Cardinal Rivera encourages pastoral work, guided by peace

Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 23, 2010 / 16:06 pm

During a Mass celebrating 25 years as a bishop and 15 as head of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, said that the Lord’s call to carry out pastoral work is always guided by peace and love, rejecting violence and all forms of dominance and imposition.

According to the Archdiocese of Mexico City’s news service, the cardinal reflected on the Good Shepherd during his homily and on the duty to imitate Christ in resolving the gravest conflicts of our times. “Many times we want the Lord to show us His plan with clarity, or even more, to impose it on us.  But we see that the Lord calls us to make Him present, to give witness to His shepherding, to be leaven, to transform slowly, without any violence, from within, and not by imposition.”

“We are in a society in which we are continuously provoked.  Many times we would like to take another path,” he said.

“Our pastoral work to make the Good Shepherd present must never be done through domination or imposition, and much less through fighting or war.  This is not our spirituality,” he said.

“We can’t run away or hide either,” the cardinal said.  “We also have the temptation often to look the other way, to say, ‘Let others fight, I’m going to be calm and hide.’ No, we are not called to combat, we are called to proclaim love and peace because violence cannot be overcome by violence.

“Love is what builds the Kingdom of God in our world,” the cardinal concluded.