Allow me, Reverend Bishop of the ancient, venerable Church of Cologne, Reverend Brother Cardinals and Bishops, allow me all, beloved brothers and sisters, that I try to clarify in this Eucharistic celebration the importance of our extraordinary meeting today with the help of this parable, with the help of the word of Christ, who repeatedly explained the kingdom of God by means of parables. Using them, he announced the presence of this kingdom to the world.
We too must encounter this dimension. This is, in a way, the essential premise of today's visit of the successor of the Apostle Peter in the episcopal see of Rome to your Church in Germany, to you here in Cologne, who represent the Church of God as it was formed over many centuries around the Roman 'Agrippine Colony'. The eminent symbol of this Church has hitherto been your splendid cathedral, whose spiritual importance has been renewed in you thanks to this year's Jubilee: it powerfully speaks to you of God's reign among us.
We, who now form the Church of Christ on earth, on this part of German territory must meet in the dimension of the unity of the kingdom of God: Christ came to proclaim this kingdom and to spread it on this earth, in every place on earth, in men and among men.
This kingdom of God is in our midst (cf. Lk 17:21), just as it was in all the generations of your fathers and ancestors. Like them, we still pray in the "Our Father" every day: "Thy kingdom come". These words testify that the kingdom of God is still before us, that we are going towards it and advancing towards it along the confused, and indeed sometimes even false, paths of our earthly existence. We testify with these words, that the kingdom of God is continually being realised and drawing nearer, even though we often lose sight of it and no longer perceive its outline determined by the Gospel. It often seems that the sole and exclusive dimension of our existence is 'this world': the 'kingdom of this world' with its visible profile, its fascinating progress in science and technology, culture and economics... fascinating and often also worrying! But if we, however, every day, or at least from time to time, kneel down to pray, we say amidst the circumstances of life always the same words: 'Thy kingdom come'.
Dear brothers and sisters! These hours, in which we meet here, the time, which thanks to your invitation and hospitality I am able to spend among you, is the time of the kingdom of God: of the kingdom "that is already here", and of that which is still "coming". That is why we must interpret all the essentials, which refer to this visit, with the help of the parable, which we hear in today's Gospel: "The kingdom of heaven is like...".
2. What is it like?
According to Jesus' words as handed down to us by the four evangelists, this kingdom is explained with various parables and comparisons. Today's comparison is one of many. It seems to us very closely related to that work, which Christ's apostles, including Peter, did, as did many of his listeners on the shore of the Lake of Genezaret. Christ says: the kingdom of heaven is like "a net cast into the sea, gathering every kind of fish" (Matthew 13:47). These simple words completely change the physiognomy of the world: the physiognomy of our human world as we make it through experience and science. Experience and science cannot cross those boundaries of the "world" and human existence in it, which are necessarily joined with the "sea of time": the boundaries of a world, in which man is born and dies, in correspondence with the words of Genesis: "You are dust and to dust you shall return" (Gen 3:19). Christ's comparison, on the contrary, speaks of the transposition of man into another "world", into another dimension of his existence. The kingdom of heaven is precisely this new dimension, which opens up above the "sea of time" and is at the same time the "net", which works in this sea for the destiny of man and of all men in God.
Today's parable invites us to recognise the kingdom of heaven as the definitive fulfilment of that righteousness, longed for by man with irrepressible longing, which the Lord placed in his heart, that righteousness which Jesus himself realised and proclaimed, that righteousness, finally, which Christ sealed with his own blood on the cross.
In the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom 'of righteousness, love and peace' (prefatio in festo Christi Regis) man too will be found perfect. For man is the being that springs from the depths of God and hides within himself such a depth that only God can fill it. He, man, is in all his being a copy of God and is similar to him.
3. Jesus founded his Church on twelve apostles, several of whom were fishermen. Thus the image of the net was immediate. Jesus wanted to make them fishers of men. The Church too is a net, united by the Holy Spirit, connected by the apostolic mission, efficient for unity in faith, life and love.
I think at this moment of the widely spread net of the universal Church.
At the same time every single Church in your land is before my eyes, especially the large Church in Cologne and the neighbouring dioceses. And finally before my eyes is the smallest of these churches, the "ecclesiola", the domestic church, which the most recent Synod of Bishops in Rome recalled with such great attention in the theme above "the tasks of the Christian family".
The family: domestic church, the unmistakable and irreplaceable community of persons, of which St Paul speaks in today's second reading. In this he naturally has before his eyes the Christian family of his time, but what he says we must equally apply to the problems of families in our time: what he says to husbands, what he says to wives, children and parents. And finally, what he says to all of us: 'Put on, then, feelings of mercy, goodness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another... Above all, then, let there be charity, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, for to it you have been called in one body. And be thankful!" (Col 3:12-15).
What a great lesson in marriage and family spirituality!
4. However, we cannot close our eyes to the other side either; the synod fathers in Rome also dealt with it very seriously: I mean the difficulties, to which the high ideal of Christian understanding of the family and family life is exposed today. Modern industrial society has fundamentally changed the conditions of life for marriage and the family.
Marriage and family used to be not only communities of life, but also communities of production and economy. They were rejected by many public functions. The public climate is not always favourable towards marriage and family. And yet, in our mass civilisation, they prove to be a place of refuge in the search for protection and happiness. Marriage and family are more important than ever: living cells for the renewal of society, sources of strength, whereby life is made more human. I can grasp the image: net, which gives support and unity and lifts from the currents of the deep.
Let us not allow this net to be broken. State and society start their own decay, if they do not support marriage and the family more effectively and put them on a par with other non-marital communities of life. All men of good will, particularly we Christians, are called to rediscover the dignity and value of marriage and the family and to live them out before men in a convincing manner. The Church, with the light of faith, offers its advice and spiritual service.
