Synod: Cardinal Aguiar Rete's homily at Mass - Full text

XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
Wednesday, 16 October 2024, at 4:00 p.m.
Homily of Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes

“Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord”

With this phrase, we have just responded to the Word of God, to what St. Paul indicates in the first reading, taken from the Letter to the Galatians: man’s selfish disorder is the cause of evil actions. But how can this tendency be overcome? By learning to let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit. And we do this by getting to know Jesus Christ and bearing, as a good disciple, the testimony of his life and teachings.

In this way, we will obtain the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, generosity, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

On this path, we will undoubtedly acquire, as Jesus puts it in the Gospel, the freedom to intervene and correct those who have gone astray, the misguided, or the pretentious, who hold themselves up as models for others or make requirements that they themselves do not uphold.

It is opportune, before this Word of God, to strengthen our confidence in the divine help so that we may face with hope the different presences and behaviors, that both inside and outside the Church, criticize and hinder the application of the synodal life in our ecclesial communities.

I think it is opportune to ask ourselves how committed we are to living and promoting Synodality in our own areas of ecclesial and social responsibility.

Surely, we will have expectations conditioned by our own social and ecclesial contexts, but we must remember in our ordinary prayer, that we will certainly not lack the assistance of the Holy Spirit when fostering our specific tasks, on our synodal journey and in our synodal practice.

Let us not waver, brothers and sisters, let us act coherently, and we will obtain the fruits of the Holy Spirit, perceiving through our fulfillment, the divine intervention, which will often surprise us, achieving much more than what we humanly expected.

This spiritual experience of seeing divine assistance in the performance of our daily responsibilities will enable us to recognize the benefits of the Holy Spirit in others, and to encourage the members of our communities, in the face of the usual difficulties, as good disciples, not to lose heart along the way.

Thus, we will also gain the spiritual freedom to intervene through fraternal correction, solidarity, and earnest help for our neighbors in need.

In this way, we will develop as people who trust in the Lord Jesus, who know how to avoid being guided by worldly criteria, and we will be happy—let us not doubt about it—like a tree planted by the river of grace, which bears fruit in its time and never withers.

May we all experience the joy and happiness of always trusting in the Lord Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. May it be so!