Transcript of Archbishop Sambi's Keynote Speech

Opening Academic Convocation

Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas

His Excellency Archbishop Pietro Sambi

Apostolic Nuncio to the United States

1 September 2009

1.       My Experience of the Holy Land

I lived in the Holy Land from 1971 to 1974 as secretary of the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalum when the head of mission was His Eminence Cardinal Pio Laghi, who then became the first Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

In June 1998, I returned to the Holy Land, appointed by Pope John Paul II, as Apostolic Nuncio in Israel and Cyprus and Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine. I remained there for almost 8 years, living with the Church and the local population through moments of great tension and moments of hope for peace. Together with the Bishops and the Custodian of the Holy Land and with the governmental authorities of Israel and Palestine, I prepared the historic pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to the Holy Places in March of the Jubilee Year 2000. The Pope came to make a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and in the footsteps of Saint Paul and the Early Church. “It would be an exclusively religious pilgrimage in its nature and purpose and I would be saddened if anyone were to attach other meanings to this plan of mine” [Letter of John Paul II concerning pilgrimage to the places linked to the history of salvation; 29 June 1999, n. 10]

He came to have a personal experience but he did not come alone: he brought with him the whole Church, so that she might begin the new millennium in fidelity to Christ, walking in the footsteps of Jesus. This visit to the Holy Land was the only apostolic visit that the Holy Father announced to the entire Church with a letter, from which I quoted above.

I would suggest that anyone preparing to visit the Holy Land should read that letter and meditate upon its words. In it the Pope wrote: “To go in a spirit of prayer from one place to another, from one city to another, in the area marked especially by God’s intervention, helps us not only to live our life as a journey, but also gives us a vivid sense of a God who has gone before us and leads us on, who himself set out on man’s path, a God who does not look down on us from on high, but who became our traveling companion.” [Letter cited, n. 10]

In addition to the identity and the vocation of the Church, Pope John Paul II set as one of the goals of his pilgrimage – unity among all the disciples of Jesus Christ. In Jerusalem, Our Lord established only one Church, ardently desiring that it would forever remain un-fractured.

Another priority of the Pope was inter-religious dialogue among Jews, Christians, and Moslems, whose members all consider Jerusalem as a Holy City. The central idea is that religions must be roads of peace: between God and the individual, among individuals, and among societies and peoples.

2.       The Holy Land is not a foreign land for us

The Holy land is the privileged place where the Mystery of Salvation unfolded. For Christians, it is the Land of the patriarchs and the Prophets as well as that of Jesus Christ and the Apostles, and the birthplace of the Church. It is from the Mother Church of Jerusalem that millions of faithful received the Gospel and their faith in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we were all spiritually born in the grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem; as members of the Church, we all emerged from the cenacle strengthened by the Holy Spirit, with the mandate to continue the mission of Christ in today’s world.

The Holy Land is the land of Jesus, of Mary, of Joseph and of all the Apostles; the village of Bethsaida is a place that we can call the first Vatican, since from there came Saints Peter, Andrew and Phillip. It is the place of our roots and it is there in the Holy Land that we can better discover our Christian identity and our vocation.

For many years this land has known a heavy and painful conflict regarding possession of the land. We Christians do not ask for land:

• We ask for respect for the holy Christian places as well as for those areas that are sacred to Jews and Moslems;
• We ask for respect for the small Christian community, a people who comprise 2% of the entire population, and we promote their right to create their own future;
• We ask that Christians from all over the world might have the right to participate in pilgrimages to the Holy Land in a safe and respected manner.

3.       The Holy Places

Referring to Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Profession of Faith, we say:

“For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven…by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day he rose again… he ascended into heaven…”

The holy places are like a fifth Gospel which makes our profession of faith more concrete. They help us to understand that Jesus Christ is not a ghost, but a real person – Son of God and Son of Man, our Savior who walked the earth as we do. They help us to understand that human redemption by the work of Jesus Christ is not a legend but an historical event: it occurred at a precise moment in human history (during the reign of Tiberius), in precise circumstances (during the Roman occupation): that the Word of God became flesh and entered human history as the Savior of the world.

