Holy Mass in Notre-Dame Cathedral (30 May 1980)

On Friday, 30 May 1980, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. In his homily the Pope preached on the question asked three times by Christ to Peter, “Do you love me”?  

1. Do you love me?

Basic question, current question. It's the question that opens the heart ― and gives meaning to life. It is the question that decides the true dimension of man. In her, it is the whole man who must express himself, and who must also, in her, surpass himself.

Do you love me?

This question was asked a moment ago in this place. It is a historic place, a sacred place. Here we encounter the genius of France, the genius which expressed itself in the architecture of this temple eight centuries ago and which is still there to bear witness to man. Man, in fact, through all the formulas by which he seeks to define himself, cannot forget that he is. he too is a temple: he is the temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. For this reason, man raised this temple which bears witness to him for eight centuries: Notre-Dame.

Here, in this place, during our first meeting, this question had to be asked: “Do you love me? ". But it must be placed everywhere and always. This question is posed to man by God. This question man must continually ask himself.

2. This question was posed by Christ to Peter. Christ asked it three times, and three times Peter answered him. “Simon, son of John, do you love me? ― Yes, Lord, you know very well that I love you” [ 1 ].

And Pierre was already embarking, with this question and with this answer, on the path that was to be his until the end of his life. Everywhere was to follow him the admirable dialogue in which he had also heard three times: "Be the shepherd of my lambs", "Be the shepherd of my sheep... Be the shepherd of this sheepfold of which I am, I, the Door and the Good Shepherd" [ 2 ] .

Forever, until the end of his life, Peter had to advance on the path, accompanied by this triple question: “Do you love me? ". And he measured all his activities by the answer he had given then. When he was summoned before the Sanhedrin. When he was put in prison in Jerusalem, a prison from which he was not to leave... and from which he nevertheless left. And when he flees from Jerusalem to the north, to Antioch, then, further still, from Antioch to Rome. And when in Rome he had persevered until the end of his days, he knew the power of the words according to which an Other led him where he did not want... [ 3 ].

And he also knew that, thanks to the power of these words, the Church was assiduous "in the teaching of the apostles and in fraternal union, in the breaking of bread and in prayers" ... and that "the Lord added daily to the community those who would be saved"[4 ] .

So it was in Jerusalem. Then to Antioch. Then to Rome. And then again here, west and north of the Alps: in Marseilles, Lyons, Paris.

3. Peter can never detach himself from this question: "Do you love me?" ".

He carries it with him wherever he goes. He carries it through the centuries, through the generations. In the midst of new peoples and new nations. In the midst of ever new languages ​​and races. He carries it alone, and yet he is no longer alone. Others carry it with him: Paul, Jean, Jacques, André, Irénée de Lyon, Benoît de Nursie, Martin de Tours, Bernard de Clairvaux, the Little Pauper of Assisi, Joan of Arc, François de Sales, Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal, Vincent de Paul, Jean-Marie Vianney, Thérèse of Lisieux .

On this land that it is given to me to visit today, here, in this city, there have been, and there are many men and women who have known and who still know today that their whole life has value and meaning only and exclusively insofar as it is an answer to this same question: Do you love? Do you love me? They gave, and they give their answer in a total and perfect way – a heroic answer – or else in a common, ordinary way. But in any case they know that their life, that human life in general, has value and meaning insofar as it is the answer to this question: Do you love? It is only because of this question that life is worth living.

I come here in their footsteps. I visit their earthly homeland. I commend France and Paris, the Church and the world to their intercession. The answer they gave to this question: “Do you love? has a universal meaning, a value that does not pass. It constructs the world of good in the history of humanity. Love alone builds such a world. He builds it with difficulty. He must struggle to give it form: he must struggle against the forces of evil, of sin, of hatred, against the lust of the flesh, against the lust of the eyes and against the pride of life [5 ] .

This struggle is constant. It is as old as the history of man. In our time, this struggle to shape our world seems to be greater than ever. And more than once we ask ourselves tremblingly if hatred will not prevail over love, war over peace, destruction over construction.

How extraordinary is the eloquence of this question of Christ: “Do you love? »! It is fundamental for each and everyone. It is fundamental for the individual and for society, for the nation and for the State. It is fundamental for Paris and for France: “Do you like? ".

