JUBILEE DAYS OF THE PERMANENT DEACONS
HOMILY
delivered by H.E. Most Rev. Zenon Grocholewski
CONVERSION AND STRENGTHENING OF THE SERVICE OF DEACONS
SUPPORTED BY AN INCREASE IN FAITH
on 19 February 2000 in the Paolo VI Hall
1.
Conversion
and strengthening
These days have been chosen for you,
permanent deacons, as a major moment in the celebration of the Great Jubilee.
In these days you are called upon to intensify your efforts to achieve the
purpose of the Great Jubilee: the profound conversion of your hearts and the
strengthening of your Christian life and your apostolate.
The readings in today’s Mass – taken
from the feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon (August 10th) – highlight
these two aspects.
In the Gospel (Jn 12: 24-26) we have
heard the words of Jesus: "Truly, truly I say to you: unless the grain of
wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it
brings forth much fruit". These words express the realty of Jesus, who
died for our sins, to produce the great fruit of eternal life for all. But
these words also express our own reality; we too are grains of wheat, and must
participate in the death of Christ, in other words we must die to sin with
Christ, in order to participate in His triumph (cf. Rm 6: 1-23). This is a
powerful invitation to serious conversion, to eliminate evil from our hearts:
egoism, pride, envy, impurity, sloth etc.
Evidently, the examination of the
conscience, repentance and conversion must contain what directly concerns your
specific vocation as deacons.
The first reading (2 Cor 9, 6-10),
instead, exhorts generosity in your commitment as Christians and deacons (even
though it refers directly to the for the material needs of the Church of
Jerusalem): "He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully
shall reap bountifully". As a matter of fact, "God loves him who
gives with joy". In this reading, St. Paul also assures us that God comes
to our aid so that we can "generously undertake all the good works".
Comparing our works to the seed and the sower, the Apostle notes that it is the
Lord who gives us this seed, multiplies it and makes it bear fruit: "He
who provides the sower with seed [...], will multiply your seed and will
increase the growth of the fruits of your justice ". He who generously and
widely sows good works will reap the fruit of his own and others’ holiness.
Dearly beloved, you are called upon
to intensify the generosity and zeal of your service as deacons.
2. Faith
a. With regard to the profound
conversion and strengthening of the your service as deacons we could talk about
many things; we could talk about the role of the sacrament of Reconciliation,
today unfortunately often devalued in practice with considerable damage for the
Christian life; about the Eucharist, source and culmination of all Christian
life; about the Holy Spirit, prayer, etc. However, I would like to speak about
faith.
Today we are witnessing the crisis
of faith, a serious problem. This crisis also has a negative effect on true
conversion and true Christian commitment. On the other hand, the stronger faith
is, the deeper repentance and the conversion of the heart will be, and the more
capable we will be of intensifying our Christian commitment, with the
fulfilment of the specific vocation of each one of us. Indeed, the stronger the
faith, the more we will turn to the sacraments, the more we will be open to the
action of the Holy Spirit, the more effective our prayer will be, etc.
Actually, our Christian life and commitment depend on faith.
b. Faith is like a night, a dark
star-spangled night. In fact, St. John of the Cross – that great mystic of
Christianity – talked about the dark night of faith in spiritual life. But is
it not true that during the night we don’t see less, but much more? Yes, during
the day we see more clearly, more exactly (we can even tough things and
measure), but we see little, only that which surrounds us, our field of vision
is very limited. It is true that during the night we see less clearly, less
exactly, but we see more fully, we see much further, se see the stars thousands
of light-years away, we see our small life in the context of the immense
universe, in the context of the totality of creation.
I was always fascinated by the
starry night. In the period of my high school studies, I often went out late at
night with a teacher and some friends to look at the stars. Looking at the
stars I felt big, and then it seemed to me to truly see, to see the truth about
my existence, in other words to see that my life is not limited to this town, this
nation or this earth, but is inserted in an enormous, fascinating, stupendous,
enchanting and immense universe.
Faith is like the star-spangled
night. In faith we see less clearly, less precisely (there are so many
mysteries, so many things we are unable to understand), but we see further and
much more fully, we see our small life in the prospect of eternity, of the
totality of our existence.
c. Having before us this great
prospect of eternity and the totality of our existence, something necessarily changes
in our life:
- Our judgement becomes more mature,
fuller and, would say, more realistic, since we take into consideration not
only the minor circumstances of our life, but also the totality of our
existence.
- The scale of values changes within
us; many things people are so fond of (for example wealth, power, prestige)
lose their value in the light of eternity. Instead, other apparently small
things (like forgiveness, prayer, sacrifice, an act of charity etc.) take on
great importance, because there will determine our life in the eternal
prospect. Jesus constantly introduced this new scale or logic of values to the
disciples, saying: "he who wishes to be great among you, will become your
servant, like the Son of man, who did not come to be serve but to serve and to
give his life to save many" (Mt 20: 26-28; cf. Mk 10: 43-45; Lk 22:
26-27). By the same logic of values we have heard in today’s Gospel the words
of Jesus: "He who loves his life, and loses it; and he who hates his life
in this world, keeps it unto life everlasting" (Jn 12: 25).
- We will become freer, since we
will not allow ourselves to be conditioned by the small things of earthly life.
- Thus faith also becomes a source
of strength, making us cable of: a) renouncing many things of earthly life,
knowing that their value is very relative; b) facing with serenity and
tranquillity suffering, obstacles and even death, realising that our life is
indestructible; c) making efforts to gain eternal, lasting, indestructible
values, those we cannot lose, and not being concerned only with values that
sooner or later are lost.
3. Strengthening faith
Faith, if someone truly has it and
lives it, is a great thing, a great treasure. In itself it is a force of
spiritual life, due to the fact that it opens before us this immense prospect
of life. It therefore transforms us; necessarily changing our way of seeing
things, of judging and of acting.
If we are so weak in our spiritual
life, so little transformed by faith, it is also because in our way of seeing
things and judging we are only limited to this earthly life, losing sight of
the total dimension of our life indicated by faith.
I have the impression that we
Christians often behave like pagans, outwardly supporting the faith, speaking
in favour of it and even defending it, but lacking the courage to throw
ourselves into the stream of faith, to think and act according to the
categories of faith. But the true adventure of faith begins there, when we
throw ourselves into the current of faith, when we start to think and act
courageously according to the logic of faith.
This was the adventure of faith of
St. Lawrence Deacon and Martyr, in whose honour we have celebrated the Holy
Mass, of St. Stephen Deacon and first Martyr, and of so many other great
deacons.
Dearly beloved! By assiduously
listening to the Word of God, with study, with prayer, with participation in
the sacraments, with a truly Christian life, try to strengthen and deepen your
faith in order to achieve a mature faith; in other words, to have the courage
of thinking, judging and acting according to the categories of faith. Then this
faith will be a source of light, strength and true joy for you. Then this faith
will lead you to continuous renewal and will be a great support to your
apostolate, making it fruitful.
In fact, as St. John the Apostle
writes, "This is the victory that has defeated the world: our faith"
(1 Jn 5: 4).
X Zenon Grocholewski