CELEBRATION
OF THE WORD
(SHRINE
FIELD)
HURONIA,
ONTARIO
SEPTEMBER
15, 1984
Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Chay!
With this traditional Huron
word of welcome I greet you all.
And
I greet you, too, in the name of Jesus Christ who loves
you and
who has called you out "of every
race,
language, people and nation" (Rev 5:9) to be one in his Body the Church. Truly
Canadians are a
people of many races and languages,
and thus it gives me great joy to pray with you at this holy place, the
Martyrs' Shrine, which stands as a symbol of the unity of faith
in a diversity of
cultures. I greet
those of you who have come from the far North and the rural areas of
Ontario, those
from the cities to the South,
those
from outside Ontario and from the United States as well. And in a special way I greet the native
peoples of
Canada, the descendants of the
first
inhabitants of this land, the North American Indians.
We
are gathered at this site in Midland which
is of great importance in
the
history of Canada and in the history of the Church. Here was once located
the Shrine of St. Marie which one of
my predecessors, Pope Urban VIII,
designated in 1644 as a place
of pilgrimage, the first of its kind in North America. Here the first
Christians of Huronia found a "house
of prayer and a home of peace". And here today stands the Martyrs'
Shrine, a symbol of hope and faith, a symbol of the triumph of the
Cross.
The reading from Saint
Paul's Letter
to the Romans, which we have just heard, helps us to understand the meaning of
this holy place, and what it was
that gave the martyrs the
courage to
lay down their lives in this land. It helps us to understand
the power
that attracted the native peoples to the faith.
And this power was "the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:39).
Saint
Paul also tells us how firmly he
believed in the love of Christ and
in its power to overcome all
obstacles:
"Nothing can come between us and the love of Christ" (Rom 8:35).
These are words which proceed from the very
depths of his being and out of his personal experience as an Apostle.
For this
great missionary faced many trials and difficulties in his zealous efforts to proclaim the
Gospel. To the
Corinthians, he writes: "I have been in danger from rivers and
in
danger from brigands, in danger from my own
people and in danger from pagans; in danger in the towns, in danger in the open country, danger at sea and
danger from
so-called brothers. I have
worked and
laboured, often without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty and often
starving;
I have been in the cold without clothes, and, to leave out much more, there is my
daily preoccupation: my anxiety for all
the churches" (2 Cor 11:26-28).
And
yet, Paul glories in these hardships and
says of them, "These are the trials through which we triumph, by the
power
of him who loved us" (Rm 8:37). All these hardships he gladly bears
because he is convinced of the
love
of Christ, and that nothing can ever separate him from that love.
A
similar confidence in God's love guided
the lives of the Martyrs who are
honoured at this Shrine. They, like
Paul, had come
to consider the love
of Christ
as the greatest of all treasures. And they, too, believed that
the love of Christ was so strong that nothing could separate
them from it, not even
persecution and
death. The North American Martyrs, then, gave up their lives for the
sake of
the Gospel - in order to bring the faith to the native people whom they served. In fact, we are told that their faith was so strong that they yearned and
prayed for the grace of martyrdom.
Let us recall for a moment these heroic saints who are honoured in this
place and
who have left us a precious heritage.
Six
of them were Jesuit priests from France:
Jean de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues, Gabriel Lalemant, Antoine Daniel,
Charles Gamier
and Noel Chabanel. Fired with love for Christ and inspired by Saint
Ignatius of
Loyola,
Saint Francis
Xavier and other great saints of the Society of Jesus,
these priests came to the New World to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to the native peoples of
this land. And they
persevered to the end despite
difficulties of every sort.
Two
lay brothers were part of the missionary
group: Rene Goupil and Jean
de
la Lande. With no less courage and fervour, they assisted the priests
in their labours, showed great compassion and care for the
Indians, and, laying down their
lives, won
for themselves the martyr's crown.
And
as these missionaries laid
down their lives, they looked forward to a
day when the native people would enjoy full
maturity and exercise leadership
in their Church. St. John de Brebeuf dreamed of a Church fully Catholic
and fully Huron as well.
