S. John Paul II Homil. 384


APOSTOLIC PILGRIMAGE TO BANGLADESH, SINGAPORE, FIJI ISLANDS,

NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND SEYCHELLES

Brisbane (Australia), 25 November 1986

"What do you want me to do for you?"

"...Master, let me see again!"
"...Go; your faith has saved you".

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

385 1. In the spirit of the Gospel of today s Liturgy, we wish to reflect on the response which Jesus of Nazareth gave to the blind man: "Your faith has saved you". What is our faith? What is the faith of the blind man that restores health? What is the faith that leads to salvation? And at the same time, what does it mean to say: I believe? What does it mean to believe in Christ? What does it mean to be a Christian, to be a Catholic?

Inspired by the word of God, I wish to consider, together with all of you, the fundamental question of faith.

This links us with the catechumens – those who are preparing for Baptism – and the other candidates for admission into full communion with the Catholic Church. At the same time, faith is a basic theme for all those who through Baptism have already entered the Church and have become Christians and Catholics.

2. Let me say, first of all. what a great joy it is to be with you in the City of Brisbane in Queensland. I greet you all in the peace of Christ: the faithful of the Catholic Church in Queensland and the northern part of New South Wales, together with Archbishop Rush of Brisbane and all my brother bishops. I rejoice in the communion of faith and charity which we have been privileged to receive from the Lord and which is given visible expression in this Liturgy. It has been a particular joy to meet and bless the sick and handicapped, who have a special place in the heart of Christ and who play an important part in the mission of the Church.

I offer warm greetings also to the members of other Christian Communions who are present. As brothers and sisters in Christ, may we continue to strive towards that full unity for which our Lord himself prayed and which is so vital for the Church’s work of evangelization. Indeed, I extend a fraternal greeting to all the citizens of this part of Australia. I am happy to be with you all.

It is a special pleasure for me to celebrate this Eucharist in which the Church is officially welcoming a number of you into the ranks of the catechumens or as candidates for admission into full communion with the Catholic Church. The restored catechumenate, or the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, is surely one of the great fruits of the Second Vatican Council. I rejoice to learn how successful the catechumenate has been in Australia, and particularly in this Archdiocese. This is a wonderful grace, and a clear sign of the Holy Spirit’s renewing presence in the Church. At all times and in every land, the Church is sent forth to proclaim the Good News of salvation and to call people to conversion of heart.

3. The questions which I mentioned at the beginning can be linked to the ones which Saint Paul asks in his Letter to the Romans and which are in the second reading of today’s Liturgy: "With God on our side who can be against us?" "Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen?" "When God acquits, could anyone condemn?". At the centre of Saint Paul’s questions there is the fundamental affirmation: "Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ". He asks these questions and makes this affirmation because he is writing to people who are trying to remain faithfully committed to Christ in the midst of persecution and tribulation, and perhaps to others who are preparing to make a commitment to Christ in these same circumstances. The great Apostle goes on to make the confident assertion of faith: "These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved Us".

To have faith, to believe in Christ means to acknowledge his identity, to accept him in his divine nature and in his human nature, to embrace his message, to respond to his love, and to resolve to belong totally to him. And to belong to Christ means to have a share in the "triumph" which he himself won over death and sin through his own Death and Resurrection. His triumph is a triumph through love; it is the victory of love.

We begin to share in Christ’s Death and Resurrection when we receive the Sacrament of Baptism. This is how we begin to share in the victory of love. And this initial sacrament of faith is the foundation of the who]e life of the baptized person: the foundation of "being a Christian".

4. Why am I a Christian? Why have I comn2itted my whole life to Christ? These are questions which touch the very convictions and fundamental values upon which we have sought to base our thoughts and actions.

Our life is shaped by the choices we make in response to the initiative of God. But God’s initiatives are even more important than our response. God calls, God acts, and we respond. This is why we are Christians. In Christ, God is with us, and this is the meaning of the word "Emmanuel". Indeed, the Father so desired to be with his people that he gave us his only Son, his beloved Son. No greater gift could ever be given. And that is why Saint Paul says: "We may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give us". In Christ, the Father has chosen us and justified us by his grace, forgiving all our sins and offering us eternal salvation. "Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ". And the love of Christ reaches us through the Church. It is because of this love that we commit ourselves in turn to Christ.

