VATICAN - Papal Mass with former students: “If we reflect on the perplexity of the world in face of the great issues of the present and future, then there should also arise in us again the joy over the fact that God has freely shown us his face, his will, himself.”

Castel Gandolfo (Agenzia Fides) – The question of man's purity before God, “one of the fundamental themes of the religious history of humanity” was at the heart of the homily given by the Holy Father Benedict XVI during the Eucharistic Celebration with his former students, on August 30 in Castel Gandolfo. The text of the homily was released today by the Holy See Press Office. Beginning with the Gospel of that Sunday, the Pope said: “Turning his gaze to God, man realizes he is 'contaminated' and in a condition that impedes his access to the Holy One. The question thus arises as to how man can be pure, and free himself from the 'filth' that separates him from God.” This is how the purification rites of the various religions came about. Even those that are rooted in the Old Testament tradition, which is mentioned in Sunday's Gospel, do nothing more than open man to God. They no longer served as an opening of man to God, they were no longer ways of purification and salvation, in that man's heart was no longer reached.
“Liberal exegesis states that in this Gospel is revealed the fact that Jesus substituted worship with morality,” the Pope continued. “He put worship aside with all its useless practices. The relationship between man and God would now be based solely on morality. If that were true, it would mean that Christianity, in its essence, is morality, that is, that we ourselves make ourselves pure and good through our moral actions. If we reflect deeply on this opinion, it is obvious that this cannot be Jesus' complete answer to the question of purity.” Thus, “if we wish to hear and understand fully the Lord's message, then we must also listen fully...In other words, we must read the Gospel entirely, all the New Testament and the Old together with it.”
Commenting the first reading from the Mass, from the Book of Deuteronomy, Benedict XVI highlighted the fact that “Israel itself is invited by God to be grateful to him and to feel a humble pride in the fact of knowing the will of God and of thus being wise.” At that time humanity “sought to understand what matters...wisdom is knowledge of the essential...The reading taken from Deuteronomy points out the fact that wisdom, in the end, is identical to the Torah -- to the Word of God that reveals to us what is essential, for whose end and in whose way we must live. Hence the Law does not appear as slavery, but is...cause of great joy: We do not grope in darkness, we do not wander in vain in search of what might be right, we are not like sheep without a shepherd that do not know the right way...God says two things to us: On one hand, that he has manifested himself and shows us the right way; on the other, that God is a God who listens, who is close to us, who answers us and guides us. With this we also touch the subject of purity: His will purifies us, his closeness guides us.”
Reflecting on the “Israel's joy over the fact of knowing the will of God and of having thus received the gift of wisdom that heals us and that we cannot find on our own,” the Holy Father asked: “Is there among us, in the Church today, a similar feeling of joy over God's closeness and the gift of his Word?...If we reflect on the perplexity of the world in face of the great issues of the present and future, then there should also arise in us again the joy over the fact that God has freely shown us his face, his will, himself. If this joy arises in us, it will also touch the heart of non-believers. Without this joy, we are not convincing. However, where this joy is present it has, though not wishing it, a missionary force. In fact, it arouses in men this question: Is the way not, in fact, here -- does this joy not in fact lead effectively to the traces of God himself?”
The passage of the second reading from the Mass was the treatise of the Letter of Saint James, that the Holy Father said he loved “above all, because, thanks to it, we can have an idea of the devotion of Jesus' family.” It was a religious family in the sense that “ it lived the Deuteronomical joy because of God's closeness, which is given to us in his Word and his commandment.”
“For James the Law is not an exigency that asks too much of us, that is before us from outside and that can never be satisfied...in him, God has told us everything, he has manifested himself completely. We are no longer servants, but friends. The Law is no longer a prescription for persons who are not free, but is contact with the love of God -- being introduced to form part of the family, act that makes us free and 'perfect'...The Law, as word of love, is not a contradiction to freedom, but a renewal from within through friendship with God...We are not the ones who create what is good -- this would be a simple moralism -- instead, it is Truth that comes to meet us. He himself is the Truth, the Truth in person. Purity is a dialogic event. It begins with the fact that he comes to meet us -- he, who is Truth and Love -- takes us by the hand, and is fused with our being. In the measure in which we allow ourselves to be touched by him, in which the encounter becomes friendship and love, we are, stemming from his purity, pure persons and then persons who love with his love, persons who introduce others in his purity and his love.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 15/9/2009)