HOMILIES, ANGELUS, AND OTHER SPIRITUAL TEXTS

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Your Eminence,
Dear friends,

It is always a great joy for me to be in my Seminary, to see the future priests of my diocese, to be with you under the sign of Our Lady of Confidence [Madonna della Fiducia, patroness of the seminary]. With her to help and accompany us, we have the certainty of always being aided by divine grace. So let us move ahead.

Now let us us see what St. Paul tells us with this text: "You are called to freedom".

Freedom has at all times been the great dream of mankind, even from the start, but particularly in modern times. We know that Luther was inspired by this text from the Letter to the Galatians, and he concluded that the monastic Rule, the hierarchy, the Magisterium, appeared to him as a yoke of slavery from which he had to free himself.

Successively, the Age of Enlightenment was totally guided and penetrated by this desire for freedom which it believed it had achieved. But even Marxism would present itself as a road to freedom.

We ask ourselves tonight: What is freedom? How can we be free? St. Paul helps us to understand the complicated reality of freedom by inserting it in the context of fundamental anthropological and theological views.

He says: "Let this freedom not be a pretext to live according to the flesh, but through charity: be of service to one another".

The rector already told us that 'flesh' here does not mean the body. "Flesh' in the language of St. Paul is his expression for the absolutization of the 'I', that 'I' which wishes to be everything and takes everything for himself: the absolute I that does not depend on anything or anyone, and seems to truly possess freedom definitively - "I am free if I don't depend on anyone, if I can do everything I want".

But it is this absolutization of the I which is the 'flesh' - a degradation of man, not a conquest of freedom. Libertinism is not liberty but the failure of it.

Paul dares to propose a strong paradox: "Through charity, you shall be of service" (in Greek, dolerite): that is, freedom is paradoxically realized if we become servants to each other. And thus, Paul places the entire question of freedom in the light of man's truth.

To reduce oneself to 'flesh' - while apparently elevating oneself to the level of divinity - introduces us to untruth. Because it is not so, in truth: Man is not an absolute. It is not as though man can isolate himself and act only according to his own will. It is against the truth of our being.

Our truth is that, above all, we are creatures, creatures of God, and we live in relationship to our Creator. We are relational beings. Only by accepting this relationality can we enter into the truth. Otherwise, we fall into untruth, and in it, ultimately, we destroy ourselves.

We are creatures, and therefore, dependent on the Creator. During the Enlightenment, this idea appeared, above all to atheits, as a dependence which man had to rid himself of.

The truth is that such a dependency would be fatal only if God the Creator was a tyrant not a good being, only if he were like human tyrants.

But if this Creator loves us and our dependence means being within the space of his love, then dependence is freedom. Indeed, in this way, we are in the charity of the Creator, we are united to him, to all his reality, to all his power.

So this is the first point: to be a creature means being loved by the Creator - to be in this relationship of love that he gives us, that he has provided us. From this above all comes our truth, which is, at the same time, a call to charity.

That is why to see God, to orient oneself to God, to know God, to know his will, to put ourselves within his will - which means, in the love of God - is to enter increasingly into the space of truth.

This path to knowledge of God, of a relationship of love with God, is the extraordinary adventure of our life as Christians, who recognize in Christ the face of God - God who loves us to the Cross, to making us the gift of himself.

But our creatural relationship also implies a second relation; We are in relationship with God, but at the same time, in the human family - we are in relationship with one another.

In other words, human freedom, on the one hand, is to be in the joy and wide space of God's love, but it also implies being one with the other and for the other. There is no freedom against the other.

If I absolutize myself, I become an enemy of the other. We cannot then live with one another, and all of life becomes cruelty, failure. Only shared freedom is human freedom - in being together, we can enter the symphony of liberty.

So this is another point of great importance: Only by accepting the other, accepting even the apparent limitation which comes from freedom to respect the freedom of the other, only by setting myself into the network of human dependency which makes us one single family, only then am I on the path toward our common freedom.

Here is a very important element: What is the measure of shared freedom? We see that man needs order, law, so that he can realize his freedom as a freedom lived in common.

And how can we find this just order, in which no one is oppressed, in which each can give his contribution to this concert of freedom? If there is no common truth for man as there is in the sight of God, then what remains is merely positivism, which is like something imposed in a manner that might be called violent. And with it comes a rebellion against order and law as though they represent slavery.

But if we find the Creator's order in our nature, that order of truth which gives everyone his place, then law and order can become instruments of freedom against the slavery of selfishness.

To serve one another becomes an instrument of freedom, in which we can find a whole political philosophy according to the social doctrine of the Church, which helps us find the common order that gives each of us our place in the common life of mankind.

The first reality to respect is truth. Freedom against truth is not freedom. To serve one another creates the common space of freedom.

Paul continues by saying: "The whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself". Behind this statement is the mystery of God incarnated, the mystery of Christ who, in his life, death and resurrection, became the living law.

The first words of our Reading - "You are called to freedom" - refer right away to this mystery. We have been called by the Gospel, we have been truly called in Baptism, to participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, and in this way, we pass from the 'flesh'. from selfishness, to communion with Christ. And thus, we are in the fullness of the law.

You probably know the beautiful words of St. Augustine: "Dilige et fac quod vis" - Love and do what you will. What Augustine says is the truth if we really understand the word 'love'. "Love and do what you will", but we must have entered into communion with Christ, identified ourselves with his death and resurrection, united to him in communion with his Body.

By participating in the sacraments, by listening to the Word of God, then divine will, divine law, will enter our will; our will identifies itself with his; we become just one will, which makes us truly free. We can do what we wish because we wish with Christ, we wish in truth, and we wish with truth.

Let us pray the Lord to help us in this journey begun in Baptism, a path of identifying with Christ which we realize ever anew in the Eucharist.

In the third Eucharistic Prayer, we say, "We become in Christ one body and one spirit." It is a moment when, through the Eucharist and through our true participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, we become one in spirit with him, we are in an identity of will, which brings us freedom.

Behind the words "The law is fulfilled", behind these words which become reality in communion with Christ, behind Christ, are all the saints who have entered into communion with him, in a unity of being, in a union with his will.

Above all, there appears Our Lady in her humility, in her goodness, in her love. Our Lady gives us confidence, she takes us by the hand, she leads us, she helps us in the path towards uniting with the will of God, as she has been from the first moment, a union she expressed in her 'Fiat' [Fiat volunta tua - Thy will be done].

Finally, after these beautiful things, Paul's Letter also refers to the rather sad situation of the Christians of Galatia, when he writes: "If you go on biting and devouring one another [like beasts], beware that you are not consumed by one another... I say, then: live by the Spirit" (Gal 5,14.16).

It seems to me that in that community - which was no longer on the path of communion with Christ, but living by the external laws of the 'flesh' - then controversies will naturally arise, and Paul says: "You have become like beasts, biting one another".

Thus he refers to the disputes that arise when faith degenerates into intellectualism, and humility is replaced by the arrogance of feeling superior to others.

We see very well that even today, there are similar things, in which instead of placing oneself in communion with Christ, in the Body of Christ which is the Church, everyone wants to be superior to the other, and with intellectual arrogance wants to make others believe that he is the best. Thus, disputes arise which are destructive, giving rise to a caricature of the Church, which should be of one spirit and one heart.

In this warning from St. Paul, we should find today a reason for an examination of conscience: not to think one is superior to another, but to find oneself with the humility of Christ, with the humility of Our Lady, and to enter into the obedience of faith. This way the great space of truth and of freedom in love truly opens up to us.

Finally, let us thank God because he showed us his face in Christ, because he gave us Our Lady, he gave us the saints, he has called us to be one body and one spirit with him.

And let us pray that he may help us to be increasingly within this communion with his will so that we will find freedom, love and joy.



After dining with the community, the Holy Father said the following:

I am told that I am expected to say a few more words. I have already spoken too much perhaps, but I would like to express my gratitude and my joy at being with you.

In the conversation at table just now, I learned something more of the history of the Lateran (Basilica), starting with Constantine, then Sixtus V, down to Benedict XIV, Papa Lambertini.