4. Christ is the cornerstone of this construction. He is the cornerstone of that shape that the world, our human world, can take through love.

Peter knew it, he to whom Christ asked three times: “Do you love me? ". Peter knew it, he who, at the hour of trial, denied his Master three times. And his voice trembled when he answered: "Lord, you know very well that I love you" [ 6]. However, he did not reply: "And yet, Lord, I have disappointed you" - but: "Lord, you know well that I love you". In saying this, he already knew that Christ is the cornerstone on which, despite all human weakness, this construction which will take the form of love can grow in him, Peter. Through all situations and all trials. Until the end. This is why he will one day write, in his letter that we have just read, the text on Jesus Christ, the cornerstone on which "you too are called to become like living stones for the construction of a spiritual edifice, for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ..."[7 ] .

All this means nothing more than always and constantly answering tenaciously and consistently to this single question: Do you love? Do you love me? Do you love me more?

It is indeed this response, that is to say this love, which makes us "the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people that God has acquired..." [ 8 ] .

It is she who makes us proclaim the marvelous works of him who "has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light" [ 9 ].

All this Peter knew in the absolute certainty of his faith. And all this he knows, and he continues to confess it also in his successors. He knows, yes, and he confesses that this cornerstone, which gives the whole construction of human history the form of love, justice and peace, was, is and will be, truly, the stone rejected by men..., by men, by many of those who are the builders of the destiny of the world; and yet, despite this, it is truly he, Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who will be the cornerstone of human history. And it is from him that, in spite of all the conflicts, objections and negations, in spite of the darkness and the clouds that keep gathering on the horizon of history ―and you know how menacing they are today, in our time! - it is from him that the construction which does not pass will arise, it is on him that it will rise, and it is from him that it will develop. Only love has the strength to do this. Only love knows no decline.

Only Love Lasts Forever [ 10 ]. Alone, he constructs the form of eternity in the terrestrial and fleeting dimensions of the history of man on earth.

5. We are here in a sacred place: Our Lady. This splendid construction, a treasure of Gothic art, your ancestors consecrated it to the Mother of God. They consecrated it to She who, among all human beings, gave the most perfect answer to this question: Do you love? Do you love me? Do you love me more?

His whole life was indeed a perfect answer, without any error, to this question.

It was therefore appropriate that I begin in a place consecrated to Mary my meeting with Paris and with France, a meeting to which I was so courteously invited by the authorities of the State and the city, by the Church and by its pastors. My Monday visit to UNESCO headquarters in Paris thereby acquires its full framework and the dimension that suits my mission of witness and apostolic service.

This invitation is for me of a great price. I highly appreciate it. I also wish, according to my possibilities and according to the state grace that has been given to me, to respond to this invitation and make it reach its goal.

This is why I rejoice that our first meeting will take place in the presence of the Mother of God, before Her who is our hope. I wish to entrust to him the service which it is my duty to perform among you. It is to her too that I ask, together with all of you, dear brothers and sisters, that this service be useful and fruitful for the Church in France, for man and for the contemporary world.

6. There are many places in your country where very often, perhaps every day, my thoughts and my heart go on pilgrimage: the sanctuary of the Immaculate Virgin in Lourdes, Lisieux, and Ars, where this time I will not be able to go, and Annecy, where I have been invited for a long time without being able to fulfill my desire so far.

Here is presented before my eyes France, Mother of the saints throughout so many generations and centuries. Oh how I desire that they all return to our century, and to our generation, to the extent of its needs and its responsibilities!

In this first meeting, I hope that everyone will hear in all its eloquence the question that Christ once addressed to Peter: Do you love? Do you love me? May this question resonate and find a deep echo in each of us!

The future of man and of the world depends on it: will we listen to this question? Will we understand its importance? How will we respond to it?

[ 1 ] Jn 21, 15-17.

[ 2 ] Cf. Jn 10, 7.

[ 3 ] Cf. Jn 21, 18.

[ 4 ] Ac 2, 42. 48.

[ 5 ] Cf. 1 Jn 2, 16.

[ 6 ] Jn 21, 15.

[ 7 ] 1 Pet 2.5.

[ 8 ] 1 Pet 2, 9.

[ 9 ] Ibid .

[ 10 ] 1 Cor 13, 8.

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana