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October 3, 2022Dubai.
The AVOSA Office of Christian Formation organized a two-day long Christian Formation Conference from 1-2 October in Dubai. Catechists from all over the UAE participated in the conference. Below is the full text of the homily delivered by Bishop Paolo Martinelli during the Holy Mass (XXVII Sunday).
Dear brothers and sisters,
The word of God reaches us today with strong expressions and images, which make us think of our Christian life and also of such an important task for the people of God, as is that of the catechist: the task of transmitting the faith to the new generations. This is not an easy task, especially in a time like ours in which we see dizzying changes on a global level both from a cultural and a social point of view. Transmitting the faith is not transmitting notions but life. It is transmitting the beauty of the encounter with Jesus.
In reality, all the readings we have heard speak to us of faith, starting with the Gospel in which the disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith. His answer is surprising because he affirms that it is enough to have faith as little as a tiny mustard seed to move mountains.
What does Jesus mean with this paradoxical image? On the one hand, He wants us to understand how small and lukewarm our faith can be. On the other hand, we have a presentation of faith as something that can radically change our life and the reality we encounter every day, like moving a mountain. This statement of Jesus makes us understand how wrong it is to think of faith as something secondary which remains on the margins of existence. Faith is not something that is added to our life by leaving things as they were before. On the contrary, those who believe in Jesus and live by faith change the history of humanity.
In order to experience this change, we must listen to Habakkuk's book. First of all, we are faced with pain, an injustice, in the face of which the prophet raises a cry to God in the name of the people: How long, O Lord, am I to cry for help while you will not listen?
Why do we cry out in the face of evil? Because we are made for happiness and for good. The prophet knows that man alone cannot save himself; then, he cries out to God. Here we discover that God intervenes in a mysterious way in the life of men. We are called to trust in God. The upright man will live by his faithfulness, reminds the prophet.
In this way, we discover that God's intervention in our life refers to the deepest questions of our being. Sometimes God seems to wait before intervening because he wants to grow in us the desire for good. Sometimes our faith is weak because the question and desire to which God wants to answer is not alive in us. To enjoy a gift, the desire for that good must be alive in us. To taste the justice of God, we must cultivate in us the desire for justice. To enjoy love, we must feel the desire to be loved and to love. There is no point in giving answers to questions that are not there. First, you need to discover the question that exists in the heart of man.
I believe that we must help the new generations to discover that God in Jesus responds to the deepest desires that every human person carries in his heart. For this reason, those who welcome Jesus with faith realize how life can really change. When you find what you are looking for, life changes and the man's heart becomes happy.
Saint Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy to revive the gift that has been given to us. It is not enough to receive a gift, a grace. Then you have to renew the gift, revive it, and make it grow.
This dynamic aspect helps us to understand not only the life of faith but also the task of the catechist and the importance of the formation you have lived today. In life, only that which grows continuously will remain. This is why it is important to engage in training; it is a way to revive the gift that has been given to you. And St. Paul reminds us that God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control.
This is the gift we need to experience the ability of faith to transform our lives and to pass it on to new generations as a vital reality.
Finally, I would like to return again to the Gospel and, therefore, to the responsibility that we have received with the gift of faith and which for you is expressed in a particular way in the ecclesial commitment to be catechists. We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty, says the Lord Jesus.
In reality, to consider ourselves "merely servants" is not a diminution but an exaltation. In fact, Jesus himself wanted to be our servant and came into the world to serve and not to be served. So through the ministry of the catechist, you express the desire to follow and imitate Jesus Christ.
But the sentence of the Gospel implies, at the same time, a profound sense of gratitude and gratuitousness. Through the service of the catechist, you transmit what you, in turn, have received as a gift. Jesus says: freely you have received, freely give. You have received a gift, this gift is for service, and in service, we imitate Jesus, who became an obedient servant to the point of the total gift of his own life.
Thanks again to you, dear catechists, and thanks to the organizers and speakers. We continue the Holy Mass by professing our faith together and giving thanks to God for the gift of his spirit.