Let Us Praise the Lord

You are God:  we praise you;

You are the Lord:  we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you…
 

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:

Father, of majesty unbounded,
Your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide….
 
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

      From Te Deum

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Dear friends, on the last night of the year that is coming to an end, and at the threshold of the new, let us praise the Lord! Let us show to “He who is and who was and who is to come” (Rev. 1:8) repentance and asking for forgiveness for their offenses, as well as the sincere thanks for the countless benefits granted by the divine goodness. In particular, we give thanks for the grace and truth that have come to us through Jesus Christ. In Him the fullness of all human time is placed. The future of every human being is kept safe in him. In Him, the fulfilment of the hopes of the Church and of the world comes true. Amen.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

Homily for Solemn First Vespers for the Feast of Mary the Mother of God
31 December 2012
 

For more information, please visit:  http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-benedicts-homily-for-vespers

 

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His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's general prayer intention for January 2013 is: "That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him".

His mission intention is: "That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance".

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Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.


(Original Artwork Kindness of Diane Andraska)

Christmas Blessings

May our newborn Saviour grant you

the gift of Love,

the blessing of Hope,

and the fullness of Peace.

 

Blessed Christmas

Joyeux Noël

Feliz Navidad

Buon Natale

Fröhliche Weihnachten

 

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Christmas Tree in Manger Square Bethlehem
December 24, 2012
(kindness of Rami Munayer)

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Mary's Faith

The faith of Mary in the light of the mystery of the Annunciation was the theme of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's catechesis during the last general audience of 2012.

In the annunciation the angel greets Mary with the words "Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you". "This greeting is an invitation to rejoice, and announces the end of the sadness of the world…. It is a greeting that marks the beginning of the Gospel, the Good News", explained the Pope.

The reason for the invitation to rejoice offered to the Virgin is in the second part of the phrase: "The Lord is with you".... Mary is the being who has, in a singular way, opened the door to the Creator, who has placed herself in His hands, without limits" and lives with "care to recognise the signs of God in the journey of His people; she enters into a story of faith and hope in God's promises, which constitute the very fabric of her existence....  Mary entrusts herself entirely to the word announced by God's messenger, and becomes the model and mother of all believers".

"We encounter moments of light but also periods in which God seems to be absent, his silence weighs heavily in our hearts and his will does not correspond to our own", commented the Holy Father. "The more we open ourselves to God ... like Mary, the more He renders us able, through His presence, to live every moment in life in the peace and certainty of His loyalty and His love. However, this means leaving behind ourselves and our own plans, so that the Word of God might be the guiding light for our thoughts and actions".

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/marys-faith-in-the-light-of-the-mystery-of-the-ann

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How Gaza Prepares for Christmas

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Fouad Twal, who went to Gaza on the Third Sunday of Advent, explained in his homily that “Christmas is a gift from Heaven, but also is needed the good will of men so that there may be peace”. He also invited Christians “to live a strong faith” in order to continue living in this Holy Land where the Holy Family passed during its flight into Egypt and to remember that “even Jesus suffered injustice”.

The little Catholic parish of the Holy Family holds exactly 185 faithful.

For more information, please visit:

http://en.lpj.org/2012/12/18/how-gaza-prepares-for-christmas/

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Let us pray to live a strong faith like that of our Blessed Mother Mary.  Please remember our brothers and sisters who strive to live in the Holy Land.

 

Your light will come Jerusalem; the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty.

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Rejoice

Brothers and sisters:
Rejoice in the Lord always.
I shall say it again: rejoice!
Your kindness should be known to all.
The Lord is near.
Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:  4-7

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On 16 December 2012 His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, as bishop of Rome, visited the parish of San Patrizio al Colle Prenestino. On the third Sunday of Advent, called "Gaudete" Sunday as it invites us to be glad, the Holy Father observed that Advent is not only a time for conversion but also for joy, because "it is the time in which the anticipation of the Saviour is awakened in the hearts of believers, and awaiting the arrival of a loved one always brings joy".

