First reading from the Book of the Prophet Daniel Dn 7:13-14
As the visions during the night continued, I saw one like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.
SALM 93 "Yahweh is king, robed in majesty,
"Yahweh is king, robed in majesty, robed is Yahweh and girded with power.
The world is indeed set firm it can never be shaken; your throne is set firm from of old, from all eternity you exist.
The rivers lift up, Yahweh, the rivers lift up their voices, the rivers lift up their thunder.
Greater than the voice of many waters, more majestic than the breakers of the sea, Yahweh is majestic in the heights.
Your decrees stand firm, unshakeable, holiness is the beauty of your house, Yahweh, for all time to come.
Second reading from the Book of Revelation Rv 1:5-8
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, " says the Lord God, "the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."
GOSPEL OF THE DAY A reading from the GOSPEL of John Jn 18:33b-37
Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER In the twilight of life we will be judged on our love for, closeness to and tenderness towards our brothers and sisters. Upon this will depend our entry into, or exclusion from, the kingdom of God: our belonging to the one side or the other. Through his victory, Jesus has opened to us his kingdom. But it is for us to enter into it, beginning with our life now – his kingdom begins now – by being close in concrete ways to our brothers and sisters who ask for bread, clothing, acceptance, solidarity, catechesis. (Mass of Canonization, St. Peter’s square, 23 November 2014)
FAUSTI - It was dawn. After the rooster crow, the darkness ends and the light comes in. Jesus' political process takes place from morning to sixth hour, from sunrise on the horizon to the highest point in the sky. The light that comes into the world breaks the darkness and grows until it reaches its majestic fullness on the Cross. Here, the King of Glory manifests himself. The chief priests and their servants, also called "the Jews", lead Jesus to the courtroom. This is the residence of the Roman governor at the feasts, where he lived to control the crowds that came to Jerusalem. Jesus is therefore led by the Roman authority to carry out the sentence already decided. by the religious authority without trial. This is how the Lamb of God passes from the leaders of Israel to the leadership of the Gentiles: he is the Savior of the world, who comes from the Jews. Jesus, with his Royalty, reveals to us the truth of God and man. He is the Messiah revealed to David. He liberates not only the people of Israel, but the whole world because he refuses to dominate and undertakes to serve them. He brings us out of oppression not by the power of those who oppress more, but by the strength of those who love more. Jesus is the Messiah shouted out by the crowd, is rejected because, instead of tanks and horses, he chooses the donkey, gentle and humble like Him. But it is precisely in this way that He delivers us from all the power of death. Pilate therefore asked Jesus if he was the Messiah. He asks Him what He has done. The whole Gospel is the answer to this question. The signs that Jesus performed show His royalty: He gave beautiful wine at the wedding and salvation to those who were about to die, He raised the paralytic, offered bread and walked on water, He gave sight to the blind and life to the dead. Its sovereignty is the same as that of God, who gives what is love and life. These are the signs of His royalty that will shine fully on the Cross. He is the King promised by God to the descendants of David, who will reign forever: His power is that of washing feet, His dignity is that of being among us as the One who serves. It is the handsome Shepherd who frees his sheep, exposing, disposing, and giving Life for them. Jesus confirms that He is King. Not only Jews, but all of them. He is the divine King who comes from Heaven, who frees his sheep by exposing, disposing and giving His Life for them. Jesus confirms that He is King. Not only Jews, but all of them. It is the divine King who comes from Heaven. He reveals to us the Truth that sets us free. He shows us that we are children of God, loved by the Father. Then, for those who do not close their eyes, the Truth will automatically dissolve the lie, just as the Light extinguishes the nightmare of darkness. The Kingdom of Jesus is that of the martyr: it comes only from the knowledge and witness of the Truth, at its own expense, like the prophets. The poor are the permanent court of the Crucified One who judges history: what we do or do not do for them, saves us or destroys us. Pilate is called, like everyone else, to come out of the lie and listen to the voice of the One who is the Truth. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" says Jesus. Whoever dwells in His Word will know the Truth. Those who prefer power to Truth cannot listen to it or understand it. To be of the Truth means to accept the Truth as the principle of one's own life. Those who do so are ready to listen to Him: open their hearts to His Word, open their eyes to reality and heal from His illusions. Truth has a voice with which it calls us: it is the voice of the innocent who has been struck by evil. He who defends the weak, sooner or later, comes out of blindness and knows the Truth.
