The
time dedicated to liturgical prayer in the life of Christians, especially
during Mass, was the central theme of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's
catechesis during his general audience, held October 3, 2012 in St. Peter's
Square.
Prayer,
the Pope explained, "is the living relationship of the children of God
with their immeasurably good Father, with His Son Jesus Christ and with the
Holy Spirit…."
For
Christians prayer means "constantly gazing at Christ in ways that are ever
new", said the Holy Father. "Yet we must not forget that we discover
Christ and know Him as a living Person in the Church. She is 'His Body'....
Praying means raising oneself to the heights of God, by means of a necessary
and gradual transformation of our being".
By
participating in the liturgy "we make the language of mother Church our
own, we learn to speak in her and for her. Of course this comes about
gradually, little by little. I must progressively immerse myself into the words
of the Church with my prayers, life and suffering, with my joy and my thoughts.
This is a journey which transforms us", the Pope said.
The
Church becomes fully visible in the liturgy, the Holy Father concluded,
"the act by which we believe that God enters our lives and we can
encounter Him. The act in which ... He comes to us and we are illuminated by
Him".
For
more information, please visit:
http://www.news.va/en/news/the-church-becomes-fully-visible-in-the-liturgy
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Holy
Father’s Prayer Request for Year of Faith and Synod of Bishops
His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI asked everyone to join his prayers "entrusting
to the Mother of God the main ecclesial events we are preparing to experience:
the Year of Faith, and the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelisation. May the
Blessed Virgin accompany the Church on her mission to announce the Gospel to
the men and women of our time".
For
more information, please visit:
Visit
the Vatican’s Year of Faith website often for ongoing updates:
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| Saint Francis with the Sultan |
Saint
Francis’ Presence in the Holy Land
Drawn
by love of the poor and crucified Christ, Saint Francis of Assisi went to the
Middle East at the beginning of the 13th century, in order to “touch” the
places which, up to today, offer an irreplaceable testimony to God’s revelation
and to God’s love for the human person.
During
his pilgrimage, and despite the Crusades, Saint Francis encountered and
dialogued with the sultan Melek al-Kamel, who was governing the Holy Land at
the time. It
was a peaceful encounter, which marked the beginning of the Franciscans’
presence in the Holy Land and also influenced the way in which they have been
present over the centuries.
Saint
Francis and the Franciscans always had at heart the love of the Incarnation of
Jesus, and that is why they have loved the Holy Land since the beginning. For
there is no Incarnation without a place. Loving this land means to love Jesus.
And we cannot think of Jesus without loving His land.
In
1342 Pope Clement VI mandated the Franciscans to become the official custodians
of the Holy Sites of Christendom, that is, to help maintain and preserve them,
while at the same time, ministering to the faithful of the Holy Land.
There
are concrete ways of watching over the holy places: animating the holy places
for the pilgrims and the local Churches by means of the liturgy, welcoming the
pilgrims who come from every part of the world in order to pray and to become
recollected, and preserving the structures of these places.
Local
Christian communities live alongside the holy places. The local communities are
made up of parishes of different Catholic rites and traditions (Western and
Eastern). The Franciscans have the responsibility for various parishes whose
heart and whose seat are in the holy places.
Loving
the stones that preserve the memory of Jesus also means to love the living
stones, the Christian communities who, throughout the centuries, live here. The
Custody has many formative and social activities, which aim at supporting the
Christian presence in the Holy Land: running schools, constructing housing, helping
people who suffer from various forms of poverty.
Today
the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land is a constant in the life of the
Christian community. The friars are
obliged to give peace, love, pardon, faith and hope to suffering Christians in
the Holy Land who now find themselves in a great dilemma and are reluctantly
leaving their homes and land to live in other parts of the world. As the late Archbishop Pietro Sambi stated,
“We don’t want the Holy Sites of Christendom to become empty religious monuments
and museums. We need a living and
worshipping community.”
Christians
now comprise less than two percent (2%) of the population of the Holy
Land. The focus of the Franciscan
Foundation for the Holy Land is to keep a Christian presence, the “Living
Stones” of our faith, in the Holy Land by providing education, employment, and
housing.
For
more information, please visit these websites:
If the Lord is calling you to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the Year of Faith, please contact k.m.hurley1@gmail.com.
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Most
high, all powerful, all good Lord!
All
praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing….
Praise
and bless my Lord, and give thanks,
and
serve him with great humility.
- Saint
Francis of Assisi
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