"In just a few days' time we will celebrate Christmas, the feast of the coming of God, who came among us as a child and as our brother to be with us and to share in our human condition. We must rejoice for His closeness and His presence, and always to seek to understand that He is truly near, so that the goodness of God and the joy of Christ might enter into us. ... St. Paul expressed emphatically in one of his letters that nothing can separate us from God's love as manifested in Christ. Only sin can lead us astray from Him, but this is an element that we ourselves bring to our relationship with Him. However, even when we turn away from Him, He never ceases to love us and to remain close to us with His mercy, His willingness to forgive and to welcome us anew in His love".

"The joy that the Lord communicates to us must find grateful love in us. Indeed, we achieve full joy when we recognise His mercy, when we become aware of the signs of His goodness..." concluded the Pope.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/the-joy-of-advent

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-gaudete-mass-at-roman-parish

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… No one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord. The great joy announced by the angel on Christmas night is truly for all the people, both for the people of Israel then anxiously awaiting a Savior, and for the numberless people made up of all those who, in time to come, would receive its message and strive to live by it. The Blessed Virgin Mary was the first to have received its announcement, from the angel Gabriel, and her Magnificat was already the exultant hymn of all the humble. Whenever we say the rosary, the joyful mysteries thus place us once more before the inexpressible event which is the center and summit of history: the coming on earth of Emmanuel, God with us….

Pope Paul VI, Gaudete in Domino

For the complete text, please visit: 

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19750509_gaudete-in-domino_en.html

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Advent Reminds Us of God's Presence

During the 12 December 2012 general audience, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI renewed his invitation to read the Bible more frequently and to pay closer attention to the readings at Sunday Mass, to provide "valuable nourishment for our faith".

The Pope observed that "reading the Old Testament, we see how God's interventions in the history of the chosen people with whom He established an alliance were not passing events forgotten over time, but rather become living 'memory', together constituting the 'story of salvation' that resides in the consciousness of the people of Israel through the celebration of salvific events", such as Easter. "For all the people of Israel, to recall God's work becomes a sort of constant imperative, in order that the passage of time be marked by the living memory of past events which thus create history anew, day by day, remaining ever present. ... Faith is nurtured by the discovery and the memory of God who is always faithful, who guides history and is the sound and stable foundation upon which life should be built".

The Pope turned his attention to the liturgical time of Advent, which prepares us for Christmas. "As we all know, the word 'Advent' means 'coming' or 'presence', and historically indicated the arrival of the king or the emperor in a province. For us as Christians it has the wonderful and awe-inspiring meaning that God Himself has crossed over from Heaven and inclined towards man; he has made a covenant with man, entering into the history of His people. He is the king who enters into the poor province of earth, offering us the gift of His visit, taking on human flesh and becoming one of us. Advent invites us to retrace this path and reminds us again the God has not left this world, He is not absent and has not abandoned us to our own devices, but instead draws towards us in various ways that we must learn to recognise. And we too, with our faith, hope and charity, are called upon every day to perceive and witness this presence, in a world so often superficial and led astray, and to make the light that illuminated the stable in Bethlehem shine anew in our lives".

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/advent-reminds-us-of-gods-presence-in-the-world

http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-discerning-gods-presence-in-a-distracted

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Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City

Litany of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God our Heavenly Father, Creator through whom we live,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, the One who owns what is near and beyond,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
have mercy of us.
Holy Mary of Guadalupe,
pray for us.*
Holy Mary, Mother of America,
Holy Mary, Star of the New Evangelization,
Holy Mary, Perfect and Ever Virgin,
Holy Mary, Mother of the True God,
Holy Mary, Mother worthy of honor and veneration,
Holy Mary, Mother most merciful,
Holy Mary, Mother of those who love you and have confidence in you,
Holy Mary, Mother of those who cry to you and search for you,
Holy Mary, Mother who cures all our pains, miseries, and sorrows,
Holy Mary, Mother who remedies and alleviates our sufferings,
Holy Mary, Mother who keeps us within her compassionate and merciful gaze,
Holy Mary, Mother who shows us her help, love and compassion,
Holy Mary, Mother who chooses those who are humble and simple,
Holy Mary, Mother who graciously repays all who serve her,
Holy Mary, Mother who has us under her shadow and protection,
Holy Mary, Mother who carries us in her embrace,
Holy Mary, Fountain of our joy,
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray

Almighty and Eternal God, your message of mercy, entrusted to Our Lady of Guadalupe, invites all your children to place all their trust in you. Through the intercession of the mother of your Son, may your message of Merciful Love inflame our hearts that we may be faithful heralds and instruments of this Divine Mercy to the world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Ecclesiastical Approval for Private Use Only by Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

For more information, please visit:

http://www.guadalupeshrine.org/

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During these days of Advent and always let us place our trust in Our Lady of Guadalupe, our loving Mother Mary, who always shows us the way to do God's will... with a serene smile.

At the office of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO)
Piazza San Calisto, Rome, 2009

 

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Women in the Church

“A great deal has been written and said in the fifty years since the Council on the role of women in the Church, some even speak of doors which were opened in order to be closed again. However, this is not what is found on reading the Conciliar documents. The renewal which has taken place through the greater presence of the laity and a fuller awareness of their vocation and mission (and that includes us women!) is not always taken account of sufficiently. It does not cease to be a paradox that the greatest women in the history of the Church, holy mystics, founders, saints of charity, doctors… did not sit around waiting until they were given a role, nor did they postpone their labours until a ministry was instituted for them. They knew their place: together with Christ, children of the Father, daughters of the Church, full members of the Church, capable of enriching her with their gifts. And they set to work responding to the urgent needs of their times. Should we not also give ourselves and strive, each in the place to which God has called her, to carry forward that New Evangelisation to which Benedict XVI untiringly exhorts us?”

Ana Cristina Villa Betancourt, Responsible for the Women’s Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, has just posted an article about laywomen auditors at Vatican Council II.  She  encourages women of today to fulfill our God-given mission by sharing our unique gifts. 

Please follow the links for more information and to read this inspiring article:         

http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/sezioni/donna/tema-del-mese.html
http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/sezioni/donna.html
http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/sezioni/donna/profilo.html

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To what urgent need(s) is the Lord asking you to respond? 

What gifts is God calling you to share with the Church and the world?

Let us pray for and with each other as we faithfully strive to do God’s will and prepare our hearts for the coming of our Lord and Saviour.

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Speaking About God

"How do we speak to God in our times? How can we communicate the Gospel to open the way to its salvific truth?" His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI offered an answer to these questions in his catechesis during the 28 November 2012 general audience, held in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.

"In Jesus of Nazareth", the Pope said, "we encounter the face of God, descended from Heaven to immerse Himself in the world of mankind and to teach 'the art of living', the road to happiness; to free us from sin and to make us true children of God".

He continued, "speaking about God means, first and foremost, being clear about what we must bring to the men and women of our time. God has spoken to us, … not an abstract or hypothetical God, but a real God, a God Who exists, Who entered history and remains present in history: the God of Jesus Christ ... as a response to the fundamental question of why and how to live. Therefore, speaking about God requires a continual growth in faith, familiarity with Jesus and His Gospel, a profound knowledge of God and strong passion for His plan for salvation, without giving in to the temptations of success. … We must not fear the humility of taking small steps, trusting in the leaven that makes the dough rise slowly and mysteriously. In speaking about God, in the work of evangelisation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must return to the simplicity and essential nature of proclamation: the concrete Good News of God Who cares about us, the love of God which Jesus Christ brought close to us, even unto the Cross, and which in the Resurrection opens us to life without end, to eternal life".