Yes, O Christ, you are King! Your kingship is paradoxically manifested in the Cross, in obedience to the plan of the Father, "who", as the Apostle Paul wrote, "has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col 1: 13-14). As the first born from the dead, you, Jesus, are the King of the new humanity, restored to its original dignity.
You are King! But your kingdom is not of this world (cf. Jn 18: 36); it is not the fruit of the conquests of war, political domination, economic empires or cultural hegemony. Yours is a "kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace" (cf. Preface of Christ the King), which will be revealed in its fullness at the end of time, when God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15: 28). The Church, which can already taste on earth the first fruits of this future fulfilment, never ceases to repeat: "Adveniat regnum tuum", "Thy kingdom come" (Mt 6: 10).
2. Thy kingdom come! This is how the faithful, in every part of the world, pray as they gather round their Pastors today for the Jubilee of the Apostolate of the Laity. And I joyfully add my voice to this universal chorus of praise and prayer, as I celebrate Holy Mass together with you at the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
I thank Cardinal James Francis Stafford, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and your two representatives, who expressed your common sentiments at the beginning of this Holy Mass. I greet my venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, as well as the priests and religious present. I extend my greetings in particular to you, my lay brothers and sisters, Christifideles laici, who are actively dedicated to the Gospel cause: in looking at you, I am also thinking of all the members of the communities, associations and movements of apostolic action; I am thinking of the fathers and mothers who, with generosity and a spirit of sacrifice, see that their children are raised in the practice of human and Christian virtues; I am thinking of those who offer their sufferings, accepted and lived in union with Christ, as a contribution to evangelization.
3. I especially greet you, dear participants in the Congress of the Catholic Laity, which fits well into the context of the Jubilee of the Apostolate of the Laity. The theme of your meeting is "Witnesses to Christ in the new millennium". It continues the tradition of the world conventions of the lay apostolate which began 50 years ago under the fruitful impulse of the keener awareness which the Church had acquired both of her own nature as a mystery of communion and of her intrinsic missionary responsibility in the world.
In the growth of this awareness, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council marked a decisive turning-point. With the Council the hour of the laity truly struck, and many lay faithful, men and women, more clearly understood their Christian vocation, which by its very nature is a vocation to the apostolate (cf. Apostolicam actuositatem, n. 2). Thirty-five years after its conclusion, I say: we must return to the Council. We must once again take the documents of the Second Vatican Council in hand to rediscover the great wealth of its doctrinal and pastoral motives.
In particular, you lay people must again take those documents in hand. To you the Council opened extraordinary perspectives of commitment and involvement in the Church's mission. Did the Council not remind you of your participation in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ? In a special way, the Council Fathers entrusted you with the mission "of seeking the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will" (Lumen gentium, n. 31).
--> However, what does this mission entail? What does being a Christian mean today, here and now?
Being a Christian has never been easy, nor is it easy today. Following Christ demands the courage of radical choices, which often means going against the stream. "We are Christ!", St Augustine exclaimed. The martyrs and witnesses of faith yesterday and today, including many lay faithful, show that, if necessary, we must not hesitate to give even our lives for Jesus Christ.
In this regard, the Jubilee invites everyone to a serious examination of conscience and lasting spiritual renewal for ever more effective missionary activity. Here I would like to return to what my venerable predecessor, Pope Paul VI, wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi 25 years ago towards the end of the Holy Year of 1975: "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (n. 41).
These words are still valid today in the presence of a humanity full of potential and expectations, but threatened by a multitude of snares and dangers. One need only think, among other things, of social advances and of the revolution in genetics; of economic progress and of underdevelopment in vast areas of the globe; of the tragedy of hunger in the world and of the difficulties in safeguarding peace; of the extensive network of communications and of the dramas of loneliness and violence reported in the daily press. Dear lay faithful, as witnesses to Christ you are especially called to bring the light of the Gospel to the vital nerve centres of society. You are called to be prophets of Christian hope and apostles of the One "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!" (Rv 1: 4).
5. "Holiness befits your house!" (Ps 92: 5). With these words we addressed God in the responsorial psalm. Holiness continues to be the greatest challenge for believers. We must be grateful to the Second Vatican Council, which recalled how all Christians are called to the fullness of Christian life and the perfection of charity.