If we do not understand this concrete aspect of salvation we will have greater difficulty to understand that Jesus Christ comes into our lives in a precise moment, in a precise place, among concrete circumstances, and he gives a new light and joy to our existence: it is the moment of conversion. I can recall some of the sacred places:

• Nazareth:

Pope John Paul II wrote:

“I have an ardent desire to go to Nazareth, the town associated with the Incarnation and the place where Jesus grew in wisdom, in age, and in grace under the eyes of God and men. Here the greeting of the Angel’s voice resounded to Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with three.” Here she said her “fiat” at the Annunciation which called her to become the Mother of the Savior. And here the Holy Spirit took her under his protection to become an honorable abode for the Son of God.”

In 1969 Pope Paul VI gave in Nazareth a splendid homily calling that place a school to understand the life and the person of Jesus Christ, a school to understand the necessity of a spiritual discipline to become a disciple of Jesus, a school to understand how precious is silence, a school to work.

• Bethlehem:

For 40 years I have moved among the continents of the world, representing the Holy Father. I have not found another place in the world where I felt God so close as when I knelt in the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem: the Eternal Word of God became a baby like I once was; he cried, laughed, ate, and walked like I do. He became a little child so that I would not be afraid of his Godliness, Above all he became “Emmanuel – God with us.” In Bethlehem, Pope John Paul II said “Here God entered into history and stayed with us forever.”

• Calvary:

Looking at that place where the Cross was planted, I immediately think of how much God – in Jesus Christ – truly loves us: that from there flows the river of mercy and forgiveness that Jesus sided to give us the fullness of life.

And looking at Mary at the foot of the Cross, I feel that she belongs to me because Jesus said, “Behold your Mother” (Jn 19:27), and that I belong to her because He said “Behold your Son” (Jn 19:26).

• The Holy Sepulchre:

Kneeling in the Holy Sepulchre one can almost hear the voice of the angel speaking to the women who went to the tomb on the morning of Easter Sunday: “I know you are looking for, Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would” (Mt 28:5-6). The Resurrection of Christ is the center of our faith and our salvation. Saint Paul wrote to the first Christians of Rome: ‘If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). The resurrection of Christ is a light that shines on our life and our death. Saint Paul also wrote, in his first letter to the Corinthians “God who raised up the Lord, will raise us also by his power” (1 Cor 6:14).

On March 26^th, 2000, Pope John Paul II, a true pilgrim in the Holy Land, said:

“Here at the Holy Sepulchre and Golgotha, as we renew our Profession of faith in the Risen Lord, can we doubt that in the power of the Spirit of Life we will be given the strength to overcome our divisions and to work together to build a future of reconciliation, unity, and peace? Here, as in no other place on earth, we hear the Lord say once again to his disciples: “Do not fear, I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33).  

• The Cenacle:

This is the place of the Last Supper, where both the Priesthood and the Eucharist were instituted. It is also the place where the Church was born, with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on that first Pentecost Sunday.

The priest, who celebrates Mass each day, is spiritually present in the room of the Last Supper; he is in communion with Christ – the great high priest – whose words and gestures he repeats.

With great emotion, Pope John Paul II spoke these closing words in his homily:

“Celebrating this Eucharist in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, we are united with the Church of every time and place. United with the head, we are in communion with peter and the Apostles and their Successors down the ages. In union with Mary, the Saints and Martyrs, and all the baptized who have lived in the grace of the Holy Spirit, we cry out: ‘Marana Tha! Come, Lord Jesus!’” (Rv 22:17).

In that place, All listen once again to the burning desire of Christ for unity among his disciples:

“May they all be one just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you. So that they also may be us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me” (Jn 17:21).   

Jesus himself said that this unity among his disciples would be the way that the world would come to believe in him. The one who creates divisions can be motivated by pride, by a thirst for power and wealth; the one who causes division can never say that he is motivated by love for Jesus Christ and by a spirit of service to his Church, There, the words of Jesus come to mind:

“ You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit which will come on you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

You will be my witnesses also at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas!

