Speeches 1988 - Saturday 28 May, 1988
Tuesday 31 May, 1988
Dear Brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ,
1. Once again it is a great joy for me to welcome a group of American Bishops. In you I greet all the priests, deacons, Religious and laity of the Provinces of Louisville, Mobile and New Orleans. Memories of New Orleans encourage me to send special greetings to those groups that I met there: the youth of America, the apostles of Catholic education, the beloved black community throughout your land, and all those striving to meet the challenge of greatness in higher Catholic education. At the same time I remember in my thoughts and cherish in my heart all the faithful of America, far whom we are striving to provide true pastoral service in the name of “the Chief Shepherd of the flock” (1 Petr. 5, 4), our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
In all the pastoral events that I experience with you, the Bishops of the United States – each event in continuity with the preceding ones – it is my intention to reflect with you on an organic pastoral view of our Episcopal ministry. This organic view must take into account the perennial exigencies of the Gospel; it must also express the indisputable priorities of the life of the Church today, both in her universal needs and in the special requirements of the Church in the United States. At the same time it must faithfully reflect the call of the Second Vatican Council to reform and renewal as reiterated by the Bishop of Rome and the worldwide Episcopate in communion with him. This communion is especially evident in the different sessions of the Synod of Bishops, the conclusions of which are of special urgency for all pastoral planning in the Church.
2. One of the essential themes of the Gospel that has been emphasized by both the Second Vatican Council and the Synod of Bishops in the call to penance or conversion – and consequently to reconciliation – incumbent on all members of the Church, and particularly relevant to our own lives and ministry as Bishops. Conversion as proclaimed by Christ is a whole program of life and pastoral action. It is the basis for an organic view of pastoral ministry because it is linked to all the great aspects of God’s revelation.
Conversion speaks to us about the need to acknowledge the primacy of God in the world and in our individual lives. It presupposes the reality of sin and the need to respond to God in and through Christ the Saviour, who frees us from our sins. Christ’s command of conversion imposes on us “the obedience of faith” (Rm 1,5) in all its implications.
Conversion becomes for us a synthesis of the Gospel, and repeated conversions throughout the ages reflect the unceasing action of the Risen Christ on the life of the Church. Jesus himself introduces us to the meaning of penance or conversion when he says: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Marc. 1, 15). Conversion signifies an internal change of attitude and of approach to God and to the world. This is the way the Church has always understood this reality. The Synod of 1983 described it as “the inmost change of heart under the influence of the word of God and in the perspective of the Kingdom”, and again as “a conversion that passes from the heart to deeds, and then to the Christian’s whole life” (Reconciliatio et Paenitentia RP 4).
3. Our conversion is understood as a response to the call of Jesus to embrace his Gospel and enter his Kingdom. His call had been anticipate by the Precursor of his Kingdom, John the Baptist: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3,2). Jesus himself entrusted this call to his Apostles and through them to us. On the day of Pentecost it was taken up by Peter who encouraged the people to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah, saying: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Act. 2, 38). The Apostle Paul bore public testimony to the fact that he “preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance” (Ibid. 26, 20).
In imitating the Apostles Peter and Paul, by striving to embrace the reality of conversion and by preaching it, we are in effect proclaiming the full content of the truth that Jesus revealed about repentance. In speaking of conversion or penance we direct people’s attention to God himself and to the need to live in conformity with the truth that God has expressed regarding human nature. To call to conversion means to proclaim God’s dominion over all creation, especially over all humanity. It means extolling God’s law and acknowledging all the practical effects of creation. In the act of conversion the human person proclaims his or her dependence on God and acknowledges the need to obey God’s law in order to live in freedom.
Conversion presupposes an acknowledgment of the reality of human rebellion against the majesty of God. In each person’s heart conversion signifies the vast superiority of grace over sin, so much so that “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rm 5,20). Conversion is made possible and actually brought about in human hearts by the victory of Jesus in his Paschal Mystery. Every individual conversion is an expression of the divine plan whereby human beings must consent to God’s salvific action. Hence every conversion expresses the nobility of human effort and at the same time its total insufficiency. Every conversion proclaims the supremacy of grace.
