Pope Benedict celebrated mass in Maceo Square in Santiago de Cuba on Monday before
thousands of the Cuban faithful. In his homily the Pope told them Mary occupies a
central placre in the Christian faith and in the life of the Church in Cuba which
is celebrating the 400th anniversary of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre. Please find
the full text of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks, below.
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
I give thanks to God who has allowed me to come to you and to
make this much anticipated trip. I greet Bishop Dionisio García Ibáñez, Archbishop
of Santiago de Cuba, and I thank him for his warm words of welcome offered on behalf
of everyone. I greet the Bishops of Cuba and those who have come from elsewhere,
and the priests, religious men and women, seminarians and lay faithful present for
this celebration. I cannot forget all those who, for reasons of illness, advanced
age or for other motives, are not able to join us. I also greet the civil Authorities
who have graciously wished to join us. This first Holy Mass which I have the joy
of celebrating during my pastoral visit to this country, takes place in the context
of the Marian Jubilee Year called to honour and to venerate Our Lady of Charity of
El Cobre, Patroness of Cuba, in this fourth centenary of the discovery and presence
of her venerable statue in this blessed land. I cannot forget the sacrifices and
the dedication with which this jubilee has been prepared, especially spiritually.
I was deeply touched to hear of the fervour with which Mary has been welcomed and
invoked by so many Cubans during her journey to every corner of the island. These
important events in the Church in Cuba take on a special lustre because of the feast
celebrated today throughout the universal Church: the Annunciation of the Lord to
the Virgin Mary. The Incarnation of the Son of God is the central mystery of the
Christian faith, and in it Mary occupies a central place. But, we ask, what is the
meaning of this mystery? And, what importance does it have for our concrete lives? First
of all, let us see what the Incarnation means. In the Gospel of Saint Luke we heard
the words of the angel to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called
holy, the Son of God” (Lk 1:35). In Mary, the Son of God is made man, fulfilling
in this way the prophecy of Isaiah: “Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear
a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means ‘God-with-us’” (Is 7:14).
Jesus, the Word made flesh, is truly God-with-us, who has come to live among us and
to share our human condition. The Apostle Saint John expresses it in the following
way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). The expression,
“became flesh” points to our human reality in most concrete and tangible way. In
Christ, God has truly come into the world, he has entered into our history, he has
set his dwelling among us, thus fulfilling the deepest desire of human beings that
the world may truly become a home worthy ofhumanity. On the other hand, when
God is put aside, the world becomes an inhospitable place for man, and frustrates
creation’s true vocation to be a space for the covenant, for the “Yes” to the love
between God and humanity who responds to him. Mary did so as the first fruit of believers
with her unreserved “Yes” to the Lord. For this reason, contemplating the mystery
of the Incarnation, we cannot fail to turn our eyes to her so as to be filled with
wonder, gratitude and love at seeing how our God, coming into the world, wished to
depend upon the free consent of one of his creatures. Only from the moment when the
Virgin responded to the angel, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to
me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), did the eternal Word of the Father began
his human existence in time. It is touching to see how God not only respects human
freedom: he almost seems to require it. And we see also how the beginning of the
earthly life of the Son of God was marked by a double “Yes” to the saving plan of
the Father - that of Christ and that of Mary. This obedience to God is what opens
the doors of the world to the truth, to salvation. God has created us as the fruit
of his infinite love; hence,to live in accordance with his will is the way
to encounter our genuine identity, the truth of our being, while apart from God we
are alienated from ourselves and are hurled into the void. The obedience of faith
is true liberty, authentic redemption, which allows us to unite ourselves to the love
of Jesus in his determination to conform himself to the will of the Father. Redemption
is always this process of the lifting up of the human will to full communion with
the divine will (cf. Lectio Divina with the parish priests
of Rome, 18 February 2010). Dear brothers and sisters, today we praise the
Most Holy Virgin for her faith, and with Saint Elizabeth we too say, “Blessed is she
who believed” (Lk 1:45). As Saint Augustine said, Mary conceived Christ by
faith in her heart before she conceived him physically in her womb; Mary believed
and what she believed was came to be in her (cf. Sermo 215, 4: PL 38,
1074). Let us ask the Lord to strengthen our faith, to make it active and fruitful
in love. Let us implore him that, like her, we may welcome the word of God into our
hearts, and carry it out with docility and constancy. The Virgin Mary, by her
unique role in the mystery of Christ, represents the exemplar and model of the Church.
The Church, like the Mother of Christ, is also called to embrace in herself the mystery
of God who comes to live in her. Dear brothers and sisters, I know with what effort,
boldness and self-sacrifice you work every day so that, in the concrete circumstances
of your country, and at this moment in history, the Church will better present her
true face as a place in which God draws near and encounters humanity. The Church,
the living body of Christ, has the mission of prolonging on earth the salvific presence
of God, of opening the world to something greater than itself, to the love and the
light of God. It is worth the effort, dear brothers and sisters, to devote your entire
life to Christ, to grow in his friendship each day and to feel called to proclaim
the beauty and the goodness of his life to every person, to all our brothers and sisters.
I encourage you in this task of sowing the word of God in the world and offering to
everyone the true nourishment of the body of Christ. Easter is already approaching;
let us determine to follow Jesus without fear or doubts on his journey to the Cross.
May we accept with patience and faith whatever opposition or affliction may come,
with the conviction that, in his Resurrection, he has crushed the power of evil which
darkens everything, and has brought the dawn of a new world, the world of God, of
light, of truth and happiness. The Lord will not fail to bless with abundant fruits
the generosity of your commitment. The mystery of the Incarnation, in which God
draws near to us, also shows us the incomparable dignity of every human life. In his
loving plan, from the beginning of creation, God has entrusted to the family founded
on matrimony the most lofty mission of being the fundamental cell of society and an
authentic domestic church. With this certainty, you, dear husbands and wives, are
called to be, especially for your children, a real and visible sign of the love of
Christ for the Church. Cuba needs the witness of your fidelity, your unity, your
capacity to welcome human life, especially that of the weakest and most needy. Dear
brothers and sisters, before the gaze of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, I appeal
to you to reinvigorate your faith, that you may live in Christ and for Christ, and
armed with peace, forgiveness and understanding, that you may strive to build a renewed
and open society, a better society, one more worthy of humanity, and which better
reflects the goodness of God. Amen.