Dear friends, do not be afraid to take up this challenge: be holy men and women! Do not forget that the fruits of the apostolate depend on the depth of spiritual life, on the intensity of prayer, on continual formation and on sincere adherence to the Church's directives. Today I repeat to you, as I did to the young people during the recent World Youth Day, that if you are what you should be - that is, if you live Christianity without compromise - you will set the world ablaze.
You face tasks and goals which may seem to exceed human forces. Do not lose heart! "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion" (Phil 1: 6) Always keep your gaze fixed on Jesus. Make him the heart of the world.
And you, Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, his first and most perfect disciple, help us to be his witnesses in the new millennium. Let your Son, King of the world and King of history, reign over our lives, our communities and the whole world!
"Praise and honour to you, O Christ!". By your Cross you have redeemed the world. At the beginning of the millennium, we entrust to you our efforts to serve this world which you love and which we love too. Support us with the power of your grace! Amen.
Vatican Basilica Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Sunday, 25 November 2012 In this final Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to celebrate the Lord Jesus as King of the Universe. She calls us to look to the future, or more properly into the depths, to the ultimate goal of history, which will be the definitive and eternal kingdom of Christ. He was with the Father in the beginning, when the world was created, and he will fully manifest his lordship at the end of time, when he will judge all mankind. Today’s three readings speak to us of this kingdom. In the Gospel passage which we have just heard, drawn from the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus appears in humiliating circumstances – he stands accused – before the might of Rome. He had been arrested, insulted, mocked, and now his enemies hope to obtain his condemnation to death by crucifixion. They had presented him to Pilate as one who sought political power, as the self-proclaimed King of the Jews. The Roman procurator conducts his enquiry and asks Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Jn 18:33). In reply to this question, Jesus clarifies the nature of his kingship and his messiahship itself, which is no worldly power but a love which serves. He states that his kingdom is in no way to be confused with a political reign: “My kingship is not of this world … is not from the world” (v. 36).
Jesus clearly had no political ambitions. After the multiplication of the loaves, the people, enthralled by the miracle, wanted to take him away and make him their king, in order to overthrow the power of Rome and thus establish a new political kingdom which would be considered the long-awaited kingdom of God. But Jesus knows that God’s kingdom is of a completely different kind; it is not built on arms and violence. The multiplication of the loaves itself becomes both the sign that he is the Messiah and a watershed in his activity: henceforth the path to the Cross becomes ever clearer; there, in the supreme act of love, the promised kingdom, the kingdom of God, will shine forth. But the crowd does not understand this; they are disappointed and Jesus retires to the mountain to pray in solitude, to pray with the Father (cf. Jn 6:1-15). In the Passion narrative we see how even the disciples, though they had shared Jesus’ life and listened to his words, were still thinking of a political kingdom, brought about also by force. In Gethsemane, Peter had unsheathed his sword and began to fight, but Jesus stopped him (cf. Jn 18:10-11). He does not wish to be defended by arms, but to accomplish the Father’s will to the end, and to establish his kingdom not by armed conflict, but by the apparent weakness of life-giving love. The kingdom of God is a kingdom utterly different from earthly kingdoms.
That is why, faced with a defenceless, weak and humiliated man, as Jesus was, a man of power like Pilate is taken aback; taken aback because he hears of a kingdom and servants. So he asks an apparently odd question: “So you are a king?” What sort of king can such a man as this be? But Jesus answers in the affirmative: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice” (18:37). Jesus speaks of kings and kingship, yet he is not referring to power but to truth. Pilate fails to understand: can there be a power not obtained by human means? A power which does not respond to the logic of domination and force? Jesus came to reveal and bring a new kingship, that of God; he came to bear witness to the truth of a God who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8,16), who wants to establish a kingdom of justice, love and peace (cf. Preface). Whoever is open to love hears this testimony and accepts it with faith, to enter the kingdom of God.
The Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, which we celebrate today, is set at the conclusion of the liturgical year and recalls that the life of creation does not advance at random, but proceeds toward a final destination: the definitive manifestation of Christ, Lord of history and of all creation. The conclusion of history will be his eternal kingdom. Today’s Gospel passage (cf. Jn 18:33-37) speaks to us about this kingdom, the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of Jesus, recounting the humiliating situation that Jesus is in after being arrested in Gethsemane: bound, insulted, accused and led before the authorities of Jerusalem. And then, he is presented to the Roman prosecutor, as one who seeks to undermine political power, to become the king of the Jews. So Pilate conducts his inquest and, in a dramatic interrogation, twice asks Jesus if He is a king (cf. vv. 33, 37).