In this way, I also saw the historical problems and the continuing rebirth of the Church of Rome. And I understand that even in the discontinuity of external events, there is the great continuity of the unity of the Church in all the ages.

Even in the composition of the Seminary (student body), I see an expression of the catholicity of our church. From all the continents, we are one Church and we have the future in common.

Let us hope that vocations may further grow because, as I told the Rector, we do need workers in the vineyard of the Lord.

Thank you to everyone.

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Dear brothers and sisters!

The Gospel page that the liturgy gives us to reflect upon on this seventh Sunday in ordinary time refers to the episode of the paralytic who was pardoned and healed (Mark 2, 1-12).

While Jesus was preaching, among the many sick persons who were brought to him was a paralytic on a stretcher. On seeing him, the Lord said: "Child, your sins are forgiven" (Mk 2,5).

And since some of those present, upon hearing his words, appeared scandalized, he added, "That you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth," and to the paralytic, he said: "I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home" (Mk 2,10-11). And the paralytic went away healed.

This Gospel narrative shows that Jesus has the power not only to heal the sick body, but also to forgive sins. Indeed, physical healing is a sign of the spiritual recovery that his forgiveness produces.

In effect, sin is a kind of paralysis of the spirit which only the power of God's merciful love can free us from, allowing us to rise again and resume our journey along the path of goodness.

This Sunday is also the Feast of the Chair of Peter, an important liturgical occasion that highlights the ministry of the Successor to the Prince of teh Apostles.

The Chair of Peter symbolizes the authority of the Bishop of Rome, called to carry out a unique service for the entire People of God.

Shortly after the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul, the primacy of the Church of Rome was recognized by the entire Catholic community, a role already attested to in the second century AD by St. Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Pref.: Funk, I, 252) and by St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against heresy III, 3, 2-3).

This singular and specific ministry of the Bishop of Rome was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council. We read in its dogmatic Constitution on the Church,

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Within the Church particular Churches hold a rightful place; these Churches retain their own traditions, without in any way opposing the primacy of the Chair of Peter, which presides over the whole assembly of charity(cfr S. Ign. Ant', Ad Rom., Pref) and protects legitimate differences, while at the same time assuring that such differences do not hinder unity but rather contribute toward it (Lumen gentium, 13).

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Dear brothers and sisters, this feast offers me the occasion to ask you to accompany me with your prayers, so that I may be able to faithfully comply with the high mission that the Divine Providence has entrusted to me as Successor to the Apostle Peter.

Let us invoke for this the Virgin Mary who, yesterday, in Rome, we celebrated under her title as Our lady of Confidence (Madonna della Fiducia).

Let us also ask her to help us enter the Lenten season with the right spiritual disposition, which will start next Wednesday with the evocative Rite of the Ashes.

May Mary open our hearts to conversion and obedient listening to the Word of God.


After the prayers, he addressed this message to GErman-speaking pilgrims:

Today is the liturgical feast of Peter's Chair that is celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica as a holiday even on Sunday.

Christ chose Peter as the Rock on which he would build his Church. As an Apostle, he had to serve the whole world - universally - as Pastor and Teacher, and this apostolic function would continue in all of his successors for all time.

Let us then ask St. Peter for his intercession that the Church may not be shaken by chaos and storms; to keep us firm in our genuine faith; to remain in unity; and to live in reciprocal love for one another.

May the Lord guide and strengthen you with his blessing.



And In English, he said:

In today’s liturgy, we witness Jesus healing the paralytic lowered to him through the roof because of a large crowd.

This passage reminds us that the Lord has the power to forgive sins, and that nothing stands in the way of his mercy when we seek him with pure and contrite hearts!

Let us never hesitate to ask his pardon – especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation – so that we may become better instruments of his love for others. God bless you all!

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Dear brothers and sisters:

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, and teh Gospel, in the sober concise style of St. Mark, introduces us to the climate of this liturgical season:

"The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan" (Mk 1,12).

In the Holy Land, west of the river Jordan and the oasis of Jericho, the desert of Judea extends over rocky valleys (with mountains) that reach an altitude of about a thousand meters, to the edge of Jerusalem.

After having received Baptism from John, Jesus went into solitude led by the the same Holy Spirit which had descended on him, consecrating and revealing him as the Son of God.

In the desert, a place of trial, as shown by the experience of the people of Israel, the reality of kenosis, the emptying out of Christ, who stripped himself of the form of God (cfr Phil 2,6-7), is played out in vivid drama.

He, who had not sinned and cannot sin, was put to the test, and thus, he could suffer our infirmity with us (cfr Heb 6,15). He allows himself to be tempted by Satan, the adversary, who had opposed, from the beginning, God's salvific design for men.

Almost fleetingly, in the brevity of the account, against this dark and shadowy figure which dares to tempt the Lord, angels appear, luminous and mysterious figures. The angels, says the Gospel, 'ministered to' Jesus (Mk 1,13). They are the counterpoint to Satan.

'Angel' means 'a person sent', a messenger. In all the Old Testament, we find these figures, who in the name of God, help and guide men.

Let us recall the Book of Tobias, where the angel Raphael appears to assist the protagonist in so many vicissitudes.

The reassuring presence of the angel of the Lord accompanies the people of Israel in all its experiences, good and bad.

On the threshold of the New Testament, Gabriel is sent to announce to Zachariah and to Mary the happy events that are begin the story of our salvation. And an angel, whose name is not told us, advises Joseph and orients him in his time of uncertainty.

A chorus of angels brings the shepherds the good news of the birth of the Savior, just as it was angels who announced to the women of Jerusalem the joyous news of the Resurrection.

At the end of time, angels will accompany Jesus when he comes in glory (cfr Mt 25,31).

The angels ministered to Jesus, who is certainly superior to them, and this elevated status comes forth in the Gospel, proclaimed clearly though discreetly.

Indeed, even in situations of extreme poverty and humility, when he is tempted by Satan, he remains the Son of God, the Messiah, the Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters, we discard a noteworthy part of the Gospel when we set aside these beings sent by God, who announce his presence among us, and of whom they are a sign.

Let us invoke them often, so that they may support us in the task of following Jesus to the point of identifying ourselves with him.

Let us ask them today, in particular, to watch over myself and my co-workers in the Roman Curia who, this afternoon, as we do every year, will begin a week of spiritual exercises.

Mary, Queen of Angels, pray for us.


After the prayers, he said this in English:

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Angelus prayer.

On this First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel of Saint Mark speaks of Jesus being lead into the desert by the Holy Spirit, tempted by Satan and assisted by the angels.

Let us pray that our Lenten journey will strengthen us in the struggle against all forms of temptation.

Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings, and I wish you a pleasant Sunday and a happy stay in Rome!


To the Italian-speaking pilgrims, he said:

I greet the workers of FIAT in Pomigliano d'Arco, who have come to show their concern for the future of that plant and of the thousands of persons who, directly or indirectly, depend on it for their living.

I also think of situations that are similarly difficult as those that are afflicting the territories of Sulcis-Iglesiente in Sardinia; of Prato in Tuscany; and other industrial centers in Italy and elsewhere.

I join their bishops and the respective local Churches in expressing closeness to the families affected by these problems, and I entrust them in prayer to the protection of the Most Blessed Mary and Saint Joseph, patron of workers.

I wish to express my encouragement to political and civilian authorities as well as to the entrepreneurs, so that with the concurrence of everyone, they may face this sensitive moment.

In fact, there is a need for a common and strong commitment so that priority is given to the workers and their families.

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Eminences,
Dear venerated brothers:

One of the beautiful functions of a Pope is to say 'Thank you'.

At this time, I would like, in the name of all of us, to say 'Thank you" from the heart to you, Eminence, for the meditations you gave us. They have guided, illuminated and helped us to renew our priesthood.

Your meditations were no theological acrobatics. You offered us none of those, but rather a healthy doctrine, the good bread of our faith.