386 5. There are some who wrongly suppose that Christ can be separated from the Church, that it is possible to dedicate one’s whole life to Christ without reference to the Church. In so doing they forget the truth proclaimed by Saint Paul in the words: "The Church is his body – and we are its living part". As I said in my recent Apostolic Letter on Saint Augustine: "Because Christ, the only mediator and Redeemer of people, is head of the Church, Christ and the Church are one single mystical person, the total Christ".

To love Christ, then, is to love the Church. The Church exists for Christ, in order to continue his presence and mission in the world. Christ is the Church’s Spouse and Saviour. He is her Founder and her Head. The more we come to know and love the Church, the closer we shall be to Christ. You who are catechumens will realize this more and more clearly in the weeks and months ahead. Meanwhile, I would like to offer some reflections today on the nature of the Church, for you too will soon be her members.

The Church is truly a mystery, a human and divine reality which deserves our study and contemplation, yet which goes far beyond the grasp of the human mind. A number of symbols helps us to penetrate and appreciate this mystery of the inner nature of the Church. For example, Saint Paul speaks of the Church as "a farm" which is cultivated and made fruitful by God. He calls the faithful God’s "temple" where the Holy Spirit dwells. He describes the Church as "the bride of Christ" whom the Lord tenderly cares for and for whom he gave up his life. Indeed Saint Paul often identifies the Church with Christ himself, calling her the Body of Christ. He also calls her "our Mother", for in virtue of the love of Christ and the waters of Baptism she gives birth to many children in the course of history. Through these and many other symbols, we come to see, in a limited but real way, the vast richness of the mystery of the Church.

6. The Church is essentially a mystery of communion. She is a sign or sacrament of that unity in Christ which Saint Paul speaks of in today’s second reading when he says: "I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord".

The communion which we enjoy in the Church is both vertical and horizontal: it is communion with the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity and with one another in the Body of Christ. To be in communion implies a deep personal relationship of knowledge and love. This is the kind of relationship which the catechumenate aims at fostering, and so it entails far more than merely learning facts about God. A catechumen embarks on a journey into intimate friendship with Christ, a journey requiring openness of mind and heart to the life-giving word of God, a journey requiring continual conversion of heart.

This journey does not end when the catechumenate is completed. In fact, the catechumenate merely prepares the way for the Sacrament of Baptism, which is the foundation of communion in the Church. In Baptism we are reborn as children of the Father; we are made intimate friends of Christ and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is built up and renewed in the celebration of the Eucharist, the source and culmination of the Christian life. And the other sacraments as well deepen this communion. In particular, the Sacrament of Penance fosters it. strengthens it and restores union with God when it has been broken by sin.

7. The Church which lives as a communion is a sign of unity among all peoples. The very word "Catholic" means universal. For this reason the Catholic Church knows no national or cultural boundaries. She cannot limit herself to any one race or language. Rather she is called to be truly universal, a community of faith in Christ embracing people of every country and culture on earth, yet remaining always one Saint Paul describes the universality of the Church, in this way: "All baptized in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus".

This organic communion of the Catholic Church is so deep that she remains ever one though she is present in widely differing situations, in many different particular Churches. Each particular Church is a true expression of the universal Church and enriches the whole Body of Christ through the special gifts which each one possesses and generously shares. Thus, the one Catholic Church is Asian as well as European, Slav as well as Australian, African as well as American, Byzantine as well as Latin.

Such unity and universality are gifts which require shared effort and continual vigilance. Not only do we rejoice in these gifts, but we also must preserve them and build them up. The particular Churches must bear witness to perfect unity in faith and ecclesial communion. They must work together to maintain unaltered the content of the Catholic faith, while at the same time translating this faith into a legitimate variety of expressions, in accordance with different cultures.

Of particular importance is the service of authority, and in a unique way the ministry of the Pope. For the Successor of Peter is charged with that special responsibility of presiding over the whole flock in charity, protecting legitimate variety while ensuring that such variety does not hinder unity. This is one of the reasons why I constantly visit the particular Churches, such as those in Australia, in order to proclaim our unity in Christ.

8. The gift of communion in which the Catholic Church rejoices brings with it important responsibilities towards the world, for the Church is meant to be for all peoples an instrument of unity and reconciliation.

