Pope Benedict XVI's Sunday Angelus Message on September 23, 2012

In his weekly Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI continued his catechesis on the Gospel of Saint Mark. The Pope reminds us that the second half of the Gospel deals with Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem, a journey that will culminate in the His death and resurrection. After Saint Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Pope recalls, “Jesus began to speak openly about what would happen in the end.” But, he notes, the disciples did not understand Jesus’ words.

“It is clear,” the Pope says, “that between Jesus and the disciples there is a deep interior distance; they are, so to speak, on two different wavelengths.” Pope Benedict tells us that “this reminds us that God’s logic is always ‘other’ with respect to our own”: God’s ways are not our ways. For this reason, “following the Lord requires of each person a profound conversion, a change in his or her way of thinking and living.”

The Holy Father points to pride as a key difference between God and human beings. “We, who are little, desire to appear great, to be first; while God, who is truly great, is not afraid to humble Himself, and make Himself last.”

Summing up this week’s message for English speaking pilgrims, Pope Benedict reflects on the call to be “last of all, and servants of all”: “May Christ’s supreme act of love on Calvary always be our true measure of greatness.”

Below is the translation of the Pope’s full message:

In our journey through the Gospel of Mark, last Sunday we entered into the second half [of the Gospel], the last journey towards Jerusalem and towards the culmination of Jesus’ mission. After Peter, on behalf of the disciples, professed faith in Him, recognizing Him as the Messiah (cf. Mark 8:29), Jesus began to speak openly about what would happen in the end. The Evangelist reports three successive predictions of the death and resurrection, in chapters 8, 9 and 10: in them, Jesus proclaims ever more clearly the fate that awaits Him and their intrinsic necessity. The passage for this Sunday contains the second of these announcements. Jesus says: “The Son of Man,” – an expression that designates Himself – “is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise” (Mark 9:31). But the disciples “did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him” (v. 32).

In fact, reading this part of the story of Mark, it is clear that between Jesus and the disciples there is a deep interior distance; they are, so to speak, on two different wavelengths, so that the discourses of the Master are not understood, or are understood only superficially. The apostle Peter, after having shown his faith in Jesus, was permitted to reprove Him because He predicted that He must be rejected and killed. After the second announcement of the Passion, the disciples began to discuss who was the greatest among them (cf. Mk 9:34), and after the third, James and John asked Jesus to be able to sit at His right hand and at his left, when He was in glory (cf. Mk 10:35-40). But there are several other signs of this distance: for example, the disciples were not able to heal an epileptic boy, that afterwards Jesus heals with the power of prayer (cf. Mk 9:14-29); or when some children were presented to Jesus, the disciples reproved them, while Jesus, indignant, made them stay, and affirmed that only those who were like them could enter into the Kingdom of God (cf. Mk 10:13-16).

What does all this say to us? It reminds us that God’s logic is always “other” with respect to our own, as God Himself revealed through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts / nor are your ways my ways” (Is 55:8). For this reason, following the Lord requires of every person a profound conversion, a change in his or her way of thinking and living, it requires an opening of the heart to listen, in order to allow oneself to be enlightened and interiorly transformed. A key point in which God and man are different is pride: In God, there is no pride, because He is absolute fullness, and is completely given to love and to give live; in us, on the other hand, pride is deeply rooted and requires constant vigilance and purification. We, who are little, desire to appear great, to be the first, while God, who is truly great, does not fear to humble Himself and make Himself the last. The Virgin Mary is perfectly “in tune” with God: Let us invoke her with confidence, that she might teach us to faithfully follow Jesus along the way of love and humility.

After the Angelus:

Yesterday, in the French city of Troyes, the priest Louis Brisson, the founder of the Oblates of Saint Francis di Sales, who lived in the 19th century, was declared blessed. I joyfully join in the thanksgiving of the diocesan community of Troyes and of all the spiritual sons and daughters of the new Blessed.

To the English speaking pilgrims:
I greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Angelus prayer. In the Gospel today, our Lord reveals to His disciples that He will be delivered unto death and rise again for our salvation. As we reflect on the call to be “last of all and servants of all”, may Christ’s supreme act of love on Calvary always be our true measure of greatness. God bless you and your loved ones!