Listening to your words brought to mind a prophecy of Ezekiel interpreted by St. Augustine. In the Book of Ezekiel, the Lord, the God who is a shepherd, tells the people: "I will lead my sheep to the mountains of Israel, to grassy pastures."

St. Augustine asks himself what these grassy pastures would be. He answers: The mountains of Israel, the grassy pastures, are Sacred Scripture, the Word of God that gives us true nourishment.

Your preaching was permeated by Sacred Scripture, showing great familiarity with the Word of God, read in the context of the living Church, from the Fathers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, always contextualized in (Scriptural) readings and in the liturgy.
And that is how Scripture is present in its full relevance.

Your theology, as you told us, has not been an abstract one, but characterized by healthy realism. I admired and very much appreciated your concrete experience in 50 years of priesthood that you spoke about, and in the light of which you have helped us to concretize our faith.

You have given us the right words, words that are concrete to our lives, and for our behavior as priests. I hope that many will read your words and take them to heart.

You started with the always fascinating and beautiful account of the first disciples who followed Jesus. Still rather uncertain and timid, they asked, "Master, where do you live?" And his answer - which you interpreted for us, was: "Come and see".

In order to see, we have to come along, we must walk with and follow Jesus, who always precedes us. You have shown us where Jesus lives, where his dwelling is: in his Church, in his Word, in the most Holy Eucharist.

Thank you, Eminence, for your guidance. With new impetus and new joy, let us undertake the journey towards Easter.

I wish you all a good Lent and a happy Easter.

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Dear brothers and sisters:

In the past few days, as you know, I underwent spiritual exercises along with my co-workers in the Roman Curia. It has been a week of silence and prayer: the mind and the heart could be dedicated entirely to God, listening to his Word, and meditating on the mysteries of Christ.

To some degree, it was a bit like what happened to the apostles Peter, James and John when Jesus brought them with him to a high mountain, quite apart from everyone else, and while he prayed, he was 'transfigured': his face adn his figure became luminous, resplendent.

The liturgy reminds us of this famous episode today, the second Sunday of Lent (cfr Mk 9,2-10). Jesus wished that his disciples, in particular those who would be responsible for leading the nascent Church, might have a direct experience of his divine glory to help them face the scandal of the Cross.

In effect, when the time of Jesus's betrayal would come and Jesus retreated to pray in Gethsemane, he had near him the same,e Peter, James and John, asking them to watch and pray with him (cfr Mt 26.38). They were unable to do that, but the grace of Christ would sustain them and help them to believe in the Resurrection.

I wish to underscore that the Transfiguration of Jesus was substantially an experience of prayer (cfr Lk 9,28-29). Prayer, in fact, reaches its peak - and thus becomes a source of interior light - when the spirit of man adheres to God;s and their wills merge almost as to become one.

When Jesus went up the mountain, he immersed himself in teh contemplation of the Father's plan of love in sending him to the world in order to save mankind.

Next to Jesus, there appeared Elijah and Moses, ot indicate that the Sacred Scriptures concurred in announcing the mystery of his Pasch, and that is, that the Christ must suffer and die in order to enter into his glory (cfr Lk 24,24.46).

At that moment, Jesus saw the Cross looming before him, the extreme sacrifice that was necessary to liberate us from the dominion of sin and death.

And in his heart, he repeated yet again his 'Amen'. He said 'Yes, here I am; let your will of love be done, Father '.

And as it had been after his baptism in the Jordan, the signs of pleasure from God the Father came from heaven: light, which transfigured the Christ, and the voice that proclaimed 'the beloved Son" (Mk 9,7).

Along with fasting and works of mercy, prayer forms the weight-carrying structure of our spiritual life. Dear brothers and sisters, I call on you to find during this season of Lent prolonged moments of silence, possibly of retreat, in order to see your own life in the light of the Heaven;y Father's plan of love.

Let yourselves be guided in this more intense listening to God by the Virgin Mary. teacher and model of prayer. Even in the dense darkness of the passion of Christ, she never lost the light of her divine Son but kept it in her spirit. That is why we call her Mother of trust and of hope.


After the prayers, he said the following:

On today's date, March 8, we are invited to reflect on teh condition of women and to renew the commitment that always and anywhere, every woman may be able to live and manifest the fullness of her capacities, obtaining full respect for her dignity.

In this sense, the Second Vatican Council and the papal Magisterium have expressed themselves, particularly teh apostolic letter Mulieris dignitatem by the Servant of God John Paul II (Aug. 15, 1988).

More than documents, however, are the testimonies of the saints. Our age has had that of Mother Teresa of Calcutta: a humble daughter of Albania who became, through the grace of God, an example for all the world of the exercise of charity in the service of human promotion.

How many other women work every day, unpublicized, for the good of mankind and the Kingdom of God!

Today I assure my prayers for all women that they may always be respected in their dignity and valued for their positive potential.

Dear brothers and sisters, in the climate of more intense prayer that characterizes Lent, I entrust to your remembrance in prayer teh two apostolic trips that, God willing, I will be making soon.

Next week, from March 17-23, I will go to Africa - first to Cameroon and then to Angola - to show concretely my nearness and that of the Church to the Christians and other peoples of that continent which is particularly dear to me.

Then, from May 8-15, I will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to invoke the Lord, while visiting the places sanctified by his earthly passage, the precious gift of unity and peace in teh Middle East and for all mankind.

I count on the spiritual support from all of you so that God may accompany and fill with his graces all those whom I will encounter on these trips.

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Dear brothers and sisters!

From Tuesday, March 17, to Monday, March 23, I will be making my first apostolic trip to Africa.

I will be going to Cameroon, in its capital Yaounde, to deliver the 'Working Instrument' of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of teh Bishops' Synod which will take place in October here at the Vatican.

I will then proceed to Luanda, capital of Angola, a nation which after a long civil war, has found peace and is now called to reconstruct itself in justice.

With this visit, I intend to embrace ideally the entire African continent - its thousand differences and its profound religious spirit; its ancient cultures and its laborious path of development adn reconciliation; its serious problems, its serious problems, its painful wounds and its enormous potential and hopes.

I intend to confirm African Catholics in their faith, encourage Christians in the ecumenical commitment, and bring to everyone the announcement of peace entrusted to the Church by the Risen Christ.

While I prepare myself for this missionary voyage, the words of the Apostle Paul resound in my soul, as the liturgy proposes for our meditation on this third Sunday of lent: "We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles; but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor 1,23-24).

Yes, dear brothers and sisters, I leave for Africa, knowing that I have nothing to propose and to give to those I will meet but Christ and the Good News of his Cross, mystery of supreme love, of divine love that conquers every human resistance and makes possible even forgiveness and love for one's enemies.

This is the grace of the Gospel that is capable of transforming the world. This is the grace that can renew even Africa, because it generates an irresistible force of peace and of profound and radical reconciliation.

The Church does not pursue economic, social and political objectives. The Church announces Christ, certain that the Gospel can touch the hearts of everyone and transform them, thus renewing from within the person and society.

On March 19, during my pastoral visit in Africa, we will be celebrating the solemnity of St. Joseph, patron of teh universal Church - as well as mine, as you know.

St. Joseph, advised in a dream by an angel, had to flee with Mary to Egypt, in Africa, to keep the newborn Jesus safe from Herod who wanted to kill him.

And thus the Scriptures came to pass: Jesus followed the footsteps of the ancient Jewish patriarchs, and then, like the people of Israel, returned to the Promised Land after an exile in Egypt.

To the celestial intercession of this great saint, I entrust my coming pilgrimage and the people of all Africa, along with the challenges that mark them and the hopes that animate them.

In particular, I think of the victims of hunger and disease, of injustices, the fratricidal conflicts and every form of violence that, unfortunately, continues to strike at adults and children, and does not spare missionaries, priests, religious and volunteers.

Brothers and sisters, be with me on this trip with your prayers, invoking Mary, Mother and Queen of Africa.


After the prayers, he said this:

This morning the Pauline Jubilee celebrations of university students ended at the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls.

The students' celebration was promoted by the Congregation for Catholic Education and by the Pontifical Council on Culture, and organized by teh Vicariate of Rome, with the theme "'That which you adore without knowing, I announce to you': Gospel and culture for a new humanism".

UI am very happy for the presence in Rome of distinguished professors and delegates of various university pastoral ministries from all the continents.

This event constitutes an important phase in the always-lively dialog between the Church and the university. I hope that a pastoral ministry for universities may develop in all the local Churches for the formation of the youth and to elaborate a culture inspired by the Gospel.

Dear university students, I encourage you and am with you in prayer.


Later, he said in English:

As we continue our Lenten journey may our resolve to follow Jesus be strengthened through prayer, forgiveness, fasting and assistance to those in need.

This Tuesday, I leave Rome for my visit to Cameroon and Angola. My presence in the great Continent of Africa forms part of the preparation for the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops dedicated to the theme: "The Church in Africa in Service to Reconciliation, Justice and Peace".

I ask each of you to join me in praying that my visit will be a time of spiritual renewal for all Africans and an occasion in which civic and religious leaders will strengthen their resolve to walk the path of justice, integrity and compassion. May the lives of African men, women and children be transformed in hope!

Upon all of you gathered and your loved ones, I gladly invoke the strength and peace of Christ the Lord.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

In today's Gospel, St. John recounts an episode that took place in the last stage of the public life of Jesus, with the Jewish Passover imminent, which would be the Passover of death and resurrection.

When he was in Jerusalem, the Evangelist tells us, some Greeks, converted from Judaism, were curious about him and attracted by what he had been doing. They approached Phillip, one of the Twelve Apostles, who had a Greek name but was from Galilee. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus".

Phillip in turn called Andrew, one of the first apostles who was very close to Jesus - he too had a Greek name - and both of them "went and told Jesus" (cfr Jn 12,20-21).

In teh request by these anonymous Greeks, we can read the thirst that is in the heart of every man to see and to know Christ. And the response of Jesus orients us to the mystery of Easter, the glorious manifestation of his salvific mission.

"The hour has come", he said, "for the Son of Man to be glorified" (Jn 12, 23). Yes, the hour of the glorification of the Son of Man is about to come, but this will require a sorrowful transition through his Passion and death on the Cross.

Indeed, only that way could the divine plan of salvation be realized, which is for everyone, Jews and Greeks, Jews and pagans. All are invited to be part of the one people of the new and definitive alliance.

In this light, we can also understand the solemn proclamation that concludes this Gospel passage: "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself" (Jn 12,32), as well as the Evangelist's comment: "He said this ,indicating the kind of death he would die" (Jn 12,33).

The cross, which is the height of love, is the measure of Christ, and this measure attracts everyone.

Very opportunely, the liturgy makes us meditate on this text of the Gospel of John on this fifth Sunday of Lent, when the days of the Lord's Passion are drawing near, in which we shall immerse ourselves spiritually starting next Sunday, appropriately called the Sunday of the Palms and of the Passion of our Lord.

It is as if the Church is stimulating us to share in Jesus's state of mind, to prepare us to relive the Mystery of his crucifixion, death and resurrection, not as extraneous spectators, but as protagonists along with him, involved in the mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection.

Where Christ is, there his disciples should be, who are called to follow him, to be one with him at the moment of struggle, in order to be co-participants in his triumph.

Then, what does our association with his mission consist of? The Lord himself explains it. Speaking of his coming glorious death, he uses - as we heard - a simple image that is also very suggestive: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies, it produces much fruit" (Jn 12,24).

Thus, Jesus compares himself to 'a grain of wheat that dies in order to bring much fruit to everyone", according to an effective saying by St. Athanasius. It is only through death that the Cross has borne much fruit through the centuries.

It was not enough that the Son of Man was incarnated. In order to bring to completion the divine plan of universal salvation, it was necessary that he be killed and buried, and that way, all of human reality is accepted in his death, and his resurrection would make manifest the triumph of Life, because it was the triumph of his love. And thus he shows that love, and love alone, is stronger than death.

And yet, the man Jesus was a true man, with our feelings, and he felt the weight of the ordeal as well as bitter sorrow over the tragic end that awaited him. Precisely by being man, God felt all the more the abyss of terror, which is also the abyss of human sin, of everything that is filthy in man, which he had to carry with him and transfer over to his love.

"I am troubled now," he confesses, "yet what would I say? 'Father, save me from this hour?'" (Jn 12,27). Almost there is the temptation to ask "Save me, do not allow the Cross, give me life".

We grasp from this sorrowful invocation of his an anticipation of the agonized prayer in Gethsemane, when, experiencing the drama of solitude and fear, he would implore the Father to take away the chalice of passion.

But at the same time, his filial adherence to the divine plan never failed, because he knew "it was for this purpose that i came to this hour" and he prays with trust: "Father, glorify your name" (Jn 12,28). This means, "I accept the Cross", on which the name of God is glorified, that is, the greatness of his love. And it also anticipates the words on the Mount of Olives: "Not my will but yours".

He transforms his human will and identifies it with the divine will. This is the great process on the Mount of Olives, that which should be realized in every prayer we make: to transform our selfish will, to allow it to be transformed, to open it up so that it may be transformed to the divine will.

The same sentiments emerge in the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews, proclaimed in today's Second Reading. Prostrated by extreme anguish because of the death that hangs over him, Jesus offers to God - the letter says - prayers and supplications "with loud cries and tears" (Heb 5,7).

He asks the help of Him who could save him, while always abandoning himself in the hands of the Father. For this filial trust in God, the author notes, his wish was granted, in the sense that he was resurrected, that he received the new and definitive life.

The Letter to the Hebrews makes us understand that his insistent prayers, offered with loud cries and tears, was the very act of the Supreme High Priest offering himself and mankind to the Father, thus transforming the world.

Dear brothers and sisters, this is the demanding way of the Cross which Jesus indicates to all his disciples. Several times he said, "Whoever serves me must follow me". There is no alternative for the Christian who wants to realize his calling.

It is the 'law' of the Cross described with the image of the grain of wheat that dies in order to sprout to new life. It is the 'logic' of the Cross recalled in today's Gospel: "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates life in this world will preserve it for eternal life".

"To hate" one's life was a strong and paradoxical Jewish expression which underscores the radical totality that should distinguish him who follows Christ and places himself, for love of him, at the service of his brothers. He loses his life and thus finds it. There is no other way to experience the joy and true fecundity of Love, which is giving oneself, losing oneself in order to find oneself.

Dear friends, Jesus's invitation resounds perticularly eloquent in the celebration today in your parish. It is dedicated to the Holy Face of Jesus: that Face which 'some Greeks', the Gospel tells us, wanted to see; that Face which in the coming days of the Passion, we shall contemplate disfigured because of man's sins, indifference and ingratitude; that Face radiant with light and blazing with glory, which will shine forth on Easter dawn.

Let us keep our heart and mind focused on the Face of Christ, dear faithful, whom I greet affectionately, starting with your parish priest, Don Luigi Coluzzi, to whom I am also grateful for having conveyed your sentiments.

Thank you for your cordial welcome. I am truly happy to find myself among you on the occasion of the third anniversary of the dedication of your church, and I salute everyone with affection.

I address a special greeting to the Cardinal Vicar (Agostino Vallini); to Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini, who contributed to the realization of this new parochial complex; to the Auxiliary Bishop of the sector and other prelates present; His Excellency Mons. Costalunga; the priests and other parish workers; to the meritorious nuns of the Congregation of the Poor Daughters of the Visitation, who have their Rest Home for the Aged right in front of this beautiful church.

I greet the catechists, the Parish Council and all pastoral workers and those who work together in the daily life of the parish. I greet the children, young people and families. And I extend my greeting to all the inhabitants of Magliana, especially the aged, the sick, those who are alone and in difficulty. I assure for everyone my prayers at this Holy Mass. [APPLAUSE]

Dear brothers and sisters, allow yourselves to be enlightened by the splendor of the Face of Christ, so that your young community - which can avail of the new parish complex that is modern in its structure and functioning - will walk united, in the common commitment to announce and bear witness to the Gospel in this district.

