Top Vatican Cardinal - Czerny Visits South Sudan Repeating the Pope's Plea "Leave the time of war behind and let a time of peace dawn!”
Cardinal Michael Czerny visits South Sudan
One year after Pope Francis' apostolic journey to South Sudan, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Cardinal Michael Czerny, is visiting this African country from February 2 to 9.
The Prefect arrived in Juba on Saturday, February 3. On the first day of his pastoral visit to South Sudan he held a meeting with the Catholic Bishops of Sudan and South Sudan and extended the greetings of Pope Francis to them. He underlined the roles of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which is at the service of the Holy Father and the local Bishop Conferences around the world and offers its services to the local Churches to help people overcome obstacles that hinder their development.
On Sunday, February 4, he presided a Mass in the Cathedral of St. Theresa in Juba. Among the civil authorities present were the second vice President, Wani Iga and the speaker of Parliament, Jemma Nunu Kumba.
In his homily, Cardinal Czerny addressed the greetings of Pope Francis, assured that the Holy Father prays for South Sudan and recalled that his visit takes place on the first anniversary of the Pope's apostolic journey that took place from February 3 to 5, 2023.
FULL TEXT Homily for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
St Theresa Cathedral
Juba, South Sudan, 4 February 2024
Card. Michael Czerny S.J.
Greetings and blessings from Pope Francis. My visit marks the first anniversary of the
Ecumenical Pilgrimage for peace to South Sudan 3-5 February 2023. made by the Holy
Father, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welbey, and the Moderator of the Church
of Scotland Ian Greenshields. Wishing to acknowledge and increase the fruitfulness of
that visit, I am so happy to be here to pray with you. I thank you, my brother Bishops,
priests, religious men and women, lay faithful and citizens: thank you for the warm
welcome. I feel at home here among you, as the Holy Father did.
In his name, I bring you the Holy Father’s affection, solidarity and prayer. He has this
world’s youngest nation close to his heart, as he manifested in word and gesture during
the 2019 retreat in Rome for your nation’s political leaders; in his visit to this great
nation a year ago; and in his repeated exhortations to seek peace and make it lasting.
My visit in his name is another sign of the solidarity of the whole Church with you in
your struggle for peace.
I. Dear people of God, with little changed or improved since last year, I repeat the Holy
Father’s message to civil authorities and diplomats in Juba. Stressing the need for unity,
reconciliation, cooperation, peace, he evoked the Nile to inspire a change in political
will. “Just as the Nile leaves its sources to begin its course, so the course of history will
leave behind the enemies of peace and bring renown to those who are true
peacemakers. Indeed, as Scripture tells us, ‘there is posterity for the man [and woman]
of peace’ (cf. Ps 37:37).”
Then, recalling the words of Christ to the disciple who drew his sword in the Garden of
Gethsemane, Pope Francis pleaded: “I beg you, with all my heart, to accept four simple
words...: No more of this! (Lk 22:51).” The Holy Father insisted: “No more of this”
without “if’s” or “but’s”. No more bloodshed, no more conflicts, no more violence and
mutual recriminations about who is responsible for it, no more leaving your people
athirst for peace. No more destruction: it is time to build! Leave the time of war behind
and let a time of peace dawn!” Then he encouraged everyone “to move on from words
to deeds. It is time to turn the new page: it is the time for commitment to an urgent and
much-needed transformation.”
The Holy Father called upon the leaders of this nation:
• to ensure the delivery of basic social services;
• to provide good governance and proper management of public resources;
• to end the widespread community violence;
• to promote peaceful co-existence through healing, forgiveness and reconciliation;
• to promote human development throughout the nation;
• to open political and civic spaces and participation for all, especially youth and
women;
• to respect the dignity and human rights of vulnerable populations especially the
returnees and refugees, internally displaced persons, children, persons with disability,
the elderly;
• and to care for our common home, the planet Earth.
The Holy Father also prayed that the Pilgrimage may be “an occasion to revive hope, not
only for the government, but for everyone. Let each citizen understand that the time has
come to stop being carried along by the tainted waters of hatred, tribalism, regionalism
and ethnic differences.” In fact, these changes will water the soil of this nation like
“fresh and life-giving springs.”
