One of the oldest forms of commentary on Scripture in the Jewish tradition is to explain the Sacred text by highlighting its current relevance, using a method that was immediately adopted in Christian circles. Indeed it is already found in the Qumran texts and Jesus uses it, as well.
And this is exactly what Benedict XVI did in inaugurating the Synodal Assembly, first at St Paul Outside-the-Walls when he commented in his Homily on the biblical image of the vineyard so dear to the prophets, and then at the opening of the Synod itself, when he meditated on several verses of the longest Psalm, the Psalm on the Word of God. There he emphasized that this Word is ever timely because it is both within human history and explains it, and because it is the one reality that truly counts.
As is his custom, the Pope spoke with a language and chose examples that all could understand. Thus the vineyard described by the prophets is no longer exclusive to Jewish history but instead - consistent with current exegetical methods founded in ancient Judaism - recalls the vicissitudes of Christian communities that were once flourishing but later disappeared and live on only in history books. Here his thoughts turned above all to the Churches of Asia, of Pauline and Johannine tradition, but also to the African Christianity of the first centuries, that of Tertullian, Cyprian and Augustine.
Benedict XVI did not stop at books - indeed, they too disappear, as he said in his last homily before entering the Conclave that was to elect him Pope - but turned his gaze to the present:  might not what happened to those ancient communities happen in our day and age? "Nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity, under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture".
The Pope, however, is not a pessimist, for Jesus promised that "the vineyard will not be destroyed" and that in the end, in spite of all, evil and death will not have the last word.
This vision of history revealed by Scripture, realistic and at the same time open to the future, is accompanied by references to very recent events as a reminder that visible and tangible realities - such as success and money - will pass away one day:  "We can see this now with the fall of large banks:  this money disappears, it is nothing".
Benedict XVI's Meditation is neither abstract nor mannered but asks each one to question himself, with his mind open to God:  "The one who builds his life on these realities, on matter, on success, on appearances, builds upon sand. Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality, it is as stable as the heavens and more than the heavens, it is reality".
In brief, God and his Word are the only realities that matter because they endure, unlike all the rest. For this reason, the Pope says, they must be taken into consideration if one wishes to be a realist.
In explaining Scripture, the Bishop of Rome once again stressed how it is central - and hence indicates God's place - in the life and heart of every human being, as the Synodal Assembly will certainly point out in the coming days.
The Assembly will bear in mind Judaism and the specificity of its witness, as Pope Benedict XVI himself did during his Visit to France, looking above all to the future and to the one reality that will never end.

g.m.v.

On Sunday, 5 October, prior to praying the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St Peter's Square, the Holy Father spoke on the current 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and its origins. The following is a translation of the Pope's Reflection, given in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This morning, the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops began with Holy Mass at the Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls. It will be taking place in the Vatican  during  the  next  three weeks on the theme:  "The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church".
You are familiar with the value and function of this particular Assembly of Bishops, who are chosen in such a way as to represent the entire Episcopate and are convoked to bring more effective aid to the Successor of Peter, while at the same time manifesting and consolidating ecclesial communion.
The Synod is an important body, established in September of 1965 by my Venerable Predecessor, the Servant of God Paul vi (cf. Apostolic Letter motu proprio data "Apostolica sollicitudo"), in the last phase of the Second Vatican Council, to implement a directive contained in the Decree on the ministry of Bishops (cf. Christus Dominus, 5).
These are the purposes of the Synod of Bishops:  to promote a closer union and greater collaboration between the Supreme Pontiff and the Bishops worldwide, to provide accurate and direct information concerning the Church's circumstances and problems, to facilitate agreement on matters of doctrine and pastoral action and to address themes of great importance and topicality.
These different tasks are coordinated by a permanent Secretary who works in direct and immediate dependence on the Bishop of Rome's authority.
The synodal dimension is constitutive of the Church; it consists of a coming together of every people and culture in order that they become one in Christ and walk together, following him, who said:  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14: 6).
In fact, the Greek work sýnodos, which is composed of the preposition syn, or "with", and odòs, which means "path, road", suggests the idea of "walking on a path together", and this is truly the experience of the People of God within salvation history.
For the Ordinary Synodal Assembly that begins today I have chosen, welcoming authoritative advice in doing so, to examine deeply, in a pastoral perspective, the theme of The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church.
A considerable number of particular Churches throughout the world took part in the preparatory phase. They sent their contributions to the Secretariat of the Synod which in turn drafted the Instrumentum laboris, a document that will be discussed by the 253 Synod Fathers:  51 from Africa, 62 from America, 41 from Asia, 90 from Europe and 9 from Oceania. In addition, there are the numerous experts and auditors, men and women, as well as fraternal delegates of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, and some as special guests.
Dear brothers and sisters, I invite you all to sustain the work of the Synod with your prayers, invoking especially the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, perfect Disciple of the Divine Word.
After the Angelus the Pope announced that on Sunday evening he would launch a televised Bible-reading marathon, by reading from the Book of Genesis. A translation of his Announcment in Italian follows.
This evening a special event has been organized by the RAI (Italian television), entitled "Bible, day and night". It is a continuous reading of the entire Bible, broadcast live on television, that will last for seven days and six nights, from today until next Saturday, 11 October.
The venue will be the Roman Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. Some of the approximately 1,200 readers, from 50 different countries, who will succeed one another, were chosen with ecumenical criteria and many others enrolled voluntarily.
This event coincides well with the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God and I myself shall begin by reading the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. The event will be broadcast this evening at 7: 00 p.m. on RAI's channel 1. The Word of God will thus be able to enter homes to accompany the lives of families and single persons, a seed which, if it is properly accepted, will not fail to bear abundant fruit.