387 The words of the Prophet Isaiah, in the first reading of this Liturgy, point to this mission of the Church. The Lord says: "See, I have made you a witness to the people, a leader and a master of the nations". The Church takes seriously her mission in the world. That is why the Second Vatican Council stated: "The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ... The Church, at once a visible assembly and a spiritual community, goes forward together with humanity and experiences the same earthly lot as the world. She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God’s family".

As the Catholic Church promotes unity and reconciliation in the world, she also prays and works for complete unity among Christians.

Thus, ecumenical dialogue and collaboration are an important priority in the Church, and an essential part of her efforts to build up the human family in unity and charity. For the lack of full unity among Christians hinders the Church in her call to be for all peoples a sacrament of reconciliation and communion. We can make a valid contribution to the ecumenical dialogue only if we bring to it the richness of the Catholic tradition. Our dialogue will be authentic and fruitful only if we speak the truth in love and with fidelity to our own identity. Any blurring of those things which still separate us does nothing to serve the cause of Christ and the Gospel.

9. You who are catechumens have publicly made known your desire to change your lives and to come to know and love God within the Catholic community. You ask the Catholic Church for the gift of faith and you express your readiness to accept the teachings of the Gospel as the foundation of your daily lives.

This is a day of joy and hope for all of us in the Church. We are eager to help you grow in the Christian faith. Together with you we look forward to the day of your Baptism, confirmation and First Communion, the day when you will be received into full communion with the Catholic Church. Already we consider you as part of the household of Christ, with a right to be nourished by the word of God and to take part in special liturgical rites. As we journey together with you, we shall try to help you in your efforts to pray, to practise charity, to trust in God in the midst of difficulties. We shall try to help you to draw closer to our Lord Jesus Christ and to Mary, who is his Mother and whom we recognize as the Mother of his Church. Your individual sponsors will have a primary role to fulfil in this process, but the whole Church accompanies you.

Today’s Liturgy of the word contains an invitation to Baptism: "Oh, come to the water!". And the responsorial psalm picks up the same theme: "You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation". Through the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord tells us of the effects of Baptism when he says: "With you I will make an everlasting covenant".

This covenant has been firmly established in our Lord Jesus Christ through his saving Death and glorious Resurrection. And in Baptism it is renewed for each of us individually. As a result of this covenant of Baptism, nothing "can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord".

Nothing! Through faith and Baptism we belong to Christ’s Church. And in his Church we belong for ever to Christ! For ever! Amen.





APOSTOLIC PILGRIMAGE TO BANGLADESH, SINGAPORE, FIJI ISLANDS,

NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND SEYCHELLES

Sydney (Australia), 26 November 1986



"As you sent me into the world,
I have sent them into the world".

388 Dearly Beloved in Christ,

1. Jesus spoke these words the day before his Passion and Death. They are part of his "priestly prayer" at the Last Supper.

They are key words. They speak of the Father sending the Son. And they speak of the mission passed on in turn by the Son to his Church.

Jesus Christ sends the Apostles into the world. He sends the Church. From generation to generation the Church is sent by Christ, to carry on, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the mission that Christ received from the Father.

The Church in Sydney and throughout New South Wales - and in the whole of Australia - carries out her apostolic service in the context of that divine mission. I express my real joy that - as Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter - I can be here with you today. I thank God that I can, as it were, be "in the midst" of this, the Church’s service, which had its origin at the Last Supper in the Upper Room, and took shape in Jesus’ priestly prayer. The effectiveness of this service comes from his Cross and Resurrection.

In the same prayer Jesus adds: "For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in the truth". Down through the ages and still today the whole life of the Christian community is linked with the living presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the human family, the One sent by the Father for the life of the world.

2. I wish to reach out to each one of you gathered here for this Eucharistic celebration. In you I embrace the whole ecclesial community of New South Wales, each diocese of which is represented at this Liturgy. I greet Cardinal Freeman, Archbishop Clancy and the other bishops, the priests, the men and women religious, the faithful, young and old of every condition, race and origin. May Christ pour out his peace abundantly into your hearts!

I thank the distinguished representatives of Government and public life in New South Wales for the courtesy of their presence.

I express my cordial gratitude for the presence here of members of the other Christian Churches and Communions. In our common love of our Lord Jesus Christ may we find inspiration and strength to persevere on the path of ecumenism, until that day when there shall be full communion of faith and life between us.

