Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale296

Body, and in bringing his saving word as good news to the men and women of

our time. And when we leave this great church, let us go forth as heralds of

hope in the midst of this city, and all those places where God's grace has

placed us. In this way, the Church in America will know a new springtime in

the Spirit, and point the way to that other, greater city, the new Jerusalem,

whose light is the Lamb.17 For there God is even now preparing for all people

a banquet of unending joy and life. Amen.

III

Homilia Neoeboraci habita apud «Yankee Stadium».*

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In the Gospel we have just heard, Jesus tells his Apostles to put their faith

in him, for he is ''the way, and the truth and the life''.1 Christ is the way that

leads to the Father, the truth which gives meaning to human existence, and

the source of that life which is eternal joy with all the saints in his heavenly

Kingdom. Let us take the Lord at his word! Let us renew our faith in him and

put all our hope in his promises!

With this encouragement to persevere in the faith of Peter,2 I greet all of

you with great affection. I thank Cardinal Egan for his cordial words of

welcome in your name. At this Mass, the Church in the United States cele-

brates the two hundredth anniversary of the creation of the Sees of New

York, Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville from the mother See of Baltimore.

The presence around this altar of the Successor of Peter, his brother bishops

and priests, and deacons, men and women religious, and lay faithful from

throughout the fifty states of the Union, eloquently manifests our commu-

nion in the Catholic faith which comes to us from the Apostles.

Our celebration today is also a sign of the impressive growth which God

has given to the Church in your country in the past two hundred years. From

17 Rev 21:23.

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* Die 20 Aprilis 2008. 1 Jn 14:6. 2 Cf. Lk 22:32; Mt 16:17.