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BLESS US, HOLY FATHER, FROM THE WINDOW OF THE FATHER´S HOUSE

VATICAN CITY, APR 8, 2005 (VIS) - Below is the English translation of the
homily, delivered in Italian by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, at the funeral
Mass for the Holy Father John Paul II, held in St Peter's Square this
morning:

  "'Follow me.' The Risen Lord says these words to Peter. They are his last
words to this disciple, chosen to shepherd his flock. 'Follow me' - this
lapidary saying of Christ can be taken as the key to understanding the
message which comes to us from the life of our late beloved Pope John Paul
II. Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality - our
hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound
gratitude.

 "These are the sentiments that inspire us, Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
present here in Saint Peter's Square, in neighboring streets and in various
other locations within the city of Rome, where an immense crowd, silently
praying, has gathered over the last few days. I greet all of you from my
heart. In the name of the College of Cardinals, I also wish to express my
respects to Heads of State, Heads of Government and the delegations from
various countries. I greet the Authorities and official representatives of
other Churches and Christian Communities, and likewise those of different
religions. Next I greet the Archbishops, Bishops, priests, religious men and
women and the faithful who have come here from every Continent; especially
the young, whom John Paul II liked to call the future and the hope of the
Church. My greeting is extended, moreover, to all those throughout the world
who are united with us through radio and television in this solemn
celebration of our beloved Holy Father's funeral.

   "Follow me! As a young student Karol Wojtyla was thrilled by literature,
the theatre, and poetry. Working in a chemical plant, surrounded and
threatened by the Nazi terror, he heard the voice of the Lord: Follow me! In
this extraordinary setting he began to read books of philosophy and
theology, and then entered the clandestine seminary established by Cardinal
Sapieha. After the war he was able to complete his studies in the faculty of
theology of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow. How often, in his letters
to priests and in his autobiographical books has he spoken to us about his
priesthood, to which he was ordained on 1 November 1946. In these texts he
interprets his priesthood with particular reference to three sayings of the
Lord. First: 'You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to
go and bear fruit, fruit that will last' (Jn 15:16). The second saying is:
'The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep' (Jn 10:11). And then:
'As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love' (Jn
15:9). In these three sayings we see the heart and soul of our Holy Father.
He really went everywhere, untiringly, in order to bear fruit, fruit that
lasts. 'Rise, Let us be on our Way!' is the title of his next-to-last book.
'Rise, let us be on our way!' - with these words he roused us from a
lethargic faith, from the sleep of the disciples of both yesterday and
today. 'Rise, let us be on our way!' he continues to say to us even today.
The Holy Father was a priest to the last, for he offered his life to God for
his flock and for the entire human family, in a daily self-oblation for the
service of the Church, especially amid the sufferings of his final months.
And in this way he became one with Christ, the Good Shepherd who loves his
sheep. Finally, 'abide in my love:' the Pope who tried to meet everyone, who
had an ability to forgive and to open his heart to all, tells us once again
today, with these words of the Lord, that by abiding in the love of Christ
we learn, at the school of Christ, the art of true love.

  "Follow me! In July 1958 the young priest Karol Wojtyla began a new stage
in his journey with the Lord and in the footsteps of the Lord. Karol had
gone to the Masuri lakes for his usual vacation, along with a group of young
people who loved canoeing. But he brought with him a letter inviting him to
call on the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Wyszynski. He could guess the
purpose of the meeting: he was to be appointed as the auxiliary Bishop of
Krakow. Leaving the academic world, leaving this challenging engagement with
young people, leaving the great intellectual endeavor of striving to
understand and interpret the mystery of that creature which is man and of
communicating to today's world the Christian interpretation of our being -
all this must have seemed to him like losing his very self, losing what had
become the very human identity of this young priest. Follow me - Karol
Wojtyla accepted the appointment, for he heard in the Church's call the
voice of Christ. And then he realized how true are the Lord's words: 'Those
who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their
life will keep it' (Lk 17:33). Our Pope - and we all know this - never
wanted to make his own life secure, to keep it for himself; he wanted to
give of himself unreservedly, to the very last moment, for Christ and thus
also for us. And thus he came to experience how everything which he had
given over into the Lord's hands came back to him in a new way. His love of
words, of poetry, of literature, became an essential part of his pastoral
mission and gave new vitality, new urgency, new attractiveness to the
preaching of the Gospel, even when it is a sign of contradiction.

  "Follow me! In October 1978 Cardinal Wojtyla once again heard the voice of
the Lord. Once more there took place that dialogue with Peter reported in
the Gospel of this Mass: 'Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my
sheep!' To the Lord's question, 'Karol, do you love me?,' the Archbishop of
Krakow answered from the depths of his heart: 'Lord you know everything; you
know that I love you.' The love of Christ was the dominant force in the life
of our beloved Holy Father. Anyone who ever saw him pray, who ever heard him
preach, knows that. Thanks to his being profoundly rooted in Christ, he was
able to bear a burden which transcends merely human abilities: that of being
the shepherd of Christ's flock, his universal Church. This is not the time
to speak of the specific content of this rich pontificate. I would like only
to read two passages of today's liturgy which reflect central elements of
his message. In the first reading, Saint Peter says - and with Saint Peter,
the Pope himself - 'I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in
every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to
him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace
by Jesus Christ - he is Lord of all' (Acts 10:34-36). And in the second
reading, Saint Paul - and with Saint Paul, our late Pope - exhorts us,
crying out: 'My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and
my crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved' (Phil 4:1).

  "Follow me! Together with the command to feed his flock, Christ proclaimed
to Peter that he would die a martyr's death. With those words, which
conclude and sum up the dialogue on love and on the mandate of the universal
shepherd, the Lord recalls another dialogue, which took place during the
Last Supper. There Jesus had said: 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'
Peter said to him, 'Lord, where are you going?' Jesus replied: 'Where I am
going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow me afterward.' (Jn
13:33,36). Jesus from the Supper went towards the Cross, went towards his
resurrection - he entered into the paschal mystery; and Peter could not yet
follow him. Now - after the resurrection - comes the time, comes this
'afterward.' By shepherding the flock of Christ, Peter enters into the
paschal mystery, he goes towards the cross and the resurrection. The Lord
says this in these words: '... when you were younger, you used to fasten
your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will
stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and
take you where you do not wish to go' (Jn 21:18). In the first years of his
pontificate, still young and full of energy, the Holy Father went to the
very ends of the earth, guided by Christ. But afterwards, he increasingly
entered into the communion of Christ's sufferings; increasingly he
understood the truth of the words: 'Someone else will fasten a belt around
you.' And in this very communion with the suffering Lord, tirelessly and
with renewed intensity, he proclaimed the Gospel, the mystery of that love
which goes to the end (cf. Jn 13:1).

  "He interpreted for us the paschal mystery as a mystery of divine mercy.
In his last book, he wrote: The limit imposed upon evil 'is ultimately
Divine Mercy' (Memory and Identity, pp. 60-61). And reflecting on the
assassination attempt, he said: 'In sacrificing himself for us all, Christ
gave a new meaning to suffering, opening up a new dimension, a new order:
the order of love ... It is this suffering which burns and consumes evil
with the flame of love and draws forth even from sin a great flowering of
good' (pp. 189-190). Impelled by this vision, the Pope suffered and loved in
communion with Christ, and that is why the message of his suffering and his
silence proved so eloquent and so fruitful.

  "Divine Mercy: the Holy Father found the purest reflection of God's mercy
in the Mother of God. He, who at an early age had lost his own mother, loved
his divine mother all the more. He heard the words of the crucified Lord as
addressed personally to him: 'Behold your Mother.' And so he did as the
beloved disciple did: he took her into his own home (eis ta idia: Jn
19:27) - 'Totus tuus.' And from the mother he learned to conform himself to
Christ.

  "None of us can ever forget how in that last Easter Sunday of his life,
the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the
Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing 'urbi et orbi.' We can
be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the
Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father.
We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you
each day and who will guide you now to the eternal glory of her Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

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