those come of age. It is a fact that nowadays there are many people like the   
   two disciples of Emmaus; not only those looking for answers in the new   
   religious groups that are sprouting up, but also those who already seem   
   godless, both in theory and in   
   practice.   
   Faced with this situation, what are we to do? We need a Church unafraid of   
   going forth into their night. … We need a Church able to dialogue with   
   those disciples who, having left Jerusalem behind, are wandering aimlessly,   
   alone, with their own   
      
   Subject: VISnews130728   
   From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt    
      
   disappointment, disillusioned by a Christianity now considered barren,   
   fruitless soil, incapable of generating meaning.   
   A relentless process of globalization, an often uncontrolled process of   
   urbanization, have promised great things. Many people have been captivated by   
   the potential of globalization, which of course does contain positive elements   
   such as, for instance,   
   the reduction of distances, the bringing together of people and cultures, the   
   distribution of information and services. But, on the other side, many   
   experience its negative effects without realising how much they prejudice   
   their own vision of man and of   
   the world, giving rise to greater disorientation and an emptiness they are   
   unable to explain. Some of these effects are confusion about the meaning of   
   life, personal disintegration, the loss of the experience of belonging to a   
   'nest', the lack of a   
   sense of place and of profound links.   
   And since there is nobody to accompany them or to demonstrate by example the   
   true path, many have sought short cuts, for the standards set by Mother Church   
   seem to be too high. There are also those who recognise the ideal for man and   
   for life proposed   
   by the Church, but do not have the courage to embrace it. They think this   
   ideal is too great for them, that it is beyond their reach. Nonetheless they   
   cannot live without having at least something, even a poor imitation, of what   
   seems too lofty and   
   distant. With disappointed hearts, they then go off in search of something   
   that will raise false hopes again, or they resign themselves to a partial   
   solution that, in the end, will not bring fullness to their lives. The great   
   sense of abandonment and   
   solitude, of not even belonging to oneself, which often results from this   
   situation, is too painful to hide. Some kind of release is necessary. There is   
   always the option of complaining? But even complaint acts like a boomerang; it   
   comes   
    back   
   and ends up increasing one’s unhappiness. Few people are still capable   
   of hearing the voice of pain; the best we can do is to anaesthetize it.   
   Today, we need a Church capable of walking at people’s side, of doing   
   more than simply listening to them; a Church which accompanies them on their   
   journey; a Church able to make sense of the night contained in the flight of   
   so many of our brothers   
   and sisters from Jerusalem; a Church which realizes that the reasons why   
   people leave also contain reasons why they can eventually return. But we need   
   to know how to interpret, with courage, the larger picture.   
   I would like all of us to ask ourselves today: are we still a Church capable   
   … of leading people back to Jerusalem? Of bringing them home? Jerusalem   
   is where our roots are: Scripture, catechesis, sacraments, community,   
   friendship with the Lord,   
   Mary and the apostles… Are we still able to speak of these roots in a   
   way that will revive a sense of wonder at their beauty? Many people have left   
   because they were promised something more lofty, more powerful, and faster.   
   But what is more lofty   
   than the love revealed in Jerusalem? Nothing is more lofty than the abasement   
   of the Cross, since there we truly approach the height of love! Are we still   
   capable of demonstrating this truth to those who think that the apex of life   
   is to be found   
   elsewhere? Do we know anything more powerful than the strength hidden within   
   the weakness of love, goodness, truth and beauty?   
   People today are attracted by things that are faster and faster: rapid   
   Internet connections, speedy cars and planes, instant relationships. But at   
   the same time we see a desperate need for calmness, I would even say slowness.   
   Is the Church still able to   
   move slowly: to take the time to listen, to have the patience to mend and   
   reassemble? Or is the Church herself caught up in the frantic pursuit of   
   efficiency? Dear brothers, let us recover the calm to be able to walk at the   
   same pace as our pilgrims,   
   keeping alongside them, remaining close to them, enabling them to speak of the   
   disappointments present in their hearts and to let us address them. …   
   We need a Church capable of bringing warmth, of lighting up hearts, and that   
   is capable of   
   restoring citizenship to her many children who are journeying, as it were, in   
   an exodus.   
   4. Challenges facing the Church in Brazil   
   Formation as a priority: bishops, priests, religious, laity. … It is   
   important to devise and ensure a suitable formation, one which will provide   
   persons able to step into the night without being overcome by the darkness and   
   losing their bearings;   
   able to listen to people’s dreams without being seduced and to share   
   their disappointments without losing hope and becoming bitter; able to   
   sympathize with the brokenness of others without losing their own strength and   
   identity. What is needed is   
   a solid human, cultural, effective, spiritual and doctrinal formation. Dear   
   brother bishops, courage is needed to undertake a profound review of the   
   structures in place for the formation and preparation of the clergy and the   
   laity of the Church in   