4. By reflecting on Jesus’ words to be converted, to repent, to open our hearts to life and grace, to renounce sin, we discover the relationship between conversion and God’s love, the relationship between conversion and God’s power. As we reflect on the call of Jesus to do penance we discover the new world of mercy, which is revealed in the Cross. The Cross of Jesus Christ is indeed, as I have stated before, “a radical revelation of mercy, or rather of the love that goes against what constitutes the very root of evil in the history of man: against sin and death... the Cross of Christ, in fact, makes us understand the deepest roots of evil” (Dives in Misericordia DM 8).
Mercy in turn presumes conversion on the part of all of us, and the notion of conversion forces us to reflect on the truth which we must live. It often happens that when the Church speaks of the requirements of truth in relation to conversion and mercy the world reacts negatively. But the Church cannot proclaim the reality of God’s infinite mercy without pointing out how the acceptance of mercy requires an openness to God’s law. It requires the personal observance of God’s law as a response to his covenant of mercy. In demonstrating his fidelity to his fatherly love, God cannot contradict his own truth. Hence true conversion, which consists in discovering God’s mercy, includes repentance from whatever negates the truth of God expressed in human nature.
5. At the same time conversion brings with it reconciliation. Reconciliation is the result of conversion. It is the gift of the heavenly Father given through Christ and in the Holy Spirit to those who are converted. In the words of Saint Paul: God “has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation”.
Conversion remains the key to all reconciliation and to the Church’s ministry of reconciliation. All individual and collective reconciliation springs from the conversion of hearts. The social fabric of the Church and the world will be reformed and renewed only when conversion is interior and personal. The needed reform of oppressive economic and political structures in the world cannot be effected without the conversion of hearts. The reconciliation of humanity at the level of individuals, communities, peoples and blocs of nations presumes the conversion of individual hearts and must be based on truth. The Synod on Reconciliation and Penance fully proclaimed this truth, showing how at the basis of all divisions there is personal sin, the ultimate essence and darkness of which is “disobedience to God” (Reconciliatio et Paenitentia RP 14, cfr. 16).
6. In being called to be a sign of reconciliation in the world, the Church is therefore called to be a sign of conversion from sin and of obedience to God’s law. In her very nature the Church is the great sacrament of reconciliation. To live this truth fully she must at all times be both a reconciled and reconciling community that proclaims the divisive power of every personal sin but above all the reconciling and unifying power of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, in which love is stronger than sin and death.
In fidelity to her mission the Church must preach the existence of evil and sin. With great insight the Synod of Bishops acknowledged with Pope Pius XII that “the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin” (Cfr. Ibid. 18) . In the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation I noted that the “restoration of a proper sense of sin is the first way of facing the grave spiritual crisis looming over man today” (Ibid.). Already the early Church had reacted vigorously to the illusion of sinlessness on the part of some, as stated in the First Letter of Saint John: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 Io. 1, 8).
When we take to heart this statement, we open ourselves to the action of the Holy Spirit who reveals to us our limitations and defects and “convicts” us of our sins of act and omission. At the same time, both as individuals and as communities in the Church we know that we have not yet reached our goal, we do not yet fully live the Gospel, we have not yet perfectly applied the Council. The more we have a sense of our limitations and personal sins, the more we will divest ourselves of any sentiments of neo-triumphalism and take to heart all pertinent observations and suggestions about our life and ministry.
7. Humbled before God and reconciled with him and within herself, the Church is able to pursue with interior freedom her specific mission, which is “to evoke conversion and penance in man’s heart and to offer him the gift of reconciliation” (Reconciliatio et Paenitentia RP 23). This she does in different ways, particularly through catechesis and the sacraments entrusted to her by Christ. At this moment in the Church’s life, both in the United States and throughout the world, it is opportune to reflect on the Sacrament of Penance with a view to reinforcing, in communion with the whole Church, an organic pastoral approach to a matter of such supreme importance for the conversion and reconciliation of the world.
The general experience of the Bishops participating at the Synod and of many others throughout the Church in regard to the use of this Sacrament was summarized in this way: “The Sacrament of Penance is in crisis.... For the Sacrament of Confession is indeed being undermined” (Ibid. 28). The statements are neither negative expression of pessimism nor causes for alarm they are rather expressions of a pastoral realism that requires positive pastoral reflection, planning and action. By the power of Christ’s Paschal Mystery that is active within her, the Church is capable of responding to all the crises that she ever faces, including this one. But she must make sure that she acknowledges the crisis, and that she adequately faces it with the supernatural means at her disposal.
8. In this crisis, which becomes a challenge to the Church’s fidelity, the Bishops have a particular responsibility, which they can meet with a unique effectiveness. In something as sacred as this Sacrament, sporadic efforts are not enough to overcome the crisis. For this reason I appeal today to you and through you to all the Bishops of the United States for organic pastoral planning in each diocese to restore the Sacrament of Penance to its rightful place in the Church and to renew its use in full accordance with the intention of Christ.
A key point in this renewal process is “the obligation of pastors to facilitate for the faithful the practice of integral and individual confession of sins, which constitutes for them not only a duty but also an inviolable and inalienable right, besides being something needed for the soul” (Reconciliatio et Paenitentia RP 33). In this task the Bishops need the support and fraternal collaboration of all concerned. Of special importance are the concerted efforts of all the members of the Conference of Bishops in insisting that the “gravis necessitas” required for general absolution be truly understood in the sense explained in Canon 961. In various regions of the world, the crisis facing the Sacrament of Penance is due in part to unwarranted interpretations of what constitutes the conditions of the “gravis necessitas” envisioned by the Church. The Bishops, not only of the United States but of all countries, can make a great pastoral contribution to the true renewal of the Sacrament of Penance by their sustained efforts to do everything possible to promote the proper interpretation of Canon 961. At stake is the whole question of the personal relationship that Christ wills to have with each penitent and which the Church must unceasingly defend. In the Encyclica “Redemptor Hominis” I spoke of this relationship as involving rights on the part of each individual and of Christ himself.
9. As Bishops we also contribute to true renewal by fraternally encouraging our priests to persevere in their incomparable ministry as confessors. This means that they must first travel this path of conversion and reconciliation themselves. In this too we must give them an example. Priests are meant by Christ to find immense spiritual fulfilment in accomplishing the Church’s “ministry of reconciliation” in a unique and supremely effective manner.
Reflection on the Sacrament of Penance as the Sacrament of conversion and reconciliation will truly help individuals and communities within the Church to understand the real nature of the renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council. The Sacrament of Penance is the actuation of Christ’s pastoral victory, because it is the personal application of his reconciling action to individual hearts. Without the proper use of the Sacrament of Penance all other forms of renewal will be incomplete, and at the same time the very reform and renewal of structures will be limited. For this reason the Sacrament of Reconciliation will prove to be a true key to social progress and a sure measure of the authenticity of all renewal in the Church in the United States and throughout the world.
10. As we move closer toward the year 2000, we must ever more effectively proclaim the fullness of Christ’s mercy and offer to the world the hope that is found only in a loving and forgiving Saviour. In order to accomplish this we are called to do everything possible to promote the sacrament of mercy and forgiveness in accordance with the Second Vatican Council, the pertinent liturgical norms of the Church, the Code of Canon Law and the conclusion of the Synod of 1983 as formulated in “Reconciliatio et Paenitentia”. A goal of this magnitude cannot be attained without the constantly renewed collegial commitment of the worldwide Episcopate. Today, in particular, I ask this commitment of you and all your brother Bishops in the United States. To each of you and to all your local Churches: “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (1Tm 1,2).
Dear Brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ,
1. I extend a warm and fraternal greeting to all of you, Pastors of the local Churches in the Provinces of Baltimore, Washington, Atlanta and Miami.
It is a pleasure to note the presence of Archbishop Hickey in anticipation of the Consistory in which he will be created a Cardinal. In Archbishop Borders I greet the first See of Baltimore as it prepares to celebrate next year its bicentennial, with profound significance for the whole Church in the United States. With particular fraternal affection I send greetings to Archbishop Marino of Atlanta, the first black Archbishop in the United States, who will be arriving soon to receive the Pallium. With gratitude I reciprocate the cordial welcome given me by Archbishop McCarthy on my arrival in Miami. And to all of you, dear Brothers in the Episcopate, I express my esteem and solidarity in Christ Jesus.
I recently spoke to the Bishops of Region V about the call to conversion, and on this occasion I would like to speak to you about the call to prayer.
We have all meditated on the words of Jesus: “Pray constantly for the strength... to stand secure before the Son of Man”. And today we accept once again the call to prayer as it comes to each of us and to the whole Church from Christ himself. The call to prayer places all the Church’s activity in perspective. In 1976, in addressing the Call to Action meeting in Detroit, Paul VI stated that “in the tradition of the Church any call to action is first of all a call to prayer”. These words are indeed more relevant today than ever before. They are a challenge to the Church in the United States and throughout the world.
2. The universal Church of Christ, and therefore each particular Church, exists in order to pray. In prayer the human person expresses his or her nature; the community expresses its vocation; the Church reaches out to God. In prayer the Church attains fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ (Cfr. 1 Io 1, 3). In prayer the Church expresses her Trinitarian life because she directs herself to the Father, undergoes the action of the Holy Spirit and lives fully her relationship with Christ. Indeed she experiences herself as the Body of Christ, as the mystical Christ.
The Church meets Christ in prayer at the core of her being. It is in this way that she finds the complete relevance of his teaching and takes on his mentality. By fostering an interpersonal relationship with Christ, the Church actuates to the full the personal dignity of her members. In prayer the Church concentrates on Christ; she possesses him, savours his friendship and is therefore in a position to communicate him Without prayer all this would be lacking and she would have nothing to offer to the world. But by exercising faith, hope and charity in prayer, her power to communicate Christ is reinforced.
3. Prayer is the goal of all catechesis, in the Church, because it is a means of union with God. Through prayer the Church expresses the supremacy of God and fulfils the first and greatest commandment of love.
Everything human is profoundly affected by prayer. Human work is revolutionized by prayer, uplifted to its highest level. Prayer is the source of the full humanization of work. In prayer the value of work is understood, for we grasp the fact that we are truly collaborators of God in the transformation and elevation of the world. Prayer is the consecration of this collaboration. At the same time it is means through which we face the problems of life and in which all pastoral endeavours are conceived and nurtured.
The call to prayer must precede the call to action, but the call to action must truly accompany the call to prayer. The Church finds in prayer the root of all her social action – the power to motivate it and the power to sustain it. In prayer we discover the needs of our brothers and sisters and make them our own, because in prayer we discover that their needs are the needs of Christ. All social consciousness is nurtured and evaluated in prayer. In the words of Jesus, justice and mercy are among “the weightier matters of the law” (Mt 23,23). The Church’s struggle for justice and her pursuit of mercy will succeed only if the Holy Spirit gives her the gift of perseverance in attaining them. This gift must be sought in prayer.
4. In prayer we come to understand the Beatitudes and the reasons why we must live them. Only through prayer can we begin to see all the aspirations of humanity from the perspective of Christ. Without the intuitions of prayer we would never grasp all the dimensions of human development and the urgency for the Christian community to commit itself to this work.
Prayer calls us to examine our consciences on all the issues that affect humanity. It calls us to ponder our personal and collective responsibility before the judgment of God and in the light of human solidarity. Hence prayer is able to transform the world. Everything is new with prayer, both for individuals and communities. New goals and new ideals emerge. Christian dignity and action are reaffirmed. The commitments of our Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders take on new urgency. The horizons of conjugal love and of the mission of the family are vastly extended in prayer.
Christian sensitivity depends on prayer. Prayer is an essential condition – even if not the only one – for a correct reading of the “signs of the times”. Without prayer deception is inevitable in a matter of such importance.
5. Decisions require prayer; decisions of magnitude require sustained prayer. Jesus himself gives us the example. Before calling his disciples, and selecting the Twelve, Jesus passed the night, on the mountain, in communion with his Father. For Jesus, prayer to his Father meant not only light and strength. It also meant confidence, trust and joy. His human nature exulted in the joy that came to him in prayer. The measure of the Church’s joy in any age is in proportion to her prayer.
The gauge of her strength and the condition for her confidence are fidelity to prayer. The mysteries of Christ are disclosed to those who approach him in prayer. The full application of the Second Vatican Council will forever be conditioned by perseverance in prayer. The great strides made by the laity of the Church in realizing how much they belong to the Church – how much they are the Church – can only be explained in the last analysis by grace and its acceptance in prayer.
6. In the life of the Church today we frequently perceive that the gift of prayer is linked to the word of God. A renewal in discovering the Sacred Scriptures has brought forth the fruits of prayer. God’s word, embraced and meditated on, has the power to bring human hearts into ever greater communion with the Most Holy Trinity. Over and over again this has taken place in the Church in our day. The benefits received through prayer linked to the word of God call forth in all of us a further response of prayer – the prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
The word of God generates prayer in the whole community. At the same time it is in prayer that the word of God is understood, applied and lived. For all of us who are ministers of the Gospel, with the pastoral responsibility of announcing the message in season and out of season and of scrutinizing the reality of daily life in the light of God’s holy word, prayer is the context in which we prepare the proclamation of faith. All evangelization is prepared in prayer; in prayer it is first applied to ourselves; in prayer it is then offered to the world.
7. Each local Church is true to itself to the extent that it is a praying community with all the consequent dynamism that prayer stirs up within it. The universal Church is never more herself than when she faithfully reflects the image of the praying Christ: the Son who in prayer directs his whole being to his Father and consecrates himself for the sake of his brethren “that they may be consecrated in truth” (Jn 17,19).
For this reason, dear Brothers in the Episcopate, I wish to encourage you in all your efforts to teach people to pray. It is part of the apostolic Church to transmit the teaching of Jesus to each generation, to offer faithfully to each local Church the response of Jesus to the request: “Teach us to pray” (Lc 11,1). I assure you of my solidarity and of the solidarity of the whole Church in your efforts to preach the importance of daily prayer and to give the example of prayer.From the words of Jesus we know that where two or three are gathered in his name, there he is in their midst (Cfr. Matth Mt 18,20). And we know that in every local Church gathered in prayer around a Bishop there dwells the incomparable beauty of the whole Catholic Church as the faithful image of the praying Christ.
8. In his role as Pastor of the universal Church, the Successor of Peter is called to live a communion of prayer with his brother Bishops and their dioceses. Hence all your pastoral initiatives to promote prayer have my full support. In fraternal and pastoral charity I am close to you as you call your people to daily prayer, as you invite them to discover in prayer their dignity as Christians. Every diocesan and parish initiative aimed at furthering individual and family prayer is a blessing for the universal Church. Every group that gathers together to pray the Rosary is a gift to the cause of God’s Kingdom. Yes, wherever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, there he is.
Contemplative communities are a special gift of Christ’s love to his people. They need and deserve the full measure of our pastoral love and support. Their particular role in the world is to bear witness to the supremacy of God and the primacy of Christ’s love “which surpasses all knowledge” (Ep 3,19).
When, as Bishops, we exercise our apostolic responsibility to call our people to prayer, we also deeply fulfill our own pastoral ministry. Not everyone is willing to respond, but millions of people are. And the Holy Spirit is willing to use the Bishops of the Church as instruments in a work that by reason of its supreme delicateness belongs to him alone as the Dextrae Dei Digitus. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit can totally renew the Church today through the gift of prayer. We must aspire to possess this gift – so much linked to God’s love; we must invoke it for the Church here and now, and see it also as the hallmark of the Church of the Millennium. This is the vital context in which, as Pastors, we must call the Church to prayer. Here too we touch upon the identity of the Bishop as a sign of Christ, “a sign of the praying Christ, a sign of the Christ who speaks to his Father, saying: “I offer you praise, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth” (Lc 10,21) ” (IOANNIS PAULI PP. II Ad quosdam episcopos e Civitatibus Foederatis Americae Septemtrionalis occasione oblata 'ad limina' visitationis coram admissos, 2, die 3 dec. 1983: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VI, 2 (1983) 1234) .
9. Prayer reaches a level of special dignity and efficacy for the community in the Sacred Liturgy of the Church and particularly in Eucharistic worship, which is the source and summit of Christian living. In this regard the Eucharistic celebration of the Sunday is of immense importance for your local Churches and for their vitality. Five years ago, in speaking at some length about this matter I mentioned that “Throughout the United States there has been a superb history of Eucharistic participation by the people, and for this we must all thank God” (IOANNIS PAULI PP. II Ad quosdam episcopos e Civitatibus Foederatis Americae Septmtrionalis occasione oblata 'ad limina' visitationis coram admissos, 1, die 9 iul. 1983: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VI, 2 (1983) 46. The time is ripe to renew gratitude to God for this great gift and to reinforce this splendid tradition of American Catholics. On that occasion I also mentioned: “All the striving of the laity to consecrate the secular field of activity to God finds inspiration and magnificent confirmation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Participating in the Eucharist is only a small portion of the laity’s week, but the total effectiveness of their lives and all Christian renewal depends on it: the primary and indispensable source of the true Christian spirit!” (Ibid., 5: loc. cit., p. 48).
In the Sunday Eucharistic assembly the Father repeatedly glorifies the Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ by accepting his Sacrifice offered for the whole Church. He confirms the paschal character of the Church. The hour of Sunday Eucharistic worship is a powerful expression of the Christocentric nature of the community, which Christ offers to his Father as a gift. And as he offers his Church to his Father, Christ himself convokes his Church for her mission: her mission, above all of love and praise, to be able to say: “By your gift I will utter praise in the vast assembly” (Ps 23,26).
At the same time that the Church is summoned to praise, she is summoned to service in fraternal charity and in justice, mercy and peace. In the very act of convoking his Church to service, Christ consecrates this service, renders it fruitful and offers it in the Spirit to his Father. This service to which the Church is called is the service of evangelization and human advancement in all their vital aspects. It is service in the name of Christ and of his mercy, in the name of him who said: “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd” (Mt 15,32).
10. There are many other aspects of prayer, both private and liturgical, that deserve reflection. There are many other dimensions of the call to prayer that the Church would like to emphasize. I wish at this time, however, to allude only to two realities which the Church must constantly face and which she can face adequately only in prayer. They are suffering and sin.
It is in her prayer that the Church understands and copes with suffering: she reacts to it as Jesus did in the Garden: “In his anguish he prayed with all the greater intensity” (Lc 22,44). Before the mystery of suffering, the Church is still unable to modify the advice of Saint James or to improve on it: “Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray” (Iac. 15, 13). Combined with all her efforts to alleviate human suffering – which she must multiply until the end of time – the Church’s definitive response to suffering is found only in prayer.
The other reality to which the Church responds in prayer is sin. In prayer the Church braces herself to engage in paschal conflict with sin and with the devil. In prayer she asks pardon for sin; in prayer she implores mercy for sinners; and in prayer she extols the power of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Church’s response to sin is to praise salvation and the superabundance of the grace of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. “To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his own blood... be glory and power forever and ever!” (Ap 1,5-6).
Profoundly convinced of the power of prayer and humbly committed to it in our own lives, let us, dear Brothers, confidently proclaim throughout the Church the call to prayer.At stake is the Church’s need to be herself, the Church of prayer, for the glory of the Father. The Holy Spirit will assist us and the merits of Christ’s Paschal Mystery will supply for our human weaknesses.
The example of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as a model of prayer, is a source of confidence and trust for all of us. As we ourselves look to her, we know that her example sustains our clergy, Religious and laity. We know that her generosity is a legacy for the whole Church to proclaim and imitate.
Finally, in the words of Paul, I ask you all: “Pray for me that God may put his word on my lips, that I may courageously make known the mystery of the Gospel... Pray that I may have courage to proclaim it as I ought... Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with unfailing love” (Ep 6,19-20 Ep 6,24).
Speeches 1988 - Saturday 28 May, 1988