I know how much attention you are giving to liturgical formation, making full use of every resource in your community - readers, the choir, and all who are involved in animating the celebrations. It is important that prayer, personal as well as liturgical, always occupies first place in your lives.

I know the commitment which you devote to catecheses, so that it may respond to the expectations of young people - those who are preparing themselves to receive the sacraments of First Communion and of Confirmation, as well as those who often frequent the oratory.
Concern yourself as well with assuring a catechesis that is adapted to their parents, whom you should invite to follow a course of Christian formation along with their children, Thus you will help families to live together through the sacramental appointments, educating them in the faith 'within the family', which should be the first and natural 'school' of Christian life for all its members.

I rejoice with you that your parish is open and welcoming, animated and made lively by a sincere love of God and all your brothers, in imitation of St. Maximilian Kolbe, to whom the parish was originally dedicated.As you know, in Auschwitz, he sacrificed himself with heroic courage to save the life of others.

In this our time, which is marked by a general social and economic crisis, your efforts are very meriotorious, through the parish
Caritas and the Sant'Egidio group, to meet as far as possible the needs of the poorest and the most needy.

I want to reserve a special encouragement to you, dear young people. Let yourself be drawn into the fascination of Christ. With the eyes of faith, look at his Face and ask him, "Jesus, what do you want me to do with you and for you?"

Be attentive and listen, and guided by his Spirit, follow the plan that he has for you. Prepare yourselves seriously to build united families that are faithful to the Gospel and to be its witnesses in society which needs these testimony.

And if the Lord calls you, be ready to dedicate your existence completely to his service in the Church as priests, or as religious men and wome., I assure you of my prayers.

In particular, I expect you on Thursday at St. Peter's Basilica where we will prepare ourselves for World Youth Day which, as you know, is celebrated this year on the diocesan level next Sunday.

We will remember together my beloved and venerated predecessor, the servant of God, Pope John p[aul II, on the fourth anniversary of his death. On many occasions, he encouraged young people to meet Christ and follow him with enthusiasm and generosity.

Dear brothers and sisters of this parish community, may the infinite love of Christ which shines forth from his Face be reflected in your every attitude and become your 'day to day'.

St. Augustine exhorted in a paschal homily: "Christ suffered; we die to sin. Christ rose again; we live for God. Christ has gone from this world to the Father; let not our hearts stay behind but follow him above. Our leader was hung on the Cross; let us crucify the concupiscence of the flesh. He lies in the sepulchre; entombed with him, let us forget the things of the past. He sits in heaven; let us transfer our desires to the supreme things" (S. Augustine, Discourses 229/D, 1).

Inspired by this awareness, let us proceed with the Eucharistic celebration, invoking the maternal intercession of Mary, so that our existence may become a reflection of that of Jesus.

Let us pray so that all whom we meet may always perceive in our acts and words the pacifying and comforting goodness of his Face. Amen.

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Dear brothers and sisters!

First I wish to thank God and all those who, in various ways, worked together for the success of the apostolic trip that I was able to make to Africa in recent days, and I invoke on all the seeds spread throughout African soil the abundance of heavenly blessings.

I will speak more about this significant pastoral experience at the General Audience on Wednesday, but I cannot miss this occasion to manifest the profound emotion I experienced in meeting the Catholic communities and peoples of Cameroon and Angola.

What struck me most were two aspects, both of them very important. The first is the joy that is visible in the faces of the people - the joy of feeling oneself part of the one family of God - and I thank the Lord for having allowed me to share with those brothers and sisters of ours moments of simple celebration, which was unanimous and full of faith.

The second aspect was the sense of the sacred that one could breathe during the liturgical celebrations - a characteristic that is common to all the peoples of Africa, and which emerged, I can say, at every moment of my sojourn with those dear peoples.

The visit allowed me to see and understand better the reality of the Church in Africa in the variety of its experiences and the challenges that have to be faced at this time.

Precisely in thinking about the challenges that mark the Church's journey on the African continent, and in every other part of the world, we note how actual the words of the Gospel are today on this fifth Sunday of Lent.

Jesus, with his passion imminent, says: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit" (Jn 12,24).

It was now a time not for words and discourses: the decisive hour had come, for which the Son of God had come to the world, and even if his soul was much perturbed, he made himself willing to complete to its very end the will of the Father.

This is the will of God: to give eternal life to us who have lost it. But in order to realize this, it was necessary that Jesus should die, like a grain of wheat that God the Father had sown in the world.

Indeed, only that way could a new humanity sprout and grow, free of the dominion of sin and able to live in brotherhood, as sons and daughters of the one Father who is in heaven.

In the great feast of faith that people live together in Africa, we experienced how this new humanity is alive, even with its human limitations. There, where missionaries, like Jesus, have given adn continue to give their lives for the Gospel, abundant fruit is being harvested.

I wish to address to them a special thought of gratitude for all the good they are doing. They are priests, religious men and women, and lay men and women. I found it beautiful to see the fruit of their love for Christ and to feel the profound gratitude that Christians have for them.

Let us give thanks to God, and let us pray to the Most Blessed Virgin so that Christ's message of hope and love may be spread throughout the world.


After the Angelus, he said this:

With great affection, I greet the numerous Africans who live in Rome, among them many students, who are accompanied today by Mons. Robert Sarah, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Dearest ones, you have come to show your joy and acknowledgment of my apostolic trip to Africa. I thank you from the heart. I am praying for you, for your families and for your countries of origin. Thank you!

On Thursday, at 6 p.m., I will preside at Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of my beloved predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II.

I invite the youth of Rome, particularly, to participate, so that together we may prepare for World Youth Day which will be celebrated on the diocesan level on Palm Sunday.


In English, he said:

I am pleased to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims to this Angelus, especially students and teachers from Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Edmonton, Canada.

In today’s liturgy, Jesus teaches that "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit".

In these final weeks of Lent, let us intensify our prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In this way, we will prepare ourselves to meditate on Christ’s passion and death, so as to rejoice fully in the glory of his Resurrection.

God bless you all!

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Dear brothers and sisters!

Four years ago, on this day, my beloved predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II, ended his earthly pilgrimage after a none-too-brief period of great suffering.

We are celebrating the Holy Eucharist in memory of his soul, even as we thank the Lord for having given him to the Church for so many years as her zealous and generous pastor.

His memory reunites us this evening, a memory that remains vivid in the hearts of men, as we see in the uninterrupted pilgrimage of faithful to his tomb in the Vatican Grottoes.

It is thus with emotion and joy that I preside at this Holy Mass, even as I thank you, venerated brothers in the episcopate and priesthood, and you the faithful, coming from all parts of the world, especially from Poland, for this significant occasion.

He then said the following in Polish (translated from the Italian):

I wish to greet the Poles, particularly the Polish youth. On this fourth anniversary of the death of John Paul II, heed his appeal: "Do not be afraid to entrust yourself to Christ. He will lead you and give you the strength to face every day in every situation" (Tor Vergata, Prayer Vigil, WYD 2000, 8/19/00).

I hope that this thought from the Servant of God will lead you along the pathways of your life and to the joy of the morning of the Resurrection.


He resumed in Italian:

I greet the Cardinal Vicar, the Cardinal Archbishop of Cracow - dear Cardinal Stanislaw - and the other cardinals and prelates here. I greet the priests and the religious.

And I greet you, beloved young people of Rome, who with this celebration, are preparing yourselves for the coming World Youth Day which we will mark together on Sunday, Palm Sunday.

Your presence recalls the enthusiasm that John Paul II knew how to instill in the new generations. May his memory stimulate all of us, gathered in this Basilica where, on countless occasions he celebrated the Eucharist, allowing ourselves to be enlightened and interpellated by the Word of God that was just proclaimed.

The Gospel on this Thursday of the fifth week of Lent offers for our meditation the last part of Chapter 8 in the Gospel of John, which contains - as we heard - a long dispute over the identity of Jesus.

