Eucharistic Celebration in the Square

On Thursday, 8 August 1985, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass in the Square in Lomé (Togo). In his homily the Pope contrasted the God they have come to know in Jesus Christ with the God intimated bin traditional religions. 

1. “We are the people whom the Lord leads by the hand” (cf. Ps 100:3).

Today, during this solemn Eucharistic liturgy, all of you, dear brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of this country of Togo, gathered in your capital, wish above all to proclaim before God and before men : yes, we are the people whom the Lord leads by the hand.

Today you make this profession of faith, expressing what is at the very heart of your faith : the joy of being the people of God, the confidence of being guided by him, by the Good Shepherd.

And you do so under the guidance of those who are your fathers and visible pastors of the Church in Togo, your bishops, aided by the ministry of your priests, supported by the testimony of your men and women religious, your catechists, and this evening - for the first time in the history of your country - in the presence of the successor of the Apostle Peter who comes to visit you to confirm your faith, strengthen your unity and encourage the Christian renewal for which you have prepared yourselves.

2. In this country, men have lived for centuries, for millennia, using in the best way the resources of their intelligence and their heart to organize their work, their family and social life, their government, according to suitable structures and under the authority of experienced and respected leaders. Their religious sense seems to have always deeply marked their life. Then came the time of political ties with some European countries.

But the event that has brought you here this evening to celebrate Jesus Christ is the evangelization that began less than a century ago with the missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word, then with those of the African missions of Lyon, and which has been continued to our day with the help of many congregations of men and women religious. This evening, we remember these generations of missionaries who had no other aim than the command of Our Lord: "Go, teach all nations," and your own good: to offer you the possibility of becoming, like them, disciples of Christ, of receiving the salvation that he brings us.

Honor and gratitude also to the Togolese families who have willingly welcomed Christianity, to the point of forming an already very numerous Christian population, with Togolese priests and bishops who take charge of the animation of the dioceses. Here I greet the diocesans of Lomé, with their Archbishop, Monsignor Robert Casimir Dosseh-Anyron, whom I thank for his welcome; and the other Christians of the coastal region, of the highlands and of the savannahs where the dioceses of Atakpamé, Sokodé and Dapaong are located. I also cordially greet the Christians of neighboring countries, in particular the bishops of Benin with a numerous delegation of the faithful: I know, dear friends, that the religious history of your country is profoundly linked to that of Togo. I also greet the Christians of Ghana with their pastors. I remember with joy the welcome of these two peoples on the occasion of my pastoral visit.

I invite you all to give thanks to God, because it is he who has prepared hearts to preach and welcome the good news.

“Know that the Lord is God; it is he who made us, and we are his, his people, the sheep of his pasture” ( Ps 100:3). Alleluia, alleluia!

3. Good news, yes! Through Jesus Christ, through his Gospel, you have been given the opportunity to know the true God , as he wished to reveal himself to men through the prophets and his beloved Son. Very often, traditional religions already gave you a sense of his existence, inclining you to respect him, to a fearful respect, but generally not to love, to a certain worship of him, but often in the uncertainty of knowing what it was right to offer to this God considered distant. The God who was announced to you by the Church is at the same time our Creator and our Father . You have discovered him and now know him as the one who loved the world so much that he sent his only Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it. And Jesus Christ, who is the perfect image of the Father, in a humanity similar to ours, manifested himself as love : “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” ( Jn 15:13). You know, in fact, that Christ gave his life for us : "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again" ( 2 Cor 5:15). Yes, we truly feel "captured" by this love, because through it are revealed to us the unfathomable plans of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for the men whom they associate with their divine life, and at the same time we discover the unique dignity that man, that every man, has in the eyes of God.

4. This benevolence of God for you, dear brothers and sisters, which has always existed but of which you have become more aware by believing in the Christian message, is not an abstract, distant, anonymous reality. The love of God has extended to each of those who have welcomed him with faith , who have accepted Baptism , at the price of a demanding catechumenate. Then, truly, you have become for Christ "friends" (cf. Jn 15:15), brothers and sisters (cf. Mk 3:35). You have become with him sons and daughters of God by adoption. You have become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit who is in you and who acts in you. You have become active members of the Church, which is the body of Christ. You have, says St. Paul, "passed through death", that is, you are dead to sin, removed from eternal death. You have received in you - hidden but real - the life of the risen Christ. Your life is “centered on him,” inseparable from him. You abide in him , in his love: Jesus himself said it in today’s Gospel. And this bond with Christ, if you want it, will never cease, it will endure and will have its fulfillment in eternal life. And from now on, in him, you can bear much fruit (cf. Jn 15:5).

5. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and you may be filled with joy,” Jesus says to the apostles again (cf. Jn 15:11). Yes, rejoice, and never cease to give thanks!

Because it is first and foremost a gift from God, a free choice, of which you too have been the object, dear Christians of Togo. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” ( Jn 15:16). As for you, you have chosen to follow Christ, to obey his Gospel, but because he himself has chosen you. He wanted to call you, you were in his plan of salvation, he has prepared your heart. The Gospel is a free gift, a grace. Faith, your response as believers is a grace.

6. Starting from this grace, there is a whole renewal that can be accomplished, that you must accomplish, in your personal, family, cultural, social, national life, in your customs, in your institutions, in the whole world in which you live. “ If anyone is in Jesus Christ, he is a new creation. The old world has passed away, a new world has been born” (cf. 2 Cor 5:17).

It is a very beautiful mystery, this renewal. We find it expressed in many words of Jesus and the apostles, and throughout the tradition of the Church, up to the recent Second Vatican Council. Jesus compared his Gospel to a new wine that required new wineskins, or even to a new fabric, which could only be adapted to a new garment (cf. Mt 9:16-17). He came to establish the new covenant in his blood (cf. Lk 22:5), which requires and involves “a new heart”, “a new spirit”, as the prophet Ezekiel had announced (cf. Ez 36:26). Jesus spoke to Nicodemus of a new birth (cf. Jn 3:5), through Baptism and the word of truth (cf. Jas 1:18).

In turn, St. Paul richly explained to the Christians of Ephesus this renewal of the disciple of Jesus: "You must," he says, "put off the old man, which is corrupted by the deceitful passions. You must be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man , created according to God in true righteousness and holiness" ( Eph 4:22-24). And Paul lists a certain number of obstacles to overcome: lies, anger, theft, laziness, bad words, animosity, wickedness.

Yes, the entire work of redemption accomplished by Jesus is a renewal of people, and through them, of the world around them, of the entire universe.

7. Brothers and sisters, do you really desire this renewal in Christ, of your mentality, of your life, of your habits? Perhaps some are afraid of it? Because the human tendency, quite understandable, is to cling to or return to the past, to what is known, familiar, already experienced. Renewal can even seem like infidelity to the past. In any case, it is in some way an adventure, a risk, and above all it requires a certain renunciation, a certain break . And each one measures her own strength: will I like it? Will I have the desire? The courage? The perseverance?

Dear friends, this is not how you should think. If Christ asks you to follow him, even on a demanding path, through a narrow door (cf. Mt 7:14), it must certainly be for a good, a gain, an extra life. “You have the words of eternal life,” Peter answered him ( Jn 6:68). You must trust him. And it is not a simple decision of your will, which would remain weak. The Holy Spirit who is in you is the one who draws you toward the good, who gives you strength when you ask him. “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you” ( Jn 15:16). God offers you a marvelous project: “Put on Christ”!

8. We were talking about a break . You promised it at the moment of your Baptism. “I renounce sin, what leads to sin, Satan, the author of sin.” But you added shortly after: “I believe in God, the Father, I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe in the Holy Spirit.” This is the one who attracts you, the Trinitarian God. The important thing is to fix your gaze on him, to pass from darkness to his light. And, in the life of the baptized, it is often necessary to renew this passage, to emerge from a situation of sin into which we may have fallen again, or from a lukewarm, mediocre Christian life, in which prayer, love for others, purity of relationships, truth were lacking. And this is what many of you have done in these last weeks, responding to the appeal of your bishops, in preparation for this meeting. You have followed popular missions, you have become aware of your sins, of what contradicts Christian life. You wanted to put an end to old habits to which you had perhaps returned. You confessed your sins, you received the sacrament of reconciliation, you made efforts to make peace among yourselves. You placed your human love under the sign of the sacrament of marriage. You organized prayer vigils, periods of fasting, of sharing goods. I rejoice with you, dear friends. Here are acts of renewal in your personal Christian life . You will have to return to them often. And I am sure that you already taste peace, joy. Remain in the love of the Lord!

9. Through and beyond these meritorious acts, the Lord wants to progressively bring about a profound transformation of mentalities, to the point that one can say: here is a Christian family, here is a Christian community, here is a Christian society.

The Second Vatican Council said of catechumens - but this applies to everyone -: "Under the action of God's grace, the new convert begins a spiritual journey . . . This passage, which implies a progressive change of mentality and customs, must manifest itself in its consequences on a social level . . . And since the Lord in whom he believes is a sign of contradiction, not infrequently those who have converted encounter ruptures and separations, but also joys, which God generously grants" ( Ad gentes , 13). And my predecessor Paul VI wrote: "The Church evangelizes when, by virtue of the divine power alone of the message she proclaims, she seeks to convert the personal and collective conscience of men, the activity in which they are engaged, and their specific life and environment" (Paul VI, Evangelii nuntiandi , 18).

This transformation may concern some traditional customs that belonged to you, or that belong to you, in this country. It is a delicate, difficult area, because these customs often correspond to a long social experience, and involve positive aspects of initiation to life, of balance or social cohesion. Their abolition may give rise to tenacious resistance. Each custom must be examined prudently, with discernment, without prematurely uprooting the good wheat with the weeds. And yet, the novelty and freedom of the Gospel must do their work in this area. One can, one must let the conscience of the baptized question these customs, in order to preserve what is healthy, just, true, beneficial; compatible with faith in the one God, with the charity of the Gospel, with the Christian ideal of marriage, and to break off, instead, with what is opposed to the revelation of God and the charity that he has spread in our hearts, or with practices contaminated by syncretism. This is done - needless to say - with respect for people who, in conscience, think they must maintain their traditional habits. Christian charity demands it. But Christian truth and freedom can invite us to distance ourselves from such habits; this requires personal courage, and cohesion in the Christian community around priests. It is a question of being authentically African and authentically Christian, without separating one from the other, and without fearing to bear witness in public to one's convictions. This is what has been done wherever the Gospel has been preached, wherever the Church has been built: in Corinth, in Ephesus, in Rome, in the young European nations in the Middle Ages, and, today, by you.

10. In a broader sense, the same could be said of the different aspects of culture. An effort at inculturation must be made. Each African country, after having received the faith from eminent pioneers who came from outside, must live the Gospel with its own quality and qualities; it must translate it, not only into its language, but into its customs, taking into account the human values ​​of its own heritage. This can only be done by you, Togolese bishops, priests, religious, and lay people, according to the measure of your own maturity, with a great concern for fidelity to the essentials of the faith and ecclesiastical discipline of the universal Church. This magnificent, necessary work requires at the same time the boldness and prudence, intelligence and fidelity, let us say the sanctity of apostles such as Cyril and Methodius. You know that eleven centuries ago, coming from Byzantium, the city of splendid Greek culture, these two priests brought the Gospel to the Slavic peoples of which my country is a part. And they contributed to the creation of a new culture, Slavic and Christian. In this regard I wrote an encyclical, saying among other things: “The work of evangelization which they accomplished contains a model of what today goes by the name of “inculturation” - the incarnation of the Gospel in indigenous cultures - and at the same time their introduction into the life of the Church” (John Paul II, Slavorum Apostoli , 21, 2 June 1985: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II , VIII/2 [1985] 24).

11. The spirit of Christian renewal must also be exercised with regard to what the modern civilizations of developed countries bring to you. Often these are marvelous technical successes that can be used for the economic, health and cultural good of the country; but you also see the limits of the mentality that often accompanies them appear: for example, the temptation to subject man to matter, human love to selfish pleasure, freedom to caprice, the autonomy of the spirit to forgetfulness or rejection of God. Even the acceptance of all these possibilities, sometimes ambiguous, requires much discernment and courage. I think that the texts of the Second Vatican Council offer you a light to trace your path in the midst of these new realities, achieving the appropriate "updating" of fidelity to the essential.

12. Taking into account these different areas, on what precise point can the moral renewal that your faith requires focus? I can only evoke them, leaving you the task of reflecting on them with your bishops, your priests, your catechists.

Globally, it will always be in the sense of brotherly love . Christ gave us “a new commandment”, his commandment, to love one another as he has loved us (cf. Jn 13:34; 15:12). To love in your environment means to look at the other with respect, to tolerate him despite his defects, to silence animosity, hatred towards him, it means to forgive him, to share with him when he is in need, hungry, homeless, in prison, sick, a stranger. To love means to open up to others in a spirit of peace and cooperation, beyond the frontiers of one's own group, one's own tribe, one's own nation.

You are also called to a “social love” , that is, to work for the common good of the nation, to assume your share of responsibility in social life, to promote ever more justice, more harmony, to create conditions that respect the dignity of every man and his fundamental rights. Your profession, especially if you are a civil servant, already contributes to this, when you exercise it with integrity, professional conscience, as a service. If you are a student, try to acquire real competence so that tomorrow you can be counted on. This is how the fabric of society can be gradually renewed. In social life, the Christian is concerned with protecting the most needy, with helping them; he feels solidarity with the most disadvantaged regions of his country and also of the world.

Finally, conjugal and family love needs to be constantly renewed. The sacrament of marriage allows the union and the entire life of the spouses to be sanctified, and it is important that Christians prepare themselves carefully for it; it does not dispense from daily efforts to strengthen, with the help of Christ, the unity of the family, the permanent fidelity of the spouses, the delicacy of mutual love, and the care taken in educating children in the faith. Family ministry, in the sense set forth in the exhortation Familiaris consortio , must have a privileged place in this Church.

13. All these moral demands prepare the renewal that you await. They are anchored in our conscience. They manifest the seriousness of our faith which, without actions, would be of no use (cf. James 2:14). This is why we remain in the very love of God: “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love” ( Jn 15:10).

But we must directly maintain this love of God in us. We must give Christ the means to spread his grace in us, to be like a leaven that will leaven all the dough.

Dear brothers and sisters of Togo, you must be aware, every day, of the gift of God that is in you, and of his calls. You must seek the means to know the Gospel better, to deepen your faith , to reflect on its implications connected with life. In particular, I am thinking of the appropriate catechesis to propose to this large number of young people, in schools, in high schools, in parishes. You must seek support in Christian movements because, abandoned to yourselves, you would not be able to resist. You must develop, renew your way of praying : prayer is vital for a Christian, it unites him to the thought and will of God and at the same time exposes his needs to him. You must take your part in the Sunday Eucharists , which are at the same time a celebration and a nourishment. You must constantly draw holiness from the sacraments of Christ: penance, communion. In this way you will remain in his love.

You know that my pilgrimage to Africa will culminate at the International Eucharistic Congress in Nairobi. Christ is the heart of the Church. It is he who nourishes her and transforms her into his image. She is his body.

14. The Lord Jesus also tells you: “I have chosen you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain ” ( Jn 15:16). The Bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, wishes this for you. He prays with you who constitute the Church of Togo:

“That you may go”; yes, that you may take a new departure, each and all together.

“That you may bear fruit”: the fruit of the redemption of Christ who gave himself for you, the fruit of grace and salvation, the fruit of the Father's love, the fruit of the Holy Spirit who animates you, so that you may be new creatures.

“And that your fruit may remain .” Amen.

© Copyright 1985 - Vatican Publishing House

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