Excerpts from the homily of Carlo Maria Martini, Archbishop of Milan, at Mass on April 25, 1986. The last words of Our Lord before ascending to heaven, according to the Gospel of Mark, were: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will place their hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16:15-18)
And you, dear friends, have come here to Assisi as pilgrims in the name of faith itself—a faith that seeks light. This is what has brought us here: to believe, to want to believe, which means to entrust ourselves to God, even in the hardest things, in those we cannot understand, in those that cause us such difficulty.
You have come here truly in the sign of faith to ask for more light for your lives, for your sufferings, and for the suffering of those dear to you.
And what does Jesus say about those who believe, and among whom we wish to be counted?
He says that those who believe will have signs—miracles, in a way.
There are five of these signs. Two of them are, let us say, "promotional": casting out demons and healing the sick—that is, conquering illness, suffering, overcoming all forms of psychological and physical distress.
Little by little, with courage, day after day, helped by so many others, the Lord grants us the power to transform the dark moments of our hearts into moments of serenity and peace—indeed, into the capacity to bring peace to many others.
Then there is a third sign, which is the fullness of the Holy Spirit: they will speak in new tongues, they will have such joy within themselves that they will be as if in ecstasy.
Little by little, with courage, day after day, helped by so many others, the Lord grants us the power to transform the dark moments of our hearts into moments of serenity and peace—indeed, into the capacity to bring peace to many others.
Finally, there are two signs concerning defense against danger or threat: they will pick up snakes in their hands and suffer no harm, and if they drink any deadly poison it will do them no damage. As you see, there are five signs that describe a new way of being human—a way capable of doing great things.
And what of us? The question keeps returning: what of us?
Well, all these signs show themselves in us too. The Lord grants us to enjoy them and to live them as our faith grows. Of course we do not always see the miracles we wish we could see. But these signs point to more than miracles alone. Through the miracles, they point to the transformation of a life—a life that changes from sadness into something bearable, from bearable into something joyful. They mark the transformation of a life that moves from sadness and lack of trust into trust in itself and in others. They signal a life that moves from loneliness and fear into communion, into the capacity to bring many others to rejoice with Him. These are the signs of the path of true believers. And they are the signs of the path of Faith and Light.
Faith and Light is a journey through which we grow in faith. On this journey, the signs of faith are the capacity—little by little, with courage, day after day, helped by so many others—to transform difficult, almost unbearable situations into situations we can bear with the help of others. The Lord thus grants us to transform the dark moments of our hearts into moments of serenity and peace, indeed, into the capacity to bring peace to many others. This is the path of faith you are walking under the protection of Saint Francis. It is the path that Jesus promises us in this Gospel of Mark.