Today, the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin shared a homily during a special Mass that was celebrated in the Church of Saint Mary of the Family at the Governatorato within the Vatican City State with members of the Corps of the Vatican Guard and the State Police who are celebrating today the Feast of their Patron Saint, Michael the Archangel.
Your Eminences,
Your Excellencies,
Mister Minister,
Distinguished Authorities,
Dear members of the Vatican Guard,
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I am pleased to celebrate this Mass for you, members of the Vatican Guard and Agents of Public Service, on the day when the Church celebrates the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
I extend my cordial greetings to His Excellency, the Minister of the Interior, the Honourable Marco Minniti, and to the Head of the Italian Police, Doctor Franco Gabrielli, who I thank for his presence here. I greet the Commanders of te Pontifical Guard, Doctor Domenico Giani.
In the name of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, I thank you dear Guards and Agents for the important service that you exercise and for your dedication and commitment.
The mission of assuring order, tranquility and observance of the necessary norms, through your discrete and attentive presence, necessitate specific preparation, exemplary care and a high level of morality. This latter aspect, when it is rooted in faith, predisposes the mind and the heart to receive the extra strength, clarity and serenity that comes from above, something that is very useful for the good performance of your work.
I also wish to point out the exemplary collaboration and synergy with which you are proceeding, an indispensable factor for the success of your mission, and I hope that you can profit more and more from one another through a profuse exchange of experiences and of information.
Security is an invaluable asset that is built through unremitting teamwork, through clever and intelligent collaboration involving everyone. It is the result of constant and prudent action, all the more efficient the more it is discrete and capillary. For this reason, I exhort you to nourish not only your body for the operational needs of your mission and your minds for the proper understanding of human and natural phenomena, but also the spirit, in order to always be well equipped before various difficulties and unforeseen events.
Today's celebration allows us to reflect on the Angels, on the truth of faith that concerns the existence of incorporeal beings which the Sacred Scriptures usually refer to as angels. As we learn in the Catechesis, they are pure spirits which are in the presence of God, docile performers of his will and his plan of salvation for the human race and for all of creation. From the very beginning until the hour of earthly death, they surround human life with their protection and their intercession. Every one of the faithful has at his or her side an angel who acts as a protector and shepherd, a guardian angel (cf Catechesis of the Catholic Church, 336).
Thus the Church celebrates the memory of some of the angels in particular: Gabriel, the strength of God, who proclaimed to Zachariah the birth of John the Baptist and to the Virgin Mary the birth of Jesus; Raphael, who accompanied Tobit along his difficult voyage, healed his wife Sarah and the blindness of his father Tobias, thus deserving his name which means remedy of God; and finally Michael, who you honour as your celestial patron.
And it is certainly appropriate that Saint Michael, the Prince of the celestial armies, should be your protector. In every age, including the one in which we are living, there are both opportunities and challenges, remarkable joint achievements fraught with difficulties and dangers. It is enough to browse through a newspaper or to listen to the news in order to perceive the brilliant contemporary acquisitions, but also the violence of individuals or organized groups who, in their desperation and bullying commit acts of untold ferocity.
The biblical readings for today's feast teach us that persistence in the world of evil and sin finds its origin in events that go beyond history and involve celestial dynamics.
In fact, we have heard the affirmation in the text of the Book of Revelation: A war broke out in the sky. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon fought together with his angels, but he did not prevail and there was no place for them in heaven (Rev 12:7). The Scriptures warn us that because of an ancient rebellion against the providential plan of God, there were dramatic consequences, but at the same time, the Scriptures assure us that the Archangel Michael prevailed, and that evil, even if it causes pain and suffering, will not have the final word.
The word Michael means Who is like God? Michael, with his own name, asks us to answer this very question. No one is like God, no one is as good as He because He is pure goodness, no one is as powerful as He because He is the creator of everything that exists, no one is as merciful as He, because He is our Redeemer. No one loves us like He does because He died on the cross for each of us. No one knows us as deeply as He. We have proof of this in the pages of the Gospel that we heard just moments ago, when Jesus said to the disgruntled Nathanael: Before Philip called you, I saw you when you were under the fig tree (Jn 1:48).
Before we were formed in the wombs of our mothers, the Lord has seen us, has thought about us, has loved us. Only He promises us eternal life in the joy of His presence, together with all the saints.
No one therefore can be compared with God by usurping his functions. Anyone who does this will ruin the true face of God and instead of freeing us and raising us up, will subject us to difficult slavery, instead of the joy and light that brings about goodness, truth and beauty, removing the darkness of disharmony, deception and illusion.
