MASS
AT JARRY PARK
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
SEPTEMBER 11,
1984
Beloved
brothers and sisters in Christ,
I
am happy to be with you today in Montreal
and I thank the Lord for this
opportunity. I come among you as a pilgrim of faith and as bishop of Rome,
as someone who has received the mission
once confided to Peter to strengthen
his brethren in the faith. To each and everyone of you I say: "Grace
and peace in abundance, through the true knowledge of
God and of our Lord Jesus
Christ" (2
P 1,2).
May
you have "more and more grace and peace through knowing
God and Jesus our Lord".
In
seeing you all
gathered here I think of the founders of Ville-Marie.
They planted a seed here at the foot of Mont-Royal and near the shores
of the
St. Lawrence, a seed which has become a great tree. It is with joy that I join with you in
celebrating the
faith which has so profoundly marked your history, the faith
that it is
up to you to maintain and to
intensify
following the example of sister Marie-Leonie whom we are going to beatify.
In
the course of my journeys around the world I discover the joys
and the concerns of all the
Churches. To all
of the faithful of Canada I bring their
greetings.
I
bring you great tidings from the young and
dynamic Churches of Asia and
Africa.
I
bring you the echo of the valiant faith of
your brothers and sisters in
Latin America who are
exposed to the violence of underdevelopment and arms.
The
brothers of the-Church of Rome and of Italy greet you.
I
also bring to you greetings from your
brothers and sisters in the faith living in Poland.
May
these indications of the tenacious faith
of your Christian sisters and
brothers throughout the
world stimulate you and strengthen you in your own faith.
These
were the words spoken to Moses from the
burning bush. He was looking after the flock and had come to Horeb, the
mountain of God. The hush was blazing but was not being burnt up.
And so
Moses wondered: "What is
the
meaning of this fire that does not destroy the bush and yet burns and
gives light?"
The
answer came from the midst of the
wonderful sight, a more than human
answer: "Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy
ground!" (Ex 3,5).
Why
is this place holy? Because it is the
place of the presence of God, the place of the revelation of
God, of the
theophany. "I am the God of
your
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" (Ex
3,6).
Moses
covered his face, afraid to look at
the fire where the living
God
was revealing himself.
Dear
brothers and sisters of Quebec and
Canada, what of your meeting with
the
living God? Sometimes today's world seems to conceal him, seems to
make you forget him. This apparent
spiritual desert stands in sharp contrast
with a period, not far removed in time, when the presence of God was highly visible here in social life
and in the
existence of many and varied
religious institutions. And you hear repeated around you: "Where is
your God?" (Ps 42,4).
For
the human heart, however, there is no way
to become accustomed to the
absence of God. Like Moses’ compatriots, it suffers when removed from his
presence. But he is never far from each
one of us (Ac 17,27). He is mysteriously
present, like
the fire that cannot be grasped, like
the gentle breeze
that cannot be seen (cf. 1K 19, 12-13). He beckons to us. He calls us
by name to charge us with a mission.
To
replace God is an impossible task. Nothing
can fill the emptiness of his absence, neither abundant material wealth
- which
does not satisfy the heart - nor easy and permissive lifestyles which
do not
quench our thirst for happiness - nor the exclusive search for success
or power
for their
own sake - nor even
technology which makes it possible to change the world
but brings no real answer to the mystery of our
destiny. All this may
prove to be attractive for a time, but it leaves an aftertaste of illusion
and a void in the heart (if
we have moved away from the burning bush).
It
is at this point that we may see appearing, by a kind of
reversal, hunger for things
spiritual,
attraction for the absolute, thirst for the living God (Ps 42, 3). Paradoxically,
the time "of the
absence of God" may become
the
time of the rediscovery of God, as in the approach to Mount Horeb.
Yes,
God continues to beckon to us, through
our own personal history and
that of the world we live
in,
as he called
Moses through the sufferings of
his
people. Is there anyone of us who, at one time or another, has not known
experiences of light and peace!
"God has entered my life!"
This might
be a sudden experience or the result of a slow maturing process.
His mysterious
presence can be
felt on occasions of all kinds: the wondrous birth
of a child, the beginning of authentic love, the
meeting with death in the case of loved ones, the confrontation with
failure or
with the mystery
of evil,
compassion felt for the sufferings of others, the grace of having
escaped an accident or of recovering
from a sickness, the creation of a work of art, the silent
contemplation of
nature, the meeting with a person
in whom God dwells, participation in a praying community... All these
are
sparks which light up the road to God, events which open the door to
him. But revelation itself comes from God,
from the heart of the burning
bush. It is his Word, read and meditated upon in prayer, it is the
sacred
history of the people of God, which make it possible for us to decipher
these signs, to recognize the name
and the face of the living God, to discover that he transcends all
experience and all creatures. As one of your
poets has said, Our God is "like
the deepest spring of the deepest waters"
(Anne Hébert, Présence, 1944).
God
reveals himself to Moses in order to give
him a mission.
He must lead
Israel out of Egypt, out of its bondage
under the Pharaohs.
Moses
experiences the presence of God.
He knows who the God of his fathers
is,
but as he is
charged with this mission, he poses a question: "But
if they ask me what his name is,
what am I to tell them?" (cf. Ex 3,13).
This matter of the name is
of fundamental importance. Moses’ question relates to the
essence
of God, to what constitutes his absolutely unique reality.
And
the answer came, "I am who I
am" (Ex 3,14). The essence of God is to be, to exist. All that
exists the whole cosmos has its origin in him. Everything
exists because God gives existence.
Once
Saint Catherine of Siena - following
saint Thomas Aquinas -inspired by the same wisdom drawn from the
theophany of
which Moses had been
the
witness, said to God: "You are the one who is;
I am the one who is
not".
Between
the "I am" of God and the
"I am" of a human being - as indeed of all
creatures - the relationship is the same: God is the one who is;
the
creature, the human being is the one who is not ...It
is called into
existence
from nothingness.
It is from God that we receive life, movement and
being (cf. Ac 17,28).
Today
in this great city of Montreal, we want
to praise THE ONE WHO IS.
We want to
praise him along with all
creation, we who exist only because
he exists.
We
exist and we pass away,
whereas he alone does not pass away. He alone
is Existence itself.
And
that is why we say with the Psalm in
today's liturgy: "The Lord is
great, loud must be his praise ...
give the Lord
the glory of his name .. worship the Lord ..."
(Ps 95 (96),
4-9) as Moses did when he "covered his
face, afraid to look at God" (Ex 3,6).
Prostrate
yourselves, men and women of today!
You
know the mysteries of creation far better
than Moses did! Do they no
longer speak to you of God?
Prostrate
yourselves. Read again and read
thoroughly the witness of creation!
God
is above every creature; he is absolute
transcendence. Where the evidence
of creation ends, there begins the Word of God, the Word: "In
the beginning
he
was with God ...
Through him all
things
came to be, no one thing
had its being but through him ..."
(Jn 1, 1-3).
"In
him was life,
And
the life
was the light
of men ..."
But
listen to what follows: "The Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us
...
To all who accepted him he gave the power to become children of
God: to
those who
believe in his name, those ...
who are born of God" (Jn 1, 1-14).
Yes,
God who Is above all
creatures, who is absolute transcendence, God
has become a creature, a man. The Word was made
flesh.
In him, human beings, born of human beings, are born of God.
They become
sons through divine
filiation, sons in the Son.
On
this day, in this great city of Montreal,
we wish to pay tribute to God
made man.
...
the light has shone on the earth
...
Glory be to you, 0 Christ,
proclaimed among the
people;
glory be to you, 0 Christ, greeted in
this
world
by faith" (cf. 1 Tm 3, 16),
Alleluia!
We
give thanks for all those who have welcomed
this light here, on Canadian
soil.
