Sermon on
November 18th, 2009, in Trumau (Holy Mass of the ITI)
Memory of the Dedication of the Basilicas of
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, apostles
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Today we celebrate the consecration feast of two main basilicas in Rome:
St Peter’s Basilica and St Paul’s Basilica. This celebration is not only a
memory of a historical event – pointing to the consecration of St Peter’s on
November 18th, 1626, and to the consecration of St Paul’s on
December 10th, 1854.
Today’s memory and celebration expresses an idea and even more a truth,
both dogmatical and historical: The Church of Christ is built on the fundament
of the apostles and in a special way it is built on the rock of St Peter. So we
are today in a special way united in faith and prayer with our Pope Benedict
XVI. He is the visible vicar of Christ, the successor of St Peter. To him the
Lord entrusted his flock. He should take care in love for all of the faithful
to guide them in the truth of Christ. To the Magisterium of the Pope and of all
the bishops united with him the assistence of the Holy Spirit is promised and
granted who guides the Church in all the truth of Christ until the end of
times.
Vatican Council II has declared this in a solemn way in the dogmatic
constitution “Lumen gentium”, no.25:
“Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be
respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith
and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to
accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious
submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic
magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra;
that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is
acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered
to, according to his manifest mind and will.”
We all know about the situation in Church and theology today when some
persons and groups would like to build their own church rather than following
the guidance of Christ and his visible represantatives on earth, the Pope and
the bishops. We also know about the practical and theoretical challenges of present
time; the best way to help the Church’s Magisterium in fulfilling its salvific
task is first to pray for the Pope and the bishops, then to follow their
guidance and also to help them in their office by a faithful-obedient and at
the same time reasonable form of reflection about the truth of faith, which is
the specific task of the theologians.
May the Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church, intercede for all those who belong to the Church of Christ, but also for those who are in search for the truth of Christ, even if they do not know this explicitly! “Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia”[1] – “Where St Peter is, there we find the Church.” Amen.
Josef Spindelböck