A musical performance in the Sistine Chapel has got to be the ultimate concert experience!
Tribute from the German President:
Bach in the Sistine Chapel
The host and guest of honor: Benedict XVI
The concert patron and tribute giver: President Horst Koehler of the Federal Republic of Germany
The occasion: The 60th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany
and the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
The program: First and Third cantatas from Johann Sebastian Bach's
Christmas Oratorio
Performed by: The Augsburg Cathedral Boys Choir, the Residenz Chamber Orchestra of Munich, and soloists.
Here is a translation of the remarks delivered in German by the Holy Father after the performance:
Dear friends!
It is difficult to speak after such great and interiorly moving music. But as humble as they may be, words of greeting, gratitude and reflection are nonetheless in order.
I welcome you all to the Sistine Chapel. And to the Herr Bundes-President and his wife, my thanks that you have nonored us tonight with your presence.
Dear Mr. President, your visit really brings me joy, as it highlights the communion of the German people with the Successor of Peter, their compatriot.
And a heartfelt Vergelt's Gott ['Thank you' - literally, May God reward you for it!] for your profoundly moving words and for having made this evening possible.
I likewise thank the honorable Domkapellmeister Reinhard Kammler, the Augsburger Domsingknaben, and the ResidenczKammerorchester of Munich for the masterul performance of this great Oratorio. Thank you for this wonderful gift!
The occasion for this celebratory evening is, as we have heard, twofold. First, we celebrate this year the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany with the signing of its Constitution on May 23, 1949.
At the same time, we observe the 20th annviersary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, that fatal boundary which for many years divided our country and tore people, families, neigbors and friends from each other.
The events on November 9, 1989, were seen by those who experienced it as the unexpected dawn of freedom after suffering a long night of violation and oppression by a totalitarian system which ultimately amounted to nihilism, to an emptying of the soul.
In the Communist dictatorship, there was no treatment that was not evil in itself and always immoral. Whatever served the purposes of the Party was good, no matter how inhuman it was.
Today we often ask ourselves whether the Western social order is truly better and more human. The history of the Federal Republic of Germany is instructive in this regard, and for this, we have our Constitution to thank in large measure.
This document has guided the peaceful development of Germany in the past 60 years. Because it reminds men, responsible to God, the Creater, of human dignity at the forefront of rights that must be guaranteed by the state, and of consideration and respect for marriage and the family, which is sacred to many, as the basis of society.
May the citizens of Germany continue to work together dutifully for a free society in the task of spiritual and political renewal as expressed in the Constitution, after the experience of National Socialism and the Second World War.
Dear friends, if we look back at the history of our Fatherland in the past 60 years, we have reason to give our deepest thanks to God. And it makes us realize that this development was not our work alone. It was made possible by men who, from a deep Christian conviction of their responsibility before God, carried out the processes of forgiveness and reconciliation that enabled a new cooperation among the countries of Europe.
European history in the 20th century shows that responsibility before God is decisively significant for correct political action (cfr Caritas in veritate). God brings men together to a true togetherness, and he makes each individual conscious that in our relationship with others, there is a greater Presence, who is the origin of our life and our togetherness.
This is especially clear in the mystery of Christmas, in which God with his love comes to us, as man himself, as a child who asks for our love.
This togetherness, which is based on love and oriented towards eternal love, is impressively illustrated by a stanza in the Christmas Oratorio, in which Mary by the manger listens to the words of the shepherds who came as witnesses to the message of the angel about her Child.
Bach makes this moment, that as everything else that would happen, Mary would keep and reflect on in her heart (cfr Lk 2,19), into a call to every individual in a wonderful aria:
Schließe, mein Herze, dies selige Wunder
fest in deinem Glauben ein!
Lasse dies Wunder, die göttlichen Werke,
immer zur Stärke deines schwachen Glaubens sein.
(Believe, my heart, this holy wonder. Let this wonder, this Godly work, always strenghten your weak faith.)
Every man can be, for others, in communionw ith Jesus Christ, be a mediator to God. No one believes for himself alone - everyone lives his faith among other men. But no one can lay down this bridge to God by himself, since no one, on his own, can lay absolute claim to God's existence in order to hand it to others.
It is in communion with others who are also close to God what we can be mediators of God with each other. As such, we become capable of inspiring new thought and of bringing new strength in the service of an integral humanism.
He concluded in Italian:
I thank all those who organized this beautiful evening, to the musicians and all those who made this concert possible through their generous contribution.
May the splendid music that we have just heard in the unique setting of the Sistine Chapel reinforce our faith and our joy in the Lord, so that we can be his witnesses to the world.
I impart on everyone my Apostolic Blessing.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/01/2010 12:29]