[ZE120125] The World Seen From Rome
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ZENIT
The World Seen From Rome
Daily dispatch - January 25, 2012
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VATICAN DOSSIER
WORLD FEATURES
NEWS BRIEFS
Questions on Bioethics
Spirit of the Liturgy
Wednesday's Audience
DOCUMENTS
VATICAN DOSSIER
No One Exempt From Missionary Vocation, Says Pope
Says Every Church Activity Should Have Mission Perspective
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI says that every component of the Church should feel bound by Christ's mandate to preach the Gospel, so that He is proclaimed everywhere.
The Pope said this in a text for World Mission Day, which the Vatican released today. World Mission Day will be celebrated this year Oct. 21.
"All the components of the great mosaic of the Church must feel strongly drawn in by the Lord's mandate to preach the Gospel, so that Christ is proclaimed everywhere," the Holy Father affirmed.
"The mission ad gentes should be, also today, the constant horizon and paradigm of every ecclesial activity, because the very identity of the Church is constituted by faith in the Mystery of God," he added.
Benedict XVI called for a "taking up again [of] the same apostolic impetus of the first Christian communities, which, small and vulnerable, with their proclamation and witness, were able to spread the Gospel in the whole then-known world."
Giving from need
The Holy Father lauded Churches in mission territories, or young Churches, who are themselves actively engaged in missionary work, "even if they themselves are still in need of missionaries."
"So many priests, men and women religious, from every part of the world, numerous laymen and, in fact, whole families leave their countries, their local communities and go to other churches to witness and proclaim the Name of Christ, in whom humanity finds salvation," he noted.
The Pontiff stressed the need for missionary work so that all people have the opportunity to know Christ.
"The meeting with Christ as a living person who satiates the thirst of the heart cannot but lead to the desire to share with others the joy of this presence and to make it known so that all can experience it," he said. "It is necessary to renew the enthusiasm to communicate the faith so as to promote a New Evangelization of the communities and countries of ancient Christian tradition, which are losing their connection with God, in order to rediscover the joy of believing.
"The concern to evangelize must never be left on the margin of ecclesial activity and of the personal life of the Christian, but it must be strongly characterized by the awareness of being recipients and, at the same time, missionaries of the Gospel."
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On ZENIT's Web page:
Full text: www.zenit.org/article-34186?l=english
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WORLD FEATURES
Italian Bishops' President Suggests Path to Reawaken Yearning for God
Looks at Example of World Youth Day
By Antonio Gaspari
ROME, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- It is unacceptable that "the door of faith" remains closed, that "salt becomes insipid" and that "light is hidden," says Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco.
These were assertions from his opening address Monday to the Permanent Council of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).
Referring to the Holy Father's decision to convoke the Year of Faith, CEI's president explained that the threshold of the door of faith "is the mystery and calamity of every life, dilemma and drama, as well as fascination and hope."
"Each one, sooner or later, is before that door," he added, citing the Pontiff's words. "It is better for us, then, if we are not found enveloped in indolence."
According to the archbishop of Genoa, at "the core of the crisis of the Church in Europe is the crisis of faith." Said in the Pope's words, "if the faith is not revitalized, becoming a profound conviction and a real force of grace to encounter Jesus Christ, all other reforms will be ineffective."
Cardinal Bagnasco said that it "seems that a strange reticence exists to say Jesus, a sort of weariness, a skepticism that at times is contagious."
"On the contrary, there is the verifiable enthusiasm of young people and of young continents, beginning with Africa, where we witness an impressive vitality and great passion for the Gospel," he noted.
CEI's president explained the pastoral challenge and posed the quaestio fidei "how to reawaken in oneself and in others a yearning for God and the joy to live and witness it?"
On the question of what to do and how to rediscover the roots of "why I believe," Cardinal Bagnasco pointed to the experience of the World Youth Day, "which is revealing a new, rejuvenated way of being Christians."
He also pointed to the experience of Holy Land pilgrimages, as well as the cultural exchange between immigrants and natives, and between international students and their peers.
"If all this is attempted, for an organic integration and intelligent support of ordinary pastoral ministry, then new ways will certainly open for the Gospel," he concluded.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Eucharistic Congress to Have Ecumenical Touch
DUBLIN, Ireland, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The 50th International Eucharistic Congress, which will take place June 10-17 in Dublin, is planning the extensive involvement of Christians of other traditions in both the pastoral preparation and the official program for the week.
The organizing committee of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress, chose the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which concluded today, as the occasion for the launch of the ecumenical program of the Congress.
One of the more significant features of the event is the dedication of one day, June 11, to celebrating and reflecting on the relationship of communion into which Christians are drawn through baptism.
International Eucharistic Congresses are celebrated every four years. While previous Congresses have sometimes included an ecumenical workshop or prayer, the extensive involvement of Christians of other traditions in so many elements of this Congress (preparation of pastoral resources; Congress week program; youth program) is quite unique, a statement from organizers explained.
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Questions on Bioethics
Licit Forms of Natural Family Planning
No Reason to Reject Standard Days Method
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a question on bioethics asked by a ZENIT reader and answered by the fellows of the Culture of Life Foundation.
Q: The Standard Days Method (SDM) of Natural Family Planning (NFP) was introduced by Georgetown University and uses a bead counting method. Some Catholic doctors and priests have criticized the SDM for some/all of the following reasons:
1. It is not "natural" because a computer model was used to calculate the days of abstinence.
2. It is endorsed by USAID (which has links to abortion funding).
3. The original research paper left open the possibility of using a back-up method during the fertile period.
My question is: Can Catholic licitly teach and practice the SDM? -- Fr. JM, Southeast Asia
E. Christian Brugger offers the following response:
The Standard Days Method of fertility awareness is a newer and more precise variation of the older calendar ("rhythm") method that used the length of a woman's menstrual cycle to estimate when fertility was most likely to occur.
Promoters of the SDM state that the newer method is only reliable for women whose cycles range in length from 26 to 32 days. Women outside this range are encouraged to use another method. Those who fall into that range and who wish to avoid pregnancy are advised to abstain from intercourse on days 8-19 of their cycle. These are the days, according to the method, when they are most likely to conceive. SDM literature reports that when the method is used correctly it has a 95% rate of effectivity.
This is not so different from the older calendar rhythm method whose rate of effectivity, when used correctly, was 91%. The problem with the older method was that couples were required to carry out mathematical calculations that the SDM has built into its approach. So whereas the "perfect use failure rate" of the older method was 9% (91% success rate), few couples used it perfectly. The "actual use failure rate," because of the method's complexity, turned out to be 25%, which meant that couples trying to avoid pregnancy got pregnant approximately one in four times.
From the user's perspective, the SDM is much simpler. As stated above, it is limited to women with a specific and reliable cycle length. Once that is established, the days on which couples are advised to abstain are easy to determine. In some countries, a simple string of beads is used to assist women to count off the days of abstinence.
As for its ethical analysis, the SDM is simply a method of NFPassisting couples to regulate their fertility in ways consistent with the natural cycles of a woman's body and with moral norms taught and defended by the Catholic Church. Other methods include the Billings Ovulation Method, the Sympto-Thermal Method, the Creighton Fertility-Care Method, and Ecological Breastfeeding.
In the 1930s, the Catholic Church judged that NFP was a legitimate way for couples to regulate births. Pope Pius XI taught in Casti Connubii (1930): "Nor are those considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner although on account of natural reasons either of time or of certain defects, new life cannot be brought forth;" and two years later (1932), the Sacred Penitentiary ruled that couples could legitimately "abstain from the use of marriage" during fertile periods for "just and grave causes." Together these were taken as an approval of the recently developed rhythm method. Since that time, the Catholic Church has repeatedly affirmed the legitimacy of recourse to NFP for "iustae causae" ("just causes") (e.g., by Popes Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church).
Why then might some think that the SDM is a problem? Our questioner states three possible reasons. The first argues that the method "is not 'natural' because a computer model was used to calculate the days of abstinence;" therefore, the logic goes, it must be "unnatural"; since contraception is also 'unnatural,' the SDM must be similar to contraception.
But using a computer to determine facts pertaining to one's fertility cycle is no more intrinsically problematic than using a computer to determine any other facts about one's biology (e.g., blood type, glucose levels, or blood pressure). In this case, the facts are used to assist couples to carry out morally legitimate means of family planning. This enables couples to practice "responsible parenthood," which, the Church teaches, is a great human good (cf. Humanae Vitae, no. 10). And technology used at the service of the moral law and human good is not only legitimate, but praiseworthy. If however technology is used at the service of wrongful forms of family planning, then it is used wrongfully.
The second reason is that the SDM has been "endorsed by USAID (which has links to abortion funding)." This is true. Not only has the SDM been endorsed by USAID, the method was developed (at Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health) by grants in part provided from USAID.
But the fact that USAID is involved in some illicit activities does not mean that everything it does is illicit, nor does it mean that everyone who cooperates with its activities is doing something illicit. By funding the development of a morally legitimate form of family planning, USAID, to that extent, carried out a good act. Using the knowledge derived from that funding is unlikely to enrich USAID and hence equip it to carry out future illicit activity. And that same knowledge is likely to assist large numbers of couples, especially in developing countries, to plan their families in an upright way. Morally conscientious people should encourage USAID to devote more resources to similarly legitimate activities.
The final reason is that some of the literature promoting the SDM has "left open the possibility of using a back-up method [of contraception] during the fertile period." This tells us two things: first, that some who promote the method do not think that contraception is wrong and believe that the SDM is just another form of ("natural") contraception. In this regard, they are in error. Contraception is wrong to use; and the SDM is not a form of contraception, since for a method to be contraceptive it must aim to render sexual intercourse sterile; and the SDM promotes abstinence, which is the avoidance of intercourse.
Second, it tells us that the SDM can be used wrongfully, as when one uses it in tandem with another form of contraception. But the fact that it may be used wrongfully does not mean that everyone who uses it does so wrongfully. Those couples who understand the integrity of marriage and the marital act, and who abstain from intercourse for just reasons using the SDM, and who do not have recourse to other morally illicit forms of fertility control, do nothing illicit.
Therefore, Catholic (and non-Catholic) married couples may practice and promote the SDM as a licit form of Natural Family Planning. This was affirmed in July 2011 in a pastoral statement by Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, S.J., of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines.
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E. Christian Brugger is a Senior Fellow of Ethics and director of the Fellows Program at the Culture of Life Foundation; and the J. Francis Cardinal Stafford Chair of Moral Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado.
[Readers may send questions regarding bioethics to bioethics@zenit.org. The text should include your initials, your city and state, province or country. The fellows at the Culture of Life Foundation will answer a select number of the questions that arrive.]
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Spirit of the Liturgy
The Liturgy Source of Life, Prayer and Catechesis (CCC 1071-1075)
Column of Liturgical Theology by Don Mauro Gagliardi
By Don Mauro Gagliardi
ROME, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Numbers 1071-1075 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) treat sacred liturgy as source of life, as well as its relationship with prayer and catechesis. The liturgy is source of life first of all because it is the “work of Christ” (CCC, 1071). In the second place, because “it is also an action of his Church” (Ibid.). But, which is the preeminent of these two aspects? Moreover, what does the word “life” mean in this context?
Vatican Council II responds: “From the liturgy, hence, and particularly from the Eucharist, grace flows in us as from a source, and obtained with the greatest efficacy is the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God, to which all the other activities of the Church tend as to their end” (Sacrosanctum Concilium [SC], 10). Understood thus is that, when the liturgy is called source of life, from it grace flows. Already answered here is the first question: the liturgy is source of life primarily because it is the work of Christ, Author of grace.
A classic principle of Catholicism, however, states that grace does not take away nature, rather it implies and perfects it (cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, 1, 8 ad 2 etc.). Given this, man also cooperates in liturgical worship, which is the priestly action of the “whole Christ,” namely the Head, which is Jesus, and the members, who are the baptized. Thus the liturgy is source of life also in as much as it is action of the Church. Precisely in so far as work of Christ and of the Church, the liturgy is a “sacred action par excellence” (SC, 7), it gives the faithful the life of Christ and requires their conscious, active and fruitful participation (cf. SC, 11). Understood here is the bond between the sacred liturgy and the life of faith: we could say “from Life to life.” The grace that is given us by Christ in the liturgy calls for vital involvement: "The sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church” “ (SC, 9), in fact “it must be preceded by evangelization, faith and conversion. It can then produce its fruits in the life of the faithful” (CCC, 1072).
It is no accident that at the moment of bringing together in one volume the writings of J. Ratzinger, entitled “Theology of the Liturgy,” thought was given to expressing one of the fundamental intuitions of the author, adding the sub-title: “The Sacramental Foundation of Christian Existence.” It is a translation in theological terms of what Jesus said in the Gospel with the words: “apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In the sacred liturgy we receive the gift of the divine life of Christ without which we cannot do anything valid for salvation. Hence, the life of the Christian is nothing other than a continuation, or the fruit, of the grace that is received in divine worship, in particular, the Eucharistic.
In the second place, the liturgy has a close relationship with prayer. Again, the focus of understanding of this relationship is the Lord: “The liturgy is also a participation in Christ’s own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In the liturgy, all Christian prayer finds its source and goal” (CCC, 1073). Hence, the liturgy is also source of prayer. From it we learn to pray in the right way. As the liturgy is the priestly prayer of Jesus, what can we learn from it for our personal prayer? In what did the Lord’s prayer consist? “Fundamental to understand Jesus are the recurrent references to the fact that he withdrew “on the mountain” and prayed there entire nights, “alone” with the Father. […] This “praying” of Jesus is the Son speaking with the Father which involves the human consciousness and will, the human soul of Jesus, so that man’s “prayer” can become participation in the communion of the Son with the Father” (J. Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, “Jesus of Nazareth,” I, Rizzoli, Milan, 2007, pp. 27-28 [our translation]). In Jesus, his “personal” prayer is not different from his priestly prayer: according to the Letter to the Hebrews, the prayer made by Jesus during the Passion “constitutes the Mass in action of the high priesthood of Jesus. Precisely in his crying, weeping and praying Jesus does what is proper to the high priest: He carries the suffering of being men lifted up to God. He bears man before God” (Ibid., II, LEV, 2010, p. 184).
In a word, Jesus’ prayer is a prayer of conversation, a prayer addressed to the presence of God. Jesus teaches us this type of prayer: “It is necessary to always arouse this relationship and to redirect it in continuation to daily events. We would pray that much better the more profoundly is the orientation of our soul to God” (Ibid., I, p. 159). Hence, the liturgy teaches us to pray because it re-orients us constantly to God: “Lift up your hearts; we lift them up to the Lord!” Prayer is to be turned to the Lord – and this is also the profound meaning of active participation in the liturgy.
Finally, prayer is the “privileged place of catechesis […] in as much as it proceeds from the visible to the invisible” (CCC, 1074-1075). This implies that the texts, the signs, the rites, the gestures and the ornamental elements of the liturgy must be such as to truly transmit the Mystery they signify and can thus be usefully explained within the mystagogic catechesis.
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*Don Mauro Gagliardi is full Professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum “Regina Apostolorum,” professor at the Università Europea di Roma, Consultor of the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff and of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
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Wednesday's Audience
On the Priestly Prayer of Jesus
"Love Is True Glory, Divine Glory"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the Italian-language catechesis Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held in Paul VI Hall. The Pope reflected on the priestly prayer of Jesus presented in Chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel.
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Dear brothers and sisters,
In today’s Catechesis we will focus our attention on the prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father in the “Hour” of his exaltation and of his glorification (cf. John 1:26). As the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms: “Christian Tradition rightly calls this prayer the ‘priestly’ prayer of Jesus. It is the prayer of our High Priest, inseparable from his sacrifice, from his passing over (Passover) to the Father to whom he is wholly ‘consecrated’” (No. 2747).
Jesus’ prayer can be understood in its extraordinary depth of richness if we consider it against the backdrop of the Jewish feast of expiation, Yom Kippur. On that day, the High Priest makes expiation first for himself, then for the priestly class and lastly for the entire community of the people. The purpose is to restore to the people of Israel, after the transgressions of one year, the awareness of reconciliation with God, the awareness of being the chosen people, a “holy people” among the other nations. Jesus’ prayer, presented in Chapter 17 of the Gospel according to John, adopts the structure of this feast. Jesus on that night turns to the Father as he is offering himself. He, priest and victim, prays for himself, for the apostles and for all those who will believe in Him, for the Church throughout the ages (cf. John 17:20).
The prayer that Jesus offers for himself is the request for his own glorification, for his “exaltation” in this, his “Hour.” In reality, it is more than a request and declaration of his full availability to enter freely and generously into God the Father’s plan, which is to be accomplished in his being handed over in death and resurrection. This “Hour” begins with Judas’ betrayal (cf. John 13:31) and will culminate in the Risen Jesus’ ascension to the Father (John 20:17). Jesus comments on Judas’ departure from the cenacle with these words: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified” (John 13:31). Not by chance does He begin the priestly prayer, saying: “Father, the hour has come: glorify the Son that the Son may glorify thee” (John 17:1). The glorification that Jesus asks for himself as High Priest is an entrance into the fullness of obedience to the Father, an obedience that leads him into the fullness of His Sonship: “And now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made” (John 17:5). This availability and this request form the first act of Jesus’ new priesthood, which is a total self-giving on the Cross, and it is precisely on the Cross -- in the supreme act of love -- that he is glorified, because love is true glory, divine glory.
The second moment of this prayer is the intercession Jesus makes for the disciples who were with Him. They are those of whom Jesus can say to the Father: “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word” (John 17:6). “To manifest God’s name to men” is the realization of a new presence of the Father among His people, among humanity. This “manifestation” is not only a word; in Jesus, it is reality; God is with us, and thus the name -- His presence with us, his being one with us -- is “realized.” Therefore, this manifestation finds its fulfillment in the Incarnation of the Word. In Jesus, God enters into human flesh: He makes himself close in a unique and new way. And this presence has its summit in the sacrifice that Jesus offers in His Passover of death and resurrection.
At the center of this prayer of intercession and expiation for the disciples, is the request for consecration; Jesus says to the Father: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth” (John 17:16-19). I ask: what does it mean to “consecrate” in this case? First and foremost, it needs to be said that, strictly speaking, only God is “Consecrated” or “Holy.” To consecrate therefore means to transfer a reality -- a person or a thing -- to God’s ownership. And in this, two complementary aspects are present: on the one hand, the removal from common things, a segregation, a “setting apart” from the realm of man’s personal life, in order to be given totally to God; and on the other hand, this segregation, this transfer to the sphere of God, signifies “sending,” mission: precisely on account of its being given to God, the reality, the consecrated person exists “for” others; he is given to others.
To give oneself to God means no longer existing for oneself, but for all. He is consecrated who, like Jesus, is separated from the world and set apart for God in view of a task, and this is precisely why he is fully available to all. For the disciples, [the task] will be to continue the mission of Jesus, to be given to God so as to be on mission for all. On Easter evening, the Risen One appearing to his disciples will say to them: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21).
The third act of this priestly prayer extends our gaze to the end of time. In it, Jesus turns to the Father in order to intercede on behalf of all those who will be brought to faith through the mission inaugurated by the apostles and continued throughout history: “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their word.” Jesus prays for the Church throughout the ages, he prays also for us (John 17:20). The Catechism of the Catholic Church comments: “Jesus fulfilled the word of the Father completely; his prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time. The prayer of this hour fills the end-times and carries them toward their consummation” (No. 2749).
The central petition of Jesus’ priestly prayer dedicated to his disciples throughout the ages is for the future unity of all those who will believe in Him. This unity is not a product of the world. It comes exclusively from the divine unity and arrives to us from the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Jesus invokes a gift that comes from Heaven, and that has its real and perceptible effect on earth. He prays “that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21).
On the one hand, Christian unity is a hidden reality present in the hearts of believers. But at the same time, it must become visible in history with complete clarity; it must become visible, so that the world may believe; it has a very practical and concrete end -- it must become visible so that all may truly be one. The unity of the future disciples, being a unity with Jesus -- whom the Father sent into the world -- is also the original source of the Christian mission’s efficacy in the world.
We can say that the founding of the Church is accomplished in Jesus’ priestly prayer … it is precisely here, in the act of the Last Supper, that Jesus creates the Church. “For what else is the Church, if not the community of disciples who receive their unity through faith in Jesus Christ as the one sent by the Father and are drawn into Jesus’ mission to lead the world toward the recognition of God -- and in this way to save it?” Here we find a true definition of the Church. “The Church is born from Jesus’ prayer. But this prayer is more than words; it is the act by which he ‘sanctifies’ himself, that is to say, he ‘sacrifices’ himself for the life of the world” (cf. Jesus of Nazareth, Vol. II p. 101ff).
Jesus prays that his disciples may be one. It is in virtue of such unity, received and cherished, that the Church can journey “in the world” without being “of the world” (cf. John 17:6) and live out the mission entrusted to her, so that the world may believe in the Son and in the Father who sent him. The Church becomes, then, the place where the very mission of Christ continues: to lead the “world” out of alienation from God and itself, out of sin, in order that it may return to being God’s world.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have taken in a portion of the great richness of Jesus’ priestly prayer, which I invite you to read and to ponder, so that it may guide us in conversation with the Lord, that it may teach us to pray. Then we, too, in our prayer may ask God to help us to enter more fully into the plan that He has for each one of us. Let us ask Him to grant that we may be “consecrated” to Him, that we may increasingly belong to Him, so that we may love others more and more -- those who are close to us and those who are far away; let us ask Him to grant that we may always be able to open our prayer to the dimensions of the world, not closing it in to the request for help for our own problems, but remembering our neighbor before the Lord and learning the beauty of interceding for others. Let us ask Him for the gift of visible unity among all believers in Christ -- we have earnestly invoked this during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity -- let us pray that we may always be ready to respond to whomever asks us the reason for the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Thank you.
[Translation by Diane Montagna]
[In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our continuing catechesis on Christian prayer, we now turn to the priestly prayer which Jesus offered at the Last Supper (cf. Jn 17:1-26). Against the backdrop of the Jewish feast of expiation Yom Kippur, Jesus, priest and victim, prays that the Father will glorify him in this, the hour of his sacrifice of reconciliation. He asks the Father to consecrate his disciples, setting them apart and sending them forth to continue his mission in the world. Christ also implores the gift of unity for all those who will believe in him through the preaching of the apostles. His priestly prayer can thus be seen as instituting the Church, the community of the disciples who, through faith in him, are made one and share in his saving mission. In meditating upon the Lord’s priestly prayer, let us ask the Father for the grace to grow in our baptismal consecration and to open our own prayers to the needs of our neighbours and the whole world. Let us also pray, as we have just done in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, for the gift of the visible unity of all Christ’s followers, so that the world may believe in the Son and in the Father who sent him.
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I offer a warm welcome to the students of the Bossey Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies in Switzerland, and I offer prayerful good wishes for their work. Upon all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!
© Copyright 2012 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[In Italian, he said:]
Lastly, an affectionate thought to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which today we conclude, offers us the possibility of reflection on our belonging to Christ and to the Church. Dear young people, trust in the teachings of the Church, which are aimed at your integral growth. Dear sick, offer your sufferings for the cause of the unity of Christ’s Church. And you, dear newlyweds, educate your children according to the logic of gratuitous love, after the model of God’s love for mankind.
[Translation by Diane Montagna]
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DOCUMENTS
Pope's Message for World Mission Day
"Faith Is a Gift That Is Given to Us to Be Shared"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's message for World Mission Day, which will be celebrated this Oct. 21. The text was released by the Vatican today.
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"Called to Make the Word of Truth Shine" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 6)
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
The celebration of World Mission Day has an altogether particular meaning this year. The observance of the 50th anniversary of the Conciliar Decree Ad gentes, the opening of the Year of Faith and the Synod of Bishops on the subject of the New Evangelization concur in reaffirming the will of the Church to commit herself with greater boldness and ardor in the mission ad gentes, so that the Gospel will reach the ends of the earth.
The Ecumenical Second Vatican Council, with the participation of Catholic bishops from all corners of the earth, was a luminous sign of the universality of the Church, bringing together, for the first time, such a large number of Conciliar Fathers from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania. Missionary bishops and native bishops, pastors of communities spread among non-Christian populations, who brought to the Conciliar sessions the image of a Church present in all the continents and who made themselves interpreters of the complex reality of the then so-called "Third World." Rich in the experience stemming from being pastors of young churches in the process of formation and animated by passion for the spread of the Kingdom of God, they contributed in an important way to reaffirming the necessity and urgency of the evangelization ad gentes, and hence to put at the center of ecclesiology the missionary nature of the Church.
Missionary Ecclesiology
This vision has not diminished today, rather, it has gone through a profound theological and pastoral reflection and, at the same time, it is proposed again with renewed urgency because the number of those who still do not know Christ has grown. "The men who await Christ are still an immense number," said Blessed John Paul II in the Encyclical Redemptoris missio on the permanent validity of the missionary mandate, and he added: "We cannot be at peace when thinking of the millions of our brothers and sisters, also redeemed by the Blood of Christ, who live in ignorance of the love of God" (n. 86). In convoking the Year of Faith, I also wrote that Christ "today as then, sends us to the paths of the world to proclaim his Gospel to all the peoples of the earth" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 7); a proclamation that, as the Servant of God Paul VI also expressed, in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, "is not an optional contribution for the Church: it is the duty that is incumbent upon her by the mandate of the Lord Jesus, so that men will be able to believe and be saved. Yes, this message is necessary. It is unique. It is irreplaceable" (n. 5). Hence we are in need of taking up again the same apostolic impetus of the first Christian communities, which, small and vulnerable, with their proclamation and witness, were able to spread the Gospel in the whole then-known world.
It is no wonder, therefore, that Vatican Council II and the successive Magisterium of the Church insist especially on the missionary mandate that Christ entrusted to his disciples, which must be the commitment of all the People of God: bishops; priests; deacons; men and women religious; and laity. The task of proclaiming the Gospel in every part of the earth corresponds primarily to bishops, directly responsible for the evangelization of the world, be it as members of the Episcopal College or as pastors of particular Churches. In fact, they "were consecrated not only for a diocese, but for the salvation of the whole world" (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris mission, 63), "messengers of faith who bring new disciples to Christ" (Ad gentes, 20) and render "visible the missionary spirit and ardor of the People of God, so that the whole diocese becomes missionary" (Ibid., 38).
The Priority of Evangelization
The mandate to preach the Gospel is not exhausted, therefore, by a Pastor in caring for that portion of the People of God entrusted to his pastoral care, or in the sending of a fidei donum priest, layman or laywoman. It should involve the whole activity of the particular Church, all her sectors, in short, all her being and action. Vatican II indicated this clearly and the successive Magisterium confirmed it forcefully. This requires the constant adaptation of lifestyles, pastoral plans and diocesan organization to this fundamental dimension of being Church, especially in our world in constant change. And this is also true for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as for the Ecclesial Movements: all the components of the great mosaic of the Church must feel strongly drawn in by the Lord's mandate to preach the Gospel, so that Christ is proclaimed everywhere. We, Pastors, men and women religious and all the faithful in Christ, must follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul, who, "a prisoner for Christ on behalf of you Gentiles" (Ephesians 3:1), worked, suffered and fought to have the Gospel reach the Gentiles (cf. Ephesians 1:24-29), not sparing energy, time and means to make Christ's Message known.
The mission ad gentes should be, also today, the constant horizon and paradigm of every ecclesial activity, because the very identity of the Church is constituted by faith in the Mystery of God, who revealed himself in Christ to bring us salvation, and by the mission to witness and proclaim him to the world, until his return. Like St. Paul, we should care for those who are far away, those who still do not know Christ and have not experienced God's paternity, in the awareness that "the missionary cooperation must be extended today to new forms including not only economic aid but also direct participation in evangelization" (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 82). The celebration of the Year of Faith and of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization will be propitious occasions to re-launch missionary cooperation, especially in this latter dimension.
