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April 21, Fourth Sunday of Easter
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
ST. ANSELM OF CANTERBURY (ANSELMO D'AOSTA) (b Italy 1033, d England 1109)
Benedictine monk, Abbot, Archbishop of Aosta, Archbishop of Canterbury, Doctor of the Church
Anselm first wanted to be a priest at 15 but his rich father opposed him, and so he spent the next 12 years of his life enjoying life to the full. During a trip to France, he came to the Benedictine monastery of Bec in Normandy, and joined the order at age 27. Within 15 years, he became its abbot, succeeding Lanfranc, who had been his mentor, quickly transforming Bec into a famous monastic school. He also started publishing his philosophical and theological works which were likened to St. Augustine's, in which he sought to analyze and illumine the faith through reason. Meanwhile, Lanfranc had been sent to England to help the English clergy in a much-needed renewal. As Archbishop of Canterbury, he asked Anselm to help him, and when Lanfranc died, Anselm was named to succeed him. It was 1093 and he was 60 years old. He spent the rest of his life fighting to defend Church freedom in England. Twice he was exiled by two kings for his opposition to them. Finally in 1106, King Henry I renounced his right to the conferral of ecclesiastical offices, the collection of taxes and the confiscation of Church properties. Anselm returned to England in triumph, devoting himself to moral formation of the clergy and carrying on his own theological studies. He is considered the father of Christian scholasticism. He died in 1109. He was canonized in 1492 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1720. Benedict XVI devoted a catechesis to him on Sept. 23, 2009
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090923...
Readings for today's Mass:
fhttp://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042113.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
Mass to ordain 10 new priests for the Diocese of Rome - Pope Francis performed his first ordination rite as Bishop of Rome
at St. Peter's Basilica Sunday morning. The homily he delivered, the Vatican bulletin notes, is the ritual homily that
appears in the Pontificale Romanum for the ordination of priests, with one or two personal additions.
At noon, Pope Francis led Regina caeli prayers from the third-floor study window of the papal apartment. He reflected
on the Gospel of the Good Shepherd today, expressed concern for the post-election turmoil in Venezuela, enjoining
against violence to resolve the issues, and requested prayers for the victims of an earthquake in southern China.
One year ago today, Benedict XVI met with 15 US bishops from Region XI (various dioceses of California and nearby western states) on ad-limina visit, and members of the US-based Papal Foundation, which raises funds for specific papal charities around the world.
However, on the occasion of Good Shepherd Sunday, which is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, here is a re-post of Benedict XVI's homily at the ordination Mass he presided at last year, when the commemoration fell on April 29. He ordained eight new priests for the Diocese of Rome and a ninth one, who had also studied In one of the Roman seminaries, a former Vietnamese lawyer who would return to his country.
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 29, 2012
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's homily:
Venerated Brothers,
Dear Ordinands,
Dear brothers and sisters:
The Roman tradition of celebrating priestly ordinations on the fourth Sunday of Easter, the Sunday of the Good Shepherd, contains a great wealth of significance, linked to the convergence of the Word of God, the liturgical rite, and the Paschal season in which it occurs.
In particular, the figure of the shepherd, so relevant in Sacred Scripture and naturally, very important for the definition of a priest, acquires its full truth and clarity in the face of Christ, in the light of the mystery of his death and resurrection.
You too, dear ordinands, can always draw from this richness every day of your life, thus continually renewing your priesthood.
This year, the Gospel is the central part of Chapter 10 in the Gospel of St. John, and begins with Jesus's affirmation: "I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (Jn 10,11).
Here we are immediately led to the center, to the summit of the revelation of God as the shepherd of his people. This center and summit is Jesus, he who died on the Cross and resurrects from the sepulchre on the third day, who rises again with all his humanity, and in this way, he involves us, every man, in his passage from death to life.
This event - Christ's Passover - in which the pastoral work of God is realized fully and definitively, is a sacrificial event: that is why the Good Shepherd and the Supreme High Priest coincide in the person of Jesus who gave his life for us.
But let us briefly look also at the first Readings and the responsorial psalm (Ps 118). The passage from the Acts of the Apostles (4,6-12) presents us with the testimony of St. Peter to the leaders of the people and the elders of Jerusalem after the miraculous healing of the cripple.
Peter states with great frankness that Jesus "is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved" (vv 11-12).
The Apostle then goes on to interpret Psalm 118 in the light of Christ's Paschal mystery - the psalm in which the praying man gives thanks to God who has responded to his cry for help and who brought him to safety.
The Psalm says: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. By the LORD has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes" (Ps 118,22-23).
Jesus had lived that experience: of being rejected by the leaders of his people and rehabilitated by God, placed at the foundation of a new temple, of a new people who would give praise to the Lord with fruits of justice" (cfr Mt 21,42-43).
Thus, the first Reading and the responsorial psalm, which is Psalm 118 itself, strongly recall the Paschal context, and with this image of the rejected stone which is then rehabilitated draws out attention to Jesus who died and resurrected.
On the other hand, the second reading, taken from the First Letter of John (3,1-2), speaks to us of the fruits from Christ's Passover - our having become children of God. In John's words, one still feels all the wonder at this gift: we are not just called children of God, but "we truly are" (v 1).
In effect, the filial condition of man is the fruit of Jesus's salvific work: with his Incarnation, with his Death and Resurrection, and with the Gift of the Holy Spirit, he has placed man into a new relationship with God, the same relationship he has with the Father.
That is why the Risen Jesus says: "I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20,19). It is a relationship that is already fully real but which has not yet been fully manifested: it will be in the end, when, God willing, we shall be able to see his face without a veil" (cfr v 2).
Dear Ordinands, it is that to which the Good Shepherd wants to lead us. It is that to which the priest is called to lead the faithful who are enrusted to him: to the true life, life "in abundance" (Jn 10,10).
Let us return to the Gospel, and to the parable of the shepherd. "The good shepherd gives his own life for his sheep" (Jn 10,11). Jesus insists on this essential characteristic of the true shepherd who is He himself: that of 'giving his own life".
He repeats it three times, and concludes by saying: "This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father" (Jn 10,17-18).
Clearly, this is the qualifying trait of the shepherd as Jesus interprets in his own person, according to the will of the Father who sent him, the Biblical figure of the Shepherd-King, whose principal task is to sustain the people of God, to keep them united and to lead them - this entire kingly function is fully realized in Jesus Christ in the sacrificial dimension, in the offering of his life.
It is realized, in one word, in the mystery of the Cross, in that supreme act of humility and oblative love. The abbot Theodore Studite said: By means of the Cross, we, the sheep of Christ, have been united into one single flock destined for eternal dwelling places" (Discorso sull’adorazione della croce: PG 99, 699).
This is the perspective towards which the formulations of the Rites of Ordination for Priests that we celebrate today are oriented. For example, among the questions that have to do with "the commitment of the elected", the last one, which has a climactic and in some ways synthesizing character, reads: "Do you resolve to be united more closely every day to Christ the High priest, who offered himself for us to the Father as a pure sacrifice, and with him to, consecrate yourself to God for the salvation of all?"
In fact, the priest is he who becomes, in a singular way, introduced into the mystery of the Sacrifice of Christ, in a personal union with him, in order to prolong his salvific mission. This union, which comes thanks to the Sacrament of Holy Orders, asks to become 'ever closer' through the generous co-response of the priest himself.
That is why, dear Ordinands, shortly you will respond to that question, saying, "I do, with the help of God."
Subsequently, in the explicative Rites, at the moment of the Chrismal unction, the celebrant will say: "The Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, guard and preserve you, that you may sanctify the Christian people and offer sacrifices to God".
And then, at the offering of the bread and wine: "Receive the offerings of the holy people for the eucharistic sacrifice. Take note of what you do, imitate that which you will celebrate, conform your life to the mystery of the Cross of Christ the Lord".
It highlights very strongly that, for the priest, celebrating the Holy Mass every day does not mean carrying out a ritual function, but fulfilling a mission that involves entirely and profoundly one's very existence, in communion with the Risen Christ who, in his Church, continues to carry out the redemptive Sacrifice.
This Eucharistic-sacrificial dimension he is inseparable from the pastoral, and constitutes the nucleus of truth and salvific power upon which the effectiveness of our every activity depends.
Of course, we do not just mean effectiveness on the psychological or social plane, but of the vital fecundity of the presence of God at the profoundest human level.
The very preaching, the works, the actions of various kinds that the Church carries out with her multiple initiatives, would lose their salvific fecundity if the celebration of the Sacrifice of Christ were any less profound. And this is entrusted to ordained priests.
Indeed, the priest is called on to live in himself what Jesus experienced firsthand - namely, to give oneself wholly to preaching and to the healing of man from every affliction of the body and spirit, and then, in the end, to sum up everything in the supreme gesture of 'giving one's life' for men - a gesture which finds its sacramental expression in the Eucharist, perpetual remembrance of Jesus's Passover.