Earlier, he had presented himself as 'the light of the world' (v 12), also using three times (verses 23, 28, 58) the expression, I AM, which recalls strongly the name of God revealed to Moses (cfr Ez 3,14). And he added, "Whoever keeps my word will never taste death" (v 51), thus declaring that he was sent by God, his Father, to bring to men a radical liberation from sin and death, which is indispensable for entering into eternal life.

But his words wounded the pride of his listeners, and even his reference to the great patriarch Abraham became a reason for conflict. "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM" (8,58).

In no uncertain terms, he declares his pre-existence and therefore his superiority to Abraham, understandably arousing the scandalized reaction of the Jews.

But Jesus could not be silent about his identity; he knew that, in the end, the Father himself would prove him right, glorifying him in death and resurrection, because when he was be raised on the Cross, he would be revealed as the only-begotten Son of God (cfr Jn 8,28; Mk 15,59).

Dear friends, meditating on this page of John's Gospel, we spontaneously consider how difficult it truly is to bear witness to Christ. And our thoughts go to the beloved Servant of God Karol Wojtyla, John Paul II, who even as a boy, showed himself to be an intrepid and ardent defender of Christ.

For Christ, he did not hesitate to exert every effort to spread his light everywhere. He refused to descend to compromises when it came to proclaiming and defending his truth. He never tired of spreading his love.

From the beginning of his pontificate up to April 2, 2005, he had no fear of proclaiming, to everyone and all the time, that Jesus alone is the Savior and true Liberator of mankind and of the whole man.

In the first Reading, we heard God's words to Abraham: "I will render you exceedingly fertile" (Gen 17,6). If testifying to one's adherence to the Gospel is never easy, the certainty that God renders our effort fertile, when it is sincere and generous, is comforting.

Even from this point of view, the spiritual experience of the Servant of God John Paul II appears significant to us. Looking at his existence, we see how the promise of fecundity made by God to Abraham - echoed in the First Reading taken from Genesis - was realized in him.

We can say that, especially during the years of his long Pontificate, he generated so many sons and daughters in the faith, of which you are the visible signs, dear young people who are here tonight: you, the youth of Rome, and you, the young people who have come from Sydney and Madrid, to represent ideally the ranks of girls and boys, young women and men, who have participated in 23 previous World Youth Days, many of them held in various parts of the world.

How many vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, how many young families determined to live the evangelical life and to strive for saintliness, are linked to the testimony and to the preaching of my venerated predecessor!

How many boys and girls, young men and women, have been converted, or have persevered in their Christian way, thanks to his prayers, his encouragement, his support and his example!

How true it is that John Paul II succeeded in communicating a strong charge of hope, based on faith in Jesus Christ, which is "the same yesterday, today and for always" (Heb 13,8), which was the motto of the Great Jubilee of 2000!

As an affectionate father and an attentive educator, he gave and firm reference points that were indispensable for everyone, especially for the youth.

And at the time of his agony and death, this new generation wanted to show him it understood his teaching, gathering silently in prayer at St. Peter's Square and in so many other places around the world.

The youth felt that his departure would be a loss: 'their' Papa was dying, he whom they considered 'their father' in the faith. But they also realized at the same time that he left them his courage and the consistency of his testimony as a legacy.

Had he not underscored so many times the need for a radical adherence to the Gospel, exhorting adults and young people alike to take this common educative responsibility seriously?

As you know, I have taken up his concerns, speaking on various occasions of the educative emergency today that involves families, the Church, society, and especially, the new generations.

During their growth period, children need adults who are able to give them principles and values - and they recognize the need for persons who can teach them with their lives, not only with words, to exert themselves for higher ideals.

But where to draw light and knowledge in order to fulfill this mission, which involves us all, in the Church and in society? Certainly, it is not enough to call on human resources: one must - and in the first place - entrust oneself to divine aid.

"The Lord remembers his covenant forever", we prayed just now in the Responsorial Psalm, certain that God will never abandon those who remain faithful to him.

This recalls to us the theme for the 24th World Youth Day, which will be celebrated on the diocesan level this Sunday. It is taken from St. Paul's first Letter to Timothy: "We have placed our hope in the living God" (4,10).

The Apostle was speaking for the Christian community, for those who believe in Christ and are different from 'others who do not have hope' (1 Tm 4,13), precisely because they have hope, they have trust in the future, a trust not based on human ideas or provisions, but on God, 'the living God'.

Dear young people, once cannot live without hope. Experience shows that everything - our life itself - is at risk and can crumble for any reason, which can be internal or external to us, and at any moment. It is normal: everything that is human, and therefore even hope, does not have a basis in itself, but needs a 'rock' to be anchored on.

That is why Paul wrote that Christians are called upon to base Christian hope on the 'living God'. Only in him and with him does hope become certain and reliable. Indeed, only God, who in Jesus Christ revealed to us the fullness of his love, can be our firm hope. In him, our hope, we are saved indeed! (cfr Rm 8,24).

But take heed: in moments like this, given the cultural and social context in which we live, the risk of reducing Christian hope to ideology, to group slogans and to exterior trappings, can also be stronger.

Nothing is more contrary to the message of Jesus: He does not want his disciples to 'play' a part, even if it is that of hope. He wants them to 'be' hope itself, and they can be so, only if they stay united with him.

He wants each of you, dear young friends, to be a small spring of hope for your neighbor, so that everyone together may be an oasis of hope for the society in which you find yourselves.

Now, this is possible on one condition: that you live of him and in him, through prayer and the Sacraments, as I wrote in the message for this year. If Christ's words remain in us, we can propagate the flame of that love which he lit on earth; we can raise high the torch of faith and hope with which we advance towards him, while we await his glorious return at the end of times.

It is the torch that Pope John Paul II has left us as a legacy. He also turned it over to me, as his successor; and tonight, I hand it over once again to you ideally; and in a special way, to you, the young people of Rome, so that you may continue to be sentinels of the morning, watchful and joyous in this dawn of the third millennium.

Respond generously to the call of Christ. In particular, during the Year of the Priest which begins on June 19, make yourselves available, if Jesus calls you, to follow him on the way of priesthood and the consecrated life.

"Now is the right moment; today is the day of salvation". The liturgy has exhorted us to renew now - and every moment is 'the right time' - our determination to follow Christ, certain that he is our salvation.

This, fundamentally, is the message that our dear Pope John Paul II repeats to us tonight. While we entrust his elected soul to the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary whom he always loved tenderly, we hope that from heaven, he will not cease to be with us and to intercede for us.

May he help each of us to live as he did, repeating to God, day after day, through Mary, with full confidence: Totus tuus! Amen.

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Dear brothers and sisters,
dear young people!

Together with growing ranks of pilgrims, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Passover.

In the last stage of the journey, near Jericho, he healed the blind man Bartimaeus who had invoked him as Son of David, asking for help. And now, able to see, he joined the crowd of pilgrims in gratitude.

When, at the gates of Jerusalem, Jesus mounted a donkey - the animal symbolic of David's kingship - the pilgrims spontaneously broke out with the joyous certainty: "It is him, the Son of David!"

And so they hailed Jesus with the Messianic acclamation: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!", adding, "Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!" (Mk 11,9f).

We don't know exactly what the enthusiastic pilgrims thought the coming Kingdom of David would be. And we, have we truly understood the message of Jesus, Son of David? Have we understood what the Kingdom is that he spoke of when he was questioned by Pilate? Do we understand what it means that this Kingdom is not of this world? Or do we perhaps wish that it should be of this world?

St. John, in his Gospel, after the account of the entry into Jerusalem, reports a series of statements by Jesus in which he explains the essentials of this new kind of Kingdom.

At a first reading of these texts, we can distinguish three different images of the Kingdom \in which the same mystery is reflected in different ways.

John recounts first of all that among the pilgrims who, during the feast, 'wished to adore God", there were also some Greeks (cfr 12,20). Let us take note that the true objective of these pilgrims was to adore God. This corresponds perfectly to what Jesus said on the occasion of the purification of the temple: "'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" OMk 11,17).

The true objective of pilgrimage should be to encounter God, to adore him, and thereby place the basic relationship in our life in its correct order.

