Vatican City, 8 December 2015 (VIS) –
This morning at 9.30, in the presence of 60 thousand faithful in St.
Peter's Square, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass on the Solemnity
of the Immaculate Conception. The celebration preceded the opening of
the Holy Door, the gesture with which the Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy began. In his homily the Pope spoke about the fullness of grace
as revealed in Mary, which is capable of transforming the heart. He
described the Holy Year as a gift of grace that leads us to discover
the depth of the Father's mercy and, finally, he recalled the other
door opened to the world by the Vatican Council II fifty years ago,
allowing the Church to encounter the men and women of our time.
The following is the full text of the
homily:
“In a few moments I will have the joy
of opening the Holy Door of Mercy. We carry out this act – as I did
in Bangui – so simple yet so highly symbolic, in the light of the
word of God which we have just heard. That word highlights the
primacy of grace. Again and again these readings make us think of the
words by which the angel Gabriel told an astonished young girl of the
mystery which was about to enfold her: 'Hail, full of grace'.
The Virgin Mary was called to rejoice
above all because of what the Lord accomplished in her. God’s grace
enfolded her and made her worthy of becoming the Mother of Christ.
When Gabriel entered her home, even the most profound and
impenetrable of mysteries became for her a cause for joy, a cause for
faith, a cause for abandonment to the message revealed to her. The
fullness of grace can transform the human heart and enable it to do
something so great as to change the course of human history.
The feast of the Immaculate Conception
expresses the grandeur of God’s love. Not only does he forgive sin,
but in Mary he even averts the original sin present in every man and
woman who comes into this world. This is the love of God which
precedes, anticipates and saves. The beginning of the history of sin
in the Garden of Eden yields to a plan of saving love. The words of
Genesis reflect our own daily experience: we are constantly tempted
to disobedience, a disobedience expressed in wanting to go about our
lives without regard for God’s will. This is the enmity which keeps
striking at people’s lives, setting them in opposition to God’s
plan. Yet the history of sin can only be understood in the light of
God’s love and forgiveness. Sin can only be understood in this
light. Were sin the only thing that mattered, we would be the most
desperate of creatures. But the promised triumph of Christ’s love
enfolds everything in the Father’s mercy. The word of God which we
have just heard leaves no doubt about this. The Immaculate Virgin
stands before us as a privileged witness of this promise and its
fulfilment.
This Extraordinary Year is itself a
gift of grace. To pass through the Holy Door means to rediscover the
infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out
personally to encounter each of them. It is he who seeks us! It is he
who comes to encounter us! This will be a year in which we grow ever
more convinced of God’s mercy. How much wrong we do to God and his
grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgement before we
speak of their being forgiven by his mercy! But that is the truth.
We have to put mercy before judgement, and in any event God’s
judgement will always be in the light of his mercy. In passing
through the Holy Door, then, may we feel that we ourselves are part
of this mystery of love, of tenderness. Let us set aside all fear and
dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. Instead,
let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms
all things.
Today, here in Rome and in all the
dioceses of the world, as we pass through the Holy Door, we also want
to remember another door, which fifty years ago the Fathers of the
Second Vatican Council opened to the world. This anniversary cannot
be remembered only for the legacy of the Council’s documents, which
testify to a great advance in faith. Before all else, the Council
was an encounter. A genuine encounter between the Church and the men
and women of our time. An encounter marked by the power of the
Spirit, who impelled the Church to emerge from the shoals which for
years had kept her self-enclosed so as to set out once again, with
enthusiasm, on her missionary journey. It was the resumption of a
journey of encountering people where they live: in their cities and
homes, in their workplaces. Wherever there are people, the Church is
called to reach out to them and to bring the joy of the Gospel, and
the mercy and forgiveness of God. After these decades, we again take
up this missionary drive with the same power and enthusiasm. The
Jubilee challenges us to this openness, and demands that we not
neglect the spirit which emerged from Vatican II, the spirit of the
Samaritan, as Blessed Paul VI expressed it at the conclusion of the
Council. May our passing through the Holy Door today commit us to
making our own the mercy of the Good Samaritan”.
Following the Holy Mass, the Pope,
followed by the cardinals, bishops and priests who participated in
the rite, proceeded to the vestibule of the Basilica to open the Holy
Door. First, he greeted and embraced Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, and
then walked alone to the Door where he recited the words of Psalm
118: “Open to me the gates of justice”.
Francis pushed against the Door with
his hands until it opens and then prayed a moment before entering the
Basilica. The Pope emeritus then entered, followed by the cardinals,
bishops, religious and laypeople, including some of Italy's most
prominent political figures.
The Jubilee of Mercy is the first
extraordinary Jubilee of the 21st century. In the 20th century Pius
XI proclaimed a Holy Year in 1933 to commemorate the nineteenth
centenary of the death of Christ, and Paul VI inaugurated another in
1966 that lasted five months, dedicated to the closure shortly
beforehand of Vatican Council II. St. John Paul II convoked a Jubilee
with the Bull “Aperite Portas Redemptori” the Holy Year of
Redemption in 1983, for the 1950th anniversary of the Redemption.
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