Pope
Francis prostrates himself before the altar of St. Peter's Basilica at
the opening of the Good Friday liturgy, March 25, 2016. Credit: Alexey
Gotovskiy/CNA.
Remembering this week's deadly terror attack in Brussels, the papal
preacher centered his Good Friday reflection on mercy's role in saving
the world.
“The opposite of mercy is not justice but vengeance,”
said Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, in his sermon for the
Celebration of Our Lord's Passion in St. Peter's Basilica March 25.
“The
hate and the brutality of the terrorist attacks this week in Brussels
help us to understand the divine power of Christ’s last words: 'Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.'”
His remarks come
days after more than 30 people were killed and scores were injured by
Islamic State suicide bombers at a Brussels airport and metro on March
22.
“In forgiving sinners God is renouncing not justice but
vengeance; he does not desire the death of a sinner but wants the sinner
to convert and live,” he added.
Fr. Cantalamessa called for the
need to “demythologize vengeance,” observing how it pervades many of the
stories “seen on screen and video games” in which the “good hero” seeks
revenge.
“It has become a pervasive mythic theme that infects everything and everybody, starting with children,” he said.
Outside
these fictional contexts, this “mythic theme” of vengeance accounts for
much of the world's suffering, “whether in personal relationships or
between states and nations.”
Fr. Cantalamessa made this
reflection to the congregation gathered in Saint Peter’s Basilica
following the chanting in Latin of the account of Christ’s Passion and
Death according to St. John. Pope Francis presided over the celebration,
leading the faithful in the Veneration of the Cross, during which those
present were invited to approach a wooden crucifix and kiss the feet of
Jesus.
In his lengthy homily, the papal preacher also placed
special emphasis on the role of mercy in saving marriage and the family,
which is “the most precious and fragile thing in the world at this
time.”
Here he observed the similarity between marriage and “God's relationship with humanity.”
“In the very beginning,” he said, “there was love, not mercy. Mercy comes in only after humanity’s sin.”
“So
too in marriage, in the beginning there is not mercy but love. People
do not get married because of mercy but because of love.”
After this initial period, challenges and routine “quenches all joy” in the family, he observed.
“What
can save a marriage from going downhill without any hope of coming back
up again is mercy, understood in the biblical sense.”
In this
context, marriage is “not just reciprocal forgiveness but spouses acting
with “compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience.”
“Mercy adds
agape to
eros, it adds the love that gives of oneself and has compassion to the love of need and desire.”
“Shouldn’t
a husband and wife, then, take pity on each other? And those of us who
live in community, shouldn’t we take pity on one another instead of
judging one another?”
Fr. Cantalamessa centered his sermon on
Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, in which he speaks of becoming
“reconciled with God.”
St. Paul is not referring to the
“historical reconciliation between God and humanity,” or “the
sacramental reconciliation that takes place in Baptism and in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation,” Fr. Cantalamessa said.
The
passage “refers to an existential and personal reconciliation that needs
to be implemented in the present,” he said, noting that it is addressed
to the baptized Christians of Corinth, and also “to us here and now.”
Reflecting
on the “existential and psychological dimension” of reconciliation with
God, Fr. Cantalamessa acknowledged the “distorted image” of God which
alienates people “from religion and faith.”
“People unconsciously
link God’s will to everything that is unpleasant and painful, to what
can be seen as somehow destroying individual freedom and development,”
he said.
“It is somewhat as though God were the enemy of every celebration, joy, and pleasure – a severe inquisitor-God.”
A
remnant of the pagan view of God, this is an image of an all-powerful
being who asserts control over individuals, with an emphasis on the
impossibility of making reparation for the “transgression of his law,”
he said. Such a perception causes “fear” and “resentment” toward God.
“It
is a vestige of the pagan idea of God that has never been entirely
eradicated, and perhaps cannot be eradicated, from the human heart,” he
said: that “God is the one who intervenes with divine punishment to
reestablish the order disrupted by evil.”
In contrast, God's mercy “has never been disregarded,” he said.
“The Year of Mercy is a golden opportunity to restore the true image of the biblical God who not only has mercy but is mercy.”
Reflecting
on the Apostle John's statement “God is love,” Fr. Cantalamessa
observed that God's love within the Trinity is without mercy. This is
because the love of the Father and the Son is a “necessity even though
it occurs with the utmost freedom; the Son needs to be loved and to love
in order to be the Son.”
“The sin of human beings does not
change the nature of this love but causes it to make a qualitative leap:
mercy as a gift now becomes mercy as forgiveness.”
Fr.
Cantalamessa turned his reflection to the relationship between justice
and his mercy, citing Paul's letter to the Romans which speaks of all
sinners being justified by God's grace through “redemption which is in
Christ Jesus.”
“God shows his righteousness and justice by having mercy! This is the great revelation.”
“He is in fact love and mercy, so for that reason he is just to himself – he truly demonstrates who he is – when he has mercy.”
An incorrect notion of God's “righteousness” can cause fear rather than encouragement, he said.
However,
“the righteousness of God is that by which God makes those who believe
in his Son Jesus acceptable to him. It does not enact justice but makes
people just,” Fr. Cantalamessa explained in reference to the writings of
St. Augustine.
He went on to state that the 16th century
figure Martin Luther is credited for reintroducing this understanding of
God's righteousness, “at least in Christian preaching,” and cited the
upcoming fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation.
Although
revisited by St. Augustine, and later Luther, the correct understanding
of God's righteousness goes back to Scripture, he said.
“God’s justice not only does not contradict his mercy but consists precisely in mercy!”
Fr. Cantalamessa examined the “radical change in the fate of humanity” that was brought about by the Cross.
He
quoted Benedict XVI's book Jesus of Nazareth, saying: “That which is
wrong, the reality of evil, cannot simply be ignored; it cannot just be
left to stand. It must be dealt with; it must be overcome. Only this
counts as a true mercy.”
“And the fact that God now confronts
evil himself because men are incapable of doing so – therein lies the
‘unconditional’ goodness of God.”
The papal preacher added that
“God was not satisfied with merely forgiving people’s sins; he did
infinitely more than that: he took those sins upon himself, he
shouldered them himself.”
That the Son of God “became sin for us,” as St. Paul writes, is “a shocking statement,” Fr. Cantalamessa said.
However, “it was not death, then, but love that saved us!”
“The death of Christ needed to demonstrate to everyone the supreme proof of God’s mercy toward sinners,” he said.
He
recalled the two thieves with whom Christ was crucified, which shows
how God “wants to remain a friend to sinners right up to the end, so he
dies like them and with them.”
Fr. Cantalamessa concluded his
sermon, calling for the removal of “any desire for vengeance from the
hearts of individuals, families, and nations, and make us fall in love
with mercy.”
“Let the Holy Father’s intention in proclaiming
this Year of Mercy be met with a concrete response in our lives, and let
everyone experience the joy of being reconciled with you in the depth
of the heart.”
I really want you to come. Bring 4 friends.
