Pope Benedict XVI's homily at the Holy Mass on the occasion of the National Day of
Croatian Catholic Families
This is the full text of Pope Benedict XVI's homily at the Holy Mass on the occasion
of the National Day of Croatian Catholic Families in the Zagreb Hippodrome
Dear Brothers and Sisters! In this Mass at which it is my joy to preside,
concelebrating with numerous brothers in the Episcopate and with a great number of
priests, I give thanks to the Lord for all the beloved families gathered here, and
for all the others who are linked with us through radio and television. I offer particular
thanks to Cardinal Josip Bozanić, Archbishop of Zagreb, for his kind words at the
beginning of this Mass. I address my greetings to all and express my great affection
with an embrace of peace! We have recently celebrated the Ascension of the Lord
and we prepare ourselves to receive the great gift of the Holy Spirit. In the first
reading, we saw how the apostolic community was united in prayer in the Upper Room
with Mary, the mother of Jesus (cf. Acts 1:12-14). This is a picture of the Church
with deep roots in the paschal event: indeed, the Upper Room is the place where Jesus
instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood during the Last Supper, and where, having
risen from the dead, he poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on the evening
of Easter Sunday (cf. Jn 20:19-23). The Lord directed his disciples “not to depart
from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4); he asked that
they might remain together to prepare themselves to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And they gathered together in prayer with Mary in the Upper Room, waiting for the
promised event (cf. Acts 1:14). Remaining together was the condition given by Jesus
for them to experience the coming of the Paraclete, and prolonged prayer served to
maintain them in harmony with one another. We find here a formidable lesson for every
Christian community. Sometimes it is thought that missionary efficacy depends primarily
upon careful planning and its intelligent implementation by means of specific action.
Certainly, the Lord asks for our cooperation, but his initiative has to come first,
before any response from us: his Spirit is the true protagonist of the Church, to
be invoked and welcomed. In the Gospel, we heard the first part of the so-called
“high-priestly prayer” of Jesus (cf. Jn 17:1-11a) – at the conclusion of his farewell
discourses – full of trust, sweetness and love. It is called “the high-priestly prayer”
because in it Jesus is presented as a priest interceding for his people as he prepares
to leave this world. The passage is dominated by the double theme of the hour and
the glory. It deals with the hour of death (cf. Jn 2:4; 7:30; 8:20), the hour in
which the Christ must pass from this world to the Father (13:1). But at the same
time it is also the hour of his glorification which is accomplished by means of the
Cross, called by John the Evangelist “exaltation”, namely the raising up, the elevation
to glory: the hour of the death of Jesus, the hour of supreme love, is the hour of
his highest glory. For the Church too, for every Christian, the highest glory is
the Cross, which means living in charity, in total gift to God and to others. Dear
brothers and sisters! I very willingly accepted the invitation given to me by the
Bishops of Croatia to visit this country on the occasion of the first National Gathering
of Croatian Catholic Families. I express my sincere appreciation for this attention
and commitment to the family, not only because today this basic human reality, in
your nation as elsewhere, has to face difficulties and threats, and thus has special
need of evangelization and support, but also because Christian families are a decisive
resource for education in the faith, for the up-building of the Church as a communion
and for her missionary presence in the most diverse situations in life. I know the
generosity and the dedication with which you, dear Pastors, serve the Lord and the
Church. Your daily labour for the faith formation of future generations, as well
as for marriage preparation and for the accompaniment of families, is the fundamental
path for regenerating the Church anew and for giving life to the social fabric of
the nation. May you remain dedicated to this important pastoral commitment! Everyone
knows that the Christian family is a special sign of the presence and love of Christ
and that it is called to give a specific and irreplaceable contribution to evangelization.
Blessed John Paul II, who visited this noble country three times, said that “the Christian
family is called upon to take part actively and responsibly in the mission of the
Church in a way that is original and specific, by placing itself, in what it is and
what it does as an ‘intimate community of life and love’, at the service of the Church
and of society” (Familiaris consortio, 50). The Christian family has always been
the first way of transmitting the faith and still today retains great possibilities
for evangelization in many areas. Dear parents, commit yourselves always to teach
your children to pray, and pray with them; draw them close to the Sacraments, especially
to the Eucharist, as we celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Eucharistic
miracle of Ludbreg; and introduce them to the life of the Church; in the intimacy
of the home do not be afraid to read the sacred Scriptures, illuminating family life
with the light of faith and praising God as Father. Be like a little Upper Room,
like that of Mary and the disciples, in which to live unity, communion and prayer! By
the grace of God, many Christian families today are acquiring an ever deeper awareness
of their missionary vocation, and are devoting themselves seriously to bearing witness
to Christ the Lord. Blessed John Paul II once said: “An authentic family, founded
on marriage, is in itself ‘good news’ for the world.” And he added: “In our time
the families that collaborate actively in evangelization are ever more numerous [...]
the hour of the family has arrived in the Church, which is also the hour of the missionary
family” (Angelus, 21 October 2001). In today’s society the presence of exemplary
Christian families is more necessary and urgent than ever. Unfortunately, we are
forced to acknowledge the spread of a secularization which leads to the exclusion
of God from life and the increasing disintegration of the family, especially in Europe.
Freedom without commitment to the truth is made into an absolute, and individual well-being
through the consumption of material goods and transient experiences is cultivated
as an ideal, obscuring the quality of interpersonal relations and deeper human values;
love is reduced to sentimental emotion and to the gratification of instinctive impulses,
without a commitment to build lasting bonds of reciprocal belonging and without openness
to life. We are called to oppose such a mentality! Alongside what the Church says,
the testimony and commitment of the Christian family – your concrete testimony – is
very important, especially when you affirm the inviolability of human life from conception
until natural death, the singular and irreplaceable value of the family founded upon
matrimony and the need for legislation which supports families in the task of giving
birth to children and educating them. Dear families, be courageous! Do not give
in to that secularized mentality which proposes living together as a preparation,
or even a substitute for marriage! Show by the witness of your lives that it is possible,
like Christ, to love without reserve, and do not be afraid to make a commitment to
another person! Dear families, rejoice in fatherhood and motherhood! Openness to
life is a sign of openness to the future, confidence in the future, just as respect
for the natural moral law frees people, rather than demeaning them! The good of the
family is also the good of the Church. I would like to repeat something I have said
in the past: “the edification of each individual Christian family fits into the context
of the larger family of the Church which supports it and carries it with her ...
And the Church is reciprocally built up by the family, a ‘small domestic church’”
(Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Participants in the Ecclesial Diocesan
Convention of Rome, 6 June 2005). Let us pray to the Lord, that families may come
more and more to be small churches and that ecclesial communities may take on more
and more the quality of a family! Dear Croatian families, living the communion
of faith and charity, be ever more transparent witnesses to the promise that the Lord,
ascending into heaven, makes to each one of us: “I am with you always, to the close
of the age” (Mt 28:20). Dear Croatian Christians, hear yourselves called to evangelize
with the whole of your life; hear the powerful word of the Lord: “Go therefore and
make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Croatia,
accompany you always on your way. Amen! Praised be Jesus and Mary!