3. Brothers and sisters: Christ’s words to his Father at the Last Supper still speak to us today, here in Australia. "As you did send me into the world, so I have sent them". Thus he sends the Apostles and their successors. "Their voice has gone out through all the earth, and their message to the ends of the world".

From generation to generation the Church seeks the paths that lead to man in the ever-changing conditions of his existence, culture and civilization. What she carries with her along these paths is the Gospel. In offering the Gospel to man, the Church offers the word of the living God and the truth that gives life. "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!". The response required of us is to confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead. Through this confession of truth we reach salvation.

389 So it is with Australia. The Gospel must be fully immersed into this Australian culture, with all its diversity. Within a relatively short recorded history, this land has already witnessed a variety of human experiences, great and small, which go to make up the Australia of today. In many ways the Gospel has already become firmly embedded into the life of society, though it is also true that the rift between the Gospel message and culture requires a new evangelization, a second evangelization.

4. Sixteen years ago my predecessor Paul VI stood on this very spot and spoke of the temptation "of reducing everything to an earthly humanism, to forget life’s moral and spiritual dimension, and to stop caring about man’s necessary relationship with the Creator of all his goods and the supreme Legislator of their use". That temptation is as old as human life itself. But in our day it calls for a renewed response on the part of the Church and of each of her members.

In many parts of the modern world it is now no longer a question of proclaiming the Gospel to those who have never heard it. as it was for the Apostles and many missionaries since their time. Today it is a question of addressing those who have heard it but who no longer respond. I am thinking of those baptized in the faith who are no longer actively present in the Church. They are of many different types, and the reasons for their absence from the community of Christ’s faithful are also many.

There are some who, although baptized, never really had the chance to know the Gospel well. As Jesus himself said: "Some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up". They were never fully evangelized. There are others whose spiritual energies have been drained by the conditions of the times: economic pressures, modern scepticism, the indifference of so many people to religious faith. In this category we see that "some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it". There are still others who have perhaps been hurt in the Church: by the misunderstanding or abruptness of the Church’s ministers, by the scandal of their fellow Christians, by the rapidity and unexpectedness of change, by a lack of explanation of laws whose reasons they have not understood, by the coldness of some communities of the faithful seeming to lack zeal and love. To all these reasons of course must be added the ever-present fact of human pride, selfishness and sloth.

5. To all those who have wandered from their spiritual home I wish to say: Come back! The Church opens her arms to you, the Church loves you! I have already written in my Encyclical Letter "Dives in Misericordia" that "the Church of our time . . . must become more particularly and profoundly conscious of the need to bear witness in her whole mission to God’s mercy". In the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation you will be able to experience in a wonderful way the boundless mercy of God in Christ. Therefore I say: Do not be afraid! Come home! The community of faith in which you were reborn, and to some extent brought up, urges you to accept God’s mercy. It begs you to take your place once again in the midst of God’s people, the place that you alone can fill. This invitation comes to you from Christ. To say yes is to open your hearts to his love.

6. In the first reading of this Mass, the Prophet Isaiah speaks to us of "the mountain of the house of the Lord" to which "all the nations shall flow . . . and many peoples shall come". It is a vision of the restored Temple where God’s people gather to acknowledge that he is the Lord of heaven and earth: "Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord . . . that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths".

This is a vision of people rising above themselves, climbing the mountain of God, It is a vision of people who refuse to be self-centred, who reach out to grasp God’s truth and to seek the face of the living God. And if you seek God, you will discover his likeness in every other human being. The Gospel message is always a call to go beyond self. Experience shows that man cannot really be himself unless he rises above himself, unless he makes demands upon himself.

One of the particular temptations of our times is to become so secure and self-sufficient that our minds and hearts are not open to the word of God. Yet "the word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely". The "narrow gate" and "difficult way" in the Gospel are in fact the path "that leads to life". Paul VI said, in this very place, that "self-centredness, hedonism, eroticism, and many other counterfeits, lead in the end to contempt for man, and do not, for all that, satisfy his profound restlessness". This is the sad experience of our world. On the one hand the dehumanizing consequences of poverty and oppression rob millions of our brothers and sisters of their birthright, their dignity as human beings. On the other hand, the materialism of a prosperous society too often leads to an equivalent dehumanization in the form of emptiness and frustration.

