March 25, 2012.
(Romereports.com) The Pope celebrated his first Mass in Mexico at Guanajuato's Bicentennial Park.
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Brothers and Sisters,
“I
am very pleased to be among you today and I express my sincere
gratitude to the Most Reverend José Guadalupe Martín Rábago, Archbishop
of León, for his kind words of welcome. I greet the Mexican Bishops, and
the Cardinals and other Bishops present here, and in a special way
those who have come from Latin America and the Caribbean. I also extend a
warm greeting to the authorities that are with us, as well as all who
have gathered for this Holy Mass presided by the Successor of Peter.
We
said, "A pure heart, create for me, O God" (Ps 50:12) during the
responsorial psalm. This exclamation shows us how profoundly we must
prepare to celebrate next week the great mystery of the passion, death
and resurrection of the Lord. It also helps us to look deeply into the
human heart, especially in times of sorrow as well as hope, as are the
present times for the people of Mexico and of Latin America.
The
desire for a heart that would be pure, sincere, humble, acceptable to
God was very much felt by Israel as it became aware of the persistence
in its midst of evil and sin as a power, practically implacable and
impossible to overcome. There was nothing left but to trust in God’s
mercy and in the hope that he would change from within, from the heart,
an unbearable, dark and hopeless situation. In this way recourse gained
ground to the infinite mercy of the Lord who does not wish the sinner to
die but to convert and live (cf. Ez 33:11). A pure heart, a new heart,
is one which recognizes that, of itself, it is impotent and places
itself in God’s hands so as to continue hoping in his promises. Then the
psalmist can say to the Lord with conviction: "Sinners will return to
you" (Ps 50:15). And towards the end of the psalm he will give an
explanation which is at the same time a firm conviction of faith: "A
humble, contrite heart you will not spurn" (v. 19).
The history
of Israel relates some great events and battles, but when faced with its
more authentic existence, its decisive destiny, its salvation, it
places its hope not in its own efforts, but in God who can create a new
heart, not insensitive or proud. This should remind each one of us and
our peoples that, when addressing the deeper dimension of personal and
community life, human strategies will not suffice to save us. We must
have recourse to the One who alone can give life in its fullness,
because he is the essence of life and its author; he has made us sharers
in the same through his Son Jesus Christ.
Today’s Gospel takes
up the topic and shows us how this ancient desire for the fullness of
life has actually been achieved in Christ. Saint John explains it in a
passage in which the wish of some Greeks to see Jesus coincides with the
moment in which the Lord is about to be glorified. Jesus responds to
the question of the Greeks, who represent the pagan world, saying: "Now
the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (Jn 12:23). This
is a strange response which seems inconsistent with the question asked
by the Greeks. What has the glorification of Jesus to do with the
request to meet him? But there is a relation. Someone might think – says
Saint Augustine – that Jesus felt glorified because the Gentiles were
coming to him. This would be similar to the applause of the multitudes
who give "glory" to those who are grand in the world, as we would say
today. But this is not so. "It was convenient that, before the wonder of
his glorification, should come the humility of his passion" (In Joannis
Ev. 51:9: PL 35, 1766).
Jesus’ answer, announcing his imminent
passion, means that a casual encounter in those moments would have been
superficial and perhaps deceptive. The Greeks will see the one they
wished to meet raised up on the cross from which he will attract all to
himself (cf. Jn 12:32). There his "glory" will begin, because of his
sacrifice of expiation for all, as the grain of wheat fallen to the
ground that by dying germinates and produces abundant fruit. They will
find the one whom, unknown to them, they were seeking in their hearts,
the true God who is made visible to all peoples. This was how Our Lady
of Guadalupe showed her divine Son to Saint Juan Diego, not as a
powerful legendary hero but as the very God of the living, by whom all
live, the Creator of persons, of closeness and immediacy, of heaven and
earth (cf. Nican Mopohua, v.33). At that moment she did what she had
done previously at the wedding feast of Cana. Faced with the
embarrassment caused by the lack of wine, she told the servants clearly
that the path to follow was her Son: "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn
2:5).
Dear brothers and sisters, by coming here I have been able
to visit the monument to Christ the King situated on top of the
Cubilete. My venerable predecessor, Blessed Pope John Paul II, although
he ardently desired to do so, was unable on his several journeys to this
beloved land to visit this site of such significance for the faith of
the Mexican people. I am sure that in heaven he is happy that the Lord
has granted me the grace to be here with you and that he has blessed the
millions of Mexicans who have venerated his relics in every corner of
the country. This monument represents Christ the King. But his crowns,
one of a sovereign, the other of thorns, indicate that his royal status
does not correspond to how it has been or is understood by many. His
kingdom does not stand on the power of his armies subduing others
through force or violence. It rests on a higher power than wins over
hearts: the love of God that he brought into the world with his
sacrifice and the truth to which he bore witness. This is his
sovereignty which no one can take from him and which no one should
forget. Hence it is right that this shrine should be above all a place
of pilgrimage, of fervent prayer, of conversion, of reconciliation, of
the search for truth and the acceptance of grace. We ask Christ, to
reign in our hearts, making them pure, docile, filled with hope and
courageous in humility.
From this park, foreseen as a memorial of
the bicentenary of the birth of the Mexican nation, bringing together
many differences towards one destiny and one common quest, we ask Christ
for a pure heart, where he as Prince of Peace may dwell "thanks to the
power of God who is the power of goodness, the power of love". But for
God to dwell in us, we need to listen to him; we must allow his Word to
challenge us every day, meditating upon it in our hearts after the
example of Mary (cf. Lk 2:51). In this way we grow in friendship with
him, we learn to understand what he expects from us and we are
encouraged to make him known to others.
At Aparecida, the Bishops
of Latin America and the Caribbean saw with clarity the need to
confirm, renew and revitalize the newness of the Gospel rooted deeply in
the history of these lands "on the basis of a personal and community
encounter with Jesus Christ which raises up disciples and missionaries"
(Final Document, 11). The Continental Mission now taking place in the
various dioceses of this continent has the specific task of transmitting
this conviction to all Christians and ecclesial communities so that
they may resist the temptation of a faith that is superficial and
routine, at times fragmentary and incoherent. Here we need to overcome
fatigue related to faith and rediscover "the joy of being Christians, of
being sustained by the inner happiness of knowing Christ and belonging
to his Church. From this joy spring the energies that are needed to
serve Christ in distressing situations of human suffering, placing
oneself at his disposition and not falling back on one’s own comfort"
(Address to the Roman Curia, 22 December 2011). This can be seen clearly
in the saints who dedicated themselves fully to the cause of the Gospel
with enthusiasm and joy without counting the cost, even of life itself.
Their heart was centred entirely on Christ from whom they had learned
what it means to love until the end.
In this sense the Year of
Faith, to which I have convoked the whole Church, "is an invitation to
an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the only Saviour of the
world […]. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love
received and when it is communicated as an experience of grace and joy"
(Porta Fidei 6, 7).
Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to assist
us in purifying our hearts, especially in view of the coming Easter
celebrations, that we may enter more deeply the salvific mystery of her
Son, as she made it known in this land. And let us also ask her to
continue accompanying and protecting her Mexican and Latin American
children, that Christ may reign in their lives and help them boldly to
promote peace, harmony, justice and solidarity. Amen.”
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