UNIVERSITY
OF LAVAL STADIUM
HOMILY
Dear Brothers and
Sisters, I thank you for this moving welcome.
At
the outset I would like
to greet his Grace Louis-Albert Vachon, Archbishop
of Quebec, as well as each of my other brothers
in the episcopate whose ministry is in Canada.
I
extend greetings as well to the
representatives of other Churches who have joined us from America and
other
continents, notably Europe with which
Canada has established such strong links.
I
greet Canadian missionaries and the
representatives of the young churches
where they exercise their ministry.
I
greet too the Rector of Laval University, its faculty and
students and all those who are working (in
confident dialogue with faith) to renew and deepen culture in order to make it
ever more human.
I
extend greetings to the priests, deacons,
seminarians, religious and laity of the various parishes of this
Archdiocese
and neighbouring dioceses whose
presence here has been made possible by the fraternal twinning of parishes.
I greet those
for whom Jesus had a particular place in his
heart: the
children, the young, the old, the sick, the prisoners, all
those who suffer
from a lack of love, all who are
alienated from society, unemployed or distressed.
Together
with the apostle Peter, let us turn
towards the Lord Jesus. May
He
strengthen our faith!
"You
are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Mt 16,16).
These
words were spoken for the first time
near Caesarea Philippi in answer
to the question of Jesus: "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
(Mt
16,13).
Simon
Peter pronouced [sp] these words
for the first time in Galilee. He repeated them later in many other
places. He
spoke them in Jerusalem, in particular
on the day of Pentecost. He spoke them in Antioch, after leaving
Jerusalem. He proclaimed them finally
in Rome until the day that he
had to die on the cross in order to witness to their truth.
These
words which profess the divine sonship
of Jesus Christ were left by
Simon
Peter to the Church as its heritage. He handed them down in a very
special way to all his successors in the
See of Rome.
As
Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor it has
been my wish to repeat these
words here on Canadian soil. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living
God" (Mt 16,16).
It
is in the city of Quebec that the Bishop
of Rome sets foot on this
land
for the first time. Here began the evangelization of Canada. Here
was founded its Church. Here was the
first diocese of North America. It
is from here that the seed first sown began its
immense growth.
It
is for this reason that at the very outset
of this pilgrimage, I want
us
to meet and join together in this profession of faith on which the Church
of Christ on earth is built:
the
Christ,
the Son of Man, the Son of the living
God;
the
Son,
of the same nature as the Father; God of God;
Light
of Light, begotten, not made, eternal Word by whom everything was made;
and
at the same time: the Christ, true man.
"For
us men and for our salvation, he
came down from heaven; by the power
of
the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man".
The
Christ:
true God and true man. This is the faith of the Church.
The
Christ:
crucified under Pontius Pilate, he died and was buried...
The
Christ:
on the third day he rose from the dead, ascended
into heaven
and is seated at the
right hand of the Father whence he will
come to
judge
the living
and the dead.
Such
is the faith of the apostles. Such is
the faith of Peter. It is
the faith on which the Church of God on earth is built.
Simon
Peter, who was the first to confess this
faith, near Caesarea Philippi,
was also the first to receive
the answer of Christ: "You are Cephas
(that is 'rock') and on this rock I will build my Church" (Mt 16,18).
How
beautiful it is to hear the same apostle,
Simon Peter, in his
first
letter which was read in today's liturgy
give witness to Christ by calling
him the foundation stone.
Christ
is the "living
stone" (1 P 2,4).
This
stone, in truth, "was rejected by
men" (1 P 2,4),
completely rejected.
Jesus was sentenced to die on the cross, the
execution to be carried
out
scarcely a few hours before the Passover.
And
it is precisely in this rejection that he
was recognized for what he
is,
Jesus the Christ, the one "chosen by God and precious to him"
(1
P 2,4).
It
is through him, the living
stone, the first stone, that we have all been
brought together to be built up into a
"spiritual temple" (1 P 2,5).
Yes,
we are all "living stones", a
part of this building founded on Christ;
we constitute "a holy priesthood offering spiritual
sacrifices that Jesus
Christ
has made acceptable to God" (1 P 2,5).