7. A truly human life is possible for us only to the extent that we are open to the needs of other people, including those of nations other than our own. The human person is the subject and goal of all social institutions, including the cultural, social, political, national and international realities which form the context of all human life. To say that everyone has general and specific rights and duties in relation to the common good is to emphasize the obvious. But this principle is not always evident in human affairs. I realize that in Australia there is a growing sensitivity to inequalities and injustices. As Christians you are called to judge reality in the light of the Gospel. And the Gospel urges you to work for a society based on truth, built on justice and animated by love, a society which, in freedom, will grow every day more humane. At the same time the common good "takes on an increasingly universal complexion and consequently involves rights and duties with respect to the whole human race".

Unless each individual and group becomes a servant of this common good, social harmony and peace among nations will continue to be undermined. Much of the tension in our world exists because of the natural limits of economic, political and social structures, but at a deeper level much evil flows from personal selfishness and pride operating through those structures of society. Isaiah’s vision of a time when the peoples of the earth "will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles", when "nation will not lift sword against nation", will always remain an empty dream unless there is a true conversion to the ways of peace and justice, a conversion of the heart.

Brothers and sisters: the demands Jesus makes upon his fellowers are not empty rhetoric, and they do not change with the passing of time. He calls us to conversion, to reconciliation with God and with one another. Jesus wishes us to hear the "hard sayings" as well as the words of confidence and encouragement. Is the Christian message any less humane for all that? Only when we truly go out of ourselves to meet the real challenges of our human destiny do we discover the full truth about ourselves. That is what Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, has taught us and what he prayed for at the Last Supper: "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth".

390 8. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus prays to the Father: "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one".

Australia has been blessed over the years by an increase of mutual respect and Christian fellowship between the various Churches and Communions. Ecumenism is a task for all Christians. It is important that the efforts being made by different Communions to reach agreement in matters of faith and doctrine, should be supported in every local community by greater prayer and penance. Local initiatives of shared prayer for Christian unity, deeper study of God’s word, collaboration in the use of the mass media, and various initiatives of service are to be encouraged. I have heard with particular pleasure of one such initiative in Australia, "Prayer on Wheels", which has brought remarkable comfort to the sick and other housebound people unable to attend Church services. In all of these ways I urge you to press forward towards that unity which Christ willed for his followers, "so that the world may believe". So that Australia may believe!

9. Let us always remember the words that Jesus spoke to his Father: "That the world may know . . . that you have loved them as you have loved me". Everything that Jesus Christ has done for our salvation shows us that we are loved by the Father - his Father and ours - from whom every good gift comes. This is the message of the Bible, this is the meaning of the Gospels: God loves us just as he loves his Son - with an everlasting love.

The paths of God’s love are the paths of life. Sadly, the flight from God which marks some aspects of contemporary society is a flight towards darkness and death. Far too many of the world’s resources are being used to produce weapons of destruction. Too often the progress of science and technology is used to serve a false or incomplete understanding of our human nature and destiny. On the contrary to defend life, to uphold its inalienable dignity from the moment of conception until natural death, to work for the eradication of discrimination against any person for reasons of race, origin, colour, culture, sex or religion - all of this is to cherish life, the great gift of the Father’s love.

In the Christian perspective there is even more. Jesus Christ is the one who reveals a new life: life in the Spirit. Saint Paul proclaims: "He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you". In the words of the Second Vatican Council, Jesus Christ "not only provides us with an example for our imitation; he blazed a trail, and if we follow it. life and death are made holy and take on a new meaning.

Again and again Jesus Christ offers true Life to man: to every man, woman and child; to each individual, to each family and to the whole of humanity.

This land, so ancient and yet so modern, so blessed yet so much in need - this land is thirsting for life. It is thirsting for the true life revealed in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man. It is thirsting to live this life with dignity and happiness in this world, and to possess its fullness in heaven.

The Southern Cross which adorns these skies and appears on your national flag may be read as a sign of Australia’s vocation. It is the Gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ - the Way, the Truth and the Life - that directs you in hope towards the fullness of everlasting life.

To accept Christ and to live his Gospel is to choose Life!

Praised be Jesus Christ! Amen.



APOSTOLIC PILGRIMAGE TO BANGLADESH, SINGAPORE, FIJI ISLANDS,

NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND SEYCHELLES

Hobart (Australia), 27 November 1986



391 "You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world".

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. Jesus addresses these words to his disciples: to those who were his disciples at the time of his messianic mission on earth, and also to all people of every time and place who have been or who will be his disciples.

And therefore, he addresses them to us.

To me, and to each one of you, Jesus says: "You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world"! These words contain the recognition of a fact and at the same time a call.

Let us meditate on the meaning of these words, in order to understand more fully the relationship of the Church to the world: the modern world which is undergoing so many rapid changes.

Let us meditate on the meaning of these words, so as to fulfil more effectively the task common to both the Church and the world, and in which they serve each other.

2. It is difficult to find better words of greeting to the Church in Tasmania - to you, Archbishop Young, and to you all my brothers and sisters in Christ - than those contained in today’s Gospel. I want you to know what a joy it is to be with you at this celebration of the Eucharist. Together with you and with the Church throughout the world, I give thanks for the gift of faith which has brought us the salt and light of the Gospel. Let us join our hearts and voices in praising Christ, who, in the first place and above all. is the light of the world.

I know that the Church in Tasmania has a most interesting history, which shows how divine providence has been at work in your midst. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Catholic faith was sown here against many odds. Your forebears came with both hope and anxiety to a land that perhaps seemed then rather unpromising. Some came as free settlers; many were not free. And this land was very far from the world they had known.

After the first settlement, almost twenty years had to pass before the first priest, Father Philip Conolly, was permitted to enter Van Diemen’s Land, as your island was known at that time. From poor beginnings what riches flowed! Valiant parents reared and educated their families in the knowledge and love of Christ. In the next hundred and fifty years, women religious in large numbers, together with priests and religious brothers, raised the hopes of this young Church and served here with great generosity.

You remember with pride and affection Bishop Robert William Willson, your first bishop, who worked successfully to put an end to convict transportation, and who established the local Church on a more solid basis. Your ancestors in the faith left behind an impressive record of Gospel service, seen for example in the fact that from Tasmania came Father Daniel Connell, the first Australian-born priest; Sister Teresa Robertson, the first Australian-born woman religious; and Brother Patrick Kinnear, the first Australian-born religious brothers.

392 The faith that has grown so well since it was first planted lives on today in all of you. And as the Successor of Peter I have come to join you in giving thanks for your rich heritage and to encourage you to transmit this precious treasure to future generations.

3. When Jesus Christ called his disciples "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world", he was also pointing out their special responsibilities. After all. what does it mean to be " salt" and "light"?

Salt is a preservative which is mixed with food to keep it from spoiling. To be like salt, then, implies that a person has a special kind of presence, a way of being with others, which strengthens them in their faith, and helps them to face temptation and avoid sin, to persevere in prayer and loving service of God and neighbour. Salt also gives flavour. Without it. food is tasteless and flat. So, the disciples of Christ give favour to life; they bring a spirit of joy, enthusiasm and hope; they bring the Spirit of Christ.

We all appreciate the value of light to guide us in the dark and to enable us to see the created world. When Jesus told his disciples that they were the light of the world, he was really telling them that they were to be a reflection of himself and were to carry on his own mission of salvation. For he says in another place: "As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world".

We notice too that Jesus does not merely say: "You are the light of your own home", or "You are the light of your local Christian community". Instead he directs them out to the larger society, beyond the boundaries of the familiar and well known, beyond the boundaries of the Church. He declares that they are "the light of the world".

4. The first reading for today’s Mass shows that the disciples of Jesus become the "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" when they humbly ask God for "the spirit of Wisdom". Only in "the spirit of wisdom" can we undertake the tasks that Christ entrusted to his first disciples, the responsibilities that the Church restated so clearly for us at the Second Vatican Council.

The Council, in fact, devoted a whole document to the role of the Church in the modern world. For example, it said: "The Church, at once a visible assembly and a spiritual community, goes forward together with humanity and experiences the same earthly lot which the world does. She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God’s family . . . Pursuing the saving purpose which is proper to her, the Church not only communicates divine life to people, but in some way casts the reflected light of that life over the entire earth. This she does most of all by her healing and elevating impact on the dignity of the person, by the way in which she strengthens the seams of human society and imbues the everyday activity of people with a deeper meaning and importance".