A
young woman of Algonquin and Mohawk
ancestry also deserves special recognition
today: Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. Who has not heard of her outstanding
witness of purity and holiness of
life? It was my personal joy,
only four years ago, to
beatify this woman of great courage and faith, who is known by many as the "Lily of
the Mohawks". To those
who came to Rome for her beatification, I said: "Blessed Kateri stands
before us as a symbol of
the heritage
that is yours as North American Indians" (June 24, 1980). '
As
we are gathered in prayer today at the
Martyrs' Shrine, we remember the
many efforts of the Church,
beginning three and a half centuries ago, to bring the Gospel of
Christ into the lives of the native peoples of North America.
The Martyrs honoured here are only a small representation
of the many men and women who took part in this great missionary
effort. We
wish to
pay tribute as well to all
those who joyfully embraced the
Christian faith, like
Blessed Kateri,
and who remained faithful despite many trials and
difficulties. Of great importance to the Church of Huronia is Joseph Chiwatenwa, who together with his wife
Aonnetta, his brother Joseph and other family members lived and
witnessed to
their faith in an heroic manner.
Their fidelity is yet another testimony to the truth attested to by the
Apostle
Paul: "Nothing can ever separate us from the love of Christ". A statue now commemorates the
life and
mission of Joseph Chiwatenwa.
Particularly striking is the testimony of Saint Charles Gamier on the inscription: "It
was in this Christian that we had our hope after God". These men and women not
only professed the faith and
embraced Christ's love,
but they in
turn became evangelizers and provide even today eloquent models for lay ministry.
We
also recall how the worthy traditions of
the Indian tribes were strengthened and enriched by the Gospel message.
These new Christians knew by
instinct that the Gospel, far from destroying their authentic values
and customs,
had the power to purify and uplift
the cultural heritage which they
had
received. During her long history, the Church herself has been constantly
enriched by the new traditions
which are added to her life and legacy.
And
today we are grateful for the part that
the native peoples play, not
only in the multicultural
fabric of Canadian society, but in the life of the Catholic Church. Christ himself
is incarnate
in his Body, the Church. And through her action, the Church desires to
assist
all people "to bring
forth from
their own living tradition original expressions
of Christian life,
celebration and thought" (Catechesi Tradendae, 53).
Thus
the one faith is expressed in different
ways. There can be no question
of adulterating the word of God or of emptying the Cross of its power,
but rather of Christ animating the
very centre of all
culture. Thus, not only is Christianity
relevant to the Indian peoples, but Christ, in
the members of his Body, is himself Indian.
And
the revival of Indian culture will
be a revival of those true values
which they have inherited and safeguarded, and which are purified and
ennobled
by the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Through his Gospel Christ confirms the native peoples in their belief in God, their
awareness of his presence,
their ability to discover him in
creation, their dependence on him, their desire to worship him, their
sense of
gratitude for the land, their
responsible stewardship of the earth, their reverence for all his
great works, their respect
for their
elders. The world needs to see these values
- and so many more that they possess - pursued in the life of the
community and
made incarnate in a whole people.
Finally,
it is in the Eucharistic
Sacrifice that Christ, joined with his members, offers up to his
Father all
that makes up their lives and cultures. In his Sacrifice he
consolidates all his
people in the unity of his Church and calls us all to reconciliation
and peace.
Like
the Good Samaritan we are called to bind
up the wounds of our neighbours
in need. Together with Saint Paul we must affirm: "It
was God who
reconciled us to himself through
Christ and gave us the work of handing on
this reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:18). This is truly the hour for Canadians
to heal all the divisions that have developed
over the
centuries between the
original
peoples and the newcomers to this continent. This challenge touches all individuals and groups,
all Churches
and ecclesial Communities throughout
Canada. Once again in the words of Saint Paul: "Now is the favourable time; this is the day of
salvation" (2 Cor 6:2).
Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ, this
Martyrs' Shrine of Huronia bears
witness to the rich heritage that has been handed on to the whole Church.
At the same time, it is a place of
pilgrimage and prayer, a monument
to God's blessings in the past, an inspiration as we look to
the future.
Let us then praise God for his providential
care and for all
we have
inherited from the past.
As
we go forward, let us commend ourselves to
the intercession of the North American Martyrs, to Blessed Kateri
Tekakwitha,
Saint Joseph, Patron of
Canada, and all the Saints, together with Mary the Queen of Saints. And
in
union with the whole Church - in the
richness of her diversity and in the
power of her unity - let us all
proclaim by
the witness of our own lives
that "neither death nor life...
nor any created thing, can ever come between
us and the love of God made visible in
Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom
8:38-39).
Conférence
des évêques catholiques du Canada