Last month, during his homily for the seminarians attending World Youth Day, Pope Benedict preached the following:
“The holiness of the Church is above all the objective holiness of the very person of Christ, of his Gospel and his sacraments, the holiness of that power from on high which enlivens and impels it. We have to be saints so as not to create a contradiction between the sign that we are and the reality that we wish to signify. Meditate well upon this mystery of the Church, living the years of your formation in deep joy, humbly, clear-mindedly and with radical fidelity to the Gospel, in an affectionate relation to the time spent and the people among who you live.”
Clearly, the pope’s words have significance for those who are preparing to offer their lives in service as priests. But they are also of significance to every Christian. Whether we are always conscious of the fact or not, whether we like it or not, you and I, simply because we are Christians, represent Christ to the world. How are we doing with that?
If we are authentically living out the radical fidelity to the Gospel of which Pope Benedict speaks, people will be attracted to Christ as he shines through us. If we are living in a way which denies the Gospel’s precepts, we will be a force for evil, driving people away from Christ. As Benedict indicates, we do well to meditate deeply on this mystery.
Though we are weak and sinful, though we can be unsteady and unfaithful, the Lord continues to entrust you and I with the spread of his Gospel and the growth of his Church. What an amazing responsibility! But he does not leave us alone in our efforts to proclaim his salvation. Christ gives us his Word, he gives us his mercy, he gives us his mother, he gives us his Spirit, and he gives us himself in the Eucharist. If we humbly accept these gifts, surrendering our self-interest and fear, the Lord will make us the saints we were created to be. And understand this, it’s not the politicians and the powerful who most often change the world for the better, it’s the saints. We can indeed, as the old saying indicates, be the change we wish to see. But we do it best by being a saint.
As Pope Benedict implores of seminarians and of us all . . . let’s meditate well upon this mystery.
Be assured of my prayers,
Fr. Steve