The Greeks were in search of God - with their lives, they were on a journey toward God. Now, through two Greek-speaking apostles, Philip and Andrew, they sent on their message to the Lord, "We would like to see Jesus" (Jn 12,21). A great statement.

Dear friends, that is why we are gathered here: We want to see Jesus. For this reason, last year, thousands of young people went to Sydney. Certainly, they must have had multiple expectations for that pilgrimage. But the essential objective was this - "We want to see Jesus".

About the request, what did Jesus say and do at that time? It is not clear from the Gospel whether the Greeks did get to meet Jesus. Jesus's regard goes far beyond.

The nucleus of his response to the request was: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit" (Jn 12,24).

This means: it is not important now to have a conversation that's more or less brief with a few persons who will then return home. Like a grain of wheat that dies and rises again, I will return, in a totally different way and beyond the limits of this moment. I will meet the world and the Greeks.

Through the Resurrection, Jesus goes beyond the limits of space and time. As the Risen One, he is on the way towards the vastness of the world and of history. And yes, as the Risen One, he will go to the Greeks and speak with them, he will show them himself so that they, who were remote, become near, and his Word will come to them in a new way, in their own language, their culture, and will be understood in a new way - his Kingdom will come.

Thus we can recognize two essential characteristics of this Kingdom. The first is that this Kingdom comes by way of the Cross. Since Jesus gives himself totally, as the Risen One, he can belong to everyone and make himself present to everyone.

In the Holy Eucharist, we receive the fruit of the dead grain of wheat, the multiplication of loaves which will continue to the end of teh world and for all time.

The second characteristic is that the Kingdom is universal. Israel's ancient hope is fulfilled: this kingship of David no longer has boundaries. It extends 'from sea to sea' - as the prophet Zachariah says (9,10) - that is, it embraces the whole world.

However, this is only possible because it is not the kingship of a political power, but is based only on the free adherence to love - a love which responds to the love of Jesus who gave himself for everyone.

I think we must always learn both things anew - above all, the universality, the catholicity of the Kingdom of God. It means that no one can set himself as the absolute, not his culture, his time and his world. This requires that we must all accommodate each other, renouncing something of ourselves.

Universality includes the mystery of the Cross - overcoming oneself, obedience to the common world of Jesus Christ in our common Church. Universality is always overcoming the self, renouncing something personal. Universality and the cross go together. Only thus is peace created.

The statement about the grain or dead wheat is part of Jesus's answer to the Greeks - it is his response. But immediately afterwards, he formulates once more the fundamental law of human existence: "Whoever loves his life 16 loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life." (Jn 12,25).

Whoever wants to have his life for himself, live only for himself, holding everything to himself and availing of all possibilities - he loses his life. It becomes boring and empty. Only in abandoning the self, only in the disinterested giving of the "I" in favor of the 'you', only in the Yes to the greater life, that of God, then even our own life becomes ample and great.

Thus this fundamental principle which the Lord established, is in the last analysis, identical to the principle of love, Love, in fast, means leaving oneself, giving oneself, not wanting to possess oneself but to be free of it, not to fold in on oneself -'What is to become of me?" - but to look ahead, towards the other, toward God and towards the persons he sends me.

This principle of love, which defines man's journey, is once again identical to the mystery of the Cross, the mystery of death adn resurrection that we meet in Christ.

Dear friends, ti is perhaps relatively easy to accept this as a great fundamental vision of life. But in concrete reality, it is not enough to recognize a principle but to live its truth - the truth of the Cross and of the Resurrection.

Once again, this one great decision is not enough. It is certainly important to dare this great fundamental decision once, to dare the great Yes which the Lord asks us at a certain moment in our life.

But the great Yes of the decisive moment in our life - the Yes to the truth that the Lord sets before us - must then be reconquered daily in the situations of day to day, in which, ever anew, we must abandon our 'I', make ourselves available, even when at heart we really want to hold on to our 'I"\'.

But correct life also implies sacrifice, renunciation. Whoever promises a life without this ever renewed giving of oneself deceives others. There is no successful life without sacrifice. If I look back at my own personal life, I must say that the moments when i said Yes to a renunciation have been the great and important ones in my life.

Finally, St. John also caught, in his composition of the words of the Lord for Palm Sunday, a modified form of Jesus's prayer on the Mount of Olives, Above all, the statement: "I am troubled now" (12, 27). Here we see Jesus's fear, amply illustrated by the three other evangelists - his fear before the power of death, before the abyss of evil that he sees and into which he must descend. The Lord suffers our anguish with us, he accompanies us through the last agony into the light.

Then, John follows this with two questions from Jesus. The first, expressed only conditionally: "Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'?" (12,27). As a human being, even Jesus feels impelled to ask that he be spared the terror of the Passion.

Even we can pray this way. Even we can lament before the Lord like Job, and present to him all the questions which emerge from us in the face of the injustice in the world and the difficulties of that same 'I'.

Before him, we should not hide behind pious phrases, in a fictitious world. To pray also means to battle with God, and like Job we can say to him: "I will not let you go until you bless me" (Gen 27,32).

Then comes Jesus's second question: "Glorify your name!" (Jn 12,28). In the synoptic Gospels, the question is placed this way: "Not my will but yours be done" (Lk 22, 42). In the end, the glory of God, his lordship, his will, is always more important and more true than my thought and my will.

And that's what is fundamental in our prayer and in our life: to learn this correct order of reality and accept it intimately; to confide in God and to believe that He is doing the right thing: that his will is truth and love; that my life becomes good if I learn to adhere to this order.

The life, death andesurrection of Jesus are for us the guarantee that we can truly trust in God. And it is this way that his Kingdom is realized.

Dear friends, at the end of this liturgy, the young people of Australia will turn over the Cross of World Youth Day to their contemporaries from Spain. The Cross is on a journey from end of the world to the other, from sea to sea.

And we shall be accompanying it. Let is proceed with it along its road and this way, we will find our own road. When we touch the Cross, or better, when we carry it, we touch the mystery of God, the mystery of Jesus Christ. The mystery that God so loved the world - us - enough to give his only begotten Son for us (cfr Jn 3,16).

We touch the marvelous mystery of God's love, the only truth that is truly redemptive. But we also touch the fundamental law, the constitutive norm of our life, the fact that without the Yes to the Cross, without walking in communion with Christ day after day, life cannot succeed.

The more we can make a great renunciation for love of the great truth and the great love - for love of the truth and love of God - the greater and richer our life becomes. Whoever wants to keep life for himself will lose it. Whoever gives his life - daily, in small gestures, that make up part of the great decision, - finds it.

This is the truth - demanding but also beautiful and liberating - in which we want to enter step by step during the journey of the Cross through the continents.

May the Lord bless this journey. Amen!

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Upper Room, on the eve of his Passion, the Lord prayed for his disciples gathered about him. At the same time he looked ahead to the community of disciples of all centuries, “those who believe in me through their word” (Jn 17:20).

In his prayer for the disciples of all time, he saw us too, and he prayed for us. Let us listen to what he asks for the Twelve and for us gathered here:

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, so that they also may be consecrated in truth” (17:17ff.).

The Lord asks for our sanctification, sanctification in truth. And he sends us forth to carry on his own mission. But in this prayer there is one word which draws our attention, and appears difficult to understand.

Jesus says: “For their sake I consecrate myself”. What does this mean? Is Jesus not himself “the Holy One of God”, as Peter acknowledged at that decisive moment in Capharnaum (cf. Jn 6:69)? How can he now consecrate – sanctify – himself?

To understand this, we need first to clarify what the Bible means by the words “holy” and “consecrate – sanctify”. “Holy” – this word describes above all God’s own nature, his completely unique, divine, way of being, one which is his alone.

He alone is the true and authentic Holy One, in the original sense of the word. All other holiness derives from him, is a participation in his way of being.

He is purest Light, Truth and untainted Good. To consecrate something or someone means, therefore, to give that thing or person to God as his property, to take it out of the context of what is ours and to insert it in his milieu, so that it no longer belongs to our affairs, but is totally of God.

