venerandae memoriae, die XVmensis Augusti anni MCMLXVII novam Romanae
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nant, to offer, in union with him, our own daily sacrifices for the salvation of
the world.
In today's liturgy the Church reminds us that, like this altar, we too have
been consecrated, set "apart" for the service of God and the building up of his
Kingdom. All too often, however, we find ourselves immersed in a world that
would set God "side". In the name of human freedom and autonomy, God's
name is passed over in silence, religion is reduced to private devotion, and
faith is shunned in the public square. At times this mentality, so completely
at odds with the core of the Gospel, can even cloud our own understanding of
the Church and her mission. We too can be tempted to make the life of faith a
matter of mere sentiment, thus blunting its power to inspire a consistent
vision of the world and a rigorous dialogue with the many other visions
competing for the minds and hearts of our contemporaries.
Yet history, including the history of our own time, shows that the ques-
tion of God will never be silenced, and that indifference to the religious
dimension of human existence ultimately diminishes and betrays man him-
self. Is that not the message which is proclaimed by the magnificent archi-
tecture of this cathedral? Is that not the mystery of faith which will be
proclaimed from this altar at every celebration of the Eucharist? Faith tea-
ches us that in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, we come to understand the
grandeur of our own humanity, the mystery of our life on this earth, and the
sublime destiny which awaits us in heaven.2 Faith teaches us that we are
God's creatures, made in his image and likeness, endowed with an inviolable
dignity, and called to eternal life. Wherever man is diminished, the world
around us is also diminished; it loses its ultimate meaning and strays from its
goal. What emerges is a culture, not of life, but of death. How could this be
considered "progress"? It is a backward step, a form of regression which
ultimately dries up the very sources of life for individuals and all of society.
We know that in the end - as Saint Ignatius of Loyola saw so clearly -
the only real "standard" against which all human reality can be measured is
the Cross and its message of an unmerited love which triumphs over evil, sin
and death, creating new life and unfading joy. The Cross reveals that we find
ourselves only by giving our lives away, receiving God's love as an unmerited
2 Cfr Gaudium et Spes, 24.