THE CHURCH IS A SIGN AND INSTRUMENT OF THE PEACE OF GOD

VATICAN CITY, 11 MAY 2008 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 10 a.m. today, the Pope presided at a Eucharistic celebration for the Solemnity of Pentecost.

  In his homily, the Holy Father indicated that on the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Church received a "Baptism of fire", and he continued: "At Pentecost the Church was constituted not by human will but by the power of the Spirit of God. And it immediately became clear how this Spirit gave life to a community that is, simultaneously, one and universal, thus overcoming the curse of Babel.

  "Only the Holy Spirit, which creates unity in love and in mutual acceptance of diversity, can free humanity from the constant temptation to seek earthly power which wishes to dominate and standardise everything".

  The Pope referred to that "particular aspect of the action of the Holy Spirit" which is "the interweaving of multiplicity and unity", and he pointed out that with "the event of Pentecost it became clear that the Church has multiple languages and diverse cultures. In the faith they can understand and fecundate one another".

  "In the very act of its foundation, the Church was already 'catholic' and universal", said Benedict XVI. "From the beginning she spoke all languages because the Gospel entrusted to her is destined for all peoples, in accordance with the will and command of the Risen Christ. The Church that came into being at Pentecost was not above all a particular community - the Church of Jerusalem - but the Universal Church which speaks the languages of all peoples.

  "From her, other communities would be born in every part of the world", he added, "particular Churches all of which are realisations of the one Church of Christ. The Catholic Church is not, then, a federation of Churches, but a single unit; ontological priority belongs to the Universal Church. A community not catholic in this sense would not even be Church".

  The Pope highlighted how "the path of the Word of God which began in Jerusalem reached its goal, because Rome represents the whole world and therefore incarnates St. Luke's idea of catholicism".

  The word pronounced by the Risen Christ when He appeared before His disciples in the Cenacle: "Shalom - peace be with you" is not, said the Holy Father, "a simple greeting, it is much more. It is the gift of the promised peace, conquered by Jesus at the cost of His blood, it is the fruit of His victory in the struggle against the spirit of evil".

  Pope Benedict then called people to a renewed awareness of the responsibility this gift brings with it, "the responsibility of the Church to be ... a sign and instrument of God's peace for all people". In this context, he recalled how he had sought to transmit this message during his recent visit to U.N. headquarters, "but it is not only with such events 'at the summit' that we must concern ourselves", he said. "The Church accomplishes her service to Christ's peace above all in her ordinary presence and activity among men and women, by preaching the Gospel, and with the signs of love and mercy that accompany it".

  Of these signs, he particularly mentioned the Sacrament of Penance. "How important and, unfortunately, insufficiently understood is the gift of Reconciliation which brings peace to hearts", he said.

  "The peace of Christ is spread only through the renewed hearts of men and women who have become reconciled, servants of justice, ready to spread peace in the world using only the power of truth, without making compromises with the mentality of the world, because the world cannot give the peace of Christ: this is how the Church can be a leavening for the reconciliation that comes from God".
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