SANTA MESSA DEL CRISMA
OMELIA DI SUA SANTITÀ BENEDETTO XVI
Basilica VaticanaGiovedì Santo, 20 marzo 2008
Cari fratelli e sorelle,
ogni anno la Messa del Crisma ci esorta a rientrare in quel „sì” God's call, we have delivered on the day of our priestly ordination. "Adsum - Here I am", as we said Isaiah, when he heard God's voice asking: "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" "Here am I. Send me!" Said Isaiah (Isaiah 6, 8). Then the Lord himself, through the hands of the bishop laid his hands on us and we have donated to his mission. Then we covered a lot ground in his call. May we always say that Paul, after years of service to the Gospel is often difficult and marked by all sorts of suffering, wrote to the Corinthians: "Our zeal has not slackened in the ministry, for the mercy of God, entrusted to us "(cf. 2 Cor 4, 1)? "Our zeal has not slackened." We pray on this day, so it is always turned on again, to always re-nourished by the living flame of the Gospel.
At the same time, Holy Thursday is an opportunity for us to ask again and again: What we said "yes"? What is this "being a priest of Jesus Christ"? The Canon II of our Missal, which was probably drawn up by the end of the second century in Rome, describes the essence of the priestly ministry with the words with which, in the Book of Deuteronomy
(18, 5. 7), was described the essence of the Old Testament priesthood: Astaro et tibi coram you minister. There are thus two tasks that define the essence of the priestly ministry: first, the "standing before the Lord." In the Book of Deuteronomy it comes against the backdrop of the foregoing provision, that priests do not receive any portion of land in the Holy Land - they lived for God and for God, not waiting for the usual work required for the sustenance of daily life. Their profession was "to stand before the Lord" - to look to him, be there for him so, after all, the word indicated a life in God's presence and thus also a ministry on behalf of others. Come gli altri coltivavano la terra, della quale viveva anche il sacerdote, così egli manteneva il mondo aperto verso Dio, doveva vivere con lo sguardo rivolto a Lui. Se questa parola ora si trova nel Canone della Messa immediatamente dopo la consacrazione dei doni, dopo l’entrata del Signore nell’assemblea in preghiera, allora ciò indica per noi lo stare davanti al Signore presente, indica cioè l’Eucaristia come centro della vita sacerdotale. Ma anche qui la portata va oltre. Nell’inno della Liturgia delle Ore che durante la quaresima introduce l’Ufficio delle Letture – l’Ufficio che una volta presso i monaci era recitato durante l’ora della veglia notturna davanti a Dio e per gli uomini – uno the tasks of Lent is described with the imperative: arctius perstemus in custody - we guard more intensely. In the tradition of Syriac monasticism, the monks were qualified as "having standing, the stand was an expression of consciousness. What it was considered the task of the monks, we can also see it as a reason for expression of the priestly mission and as a correct interpretation of the words of Deuteronomy: the priest must be one who watches. Must be on guard before the relentless powers of evil. He must keep the world awake to God must be one that stands: Straight in front of the current time. Upright in the truth. Upright in for good. Standing before the Lord must always be, deep down, also a load of men to the Lord who, in turn, takes care of all of us to the Father. It must be a lifting of Him, of Christ, his word, his truth, his love. The priest must be upright, unwavering and ready to cash for the Lord even outrage, as the Acts of the Apostles: they were "delighted to have been dishonor for the name of Jesus" (5, 41).
Now for the second word, which the Canon II incorporates text from the Old Testament - "to stand in your presence and serve you." The priest must be an upright person, vigilant, a person who is straight. To this was then added to serve. In the Old Testament text that word has a meaning essentially ritual priests responsible for all acts of worship provided by law. But that act on the rite was then classified as a service, a service task, and so is explained in the spirit in which those activities should be conducted. By taking the word "serve" in the canon, liturgical meaning of this term is adopted in a certain way - in accordance with the newness of Christian worship. What the priest does at that moment, the celebration of the Eucharist, is to serve, do service to God and service to mankind. The cult that Christ has made to the Father was giving himself up to the end for men. In this cult, the priest must be part of this service. Thus the word "serve" involves many dimensions. Certainly first among these is the proper celebration of the liturgy and the sacraments in general, carried out with interior participation. We must learn to understand more and more the sacred liturgy in all its essence, developing a deep familiarity with it, so it becomes the soul of our daily lives. It is then that we celebrate in the right way, then emerges from the self celebrandi ars, art of celebrating. In this art must be nothing artificial. It must become a thing sola con l’arte del vivere rettamente. Se la Liturgia è un compito centrale del sacerdote, ciò significa anche che la preghiera deve essere una realtà prioritaria da imparare sempre di nuovo e sempre più profondamente alla scuola di Cristo e dei santi di tutti i tempi. Poiché la Liturgia cristiana, per sua natura, è sempre anche annuncio, dobbiamo essere persone che con la Parola di Dio hanno familiarità, la amano e la vivono: solo allora potremo spiegarla in modo adeguato. “Servire il Signore” – il servizio sacerdotale significa proprio anche imparare a conoscere il Signore nella sua Parola e a farLo conoscere a tutti coloro che Egli ci affida.
Fanno parte del servire, infine, ancora due altri aspetti. Nessuno è così vicino al suo signore come il servo che ha accesso alla dimensione più privata della sua vita. In questo senso “servire” significa vicinanza, richiede familiarità. Questa familiarità comporta anche un pericolo: quello che il sacro da noi continuamente incontrato divenga per noi abitudine. Si spegne così il timor riverenziale. Condizionati da tutte le abitudini, non percepiamo più il fatto grande, nuovo, sorprendente, che Egli stesso sia presente, ci parli, si doni a noi. Contro questa assuefazione alla realtà straordinaria, contro l’indifferenza del cuore dobbiamo lottare senza tregua, riconoscendo sempre di nuovo la nostra insufficienza e la grazia che vi è nel fatto che Egli si consegni così nelle nostre mani. Servire significa vicinanza, ma significa soprattutto anche obbedienza. Il servo sta sotto la parola: “Non sia fatta la mia, ma la tua volontà!” (Lc 22, 42). Con questa parola, Gesù nell’Orto degli ulivi ha risolto la battaglia decisiva contro il peccato, contro la ribellione del cuore caduto. Il peccato di Adamo consisteva, appunto, nel fatto che egli voleva realizzare la sua volontà e non quella di Dio. La tentazione dell’umanità è sempre quella di voler essere totalmente autonoma, di seguire soltanto la propria volontà e di ritenere che solo così noi saremmo liberi; che solo grazie ad una simile libertà senza limiti l’uomo sarebbe completamente uomo, diventerebbe divine. But in doing so we set ourselves against truth. Because the truth is that we must share our freedom with others, and we can be free only in communion with them. This freedom can be shared with true freedom only if it enter into what is the measure of the freedom, if we enter into God's will This fundamental obedience which is part of being human, it becomes even more concrete in the priest: we do not proclaim ourselves, but Him and His Word, we could not conceive on their own. Do not invent the Church as we would like, but we proclaim the Word of Christ in the right way only in the Communion of His Body. Our obedience is a believing with the Church, a thinking and speaking with the Church, serving with it. This always also what Jesus said to Peter: "You will be taken where they wanted." This is not where we want to be led is an essential component of our service, and that is what makes us free. In such a being driven, which may be contrary to our ideas and projects, experience something new - the richness of God
"ourselves before Him and serve Him": Jesus Christ as the true High Priest of the world has given At these words a depth previously unimaginable. He, as Son was and is Lord, wanted to become the servant di Dio che la visione del Libro del profeta Isaia aveva previsto. Ha voluto essere il servo di tutti. Ha raffigurato l’insieme del suo sommo sacerdozio nel gesto della lavanda dei piedi. Con il gesto dell’amore sino alla fine Egli lava i nostri piedi sporchi, con l’umiltà del suo servire ci purifica dalla malattia della nostra superbia. Così ci rende capaci di diventare commensali di Dio. Egli è disceso, e la vera ascesa dell’uomo si realizza ora nel nostro scendere con Lui e verso di Lui. La sua elevazione è la Croce. È la discesa più profonda e, come amore spinto sino alla fine, è al contempo il culmine dell’ascesa, la vera “elevazione” dell’uomo. “Stare davanti a Lui e servirLo” - It means now enter into his calling of a servant of God The Eucharist as a presence of the descent and ascent of Christ so always refers beyond itself, to the multiple modes of charity. We ask the Lord, on this day, the gift of being able to do so again to say our "yes" to his call: "Here I am. Send me, Lord "(Isaiah 6, 8). Amen.
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