Homily of Fr. Silvio Sassi,
during the Eucharistic Celebration in Memory of Sr. Thecla Merlo
First Superior General and Co-Foundress of the Daughters of St. Paul
As an assembly gathered together by the Spirit in the name of Christ to the glory of the Father, we have in common the same Baptism. Today there are present among us, together with the laity, also a substantial number of Daughters of St. Paul who are celebrating the opening of their Interchapter Meeting.
As a mixed assembly, that is, one whose members share the same Baptism but live the Christian life in different ways, let us reflect together on the readings of the Word of God just proclaimed.
The first reading (Is. 58:7-10) is an excerpt from a text written at a particular moment in the history of the Jewish people. Having returned to Jerusalem after the Exile, the people of Israel have rebuilt the Temple but their condition of life is still woeful. Instead of experiencing the splendors foreseen by the prophet while they were in exile, what has actually happened is that all the old social disorders have been re-established, namely, Jewish society is once again marked by a widening gap between the rich and the poor, between the upright and evil-doers, between exploiters and the exploited.
So as to “force” God to give Israel the “splendor” he promised it, the people have fasted and multiplied their prayers, expecting God to be satisfied with self-interested petitions. It was against this background that Isaiah wrote the text we just heard proclaimed. In it, God uses the prophet to tell the people exactly what he considers true fasting to be, namely: “to share one’s bread with the hungry, to shelter the oppressed and the homeless; to clothe the naked.” The prayer that pleases God is the type of prayer that leads a person to combat every form of poverty by means of active charity.
The spirituality that Blessed James Alberione, the Founder of the Pauline Family, wanted his sons and daughters to live is, in like manner, a spirituality that must be transformed from devotional practices into apostolate. Primo Maestro left us a list of “beatitudes” and works of mercy linked to evangelization with the instruments of communication. The Pauline spirituality includes the effort to combat every type of poverty: the Pauline sisters and priests love their neighbor through the communications apostolate and all the good that can be accomplished with it.
In the excerpt from the Gospel of Matthew (5:13-16), a believer in Christ is described by means of two images: “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.” After the Ascension of Jesus, the Christian community presented by Matthew in his Gospel felt that it had received the duty to continue Christ’s mission of salvation and thus it applied to itself the images that identified the work of the Messiah.
In the Bible, salt is linked to wisdom (the “salt of wisdom”): just as salt gives flavor to food, so too true wisdom gives flavor to life. In speaking about the effectiveness of the words and works of God, of his prophets and of Christ, Sacred Scripture uses the image of light. Just as light enables us to see people and things, so too words and actions that come from God enable us to see his creatures and all creation in a special way.
To continue the work of Christ in virtue of our Baptism and by means of a special mission means communicating our faith experience to others. Faith cannot be lived on a purely personal level. Faith in Christ is “social” because by its very nature it is extroverted: we leave self behind so as to share our faith with others. In fact, “the good works of believers” should elicit the admiration of the people. Faith is not a philosophical or theological treatise for the lazy. Instead, it is a model of life for those who love as Christ loved by “rolling up their sleeves” day after day, shunning a showy display of popular piety that is in actual fact self-centered.
In the thought of Primo Maestro–a thought fully shared by Maestra Thecla–the whole Pauline apostolate should be lived in keeping with the example offered to us by St. Paul, who made himself “all things to all people” because the Pauline apostolate is universal: its aim is to reach everyone. With good reason, the theme of the FSP 9th General Chapter was: “Chosen and loved in Christ Jesus, we communicate his Word to everyone.”
In today’s second reading (1 Co. 2:1-5), our Father St. Paul explains on the basis of his own preaching experience that the communication of faith must flow from a person imbued with it. Because of this, the Christian community of every era must avoid falling into the trap of thinking that faith is an elaborate construction of themes, subjects and brilliant expositions. Instead, it is an experience that marks those who receive it to the point of changing the values of their existence because they discover that they are loved by God.
A true experience of faith does not need to have recourse to methods that astonish people so as to make them appreciate its value. Paul preaches to the Corinthians “in weakness and fear and much trembling,” but the content of his preaching–“Jesus Christ and him crucified”–was his reason for living and for dying.
The Word of God offered to us today can serve you, the FSPs, as “salt” and “light” for your work during the Interchapter Meeting in that it can help you determine whether or not, at the midpoint of this current governing term, your Institute is implementing the program drawn up by your 9th General Chapter concerning the quality of your relationships, the revision of your apostolate in the light of the charism, and the evangelical service of authority and obedience.
The purpose of the Pauline spirituality is to form apostles. Even when an apostle’s strength no longer permits him/her to carry out the Institute’s mission “on the front lines,” that person’s heart always remains “missionary.” As Primo Maestro emphasized, the Pauline apostolate is “from beginning to end a work of mercy,” attentive to the needs of contemporary society because it is the fruit of a personal and communitarian experience of faith, not simply a publishing activity aimed at flooding the market with Catholic products.
To summarize the Pauline spirituality and apostolate, Primo Maestro used the image of a basin. The Pauline charism is like a basin in that its waters will overflow and be poured out on others only when the basin is full. Let us ask the Blessed Trinity, through the intercession of Mary, Queen of Apostles, St. Paul, Blessed James Alberione and Venerable Maestra Thecla, for the grace to live the Pauline charism with this supernatural wisdom.