And Jesus initially responds that his kingship “is not of this world” (v. 36). Then he states: “You say that I am a king” (v. 37). It is evident from his entire life that Jesus does not have political ambitions. Let us recall that after the multiplication of the loaves, the people, excited by the miracle, would have sought to proclaim him king, to overturn the Roman power and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. But for Jesus the kingdom is something else, and it is certainly not achieved by revolt, violence and the force of arms. This is why he withdrew alone to pray on the mount (cf. Jn 6:5-15). Now, in responding, He makes Pilate take note that His disciples did not fight to defend Him. He says: “if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews” (Jn 18:36).
Jesus wants to make it understood that above and beyond political power there is another even greater one, which is not obtained by human means. He has come to earth to exercise this power, which is love, by bearing witness to the truth (cf. v. 37), the divine truth which ultimately is the essential message of the Gospel: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8); and he wishes to establish in the world his kingdom of love, justice and peace. And this is the kingdom of which Jesus is king, and which extends until the end of times. History teaches us that kingdoms founded on the force of arms and on the abuse of power are fragile and sooner or later collapse. But the Kingdom of God is founded on his love and is rooted in hearts — the Kingdom of God is rooted in hearts —, conferring peace, freedom and fullness of life upon those who embrace it. We all want peace; we all want freedom and we want fulfilment. And how do you do this? Allow the love of God, the Kingdom of God, the love of Jesus, to take root in your heart and you will have peace, you will have freedom and you will have fulfilment.
Today Jesus asks us to allow him to become our king. A king who, with his word, his example and his life immolated on the cross saved us from death, and — this king — indicates the path to those who are lost, gives new light to our existence marred by doubt, by fear and by everyday trials. But we must not forget that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. He will give new meaning to our life — at times even put to difficult tests through our mistakes and our sins — merely on the condition that we not follow the logics of the world and of its ‘kings’.
May the Virgin Mary help us to welcome Jesus as the king of our life and to spread his kingdom, by bearing witness to the truth which is love.
First reading from the Book of the Prophet Daniel
RispondiEliminaDn 7:13-14
As the visions during the night continued, I saw
one like a Son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
when he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.
SALM 93
"Yahweh is king,
robed in majesty,
"Yahweh is king,
robed in majesty,
robed is Yahweh and girded with power.
The world is indeed set firm
it can never be shaken;
your throne is set firm from of old,
from all eternity you exist.
The rivers lift up, Yahweh,
the rivers lift up their voices,
the rivers lift up their thunder.
Greater than the voice of many waters,
more majestic than the breakers of the sea,
Yahweh is majestic in the heights.
Your decrees stand firm, unshakeable,
holiness is the beauty of your house,
Yahweh, for all time to come.
Second reading from the Book of Revelation
Rv 1:5-8
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, " says the Lord God,
"the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
A reading from the GOSPEL of John
Jn 18:33b-37
Pilate said to Jesus,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
In the twilight of life we will be judged on our love for, closeness to and tenderness towards our brothers and sisters. Upon this will depend our entry into, or exclusion from, the kingdom of God: our belonging to the one side or the other. Through his victory, Jesus has opened to us his kingdom. But it is for us to enter into it, beginning with our life now – his kingdom begins now – by being close in concrete ways to our brothers and sisters who ask for bread, clothing, acceptance, solidarity, catechesis. (Mass of Canonization, St. Peter’s square, 23 November 2014)
FAUSTI - It was dawn. After the rooster crow, the darkness ends and the light comes in.
RispondiEliminaJesus' political process takes place from morning to sixth hour, from sunrise on the horizon to the highest point in the sky.
The light that comes into the world breaks the darkness and grows until it reaches its majestic fullness on the Cross.
Here, the King of Glory manifests himself.
The chief priests and their servants, also called "the Jews", lead Jesus to the courtroom. This is the residence of the Roman governor at the feasts, where he lived to control the crowds that came to Jerusalem.
Jesus is therefore led by the Roman authority to carry out the sentence already decided.
by the religious authority without trial.
This is how the Lamb of God passes from the leaders of Israel to the leadership of the Gentiles: he is the Savior of the world, who comes from the Jews.
Jesus, with his Royalty, reveals to us the truth of God and man. He is the Messiah revealed to David. He liberates not only the people of Israel, but the whole world because he refuses to dominate and undertakes to serve them.
He brings us out of oppression not by the power of those who oppress more, but by the strength of those who love more.
