Eucharistic Celebration at Moncton (13 September 1984)

On Thursday, 13 September 1984, the Holy Father celebrated the Holy Eucharist at Front Mountain Road in Moncton, New Brunswick. In his homily, the Pope evoked the spirit of Saint John Chrysostom, according to whose example they should “preserve for your ecclesial communities the dignity that Christ gives them: conform yourselves to the inspiration of the Gospel, seek what is right in the eyes of God.” 

1. “If in Christ we comfort one another, if we encourage one another in love, if we have fellowship in the Spirit, if we have tenderness and compassion, then fill my joy with joy by being united in oneness, having the same love . . . do not each seek his own interests, but also the interests of others. Have among yourselves the same mindset as that of Christ Jesus” ( Phil . 2:1-5).

These words of Saint Paul to the Christians of Philippi are also for you, dear Brothers and Sisters of Moncton, of Acadia and of the entire province of New Brunswick. I encourage you to form exemplary human communities through their practice of solidarity; I exhort you to preserve for your ecclesial communities the dignity that Christ gives them: conform yourselves to the inspiration of the Gospel, seek what is right in the eyes of God. Have the courage of faith, the dynamism of charity and the strength of Christian hope, whatever the trials. Yes, open your communities to the Spirit of Christ.

To deepen this call, I propose to you the example and the words of the holy bishop we celebrate today, one of the most famous of the first centuries of the Christian East: Saint John Chrysostom. The psalm admirably expressed his soul: “To do your will, my God, is what I love . . . I have proclaimed your justice in the great assembly; see, I do not restrain my lips, you know it” ( Ps . 40 (39), 9-10). This peerless pastor never ceased to open his mouth to enlighten his people, to form them, to lead them in their Christian vocation; he was called Chrysostom, that is to say “golden mouth”. And his teaching, imbued with the Word of God and the contemplation of the mystery of Christ, has found a clear, persuasive, concrete expression, which challenges Christians of all times to make choices essential to their salvation, to the realization of “justice”.

2. At the end of the fourth century, in a growing Church, John lived in Antioch in Syria. He could have succeeded in the world of the courts, the theatre and letters, but he preferred, after his baptism at the age of twenty, to initiate himself into the study of the holy books and to devote himself to the service of the Church. He tried to live contemplation and asceticism in the mountainous solitudes. Then, for eleven years, as a deacon and priest, he tirelessly preached the Gospel to the crowds of Antioch. He was called in 397 to become Patriarch of Constantinople, where he was able to freely exercise his episcopate for only six years. In this environment that believed and was sensitive to piety, but inclined to passions, court intrigues, worldly manifestations, the luxury of the rich, the laxity of monks and clerics, he did not want to at all attenuate the vigor and clarity of the Gospel, the demands of Christian baptism and the Eucharist, the priesthood, charity, the dignity of the poor. Truly, “he did not hold back his lips from proclaiming justice.” And no more during the two exiles that the Empress Eudoxia imposed on him after having had him deposed, aggravating his second deportation on the road to the Caucasus, where he died on September 14, 407. He can well be considered a martyr of pastoral courage. But what we will remember above all is that he knew how to form a Christian people, Christian communities worthy of the name.

3. The eloquence of his “golden mouth” came from the power of his faith. With Saint Paul, he could say: “I believed, therefore I spoke” ( 2 Cor . 4:13). And this faith imbued with love led to his apostolic zeal. “All that we live is for you, that grace may abound more; by making you more numerous, it will bring forth an immense thanksgiving for the glory of God” ( Ibid . 4:15).

In fact, this zeal of the pastor had its source in union with Christ. This union was particularly lively when the great Bishop of Constantinople had to experience suffering and persecution. He too could say, following Saint Paul: “We carry about in our body the agony of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made manifest in our body” ( Ibid . 4:10). Union with the suffering and agonizing Christ gave efficacy to his apostolic service and made it a source of supernatural life for others: “Death does its work in us, and life in you” ( Ibid . 4:12).

4. John Chrysostom was not afraid of unjust judgments, harassment, slander and persecution. He proclaimed the demands of the Gospel all the more firmly, out of fidelity to Christ and out of charity for those whose conversion he desired. But this unwavering strength never contradicted charity. He truly lived the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke that we have just heard: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, wish good to those who curse you, pray for those who slander you” ( Luke 6:27-28). His eloquence brought him success with the crowds - in Antioch, in Constantinople, even in his exile in Asia Minor - but his frankness also attracted the hatred of a certain number. He had placed it solely at the service of truth and justice; He paid dearly for it, suffering deeply in his heart and body. This did not deter him from loving and seeking the good of others, for he gave without seeking to receive: “Do good and lend, expecting nothing in return . . . Give, and it will be given to you” ( Luke 6:35, 38). Rather than see his partisans shed the blood of his compatriots, he gave himself up to the soldiers.

