Holy Mass in Barcelona (7 November 1982)

On Sunday, 7 November 1982, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in Barcelona. In  his homily, the Pope reflected on Jesus' internal act of offering to the Father, beginning with His Incarnation and culminating in His redemptive sacrifice.

Dear brothers and sisters:

1. We are gathered at this stage to celebrate the Lord's Day. United with your Pastor and with many brothers from Barcelona and many other places.

The second reading of this Mass, taken from the letter to the Hebrews, expresses the importance of Jesus' internal act of offering to the Father. He made this offer for the first time by entering the world with the Incarnation (cf. Heb 10:5); his offering then referred to his future redemptive sacrifice.

By always maintaining this internal offering, he gives a unified meaning to his entire earthly life.

The offering accompanied the pains and sufferings of the cross, giving them the redemptive value that they would not have had without this act of oblation. Even after the resurrection and ascension, the life of Christ continues to have a unity of meaning, since even now Jesus continues to offer the Father the now past pains of the Passion.

To explain the redemptive mystery, the epistle uses the Old Testament liturgy of the Day of Atonement. In that liturgy the immolated victims were burned outside the camp. Christ was also sacrificed on Calvary, which was then outside the city (cf. Heb 13, 11 ff.). The High Priest entered the “Sancta Santorum” to offer the sacrifice to Yahweh. Even Christ, Priest of the New Covenant, was resurrected and ascended to heaven, to enter the celestial sanctuary and perpetually present to the Father the blood that he shed one day on the cross.

It is the same Christ who comes to the altar, to repeat his offering to the Father for us. The smallness of our desires to donate to Christ and to lead a Christian life must be placed on the altar to be united with the offering of Jesus. Our humble donation - in itself insignificant, like the mite of the widow of Zarephath and the poor widow's mite - becomes acceptable in the eyes of God due to its union with Jesus' oblation.

And what should our donation to Christ consist of? I tell you straight away that the first thing that the Pope and the Church expect from you is that, faced with your existence, faced with the Church itself, faced with the current human problem, you adopt truly Christian behaviors.

2. Your life as human creatures already has a unique grandeur and dignity. They require a correct evaluation, to live it in coherent respect of the demands of truth, honesty, correct use of the magnificent divine gift of freedom in all its dimensions.

This splendid reality, however, cannot be confined to these horizons alone, although it cannot ignore them. It must open itself to the newness that Christ came to bring into the world, teaching every man that he is a child of God (cf. Mt 6, 9-15), redeemed with the blood of Christ himself (cf. Eph 1, 7), co-heir with him (cf. Rom 8, 17) destined for a transcendent goal (cf. Rom 8, 20-23; Eph 2, 6f).

It would be the greatest mutilation to deprive man of this perspective, which elevates him to the highest dimension he can have. And which, therefore, offers him the most suitable means to invest his best energies and enthusiasm.

As I wrote in the encyclical Redemptor Hominis : “This union of Christ with man is in itself a mystery, from which the "new man" is born, called to participate in the life of God, created anew in Christ, in the fullness of grace and truth. The union of Christ with man is the strength and the source of strength, according to the incisive expression of Saint John in the prologue of his Gospel: "The Word gave power to become children of God"" (John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis , 18).

Here lies the foundation of the profound knowledge of the value of one's existence. The foundation of our identity as Christians. From here must derive coherent practical behavior, made of esteem for all that is good in humanity and effectively informed by faith.

3. For a Christian, the relationship he establishes with the Church is very important. Relationship that can go from a polemical refusal to a partial acceptance; from a systematic criticism to mature and responsible loyalty.

The first approach that is necessary, to avoid confusion or false perspectives, is to consider the Church in its true nature: a society of a spiritual type and with spiritual goals, incarnated in the men of all time (cf. Lumen Gentium , 2). Without any intention of putting itself in conflict with the civil powers, and of dealing with merely material and political issues, which, as it willingly recognizes, are not within its competence. Without even renouncing his mission, which is the mandate received from Christ, to form the conscience of his faithful in faith, so that they, in their dual role as citizens and faithful, contribute to good in all spheres of life, of agreement with one's own beliefs, and with the respect due to those of others.

The Church founded by Christ on Peter and the Apostles, a mission continued today by their successors (cf. Ibid . 18), is the universal sacrament of salvation, sign and instrument of the grace of Christ in which we are reborn to new life (cf. Ibid . 1 , 2). It is with his visible image, which reminds men of the divine presence and action. It is with the preaching of the Word of God and the administration of the Sacraments, sources of salvation. It is through the lives of its faithful, called to contribute, each according to their own condition, to extending the evangelical message and making Christ present in all areas of society.

From these premises derives a very concrete behavior for the Christian. The Church was established by Christ, and we cannot expect to make it according to our personal criteria. By will of its Founder it has a guide constituted by the successor of Peter and the Apostles: this implies, out of fidelity to Christ, fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church.

