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Since my first post on this event was last night shortly after it took place, and the photos and text of the papal homily only came out this morning, I've decided to post the photographs here, and the translation of the Pope's homily.
Remembering John Paul II
five years after his death
Venerated brothers in the episcopate and priesthood,
Dear brothers and sisters:
We are gathered at the altar over the tomb of the Apostle Peter to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice in memory of the elected soul of the Venerable John Paul II on the fifth anniversary of his departure. We are doing this a few days ahead, because this year, April 2 is Good Friday.
We are nonetheless in Holy Week, a context that could not be more appropriate for meditation and prayer, during which the liturgy allows us to relive more intensely the last days of the earthly life of Jesus.
I wish to express my gratitude to all of you are taking part in this Holy Mass. I cordially greet the cardinals - especially Archbishop Stanislas Dsiwisz - the bishops, priests, and religious men and women, as well as the pilgrims who came especially from Poland, all the many young people and the numerous faithful who did not want to miss this celebration.
In the first Biblical reading that was proclaimed, the prophet Isaiah present the figure of a 'Servant of God', who is also his chosen one, in whom he is well pleased. The Servant will act with indestructible faith, with an energy that will not wane until he has realized the task which he has been assigned.
And yet, he will not always have at his disposition those human means that seem indispensable for the realization of a task so great. He presents himself with the strength of his conviction, and it will be the Spirit God placed in him which will give him the ability to act with gentleness and with power, assuring him of final success.
What the inspired prophet said of the Servant, we can apply to our beloved John Paul II: the Lord called him to his service and in entrusting him with tasks of increasing responsibility, he also accompanied him with his grace and his continuous assistance.
During his long Pontificate, he did all he could to proclaim what is right with firmness, without weakness or hesitations, especially when he had to face resistances, hostility and rejection. He knew that the Lord took him by the hand, and this allowed him to exercise a very fruitful ministry, for which once again, let us give fervent thanks to God.
The Gospel just now took us to Bethany where, as the evangelist notes, Lazarus, Martha and Mary offered a dinner for the Master (Jn 12,1). This banquest at the house of the three friends of Jesus is characterized by presentiments of imminent death: it is six days before Passsover; the suggestion from the traitor Judas; the response of Jesus which recalls a pious act of burial that is anticipated by Mary; the hint that they will not always have him with them; the proposal [by the Jews] to eliminate Lazarus, reflecting their desire to kill Jsus.
In this Gospel story, I wish to call attention to one gesture: Mary of Bethany took "costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair" (12,3).
Mary's gesture is the expression of great faith and love for the Lord: For her, it was not enough to wash the feet of the Master with water, but she anointed them with a great quantity of precious perfume which - as Judas would protest - could have been sold for 300 denarii.
She does not anoint the head, as was the custom, but the feet: Mary offers to Jesus the most costly thing she had with a gesture of profound devotion. Love does not calculate, it does not measure, it is not concerned with cost, it has no barriers - but it gives with joy, it only seeks the good of the other, it triumphs over pettiness, meanness, resentment and the closures that man sometimes carries in his heart.
Mary puts herself at the feet of Jesus in a humble attitude of service, as the Master himself would do at the Last Supper when - the fourth Gospel tells us - "he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet" (Jn 13,4-5), so that, he said, "as I have done for you, you should also do" (v 15).
The rule of Jesus's community was that of love which knows how to serve up to the gift of one's life. And the perfume spread: "the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil" (Jn 12,3), the Evangelist tells us.
The meaning of Mary's gesture, which is a response to God's infinite love, was not lost to any of the guests. Every gesture of charity and authentic devotion to Christ does not remain a personal fact, it does not concern only the relationship between the individual and God, but it concerns the entire body of the Church. It is contagious - it spreads love, joy and light.
"He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him" (Jn 1,11). In contrast to Mary's action were the attitude and words of Judas, who, under the pretext of giving aid to the poor, hides the selfishness and falsity of the man who is closed up in himself, imprisoned by the greed of possession, who will not let himself be wrapped by the perfume of divine love.
Judas calculates what cannot be calculated; with his mean spirit, he intrudes into the space of love, of giving, of total dedication.
And Jesus, who until that moment, had remained silent, intervenes in favor of Mary's act: "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial" (Jn 12,7).
Jesus understood that Mary had intuited the love of God, and indicates that now his 'hour' had come, the 'hour' when Love would find its supreme expression on the wood of the Cross. The Son of God would give himself so that man would have life, would descend to the abyss of death in order to bring man to the heights of God, and will not fear to humble himself "becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2,8).
St. Augustine, in the sermon where he comments on this Gospel passage, addresses urgently to each of us an invitation to enter this circle of love, imitating the gesture of Mary and concretely following him.
Augustine writes: "Every soul that wishes to be faithful should join Mary in anointing the feet of the Lord with precious perfume. Anoint the feet of Jesus: follow the footsteps of the Lord leading to a worthy life. Wipe his feet with your hair: If you have any surplus, give them to the poor, and you will have wiped his feet". (In Ioh. evang., 50, 6).
Dear brothers and sisters! The whole life of the Venerable John Paul II took place under the emblem of such charity, of the capacity to give himself generously, without reservations, without neasure, without calculation.
What motivated him was his love of Christ, to whom he had consecrated his life, a love that was super-abundant and unconditional. And precisely because he was increasingly close to God in love, he could make himself a fellow pilgrim to the man of today, diffusing through the world the perfume of God's love.
Whoever had the joy of meeting him and of becoming familiar with him could touch with the hand how alive in him was the certainty of "contemplating the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living", as we heard in the Responsorial Psalm (26.27,13) - a certainty that accompanied him throughout his existence and which was particularly manifested during the last stage of his pilgrimage on this earth.
Indeed, his progressive physical weakness never affected his rock-firm faith, his luminous hope and his fervent charity. He allowed himself to be consumed for Christ, for the Church, for the entire world. His was a suffering lived to the very end for love and with love.
In the homily on the 25th anniversary of his Pontificate, he confided that he heard loudly in his heart, at the moment he was elected Pope, Jesus's query to Peter: "Do you love me? Do you love me more than the others do...?" (Jn 21,15-16).
And he added: "Every day, that dialog between Jesus and Peter takes place in muy heart; in the spirit, which feels the benevolent look of the Risen Christ. He, though he knows mty human weakness, encourages me to reply trustingly as Peter did: 'Lord, you know everything: you know I love you' (Jn 21,17). And then, he asks me to take on the responsibility that he himself had entrusted to me" (Oct. 16, 2003).
These are words full of faith and love, the love of God that triumphs over everything.
In Polish, he said:
Finally, I wish to greet all the Poles who are present. You have gathered in large numbers at the tomb of the Venerable Servant of God with a special sentiment - as sons and daughters of the same land, who grew up in the same culture and spiritual tradition.
The life and the work of John Paul II, a great Pole, can ba reason of pride for you. But you must remember that this is also a great call to be faithful witnesses to faith, hope and love, which he taught us uninterruptedly.
Through the intercession of John Paul II, may the blessing of the Lord sustain you always.
He ended in Italian:
As we proceed with the Eucharistic celebration, preparing ourselves to live the glorious days of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord, let us entrust ourselves confidently - with the example of the Venerable John Paul II - to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, so that she may sustain us in the commitment to be, in every circumstance, tireless apostles of her divine Son and his merciful love. Amen!
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/03/2010 23:13] |