We
are then "a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a consecrated nation, a
people
who belong to God" (1 P 2,9).
We are all this through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, true God and true
man, crucified and risen
from the
dead. Yes, through Jesus Christ: he is the first stone in this divine edifice built up with the
sons and
daughters of all the
earth. It will endure for
all eternity in the
inexpressible glory of the Holy Trinity!
It
is with Jesus Christ, the living stone,
that this ultimate future of
our
construction begins... Such is the future of humankind on earth, the
future of a divine destiny.
Here
then is the faith in Jesus Christ
which Simon Peter proclaimed! Here
is
the faith concerning the Church which he confessed! What a surprising
unity!
And what strength in that faith!
Today,
on Canadian soil, the Bishop of Rome
wants to profess this faith
with all his
heart. He wants to make it the foundation of his
mission
among you,
dear brothers and sisters, here in
the City of Quebec and throughout Canada, all of whose regions I shall
be
visiting.
It
is indeed from here that the Church of
Christ began to spread throughout
North America. Having set out from France, Jacques Cartier, Champlain
and so many others brought to this continent their
culture and their language and
in doing so
contributed to the implanting of faith in Christ the Saviour.
Many
were the servants of God, both men and
women, who from earliest colonial
times came to these
shores to contribute to the building up of the Church. Récollet Fathers,
Jesuits,
Sulpicians, Ursulines with Marie de 1'Incarnation and her incomparable
spiritual
experience, the Hospitalières of Dieppe inspired by the
inexhaustible
charity
of Catherine de Saint-Augustin:
these
religious men and women were among the first to bear witness to the faith and to the love
of Christ
among the settlers and "Indians".
Bearers
of the word, educators of the young,
good Samaritans ministering to the sick; it is they who shaped the face
of the
Church in this
new land.
People have spoken of a veritable "mystical epic" beginning with
the first half of the 17th century. Some
gave their life
to the point of
martyrdom. Many others joined them, bringing to the
work of constructing
their own living
stone, labouring often in poverty, but made
strong
by the Spirit of God.
In
this place we evoke in particular
François de Montmorency Laval, Vicar Apostolic and then
first bishop of Quebec. I cannot
forget that
the university whose
guests we are
today at this splendid site has
its origin in the
seminary that bears his name.
Here
your forbears developed a culture rooted
in that of their native land.
Over the centuries this heritage has become consolidated and
diversified. It
has taken to itself the distinctive contribution of Amerindians
and benefited from the English
presence on this continent. It has
been
enriched by successive waves of immigrants from all over. Your people
have succeeded in preserving their
identity even while remaining open
to other cultures.
The
Church has already recognized the holiness
of a number of these pioneers or is about to do so. They stand out as
striking
witnesses among so
many others, men and women,
humble believers engaged in their daily tasks
who little by little shaped this country in their own image, according
to their faith.
The
vitality and the zeal of your predecessors moved them to carry
the Good News further still.
May I
pay tribute here to a Church which was quick
to reach out to Western Canada, to the Far North, to many other regions
of America? More still, it
has played
a considerable role in the missionary
effort
of the Universal Church throughout the world.
Your
motto is "Je me souviens".
There are indeed treasures in the memory
of the Church as well as in that of a people!
In
every generation, living memory makes it
possible for us to recognize
the presence of Christ, asking as he did at Caesarea: "And you, who
do you say I am?"
The
answer to this question is fundamental for
the future of the Church
in
Canada and for the future of your culture.
You
realize that your traditional culture
characterizing a certain type of "Christendom" has shattered. It is
henceforth open to a variety of currents
of thought: it must answer innumerable new questions. Science, technology,
and the arts take on a growing
importance; material values are present
everywhere. At the same time there is a greater concern for fostering
human rights, for peace, justice,
equality, sharing, freedom...
In
this changing society, dear
brothers and sisters, you must learn to articulate
your faith, and to live it.
As I said to your bishops last October:
"These times are God's times; he will provide his Church with what
it requires as long as it remains open,
courageous and prayerful". You
will know how to remember your past, the boldness and the loyalty of your
predecessors, as you in turn seek to
spread the message of the Gospel in new situations. You will know how
to
develop a new culture that will
integrate
the modernity of America even while
preserving its deep-seated humanity.