Jesus is the Messiah shouted out by the crowd, is rejected because, instead of tanks and horses, he chooses the donkey, gentle and humble like Him.
But it is precisely in this way that He delivers us from all the power of death.
Pilate therefore asked Jesus if he was the Messiah. He asks Him what He has done.
The whole Gospel is the answer to this question.
The signs that Jesus performed show His royalty: He gave beautiful wine at the wedding and salvation to those who were about to die, He raised the paralytic, offered bread and walked on water, He gave sight to the blind and life to the dead.
Its sovereignty is the same as that of God, who gives what is love and life.
These are the signs of His royalty that will shine fully on the Cross.
He is the King promised by God to the descendants of David, who will reign forever: His power is that of washing feet, His dignity is that of being among us as the One who serves.
It is the handsome Shepherd who frees his sheep, exposing, disposing, and giving Life for them.
Jesus confirms that He is King. Not only Jews, but all of them.
He is the divine King who comes from Heaven, who frees his sheep by exposing, disposing and giving His Life for them.
Jesus confirms that He is King. Not only Jews, but all of them.
It is the divine King who comes from Heaven.
He reveals to us the Truth that sets us free. He shows us that we are children of God, loved by the Father.
Then, for those who do not close their eyes, the Truth will automatically dissolve the lie, just as the Light extinguishes the nightmare of darkness.
The Kingdom of Jesus is that of the martyr: it comes only from the knowledge and witness of the Truth, at its own expense, like the prophets.
The poor are the permanent court of the Crucified One who judges history: what we do or do not do for them, saves us or destroys us.
Pilate is called, like everyone else, to come out of the lie and listen to the voice of the One who is the Truth.
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" says Jesus.
Whoever dwells in His Word will know the Truth.
Those who prefer power to Truth cannot listen to it or understand it.
To be of the Truth means to accept the Truth as the principle of one's own life.
Those who do so are ready to listen to Him: open their hearts to His Word, open their eyes to reality and heal from His illusions.
Truth has a voice with which it calls us: it is the voice of the innocent who has been struck by evil.
He who defends the weak, sooner or later, comes out of blindness and knows the Truth.
HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II
RispondiEliminaSunday, 26 November 2000
1. "It is you who say I am a king" (Jn 18: 37).
Yes, O Christ, you are King! Your kingship is paradoxically manifested in the Cross, in obedience to the plan of the Father, "who", as the Apostle Paul wrote, "has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Col 1: 13-14). As the first born from the dead, you, Jesus, are the King of the new humanity, restored to its original dignity.
You are King! But your kingdom is not of this world (cf. Jn 18: 36); it is not the fruit of the conquests of war, political domination, economic empires or cultural hegemony. Yours is a "kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace" (cf. Preface of Christ the King), which will be revealed in its fullness at the end of time, when God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15: 28). The Church, which can already taste on earth the first fruits of this future fulfilment, never ceases to repeat: "Adveniat regnum tuum", "Thy kingdom come" (Mt 6: 10).
2. Thy kingdom come! This is how the faithful, in every part of the world, pray as they gather round their Pastors today for the Jubilee of the Apostolate of the Laity. And I joyfully add my voice to this universal chorus of praise and prayer, as I celebrate Holy Mass together with you at the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
I thank Cardinal James Francis Stafford, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and your two representatives, who expressed your common sentiments at the beginning of this Holy Mass. I greet my venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, as well as the priests and religious present. I extend my greetings in particular to you, my lay brothers and sisters, Christifideles laici, who are actively dedicated to the Gospel cause: in looking at you, I am also thinking of all the members of the communities, associations and movements of apostolic action; I am thinking of the fathers and mothers who, with generosity and a spirit of sacrifice, see that their children are raised in the practice of human and Christian virtues; I am thinking of those who offer their sufferings, accepted and lived in union with Christ, as a contribution to evangelization.
3. I especially greet you, dear participants in the Congress of the Catholic Laity, which fits well into the context of the Jubilee of the Apostolate of the Laity. The theme of your meeting is "Witnesses to Christ in the new millennium". It continues the tradition of the world conventions of the lay apostolate which began 50 years ago under the fruitful impulse of the keener awareness which the Church had acquired both of her own nature as a mystery of communion and of her intrinsic missionary responsibility in the world.