Cravings for power, pleasure, money, fame at all costs, the false search for enjoyment and connected tendencies to escape every responsibility do not lead us to happiness, do not lead us to live in harmony with ourselves, do not lead us to tranquil ports, do not build fraternal and solid relationships, but rather produce frustrations, delusions, violence and growing hypocrisy, soberness and feelings of inner emptiness.
If, by forgetting to fear God, man allows himself to be seduced by the search for some selfish and disordered satisfaction, he moves himself further away from wisdom and conforms himself to the world's criteria, spreading sadness and vanity. On the contrary, a solid relationship with the Lord provides appropriate parameters for our relationships with ourselves, with our neighbours, with the civil and ecclesial communities.
When God becomes a sure reference for everyday choices, everything is transformed. We can then open ourselves to hope without being blocked by anxiety for the future, pursuing life-long projects, mobilizing the best of our energies in order to build stable families, cemented by love and a sense of responsibility by trying to build a fraternal and solidly based society, and have the ability to sacrifice ourselves for the happiness of others, for the good of the community and of the Church and in so doing discover the true sense of our existence.
To acquire this wisdom I invite you to deepen your knowledge of God in prayer and to entrust yourselves to your patron Saint Michael the Archangel. What a beautiful image we find in the gospel of the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (cf Jn 1:51)! They ascend in order to bring our prayers to God, our requests, our necessities, our needs; and descending toward us, they give us their grace and blessings, so that we all can reach the goal of our journey, Paradise, and hear that powerful voice that speaks to us in the First reading: Now, salvation has been accomplished, the strength and the reign of our God and the power of his Christ (Rev 12:10).
In Venezuela, we sang a song that I liked very much. It says: If you catch a whiff and do not know what it is, it is an Angel who is arriving even if you don't see it, to bring our prayers to the Lord ... Yes, the Angels are flying in this place, among all of us and above the altar, with their hands filled with blessings ...
Let us also look to Most Holy Mary, who believers honour in litanies of prayer with the marvellous title of Queen of the Angels. Let us call upon her with these words: Who is like God? Who is like you, Mary Queen of the Angels and victor over hell? O good and tender Mother Mary, bride of the King of celestial Spirits, whose aspirations they wish to mirror, You will always remain our love, our hope, our refuge and the source of our boasting.
To Her, I entrust all of you, and to the Holy Angels, especially to the Archangel, Saint Michael, that he may defend and protect you, defending and protecting your families and those who are dear to you, and helping you to carry out your work with renewed, constant and generous commitment. Amen.
Homily of His Eminence, Pietro Parolin
Cardinal Secretary of State
For the Mass with members of the Vatican Guard
Your Eminences,
Your Excellencies,
Mister Minister,
Distinguished Authorities,
Dear members of the Vatican Guard,
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I am pleased to celebrate this Mass for you, members of the Vatican Guard and Agents of Public Service, on the day when the Church celebrates the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
I extend my cordial greetings to His Excellency, the Minister of the Interior, the Honourable Marco Minniti, and to the Head of the Italian Police, Doctor Franco Gabrielli, who I thank for his presence here. I greet the Commanders of te Pontifical Guard, Doctor Domenico Giani.
In the name of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, I thank you dear Guards and Agents for the important service that you exercise and for your dedication and commitment.
The mission of assuring order, tranquility and observance of the necessary norms, through your discrete and attentive presence, necessitate specific preparation, exemplary care and a high level of morality. This latter aspect, when it is rooted in faith, predisposes the mind and the heart to receive the extra strength, clarity and serenity that comes from above, something that is very useful for the good performance of your work.
I also wish to point out the exemplary collaboration and synergy with which you are proceeding, an indispensable factor for the success of your mission, and I hope that you can profit more and more from one another through a profuse exchange of experiences and of information.
Security is an invaluable asset that is built through unremitting teamwork, through clever and intelligent collaboration involving everyone. It is the result of constant and prudent action, all the more efficient the more it is discrete and capillary. For this reason, I exhort you to nourish not only your body for the operational needs of your mission and your minds for the proper understanding of human and natural phenomena, but also the spirit, in order to always be well equipped before various difficulties and unforeseen events.
Today's celebration allows us to reflect on the Angels, on the truth of faith that concerns the existence of incorporeal beings which the Sacred Scriptures usually refer to as angels. As we learn in the Catechesis, they are pure spirits which are in the presence of God, docile performers of his will and his plan of salvation for the human race and for all of creation. From the very beginning until the hour of earthly death, they surround human life with their protection and their intercession. Every one of the faithful has at his or her side an angel who acts as a protector and shepherd, a guardian angel (cf Catechesis of the Catholic Church, 336).
