28 December 1981
Naples, Italy

My dear People,

 

First, I would like to express my thanks to all who have arranged this Mass here in Sant'Angelo this morning. I count it as a privilege to be with you on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. It is a privilege for me to be thinking of the innocent children who died at the time of the birth of Christ, and at the same time to be thinking of the innocent children and adults who died here on the 23 November 1980. The death of so many innocent children and adults here last year is, in a sense, a greater mystery than the death of the Holy Innocents at Bethlehem. It was the jealousy, the greed, the evil in the character of Herod that caused the death of the Holy Innocents at Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Our Lord. But to whom can we attribute the earthquake here in November 1980? More than the death of the Holy Innocents at Bethlehem, we could say that the death of so many innocent people here last year remains an even greater mystery of God.

In the country from which I come, and in the language of my country, the Gaelic language, the expression for Divine Mystery is always translated by the words, "Divine Secret." Mysteries of God are always thought of as so many secrets of God. Each of us has our secrets which for good reasons we do not tell to others. So, too, with God; He has His secrets which for good reasons He does not reveal to us now. He will tell us all His secrets later, and when He does, we will see that all His secrets were good ones and, furthermore, that He had good reasons for not revealing them to us during our lives. Some of His secrets are joyful, some are sorrowful, some are glorious, just as there were, in the lives of Jesus and of Mary, joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries, which we recall every time we pray the Rosary.

Here in Sant'Angelo you have lived through a time of great sorrow, suffering and pain. It has been a time of great mystery and the mystery has been a sorrowful one for you. God continues to keep His secret. He does not give us the reason why the earthquake happened, but He keeps His secret, for did He not say: "You have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." (Jn 16:22).

My prayer for you who live here in Sant'Angelo and in this region of suffering is that God will share all His secrets with those who died in the earthquake of last year. I pray, too, that you who still suffer the pain of the loss of your loved ones and the loss of your possessions, may be comforted by the thought that, while God does not reveal to us for the present all His secrets, Jesus Christ did say: "Not a sparrow will fall to the ground without your Father's Will." (Mt 10:29). Not only does God know that sparrows fall to the ground, but He has a reason for allowing them to do so. "Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows." (Ibid., v. 31).

Every time we celebrate Mass we remind ourselves that we are waiting "in joyful hope for the coming of Our Savior, Jesus Christ." May God in His goodness give us the patience to wait with hope in our hearts until all His secrets will be revealed.