Text 464, 120 rader
Skriven 2005-04-24 10:16:00 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: [2 of 2] Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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serve to build God's garden for all to live in, but they have been made to
serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all
her pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert,
towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the
One who gives us life, and life in abundance.

"The symbol of the lamb also has a deeper meaning. In the ancient Near East, it
was customary for kings to style themselves shepherds of their people. This was
an image of their power, a cynical image: to them their subjects were like
sheep, which the shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of
all humanity, the living God, Himself became a lamb, He stood on the side of
the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how He reveals
Himself to be the true shepherd: 'I am the Good Shepherd . . . I lay down my
life for the sheep,' Jesus says of Himself (Jn 10:14ff). It is not power, but
love that redeems us! This is God's sign: He Himself is love. How often we wish
that God would make show Himself stronger, that He would strike decisively,
defeating evil and creating a better world. All ideologies of power justify
themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would
stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on
account of God's patience. And yet, we need His patience. God, Who became a
lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who
crucified Him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is destroyed by
the impatience of man.

"One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people
entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. 'Feed my sheep.' says
Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, He says it to me as well. Feeding
means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving
the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God's truth, of God's word,
the nourishment of His presence, which He gives us in the blessed Sacrament. My
dear friends - at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to
love the Lord more and more. Pray for me, that I may learn to love His flock
more and more - in other words, you, the holy Church, each one of you and all
of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let
us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to
carry one another.

"The second symbol used in today's liturgy to express the inauguration of the
Petrine ministry is the presentation of the fisherman's ring. Peter's call to
be a shepherd, which we heard in the Gospel, comes after the account of a
miraculous catch of fish: after a night in which the disciples had let down
their nets without success, they see the Risen Lord on the shore. He tells them
to let down their nets once more, and the nets become so full that they can
hardly pull them in; 153 large fish: 'and although there were so many, the net
was not torn' (Jn 21:11). This account, coming at the end of Jesus' earthly
journey with His disciples, corresponds to an account found at the beginning:
there too, the disciples had caught nothing the entire night; there too, Jesus
had invited Simon once more to put out into the deep. And Simon, who was not
yet called Peter, gave the wonderful reply: 'Master, at your word I will let
down the nets.' And then came the conferral of his mission: 'Do not be afraid.
Henceforth you will be catching men' (Lk 5:1-11). Today too the Church and the
successors of the Apostles are told to put out into the deep sea of history and
to let down the nets, so as to win men and women over to the Gospel - to God,
to Christ, to true life. The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this
singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is
fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve
as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We
are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea
of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of
death and brings us into the splendor of God's light, into true life. It is
really true: as we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must
bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of
alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God.

"It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only
where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in
Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product
of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is
willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more
beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.
There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our
friendship with Him. The task of the shepherd, the task of the fisher of men,
can often seem wearisome. But it is beautiful and wonderful, because it is
truly a service to joy, to God's joy which longs to break into the world.

"Here I want to add something: both the image of the shepherd and that of the
fisherman issue an explicit call to unity. 'I have other sheep that are not of
this fold; I must lead them too, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be
one flock, one shepherd' (Jn 10:16); these are the words of Jesus at the end of
His discourse on the Good Shepherd. And the account of the 153 large fish ends
with the joyful statement: 'although there were so many, the net was not torn'
(Jn 21:11). Alas, beloved Lord, with sorrow we must now acknowledge that it has
been torn! But no - we must not be sad! Let us rejoice because of Your promise,
which does not disappoint, and let us do all we can to pursue the path towards
the unity You have promised. Let us remember it in our prayer to the Lord, as
we plead with Him: yes, Lord, remember Your promise. Grant that we may be one
flock and one shepherd! Do not allow Your net to be torn, help us to be
servants of unity!

"At this point, my mind goes back to October 22 1978, when Pope John Paul II
began his ministry here in Saint Peter's Square. His words on that occasion
constantly echo in my ears: 'Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!'
The Pope was addressing the mighty, the powerful of this world, who feared that
Christ might take away something of their power if they were to let Him in, if
they were to allow the faith to be free. Yes, He would certainly have taken
something away from them: the dominion of corruption, the manipulation of law
and the freedom to do as they pleased. But He would not have taken away
anything that pertains to human freedom or dignity, or to the building of a
just society. The Pope was also speaking to everyone, especially the young. Are
we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our
lives, if we open ourselves totally to Him, are we not afraid that He might
take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something
significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we
not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? And once again
the Pope said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing,
absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in
this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is
the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship
do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and
great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to
you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and
He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a
hundred-fold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ - and you will
find true life. Amen."
HML/INAUGURATION PONTIFICATE/BENEDICT XVI VIS 050424 (3020)

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