Thus the Church celebrates the memory of some of the angels in particular: Gabriel, the strength of God, who proclaimed to Zachariah the birth of John the Baptist and to the Virgin Mary the birth of Jesus; Raphael, who accompanied Tobit along his difficult voyage, healed his wife Sarah and the blindness of his father Tobias, thus deserving his name which means remedy of God; and finally Michael, who you honour as your celestial patron.
And it is certainly appropriate that Saint Michael, the Prince of the celestial armies, should be your protector. In every age, including the one in which we are living, there are both opportunities and challenges, remarkable joint achievements fraught with difficulties and dangers. It is enough to browse through a newspaper or to listen to the news in order to perceive the brilliant contemporary acquisitions, but also the violence of individuals or organized groups who, in their desperation and bullying commit acts of untold ferocity.
The biblical readings for today's feast teach us that persistence in the world of evil and sin finds its origin in events that go beyond history and involve celestial dynamics.
In fact, we have heard the affirmation in the text of the Book of Revelation: A war broke out in the sky. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon fought together with his angels, but he did not prevail and there was no place for them in heaven (Rev 12:7). The Scriptures warn us that because of an ancient rebellion against the providential plan of God, there were dramatic consequences, but at the same time, the Scriptures assure us that the Archangel Michael prevailed, and that evil, even if it causes pain and suffering, will not have the final word.
The word Michael means Who is like God? Michael, with his own name, asks us to answer this very question. No one is like God, no one is as good as He because He is pure goodness, no one is as powerful as He because He is the creator of everything that exists, no one is as merciful as He, because He is our Redeemer. No one loves us like He does because He died on the cross for each of us. No one knows us as deeply as He. We have proof of this in the pages of the Gospel that we heard just moments ago, when Jesus said to the disgruntled Nathanael: Before Philip called you, I saw you when you were under the fig tree (Jn 1:48).
Before we were formed in the wombs of our mothers, the Lord has seen us, has thought about us, has loved us. Only He promises us eternal life in the joy of His presence, together with all the saints.
No one therefore can be compared with God by usurping his functions. Anyone who does this will ruin the true face of God and instead of freeing us and raising us up, will subject us to difficult slavery, instead of the joy and light that brings about goodness, truth and beauty, removing the darkness of disharmony, deception and illusion.
Cravings for power, pleasure, money, fame at all costs, the false search for enjoyment and connected tendencies to escape every responsibility do not lead us to happiness, do not lead us to live in harmony with ourselves, do not lead us to tranquil ports, do not build fraternal and solid relationships, but rather produce frustrations, delusions, violence and growing hypocrisy, soberness and feelings of inner emptiness.
If, by forgetting to fear God, man allows himself to be seduced by the search for some selfish and disordered satisfaction, he moves himself further away from wisdom and conforms himself to the world's criteria, spreading sadness and vanity. On the contrary, a solid relationship with the Lord provides appropriate parameters for our relationships with ourselves, with our neighbours, with the civil and ecclesial communities.
When God becomes a sure reference for everyday choices, everything is transformed. We can then open ourselves to hope without being blocked by anxiety for the future, pursuing life-long projects, mobilizing the best of our energies in order to build stable families, cemented by love and a sense of responsibility by trying to build a fraternal and solidly based society, and have the ability to sacrifice ourselves for the happiness of others, for the good of the community and of the Church and in so doing discover the true sense of our existence.
To acquire this wisdom I invite you to deepen your knowledge of God in prayer and to entrust yourselves to your patron Saint Michael the Archangel. What a beautiful image we find in the gospel of the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (cf Jn 1:51)! They ascend in order to bring our prayers to God, our requests, our necessities, our needs; and descending toward us, they give us their grace and blessings, so that we all can reach the goal of our journey, Paradise, and hear that powerful voice that speaks to us in the First reading: Now, salvation has been accomplished, the strength and the reign of our God and the power of his Christ (Rev 12:10).
In Venezuela, we sang a song that I liked very much. It says: If you catch a whiff and do not know what it is, it is an Angel who is arriving even if you don't see it, to bring our prayers to the Lord ... Yes, the Angels are flying in this place, among all of us and above the altar, with their hands filled with blessings ...
Let us also look to Most Holy Mary, who believers honour in litanies of prayer with the marvellous title of Queen of the Angels. Let us call upon her with these words: Who is like God? Who is like you, Mary Queen of the Angels and victor over hell? O good and tender Mother Mary, bride of the King of celestial Spirits, whose aspirations they wish to mirror, You will always remain our love, our hope, our refuge and the source of our boasting.
To Her, I entrust all of you, and to the Holy Angels, especially to the Archangel, Saint Michael, that he may defend and protect you, defending and protecting your families and those who are dear to you, and helping you to carry out your work with renewed, constant and generous commitment. Amen.
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