(s.m.) The homily by Joseph Ratzinger reproduced on this page with the permission of the publisher is one of 135 that long remained unpublished, almost all of them dated between 2013 and 2017, after his resignation from the pontificate and as long as the weakening of his voice permitted.
The first of the two volumes that publish them is fresh from the press, published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, with the title “The Lord holds us by the hand,” and is edited by Father Federico Lombardi, president of the Vatican foundation “Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI.”
His homilies are a key element of Ratzinger’s preaching. They number in the thousands, and occupy three large volumes of his “opera omnia.” He continued to deliver them even after his resignation, on Sundays and holidays, first at Castel Gandolfo and then at his secluded residence in the Vatican gardens, with very few present and few guests, including, a couple of times, the editor of “Settimo Cielo” with his family.
In introducing the book, Father Lombardi notes that “Benedict XVI prepared the Sunday homily during the whole preceding week, reading and studying the liturgical texts attentively, making them the object of reflection and prayer, also taking notes in a dedicated notebook.” But he did not write them down, “because his memory and clarity of free exposition were extraordinary.” And in fact, the texts now published were transcribed from the audio recordings made by the “memores Domini” who assisted him.
Already during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, between 2008 and 2010, “Settimo Cielo” had highlighted his stature as a great homilist, editing the publication by Scheiwiller of three collections marked by the unfolding of the liturgical year, in the belief that “like Pope Leo the Great, Pope Benedict will also go down in history for his homilies.”
These homilies from the years of his “retreat on the mountain” fully confirm this greatness. The first volume contains those of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. While the second volume contains those of Ordinary Time.
And the following was delivered on one Trinity Sunday, a feast this year celebrated a few days ago, with a theme that puts to a hard test one who must preach, but which Ratzinger here too develops with astonishing simplicity and depth.
Over to him.
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On the Mountain: Promise and Mandate
From the unpublished homilies of Joseph Ratzinger after his resignation from the papacy
May 31, 2015, private chapel, Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity
Readings: Deuteronomy 4:32–34, 39–40; Psalm 32; Romans 8:14–17; Matthew 28:16–20
Dear friends, the last meeting of the Lord with his followers takes place on the mountain. It simply says “mountain,” without specification. The mountain must be the mountain of Jesus’ prayer, a mountain to which he retreats, high above the evil of the world, on which he reunites with the Father. Thus, in this word ‘mountain,’ the mystery of the Trinity also shines through: the Lord, the Son, who speaks with the Father, reunites with Him in the Holy Spirit.
At the same time, another story also shines through, another mountain, the mountain of temptation, of which Matthew speaks in his account of the temptations (cf. Mt 4:8–11). The devil had led the Lord to a very high mountain, from which all the kingdoms of the earth could be seen, the glory of these kingdoms, and had said: “All this is yours, if you worship me.” It was the offer of the power of the world, and this seems to be precisely the content of the “redemption” offered by Satan: to have power in the world.
But Jesus had not said “yes,” because he does not worship Satan, that is, he does not worship military or economic power, or that of public opinion, as the ultimate power; he does not recognize this as the true power; he is not willing to worship the power of the world, material things. The response of the devil had been Jesus’ condemnation to death, and so the matter would have ended. But Jesus is risen and can now say: “All power in heaven and on earth is given to me.” What is the difference between the power offered by the devil and this “all power” of the Lord?
Right away a first difference appears: that of the Lord is “power in heaven and on earth.” While the devil has offered all the glory of economic power, etc., but nothing of heaven, Jesus now has at his disposal all power in heaven and on earth. Now, only a power also over heaven is true power: a power that is totally closed against heaven is a destructive power; only a power united with heaven, open to heaven, is true power for the true happiness of man.
Of course, today, a secular state cannot be a religious state; yet even if it remains neutral it cannot close itself off against the great fundamental values, against the great descriptions of heaven, of the nature of man; in this sense, it must always be open to this other power.