5. Marriage and family are very deeply connected with man's personal dignity. They do not derive from instinct and passion alone, nor from feeling alone; they derive first and foremost from a decision of the free will, from a personal love, whereby the spouses become not only one flesh, but also one heart and one soul. Physical and sexual communion is something great and beautiful. But it is only worthy of man if it is integrated into a personal union, recognised by the civil and ecclesiastical community. Full sexual communion between man and woman therefore has its legitimate place only within the exclusive and definitive personal bond of fidelity in marriage. The indissolubility of conjugal fidelity, which is no longer comprehensible to many today, is equally an expression of man's unconditional dignity. One cannot live only by trial, one cannot die only by trial. One cannot love only by trial, accept a man only by trial and time.
6. Thus marriage is oriented to duration, to the future. It looks beyond its boundaries. Marriage is the only suitable place for the generation and upbringing of children. Thus, married love is also oriented by its essence to fecundity. In this task of passing on life, spouses are collaborators with the love of God the Creator. I know that even here in today's society, the difficulties are great. They burden women in particular. Restricted housing, economic and health problems, often even a declared attitude not in favour of prolific families are obstacles to greater fertility. I appeal to all those responsible, to all the forces in society: do everything to help. I appeal first of all to your conscience and your personal responsibility, dear brothers and sisters. In your conscience you must, in the presence of God, make the decision on the number of your children.
As spouses, you are called to responsible fatherhood. This means family planning that respects ethical norms and criteria, as was also emphasised by the most recent Synod of Bishops. It is with great care that I would like to remind you today of just this one thing: the killing of unborn life is not a legitimate means of family planning. I repeat what I said on 31 May of this year to the workers in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis: 'The first human right is the right to life. We must defend this right and this value. Otherwise the whole logic of faith in man, the whole programme of truly human progress would be shaken and everything would fall to the ground'. In reality this is what it is all about: serving life.
7. Dear brothers and sisters! On the indispensable platform and assumption of what has been said, we wish to turn to the deeper mystery of marriage and the family. Marriage from the perspective of our faith is a Sacrament of Jesus Christ. Marital love and fidelity are understood and transmitted by the love and fidelity of God in Jesus Christ. The power of his cross and resurrection carries and sanctifies Christian spouses.
As the recent Synod of Bishops noted in its message to Christian families in the world today, the Christian family is called in a special way to collaborate in God's salvific plan, as it helps its members "to become protagonists in the history of salvation and at the same time living signs of God's plan for the world" (Synodi Episcoporum Nuntius ad Christianas Familias, 8).
As a 'Church in a small way', sacramentally founded, i.e. a domestic Church, marriage and family must be a school of faith and a place of common prayer. I attach great significance precisely to prayer in the family. It gives strength to overcome many problems and difficulties. In marriage and the family, fundamental human and Christian attitudes must grow and mature, without which the Church and society cannot exist. Herein lies the first place for the Christian apostolate of the laity and the priesthood common to all the baptised. Such marriages and families imbued with the Christian spirit are also the true seminaries, that is, the nurseries for spiritual vocations for the priestly and religious state.
Dear spouses and parents, dear families! What could I wish you on the occasion of today's Eucharistic meeting with more cordiality than this: may you all and every single family be such a 'domestic church', a Church in a small way! May the parable of the kingdom of God be realised in you! May you experience the presence of the kingdom of God, in that you yourselves are the living "net", which unites and brings and gives shelter - for yourselves and for many around you.
This is my wish of blessing, which I express to you as your host and pilgrim and as a servant of your salvation.
8. And now let me also turn at the end of this fundamental reflection on the kingdom of God and the Christian family to St Albert the Great, whose seventh centenary celebration has brought me to your city. For here is the tomb of this celebrated son of your land, who was born in Lauingen and in his long life was at once a great scientist, a spiritual son of St Dominic and the teacher of St Thomas Aquinas. He was one of the greatest men of intelligence in the 13th century. He like no other joined the 'net' that unites faith and reason, the wisdom of God and the science of the world. At least in spirit I also visit his birthplace, Lauingen, while today, in Cologne, at his tomb, I pause to meditate with you on the words with which today's liturgy celebrates him: "If this is the will of the great Lord, / he shall be filled with the spirit of understanding, / like rain he shall pour forth words of wisdom, / in prayer he shall render praise to the Lord. / He will direct his counsel and his knowledge, he will meditate on the mysteries of God. / He will make the doctrine of his teaching shine, / he will boast of the law of the covenant of the Lord. / Many will praise his understanding, / he will never be forgotten, / his memory will not disappear, / his name will live from generation to generation. / The peoples will speak of his wisdom, / the assembly will proclaim his praise" (Sir 39:6-10).
Nothing needs to be added to these words of the wise Jesus Sirach. Nor should any be left out. For they perfectly describe the figure of that man, whose homeland your city rightly honours, and who is of joy to the whole Church. Albertus Magnus, universal doctor - Albertus Magnus, of very broad doctrine: a true 'disciple of the kingdom of God'! If we have reflected together today on the vocation of the Christian family to build the kingdom of God on earth, the words of Christ's parable must also give us the deeper meaning of this saint, whom we solemnly remember today. For Christ says: "Every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who takes out of his treasure new things and old things" (Mt 13:52).
Saint Albert is also similar to such a householder! May his example and intercession accompany me as I try, on my pilgrimage through your country, as a fisherman of men, to tie the net more tightly and cast it further, so that the kingdom of God may come.
[Pope John Paul II, homily Cologne 15 November 1980]
