Holy Mass in Kisangani (6 May 1980)

On Thursday, 6 May 1980, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in Kisangani, Zaire. In his homily, the Pope spoke on the Church as the Body of Christ, of which all His members “are mysteriously united and integrated into the life of the risen Christ.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Dear Sons and Daughters of the Church,

1. Our brief meeting last night on the square of this cathedral let me foresee that you would be very numerous to participate in the Eucharist this morning. Thank you from the heart! Thank you, thank you to all those who asked you to represent them, because distance or infirmities prevented them from being present. I pray for them and I bless them. Your crowd greatly rejoices the Lord and fills me with joy. Seeing you, I think of the Apocalypse of Saint John which we read on Easter Sundays. All nations, all races, all languages ​​take their place in the endless procession of those who have been marked on the forehead with the imprint of God. Think about your baptism and your confirmation. Christians of Kisangani and of this great rural region, you are part of this immense crowd that Saint John could not count. You are the people of God, journeying today on the land of Africa and you live your belonging to the Lord through the realities of the rural world. I would like to meditate with you on these two aspects of your concrete existence and, in the end, to help you to contemplate the one that the Vatican Council II has so happily presented as the Mother of the Church, and whom we pray this morning under the name of Our Lady of the Rosary.

2. As the first Christian communities of Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth, Rome were born from the preaching of the Good News, which is essentially the mystery of Christ, so your "mission" posts and your parishes arose, for a hundred years, of the proclamation of the Gospel to your fathers in the faith. It was the work, at the beginning, of missionaries who came from afar, burning with love for Christ and for you. They offered you the message that they themselves had received, because no one discovers it himself: we receive it from the Church. The Christians of this region have now become a whole people, with pastors chosen from among the sons of this country. And all together, bishops, priests, nuns and faithful, you are the Church, you are part of this immense people of God who arose at Pentecost and were destined to know the fullness glimpsed by Saint John. Here below he knows trials, sometimes humiliations and persecutions. It includes martyrs, saints, like your compatriots who preferred to sacrifice their lives rather than fail in the fidelity of their baptism, like Sister Anwarite, whom the Church plans to declare blessed. Perhaps some have too much of a tendency to reduce the Church only to what is visible or even to its Leaders, its institutions, its organization. In reality, as the recent like your compatriots who preferred to sacrifice their lives rather than fail in the fidelity of their baptism, like Sister Anwarite, whom the Church plans to declare blessed. Perhaps some have too much of a tendency to reduce the Church solely to what is visible or even to its Leaders, its institutions, its organization. In reality, as the recent like your compatriots who preferred to sacrifice their lives rather than fail in the fidelity of their baptism, like Sister Anwarite, whom the Church plans to declare blessed. Perhaps some have too much of a tendency to reduce the Church solely to what is visible or even to its Leaders, its institutions, its organization. In reality, as the recent Council , the Church-people of God is a mystery.

3. So what is this mystery? A very strong expression of the Apostle Paul to the Christians of Corinth helps you to grasp it: "You are the Body of Christ, and members each for his part" [ 1 ]. Or again, “Christ is the Head of the Body, that is to say of the Church” [ 2 ]. We are mysteriously united and integrated into the life of the risen Christ, glorified at the right hand of God, as the members are at the head. The Church is Christ living today on all continents, in all those who have converted or are constantly converting to him, to such an extent that their life is no longer just their life, but that of the Christ in them. You receive the Eucharistic body of Christ to become even more members of his Body.

4. Christians of the Kisangani region, do you have this mysterious and dynamic vision of the Church? of your vital link with Christ, and with the other members of Christ? This must be verified by the style of your Sunday Eucharistic celebrations, which you want to be dignified, festive and prayerful. This must also be verified in your daily behavior, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your village. To really realize this Church, this Christian family linked to Christ, it is good to have, and you are already doing it, other meetings of prayer, reflection, sharing, mutual aid, in order to be better disciples of the Christ and live his fellowship in the areas of your life and work.

5. Precisely, you are the Church, Christ living in the rural world. This social framework marks you and it is your mission to make it more worthy of God and therefore more human. And there you must feel especially close to Christ.