In the growth of this awareness, the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council marked a decisive turning-point. With the Council the hour of the laity truly struck, and many lay faithful, men and women, more clearly understood their Christian vocation, which by its very nature is a vocation to the apostolate (cf. Apostolicam actuositatem, n. 2). Thirty-five years after its conclusion, I say: we must return to the Council. We must once again take the documents of the Second Vatican Council in hand to rediscover the great wealth of its doctrinal and pastoral motives.
In particular, you lay people must again take those documents in hand. To you the Council opened extraordinary perspectives of commitment and involvement in the Church's mission. Did the Council not remind you of your participation in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ? In a special way, the Council Fathers entrusted you with the mission "of seeking the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will" (Lumen gentium, n. 31).
--> However, what does this mission entail? What does being a Christian mean today, here and now?
RispondiEliminaBeing a Christian has never been easy, nor is it easy today. Following Christ demands the courage of radical choices, which often means going against the stream. "We are Christ!", St Augustine exclaimed. The martyrs and witnesses of faith yesterday and today, including many lay faithful, show that, if necessary, we must not hesitate to give even our lives for Jesus Christ.
In this regard, the Jubilee invites everyone to a serious examination of conscience and lasting spiritual renewal for ever more effective missionary activity. Here I would like to return to what my venerable predecessor, Pope Paul VI, wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi 25 years ago towards the end of the Holy Year of 1975: "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses" (n. 41).
These words are still valid today in the presence of a humanity full of potential and expectations, but threatened by a multitude of snares and dangers. One need only think, among other things, of social advances and of the revolution in genetics; of economic progress and of underdevelopment in vast areas of the globe; of the tragedy of hunger in the world and of the difficulties in safeguarding peace; of the extensive network of communications and of the dramas of loneliness and violence reported in the daily press. Dear lay faithful, as witnesses to Christ you are especially called to bring the light of the Gospel to the vital nerve centres of society. You are called to be prophets of Christian hope and apostles of the One "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!" (Rv 1: 4).
5. "Holiness befits your house!" (Ps 92: 5). With these words we addressed God in the responsorial psalm. Holiness continues to be the greatest challenge for believers. We must be grateful to the Second Vatican Council, which recalled how all Christians are called to the fullness of Christian life and the perfection of charity.
Dear friends, do not be afraid to take up this challenge: be holy men and women! Do not forget that the fruits of the apostolate depend on the depth of spiritual life, on the intensity of prayer, on continual formation and on sincere adherence to the Church's directives. Today I repeat to you, as I did to the young people during the recent World Youth Day, that if you are what you should be - that is, if you live Christianity without compromise - you will set the world ablaze.
You face tasks and goals which may seem to exceed human forces. Do not lose heart! "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion" (Phil 1: 6) Always keep your gaze fixed on Jesus. Make him the heart of the world.
And you, Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, his first and most perfect disciple, help us to be his witnesses in the new millennium. Let your Son, King of the world and King of history, reign over our lives, our communities and the whole world!
"Praise and honour to you, O Christ!". By your Cross you have redeemed the world. At the beginning of the millennium, we entrust to you our efforts to serve this world which you love and which we love too. Support us with the power of your grace! Amen.
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
RispondiEliminaVatican Basilica
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Sunday, 25 November 2012
In this final Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church invites us to celebrate the Lord Jesus as King of the Universe. She calls us to look to the future, or more properly into the depths, to the ultimate goal of history, which will be the definitive and eternal kingdom of Christ. He was with the Father in the beginning, when the world was created, and he will fully manifest his lordship at the end of time, when he will judge all mankind. Today’s three readings speak to us of this kingdom. In the Gospel passage which we have just heard, drawn from the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus appears in humiliating circumstances – he stands accused – before the might of Rome. He had been arrested, insulted, mocked, and now his enemies hope to obtain his condemnation to death by crucifixion. They had presented him to Pilate as one who sought political power, as the self-proclaimed King of the Jews. The Roman procurator conducts his enquiry and asks Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Jn 18:33). In reply to this question, Jesus clarifies the nature of his kingship and his messiahship itself, which is no worldly power but a love which serves. He states that his kingdom is in no way to be confused with a political reign: “My kingship is not of this world … is not from the world” (v. 36).
Jesus clearly had no political ambitions. After the multiplication of the loaves, the people, enthralled by the miracle, wanted to take him away and make him their king, in order to overthrow the power of Rome and thus establish a new political kingdom which would be considered the long-awaited kingdom of God. But Jesus knows that God’s kingdom is of a completely different kind; it is not built on arms and violence. The multiplication of the loaves itself becomes both the sign that he is the Messiah and a watershed in his activity: henceforth the path to the Cross becomes ever clearer; there, in the supreme act of love, the promised kingdom, the kingdom of God, will shine forth. But the crowd does not understand this; they are disappointed and Jesus retires to the mountain to pray in solitude, to pray with the Father (cf. Jn 6:1-15). In the Passion narrative we see how even the disciples, though they had shared Jesus’ life and listened to his words, were still thinking of a political kingdom, brought about also by force. In Gethsemane, Peter had unsheathed his sword and began to fight, but Jesus stopped him (cf. Jn 18:10-11). He does not wish to be defended by arms, but to accomplish the Father’s will to the end, and to establish his kingdom not by armed conflict, but by the apparent weakness of life-giving love. The kingdom of God is a kingdom utterly different from earthly kingdoms.
That is why, faced with a defenceless, weak and humiliated man, as Jesus was, a man of power like Pilate is taken aback; taken aback because he hears of a kingdom and servants. So he asks an apparently odd question: “So you are a king?” What sort of king can such a man as this be? But Jesus answers in the affirmative: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice” (18:37). Jesus speaks of kings and kingship, yet he is not referring to power but to truth. Pilate fails to understand: can there be a power not obtained by human means? A power which does not respond to the logic of domination and force? Jesus came to reveal and bring a new kingship, that of God; he came to bear witness to the truth of a God who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8,16), who wants to establish a kingdom of justice, love and peace (cf. Preface). Whoever is open to love hears this testimony and accepts it with faith, to enter the kingdom of God.
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 25 November 2018
The Solemnity of Christ, King of the Universe, which we celebrate today, is set at the conclusion of the liturgical year and recalls that the life of creation does not advance at random, but proceeds toward a final destination: the definitive manifestation of Christ, Lord of history and of all creation. The conclusion of history will be his eternal kingdom. Today’s Gospel passage (cf. Jn 18:33-37) speaks to us about this kingdom, the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of Jesus, recounting the humiliating situation that Jesus is in after being arrested in Gethsemane: bound, insulted, accused and led before the authorities of Jerusalem. And then, he is presented to the Roman prosecutor, as one who seeks to undermine political power, to become the king of the Jews. So Pilate conducts his inquest and, in a dramatic interrogation, twice asks Jesus if He is a king (cf. vv. 33, 37).
And Jesus initially responds that his kingship “is not of this world” (v. 36). Then he states: “You say that I am a king” (v. 37). It is evident from his entire life that Jesus does not have political ambitions. Let us recall that after the multiplication of the loaves, the people, excited by the miracle, would have sought to proclaim him king, to overturn the Roman power and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. But for Jesus the kingdom is something else, and it is certainly not achieved by revolt, violence and the force of arms. This is why he withdrew alone to pray on the mount (cf. Jn 6:5-15). Now, in responding, He makes Pilate take note that His disciples did not fight to defend Him. He says: “if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews” (Jn 18:36).
Jesus wants to make it understood that above and beyond political power there is another even greater one, which is not obtained by human means. He has come to earth to exercise this power, which is love, by bearing witness to the truth (cf. v. 37), the divine truth which ultimately is the essential message of the Gospel: “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8); and he wishes to establish in the world his kingdom of love, justice and peace. And this is the kingdom of which Jesus is king, and which extends until the end of times. History teaches us that kingdoms founded on the force of arms and on the abuse of power are fragile and sooner or later collapse. But the Kingdom of God is founded on his love and is rooted in hearts — the Kingdom of God is rooted in hearts —, conferring peace, freedom and fullness of life upon those who embrace it. We all want peace; we all want freedom and we want fulfilment. And how do you do this? Allow the love of God, the Kingdom of God, the love of Jesus, to take root in your heart and you will have peace, you will have freedom and you will have fulfilment.
Today Jesus asks us to allow him to become our king. A king who, with his word, his example and his life immolated on the cross saved us from death, and — this king — indicates the path to those who are lost, gives new light to our existence marred by doubt, by fear and by everyday trials. But we must not forget that Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. He will give new meaning to our life — at times even put to difficult tests through our mistakes and our sins — merely on the condition that we not follow the logics of the world and of its ‘kings’.
May the Virgin Mary help us to welcome Jesus as the king of our life and to spread his kingdom, by bearing witness to the truth which is love.