| Become what you are: 'mirrors' of the Lord On Monday morning, 3 October, the First General Congregation of the
11th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops opened with the
celebration of the Hour of Terce. The Holy Father delivered the following
Reflection to those gathered in the Synod Hall, translated from Italian.
Dear Brothers,
This text of the Hour of Terce today involves five imperatives and one
promise. Let us try to understand a little better what the Apostle intends
to tell us with these words.
The first imperative is very frequently found in St Paul's Letters;
indeed, it might well be called the "cantus firmus" of his thought: "gaudete".
Yet in a life as tormented as his own, a life filled with persecutions,
hunger and all kinds of suffering, a key phrase was always present: "be
glad".
Here the question arises: is it possible to command happiness? Joy, we
would like to say, comes or does not come, but cannot be imposed as a
duty. And here it is helpful for us to think of the best-known text on joy
in the Pauline Letters, that of "Gaudete Sunday" in the heart of the
Advent Liturgy: "Gaudete, iterum dico gaudete quia Dominus prope est".
Here we understand the reason why Paul, in all his sufferings, in all his
trials, could only tell others to "rejoice"; he could say this because joy
was present within him: "Gaudete, Dominus enim prope est".
If the loved one, the love, the greatest gift of my life, is close to
me; if I can be convinced that the person who loves me is beside me even
in troubling situations, in the depths of my heart dwells a joy that is
greater than all suffering.
The Apostle could say "be happy" because the Lord is close to each one
of us. Thus, this imperative is actually an invitation to feel the
presence of the Lord close to us. It is a means of awakening an awareness
of the Lord's presence. The Apostle wants to make us perceive this hidden
but very real presence of the Lord close to each one of us. To each one of
us the words of the Book of Revelation apply: I am knocking at your door;
hear me, let me in.
'Thus, it is also an invitation to be sensitive to this presence of the
Lord who is knocking at my door. We must not be deaf to him, because the
ears of our heart are so full of the din of the world that we cannot hear
this silent presence that is knocking at our door.
Let us at the same time consider whether we really are prepared to open
the doors of our heart; or perhaps this heart is crammed with so many
other things that there is no room in it for the Lord, and for the time
being we have no time for him. Thus, insensitive, dead to his presence,
distracted by other things, We fail to hear the essential: the Lord,
knocking at the door; he is close to us, hence, true joy, which is more
powerful than all the sorrows of the world or of our lives, is at hand.
Consequently, in the context of this first imperative, let us pray:
"Lord, make us sensitive to your presence, help us to hear you, not to be
deaf to you, help us to keep our hearts free, open to you".
Being perfect
The second imperative "perfecti estote" as we read in the Latin text,
seems to coincide with the words that sum up the Sermon on the Mount: "perfecti
estote sicut Paster vester caelestis perfectus est". These words invite us
to be what we are: images of God, beings created in relation to the Lord,
"mirrors" where the Lord's light is reflected.
Not to live Christianity according to the letter, not to understand
Sacred Scripture according to the letter is often difficult, historically
disputable; but we must go beyond the letter, our present reality, towards
the Lord who speaks to us and hence, to union with God.
However, if we see the Greek text we find another verb, "кαταρτíζεσθε": and
this word means to restore or repair an instrument, to make it function
properly again. The most frequent example for the Apostles was mending
fishing net that was no longer in proper condition, that had so many holes
in it that it could no longer be used; they had to repair the net so it could
once again be used for fishing, restored to its perfect state as a tool for
this trade.
Another example: music can no longer be played properly on a stringed
instrument with a broken string.
So in this imperative our soul is like an apostolic net but one that is
frequently of little use because our own intentions have made a tear in it;
or it like a musical instrument that unfortunately has several broken
strings, that God's music which should echo in the depths of our soul can
no longer ring out. We must repair this instrument, be familiar with its
broken parts, the destruction, the negligence, the omissions, and seek to
make it perfect and complete so that it will serve the purpose for which the
Lord created it.
So it is that this imperative can also be an invitation to the regular
examination of conscience, to see how this instrument of mine is going, to what point it has been neglected or is
no longer in
working order, in the attempt to make it function properly again. It also
an invitation to have recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where God
himself repairs the instrument and restores us to integrity, perfection
and
functionality, so that in this soul praise of God may once again ring out.
Helping one another
Then comes "exortamini invicem". Fraternal correction is a work of
mercy. None of us sees himself or his shortcomings clearly. It is therefore
an act love to complement one another, to help one another see each other
better and correct each other.
I think that one of the very functions of collegiality is to help one
another, also in the sense of the previous imperative, to know the
shortcomings that we ourselves do not want to see
— "ab ocultis meis munda me", the Psalm says
— to help one another to open ourselves and to see these things.
Of course, this great work of mercy,
helping one another so that each of us can truly rediscover his own
integrity and functionality as an instrument of God, demands great
humility and love.
