to demonstrate the humility and purity
of heart which are required to approach the splendor of God’s truth. In
fidelity to the deposit of faith entrusted to the Apostles (cf. 1 Tim
6:20), let us be joyful witnesses of the transforming power of the Gospel!

Dear brothers and sisters, in the finest traditions of the Church in
this country, may you also be the first friend of the poor, the
homeless, the stranger, the sick and all who suffer. Act as beacons of
hope, casting the light of Christ upon the world, and encouraging young
people to discover the beauty of a life given completely to the Lord and
his Church. I make this plea in a particular way to the many seminarians
and young religious present. All of you have a special place in my
heart. Never forget that you are called to carry on, with all the
enthusiasm and joy that the Spirit has given you, a work that others
have begun, a legacy that one day you too will have to pass on to a new
generation. Work generously and joyfully, for he whom you serve is the
Lord!

The spires of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral are dwarfed by the skyscrapers
of the Manhattan skyline, yet in the heart of this busy metropolis, they
are a vivid reminder of the constant yearning of the human spirit to
rise to God. As we celebrate this Eucharist, let us thank the Lord for
allowing us to know him in the communion of the Church, to cooperate in
building up his Mystical Body, and in bringing his saving word as good
news to the men and women of our time. And when we leave this great
church, let us go forth as heralds of hope in the midst of this city,
and all those places where God’s grace has placed us. In this way, the
Church in America will know a new springtime in the Spirit, and point
the way to that other, greater city, the new Jerusalem, whose light is
the Lamb (Rev 21:23). For there God is even now preparing for all people
a banquet of unending joy and life. Amen.

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