"Speaking about God means communicating, with power and simplicity, through words and the life we lead, that which is essential: the God of Jesus Christ, the God Who showed us a love so great that He took on human flesh, died and rose again for us; the God Who asks us to follow Him and to allow ourselves to be transformed by His immense love in order to renew our lives and our relationships; the God Who gave us the Church, to allow us to journey together and, through the Word and the Sacraments, to renew the entire City of Man so that it might become the City of God", concluded the Pope.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/speaking-about-god-in-our-times

http://www.news.va/en/news/speaking-of-god-our-time

http://www.annusfidei.va/content/novaevangelizatio/en/news/2012-11-27.html

 

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It is Rational to Believe

"As the Year of Faith progresses we carry in our hearts the hope of rediscovering our joy at believing and our enthusiasm for communicating the truth of faith to all. … This leads us to discover that our encounter with God brings value to, perfects and elevates that which is true, good and beautiful in mankind", said His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI in his catechesis during the November 21, 2012 General Audience, held in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.

 

Faith, the Pope explained, "means knowing God as Love, thanks to His own love. The love of God … opens our eyes and allows us to know all reality beyond the limited horizons of individualism and subjectivism which distort our awareness".

 

"…God, with His grace, illuminates reason and opens up new horizons, immeasurable and infinite. Therefore, faith is a continuous stimulus to seek, never to cease or acquiesce in the inexhaustible search for truth and reality. … In the irresistible desire for truth, only a harmonious relationship between faith and reason can show the correct path to God and to self-fulfilment".

 

Our Holy Father concluded, "It is rational to believe, as it is our very existence that is at stake".

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/benedict-xvi-it-is-rational-to-believe

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 Pray for Peace in Gaza

"I am following with grave concern the escalation of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip", said His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI during his greetings following today's general audience. "Along with my prayers for the victims and for those who suffer, it is my duty to emphasise once again that hatred and violence are not the solutions to these problems. Furthermore, I endorse the initiatives and efforts of those who are working to promote a ceasefire and negotiations. I also encourage the authorities of both parties to make courageous decisions in favour of peace and to bring an end to a dispute which has negative repercussions throughout the whole of the Middle East, a region riven by excessive conflict and in need of peace and reconciliation".

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-appeal-for-peace-in-gaza-full-text

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“Let us all pray to the Lord to give us peace that men cannot take away from us.”

-        His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

For more information, please visit:

http://en.lpj.org/2012/11/21/patriarch-reacts-to-instability-in-the-region-affecting-latin-patriarchate-in-gaza-and-jordan/

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Three Ways to Know God

Three ways to knowing God (the world, the human being, and the faith) provided the theme for His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's catechesis during his general audience, held 14 November 2012 in the Paul VI Hall.

The Holy Father began by explaining that "God's initiative always precedes any initiative on the part of man, and, even on our journey towards Him, it is He Who first illuminates and guides us, while always respecting our freedom. ... God never tires of seeking us, He is faithful to the man He created and redeemed, and He remains close to us because He loves us. This is a certainty which must accompany us every day"….

"Our own times have seen the emergence of a phenomenon which is particularly dangerous for the faith. There exists, in fact, a form of atheism, which we define as 'practical', in which the truths of faith and religious ritual are not denied but are simply held to be irrelevant to daily existence, detached from life, useless. Often, then, people believe in God superficially but live as if He did not exist. In the final analysis, however, such a lifestyle turns out to be even more destructive, because it leads to indifference towards the faith and towards the question of God”.

Faced with this situation the Church, "faithful to Christ's mandate, never ceases to affirm the truth about man and his destiny", said the Pope. Yet, he asked, "what responses is the faith called to give… so that the men and women of our time may continue to question themselves about the existence of God, and follow the paths that lead to Him?"

Referring to the first of these paths - the world - the Pope expressed the view that "we must recover and restore to modern man the chance to contemplate the creation, its beauty and structure".

To explain the second path - the human being - Benedict XVI quoted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, saying: 'With his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence'".

Turning finally to consider the faith, the Pope noted how "believers are united to God, open to His grace and to the force of charity. ... Their faith is not afraid to show itself in daily life, it is open to a dialogue which expresses profound friendship for all men and women, and is able to bring the light of hope to our need for redemption, happiness and future life. Faith means meeting God Who speaks and works in history."