We
give thanks especially for those who have
become, through Christ, the
light of the Church and of the whole of mankind.
The
Church has officially recognized the
holiness of some of them; several
came from abroad,
especially from France, but it is here that they completed their lives and attained
their measure of holiness. They are
familiar to you. I am referring to the holy Jesuit Martyrs, founders of
the Church in Canada;
Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys;
and the blessed: Bishop François de Montmorency-Laval, Mother Marie de
l'Incarnation,
the young Iroquois woman Kateri Tekakwitha, Mother Marguerite
d'Youville,
Father André Grasset, Mother Marie-Rose Durocher, and Brother André
Bessette.
I
personally had the joy of celebrating in
Rome the beatification of five
of
these and the canonization of one. But I know that other cases are under
consideration and I hope the decision
will be positive. I am thinking
particularly of Mother Catherine de Saint Augustin, the heroic quality
of whose
virtues was recently recognized.
Beyond
those who have been officially
canonized or beatified, there are
surely many whose faith
has grown into an admirable, constant and often discrete love of God and of neighbour.
If the few traces they left
behind prevent the Church
from
examining their lives in detail, they are most certainly known to God; they answered
his call, as Moses did. They increased his glory and his kingdom on
this
Canadian soil.
In
the face of all these
men and women, we must repeat the words of the great Irenaeus, in the second century:
"the glory of God is the
human person fully alive", the person who lives the fullness of
life, the life that comes from God in Jesus Christ.
Today,
to this living
record
of the saints and the blessed which has been
in this land for centuries, a new name is being added, that of
Sister Marie-Léonie
Paradis.
This
woman is one of you, humble among the
humble, and today she takes her
place
among those whom God has lifted up to glory. I am happy that for the
first
time, this beatification is taking place in Canada, her homeland.
Born
of simple, poor and virtuous parents,
she soon grasped the beauty of religious life
and committed herself to it through hew vows with the Marist
Order of the Holy Cross. She never once
questioned that gift to God,
not
even during the difficult periods of community life in New York and in
Indiana.
When she was appointed to serve in a college in Memramcook in
Acadia, the richness of her religious life
drew young women to her who also
wanted to dedicate their life, to God. With them and thanks to the
understanding of Bishop Larocque of Sherbrooke, she founded the Congregation
of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family which is still thriving
and is still very much appreciated.
Never
doubting her call,
she often asked: "Lord, show me your ways", so that she would know the concrete
form of her service in the Church.
She found and proposed to
her
spiritual daughters a special kind of commitment: the service of educational
institutions, seminaries
and priests' homes. She
never shied
away from the various forms of manual work which is the lot of so many people today and which held
a special
place in the Holy Family and in the life of Jesus of Nazareth himself. It is
there that she
saw the will of God
for her life. It was in
carrying out these tasks
that she found God. In the
sacrifices which
were required and which she offered in love, she experienced a profound
joy and
peace. She knew that she was one with Christ's fundamental attitude: he
had
"come not to be served, but to serve". She was filled with the
greatness of the eucharist and with the greatness of the priesthood at
the
service of the eucharist. That is one of
the secrets of her spiritual motivation.
Yes,
God looked upon the holiness of his
humble servant, Marie-Leonie who
had
been inspired by Mary's openness and receptivity. And henceforth, from
age to age, her Congregation and the
Church will call her blessed (cf. Lk
1, 4-8).
This
new beatification of a Canadian nun
reminds us how much religious communities
in every sector of ecclesial and social life
have
contributed to
Canada. They
have done this through contemplative prayer, education, assistance
to the poor, work in hospitals and
apostolic involvement of all kinds.
It is a great gift. And if,
today, the concrete forms of service can
be different and evolve according to need,
the religious vocation as such
remains a marvelous gift of God. It is a witness without parallel, a prophetic
charism essential to the Church, not
only because of the immeasurable services for which the Sisters are
responsible, but because first
of all it signifies the
gratuity of love in a
spousal gift to Christ, in a
total
consecration to his redemptive work (cf. my letter Redemptionis
donum).
I would ask this of all the Christians gathered here: Are the Canadian people still able to
appreciate this
gift? Do they help religious women to
find and to strengthen their vocation? And you, dear Sisters, do you appreciate the greatness of the
call of God and
the fundamentally evangelical lifestyle which corresponds to that gift?
Women
religious, turned towards the Burning
Bush, have a particular experience
of the living
God. But I address myself in this Mass to all
the Christian
people of Montreal, Quebec and Canada. Brothers and sisters: seek
the Lord; seek his
will;
listen to the One who calls each of you by name
in order to entrust a mission to you, so
that you can bear his light within
the Church and society.
You
are the Christian laity, baptized and
confirmed. And you wish to live as sons and daughters of God. In the
Body of
the Church there are many
charisms, many forms of activity for developing your talents in the service
of others. God sends you to serve
your brothers and sisters who are
suffering, in distress, in search of him. By your prayers and deeds each
day may the love of God, the justice of
God and hope find their place in
the
earthly city, in all
your places of work, leisure and research. Having
had the experience of God yourselves,
contribute to building a fraternal
world which is open to God. I address this message to all people;
but since I am beatifying a woman today, I address it
especially to women. Like all the
baptized, you are called to holiness in order to sanctify the world according to your
vocation in the plan of God, who created humanity as "man and woman".
Together with men, bring into the heart of your families, bring
into the
heart of this society, the human and Christian
capacities with which God has endowed your femininity and which you
will
be able to develop according to your rights and duties to the very degree that you are united with
Christ, the source
of holiness.
The
Lord counts on you so that human
relations may be permeated with the
love that God desires. The ways of accomplishing this service may differ
from that chosen by Blessed Sister
Marie-Léonie. But - in the most evangelical
sense which transcends the opinions of this world - it is
always a question of service, which is indispensable for humanity and
the Church.
The
saints and the blessed and all
those guided by the spirit of God, can
make their own the words of the letter to the Ephesians which we have
heard:
"Blessed be
God the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all the spiritual blessings
of heaven in Christ" (Ep 1:3).
Yes,
the names of the saints confirm in a special way the truth
of our existence in Jesus Christ. The truth and the call to holiness
that is, union
with God through Christ.
Let
us again listen to this letter to the Ephesians:
-
God
"before the world was made, chose us, he chose us in Christ",
-
out
of love he determined that we
"should become his adopted sons through
Jesus Christ",
-
in
him, "through his blood,
we gain our freedom, the
forgiveness of our sins", and
this,
through "the richness of his grace",
-
he
has united
everything "under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and
everything on earth",
-
in
him, we too
have been made heirs,
-
in
him, we
have been stamped "with the seal of the Holy Spirit ...the
pledge of our inheritance which brings freedon [sp] for those
whom God has taken for his own, to make his
glory
praised" (Ep 1, 4-14).
"For
the place on which you stand is
holy ground!"
In
the period in which we live, what we see
on earth makes sin more obvious
to us than holiness. There are many reasons why, in the different countries
and continents, we should see more
often the unfortunate results of sin
than the light
of holiness. Despite a growing tendency no longer to call
a sin
a sin,
the human family lives in fear of what is
finally the product
of
human intelligence and will at odds with the will of the Creator and
the Redeemer. All of us here are aware of
the perils that threaten our planet
and we recognize man's hand in those threats.
And
yet
...
Yet
this earth,
the place where we live, is holy ground.
It
has been marked
by the presence of the living
God,
whose fullness is
in Christ. And that Presence remains
on earth and produces the fruits of
holiness.
That
Presence is Reality.
It
is grace.
The
presence will always be a cal1 and a
1ight.
"The
light shines in the dark, but the darkness cannot
overcome it" (Jn 1,5).
AMEN