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PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE FAMILY CLOSING OF THE PAULINE YEAR Nadur, Gozo
Vigil Mass It is with a profound sense of joy that I visit the diocese of Gozo as Special Representative of His Holiness Pope Benedict the Sixteenth. I am very glad to greet my brother in the episcopate, Bishop Mario Grech, and you, the people of this generous Island, rich in missionaries of the Good News. In the name of the Holy Father, I thank you for your support to the Universal Church. It was here, a year ago, that Bishop Grech inaugurated the Year dedicated to Saint Paul. Today, we gather again, in this Parish of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Nadur to thank the Lord for his graces. Indeed, Gozo has been specially blessed through the Diocesan Mission which you generously carried out. This diocesan event has been an instrument of multiple graces. Like Saint Paul, you too have embarked on an “apostolic mission”, giving yourselves fully to spreading the Gospel: you heard the Word of God, meditated upon it and prayed with zeal. Like the Apostle, you set out to meet the spiritually needy and acted as Paul’s sons and daughters, heirs of his missionary spirit. The First Reading describes the caring attention of your forefathers towards those who suffered the terrible fourteen day storm and shipwreck. You too have shown such love during the Diocesan Mission: you visited families and people’s homes, some of whom are encountering difficulties as if they too were in a storm. It is so good to see healthy families coming to the assistance of others. But spiritually motivated and exemplary Christian spouses, capable of dialogue, are essential for this task. Yet, as it is preferable to prevent illnesses rather than to cure them, a wise and pastoral strategy, as that being carried out here, should aim not just at reaching families in difficulty, but also to enable healthy families to become evangelising agents. As President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, I strongly encourage you in such efforts. Dear Christians of Gozo, the Year of Saint Paul has renewed your missionary stimulus. In sharing your Christian faith and life you have shown your love for Christ. In today’s Gospel, we heard Jesus dialogue with Peter: “‘Simon, Son of Jonah, do you love me?’ ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you!’ ‘Feed my sheep’”. Apostolic work is thus intimately bound to one’s love for Christ. As Saint Peter, Saint Paul also says: “Christ’s love takes possession of us…” (2 Cor 5:14), “I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me” (Gal 2:20). “It is not ourselves that we are proclaiming, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Christ’s sake (2 Cor 4:5). Paul totally shares in Christ’s love and mission for humanity. For Paul, to be a Christian, a witness and a missionary are all one reality. In the Church today, an awareness of the common missionary vocation is growing. A vocation to be accomplished with prayer, daily witness in “word and deed”. Pope John Paul the Second, whose visit to Gozo you fondly recall, strongly stimulated this common missionary call. In Redemptoris Missio, he wrote: “The Lord is always calling us to come out of ourselves and to share with others the goods we possess, starting with the most precious gift of all – our faith” (n.49). Dear Christians of Gozo, grow daily in your missionary responsibility within families, among your neighbours, friends, colleagues and all people whom you meet. Evangelising others happens when we evangelise ourselves. Devoutly hear God’s Word, in Church, with the family or alone. Meditate upon it in union with the Magisterium, and the Father will come to you through his Son, the Word, in the Holy Spirit. Thus encountering Jesus, the active subject and central content of Revelation, our lives are enlightened. As Saint Paul says: “The Gospel… [is] no human message… it came to me through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:11-12). Listening to the Word allows Jesus to befriend us and talk to us. The prayer of listening is greater than the prayer of petition. Families, listen to God’s word, at least weekly. Read a text, especially from the New Testament. Together examine your lives in the light of that text, resolving to change. This exercise will make your love increase, family life more beautiful, stimulate the transmission of faith to your children, and will strengthen friendly relationships among families. Through this devout exercise Jesus’ promise comes true: “where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them” (Mt 18:20), and “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice” (Lk 8:21). Dear brethren, your diocese is geographically small, but your generosity is immense. Continue supporting missions, needy families, young people in difficulty, the less fortunate and those who are far from God. Forget not your special missionary vocation as sons and daughters of Saint Paul. In this Eucharist, while thanking God for his gifts, we ask him too for the grace of becoming a living Gospel for all. May Saint Paul repeat the praises he heaped upon the Corinthians: “You yourselves are our letter… that everyone can read and understand… You are a letter from Christ… written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God… on the tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:2-3). Amen.
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