This latter trait doubtlessly derives from the fact that your culture
was nurtured by Christianity.
Do
not accept a divorce between faith and
culture. You are being called
at the present time to a new missionary effort.
Culture
and education, which is the primary and essential task
of culture
- is the
fundamental search for what is beautiful, true and good. This search
best
reveals the human being as a subject, bearer of personal transcendence
(cf. my speech to UNESCO, June
2, 1980, No. 10). It helps him
to
become what he must "be" and not simply to rely on what he
"has" or "possesses".
Your culture is not only the reflection of what you are: it is
also the crucible in which what you are to
become. You will no doubt develop
your culture in a living and dynamic way, undaunted by difficult questions
or new challenges. And yet you will
not let yourselves be distracted
by the glare of novelty. You will be careful
not to allow a gap, a discontinuity,
to grow between the past and the future. In other words, you will
develop your
culture with wisdom and prudence, retaining the freedom to criticize
what may
be called the "cultural
industry",
remaining all the while deeply concerned about truth.
But
in addressing myself here to believers, I
again repeat what I expressed
at UNESCO: "I am thinking above all of the
fundamental link between the Gospel, that is, the
message of Christ and the Church, and man and his very humanity" (No. 10). Yes,
dear brothers and sisters, in
the culture that you are now developing, which is in line with
what you
already are by reason of a rich past, in this culture which is always
the soul
of a nation, (c.f. ibid., No. 14),
faith plays a great part. Faith will illuminate
culture , it will give it savour, it will enhance it, as the Gospel
says in
regard to that "light", "salt" and "leaven" which
the disciples of Jesus are
called to
be. Faith will ask culture what values it promotes, what destiny it offers to
life, what place it makes for the
poor and the disinherited
with whom
the Son of Man is identified, how it conceives
of sharing, forgiveness and love. If it is this way, the Church will
continue
to accomplish her mission through you. And you will render service to all society, even to men
and women who
do not share the same spiritual
experience as yourselves. For such a witness respects freedom of
consciences,
without thus abandoning them to certain "imperatives" of modern
civilization which claim to serve human advancement but which in
fact
detract from respect
for life,
from the dignity of a love that involves
persons, and from the search for the
true values of humanity (cf. Discourse
to UNESCO, No. 13).
But
again your faith must remain active and
strong; it must become always more personal, more and more rooted in
prayer and
in the experience of
the Sacraments; it must reach the
living God, in his Son
Jesus Christ the Saviour, through
the help of the Holy Spirit,
in the Church. This is the
faith that
you ought to deepen with joy, in order to live it and to bear witness to it in daily life and
in the new realms of culture. This is indeed the grace which we must
request
for the future of Quebec, for the future
of all Canada. And here we are back to the fundamental question of Jesus Christ: "And you, who do you say
that I
am?".
In
the faith affirmed by Simon Peter near
Caesarea Philippi, in the faith
so
beautifully expressed by him in his first letter, in that same faith
I, John Paul II,
Bishop of Rome, would like
to extend to you most cordial
greetings as I begin my pilgrimage in
your country.
I
wish to greet each and every one of you, you
who are the chosen race,
the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people, who belongs to God;
you who have been called in Jesus Christ
"to proclaim the great deeds of the one who called you out of darkness
into his own wonderful light" (1 P
2:9).
On
this day we are beginning a celebration to
be long treasured in your
hearts.
The
Church has put on our lips
words to fit the circumstances:
"Sing
to the Lord, bless his
name. Proclaim his salvation day after day.
Tell of his glory among the nations. Tell of his
marvels to every
people" (Ps 95,96, 2-3).
from
the shores of the Atlantic to those of
the Pacific and from the south
to
the frozen wastelands of the North...
Behold,
Christ, the Son of the living
God has become the first stone among
you!
Behold,
Christ, the Son of the living
God has become the living stone for
all
generations!
Gloria
Tibi, Trinitas!
Glory
be to you, Holy Trinity!
Amen.
Conférence des évêques catholiques du Canada