Homily by His Grace Archbishop Patrick C. Pinder, STD, CMG, KC*HS
at the Memorial Mass for Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI
St. Francis Xavier Cathedral
Wednesday, 18th January, 2023

"Father into your hands I commend my spirit".  In the Gospel of Luke these are the final words of Jesus as he died on the cross.  The passage where these words are found was the Gospel passage used at the Rite of Christian Burial for Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI on Thursday 5th of January.

On that occasion, reflecting on these words Pope Francis noted:
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46).  These are the final words spoken by the Lord on the cross;  his last breath, as it were, which summed up what had been his entire life: a ceaseless self-entrustment into the hands of his Father.  His were hands of forgiveness and compassion, healing and mercy, anointing and blessing".

Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI was the 262nd Successor of St. Peter.

He was born in Germany on 16th of April, 1927 and given the name Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger.  He was ordained a priest in 1951, a bishop in 1977 and created Cardinal that same year.  He was elected Pope on 19th April, 2005 and resigned as 28th February, 2013.  He was the first Pontiff to do so in 600 years.

These basic facts do not even begin to tell the full story of this mild-mannered and serene person who was surely one of the greatest theological minds in the past few centuries and one of the most humble as well.
One commentator put it this way.  "What made Ratzinger so unique was his ability to penetrate deeply into the problems of Modernity and to present God cogently as the answer to our current ills."

He was a very good listener.  I can personally attest to that.  Some say he could listen to what you had to say and then express it back to you with a clarity and precision that would amaze you.

In the years shortly after Benedict assumed the papacy, the word in Rome was:  "People used to come to see John Paul II now they come to hear Benedict XVI."

Why was that?  What did they come to hear? He could explain the faith in a manner so clear yet so profound, so rich yet so uncomplicated.  He was a teacher par excellence.  He was a catechist without equal.  He could explain our traditions, our doctrines and our liturgy like no one else.  He did it in a manner so simple and so accessible.
If you wish to experience this, you do not have to read any of the theological books or articles which he wrote.  Simply look up the messages he offered to pilgrims at his weekly Wednesday Audiences from 2005-2012.  In this digital age that is so easy to do.

There you will read a Master Catechist, explaining the mysteries of the faith, giving insight into the lives of the Saints and revealing the wealth of our Liturgy.

I mentioned that Benedict XVI, for all his gifts and talents, was a very humble man.  This is seen clearly in his Spiritual Testament.  Each pope writes one and it is made public after his death.  In his Spiritual Testament, Benedict wrote:
If in this late hour of my life I look back at the decades I have been through, first I see how many reasons I have to give thanks. First and foremost I thank God himself, the giver of every good gift, who gave me life and guided me through various confusing times; always picking me up whenever I began to slip and always giving me again the light of his face. In retrospect I see and understand that even the dark and tiring stretches of this journey were for my salvation and that it was in them that He guided me well.

I thank my parents, who gave me life in a difficult time and who, at the cost of great sacrifice, with their love prepared for me a magnificent abode that, like clear light, illuminates all my days to this day. My father’s lucid faith taught us children to believe, .... the profound devotion and great goodness of my mother represent a legacy for which I can never give thanks enough. My sister has assisted me for decades selflessly and with affectionate care; my brother, with the lucidity of his judgments, his vigorous resolve and serenity of heart, ....

From my heart I thank God for the many friends, men and women, whom He has always placed at my side;  for the collaborators in all the stages of my journey; for the teachers and students He has given me. I gratefully entrust them all to His goodness.

To all those whom I have wronged in any way, I heartily ask for forgiveness.
I now say to all those in the Church who have been entrusted to my service: Stand firm in the faith! Do not let yourselves be confused!  .... It is now sixty years that I have been accompanying the journey of Theology, particularly of the Biblical Sciences, and with the succession of different generations I have seen theses that seemed unshakable collapse, proving to be mere hypotheses: the liberal generation (Harnack, Jülicher etc.), the existentialist generation (Bultmann etc.), the Marxist generation. I saw and see how out of the tangle of assumptions the reasonableness of faith emerged and emerges again. Jesus Christ is truly the way, the truth and the life — and the Church, with all its insufficiencies, is truly His body.

Finally, I humbly ask: Pray for me, so that the Lord, despite all my sins and insufficiencies, welcomes me into the eternal dwellings. To all those entrusted to me, day by day, my heartfelt prayer goes out.

Not only was this great man a humble man, he was also a good listener.  I know that from personal experience.  Each bishop is required by Canon Law, every five years, to make a personal appearance before the Pope and to give an account of the state of his diocese.  It is called the Visit - Ad Limina Apostolorum.  That is, the visit to the threshold of the Apostles, namely Peter and Paul who are both buried in Rome.  My first such visit had me appearing before Pope Benedict in 2008.

I was nervous beyond words.  Frightened witless!  But when I was ushered into his private library, he immediately put me at ease.  He asked me a few questions and listened to my answers with the greatest interest and a generous amount of patience, and concern.

I was quite impressed not just by how knowledgeable he was but by how serene a character he was, so possessed of a deep inner peace.  He was like a tender and loving father listening to his bewildered son.  I did not wish the meeting to end.  When it was over as I walked through the corridors of the Apostolic Palace, out across the courtyard of St. Damasus, down the Scala Regia, through the Bronze Door and back into St. Peter's Square, I could not help but conclude that this was the finest moment of my life.

Pope Benedict was very advanced in his thinking about many public issues.  Health care should be available to all, he felt.  He was totally opposed to war as a means to resolving conflicts.  He was strong in his defence of the poor and of migrants. He was the first Pope to address the issue of the environment.  He installed solar panels on the roof of the Audience Hall as a part of his effort to offset the carbon footprint of Vatican City State.

For all his talents and achievements and privilege, he was a man of simple faith.  We are told that his last words were, "Lord Jesus, I love you."
As Benedict XVI was brought to burial on the 5th of this month, Pope Francis concluded his homily with these words. 
Holding fast to the Lord's last words and to the witness of his entire life, we too, as an ecclesial community, want to follow in his steps and to commend our brother into the hands of the Father.  May those merciful hands find his lamp alight with the oil of the Gospel that he spread and testified to for his entire life (cf. Mt 25:6-7).

"God's faithful people, gathered here, now accompanies and entrusts to Him the life of the one who was their pastor.  Like the women at the tomb, we too have come with the fragrance of gratitude and the balm of hope, in order to show him once more the love that is undying.  We want to do this with the same wisdom, tenderness and devotion that he bestowed upon us over the years.  Together, we want to say:  "Father, into your hands we commend his spirit".

Benedict, Faithful friend of the Bridegroom, may your joy be complete as you hear his voice, now and forever!

May he rest in peace!