There are many efforts towards implementing peace and reconciliation in this country:
The government, other political actors, the Church, civil society, local and international
partners and the country’s people across the land and in camps for the many displaced
are all – each in their own way – desiring, praying and striving for peace.
II.
With these important efforts in mind, let us now turn to the Word of God for this 5th
Sunday of the year. Today’s Gospel offers three important points which show how
Jesus lived his life and related with others.
First, the miraculous healing of Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with fever. Jesus’s
deep sensitivity to people in need extended beyond the house to all in the city. The
needs of others took precedence over his need to rest.
The healing ministry of Jesus has special meaning for this country, which for decades
has experienced cycles of vicious conflict and violence, hardship and suffering. Like Job
in the first reading, many of you can say, “I have been assigned months of misery, and
troubled nights have been allotted to me. I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.”
Jesus works until nightfall to bring healing to the people. Your problems and your
people’s sufferings are like the fever which kept Peter’s mother-in-law in bed. Now
Jesus, desiring your well-being and your service, is constantly reaching out to take you
and your people by the hand and lift you up again.
I said “service” because the Gospel says that, after she was healed, she waited on them.
Grateful that Jesus heals us, we, too, are called to reach out to those in need, help lift
them up out of their suffering, and free them to serve others in need. This is what we
need to do: to reach out, to heal and forgive, to find our unity in caring for one another,
to find our peace in walking together.
The second point of the Gospel is the large number of people who come to Jesus to have
their needs met. It was their need, not their knowledge about Jesus or their personal
affection for him, that brought them to him. They sought him out for what he would do
for them, and they put their trust in him, and afterwards they were grateful. These are
the first steps in knowing and loving Jesus and, through him, the Father. The gifts of
healing we receive from the Lord, as individuals and as the South Sudanese people, are
meant to motivate gratitude to God and service of our suffering siblings. So, our prayer
should always include gratitude for his mercy, praise for his greatness, and lead to care
for our brothers and sisters in need and for our common home.
The third and final moment of the Gospel is Jesus rising early to pray. Communion with
his heavenly Father was absolutely necessary for Jesus to maintain a ministry of
preaching the Kingdom and healing the sick that would lead to his passion, death and
resurrection. Today, our ministries of healing, liberation, promoting reconciliation and
building peace also require our constant prayer, otherwise we get lost, confused and
discouraged.
When the apostles realized that Jesus was missing, they went to looking for him. And
when they found him, they said: Everyone is looking for you. After the Holy Father’s
prophetic visit a year ago, is everyone in South Sudan looking for Jesus in each new
situation, in front of each new challenge?
Let's never give up looking for Jesus. Let’s keep asking him to teach us how to pray, to
renew our faith and hope and charity, to motivate and orient our service of others and
our search for peace.
III.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is a critical moment in the political life of your country.
As you prepare for general elections, pray and work hard to ensure that they are fair,
transparent and credible, nonviolent, inclusive and peaceful. To achieve this, there is
groundwork to be done, putting into place needed infrastructures in the political
sphere, preparing your minds and hearts for possible transition. A peaceful transfer of
power not only indicates political maturity, but it also assures good governance and
integral development, both of which are so needed.
Therefore, I urge you to be faithful to the peace agreement, not just you but also
members of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU),
and all signers of the peace agreement. It is critical that you take the remaining
unrealized steps towards the election process with all your integrity and commitment.
The full implementation of these prerequisites will be a guarantee to the population,
that the South Sudanese will never again
• stop to bloodshed against each other;
• fear insecurity in their own Country;
• need to seek refuge in other countries due to violence.
This is your responsibility as leaders and as citizens. Don’t forget that God is watching
over you as a Shepherd and a Judge, and don’t forget to root this great political work in
prayer.
For sustainable peace to be realized, it is important to include everybody in the process.
I encourage you to continue to cooperate with the efforts of Sant’ Egidio and other
actors in inviting those who are resistant to participate in the process. A family will not
achieve inclusion and peace until every member feels equally secure, welcomes the
presence of the other under the same roof, and engages with each other. The same is
true of the family you call your homeland, South Sudan.
Dear people of South Sudan, I assure you of the constant of the constant prayers of the
Holy Father and of all Christians for you as you grow and mature. May the Lord bless
you with reconciliation and development, and with the peace that only our Lord Jesus
can give.
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