"In reality, at the basis of all doctrine and values is the encounter between man and God in Jesus Christ. Christianity, rather than a moral or ethical code, is first and foremost the experience of love in welcoming Christ", Pope Benedict XVI concluded.

 

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/three-ways-to-know-god-the-world-man-and-faith

http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-pathways-to-god-the-world-man-faith

 

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United To Jesus and Those Who Walk Along His Path

During the general audience on 31 October 2012 His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, continuing his catecheses on the subject of Catholic faith, began by posing certain important questions: "Is the nature of faith merely personal and individual? ... Do I live my faith alone?”

 

"Certainly, the act of faith is an eminently personal act", he told the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. "It is something which happens in the most intimate depths of my being and causes a change of direction, a personal conversion.... But the fact that I believe is not the result of solitary reflection ... it is the fruit of a relationship, a dialogue ... with Jesus which causes me to emerge from my 'I' ... and to open myself to the love of God the Father. It is like a rebirth in which I discover that I am united not only to Jesus but also to all those who have walked and continue to walk along His path. And this new birth, which begins with Baptism, continues throughout the course of a person's life.”

 

"I cannot construct my personal faith in a private dialogue with Jesus", the Pope added, "because faith is given to me by God through a believing community which is the Church. And faith makes me part of a multitude of believers bound by a communion which is not merely sociological, but rooted in the eternal love of God.... The Catechism of the Catholic Church states this very clearly: 'Believing is an ecclesial act. The Church's faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers'".

 

"The tendency, so widespread today, to relegate the faith to the private sphere contradicts its very nature.... We need the Church in order for our faith to be confirmed and to experience the gifts of God together.... In a world in which individualism seems to regulate dealings between people, making them ever more fragile, the faith calls us to be People of God, to be Church, bearers of the love and communion of God for the entire human race", the Holy Father concluded.

 

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/the-church-is-the-place-where-faith-is-transmitted

http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-dwelling-in-the-churchs-living-tradition

 

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 Holy Father Prays for Victims of Hurricane Sandy

"Conscious of the devastation caused by the hurricane which recently struck the East Coast of the United States of America, I offer my prayers for the victims and express my solidarity with all those engaged in the work of rebuilding", said the Holy Father at the end of his catechesis during today's general audience.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-prayers-and-support-for-hurricane-sandy-victi

 

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In Need of God's Light, the Light of Faith

On 28 October 2012 in the Vatican Basilica, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI presided at a celebration of the Eucharist with Synod Fathers for the closure of the thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which began on 7 October and has been examining the theme: "The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith".

Extracts from the Holy Father's homily are given below.

"The whole of Mark’s Gospel is a journey of faith, which develops gradually under Jesus’ tutelage. The disciples are the first actors on this journey of discovery, but there are also other characters who play an important role, and Bartimaeus is one of them. His is the last miraculous healing that Jesus performs before His passion, and it is no accident that it should be that of a blind person, someone whose eyes have lost the light. We know from other texts too that the state of blindness has great significance in the Gospels. It represents man who needs God’s light, the light of faith, if he is to know reality truly and to walk the path of life. It is essential to acknowledge one’s blindness, one’s need for this light, otherwise one could remain blind forever.

"Bartimaeus, then, at that strategic point of Mark’s account, is presented as a model. He was not blind from birth, but lost his sight. He represents man who has lost the light and knows it, but has not lost hope: he knows how to seize the opportunity to encounter Jesus and he entrusts himself to Him for healing. ... And when Jesus calls him and asks what he wants from Him, he replies: 'Master, let me receive my sight!' ... In the encounter with Christ, lived with faith, Bartimaeus regains the light he had lost, and with it the fullness of his dignity: he gets back onto his feet and resumes the journey, which from that moment has a guide, Jesus, and a path, the same that Jesus is travelling".

“... I would like here to highlight three pastoral themes that have emerged from the Synod. The first concerns the Sacraments of Christian initiation. It has been reaffirmed that appropriate catechesis must accompany preparation for Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. The importance of Confession, the Sacrament of God’s mercy, has also been emphasised....”

"Secondly, the new evangelisation is essentially linked to the 'Missio ad Gentes'. The  Church’s task is to evangelise, to proclaim the message of salvation to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ. During the Synod, it was emphasised that there are still many regions in Africa, Asia and Oceania whose inhabitants await with lively expectation, sometimes without being fully aware of it, the first proclamation of the Gospel. So we must ask the Holy Spirit to arouse in the Church a new missionary dynamism, whose protagonists are, in particular, pastoral workers and the lay faithful".

"A third aspect concerns the baptised whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism. ... Such people are found in all continents, especially in the most secularised countries. The Church is particularly concerned that they should encounter Jesus Christ anew, rediscover the joy of faith and return to religious practice in the community of the faithful. Besides traditional and perennially valid pastoral methods, the Church seeks to adopt new ones, developing new language attuned to the different world cultures, proposing the truth of Christ with an attitude of dialogue and friendship rooted in God Who is Love".

"Bartimaeus, on regaining his sight from Jesus, joined the crowd of disciples, which must certainly have included others like him, who had been healed by the Master. New evangelisers are like that: people who have had the experience of being healed by God, through Jesus Christ. ... Let us put away, then, all blindness to the truth, all ignorance and, removing the darkness that obscures our vision like fog before the eyes, let us contemplate the true God".

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/new-evangelisation-applies-to-the-whole-of-church

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-homily-at-mass-concluding-the-xiii-ordinary-a

http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-pope-closes-the-synod-the-new-evangelizati

 

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May Jesus’ healing hand be upon all those who are suffering in body, mind or spirit.  May our encounter with Jesus Christ help us to see the truth with eyes of faith.  May our experience inspire us to share the Good News of God’s love with those we meet on our journey.

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Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee


Year of Faith Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

Join Fr. Joseph Gotwalt as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus from March 9 – 19, 2013.  The scriptures will come alive on this journey to the roots of our faith. Tour includes:  Daily Mass at holy sites, licensed Christian guide, accommodation in First Class hotels (five nights in Jerusalem, three nights in Tiberias, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee), breakfast and dinner daily, land transportation by deluxe motorcoach, roundtrip motorcoach transportation from Harrisburg to New York JFK, roundtrip airfare from JFK on nonstop flights with Delta Airlines, and more, for $3,150 per person/double occupancy.

For complete details on this pilgrimage, please contact:  George’s International Tours, (800) 566-7499, sales@georgesintl.com, or Karen Hurley, k.m.hurley1@gmail.com.

Blessed is the One Who Encounters Christ

The Synod of Bishops on New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith draws to a close as over 260 Church leaders from around the globe come up with a final list of propositions to present to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for inclusion in his apostolic exhortation. On 26 October 2012, the bishops presented a concluding message which they hope will inspire all those involved in promoting evangelization. 

Excerpts follow:

Let us draw light from a Gospel passage: Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman (cf. John 4:5-42). There is no man or woman who, in one's life, would not find oneself like the woman of Samaria beside a well with an empty bucket, with the hope of finding the fulfillment of the heart's most profound desire, that which alone could give full meaning to existence. Today, many wells offer themselves to quench humanity's thirst, but we must discern in order to avoid polluted waters. We must orient the search well, so as not to fall prey to disappointment, which can be disastrous.

Like Jesus at the well of Sychar, the Church also feels obliged to sit beside today's men and women. She wants to render the Lord present in their lives so that they could encounter him because he alone is the water that gives true and eternal life. Only Jesus can read the depths of our heart and reveal the truth about ourselves: “He told me everything I have done”, the woman confesses to her fellow citizens. This word of proclamation is united to the question that opens up to faith: “Could he possibly be the Messiah?” It shows that whoever receives new life from encountering Jesus cannot but proclaim truth and hope to others. The sinner who was converted becomes a messenger of salvation and leads the whole city to Jesus. The people pass from welcoming her testimony to personally experiencing the encounter: “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world”….

...Faith determines everything in the relationship that we build with the person of Jesus who takes the initiative to encounter us. The work of the new evangelization consists in presenting once more the beauty and perennial newness of the encounter with Christ to the often distracted and confused heart and mind of the men and women of our time, above all to ourselves. We invite you all to contemplate the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to enter the mystery of his existence given for us on the cross, reconfirmed in his resurrection from the dead as the Father's gift and imparted to us through the Spirit. In the person of Jesus, the mystery of God the Father's love for the entire human family is revealed. He did not want us to remain in a false autonomy. Rather he reconciled us to himself in a renewed pact of love.

The Church is the space offered by Christ in history where we can encounter him, because he entrusted to her his Word, the Baptism that makes us God's children, his Body and his Blood, the grace of forgiveness of sins above all in the sacrament of Reconciliation, the experience of communion that reflects the very mystery of the Holy Trinity, the strength of the Spirit that generates charity towards all….

In the path opened by the New Evangelization, we might also feel as if we were in a desert, in the midst of dangers and lacking points of reference. The Holy Father Benedict XVI, in his homily for the Mass opening the Year of Faith, spoke of a “spiritual 'desertification'” that has advanced in the last decades. But he also encouraged us by affirming that “it is in starting from the experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living” (Homily for the Eucharistic celebration for the opening of the Year of Faith, Rome, 11 October 2012). In the desert, like the Samaritan woman, we seek water and a well from which to drink: blessed is the one who encounters Christ there!

We thank the Holy Father for the gift of the Year of Faith, an exquisite portal into the path of the new evangelization. We thank him also for having linked this Year to the grateful remembrance of the opening of the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago. Its fundamental magisterium for our time shines in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is proposed once more as a sure reference of faith twenty years after its publication. These are important anniversaries, which allow us to reaffirm our close adherence to the Council's teaching and our firm commitment to carry on its implementation.

The figure of Mary guides us on our way. Our work, as Pope Benedict XVI told us, can seem like a path across the desert; we know that we must journey, taking with us what is essential: the company of Jesus, the truth of his word, the Eucharistic bread which nourishes us, the fellowship of ecclesial communion, the impetus of charity. It is the water of the well that makes the desert bloom. As stars shine more brightly at night in the desert, so the light of Mary, Star of the New Evangelization, brightly shines in heaven on our way. To her we confidently entrust ourselves.

 

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/concluding-message-from-synod-of-bishops

http://www.news.va/en/news/cardinal-dolan-synods-message-aims-to-encourage-an

http://www.news.va/en/news/final-message-of-the-synod-on-new-evangelisation

 

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An Authentic Encounter with God

The faith, its meaning and significance in the modern world, were the main themes of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's catechesis during his weekly general audience held 24 October 2012 in Saint Peter's Square. "In our time", the Pope said, "we need a renewed education in the faith. Certainly this must include a knowledge of its truths and of the events of salvation, but above all it must arise from an authentic encounter with God in Jesus Christ".

"I believe we should meditate more often - during our daily lives often marked by problems and dramatic situations - on the fact that Christian belief means abandoning oneself trustingly to the profound meaning which upholds me and the world, the meaning which we cannot give to ourselves but only receive as a gift, and which is the foundation upon which we can live without fear. We must be capable of announcing this liberating and reassuring certainty of the faith with words, and showing it with our Christian lives".

"Underpinning our journey of faith is Baptism, the Sacrament which gives us the Holy Spirit, makes us children of God in Christ, and marks our entry into the community of faith, into the Church. A person does not believe alone, without God's grace, nor do we believe by ourselves, but together with our brothers and sisters...."

Our Holy Father concluded: "The faith is a gift of God but it is also a profoundly free and human act. ... It does not run counter to our freedom or our reason. ... Believing means entrusting oneself in all freedom and joy to God's providential plan for history, as did the Patriarch Abraham, as did Mary of Nazareth".

 

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/faith-means-believing-in-the-love-of-god-which-red

http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-the-nature-of-faith

 

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