5. The Church is not afraid to live in the world, even though she readily sees the brokenness and sinfulness which abound. When, in the light of Christ, she sees violence and oppression for what they are, when she encounters injustices of any kind, she does not withdraw within herself and try to hide behind the safety of church walls; she does not abandon her mission of evangelization and service. The Church reaches out with compassion to the homeless and refugees; she hears the cry of the poor and the oppressed. The Church knows well that she is a pilgrim community of faith called to serve the human family with evangelical openness and authentic love.

Some people mistakenly claim that since Christians are seeking a heavenly city they have no genuine concern for other people’s earthly needs. This is far from the truth. For to follow Christ is to be even more strictly obliged to be a responsible citizen and an active member of the human community. There can be no contradiction between our personal prayer and worship on the one hand and our social responsibilities on the other. For the Christ whom we seek in prayer is the same Christ who lives in the least of our brothers and sisters.

6. The Church acknowledges with gratitude the help which she receives from the world. Scientific and technological progress has opened up vast new possibilities for helping the poor and underprivileged and for benefitting the whole human family. We rejoice especially in the advances of medical science which have eliminated some diseases entirely and brought relief and comfort to countless people. Improvements in the communications media have given the Church more effective ways of proclaiming the Gospel and of carrying out her catechetical mission. The accomplishments of artists, poets and scholars are warmly applauded by the Church, for when they respect the moral and spiritual dimensions of the human person, they are in harmony with her own efforts to further both truth and beauty and to create a better world. In so many ways, the Church has been enriched by the progress of humanity.

7. A question of great importance today is the relationship of the Gospel to culture. This is particularly true here in Australia where you have a rich blend of cultures: the Aboriginal and those derived from Europe, Asian cultures brought by recent immigrants and those from the Pacific region. Whatever is truly good in a particular culture is defended and strengthened by the Gospel. But elements which are imperfect must be purified and refined, so that a more authentic culture can emerge. Of course, this process of cultural transformation does not occur on a purely theoretical level. Rather, it requires the serious, dedicated efforts of Christians in the day-to-day life of a particular society.

393 With the help of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s followers seek to identify, affirm and foster values which have true cultural worth. At the same time, how important it is that they should have the courage to oppose whatever is contrary to the Gospel and whatever violates the dignity of the human person. Service to society and to culture is a service which protects and ennobles the human person.

Christians, then, cannot remain silent in the face of the unspeakable crimes against human life which are being committed. Nor can they ignore the violation of human rights, the tide of drug and alcohol abuse, the breakdown of family life, the neglect of the poor. These and other social evils not only go against the law written in the human heart; they are contrary to Christ’s command to love. They need to be faced with prophetic courage and with a Christian solidarity that embraces the whole world. Action for justice and on behalf of the dignity of every person will always be demanded by the Gospel. They are demands of Christian love.

8. As we reflect on the role of the Church in our changing world, let us listen once again to what Saint Paul says to us in his Letter to the Ephesians "I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience".

These words are very important in understanding the relationship between the Church and the modern world. To fulfil her role in the world, the Church must have that interior maturity of which the Apostle speaks and which is reflected in "complete selflessness, gentleness and patience". Even more important is the text that follows: "Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together".

This unity of the spirit is a unity that includes everybody: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, families, everyone in the Church. It means unity within each particular parish and between the pastor and his flock and unity with the Church throughout the world, "a unity in the work of service, building up the Body of Christ". Working for unity is especially challenging in a country like Australia where you have such diverse cultural traditions, with so many different attitudes and customs to take into account. Unity is something that must be continually built up through the power of the Holy Spirit. And only when we are truly one in mind and heart can we be " fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.

9. Everyone, in fact, is called to do his or her part in "building up the body of Christ".

In this work of building up the Church, we prove - indeed we must prove - that we are truly "the salt of the earth", that we are "the light of the world".

The world has a great need of this "salt" and this "light" because of God’s eternal plan.

This eternal plan directs us towards the "spiritual man", the human person at the level of maturity in Christ. This plan is the measure of greatness for the whole of creation, for each person and for all humanity according to "the fullness of Christ himself".

Let us go forward towards this fullness of God - the fullness of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Amen.

S. John Paul II Homil. 384