ECUMENICAL
MEETING
EDMONTON,
ALBERTA
SEPTEMBER
16, 1984
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
On
this Sunday evening in Edmonton, the
evening of the first day of the
week when we Christians
celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord, we come together in prayer in this beautiful
Cathedral of Saint Joseph. We are gathered in the joy of our common
Baptism, in the
power of the word of God, and in the peace and love of Christ,
whom we
proclaim as the Light of the world
and the
supreme manifestation of God. I invite you all to reflect with me this evening on the
mystery of the
presence of God.
As
men and women of faith, we believe that
God is present in his creation, that he is the Lord of history
who
directs the times and the seasons,
that he is near to all who call upon him: the poor and the dejected,
the
sorrowing and the lonely, the weak and the oppressed. We believe
that God breaks through the silence,
and even the noise, of our daily lives revealing to us his truth and
his love.
He wishes to dispel our
fear and strengthen our
hope in his saving mercy.
God
personally speaks to the heart of every
individual,
but he also
acts through the community of people whom he predestines to be his
own. We see
this first in the history of the Jewish
people. Through Abraham, our Father
in faith, through
Isaac and Jacob, and in particular through Moses, God called a people to belong to him in
a special way. He entered into a covenant with them, saying: "I will be
their
God and they shall be my people"
(Jr 31:33). When his chosen ones sinned and went their own way, forgetting the God who saved them, God
in his
never-ending love intervened in their
lives by means of the Prophets. He called the people to repentance
and
promised to establish with them a new and better covenant. This New Covenant he described in this
way:
"Deep within them I will plant my
Law, writing it on their hearts... They will all know me, the least no less
than the greatest, since I will forgive their iniquity and never call
their sin
to mind" (Jr 31:33-34).
And
how did God establish this New Covenant?
How did he write his law on the hearts of his chosen ones? With the
Blood of
Jesus, the Blood of the
Lamb
of God, the Blood of the New and Everlasting Covenant, our Saviour's
Blood, which is the price of our Redemption and the most
eloquent expression possible
of the love
of God for the world.
The
presence of God is embodied in its
fullness in Jesus of Nazareth, the
Son of God who became the
Son of Mary and who shed his Blood for us on the
Cross. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh, the
revelation of the eternal Father. Before this great mystery of the presence of God, we stand in awe and
reverence,
and our hearts and voices long to break forth in songs and hymns of
praise.
And indeed this is most appropriate, for the first duty of a
creature is
to glorify the Creator, the
first duty of a
redeemed people is to praise their Lord and Saviour. That is why I am
so
pleased to join you tonight in this Evening Service of Praise. How good
it is, as
brothers and sisters in Christ, to join our voices in "psalms and hymns and
inspired songs"! (Col 3:l6).
Psalm
103, which we are praying together this evening, shows us a person whose whole being is filled
with the praise
of God:
"My
soul, give thanks to the Lord, all
my being, bless his holy name. My
soul,
give thanks to the Lord and
never forget all his
blessings" (vv 1-2).
"Never
forget all his blessings":
a heart filled with praise never forgets
the many blessings of God. For the prayer of praise involves
an act
of remembering
with gratitude,
remembering all
the ways that God has shown
his saving love. And so the Psalmist
declares:
"It
is he who forgives all your guilt, who
heals every one of your ills,
who
redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with love and
compassion, who
fills
your life with good things, renewing your youth like
an eagle's" (vv 3-5).
The
prayer of praise proceeds from a humble awareness of our unworthiness and our total dependence on God,
combined with a childlike trust
in God's abundant mercy. And so the Psalmist
continues:
"As
a father has compassion on his
sons, the Lord has pity on those who fear him. For he knows of what we
are
made, he
remembers
that we are dust" (vv 13-14).
To
praise the Lord is also to acclaim the
many attributes of God, to extol
the qualities of this
great and holy God who has established a covenant
with his people. Thus the Psalmist says:
"The
Lord is compassion and love,
slow
to anger and rich in mercy...
when
they keep his covenant in truth" (vv 8, 17-18).
Living
in the presence of God, Christians
break forth in acclamation and
praise, expressing
gratitude for the gift of faith and for all the saving deeds of the Lord. But we must
also turn to God with prayers of petition, seeking from the Lord shelter and
safety from the forces of evil,
forgiveness
of our sins and
healing of our wounded lives, strength to bear life's
burdens and grace to fulfil
God's will. Often the prayer of petition must be made with a sense of
urgency and
pleading. And so, the man
in Psalm 141
cries out:
"I
have called to you, Lord; hasten to
help me!
Hear
my voice when I cry to you...
To
you,
Lord God, my eyes are turned:
in
you I take refuge, spare my soul!"
(vv 1,8).
The
prayer of petition springs from a humble
awareness of one's great need for God's grace, and from a deep trust in
the
powerful mercy of God. Thus,
it
is accompanied by an attitude of adoration. We kneel, at least
in spirit,
in the awesome presence of Almighty
God, and the words that we utter
are like those of the
Psalmist who pleads:
"Let
my prayer arise before you like
incense
the
raising of my hands like
an evening oblation"
(Ps
141:2).
Our
Saviour promised us: "Where two or
three meet in my name, I shall be
there
with them" (Mt 18:20). We know that this is true this evening as we
Christians join together in common prayer. The presence of Christ
fills
this Cathedral
as we praise his name, and as we pray for
that perfect unity
among
Christians which he wills for his followers.
Since
true prayer overflows into generous
service, we are not unmindful this evening of the great needs of
our
brothers and sisters who suffer
throughout the world. In faithful response to the Lord, whose Holy Spirit
has inspired the ecumenical movement,
not only do we pray together and
enter into theological
dialogue, but we also engage in efforts of joint collaboration to promote a more just
and peaceful world. We seek to become, and help one another to be,
"the salt
of the earth" and "the light of the world" (cf. Mt 5:11-16). In
this way, we proclaim together the Good News of God's presence in the
world in
the person of Jesus Christ, who is one with his Church.
The
beautiful prayer known as the Magnificat
which we pray together this
evening directs our minds to God and his saving presence in human history.
It also turns our attention to Mary,
the Mother of our Saviour. This
woman of faith remains for us today a model of holiness of life. In a special
way, she experienced the presence of
God in her life when she became
the Mother of our Redeemer. As a woman whose heart was filled with praise,
she extolled the greatness of God,
proclaiming his goodness to the poor
and lowly and telling of his mercy towards every generation.
Together with
Mary we
join our voices to praise "the greatness of the Lord" Lk
(1:46).
We
do this above all
in union with Jesus Christ, who remains for ever the
Light of the world,
and who offers us the light of life
(cf. Jn 8:12).
Dearly
beloved friends: let us receive this
light from him and walk in this
light, for the glory of his Father, who lives and reigns with the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Conférence
des évêques catholiques du Canada