Walking in the footsteps of Jesus, reading the Gospel and meditating upon the mysteries of faith that are manifested in this these holy places, brings one to an even more personal encounter with the Lord, to a depth of one’s faith, and to a truly Christian perspective of life, so that one can see life, clearly and with joy, as a gift and a mission.

4.       Christians in the Holy Land

I am not at all worried about the future of the holy places: these places will be respected and protected because the pilgrimages to these places generate significant amounts of money for the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, I am truly concerned about the future of the Christian community. Christians from all the various churches represent only 2% of the entire population in Israel and Palestine; therefore they constitute a very small minority in relation to the Jews and Moslems. I will share with you some of the main reasons why Christians move away from the Holy Land:

• The absence of any real concrete prospects of peace: The elderly will say, “We were born here and where we well die, but what sort of future is there here for our young people”.
• Economic instability: The improvement or the deterioration of the economy is linked to whether the land is marked by calm or conflict.
• Employment: There is little opportunity for employment. Young people ask themselves why they should bother to study if they will remain without a job and salary.
• Housing: The absence or available apartments makes it impossible for young people to marry and begin a family. For a young Arab, remaining unmarried signifies that his or her life is a failure. In order to marry, many have to emigrate.
• Check Points: The Israeli control on Palestinian youth makes them feel like prisoners in their own land.

In the Holy Land there are thirteen Christian Churches:

• There are six Catholic Churches: one of the Western Rite (Latin) and five of the Oriental Rite (Melkite, Maronite, Syro-Catholic, Armenian Catholic, and Chaldean).
• There are five Churches of non-Catholic Oriental Rites: (Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Syro-Orthodox, Coptic, and Ethiopian).
• There are two churches in the Protestant tradition (Anglican and Lutheran). In recent years, Protestants of different denominations have discovered the value of the Holy Land. There are now representatives of several denominations.

If, when a Christian enters a holy place he or she can sense the vibrations of the deepest chords of faith, it is because surrounding that holy place there are Christian communities that believe, that love, and that hope. Without this, even our most holy shrines would become cold museums from which one would leave no different than as he entered.

The Bishops of the Holy Land have written:

“If nothing is done to stop the alarming exodus of our Christians from the Holy Land, then within 50 years Christianity will disappear in the very land where Christ founded the Church.”

Let us come together to preserve that presence.

5.       How can we help the Christians in the Holy Land?

• We should pray for them, asking the Holy Spirit to give them strength on difficult times and faith in the future.
• Encourage pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The pilgrimage enriches not only the one who makes such a journey, but it also contributes morally and materially to the local Christian community.
• Morally: In the Holy Land Christians suffer from a “minority complex”; when they see many pilgrims they are encouraged by their presence and they are able to see themselves as belonging to a large family of universal dimensions.
• Materially: The Christians of the Holy Land share specialized in assisting pilgrims (hotels, restaurants, guides, transportation, gifts and souvenirs, etc.); when a group of pilgrims passes through the Holy Land, the money spent by the pilgrims flows into the pockets of Christian families.
• Scholarships for students; contributions toward the construction of apartments – especially for the young people; create opportunities for work; defend the rights of the Christian minority.
• However, the greatest help that we can give to the Christian community, which would also benefit Jews and Moslems, is that of political pressure on the parties in conflict for a stable peace, accomplished by establishing two states – one for the Israelis and one for the Palestinians, both living as neighbors with a spirit of collaboration.

I would like to conclude with a statement from Pope John Paul II:

“In the Holy Land, from north to south, one can say tat everything recalls the Christ… Jerusalem, in a certain way resumes all this. This stop in Jerusalem, place of the death on the Cross and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, will be particularly meaningful. There, I intend to plunge myself in prayer, carrying in my heart the entire Church. There, I will contemplate the places where Christ gave his life and took it back again in the resurrection, bestowing on us His Spirit. There, I want to cry out once again, the great and consoling certainty – “God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him may not perish, but will obtain eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

It is also what I cry out to each of you!

Thank you.