She is Mother, in whom we are reborn to new life in God; a mother must be loved. It is holy in its Founder, in its means and in its doctrine, but it is made up of sinful men; we must contribute positively to improving it, to helping it to constantly renew its loyalty, which cannot be achieved with corrosive criticism.

The Church offers every day the word of salvation and the sacraments instituted by Christ and does not depend on criteria of number or fashion; this obliges us to respect the voice of the Hierarchy, immediate criterion and guide in faith. It is made up of all of us, the People of God (cf. Lumen Gentium , 9); this requires the responsible collaboration of each Christian or group, of their strengths, of their ability to gain experiences, but in loyal listening to the legitimate Pastors. She loves man in his entirety, nothing that is truly human is indifferent to her; however, in the effort to elevate man, she does not forget that her own and essential mission is to procure him salvation.

4. Faced with the problems of the current world in which he lives immersed, the Christian cannot help but adopt a behavior that reflects the concept he has of himself, in light of his relationship with the Church.

Aware of his duty to "give a more human meaning to man and history" ( Gaudium et Spes , 40), the Christian will have to be on the front line as a witness to truth, honesty and justice. It is the first consequence of the humanizing value of faith and its creative dynamism.

Well rooted in this faith and thanks to a clear and profound evangelical conviction, the Christian will not hesitate in assuming his share of responsibility, to "establish in Christ the order of temporal realities" ( Apostolicam Actuositatem , 7). Christians will never be able to forget that they must be "the leaven and soul of society" ( Gaudium et Spes , 40) and that in temporal commitments "their faith is a motive that obliges them to perfectly fulfill those commitments according to each individual's personal vocation ” ( Ibid . 43).

The child of the Church must live with the conviction that he must be Christian in fidelity to Christ, to be Christian in the coherence of love for man, in the defense of his rights, in the commitment to justice, in solidarity with those who seek truth and the elevation of man ( Ibid .).

5. These behaviors require strong commitment and a great capacity for effort and courage.

The need to change many things that are inadequate or unjust and which require transformation from within and without appears in the eyes of the Christian.

However, there is a mirage to which we risk succumbing: wanting to change society by changing only the external structures or seeking only the satisfaction of man's material needs. And instead, we need to start by changing ourselves; by morally renewing oneself; by transforming from within, imitating Christ; by destroying the roots of selfishness and sin that nestle in every heart. Transformed people collaborate effectively to transform society.

6. To live in this Christian attitude, the child of the Church, who feels his own weakness and sin, needs a constant commitment to conversion and return to the ideal sources that inspire his conduct. He needs a constant return to his conscience and to Christ.

In his faith he must find the strength and dynamism to correct himself and confirm himself in goodness every day. Without abandoning ourselves to that resigned passivity that creeps into many spirits.

A commitment to conversion that must be personal and community-based. Able to always orient towards greater fidelity to one's Christian condition and to overcome, in the highest goals, the mistakes or errors of the past. Without letting yourself be paralyzed by them, in a useless immobility or feeling of guilt.

Error and sin unfortunately nestle in every man, in every human sector and in every organism made up of men, in the Church and outside of it.

But God helps us to constantly renew ourselves in his grace and love. The revealed Word, the example of Christ, the grace of the sacraments are our ways of overcoming through conversion.

7. These Christian behaviors require concrete criteria and guides that guide them safely, avoiding possible deviations.

Do you want a safe, concrete, systematic criterion that guides you in the present moment? Follow the voice of the Magisterium and be faithful to the Council of our time: Vatican II.

On the one hand without reticence, fear or resistance. On the other hand without arbitrary interpretations and confusion of the objective teaching with one's own ideas. The path of the necessary unity desired by Christ begins from here.

This correct application of the conciliar teachings constitutes, as I have said on several occasions, one of the main objectives of my pontificate.

8. In this way, dear brothers and sisters, live and infuse temporal realities with the lifeblood of Christ's faith, aware that this faith does not destroy anything authentically human, but rather strengthens, purifies and elevates it.

Demonstrate this spirit in your attention to critical issues. Within the family, living and defending the indissolubility and other values ​​of marriage, promoting respect for all life, from the moment of conception. In the world of culture, education and teaching, choosing a school for your children in which there is the bread of the Christian faith.

Also be strong and generous when it comes to contributing to dissolving social and economic injustices and discrimination, when you participate in the positive commitment to increase and fair distribution of goods. Strive so that laws and customs do not turn their backs on the transcendent value of man and the moral aspects of life.

9. In the culminating moment of the Mass, the mystery of Calvary is made present on the altar. Jesus himself renews the oblation of that day, the oblation that saves us.

Next to the cross stood the Mother of Jesus (cf. John 19:25), sharing in his pain. May she, the Mother of Mercy, help you with her intercession to renew your commitment as Christians in this holy Mass. Confident in her patronage, banish all forms of passivity and hesitation. And be faithful to yourselves, to the Church and to your time, with consistent Christian behavior. So be it.

God bless you!

© Copyright 1982 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana