A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. After our lord's birth in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the reign of king Herod, notice, time, place, identification. Wise men, Magi, from the East arrived one day in Jerusalem asking, where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage. At this news, king Herod became greatly disturbed and with him everybody in Jerusalem.
Calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. In Bethlehem of Judea, they answered. Here is what the prophet has written. And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the princes of Judah, since from you shall come a ruler who is to be shepherd of my people, Israel. So then Herod called the Magi aside and found out from them the exact time of the star's appearance.
Then he sent them on to Bethlehem after having instructed them, go and get detailed information about this child. And when you have discovered discovered something, report your findings to me so that I may go also and offer him homage. After their audience with the king, the magi set out once again. The star, which they had observed at its rising, went ahead of it until it came to a standstill over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house, found the child with Mary, his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their coffers, their chests, and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then they received a message in a dream not to return to Herod. So they went back to their own country by another route. And this is the gospel, the good news of the lord.
After our lord's resurrection and just before his ascension, And year, day eleventh of so the the passion, death, resurrection were all down south around Jerusalem. So he met with them up in Galilee on some mountain or hill up there. These and just before his resurrection, he said to his chosen 11, going therefore, teach you all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all days even to the end to the consummation of the world. That's pretty clear.
That was that statement from Saint Matthew. The name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Well, if you don't know it, we're in the year 1990, and we are celebrating the feast of the epiphany, which means, as I've said, the manifestation, the revelation, the disclosure of something. In this case, we made the manifestation of our blessed lord and his good news, his gospel.
Now this is a very important year. For one thing, it's the anniversary of a document by John Paul on evangelization, which means making the good news known in the modern world. It it this this decade, the last decade of this century, beginning the third millennium of the birth, the incarnation of Jesus Jesus Christ. Christ. Remember, that didn't take place on Christmas, feast of the annunciation.
Now 1990, it has a very strong remembrance of epiphany or manifestation, believe me. It happened on 12/01/1989, and you all know what happened. And a a totally unimaginable thing happened that the president of the Soviet Union in the person of Mikhail Gorbachev came down to Rome and had an audience with the holy father, the vicar of Christ on earth. Absolutely extraordinary. Who would have guessed that two years ago?
You would have been left to scorn. They'd have put you over in Saint Elizabeth if they would take you. But it happened. They met for seventy six minutes privately. They just had a good talk.
I don't know what language they used. Holy father could use almost any of them. He can he can speak Russian to some extent. So they had 76 of very private talk. Then they came out in public and each read a prepared speech.
Our holy father spoke first, and he spoke in Italian, and that's worth noting. Why Italian? He could have used Polish, Latin, Russian, French, German, Spanish. Why did he choose Italian? I can only guess, but it was a choice.
Notice that he made a choice there. And my guess is what he was going to say, as you will see or hear, he wanted everybody to hear it in Italian is is certainly the the vulgar language of Roman Italy as I've been told. I even discovered it that way when I was there a couple of times. So he he spoke in the vernacular so that the everybody could hear it in their most everybody could hear it and understand what he was saying without a translator. Remember, when a translator gets in the picture, you're walking on thin ice because you're not getting the original.
You're getting what he or she thinks. Gorbachev spoke in Russian. It was translated into Italian. His little speech only lasted about one third of our holy fathers. His is roughly I roughly I counted about 700 words.
Our holy father spoke about 2,200. Now we can easily get a dispensed with Gorbachev. All he said was how glad he was be there and everything was fine and were had a great meeting. But he also, without any doubt, made some very strong promises that the situation in Russia would be changed as regards religion and freedom of conscience. But it was all done with a great deal of grace, probably a lot more grace than the English translation gives you.
I hope. But the holy father, very different story, 2,200 words. And I spent the whole week fooling with it to try to get something out of it that I can make some sense out of it in ten minutes. What I think he did was to use this public address in Gorbachev's presence to do two things, to recall the past and its horrors and to hold Gorbachev to what appears to be his promises of change for the better. I think that about summarized this whole thing.
So that as a matter of public record, our holy father, in in about 2200 words, gave a summary of what he expects to change in Russia and to tie it to at least an implicit promise of Gorbachev and Gorbachev's government. And he spoke in Italian so that everybody mostly around there could understand what he was saying without any ambiguity. And believe me, the holy father pulled no punches. I have only the English translation. How accurate it is, I don't know.
Where did I get it? Came from the Vatican. Whoever translated it certainly was I don't know. Whoever translates these things is beyond me. Anybody here could do a better job of the English.
But, anyway, remember, it's a translation, and I run scared of translations. But, anyway, for the it's all I have. But I think that that would be a summary. Our holy father in no uncertain terms, explicit. We we Recall Russia's history that a thousand years ago, they just celebrated that millennium.
A thousand years ago, the roost became Christians. And our holy this our holy father began begins with this. And they began with Christians with having the gospel manifested to them. And that gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ assured them of their dignity and their right to respect. Why?
Because they're children of god, the creator. Our holy father began by saying, let me just quote. In the very beginning, he greeted Gorbachev and his wife, and then he said, the pope's house has always been home for the representatives of all the peoples of Earth. Even the Russians can come here, and they're welcome. That's me.
That's cute. But then the next thing he says was, the vicar of Christ, me. The vicar of Christ welcomes you. He made no bones about it. He wasn't speaking as a Pole from Poland or a political statesman or something.
He was speaking as the successor of Peter. Going therefore, teach ye all nations. Peter was among the 11, and already Christ had said, you're the rock. And on this rock, I'll build my church. Here you have the church speaking.
An epiphany, 1989, December 1. That's our day. That's an epiphany. Believe me. It's the it's the vicar of Christ giving the message, revealing, manifesting epiphany, the word of god, the good news.
And the first thing the holy father says is that when you got when you when the Russian people got the good news and became Christians a thousand years ago, they got the good news of their worth and their dignity as creatures of god almighty creator. That's the pope's first statement. Now I have selected four or five of his statements, and it'll give you and I'll tell you when I'm quoting from the translation. Now after greeting him and and telling him that the pope's house is the house of everybody and everybody's welcome, and after telling recalling their past, notice that's a clincher because the Russian people existed a long series of centuries before Stalin came on the on the scene or before even Karl Marx saw the light of day. So the pope says, look.
You Russians, you got the message a thousand years ago. We just celebrated it. And that message was that you, individually, men and women, you are you have a right to respect. You have a right to dignity because of god being your father and creator. Of course, Marx and the leading company stood for no god, no father hood except the fatherhood of your your own father.
Number three, the holy father then recalls, and he doesn't make any book. He uses at least the translation uses strong language. He recalls the painful events and trials of the past decades. How many citizens suffered for their faith and still do. Still going on.
And he says, especially the Catholic communities. Now there are his words. He he they make it's not implied. He says it. And Gorbachev standing right there.
He's speaking Italian, and everybody around mostly can hear it. What he's saying to him, look, straighten up and fly straight. And then he goes on to say that he expects a change. And why does he expect a change? I quote, thanks to the affirmation of your government to establish full harmony with international commitments to which the Soviet Union has subscribed.
What he's saying is, look, you people have made this this commitment in the Helsinki agreement. You haven't lived up to it. Now come on. Live up to it. Get in harmony with it.
I'm like, this this is these are his own words. Part of it. Fourth, with millions worldwide, he says, I expect and and the world expects freedom of conscience to be recognized. Freedom of conscience. These are his exact words.
And all believers to be allowed to exercise their to exercise their right of religious freedom, which is the foundation of all freedoms. They're his own words. Just that clear. And then he then he goes on to to speak around that. Then he come concludes, and our holy father, he's is thinking he says this, especially of Christians living in the Soviet Union in communion with the holy sea that eliminates the orthodox.
And then he names them. See, we we in this country have no idea about these rights, but he does. He's speaking as the father of Christendom, and the holy Roman right isn't the only right. It's just one of many. So he says that he's speaking especially for Christians living in the Soviet Union and especially speaking for those Christians who are aligned with the Holy See, and then he names them.
The Roman right, of course, which he calls Latin, Byzantine, and Armenia. Just think of what's happening in Armenia today. And then he says that he hopes fervently for their religious freedom, which some of them still don't have and may, as even of today, be laying down their blood for it as we sit in our pews. Our holy father used strong language if this translation reflects the Italian. Fifth, he says World War two taught us, I'm quoting, that if fundamental ethical values are forgotten, fearful consequences can result.
And then I'm quoting, and so I have reminded all peoples that there can be no peace if man and the law are held in contempt. Now he uses the word law, but he never tells us what he means by it. And, I rather gather he's talking about the law of god as we use that word, which would be natural law or the or the law of god given in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Then he goes in and then he continues, if the rights of all peoples are not respected. I wanna repeat that so it'll be together.
So he says, I have reminded all people since at the end of the World War two, which he commemorated, that there can be no peace if man and the law are held in contempt and if the rights of all peoples are not respected, all peoples, including your own. Moreover, he says, I assured statesmen and heads of state of my profound conviction that respect for god and respect for man must go hand in hand. They are absolute principles. Absolute principles. Love of god and love of man and respect for man as a creature of god.
Now many people did not read this. Some of you may not have read it, but this is a tremendous statement because it was made from a pulpit that everybody was listening to. This was all broadcast. This went worldwide. And in those 2,200 words, including his very cordial greetings, you know, they really pour it on, you know how they do it.
He he he the pope refers to Gorbachev's distinguished wife. He asked him to carry his good good wishes to Bush, who he he was meeting the next day, and an act of gods had something to do with that meeting. After all that, the holy father drives home in the you can be sure that these were extremely well chosen remarks. Some of the basic concepts that came to the Russian people a thousand years ago, which have been were denied and are being denied to more or less extent in the Soviet Union today, and he says what they are. The acknowledgment of god as creator, the acknowledge of man the acknowledgment of man's dignity and worth as a creation of god, and that these truths have to be at the foundation of all freedoms.
That's laying it on the line. That's a whole philosophy of of politics, of the world, of nations, and of individuals, individuals. Because the worth of a human being is not the worth of his productivity. We don't respect people and care for the ill in order to get them back into the workforce. What do we do?
The basic concept is a respect for every human being, born or unborn, because it's a creature of god almighty. It's a concretization of the divine. That's why. That's why. Last night, I just absolutely just incidentally got in on the end of some program where a a girl, a young teenage girl was pregnant, and she refers explicitly to the fact that she has another human being in her womb.
Now what do the anti what do the abortions think of that? Of course, it's a human being. But the point I'm making is, our respect for another human being is not because they're lovable or because they're potential members of the workforce or because they can be productive members of society. These are the cliches you're hearing all the time. That it's it's good economics to return people to society so they can be part of our workforce, to be productive.
That that may be true, but it's not basic. Not basic enough. I have to respect and love and pay respect to the dignity of a human being, be they ever so much deformed, repulsive because they are the creation of God. And in a sense, they reflect God's divinity. That's the basis.
And the basis of any respect for a nation has to begin with your respect for the individual human beings. Just as society depends upon the family. You can't have a stronger society than the family. And so what our father holy father did here in 22 or 100 words was to lay down a whole philosophy of life for the world to hear and to tell the the the president of the Soviet Union with whom there is a great deal of hope that these things will change and for the better for our holy father to tell him very simply, here's what you've done. Here's what you must do.
Now just keep your promise and do it and do it. And so may god help us all and help them to do it. In the name of the father, of the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.