For Jesus, in fact, his earthly life was spent above all in an essentially agrarian civilization. He spent thirty years in one of the smallest villages in Palestine, Nazareth. And during his public life, he visited many villages of peasants and small fishermen. He observed and loved nature for a long time, the flowers and the trees, the seasons, the work in the fields, that of the plowman, the harvester, the winegrower, the shepherd, the woman who goes to draw water, knead the dough, prepare meals. He knew the local customs that punctuated life. He shared the events of the village, the hospitality offered to friends, the wedding, the mourning. He lingered with the children who were playing, the sick who were suffering. We know it,

6. But there is something deeper than this sympathetic closeness to Jesus of Nazareth. It is that Jesus is the “incarnate” Son of God, who came in the flesh to live the concrete realities of our existence, both as a man and as the Son of God. It is an incredible mystery! You sense the dignity he brings to your life as humble workers, since he lived it in Nazareth, in Palestine! He lived it under the gaze of God his Father, intimately linked to him, in thanksgiving. He offered to God all the joys and all the sorrows. He lived it with simplicity, purity of heart, with courage, like a servant, like a friend welcoming the sick, the afflicted, the poor of all kinds, with a love that no one will surpass and of which he has made his testament: love each other, as I have loved you. It is this life which,

I invite you likewise, dear friends, to become aware of the dignity of your life, which was sanctified by Christ and redeemed by him in the mysteries of his Incarnation and his Redemption, and to make of it, you too, a pleasant offering. to God, imprinting on him the mark of prayer and love. This perspective will already transform your life from within and will make you share in the holiness of Christ.

7. And I think it will also be able to stimulate you to transform the conditions of your rural life insofar as they deteriorate through negligence or sin and prevent people from living in dignity, hope and peace. For the Kingdom of heaven that we are preparing must already find some outline in this earthly life. This progress is very important for the Kingdom of God [ 3 ].

Yes, if you realize the dignity of your life and your work, with the generous love of the Christian, you will seek to make them more worthy for yourself and for others. You will not accept that rural people are considered as second class men or women. You will not resign yourself to the fact that some are crushed by misery, or victims of injustice. It would not be right or in conformity with the Gospel of Christ for the strongest or the luckiest to exploit others: Saint James already denounced this evil [ 4 ]. You will join hands to face the difficulties. You will reflect together and you will consider joint actions, modest perhaps ― because you alone do not have the means to act effectively ―but realistic. You who are justly attached to your lands, you will help to curb the rural exodus, so detrimental to rural life and to the nation as a whole. Your country must meet its food needs; agricultural products are more necessary than certain luxury goods. The industrial development of African countries needs agricultural development; it is grafted onto it. The life of his sons is at stake.

8. Admittedly, the Christian Churches do not themselves have to propose or implement technical solutions for the development of the rural world. But they are guardians of the Gospel meaning to be given to the life of men and societies. And the Christians, formed by them, will bring to these human solutions a dimension which will enlighten the choice of objectives and methods. For example, they will be concerned with respect for people. They will care for the little ones and the weak. Their honesty will not tolerate corruption. They will seek fairer structures in the land domain. They will advocate mutual aid, solidarity. They will want to keep their community a fraternal face. They will be peacemakers. They will see themselves as managers of God's Creation, which can never be wasted or ravaged at will, because it is entrusted to men for the good of all. They will prevent the establishment of a materialism which would in fact be slavery. In short, they want to work, from now on, for a world more worthy of the sons of God. This is the role that the Church recognizes for lay Christians, helped by their pastors. Yes, this is a testimony of the Church.

9. Dear Brothers and Sisters, to do this in a truly Christian way, you must first be animated from within by the Spirit of God. And for this I would like you to turn even more to the Virgin Mary, your Mother, the Mother of the Church.

We celebrate the mass of Our Lady of the Rosary, in front of this cathedral which is dedicated to her.

It is a very great joy for me. Who, better than Mary, lived a very simple life by sanctifying it? Who better than Mary, accompanied Jesus throughout his joyful, suffering and glorious life, entered into the intimacy of his filial feelings for the Father, fraternal for others? Who better than Mary, now associated with the glory of her Son, can intervene on our behalf?

It must now accompany your life. We will entrust him with this life. And the Church offers us precisely for this a very simple prayer, the rosary, the rosary, which can calmly be spread out according to the rhythm of our days. The rosary, slowly recited and meditated on, in family, in community, personally, will make you enter little by little into the feelings of Christ and his Mother, evoking all the events which are the key to our salvation. During the Hail Marys, you will contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ, of which we have spoken, the Redemption of Christ, and also the goal towards which we tend, in the light and rest of God. With Mary, you will open your soul to the Holy Spirit, so that he may inspire all the great tasks that await you. With it, mothers will fulfill their role as carriers of life,

May Mary always be your guide and support. Amen!

[ 1 ] 1 Cor 12, 27.

[ 2 ] Col 1, 18.

[ 3 ] Cf. Gaudium et Spes , n. 39.

[ 4 ] James 4, 13 - 5, 6.

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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