Only if it comes from a humble heart that does not rank itself above
others, that does not consider itself better than others but only a humble
instrument to offer reciprocal help; only if we feel this true and deep
humility, if we feel that these words come from common love, from the
collegial affection in which we want to serve God together, can we help
one another in this regard with a great act of love.
Here too the Greek text adds some nuances. The Greek word is "παραкλεîσθε";
it is the same root as the word "Пαράкλητος",
"παράкλεσις", to comfort. It
does not only mean to correct but also to comfort, to share the other's
sufferings, to help him in his difficulties. And this also seems to me a
great act of true collegial affection.
In the many problematic situations that emerge today in our pastoral
work, some people truly feel somewhat desperate, they do not see how to
advance. At that moment, they need comfort, they need someone to be with
them in their inner loneliness and do the work of the Holy Spirit, the
Consoler: to give courage, to support us, assisted by the Holy Spirit
himself who is the great Paraclete, the Comforter, our Advocate who helps
us. Therefore, it is an invitation to make ourselves "ad invicem" the work
of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Being united
"Idem sapite": behind the Latin word we can detect the word "taste".
Have the same taste for things, have the same fundamental outlook on
reality, with all the differences that are not only legitimate but also
necessary; but have "eundem saporem", the same sensibility. The Greek text
says "φρоνεîτε", "the same". In other words,
have essentially the same way of thinking.
How can we essentially have a common way of thinking that helps us to
guide the Holy Church together unless we share together in the faith,
which has not been invented by any one of us but is the faith of the
Church, the common foundation which supports us, and on which we stand and
work?
Thus, it is an invitation to integrate ourselves anew in this common
thinking, in this faith that precedes us. "Ne respicias peccata
nostra sed fidem Ecclesiae tuae": what the Lord seeks within us is the
faith of the Church and also the forgiveness of sins. We must have this
common faith. We can and must live this faith, each in his or her own way
but always knowing that this faith precedes us. And we must communicate
our common faith to everyone else.
This element is already leading us on to the last imperative that
gives us profound peace with each other.
At this point we can also think of "τо αυτό
φρоνεîτε" in another text
of the Letter to the Philippians, at the beginning of the great hymn about
the Lord, in which the Apostle tells us: "Your attitude must be that of
Christ" (Phil 2:5), you must enter into the "φρόνεσις", the
"φρоνεîν", the thinking of Christ. We will then be able to share together in the
Church's faith, because with this faith we enter into the Lord's thoughts
and sentiments, to think together with Christ.
This is the last exhortation in the Apostle's recommendation: think with Christ's thoughts. And we can do so by reading Sacred Scripture in
which Christ's thoughts are the Word, they speak to us. In this sense we
must practise "Lectio divina", we must grasp Christ's Way of thinking in
the Scriptures, we must learn to think with Christ, to think Christ's
thoughts and thus feel Christ's sentiments, to be able to convey Christ's
thinking to others.
Living in peace
And thus, the last imperative: "pacem habete", "ειρηνευετε", is
almost a summation of the four previous imperatives, being in union with
God who is our peace, with Christ who said: "pacem dabo vobis". We are in
inner peace, because being in Christ's thought unifies our being. The
problems, the differences of our soul are united, they are united to the
original, to the One we are images of with the thought of Christ. So it is
that inner peace is born, and only if we are grounded in deep inner peace
can we also be men and women of peace in the world and for others.
Here the question arises: is this promise conditioned by the
imperatives? That is, is this God of peace with us only if we can achieve
the imperatives? What is the relationship between imperative and promise?
I would say that it is bilateral; in other words, the promise precedes
the imperatives and makes it possible to achieve them and to follow up
this achievement. That is, before everything we ourselves do, the God of
love and peace opened himself to us, he was with us. In Revelation,
which began in the Old Testament, God came to meet us with his love and
his peace.
And finally, in the Incarnation, he became God-with-us, Emmanuel. This
God of peace became flesh, with our flesh, blood with our blood. He is a
man with us and embraces the whole human being. And in the
Crucifixion and his descent to death he became totally one with us, he
precedes us with his love, he embraces first of all our action. And this
is our great consolation. God goes before us.
He has already done all things. He has given us peace, forgiveness, and
love. He is with us. And only because he is with us, because we have
received his grace in Baptism, in Confirmation the Holy Spirit, in the
Sacrament of Orders we received his mission, can we ourselves now
cooperate with his presence that goes before us. All our action, of which
the five imperatives speak, consists in cooperation and collaboration with
the God of peace who is with us.
But on the other hand, it applies to the extent in which we truly enter
into this presence which he has given us, into this gift already present
in our being. His presence among us, his being with us, grows naturally.
And let us pray to the Lord that he will teach us to collaborate with
his grace which precedes us, so that he may truly be with us for ever.
Amen!
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