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 published: 2007-01-03

Homily on December 29, 2006 in the Adoration Church on Mt. Schoenstatt

Most Rev. Dr. Ignazio Sanna, Archbishop of Oristano, Italy

 

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Dear brothers in the priesthood, dear friends of the Schoenstatt Family:

Thirty two years ago, on December 29th, I consecrated my life as a priest to the Mother Thrice Admirable and thus began my priesthood in the Schoenstatt Family. I come today to Mt. Schoenstatt to consecrate my life as a bishop to the Triune God and to pray at the resting place of Fr. Joseph Kentenich.

I have come as a pilgrim to drink from the sources of love for the Church whish spring from the message and life of our Founder. As the first Schoenstatt bishop in Italy, I feel called to take to the heart of the Church, to Italy, and to the whole world, the charism of Fr. Kentenich.

My pastoral activity as a bishop began in my diocese with a visit to what I would call "the Shrine of sorrows:" the prison and hospital of the area. On the faces of the persons I met, I discovered the deep desire of many to find friendship…..hope to feel sheltered and loved by someone who would accompany them in their sufferings.

In those first days I was able to experience, from the beginning to the end, the way of life of man as he blesses a newborn and also an old man battling between life and death. Through those experiences and encounters, which were everyday experiences and also very extraordinary, I passed through the threshold of the mystery of life and death…..through the limits of daily existence where a simple gesture and a word are transformed into an experience of God’s grace.

As never before, I was able to experience the significance of my priestly work. Within my heart I gave thanks to God for enriching my priestly task with a dimension of paternity. I was able to perceive clearly how God uses signs and words from the priest to reveal to man His love…..to reveal Himself as Love…..to give them hope in life. They are the ways of grace. The holy and worthy hands with which Jesus celebrated the Eucharist miraculously multiply themselves into the hands of the priests which today celebrate the signs of salvation: they free men from the weight of sins…..they console the sick…..they encourage men in their labor and accompany them in times of trial. Among the most important obligations for bishops is to "take these priestly hands under his protection" (Pastores Gregis, 47).

Each time I reflect on this obligation, I am more convinced that my consecration as a bishop has made me an heir to a promise. "I want to bless you…..and you will be a blessing" (Gen 12,2). My first activity as a bishop consists of blessing the faithful with the sign of the cross. This sign reminds us of the most important sign of our Christian faith which wants to likewise be a sign of peace and communion. That is how it was in the times of Noah who was transformed into "a sign of reconciliation after a time of wrath" (Sir 44,17).

In daily meditation on the word of God, I can hear what the "Spirit of my Church" tells me and it fills me with conviction that the promise also applies to me: "the Spirit of God is in me because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to announce the Gospel to the poor and to heal the hearts of the oppressed…..to announce to the captives freedom and to proclaim a year of God’s grace" (Is 61, 1-2).

The Spirit of God reminds me that I am called to be a blessing to my people. He teaches me not to forget that I should be the one to help others to look toward the sun and the heights…..to look toward Him who gives color to the ocean and meaning to life. He reminds me that I should be not only the one who encourages others to lift their gaze to heaven when they are bedridden, sick and only then await help from above, but to also do it when we want to follow the path righteously….. when we want to get up and start something anew…..that we never forget that the divine cross always lights our way.

The need for love and compassion which I discovered in the faces of men who were not free or who were sick, always point me anew to my Episcopal motto: "Dio e amore (God is Love)." This was also the theme of the first encyclical of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

To this aim I want to dedicate my service as a bishop and all the energies of my spirit and heart. Because God is Love, He is also the source of true hope…..hope which is not based on simple thoughts or on human capabilities, but on His divine promise which gives to the events of the times their true meaning. This divine promise transforms world history into salvation history.

Dear friends of the Schoenstatt Family! Let us raise our eyes to the mountains because our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth (Ps 121, 2). With all my heart I invite you to build the future…..to think generously…..to raise our eyes toward heaven. Our confidence should transform itself, according to a phrase of Pope Benedict, into patience and humility (Deus Caritas est, 39 [God is Love] ). Our hope is the confirmation that heaven and earth touch, that the world will only believe in heaven when heaven lights our earthly life and not when heaven hides the earth.

Our faith should strive intensely to give to many people whose faith is weak and limited the message of the good news…..to open the door to a strong and broad faith. In my episcopal activity I want to show with my faith and my actions that God is Love. Love renews all because it is a dynamic love, always new, always reinvents words and actions in a new way. God not only preserves what already exists and is good, but always creates new things…..things which up to now did not exist (see Rom 4, 17).

I chose as a motto for my episcopate "Dio e amore" (God is Love) to invite all to begin anew with God, to deepen life from the aspect of faith…..to strengthen love and hope. The first sign which marked our forehead from the moment of baptism was the sign of the cross. To many this was not explained…..or they did not understand it…..or they have forgotten it and do not live from the sign of the cross.

Our spirituality in Schoenstatt shows us the way to give a face to our faith and to take seriously our baptism in the Covenant of Love through a renewed personal decision. This is our offer as a spiritual movement to the Church. We are convinced that it deals, above all, with an initiative from God for our times and an invitation filled with love from Mary who wants to lead us to her Son. "Do what He tells you." (Jn 2,5).

I never met Fr. Kentenich personally. Some of you had the good fortune of meeting him personally. For others, like me, it happened that we discovered how his person, his life and message are totally real.

I am going to mention some points where I think our Founder has an important contribution for our times:

  • In a world dominated by technology where there is no room for God, Schoenstatt brings a Providential interpretation of history which liberates modern man from anxiety of the future.
  • In a globalized world where no one no longer feels at home in spite of being able "to travel" by all possible means, Schoenstatt offers a home and a living Shrine.
  • In a masculinized world in which the woman is subject in many ways to the male, including Christianity, Schoenstatt promotes the Marian dimension of the man and in this way promotes the dignity of the woman and the value of life.
  • In a world where more and more authentic values disappear and where that which history gave us as a treasure is forgotten, where mechanistic thinking filters into the corners of everyday life, Schoenstatt comes with its offer to form the new man, the responsible man, the man aware of his mission.

We have all received a great gift from our Father and Founder. His mission is our task. For my part, I promise my collaboration for this great task and I ask you all to pray for my pastoral service.

English translation: Carlos Cantú Family Federation La Feria, Texas USA 010907

 

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