26 November 1991
Farafangana, Madagascar

My dear Confreres and Sisters,

The theme of the two readings today is change; the change of kingdoms foretold in the first reading and the change in the Temple foretold by Our Lord in the Gospel. What a shock it must have been for the disciples to hear Our Lord speak about the destruction of what they considered to be the indestructible Temple. It must have been like someone forecasting the destruction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Cardinal Newman of England, who lived in the last century, once wrote these two sentences: "To live is to change. And to live perfectly is to have changed often." Cardinal Newman knew what it was to change, for he had lived many years of his life as an Anglican pastor before becoming a Catholic. When he did become a Catholic--and it was a very big sacrifice for him to leave the Anglican Church which he greatly loved--he had much experience in his long life of the truth of his assertion that "to live is to change and to live perfectly is to have changed often." The Cardinal was a profound thinker and he wrote a great deal. His thought influenced many of the bishops who assisted at the Council and that is why he is sometimes called the hidden presence at Vatican Council II.

There is no need for me to say that Vatican Council II was a Council of change. It is only as the years pass that we are seeing more clearly how profound has been the change introduced to the Church by what the Holy Spirit inspired the Bishops of the Council to do.

Change has affected the lives of us all. To change has been more difficult for some people than others. Many people have welcomed the changes of Vatican II, but for some it has been a cause of great suffering and some people have resisted change. Most people in the Church have accepted change, even if we are not too clear where change is leading us.

This little reflection on change has been prompted by the change to take place in the Temple in Jerusalem as foretold by Our Lord in today's Gospel. The disciples did not wish to accept the idea of change, even though it was the Spirit of God Who was the author of it. To calm them, Our Lord said: "Neither must you be perturbed...." (Lk 21:9).

Change that is suggested to us by the Spirit of God through the Church is an advance into truth. You will recall that Our Lord promised us the Holy Spirit so that He could lead us into all truth. (cf. Jn 16:13). Because we are living at a time of great change, we need to be devoted to the Holy Spirit, Who is the one Who presides over all change. It is good to know by heart one of the Church's hymns to the Holy Spirit and to recite it every day. If we are troubled by the changes in the Church or in the world, we should call upon the Holy Spirit Who is, in the words of the Sequence of the Holy Spirit, "the best of all Consolers." If we find that we are resisting the changes that the Church or Community is asking of us, let us call upon the Holy Spirit Who is capable of softening our hearts.

To accept change does not mean that every interpretation of change suggested by the Church has been fully correct. The Synod in Rome in 1985 made it clear that some interpretations of Vatican II Council had not been correct. That is why we have to pay attention to the authorities in the Church and to our Superiors "in whose hands," to quote a phrase of St. Vincent, "our souls are, by a disposition of Divine Providence, placed." (CR II, 3).