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Dear Brothers
and Sisters, I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the
inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin
Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence,
and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to
him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude.
I offer a warm
greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and
women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of
the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the
representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious
communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of
State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many
countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps.
In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord
commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already
point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of
whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the
Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and
gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches
over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin
Mary is the exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1).
How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and
silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he
finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until
the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is
there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her
side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and
in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the
flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the
Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the
workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.
How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary,
Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the
signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his
own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God
does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his
plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed
by his Spirit. Joseph is a
“protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his
will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted
to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch
with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear
friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but
we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us
protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can
protect creation!
The vocation of being a
“protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone;
it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It
means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book
of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means
respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which
we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and
every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are
often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our
families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as
parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time,
protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we
protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything
has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it.
Be protectors of God’s gifts!
Whenever human beings fail to
live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and
for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts
are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who
plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.
Please, I would like to ask all
those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and
social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of
creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one
another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death
to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also
have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and
pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch
over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and
evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be
afraid of goodness or even tenderness!
Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands
goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and
courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness,
which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit
and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others,
for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!
Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the
new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain
power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of
power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by
three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that
authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power,
must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant
culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and
faithful service which marked Saint Joseph
and, like him, he
must open his arms to protect
all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of
humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those
whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty,
the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46).
Only those who serve with love are able to protect!
In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping
against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so
much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who
bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every
woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon
of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it
is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like
Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the
hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up
before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God.
To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to
protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is
a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which
all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us
protect with love all that God has given us!
I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that
the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for
me! Amen.
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