30 August 2022: Pope Francis celebrates Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. / Daniel Ibáez / CNA
Vatican City, 30 August 2022, 13:00 (CNA).
Pope Francis stated during Tuesday’s Mass with the College of Cardinals that our vocation to evangelize the globe is identical to that of the apostles 2,000 years ago, a fact that should fill us with awe at our position of duty.
“We continue to wonder at the incomprehensible divine determination to evangelize the entire world beginning with that ragged group of disciples, some of whom — as the evangelist tells us — still had doubts,” Pope Francis remarked at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on August 30.
“Yet, if we consider it, we should be no less astonished when we look at ourselves, assembled here today, to whom the Lord has uttered the same words and issued the same command.”
The pope continued, “Wonder is a means of salvation.” “May God keep it alive in our hearts forever, for it liberates us from the temptation to believe we can “control things.” Or from the false sense of security that the present is in some way distinct from the past.”
Francis stated, “Today the Church is large and stable, and we hold notable positions within its hierarchy… There is some truth to this, but there is also a great deal of deception, through which the Father of Lies wants to make Christ’s followers first worldly and then harmless.
Mass was offered by the College of Cardinals for the Church. The Eucharist was led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals. In a cope, Pope Francis preached at the Mass.
In his speech, the pope condemned a “disease of spiritual materialism.”
A minister of the Church, he explained, is “someone who is awestruck by God’s design and, in that spirit, passionately loves the Church and serves her mission whenever and however the Holy Spirit chooses.”
He stated that Catholics should be amazed not just by God’s plan of salvation, but also by the “far more astounding fact” that God invites them to join in this plan.
For Catholics, there is a “double mystery” of being blessed in Christ and moving forth into the world with Christ.
“This marvel,” he told the new cardinals, “does not diminish with the passage of time; it does not diminish as our responsibilities inside the Church increase. Not at all, praise God. It develops deeper and stronger.”
The Mass with the new cardinals followed two days of closed-door sessions with the College of Cardinals to debate Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia, as outlined in the Praedicate evangelium constitution.
The extraordinary consistory, the first of its sort in seven years, included 197 cardinals.
In his sermon, Pope Francis referenced Saint Pope Paul VI and his encyclical Ecclesiam Suam, published in 1964.
Saint Paul VI described his love for the Church as “a love which is first and foremost thankfulness, grateful wonder at her mystery and at the gift of our being not only members of the Church, but also participants in her existence, sharing in and, in fact, jointly responsible for her,” he remarked.
“At the outset of his programmatic encyclical Ecclesiam Suam, written during the [Second Vatican] Council,” Francis explained, “the pope’s initial thought was that ‘the Church must acquire a deeper understanding of her identity… her origin and her purpose.’”
“In this sense, he made clear reference to the Ephesian Letter, to ‘the providential purpose of the mystery hidden for ages in God… so that via the Church… it would be revealed.’”
This was the situation for the Apostle Saint Paul, as his letters demonstrate. His apostolic passion and concern for the community were usually preceded and accompanied by words of awe and gratitude: “Blessed be God…” Pope Francis said.
“May the same be true for us,” he ended. “May this be the case for each of you, dear Cardinal brothers. “May the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, procure this favor for all of us.”