Concluding remarks of His Excellency Monsignor Antonio Ciliberti
Day 3 – 27/09/2008

Gladly I take the floor briefly, at the end of this luminous evening, because I feel putting together the feelings that, at this time, dwell in the souls of all; in order to say our profound gratitude to His Excellency Msgr. Piacenza who, in a manner so clear and consequential, made us understand where the substance of hope, the hope which never disappoints: Jesus Christ; is.
With feelings of infinite gratitude towards him, I conjugated our heartfelt thanks to His Eminence, Cardinal Bertone who, in a letter he sent me, unable to preside due to busy schedules, related to his particular delicate mission; could not be physically among us, but he sent Monsignor Piacenza who certainly will not make us regret the absence of the Cardinal.
He told us, unequivocally, that which today is an irrepressible need of our humanity and which, whatever may happen, is of the humanity of always: the need of living in hope.
But, in the succession of times, and thus of the history of this humanity, in a particular way in the time of modern civilization; men, for the most part, in what did they make the foundation of Hope reside? Through a close historical, cultural, social, political and as well economic examination, it was found that the constitutive object of Hope on a human dimension that, according to the current culture, and the culture of always, lies in the possession of contingent things; of course, does not satisfy the craving of the Spirit of man.
This type of, even frantic, attitude in research through a commitment that positions man in history, in an ideological and even in an industrial dimension; certainly cannot satisfy the Spirit of Man that goes beyond things because it seeks more.
But he also made a reference to the internal situation, ad intra, of the very Church where, many times, the children of the ecclesial community, not sufficiently sustained by the power of the Spirit, relying on the skills that are proper to reason, tried to make some approaches, presenting elements that are not constitutive of the authentic object of true hope, according to the Christian vision.
However, I have noticed, in this type of close examination, so called in a rushed way, a deep and irrepressible poverty that is present in the soul of culture; is also present in the soul of those Christians more dedicated to an ideological vision, rather than that of meeting with the One who is the Truth that saves us, Jesus Christ. This need is always present, insuppressible, and it always goes beyond, towards the transcendent, towards the absolute.
It is precisely on this poverty, on this limit which is typical of our marked humanity and also of those who have the approach to the Holy Book and use the means of their reason only to deepen the substance of truth; this need is insuppressible, is present and it is vibrant in a tension that, at least implicitly, directs man toward the transcendent, that is to say to God. Here is, then, in the fullness of time, the Christian vision that presents to our attention how Hope is a gift that comes from above and which is identified with the offer that God makes of himself to this Man who is the embodiment of his love of Father.
This plan is put into practice in its fullness, in Jesus Christ, through the mediation of Mary and the omnipotence of the Spirit of God; it is Christ, then, God made our brother, authentic Hope, true hope which does not disappoint, in so far as each of us but also as a community, we welcome the Lord and with Him we live this rapport of inseparable personal community Relationship, through the substantial communion of life, fueled by the Truth of the Word and by the gift of his Flesh, we feel the safety of that Hope which, of course, does not disappoint and makes us look forward to beyond time, into the safety of eternity.
From these considerations, I tried to represent in so scant, but basic and short manner; the beauty of a singular message comes out: that of accepting Jesus Christ into our lives in order to be, really, with Christ and for Christ, Hope for ourselves and Hope for the world.
This message is for all of us. Dear members of the Apostolic Movement, it is also, in a special way for you, so that really in the one Church of Jesus Christ, committed to revive the sanctity of your life, becoming as Christ, according to the Apostle’s teaching, especially in this particular year in which we celebrate the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Paul of Tarsus, you can offer yourselves, the way you must always be, Christified, the incarnation of the living Christ, in the reality of our times in order to radiate him through the witness of your historic mission in the world.
The force that unequivocally makes visible this irrefutable evidence, able to speak not only to the intelligence, but also to penetrate the depth of the hearts, is that of making Christ be visible through your life in the community of the men brothers.
In this missionary perspective, we find the singular exemplariness of the One who is, indeed, the model for the Christian life, exemplary of our mission in the world: Mary who received Christ in the mystery of her virginal motherhood and radiated him through the commitment of her witness in the world.
Be, then, indeed witnesses of hope to build that new world we want and that, of course, is built up through the power of God’s presence in the middle of the community of men.
Be builders of that new civilization, waited for in hope even by the many people of good will; the civilization that, in order to be such, it cannot be but the Christian civilization which is the civilization of love. I wish this for you with all my heart.