Faith and Proclamation
The eagerness to proclaim Christ drives us also to read history to perceive the problems, aspirations and hopes of humanity that Christ must heal, purify and fill with his presence. His message, in fact, is always timely, it is set in the very heart of history and is able to answer the profoundest concerns of every man. Because of this, in all her components the Church must be aware that "the immense horizon of the ecclesial mission, the complexity of the present situation require a renewed modality today, to be able to communicate the Word of God effectively" (Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, 97). Above all, this calls for a renewed adherence of personal and community faith to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, "at a time of profound change as that which humanity is experiencing" (Apostolic Letter Porta fidei, 8).
One of the obstacles to the impetus of evangelization is, in fact, the crisis of faith, not only in the Western world, but in a good part of humanity, which nevertheless is hungry and thirsty for God and must be invited and led to the bread of life and the living water, as the Samaritan woman who went to Jacob's well and talked with Christ.
As the Evangelist John recounts, this event of this woman is particularly significant (cf. John 4:1-30): she meets Jesus, who asks her for a drink, but then speaks to her about a new water, able to satiate thirst for ever. At first the woman does not understand, she remains at the material level, but slowly she is led by the Lord to undertake a path of faith that leads her to recognize him as the Messiah. And regarding this, Saint Augustine says: "after having received the Lord Christ in her heart, what else could [this woman] do but abandon her jar and run to proclaim the Good News?" (Homily, 15, 30). The meeting with Christ as a living person who satiates the thirst of the heart cannot but lead to the desire to share with others the joy of this presence and to make it known so that all can experience it. It is necessary to renew the enthusiasm to communicate the faith so as to promote a New Evangelization of the communities and countries of ancient Christian tradition, which are losing their connection with God, in order to rediscover the joy of believing. The concern to evangelize must never be left on the margin of ecclesial activity and of the personal life of the Christian, but it must be strongly characterized, by the awareness of being recipients and, at the same time, missionaries of the Gospel. The main point of the proclamation is always the same: the Kerygma of the dead and risen Christ for the salvation of the world; the Kerygma of the absolute and total love of God for every man and every women, which culminated in the sending of the Eternal and Only-begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, who did not disdain to assume the poverty of our human nature, loving and rescuing it from sin and death by offering himself on the cross.
In this plan of love realized by Christ, faith in God is above all a gift and mystery to be received in the heart and in life and for which to be always grateful to the Lord. But faith is a gift that is given to us to be shared; it is a talent received so that it will bear fruit; it is a light that must not be kept hidden, but illumine the whole house. It is the most important gift that has been given to us in our lives and we cannot keep it for ourselves.
The Proclamation Becomes Charity
"Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!" said the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 9:16). This word resounds forcefully for every Christian and for every Christian community in all the Continents. Even for churches in mission territories, churches that are young in the main, of recent foundation, doing missionary activity has become a connatural dimension, even if they themselves are still in need of missionaries. So many priests, men and women religious, from every part of the world, numerous laymen and, in fact, whole families leave their countries, their local communities and go to other churches to witness and proclaim the Name of Christ, in whom humanity finds salvation. It is an expression of profound communion, sharing and charity between the churches, so that every man can hear and hear again the proclamation that heals and approach the Sacraments, sources of true life.
Together with this lofty sign of faith which is transformed into charity, I recall and thank the Pontifical Missionary Works, an instrument for cooperation in the universal mission of the Church in the world. Through their action the proclamation of the Gospel becomes also an intervention in aid of neighbors, justice for the poorest, possibility of instruction in the most isolated villages, medical care in remote places, emancipation from poverty, rehabilitation of the marginalized, support for the development of peoples, the overcoming of ethnic divisions, respect for life in every phase.
Dear brothers and sisters, I invoke upon the work of evangelization ad gentes, and in particular upon its workers, the effusion of the Holy Spirit, so that the Grace of God will make it advance more decisively in the history of the world. With Blessed John Henry Newman, I would like to pray: "O Lord, accompany your missionaries in the lands of evangelization, put the right words on their lips, make their toil fruitful." May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church and Star of Evangelization, accompany all missionaries of the Gospel.
From the Vatican, January 6, 2012, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.
[Translation by ZENIT]
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