Archbishop of Sydney

International Youth Centre, San Lorenzo

Rome
Wis 2:1, 12-22; Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
26 March 2004

We are gathered in Rome, the centre of the Catholic world, from many nations to worship the one true God, by remembering and making present again the unique sacrifice of his only Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Many of you know Jesus Christ well.  Some of you might only be beginning your journey of discovery.  Some of you might still be searching, unsure of your path.

 As someone who has followed Christ for many years, I can say that it is a beautiful journey, which brings meaning, purpose and peace.  I can personally recommend it.

 Our unity is built around Christ and as we move closer to Easter, around the mystery of the Redemption.  But as a preliminary, I want to share a thought or two on the mystery of the Church’s universality and unity.

 Universality does not mean uniformity.  We only have to glance at the different national styles in different Catholic countries; to remember the exotic parade through history of hermits, widows, monks, the 13th century Franciscans and Dominicans, the Counter-Reformation Jesuits, the wave of new religious orders in the 19th century, and the variety of new religious movements in the late 20th century.  We Catholics are certainly not like peas in a pod.

 A controversial French Jesuit priest, palaeontologist and theologian, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin spoke of the axis of hominisation passing through Rome, the local church which was the home of Peter and Paul, and today home of the successor of Peter, our Holy Father the Pope.

 It is not easy to maintain unity among religious enthusiasts.  Look at the different religious orders who are Sons of St. Francis of Assisi.  15 or 20 years ago I read somewhere that there were 22,000 small evangelical Christian groups in the USA.  A few years ago I read that there were now 40,000 such groups.

 Our unity founded on Christ, protected by the Pope and the bishops, is a wonderful gift.  It explains why Catholics are instinctively universalist.  But it can never be taken for granted.  It is not an automatic right and entitlement.

 Both readings today speak about the struggle between good and evil, in which everyone of us is obliged to join, and which is central to understanding Jesus’ crucifixion.

 As we contemplate Jesus’ suffering and death, we must never forget that He is also the only Son of God, the Second person of the Blessed and eternal Trinity.

 The one true God is not simply the Lord of history, but the Creator of the universe which began at least 13.8 billion light years ago with the Big Bang, (according to most cosmologists).  I am told there are all sorts of problems with this.  The Hubble telescope has discovered formed stars 13.3 billion light years away.  This does not fit the theory, as they should have been soupy, not stars with planets.  Perhaps the Big Bang is even further away.  Moreover the galaxies are not moving at a uniform speed.

 I am no scientist.  The particulars are interesting, but quite subordinate to my principal claim that God is the creator and sustainer of this universe and it was God’s only Son, through whom all things were made, who was crucified.

 In a recent interview a reporter explained to me that she understood a God of love, compassion and forgiveness, but did I really believe God created the entire universe, all these stars which are more numerous than the grains of sand scattered over the entire earth?  Yes, I replied.  In fact if God did not create the universe He would not be God.  She lapsed into silence.

 Life itself is a mystery.  In faith we know it is a mystery of love, but it is also scientifically mysterious.  There is so much we do not know.  All the evidence so far shows that humans are alone in the universe.  The Son of God probably had nowhere else he could go except to Planet Earth!  But why does God move so slowly?  What was the purpose of the dinosaurs?

 This is not entirely a self indulgent digression because the Creator God of the Universe is the Father of Jesus his only Son, who suffered and died for us.  We should not forget this.

 As I mentioned earlier the first reading captures well that dimension of struggle between good and evil which is at the heart of the redemption.

 This Book of Wisdom is among the most worldly-wise, philosophical and somewhat pagan books in the Old Testament, but the author understood how obnoxious a truly holy person can be to evil doers; “he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us.”
We even have something of a preview of the discussion between the good and bad thieves on their crosses with the dying Jesus.  After the wicked have plotted to put the good man to the test, they boast that “if the just one be the Son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.”  “Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words God will take care of him”.

 These are like the words of the bad thief, who upbraided Jesus to get them all out of their predicament, if He was who he claimed to be.

 It is one of my favourite moments in the New Testament, as the good thief replies to defend Jesus, acknowledge that they (the thieves) deserve to be punished for their crimes and then turns to asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into his kingdom.

 Jesus replies with those beautiful words, such a consolation to each one of us.  “This very day you will be with me in paradise.”  This very day!

 In Mel Gibson’s film The Passion a non-biblical incident is introduced when a large black raven descends onto the crossbeam of the bad thief after he has insulted Jesus and fiercely attacks his right eye.  My first reaction was delight; the “baddie” got what was coming to him.  In retrospect I hope this punishment might have prompted the bad thief to rethink his position and repent while there was still time.

 We are all called to acknowledge Christ as our leader and teacher.  Please God we shall always be among those Jesus described in today’s gospel as “those who know me and also know where I am from.”

 We are also called to accept his teachings, all of them, and join him in the struggle to proclaim the good news, to live it out in our hidden personal lives and to bear public witness in the myriad ways appropriate to our vocation and personality.

 Christ and the Church need young leaders and servants, with hearts on fire for the love of God; not just fair-weather friends, but those willing to enter into the struggle.

 Do not conclude that because you are young you can do very little.  Yesterday was the feast of the Annunciation, when we remember that a young Jewish girl (whom we would now describe as a teenager, although there were no teenagers then) called Mary, said yes to God and allowed the Incarnation to go forward.  All of us, young or old, wise or impetuous, lay person, priest or religious are also called to do God’s will.  It is the ultimate test.  When we say yes in our hearts and act on it, we do what we should and we cannot know what good consequences will follow from it.
 At the beginning of these few words I mentioned the universality of the Catholic Church and as I conclude I return to that theme.  In every age and in every continent there have been witnesses to Christ, enthusiastic protagonists for good in the struggle against evil.  And in some, perhaps many ages and countries there have been a few who try to kill Christians, as they were trying to kill Christ in Jerusalem before the Passion.

 We do not need to go back to the Roman martyrs of the early centuries in this city for examples of heroism.  We can find many such examples much closer today.  We might begin with the entire families of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, husband wife, children who leave their homeland to set up a new life for Christ in strange and distant lands, such as Australia.

 The young African priest, a convert from Islam, trained here in Rome not so long ago, who returned home to have his eyes gouged out.

 Father Vincent, a Chinese Jesuit priest now deceased, irrepressible talking to me in English of Thomas More and Newman, who was jailed for about 15-17 years, some spent in isolation, some spent with 6 inches of water always at the bottom of his cell.

 Or Cardinal Todea from Romania, educated like myself at Propaganda Fide College here in Rome in the thirties, who was in solitary confinement in jail for many years so that on his release he could not contain his enthusiasm for Christ and the Church (nor his talking).  I saw a marvellous photo of the Pope visiting Todea in Romania as he was old and dying.

We are the children of witnesses.  We are the descendants of many generations of martyrs, teachers and workers who have followed Christ Our Lord, often at great cost, sometimes paying the ultimate price.

To all you young people I say simply.  Go and do likewise.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.