This is the pastor, dear Brothers and Sisters, who formed a generation of Christians in a large part of the East, by his word and by the example of his life. This is the witness who is presented to you today, to you who seek to strengthen your ecclesial communities.

5. The Second Vatican Council spoke of the “Christian community”, a sign of God’s presence in the world: “Through the Eucharistic sacrifice, it passes to the Father with Christ; nourished with care by the Word of God, it bears witness to Christ; finally, it walks in charity and is inflamed with the apostolic spirit” ( Ad Gentes , 15). May your parishes and your various communities carry out this program! But to carry it out according to the Gospel, it is good for us to listen again to John Chrysostom expressing his faith: “Do I trust in my own strength? I have his word: this is my support, this is my security, this is my haven of peace” (St. John Chrysostom, Hom. before leaving for exile , 1-3: PG 52, 427-430). Immerse yourselves in this word, he said again, “you have a continual need to find your strength in Scripture”. He also asks that we pray without ceasing, everywhere, in the temple of God which is the human heart.

John Chrysostom takes care to prepare candidates for baptism, and especially to help the baptized to understand the greatness of the gift that God has given them in this sacrament. He speaks with enthusiasm of the Eucharist which makes us participate in the victory of Easter. But he does not forget that “the first path to conversion is the condemnation of our faults. Begin by telling your own faults in order to be justified” ( PG 49, 263-264).

6. This insistence of John Chrysostom on the gift of grace, on faith, prayer, the sacraments, always leads to the demands of Christian behavior which necessarily follow, under penalty of illogic or hypocrisy. And it is there that he speaks with astonishing vigor of charity, of love of neighbor.

This love is reconciliation: “Let no one who has an enemy approach the holy table . . . go first and be reconciled, then receive the sacrament” (St. John Chrysostom, Hom. to the people of Antioch ).

This love is the will for unity and fraternity: “The Church does not exist so that we may remain divided when we come to it, but rather so that our divisions may be extinguished: this is the meaning of the assembly. If it is for the Eucharist that we come, let us not do anything that contradicts the Eucharist” (Eiusdem, Hom. on 2 Cor . 24, 2; 27, 3-5).

This love is respect and acceptance of the poor: “You want to honor the Body of Christ. Do not despise it when it is naked. Do not honor it here, in the church, with silk fabrics, while you leave it outside to suffer from the cold and lack of clothing . . . God does not need golden chalices, but souls that are made of gold . . . Begin by satisfying the hungry, and with what is left you will adorn the altar” ( PG 619-622).

Love is the search for what is useful to one's neighbor: "Nothing is colder than a Christian who is indifferent to the salvation of others" ( Ibid . 60, 162-164). "We neglect the salvation of our children. We seek only profit. We are more concerned with donkeys and horses than with our sons . . . What is comparable to the art of forming a soul?" ( Ibid . 580-584).

Love is apostolate, it is missionary zeal to the ends of the earth. “God does not ask us to succeed but to work . . . If Christ, the model of pastors, worked until the end for the conversion of a desperate man (Judas), what must we not do for those for whom we have been commanded to hope?” (St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on the Canaanite Woman , 10-11). “The leaven, while disappearing in the mass, does not lose its strength; on the contrary, it communicates it little by little . . . It is Christ alone who gives the leaven its power . . . and when the mass has fermented, it becomes leaven in its turn, for all the rest” (St. John Chrysostom, XLVI hom. on Matt . 2-3).

These few strong words from Saint John Chrysostom tell you of the faith, charity, apostolic courage and hope that he wanted to share with his brothers.

7. Dear brothers and sisters of New Brunswick: is it still necessary for the progress of your communities for these exhortations to be articulated in terms of challenges adapted to our times?

I know that your community spirit already allowed you to overcome many early difficulties in Acadia; still today you are known for your sense of fraternity, cordial hospitality and sharing. But your region, like many others, is undergoing a profound transformation which is a new test. Urban life is developing, an economic crisis affects the local communities, and likewise a spiritual crisis, a crisis of values. Meanwhile, you can look to the future with serenity if you stand firm in the faith of the Risen Christ, if you allow his Spirit to form within you the responses to the new challenges, if you show solidarity with one another, if you accept being a leaven in the Church and in society.

And your Christian communities will immediately take up the challenge if they are able to form and deepen the faith of their members through the catechesis of youth and of students, through the continuing formation of adults, through courses or retreats. It is a question of a faith that is a personal attachment to the living God and takes account of the whole creed. Do not allow religious ignorance to stand side by side with the prestige of secular knowledge! Your communities will progress and be renewed if you agree greater place to meditation on the Gospel, to prayer, to the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Penance.

Efforts in sharing, justice and charity - which one can call "social love" - ​​run the risk of becoming simple philanthropy, if they are not rooted in the spiritual energy to which I have made reference in the writings of Saint John Chrysostom. And yet, he was speaking to a group of believers who had forgotten the ethical consequences of the faith. Today it is necessary in the first place to revive the faith which, for a certain number, has been shaken and questioned.

8. But it is evident that a well-understood faith involves all the commitments of charity of which the Pastor of Constantinople spoke and which today might be called:

- respect for persons, of their freedom, of their dignity, so that they can not be crushed by the new social constraints;

- respect for human rights, according to the charters already well known, and including the right to life from the moment of conception, the right to one's reputation, the right to freedom of conscience;

- the refusal of violence and torture;

- concern for the less fortunate categories, for women, for laborers, for the unemployed, for immigrants;

- establishment of social measures for greater equality and justice, for all men and women, regardless of individual interests or privileges;

- the will to live a simple life and to share, in contrast with the present race for profit, consumption and artificial gratification, in such a way as not to be deprived of what is essential for oneself, while also permitting the poor, whoever they may be, to lead a dignified life;

- a more universal openness towards the basic needs of the less fortunate countries, in particular those that are referred to as the "South", the regions where each day thousands of human beings die because of the lack of peace or elementary care given to them ; and hence concern to inaugurate, at the international level effective solutions for a more equitable distribution of goods and opportunities on the earth;

- missionary zeal for help among the Churches.

Thus your communities will be able to provide a generous sharing that begins in the immediate neighborhood and that then opens up, without boundaries, to the world. You will not wait to settle your own social problems - that are certainly most real, and I am thinking in particular of unemployment - before living that fullness of charity described by Saint John Chrysostom.

All this activity of solidarity you will accomplish individually, or by your Christian associations, and also taking part in the initiative of the institutions of civil society ( Gaudium et Spes , 42-43). And with the Christian motivation which sees in the other person a brother or sister in God and a member of Christ, you will be the leaven that raises the dough to a level of greater justice, fraternal solidarity and social love.

9. Your ecclesial communities will be so much more stable and dynamic if everyone plays his or her own role, according to his or her vocation and charisms, as I said this morning in the Cathedral: Bishops, priests, religious, laity.

It is necessary without doubt that there be formed what you call the relay groups in order to manifest better the vitality of the Church in allowing specialized activities and truly human action. But all must be vigilant for unity within the common mission of evangelization, and here the parish plays a unique role. For all groups the parish's vocation "is to be a fraternal and welcoming family home, where those who have been baptized and confirmed become aware of forming the People of God... From that home they are sent out day by day to their apostolic mission in all the centers of activity of the life of the world" (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Catechisi Tradendae , 67).

10. Dear brothers and sisters: we are a people on a journey. We toil here below with courage and strong love to construct a new world more open to God and more fraternal, one that offers some sketch of the world to come ( Gaudium et Spes , 39). Let us take care not to forget the fullness to which God calls us!

Saint John Chrysostom, a disciple of the Lord, a successor of the Apostles, was strengthened during the whole course of his toilsome and difficult life by an eschatological hope - the hope of what lies beyond, of the new life promised by God - which Saint Paul announced in his Letter to the Corinthians: "Yes, the troubles which are soon over, though they weight little, train us for the carrying of a weight of eternal glory which is out of all proportion to them. And so we have no eyes for things that are visible, but only for things that are invisible; for visible things last only for a time, and the invisible things are eternal.

Let the voice of Saint Paul, let the voice of the great Saint of Constantinople continue to echo in your hearts, together with the voice of your own Pastors united with the Successor of Peter!

May the intercession of Our Lady of the Assumption, Our Lady of Acadia, allow the Church of Moncton and other dioceses to grow, to strengthen, to shine, in coherence with its eternal destiny: “Our gaze is fixed on what is not seen, on what is eternal!”

Amen!

© Copyright 1984 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana