Archbishop of Sydney

Address at the Beginning of Mass

Closing Mass for WYD
Randwick Racecourse

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
21/7/2008

BENEDICTUS qui venit in nomine Domini!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

MOST HOLY FATHER:

This morning the Church of Sydney rejoices, the Church throughout Australia rejoices and the Church universal rejoices.

Your Holiness, we rejoice to pray with you and for you, and we are grateful that you pray with us and for us.

Just a few days after your election as Bishop of Rome, you said that the historic days of April 2005 taught us that “the Church is not old and immobile; she is young”.

We look out upon this vast congregation and see that what you said is indeed true. The Church is alive, and the Church is young. We are blessed to be together for World Youth Day 2008, and we are blessed that you have come to us in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The Church too comes in the name of the Lord. She proclaims the Lord Jesus and she has no other task, no other agenda, no other mission. Yet as she makes her way through history, in the ancient lands of the Mediterranean or the new frontiers of the Pacific, it can be difficult to see the Church as she truly is. Too often she is weighed down and burdened with the sins and failings of her children; too often she appears disfigured and discouraged.

So we give thanks for the World Youth Day, which is a gift for the Church as a whole, for those both old and young.  At World Youth Day the Church appears as she truly is, alive with evangelical energy. This morning in Sydney, we see the Church not only with the eyes of faith, but manifest before us.

Gathered together with the Vicar of Christ, we see the College of Bishops, united around and under its head, the Successor of Saint Peter. We see so many young priests, eager to preach anew the ancient faith.
We see eager seminarians, generously responding to the Lord’s invitation to labour in the vineyard. We see the radiant young women religious, holy Sisters who lift our spirits and make the Church beautiful.
 
We see young couples who love each other and love Christ, setting out together on the blessed path of Christian marriage. We see families, parents and children, who teach us that life is a gift to be welcomed. We see young men and women who are just now discovering their mission in life. One mission is better than a thousand options, and we are encouraged by their high ideals in embracing the mission the Lord has chosen for them. We see faithful disciples of all generations who show us that to be a Catholic is a joyful and happy thing. This morning in Sydney, we are truly at the heart of the Church!

We therefore pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May it begin with the young men and women who will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation at your hands. But may it not end there. May it not end with those here present, who will soon renew their baptismal promises. May it not end with these pilgrims, who will carry new graces home with them. May it not end in this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit.

May this new outpouring continue from Sydney to the ends of the earth, that we might be more faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ!