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:
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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
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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.
