DOMUS MARIAE
European
International Congress for Catechesis sponsored by the CCEE
«Christian
initiation in the perspective of the
new Evangelisation»
8th May
2012, 7.00 pm
Holy Mass
Homily
[Acts 14:19-28; Ps 144; Jn 14:27-31]
X
Venerable Brothers and
Dear friends,
I am
very pleased to be able to celebrate this Eucharist with you on the day of your
Congress and it is certainly notable and providentially significant that the
first Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, includes the words that the Holy
Father Benedict XVI, used to entitle his Letter for the initiation of the Year
of Faith. The Year of Faith will
celebrate the fiftieth Anniversary of the convocation of the Second Vatican
Council and the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church which is an indispensable instrument for the correct
hermeneutic of the conciliar Texts.
Of
course, we cannot forget that it is the Catechism of the Council! In fact we read that the Apostles: “..called the church together and reported what
God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the
Gentiles.” (Acts 14:27)
To open
the door of faith to men of every place and time is primarily the task of God
Himself! If we lose sight of the ‘primacy’ of God’s Work, whatever effort we
employ will be destined to not bring forth the desired fruit. It is God who opens the door of faith to our
human brothers and He does it, primarily, through His only Son. He is the ‘door for the sheep’, the unique and
universal way of salvation for all men.
The
image of this God that ‘opens’ His Word of salvation and His Church is
beautiful and yet it is a long way from the many contemporary prejudices with
regard to the Lord. The Church is the
place in which that salvation becomes present and active for the freedom of the
individual in communion with the one Body which is the Church.
The
image of the ‘door’ is particularly efficacious as it speaks of an ‘entrance’
into a new dimension, to a reality that man cannot achieve for himself, but is
entirely a gift from God. Nevertheless,
the reality of this gift, which is God Himself, requires the movement of our
liberty. It requires that the threshold
of the ‘door’ is open to God, and is crossed by each of us. The offer of universal salvation,
cannot become efficacious without the
consent of our created liberty, that makes the necessary step, sustained by
grace, to cross the ‘door of faith’.
The
greatest task of the catechesis of Christian initiation, primarily on the horizon
of a new evangelisation, is at least two fold.
On one
hand catechesis must collaborate with the Lord in ‘opening the door of
faith’. It must demonstrate in a
profound, reasonable and human way life’s great possibilities and the
significance and fulfilment that God offers to men. If we do not return to enable all the reasonability, the
attractiveness and even the ‘human convenience’ of Christianity and if not all
the light of the faith emerges from the ‘door of the faith’, it is very
difficult for the Christian perspective to appear fascinating.
On the
other hand, catechesis is called to support the understanding of the faith,
through the knowledge of Revelation, both in its relational aspects and in those
that are typically doctrinal.
We all well
know that crossing the ‘door of faith’ for the first time doesn’t mean that the
journey is complete! Only an intense
formation programme will enable the judgement of our conscience to not turn
back and will enable the moral behaviour necessary not to abandon the light we
have received.
After
almost fifty years since the initiation of the Ecumenical Vatican Council II we
must recognise how moral life, both inside and outside the Church, was terribly
weakened by insufficient catechesis. We
must recognise how catechetical formation was unable to outline the reason
behind the demands of the Gospel and to show, in real life experience, how
humanising these demands are. All this
is not the fault of the Council!
For that
reason, catechesis is also always a narratio
– a narration. The text cited affirms
this point recording that the Apostles “called
the church together and reported what God had done with them”. This “report[ing] what God had done with them” contains all the
catechetical works and programs as it involves not only the transmission of
doctrinal truths but also becomes the possibility for the participation in the
same faith Event – in the same Event of Christ. However, doctrinal transmission is long way from being a
secondary aspect of catechesis as it concretely represents that narratio of the faith, which otherwise
would become arbitrary and subjective and therefore no longer credible.
The Holy
Father reminded us during his homily at the Chrism Mass that we are before a “growing
religious illiteracy found in the midst of our sophisticated society. The
foundations of faith, which at one time every child knew, are now known less
and less. But if we are to live and love our faith, if we are to love God and
to hear him aright, we need to know what God has said to us – our minds and
hearts must be touched by his word.” (Pope Benedict XVI Homily Chrism Mass
2012)
Catechesis,
and above all that of Christian initiation, has the great task of overcoming the religious illiteracy,
teaching “what God has said to us”! Without
allowing ourselves to be paralysed by unending methodological questions!
Dear
friends, the methodological problems were overcome by the Saints who, with
their simplicity and life are the most efficacious, living catechesis that God
Himself offers to His people. A great
example of this was Blessed J.H Newman and his ‘cor ad cor loquitur,’ with all the intellectual, moral and
spiritual commitment that it entails.
If we
have this awareness, if the door of faith is crossed firstly by us, if we will
put the formation of the Priests and catechists in first place, if we will
carefully watch over the centres of formation, if we will not be afraid to also
utilise new Areopagus, like the internet, to announce the Faith, we shall bring
forth fruit. We must never forget that meeting Christ demands personal
mediation, in order for our fundamental work to be able to flourish and with
God’s help, bring forth fruit.
We must
never forget that “It is necessary for us
to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22) and
therefore the effort is constructive for the journey of salvation. Jesus also said to us that “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” (Jn 14:27) therefore
signalling a radical and surpassing alternative that cannot be cancelled by any
naïve optimism.
Let’s
entrust the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of Evangelisation, with the work of this
Congress and, above all, the incessant work of the Church that, with God, opens
the ‘door of faith’ to men. Amen.