It is only through this 'door' of the Paschal sacrifice that men and women of all times and places can enter eternal life. It is through this via santa (holy way) that they can complete the exodus that will lead them to the 'promised land' of true freedom, to the "green pastures' of peace and joy without end (cfr Jn 10,7.9; Ps 77,14.20-21; Ps 23,2).
Dear Ordinands, may this Word of God illuminate all your life. And when the weight of the Cross is heavier, be aware that it is the most valuable time, for you and for the persons entrusted to you: By renewing with faith and love your "Yes, I do, with the help of God", you will be cooperating with Christ, High Priest and Good Shepherd, in pasturing his sheep - even if it were just the one lost sheep, but for whom there will be a great feast in Heaven!
May the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani, always keep watch over each of you and on your paths. Amen.
He returned to the theme in his Regina caeli reflections after the Mass:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Shortly before now, the Eucharistic celebration at St. Peter's Basilica, during which I ordained nine new priests of the Diocese of Rome, ended. Let us give thanks to God for this gift, a sign of his faithful and provident love for the Church.
Let us draw close spiritually to these new priests and let us pray that they may fully accept the grace of the Sacrament which has conformed them to Jesus Christ, Priest and Shepherd.
And let us pray so that all young people may be attentive to the voice of God who speaks to their heart interiorly, calling them to detach themselves from everything in order to follow him.
This is the purpose to which today's World Day of Prayer for Vocations is dedicated. Indeed, the Lord always calls, but many times, we do not listen. We are distracted by many things, by other, more superficial voices. And then, we are afraid to listen to the voice of the Lord, because we think that it may deprive us of our freedom.
In fact, each of us is the fruit of love: certainly, the love of our parents, but more profoundly, the love of God. The Bible says: If even your mother can forget you, I will never forget you because I know you and I love you (cfr Is 49,15).
The moment I become aware of this, my life changes - it becomes a response to this love, greater than any other, and in this way, my freedom is fully realized.
The young people whom I consecrated as priests today are not different from other young people, except that they have been profoundly touched by the beauty of God's love, and they could do no less than to respond with their ehole life.
How did they encounter God's love? They met it in Jesus Christ: in his Gospel, in the Eucharist, and in the community of the Church. In the Church one discovers that the life of every man is a story of love. Sacred Scripture shows this clearly, and it is confirmed by the testimonials of the saints.
St. Augustine's statement in his Confessions is exemplary, when he addresses God and says: "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside... You were with me, but I was not with you... You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness" (X, 27.38).
Dear friends, let us pray for the Church, for every local community, so that they may be like an irrigated garden in which all the seeds of vocation that God sows in abundance may germinate and mature.
Let us pray so that this garden may be cultivated everywhere, in the joy of feeling that we are all called, in the variety of our gifts.
In particular, families are the first environment in which one 'breathes' the love of God, who gives us an interior strength even in the midst of the difficulties and trials of life. Whoever lives in his family the experience of God's love receives an inestimable gift which will bear fruit in its time.
May all this be obtained for us by the Blessed Virgin Mary, model of free and obedient acceptance to the divine call, Mother of every vocation in the Church.
After the prayers, he said this:
I address a special greeting to the pilgrims who are gathered at the Basilica of St. Paul outside thw Walls, where this morning, Giuseppe Toniolo was proclaimed Blessed. Living in the 19th and 20th centuries, he was a husband and father of seven, a university professor and educator of young people, economist and sociologist, passionate servant of communion in the Church.
He applied the teachings of the encyclical Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII; he promoted Catholic Action, the Catholic University of Sacro Cuore, the Settimani Sociali [Social Consciousness Weeks] for Italian Catholics, and an institute of international law on peace.
His message is of great relevance especially in our time. Blessed Toniolo shows the way of the primacy of the human being and solidarity. He wrote: "Above and beyond the legitimate good and interests of single nations and States, there is an indissoluble element that coordinates and unites everyone, namely, the duty of human solidarity".
Also beatified today, in Coutances, France, was the priest Pierre-Adrien Toulorge of the Premonstratensian Order, who lived in the second half of the 18th century. Let us give thanks to God for this luminous 'martyr for the truth'.
I greet the participants in the European meeting of university students, organized by the Diocese of Rome on the first anniversary of the beatification of Pope John Paul II.
Dear young people, continue confidently on the path of the new evangelization in the universities. Tomorrow evening, I will be with you spiritually for the prayer vigil that will be held in Tor Vergata, near the great Cross that marks the site of World Youth Day in 2000. Thank you for your presence.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/04/2013 14:57] |