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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United in the Mystery of Salvation

On Sunday, 21 October 2012 in St. Peter's Square, some eighty thousand people participated in a papal Mass for the canonisation of seven new saints: Jacques Berthieu, French martyr and priest of the Society of Jesus (1838-1896); Pedro Calungsod, Filipino lay catechist and martyr (1654-1672); Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth and of the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord (1841-1913); Maria del Carmen (born Maria Salles y Barangueras), Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching (1848-1911); Marianne Cope, nee Barbara, German-American religious of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse U.S.A. (1838-1918); Kateri Tekakwitha, American laywoman (1656-1680), and Anna Schaeffer, German laywoman (1882-1925).

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI drew attention in his homily to the "happy coincidence" between the current assembly of the Synod of Bishops on New Evangelisation, World Mission Sunday, and the readings during the day's Mass which, he said, show us "how to be evangelisers, called to bear witness and to proclaim the Christian message, configuring ourselves to Christ and following His same way of life….

"These new saints, different in origin, language, nationality and social condition, are united among themselves and with the whole People of God in the mystery of salvation of Christ the Redeemer. ... May the witness of ... their lives generously spent for love of Christ, speak today to the whole Church, and may their intercession strengthen and sustain her in her mission to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world", the Holy Father concluded.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.news.va/en/news/sanctity-arises-from-the-well-spring-of-redemption

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-canonises-seven-new-saints

http://www.news.va/en/news/canadian-ambassador-saint-kateri-a-model-for-all

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Mary, Star of Evangelization, pray for us!

 

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In the Hands of the Mother of God

 

I wish to entrust to the Most Holy Mother of God all the difficulties affecting our world as it seeks serenity and peace, the problems of the many families who look anxiously to the future, the aspirations of young people at the start of their lives, the suffering of those awaiting signs or decisions of solidarity and love. I also wish to place in the hands of the Mother of God this special time of grace for the Church, now opening up before us. Mother of the “yes”, you who heard Jesus, speak to us of him; tell us of your journey, that we may follow him on the path of faith; help us to proclaim him, that each person may welcome him and become the dwelling place of God. Amen!

 

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

Homily

Loreto, 4 October 2012

 

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20121004_loreto_en.html

 

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A web site for the Campaign of Prayer for Evangelization of the world is now online at http://www.ppoomm.va/evangelizzazione/en/index.html , prepared by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Mission Societies.   This is a worldwide campaign to pray the Holy Rosary in order to accompany the work of evangelization in the world and also for the intention that many of the baptized will rediscover and deepen their faith. This is truly a way that each and every one may fully participate in the mission of evangelization. Of course, the first prayer of the Rosary is the Creed upon which we are called to meditate especially during the Year of Faith.

 

Our Blessed Mother Mary will always show us the way to do the will of God.

 

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During this Year, it will be helpful to invite the faithful to turn with particular devotion to Mary, model of the Church, who “shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of virtues.” Therefore, every initiative that helps the faithful to recognize the special role of Mary in the mystery of salvation, love her and follow her as a model of faith and virtue is to be encouraged. To this end it would be proper to organize pilgrimages, celebrations and gatherings at the major Marian shrines.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

Note with Pastoral Recommendations for the Year of Faith, I.3
 

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20120106_nota-anno-fede_en.html

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Please prayerfully consider a Year of Faith pilgrimage to Marian Shrines in Portugal, Spain and France from July 15-26, 2013.  Our time in Fatima and Lourdes comprises special free days for private devotions.  Other sites to be visited on the pilgrimage include Coimbra, Salamanca, Alba de Tormes, Avila, and Burgos.  In Paris we will visit the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal at Rue de Bac, Shrine of Saint Vincent de Paul, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Basilica of Sacre Coeur.  Roundtrip airfare and airline taxes/fuel surcharges, 10 nights accommodation in First Class/4 star hotels, breakfast and dinner daily, land transportation by private deluxe motorcoach, train tickets from Lourdes to Paris, all entrance fees, Daily Mass, and more. 

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

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We Must Go Back to God

During the General Audience on 17 October 2012, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI began a new series of catecheses which will cover the period of the Year of Faith. The Year, he said, is intended "to renew our enthusiasm at believing in Jesus Christ, ... to revive the joy of walking along the path He showed us, and to bear concrete witness to the transforming power of the faith".

 

With his catecheses over coming months our Holy Father hopes to help people understand that the faith "is not something extraneous and distant from real life, but the very heart thereof. Faith in a God Who is love and Who came close to mankind by taking human flesh and giving Himself on the cross to save us and open the doors of heaven for us, is a luminous sign that only in love does man's true fullness lie", he said.

 

The essential formula of the faith, the Pope explained, is to be found in the Creed, in the Profession of the Faith, whence develops "the moral life of Christians, which there has its foundation and its justification. ... It is the Church’s duty to transmit the faith, to communicate the Gospel, so that Christian truths may become a light guiding the new cultural transformations, and Christians may be able to give reasons for the hope that is in them.

 

Pope Benedict XVI went on: "We must go back to God, to the God of Jesus Christ, we must rediscover the message of the Gospel and cause it to enter more deeply into our minds and our daily lives.

 

"In these catecheses during the Year of Faith I would like to help people make this journey, in order to regain and understand the central truths of faith about God, man, the Church, and all social and cosmic reality, by reflecting upon the affirmations contained in the Creed. And I hope to make it clear that these contents or truths of the faith are directly related to our life experience. They require a conversion of existence capable of giving rise to a new way of believing in God".

For more information, please visit: http://www.news.va/en/news/a-new-series-of-catecheses-on-the-subject-of-faith http://www.news.va/en/news/audience-the-creed-healing-the-rupture-between-fai   + Glory in his holy name; let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice. Turn to the Lord and his strength; remember the wonders he has done.        Mass for the New Evangelization      Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 105 (104): 3-4, 5   +