Consecration is thus a taking away from the world and a giving over to the living God. The thing or person no longer belongs to us, or even to itself, but is immersed in God.

Such a giving up of something in order to give it over to God, we also call a sacrifice: this thing will no longer be my property, but his property. In the Old Testament, the giving over of a person to God, his “sanctification”, is identified with priestly ordination, and this also defines the essence of the priesthood: it is a transfer of ownership, a being taken out of the world and given to God.

We can now see the two directions which belong to the process of sanctification-consecration. It is a departure from the milieux of worldly life – a “being set apart” for God.

But for this very reason it is not a segregation. Rather, being given over to God means being charged to represent others. The priest is removed from worldly bonds and given over to God, and precisely in this way, starting with God, he is available for others, for everyone.

When Jesus says: “I consecrate myself”, he makes himself both priest and victim. Bultmann was right to translate the phrase: “I consecrate myself” by “I sacrifice myself”.

Do we now see what happens when Jesus says: “I consecrate myself for them”? This is the priestly act by which Jesus – the Man Jesus, who is one with the Son of God – gives himself over to the Father for us.

It is the expression of the fact that he is both priest and victim. I consecrate myself – I sacrifice myself: this unfathomable word, which gives us a glimpse deep into the heart of Jesus Christ, should be the object of constantly renewed reflection. It contains the whole mystery of our redemption. It also contains the origins of the priesthood in the Church.

Only now can we fully understand the prayer which the Lord offered the Father for his disciples – for us. “Sanctify them in the truth”: this is the inclusion of the Apostles in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the institution of his new priesthood for the community of the faithful of all times.

“Sanctify them in truth”: this is the true prayer of consecration for the Apostles. The Lord prays that God himself draw them towards him, into his holiness. He prays that God take them away from themselves to make them his own property, so that, starting from him, they can carry out the priestly ministry for the world.

This prayer of Jesus appears twice in slightly different forms. Both times we need to listen very carefully, in order to understand, even dimly the sublime reality that is about to be accomplished. “Sanctify them in the truth”.

Jesus adds: “Your word is truth”. The disciples are thus drawn deep within God by being immersed in the word of God. The word of God is, so to speak, the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being.

So then, how do things stand in our own lives?

Are we truly pervaded by the word of God?

Is that word truly the nourishment we live by, even more than bread and the things of this world?

Do we really know that word? Do we love it?

Are we deeply engaged with this word to the point that it really leaves a mark on our lives and shapes our thinking?

Or is it rather the case that our thinking is constantly being shaped by all the things that others say and do?

Aren’t prevailing opinions the criterion by which we all too often measure ourselves?

Do we not perhaps remain, when all is said and done, mired in the superficiality in which people today are generally caught up?

Do we allow ourselves truly to be deeply purified by the word of God?

Friedrich Nietzsche scoffed at humility and obedience as the virtues of slaves, a source of repression. He replaced them with pride and man’s absolute freedom.

Of course there exist caricatures of a misguided humility and a mistaken submissiveness, which we do not want to imitate. But there also exists a destructive pride and a presumption which tear every community apart and result in violence.

Can we learn from Christ the correct humility which corresponds to the truth of our being, and the obedience which submits to truth, to the will of God?

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”: this word of inclusion in the priesthood lights up our lives and calls us to become ever anew disciples of that truth which is revealed in the word of God.

I believe that we can advance another step in the interpretation of these words. Did not Christ say of himself: “I am the truth” (cf. Jn 14:6)? Is he not himself the living Word of God, to which every other word refers?

Sanctify them in the truth – this means, then, in the deepest sense: make them one with me, Christ. Bind them to me. Draw them into me.

Indeed, when all is said and done, there is only one priest of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ himself. Consequently, the priesthood of the disciples can only be a participation in the priesthood of Jesus.

Our being priests is simply a new way of being united to Christ. In its substance, it has been bestowed on us for ever in the sacrament.

But this new seal imprinted upon our being can become for us a condemnation, if our lives do not develop by entering into the truth of the Sacrament.

The promises we renew today state in this regard that our will must be directed along this path: “Domino Iesu arctius coniungi et conformari, vobismetipsis abrenuntiantes”.

Being united to Christ calls for renunciation. It means not wanting to impose our own way and our own will, not desiring to become someone else, but abandoning ourselves to him, however and wherever he wants to use us.

As Saint Paul said: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). In the words “I do”, spoken at our priestly ordination, we made this fundamental renunciation of our desire to be independent, “self-made”.

But day by day this great “yes” has to be lived out in the many little “yeses” and small sacrifices. This “yes” made up of tiny steps which together make up the great “yes”, can be lived out without bitterness and self-pity only if Christ is truly the center of our lives. If we enter into true closeness to him.

Then indeed we experience, amid sacrifices which can at first be painful, the growing joy of friendship with him, and all the small and sometimes great signs of his love, which he is constantly showing us.

“The one who loses himself, finds himself”. When we dare to lose ourselves for the Lord, we come to experience the truth of these words.

To be immersed in the Truth, in Christ – part of this process is prayer, in which we exercise our friendship with him and we come to know him: his way of being, of thinking, of acting.

Praying is a journey in personal communion with Christ, setting before him our daily life, our successes and failures, our struggles and our joys – in a word, it is to stand in front of him. But if this is not to become a form of self-contemplation, it is important that we constantly learn to pray by praying with the Church.

Celebrating the Eucharist means praying. We celebrate the Eucharist rightly if with our thoughts and our being we enter into the words which the Church sets before us. There we find the prayer of all generations, which accompany us along the way towards the Lord.

As priests, in the Eucharistic celebration we are those who by their prayer blaze a trail for the prayer of today’s Christians. If we are inwardly united to the words of prayer, if we let ourselves be guided and transformed by them, then the faithful will also enter into those words. And then all of us will become truly “one body, one spirit” in Christ.

To be immersed in God’s truth and thus in his holiness – for us this also means to acknowledge that the truth makes demands, to stand up, in matters great and small, to the lie which in so many different ways is present in the world; accepting the struggles associated with the truth, because its inmost joy is present within us.

Nor, when we talk about being sanctified in the truth, should we forget that in Jesus Christ truth and love are one. Being immersed in him means being immersed in his goodness, in true love.

True love does not come cheap, it can also prove quite costly. It resists evil in order to bring men true good. If we become one with Christ, we learn to recognize him precisely in the suffering, in the poor, in the little ones of this world; then we become people who serve, who recognize our brothers and sisters in him, and in them, we encounter him.

“Sanctify them in truth” – this is the first part of what Jesus says. But then he adds: “I consecrate myself, so that they also may be consecrated in truth” – that is, truly consecrated (Jn 17:19).

I think that this second part has a special meaning of its own. In the world’s religions there are many different ritual means of “sanctification”, of the consecration of a human person. Yet all these rites can remain something merely formal.

Christ asks for his disciples the true sanctification which transforms their being, their very selves; he asks that it not remain a ritual formality, but that it make them truly the “property” of the God of holiness.

We could even say that Christ prayed on behalf of us for that sacrament which touches us in the depths of our being. But he also prayed that this interior transformation might be translated day by day in our lives; that in our everyday routine and our concrete daily lives we might be truly pervaded by the light of God.

On the eve of my priestly ordination, fifty-eight years ago, I opened the Sacred Scripture, because I wanted to receive once more a word from the Lord for that day and for my future journey as a priest.

My gaze fell on this passage: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”. Then I realized: the Lord is speaking about me, and he is speaking to me. This very same thing will be accomplished tomorrow in me.

When all is said and done, we are not consecrated by rites, even though rites are necessary. The bath in which the Lord immerses us is himself – the Truth in person.

Priestly ordination means: being immersed in him, immersed in the Truth. I belong in a new way to him and thus to others, “that his Kingdom may come”.

Dear friends, in this hour of the renewal of promises, we want to pray to the Lord to make us men of truth, men of love, men of God. Let us implore him to draw us ever anew into himself, so that we may become truly priests of the New Covenant. Amen.

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