Courtesy of Paul Badde
May 18, 2020
Eucharistic celebration in the Parish Church of
Manoppello
Before the Holy Face
Archbishop
Bruno Forte's homily
Today's Eucharistic
celebration is an act of praise to God for the gift of the precious sudarium of
the crucified Lord, preserved in the Basilica of the Holy Face, present among
us today on the occasion of the annual feast of the third Sunday of May, which commemorates
the arrival of the relic in Manoppello. This thanksgiving, moreover, takes
place on the centenary of the birth of Karol Wojtyla, St. John Paul II, who on
this date in 1920 came into the world in Wadowice, Poland. The mystery
proclaimed by the Word of God from the liturgy of Easter time is thus united to
the double mystery we are celebrating, the luminous one linked to the Face of
the Savior and the one depicted by the figure of this great Saint, who was a
loving witness to the Redeemer, springing from a union with Him that I would
not hesitate to define as mystical, whose depths I could perceive throughout the
entire week that I spent with him, when I had the grace to preach the spiritual
exercises for him in 2004, which he intensely and faithfully followed, and
which were also the last of His earthly life.
The reading from the Acts
of the Apostles (16:11-15) demonstrates the exquisite attention that the
Apostle Paul pays to human relations: in addition to his efforts to visit the
communities he founded to see the brethren in person, the consideration he shows
towards women, to whom he turns with great freedom to announce to them the good
news, is striking, not hesitating to
accept the invitation of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, a believer in God, to
go as a guest in her household. We could say that Paul's attention to faces is
revealed here, that is, to people in their
unique and concrete stories: if we were to ask ourselves from whom a fervent Hebrew
such as Saul had learned to pay so much attention to faces, especially to
female ones, traditionally neglected by the rather masculine culture of his
time, we could only answer that he had learned it from his mystical
contemplation of the One he had met on the way to Damascus and who, speaking to
him one on one, had said to him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
me?" (Acts 9:4). The vision became in the heart of the fervent persecutor
a precise question: "Who are you, O Lord?", to which he received the
revealing answer: "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!" (v. 5). The
role of the Face of Jesus, expressed in appearance and in voice, is decisive for
the vocation of the one who will become the great Apostle of the peoples, as Ananias
will confirm to him, "the Lord sent me to you, that Jesus who appeared to
you on the way you were traveling" (v. 17): from our personal encounter
with the Face of Christ, our lives are
transformed, even transfigured, to become with the grace from on high lives of
apostles, stories of humility, charity and holiness in the service of the
Gospel. From the encounter with the Face of the Lord comes
conversion and mission.
The text taken from the
Gospel according to John (15:26-16:4), then, makes us understand who makes
possible this meeting so personal and transformative with Christ, leaping over
the chasm of the centuries that separate us from the days of His flesh: it is
the Spirit, the Paraclete that Jesus sends from the Father, the Spirit of truth
that testifies to Him and makes it possible for us to bear witness, if we abide with
Him and remain united to Him. Once
again, the Face of the Savior reaches us with absolute concreteness in the
strength of His Spirit, and looking at us and calling us makes us able to love
as He asks and to become witnesses of this love at the cost of one’s life, as
so often the persecutions of Christians have shown in the history of humanity.
Not only, therefore, does the Face of the Beloved send forth the disciple, but
it is also the source of the strength that reaches out to him and that makes
possible the otherwise impossible ability to bear witness, completely and
without fear, to Him who is risen, The Face that sends us forth by His voice is
the same Face that looks at us, accompanies us, supports us and awaits us in
the infinite beauty of the final encounter in beauty and joy, which will never
know sunset. From the Holy Face of Jesus,
contemplated and loved, comes the strength of our missionary passion and
fidelity stronger than any trial..
The Face of Jesus was also
for St. John Paul II the source of his vocation and mission and the strength to
bring these to completion in the absolute fidelity of his whole life: in the two long dialogues that I had with him during
the exercises of 2004, the Pope recounted to me - among many other
beautiful things - a phrase, which in my opinion shows in a tangible way the
mystical union that He lived with Christ. Speaking of the challenges faced in
serving the Church and bringing to the world the good news of salvation that
does not disappoint, John Paul II paused for a moment, and then added with a
particularly expressive face, as if marked by memories, these words: "The
Pope must suffer". He emphasized that "must" with a particular
intensity, which instinctively reminded me of Jesus' phrase addressed to the
disciples of Emmaus: "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all
that the prophets have spoken! Didn't Christ have to undergo this suffering in
order to enter into his glory?" (Lk 24:25-26). It is the law of love, the need
to pay with one’s life the price of the gift of self for the sake of others, summed
up, for example, in the words of Paul and Barnabas, reported by the
Acts of the Apostles: "After preaching the gospel in that city and making
a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and
Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples and urging them to remain
steadfast in the faith because, they said, it is necessary to go through many
tribulations to enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:21-22) As with the
Apostle, so for St. John Paul II, the strength to endure so many trials can
only come from the Lord Jesus, from His Face radiating light, love, and
courage: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (Phil.
4:13).
It is also the holy Pope
himself who reveals to us this mystical secret of his life: he does so,
certainly, with the discretion and modesty of those who speak of the unspeakable, but
also with the conviction of those who have had a true and profound experience
of loving and dialoguing knowledge and contemplation of the Face of the Lord.
In a prayer recited during his pastoral visit to the Archdiocese of Lucca
(September 23-24, 1989), a city where a wooden crucifix revered as the Holy Face
(Volto Santo) of Christ is preserved, St. John Paul II pronounced words which
reveal profound depths of faith and mystical union, and which we can address
with humility and love to the Holy Face imprinted on the sudarium, venerated in
this place: "Lord Jesus, crucified
and risen, image of the glory of the Father, Holy Face who looks at us and
scrutinizes us, merciful and meek, to call us to conversion and invite us to
the fullness of love, we adore you and we thank you. In your luminous Face, we
learn how we are loved and how we are to love; where freedom and reconciliation
are found; how to become builders of the peace that radiates from you and leads
to you. In your glorified Face we learn to overcome all forms of selfishness,
to hope against all hope, to choose the works of life against the actions of
death. Give us the grace to place you at the center of our lives; to remain
faithful, amidst the perils and changes of the world, to our Christian
vocation; to announce to the peoples the power of the Cross and the Word that
saves; to be alert and hard working, attentive to the least of the brethren; to
grasp the signs of true liberation, which has begun and will be fulfilled in
you. Lord, grant your Church to stand, like the Virgin Mother, at your glorious
Cross and at the crosses of all men to bring consolation, hope, and comfort to
them. May the Spirit you
have given us bring to maturity your work of salvation, so that all creatures,
freed from the constraints of death, may contemplate in the glory of the Father
your Holy Face, which luminously shines for ever and ever. Amen.
