Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The date of April 2nd remains impressed on the memory of the Church as the day that the servant of God Pope John Paul II departed from this world … and today too, just as three years ago, not much time has passed since Easter. The heart of the Church is still profoundly immersed in the mystery of the Lord's resurrection. Truly we can see the whole life of my beloved Predecessor, especially his Petrine ministry, under the banner of the Risen Christ”. With these words the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI began his homily during the Mass celebrated this morning with the Cardinals on the 3rd anniversary of the death of the Servant of God, Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II.
During the Mass celebrated in St Peter's Square, the Holy Father recalled that one of Pope John Paul II's many human and supernatural qualities was “exceptional spiritual and mystical sensitivity. It was enough to watch him as he prayed: he literally immersed himself in God and at that moment seemed oblivious of everything else … Holy Mass, as he so often said, was for him the centre of every day and of his whole life ”.
John Paul II died on the eve of the second Sunday of Easter the Pope recalled, and his pontificate as a whole and in countless specific moments, “appears to us as a sign and a witness of the Resurrection of Christ. The paschal dynamism which rendered the life of John Paul II a total response to the call of the Lord, could not express itself without participation in the suffering and death of the divine Master and Redeemer”. In fact, since his childhood Karol Wojtyla had encountered the cross in his family and in his fellow countrymen and women. “He decided early in life to carry it together with Jesus, following in His footsteps- said Benedict XVI - . He wished to be his faithful servant, accepting the call to the priesthood as a gift and a commitment for life. With Him he lived, and with Him he wished also to die. And all this through the most singular mediation of Most Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, Mother of the Redeemer, intimately and effectively associated with the salvific mystery of His death and resurrection.”
Reflecting on the scripture readings of the Mass, and especially the words of the angel of the resurrection who said to the women who had come to the empty tomb "Do not be afraid!", Benedict XVI said “these words became a sort of motto on the lips of Pope John Paul II, from the solemn beginning of his Petrine ministry. He repeated them many times to the Church and to humanity on the way towards the year 2000, and then, though that historic threshold and onwards to the dawn of the third millennium … His ‘Do not be afraid' was founded not on human strength, or successes obtained, but simply on the Word of God, on the Cross and Resurrection of Christ … As it happened with Jesus, so also for John Paul II in the end, words gave way to the extreme sacrifice, the gift of self. And death was the seal of an entire existence given to Christ, conformed to Him also physically in the traits of suffering and trusting self-abandonment in the arms of the heavenly Father”.
The Holy Father greeted especially people who had come to Rome for the First World Congress of Divine Mercy which will reflect on John Paul II's rich Magisterium on this subject. “He wished the message of God's merciful love to reach all men and women and he encouraged the faithful to be witnesses of this mercy … The Servant of God John Paul II experienced personally the terrible tragedies of the 20th century, and for a long time he asked himself what could heal the ocean of evil. The answer could only be found in God's love. Only Divine Mercy can put an end to evil; only God's almighty love can defeat the arrogance of the wicked and the destructive power of selfishness and hate”.
Benedict XVI concluded his homily with these words: “Let us thank the Lord for giving the Church this faithful and courageous servant. We praise and we bless the Blessed Vurgin Mary for watching unceasingly over his person and his ministry, for the benefit of the Christian people and the whole of humanity. And as we offer for his chosen soul the redeeming Sacrifice, we ask him to continue to intercede from Heaven for each of us, and for myself in particular, whom Providence has called to pick up his inestimable spiritual heritage. May the Church, following his teaching and his example, continue faithfully and without compromise her evangelising mission, tirelessly spreading the merciful love of Christ, the source of true peace for the whole world”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 2/4/2008; righe 53, parole 781)