On Sunday morning, 5 October, in the Basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls, the Holy Father presided at a concelebration of Holy Mass for the opening of the 12th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. The following is a translation of the Pope's Homily, which was delivered in Italian.

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The First Reading, taken from the Book of Isaiah, as well as the passage from the Gospel according to Matthew, have presented to our liturgical assembly an evocative allegorical image of Sacred Scripture:  the image of the vineyard which we have heard mentioned on the preceding Sundays.
The initial passage of the Gospel account refers to the "canticle of the vineyard" which we find in Isaiah. This is a canticle set in the autumnal context of the grape harvest:  a miniature masterpiece of Hebrew poetry which must have been very familiar to those listening to Jesus and from which, as from other references by the prophets (cf. Hos 10: 1; Jer 2: 21; Ez 17: 3-10; 19: 10-14; Ps 79: 9-17), it was easy to understand that the vineyard symbolized Israel.
God bestowed the same care upon his vineyard, upon the People he had chosen, that a faithful husband lavishes upon his wife (cf. Ez 16: 1-14; Eph 5: 25-33).
Therefore the image of the vineyard, together with that of the wedding feast, describes the divine project of salvation and is presented as a moving allegory of God's Covenant with his People. In the Gospel, Jesus takes up the canticle of Isaiah but adapts it to his listeners and to the new period in salvation history. The emphasis is not so much on the vineyard as on the workers in it, from whom the landowner's "servants" ask for rent on his behalf.
However, the servants are abused and even murdered. How is it possible not to think of the vicissitudes of the Chosen People and of the destiny reserved for the prophets sent by God?
In the end, the owner of the vineyard makes a final attempt:  he sends his own son, convinced that at least they will listen to him. Instead the opposite happens:  the labourers in the vineyard murder him precisely because he is the landowner's son, that is, his heir, convinced that this will enable them to take possession of the vineyard more easily.
We are therefore witnessing a leap in quality with regard to the accusation of the violation of social justice as it emerges from Isaiah's canticle. Here we clearly see that contempt for the master's order becomes contempt for the master:  it is not mere disobedience to a divine precept, it is a true and proper rejection of God:  the mystery of the Cross appears.
What the Gospel passage reports challenges our way of thinking and acting. It does not only speak of Christ's "hour", of the mystery of the Cross at that moment, but also of the presence of the Cross in all epochs. It challenges in a special way the people who have received the Gospel proclamation. If we look at history, we are often obliged to register the coldness and rebellion of inconsistent Christians.
As a result of this, although God never failed to keep his promise of salvation, he often had to resort to punishment.
In this context it comes naturally to think of the first proclamation of the Gospel from which sprang Christian communities that initially flourished but then disappeared and today are remembered only in history books.
Might not the same thing happen in our time? Nations once rich in faith and vocations are now losing their identity under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture.
There are some who, having decided that "God is dead", declare themselves to be "god", considering themselves the only architect of their own destiny, the absolute owner of the world.
By ridding himself of God and not expecting salvation from him, man believes he can do as he pleases and that he can make himself the sole judge of himself and his actions.

Happier without God?

However, when man eliminates God from his horizon, declares God "dead", is he really happy? Does he really become freer? When men proclaim themselves the absolute proprietors of themselves and the sole masters of creation, can they truly build a society where freedom, justice and peace prevail?
Does it not happen instead - as the daily news amply illustrates - that arbitrary power, selfish interests, injustice and exploitation and violence in all its forms are extended?
In the end, man reaches the point of finding himself lonelier and society is more divided and bewildered.
Yet there is a promise in Jesus' words:  the vineyard will not be destroyed. While the unfaithful labourers abandon their destiny, the owner of the vineyard does not lose interest in his vineyard and entrusts it to other faithful servants.
This means that, although in certain regions faith is dwindling to the point of dying out, there will always be other peoples ready to accept it. For this very reason, while Jesus cites Psalm 118[117], "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (v. 22), he gives the assurance that his death will not mean God's defeat.
After being killed, he will not remain in the tomb, on the contrary, precisely what seems to be a total defeat will mark the beginning of a definitive victory. His painful Passion and death on the Cross will be followed by the glory of his Resurrection. The vineyard, therefore, will continue to produce grapes and will be rented by the owner of the vineyard:  "to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons" (Mt 21: 41).
The image of the vineyard with its moral, doctrinal and spiritual implications was to recur in the discourse at the Last Supper when, taking his leave of the Apostles, the Lord said:  "I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit" (Jn 15: 1-2).
Thus, starting from the Paschal event, the history of salvation was to reach a decisive turning point and those "other tenants" were to play the lead as chosen shoots grafted on Christ, the true vine, and yield abundant fruits of eternal life (cf. Collect).
We too are among these "tenants", grafted on Christ who desired to become the "true vine" himself. Let us pray the Lord that in the Eucharist he will give us his Blood, himself, that he will help us to "bear fruit" for eternal life and for our time.
The comforting message that we gather from these biblical texts is the certainty that evil and death do not have the last word but that it is Christ who wins in the end. Always! The Church never tires of proclaiming this Good News, as is also happening today, in this Basilica, dedicated to the Apostle to the Gentiles who was the first to spread the Gospel in vast regions of Asia Minor and Europe.
We shall meaningfully renew this proclamation at the 12th General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops whose theme is "The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church".
I would like to greet here with cordial affection all of you, venerable Synod Fathers, and all those who are taking part in this meeting as experts, auditors and special guests.
I am pleased also to welcome the Fraternal Delegates of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities. I extend to the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops and his collaborators the expression of gratitude of us all for the hard work they have carried out in the past months, together with my good wishes for the efforts that await them in the coming weeks.

Intimacy with the Word

When God speaks, he always asks for a response. His saving action demands human cooperation; his love must be reciprocated.
Dear brothers and sisters, may what the biblical text recounts about the vineyard never occur:  "[he] looked for it to yield grapes but it yielded wild grapes" (Is 5: 2).
The Word of God alone can profoundly change man's heart so it is important that individual believers and communities enter into ever increasing intimacy with his Word. The Synodal Assembly will focus attention on this fundamental truth for the life and mission of the Church. To draw nourishment from the Word of God is her first and fundamental task.
In fact, if the Gospel proclamation is her raison d'être and mission, it is indispensable that the Church know and live what she proclaims, so that her preaching may be credible despite the weaknesses and poverty of the people of whom she is comprised.
We know, furthermore, that the proclamation of the Word, at the school of Christ, has the Kingdom of God as its content (cf. Mk 1: 14-15, but the Kingdom of God is the very person of Jesus who, with his words and actions, offers salvation to people of every epoch.
Interesting in this regard is St Jerome's reflection:  "Whoever does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ" (Prologue of the commentary on Isaiah:  n. 1, CCL 73, 1).
In this Pauline Year we hear the cry of the Apostle to the Gentiles resounding with special urgency:  "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9: 16); a cry that becomes for every Christian a pressing invitation to serve Christ.
"The harvest is plentiful" (Mt 9: 37) the Divine Teacher still repeats today:  so many still do not know him and are awaiting the first proclamation of his Gospel; others, although they received a Christian formation, have become less enthusiastic and retain only a superficial contact with God's Word; yet others have drifted away from the practice of the faith and need a new evangelization.
Then there are plenty of people of right understanding who ask themselves essential questions about the meaning of life and death, questions to which only Christ can give satisfactory answers.
It is, therefore, becoming indispensable for Christians on every continent to be ready to reply to those who ask them to account for the hope that is in them (cf. 1 Pt 3: 15), joyfully proclaiming the Word of God and living the Gospel without compromises.
Venerable and dear Brothers, may the Lord help us to question ourselves together, in the coming weeks of the Synod's work, on how to make the Gospel proclamation increasingly effective in our time.
We all know how necessary it is to make the Word of God the centre of our lives, to welcome Christ as our one Redeemer, as the Kingdom of God in person, to ensure that his light may enlighten every context of humanity:  from the family to the school, to culture, to work, to free time and to the other sectors of society and of our life.
In taking part in the Eucharistic celebration we are always aware of the close connection that exists between the proclamation of the Word of God and the Eucharistic sacrifice:  it is the Mystery itself that is offered for our contemplation.
This is why "the Church", as the Second Vatican Council highlights, "has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of the Lord, in so far as she never ceases, particularly in the sacred liturgy to partake of the bread of life and to offer it to the faithful from the one table of the Word of God and the Body of Christ" (Dei Verbum, n. 21).
The Council rightly concludes:  "Just as from constant attendance at the Eucharistic mystery the life of the Church draws increase, so a new impulse of spiritual life may be expected from increased veneration of the Word of God, which "stands for ever'" (Dei Verbum, n. 26).
May the Lord grant that we approach with faith the twofold banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ. May Mary Most Holy, who "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2: 19) obtain this for us.
May she teach us to listen to the Scriptures and meditate upon them in an inner process of maturation that never separates the mind from the heart.
May the Saints come to our aid, and in particular the Apostle Paul, whom during this year we are increasingly discovering as an undaunted witness and herald of God's Word. Amen!

On the opening day of the Synod, Monday, 6 October, during the Liturgy of the Hours celebration of the Third Hour, the Holy Father addressed the assembly in Italian. The following is a translation.

Dear Brothers in the Episcopacy,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
At the beginning of our Synod the Liturgy of the Hours presents a passage from Psalm 118 on the Word of God:  a praise of his Word, an expression of the joy of Israel in learning it and, in it, to recognize his will and his Face. I would like to meditate on some verses of this Psalm with you.
It begins like this:  "In aeternum, Domine, verbum tuum constitutum est in caelo... firmasti terram, et permanet". This refers to the solidity of the Word. It is solid, it is the true reality on which one must base one's life. Let us remember the words of Jesus who continues the words of this Psalm:  "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away".
Humanly speaking, the word, my human word, is almost nothing in reality, a breath. As soon as it is pronounced it disappears. It seems to be nothing. But already the human word has incredible power. Words create history, words form thoughts, the thoughts that create the word. It is the word that forms history, reality.
Furthermore, the Word of God is the foundation of everything, it is the true reality. And to be realistic, we must rely upon this reality. We must change our idea that matter, solid things, things we can touch, are the more solid, the more certain reality.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount the Lord speaks to us about the two possible foundations for building the house of one's life:  sand and rock. The one who builds on sand builds only on visible and tangible things, on success, on career, on money. Apparently these are the true realities. But all this one day will pass away. We can see this now with the fall of large banks:  this money disappears, it is nothing.
And thus all things, which seem to be the true realities we can count on, are only realities of a secondary order. The one who builds his life on these realities, on matter, on success, on appearances, builds upon sand.
Only the Word of God is the foundation of all reality, it is as stable as the heavens and more than the heavens, it is reality. Therefore, we must change our concept of realism. The realist is the one who recognizes the Word of God, in this apparently weak reality, as the foundation of all things. Realist is the one who builds his life on this foundation, which is permanent.
Thus the first verses of the Psalm invite us to discover what reality is and how to find the foundation of our life, how to build life.
The following verse says:  "Omnia serviunt tibi". All things come from the Word, they are products of the Word. "In the beginning was the Word". In the beginning the heavens spoke. And thus reality was born of the Word, it is "creatura Verbi".
All is created from the Word and all is called to serve the Word. This means that all of creation, in the end, is conceived of to create the place of encounter between God and his creature, a place where the history of love between God and his creature can develop.
"Omnia serviunt tibi". The history of salvation is not a small event, on a poor planet, in the immensity of the universe. It is not a minimal thing which happens by chance on a lost planet. It is the motive for everything, the motive for creation. Everything is created so that this story can exist, the encounter between God and his creature.
In this sense, salvation history, the Covenant, precedes creation. During the Hellenistic period, Judaism developed the idea that the Torah would have preceded the creation of the material world. This material world seems to have been created solely to make room for the Torah, for this Word of God that creates the answer and becomes the history of love. The mystery of Christ already is mysteriously revealed here.
This is what we are told in the Letter to the Ephesians and to the Colossians:  Christ is the protòtypos, the first-born of creation, the idea for which the universe was conceived.
He welcomes all. We enter in the movement of the universe by uniting with Christ. One can say that, while material creation is the condition for the history of salvation, the history of the Covenant is the true cause of the cosmos. We reach the roots of being by reaching the mystery of Christ, his living word that is the aim of all creation.
"Omnia serviunt tibi". In serving the Lord we achieve the purpose of being, the purpose of our own existence.
Let us take a leap forward:  "Mandata tua exquisivi". We are always searching for the Word of God. It is not merely present in us. Just reading it does not mean necessarily that we have truly understood the Word of God. The danger is that we only see the human words and do not find the true actor within, the Holy Spirit. We do not find the Word in the words.
In this context St Augustine recalls the scribes and pharisees who were consulted by Herod when the Magi arrived. Herod wants to know where the Saviour of the world would be born. They know it, they give the correct answer:  in Bethlehem.
They are great specialists who know everything. However they do not see reality, they do not know the Saviour. St Augustine says:  they are signs on the road for others, but they themselves do not move. This is a great danger as well in our reading of Scripture:  we stop at the human words, words form the past, history of the past, and we do not discover the present in the past, the Holy Spirit who speaks to us today in the words from the past. In this way we do not enter the interior movement of the Word, which in human words conceals and which opens the divine words.
Therefore, there is always a need for "exquisivi". We must always look for the Word within the words.
Therefore, exegesis, the true reading of Holy Scripture, is not only a literary phenomenon, not only reading a text. It is the movement of my existence. It is moving towards the Word of God in the human words. Only by conforming ourselves to the Mystery of God, to the Lord who is the Word, can we enter within the Word, can we truly find the Word of God in human words. Let us pray to the Lord that he may help us search the word, not only with our intellect but also with our entire existence.
At the end:  "Omni consummationi vidi finem, latum praeceptum tuum nimis". All human things, all the things we can invent, create, are finite. Even all human religious experiences are finite, showing an aspect of reality, because our being is finite and can only understand a part, some elements:  "latum praeceptum tuum nimis". Only God is infinite. And therefore His Word too is universal and knows no boundaries.
Therefore by entering into the Word of God we really enter into the divine universe. We escape the limits of our experience and we enter into the reality that is truly universal. Entering into communion with the Word of God, we enter a communion of the Church that lives the Word of God. We do not enter into a small group, with the rules of a small group, but we go beyond our limitations. We go towards the depths, in the true grandeur of the only truth, the great truth of God. We are truly a part of what is universal.
And thus we go out into the communion of all our brothers and sisters, of all humanity, because the desire for the Word of God, which is one, is hidden in our heart.
Therefore even evangelization, the proclamation of the Gospel, the mission are not a type of ecclesial colonialism, where we wish to insert others into our group. It means going beyond the individual culture into the universality that connects all, unites all, makes us all brothers. Let us pray once again that the Lord may help us to truly enter the "breadth" of His Word and thus to open ourselves to the universal horizon that unites us with all our differences.
At the end, we return to a preceding verse:  "Tuus sum ego:  salvum me fac". The text translates as:  "I am yours". The Word of God is like a stairway that we can climb and, with Christ, even descend into the depths of his love. It is a stairway to reach the Word in the words.
"I am yours". The word has a Face, it is a person, Christ. Before we can say "I am yours", he has already told us "I am yours". The Letter to the Hebrews, quoting Psalm 39, says:  "You gave me a body.... Then I said, "Here I am, I am coming'". The Lord prepared a body to come. With his Incarnation he said:  I am yours. And in Baptism he said to me:  I am yours. In the Holy Eucharist, he say ever anew:  I am yours, so that we may respond:  Lord, I am yours.
In the way of the Word, entering the mystery of his Incarnation, of his being among us, we want to appropriate his being, we want expropriate our existence, giving ourselves to him who gave Himself to us.
"I am yours". Let us pray the Lord that we may learn to say this word with our whole being. Thus we will be in the heart of the Word. Thus we will be saved.

At the General Audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday, 1 October, the Holy Father continued his catechesis on St Paul's relationship with the Twelve, analyzing two events:  the Council of Jerusalem and the episode in Antioch when Paul rebuked Peter for abstaining from eating with the Gentiles. The following is a translation of the Pope's Catechesis, which was given in Italian.


Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Paul's relationship with the Twelve was always one of respect and veneration that did not fail when he defended the truth of the Gospel, which is nothing if not Jesus Christ, the Lord. Let us reflect today on two episodes that show the veneration and at the same time the freedom with which the Apostle addresses Cephas and the other Apostles:  the so-called "Council" of Jerusalem and the incident in Antioch, Syria, mentioned in the Letter to the Galatians (cf. 2: 1-10; 2: 11-14).
In the Church, every Council and Synod is an "event of the Spirit" which considers the petitions of all the People of God as it takes place. This was experienced first-hand by all those who received the gift of participating in the Second Vatican Council.
For this reason, St Luke, in telling us about the Church's First Council, held in Jerusalem, introduces the Letter which the Apostles sent on that occasion to the Christian communities in the diaspora:  "It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us..." (Acts 15: 28). The Spirit, who works in the whole Church, takes the Apostles by the hand, leading them on new roads to implement his plans; he is the principal artisan who builds the Church.
And the Assembly of Jerusalem also took place at a time of no small tension in the primitive community. It was a matter of settling the question of whether or not circumcision was compulsory for the Gentiles who were adhering to Jesus Christ, the Lord, or whether it was lawful for them not to be bound by the Mosaic law, that is, the observance of the norms required in order to be upright, law-abiding people, and especially, not to be bound by those norms that concerned religious purification, clean and unclean foods and the Sabbath.
Paul also refers to the Assembly of Jerusalem in Gal 2: 1-10, 14 years after his encounter with the Risen One at Damascus - we are in the second half of the 40s A.D. - Paul set out with Barnabas from Antioch in Syria, taking with him Titus, his faithful collaborator who, although he was a Greek, had not been obliged to be circumcised in order to join the Church.
On that occasion Paul explained to the Twelve, whom he describes as those who were "of repute", his Gospel of freedom from the Law (cf. Gal 2: 6).
In the light of the encounter with the Risen Christ, Paul realized that as soon as they adhered to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Gentiles no longer needed as a hallmark of justice either circumcision or the rules that governed food and the Sabbath:  Christ is our justice and all things that conform to him are "just". No other signs are necessary in order to be just.
In the Letter to the Galatians, St Paul tells in a few lines how the assembly went. He says enthusiastically that the Gospel of freedom from the Law was approved by James, Cephas and John, "the pillars", who offered him and Barnabas the right hand of ecclesial communion in Christ (cf. Gal 2: 9).

Recognition of freedom

Since, as we have noted, for Luke the Council of Jerusalem expresses the action of the Holy Spirit, for Paul it represents the crucial recognition of freedom shared among all who participate in it:  a freedom from the obligations that derive from circumcision and from the Law; that freedom for which "Christ has set us free" so that we might stand fast and not submit again to a yoke of slavery (cf. Gal 5: 1).
The two accounts of Paul and Luke of the Assembly of Jerusalem have in common the liberating action of the Spirit, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom", Paul was to say in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (cf. 3: 17).
However, as very clearly appears in St Paul's Letters, Christian freedom is never identified with libertinage or with the will to do as one pleases; it is actuated in conformity to Christ and hence in authentic service to the brethren and above all to the neediest.
For this reason Paul's account of the Assembly ends by recalling the Apostles' recommendation to him:  "only they would have us remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do" (Gal 2: 10).
Every Council is born from the Church and returns to the Church:  in this case it returns with an attention for the poor who are primarily of the Church of Jerusalem, as seen in various annotations in Paul's Letters.
In his concern for the poor, to which he testifies in particular in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (cf. 8-9), and in the final part of his Letter to the Romans (cf. Rm 15), Paul demonstrates his fidelity to the decisions made at the Assembly.
Perhaps we are no longer able to understand fully the meaning that Paul and his communities attributed to the collection for the poor of Jerusalem. It was a completely new initiative in the area of religious activities:  it was not obligatory, but free and spontaneous; all the Churches that were founded by Paul in the West took part.
The collection expressed the community's debt to the Mother Church of Palestine, from which they had received the ineffable gift of the Gospel.
The value that Paul attributes to this gesture of sharing is so great that he seldom calls it merely a "collection". Rather, for him it is "service", "blessing", "gift", "grace", even "liturgy" (cf. 2 Cor 9).
Particularly surprising is the latter term which gives a value that is even religious to a collection of money:  on the one hand it is a liturgical act or "service" offered by every community to God and on the other, it is a loving action made for people. Love for the poor and the divine liturgy go hand in hand, love for the poor is liturgy.
The two horizons are present in every liturgy that is celebrated and experienced in the Church which, by her nature, is opposed to any separation between worship and life, between faith and works, between prayer and charity for the brethren.
Thus, the Council of Jerusalem came into being to settle the question of how to treat Gentiles who came to the faith, opting for freedom from circumcision and from the observances imposed by the Law, and it was settled by the ecclesial and pastoral need that is centred on faith in Jesus Christ and love for the poor of Jerusalem and the whole Church.

Norms and charity

The second episode is the well known incident in Antioch, Syria, that attests to the inner freedom Paul enjoyed:  how should one behave when eating with believers of both Jewish and Gentile origin?
Here the other epicentre of Mosaic observance emerges:  the distinction between clean and unclean foods which deeply separated practising Jews from Gentiles.
At the outset Cephas, Peter, shared meals with both; but with the arrival of certain Christians associated with James, "the Lord's brother" (Gal 1: 19), Peter began to avoid contact with Gentiles at table in order not to shock those who were continuing to observe the laws governing the cleanliness of food and his decision was shared by Barnabas. This decision profoundly divided the Christians who had come from circumcision and the Christians who came from paganism.
This behaviour, that was a real threat to the unity and freedom of the Church, provoked a passionate reaction in Paul who even accused Peter and the others of hypocrisy:  "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (Gal 2: 14).
In fact, the thought of Paul on the one hand, and of Peter and Barnabas on the other, were different:  for the latter the separation from the Gentiles was a way to safeguard and not to shock believers who came from Judaism; on the contrary, for Paul it constituted the danger of a misunderstanding of the universal salvation in Christ, offered both to Gentiles and Jews.
If justification is only achieved by virtue of faith in Christ, of conformity with him, regardless of any effect of the Law, what is the point of continuing to observe the cleanliness of foods at shared meals?
In all likelihood the approaches of Peter and Paul were different:  the former did not want to lose the Jews who had adhered to the Gospel, and the latter did not want to diminish the saving value of Christ's death for all believers.
It is strange to say but in writing to the Christians of Rome a few years later (in about the middle of the 50s a.d.), Paul was to find himself facing a similar situation and asked the strong not to eat unclean foods in order not to lose or scandalize the weak:  "it is right not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother stumble" (Rm 14: 21).
The incident at Antioch thus proved to be as much of a lesson for Peter as it was for Paul.
Only sincere dialogue, open to the truth of the Gospel, could guide the Church on her journey:  "For the kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rm 14: 17). It is a lesson that we too must learn:  with the different charisms entrusted to Peter and to Paul, let us all allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit, seeking to live in the freedom that is guided by faith in Christ and expressed in service to the brethren.
It is essential to be conformed ever more closely to Christ. In this way one becomes really free, in this way the Law's deepest core is expressed within us:  love for God and neighbour. Let us pray the Lord that he will teach us to share his sentiments, to learn from him true freedom and the evangelical love that embraces every human being.

To special groups

I offer a warm welcome to the new students of the Pontifical Irish College. May your priestly formation in the Eternal City prepare you to be generous and faithful servants of God's People in your native land. I also greet the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary on the occasion of their General Chapter. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims, especially those from Ireland, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and the United States, I invoke God's abundant Blessings.
My thoughts go lastly to the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. Today we are commemorating St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a young cloistered nun of Lisieux, a Doctor of the Church and Patroness of missions. May her evangelical witness sustain you, dear young people, in your commitment of daily faithfulness to Christ; may it encourage you, dear sick people, to follow Jesus on the path of trial and suffering; may it help you, dear newlyweds, to make your family the place of growth in love for God and for your brothers and sisters.