The second concrete difference is that the power of the Lord is the power of the Crucified, a power that is given through the Cross. Its mountain is the mountain of the Cross, its height is the height of the Cross, that is, the height of the love that is given, the love that is true power, even if it must be killed. Moreover, it is the power of truth, which does not impose itself on the heart with instruments of domination, but imposes itself only with free conviction. This is the power of Jesus, the power of the Crucified; this is the true power, which conquers, which truly redeems, even if it is not convenient for us.
Because of this power – because he has all power in heaven and on earth – Jesus can now send his eleven Apostles to all parts of the world, to all nations, to make all nations his disciples: only this power allows this.
Outwardly, it appears ridiculous that these eleven people should go into the world and should wish to make disciples of Christ all the peoples of the earth. They speak only one language, they are people without higher education, they are truly sent by the Lord as sheep among wolves, because they appear “like sheep” in the eyes of academics, who know all the philosophy, all the culture of the world, while they know only Jesus. They also appear as “sheep” in the sense that they are then victims of violence. And, nonetheless, the incredible, incomprehensible thing is that these eleven really succeed in making disciples of Christ in the world, in spreading the truth of Christ, the truth of the Crucified, of the God who shows himself in the Son and in the Holy Spirit.
Still today there is the same situation. We Christians, compared with today’s “enlightened” culture, seem like sheep confined to our corner on the height of the temple, sheep that must be killed in the name of power, but, precisely today too, we remain certain that the true power is the power of truth and not of lies, the power of love and not that of hate. Outwardly, the power of hate and of lies appear much stronger, and yet in the end the winners are the sheep and not the wolves.
St. John Chrysostom, in the light of the experience of the Christian Byzantine Empire, once said that we Christians are always tempted to turn into wolves, to be sure of our victory, but the moment we show ourselves as wolves, we have already lost, because we no longer bear the invincible love, we no longer bear the truth, which has no need of violence and does not accept it. So, even today, the Lord sends us and tells us to be sure that in the end it is not the wolves that win, but the sheep, that in the end the Crucified wins and not the one who says: “All this is mine…” (1).
At the end of the Gospel, at the end of Jesus’ earthly life, there is a promise and a mandate.
The promise: “I will be with you all days until the end of the world.” This is the great certainty: the Lord is present even today. Sometimes we do not see him, but in true reality he is present, his promise is true, and this is the great joy of Christians: He is with us until the end.
The mandate: “Baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” “To baptize” means to immerse, to immerse man in the ocean of God. This is the true reality: that Christianity finally immerses us in the ocean of love and truth, and precisely by facing this, and in a certain way dying to ourselves, we truly live.
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”: Jesus shows us the God the Trinity, the Son meets us, guides us, unites us to the Father in the Holy Spirit. The beauty that God pours out in the end is not a monad, but is love and, if love is the ultimate reality, it essentially implies relationship; therefore it implies the Trinitarian mystery, and, since God is relationship, he can also enter into relationship with us, indeed, he almost needs to give his beauty to others.
Here is the beauty of this day. Here into my mind come the words that Nehemiah spoke to the Israelites, who were sad upon returning from exile to their country, now poor, without resources and without help: “The joy of God is our strength!” (Neh 8:10). Yes, the joy of God is our strength! In this sense we live the feast of the Most Holy Trinity: with the joy of God. He who, despite all appearances to the contrary, holds the true power and gives us true joy, because true joy is love and truth. Let us thank the Lord for this revolution of his, let us thank God and truly pray to the Lord: “May the joy of You always be in us and be our strength.” Amen!
(1) John Chrysostom, Homily 33 on the Gospel of Matthew, PG 57, 389–390.
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The introductions to the three volumes edited by Sandro Magister in 2008, 2009, and 2010 with the homilies of Benedict XVI from those same years, ordered according to the liturgical year:
> Year A of the Roman Lectionary
> Year B of the Roman Lectionary
> Year C of the Roman Lectionary
(Translated by Matthew Sherry: traduttore@hotmail.com)
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Sandro Magister is past “vaticanista” of the Italian weekly L’Espresso.
The latest articles in English of his blog Settimo Cielo are on this page.
But the full archive of Settimo Cielo in English, from 2017 to today, is accessible.
As is the complete index of the blog www.chiesa, which preceded it.