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- Farewell homily: Evreux
Cathedral, 22nd of January 1995
I am happy to see in this assembly a so diverse variety
of men and women. By your aspects, your so different talented
gifts, you enlighten my life.
I thank all the elderly people and the sick that sent me the
assurance of their prayers; I thank the children who made a drawing
for me.
I thank the priests and the deacons of Evreux who helped me and
offered their support.
I thank the bishops for their presence.
I thank those who have often sent me many words of encouragements
and even up to the present days. These letters are on my desk
like an overflowing stream.
What a gift to me, to be surrounded by all these testimonies
arising from the bottom of your heart.
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When I came among you, twelve years ago, the assembly of Christians
found enough room in the cathedral Church. Today as I am leaving
you, the Cathedral is too small to house all those who have come
from far away. A large crowd, made of believers or unbelievers,
remain outside.
I thank also all those who do not believe, for having come.
The critical alertness of non-believers is vital: it keeps awake
the evangelical consciousness of Christians. |
Let us rejoice at the diversity of our assembly. We need
each other to live in a creative way. Here we gather
together to open the book of Life.
The Word of God is the light of our life. The Word heals and
frees the heart of those who have been hurt. Let us not store
hate or violence in ourselves; our heart is not meant to hate.
When earthquakes hit Japan, when people tear each other apart
in Chechnya, when young folk are without work and wander with
anger at night in the inner cities, this is sufficient for the
distress of God. Do not cry; do not wear garments for mourning.
This day is a day of feast and joy. The flood of trust and solidarity
that has surged among the most diverse people has become a sign
of hope. What has happened shows the deep aspirations that are
latent in society as well as in the Church: a cry for freedom
of speech, for the right to be different, for every one to be
respected, for democracy. These are values that many ask for
and expect; very often, people in charge act and decide without
taking any notice of people. Paul the Apostle invites each one
of us to take his share of responsibilities.
The body of Christ is the people of God, here, in Evreux
and everywhere in the world. It is made of all the believers,
of all the communities coming from afar to be here and now the
people of God gathered for the Eucharist, to give thanks. The
body of Christ, the people of God is a whole that must not be
broken, neither by people, neither here, nor there. Jesus tells
us, "Be one that the world may believe that you have sent
me". (John 17 v.21.)
The body of Christ does not yet fully exist as long as
there are walls between people, and furthermore, between Christians,
as long as all those "who have been quenched by the One
Spirit" will not be truly acknowledged in a brotherly love
by their brethren. The body of Christ, the people of God, which
you are presently, is a place of compassion and sharing. When
someone suffers, all the members share that suffering, if someone
is honored, all share his/her joy.
All who are present give the people of God a future. You
are the body of Christ. Each one has his/her share in it as members
of his body. Each of us, wherever we are, whoever we are, is
responsible. And this responsibility of the people of God has
a name: mission. The Gospel according to Luke reminds us that
this is the mission of Christ himself and it comes from God.
This mission belongs to everybody. No one may monopolize it as
if he/she were the owner. Each baptized Christian bears the responsibility
of it, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
This mission has not changed since the days of Jesus when he
outlined it once for all, quoting the prophecy of Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has anointed
me
He sent me to preach the Good News to the poor
He sent me to tell prisoners that they are free
He sent me to tell the blind that they will see light
He sent me to bring freedom to the downtrodden and proclaim the
Lord's year of favor.
Today this passage of the Scripture sees its fulfillment,
as you sit listening. It is fulfilled when we proclaim it in
the present tense and in the plural form. The Lord sends us -
you and I - on different paths that are and will be ours. Today
the Lord sends us everywhere to meet women and men to proclaim
the same good tidings of happiness.
That I have lived here, with you, in the diocese of Evreux,
that I have lived elsewhere under all kind of circumstances and
opportunities, clearly shows me that these words of Christ are
the only way to the mission. Any Christian, any community, any
Church who does not follow first and foremost the paths of people's
distress, has no chance of being heard as a carrier of the Good
News. That any woman or man, any community, any Church who does
not become first and foremost a friend for everybody, will not
be able to find the path of their heart, the secret place where
the Good News can be welcomed.
As far as I am concerned, in communion with the Church,
I will pursue my way, bringing the Good News to the poor. The
Gospel is a message of freedom and love. To proclaim God, today,
is to fight for the people's freedom whoever they are. The freedom
to become a true human being means also to be able to live in
sympathy with others, especially to be the voice of the voiceless.
The body of Christ is not achieved; it is being built. Let us
give it a future, each one in our own way, with respect for the
others, with a liberty of conscience and of speech, with an opening
to the world that in its turn looks for paths to its future.
Each one of us is a small cell: necessary for its life. When
it feels hurt, bashed, excluded, it is the whole body that suffers.
Let us accompany it with brotherly love, without fear, on these
ways, which are often new, and disturbing for us; but so fascinating
and carriers of hope. Mission goes on. It has not yet met its
end. Let us give it a future, each one according to his/her call,
according to events, each one according to his/her gifts.
A mission that becomes more and more friendly; a mission more
faithfully committed to caring for the one Jesus welcomed as
a priority: the smallest one among his own.
Jesus is the poor, the excluded in whom we find ourselves.
Paradoxically, it is in him that the future finds an opening,
in whom Hope is rooted. The Church must be the Church of those
who are excluded and not a Church that excludes. Christ has known
this path in his flesh:
The path of dereliction, of unfair condemnation, of exclusion.
The path of resurrection where the gates of Hope opened wide
on the world, for times of joy, of tenderness, of possible peace,
for Hope never vanquished.
That flood of trust and solidarity that started today must
not fall back.
We must not stay with our arms folded.
When people start expressing their thoughts, new ways open.
New initiatives are taken.
When people start expressing their thoughts, there is no
more fear, no more dread but new energies are deployed everywhere. |