   Brazil. It is not enough that formation be considered a vague priority, either   
   in documents or at meetings. ... You cannot delegate this task, but must   
   embrace it as something fundamental for the journey of your Churches.   
   Collegiality and solidarity in the Episcopal Conference   
   It is important to remember Aparecida, the method of gathering diversity   
   together. Not so much a diversity of ideas in order to produce a document, but   
   a variety of experiences of God, in order to set a vital process in motion.   
   ... Central bureaucracy   
   is not sufficient; there is also a need for increased collegiality and   
   solidarity. This will be a source of true enrichment for all.   
   Permanent state of mission and pastoral conversion   
   Concerning mission, we need to remember that its urgency derives from its   
   inner motivation; in other words, it is about handing on a legacy. As for   
   method, it is essential to realize that a legacy is about witness, it is like   
   the baton in a relay race:   
   you don’t throw it up in the air for whoever is able to catch it, so   
   that anyone who doesn’t catch it has to manage without. In order to   
   transmit a legacy, one needs to hand it over personally, to touch the one to   
   whom one wants to give, to   
   relay, this inheritance. Concerning pastoral conversion, I would like to   
   recall that “pastoral care” is nothing other than the exercise of   
   the Church’s motherhood. … So we need a Church capable of   
   rediscovering the maternal womb   
   of mercy. Without mercy we have little chance nowadays of becoming part of a   
   world of “wounded” persons in need of understanding, forgiveness,   
   love. In mission, also on a continental level, it is very important to reaf   
    firm   
   the family, which remains the essential cell of society and the Church; young   
   people, who are the face of the Church’s future; women, who play a   
   fundamental role in passing on the faith. Let us not reduce the involvement of   
   women in the Church,   
   but instead promote their active role in the ecclesial community. By losing   
   women, the Church risks becoming sterile. Aparecida also underlines the   
   vocation and mission of men in the family, the Church and in societies, as   
   fathers, workers and citizens.   
   Take this into consideration!   
   The task of the Church in society   
   In the context of society, there is only one thing which the Church quite   
   clearly demands: the freedom to proclaim the Gospel in its entirety, even when   
   it runs counter to the world, even when it goes against the tide. In so doing,   
   she defends treasures   
   of which she is merely the custodian, and values which she does not create but   
   rather receives, to which she must remain faithful. The Church claims the   
   right to serve man in his wholeness, and to speak of what God has revealed   
   about human beings and   
   their fulfilment. The Church wants to make present that spiritual patrimony   
   without which society falls apart. … The Church has the right and the   
   duty to keep alive the flame of human freedom and unity. Education, health,   
   social harmony are   
   pressing concerns in Brazil. The Church has a word to say on these issues,   
   because any adequate response to these challenges calls for more than merely   
   technical solutions; there has to be an underlying view of man, his freedom,   
   his valu   
    e, his   
   openness to the transcendent.   
   The Amazon Basin as a litmus test for Church and society in Brazil   
   … The Church’s presence in the Amazon Basin is not that of   
   someone with bags packed and ready to leave after having exploited everything   
   possible. The Church has been present in the Amazon Basin from the beginning,   
   in her missionaries and   
   religious congregations, and she is still present and critical to the   
   area’s future. … I would like to invite everyone to reflect on   
   what Aparecida said about the Amazon Basin, its forceful appeal for respect   
   and protection of the entire   
   creation which God has entrusted to man, not so that it be indiscriminately   
   exploited, but rather made into a garden.   
   Dear brother Bishops, I have attempted to offer you in a fraternal spirit some   
   reflections and approaches for a Church like that of Brazil, which is a great   
   mosaic made up of different tesserae, images, forms, problems and challenges,   
   but which for this   
   very reason is an enormous treasure. The Church is never uniformity, but   
   diversities harmonized in unity, and this is true for every ecclesial   
   reality”.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
      
   POPE FRANCIS: “BUILD UP A SWEAT” LIKE TRUE ATHLETES OF CHRIST   
   Vatican City, 28 July 2013 (VIS) – Yesterday evening the Pope celebrated   
   a prayer vigil with almost two million young people at Copacabana. The Liturgy   
   of the Word began with various testimonies and questions posed to the Holy   
   Father.   
   At the end the Pope addressed the young, recalling how the Lord asked St.   
   Francis of Assisi to do “his part for the life of the Church. …   
   being at the service of the Church, loving her and working to make the   
   countenance of Christ shine   
   ever more brightly in her. Today too, as always, the Lord needs you, young   
   people, for his Church. Dear young people, the Lord needs this. Today too, he   
   is calling each of you to follow him in his Church and to be mis   
   ionaries”.   
   Due to bad weather, this vigil, which should have celebrated at the   
   “Campus Fidei” in Guaratiba, was transferred to Copacabana.   
   Francis encouraged the participants to consider this situation. “Perhaps   
   the Lord wishes to tell us that   
   the true field of faith, the true Campus Fidei, is not a geographical   
   location, but rather, it is us?”, he said. The Holy Father introduced   
   three images of the field, to “help us understand better what it means   
   to be a disciple and a   
   missionary”.   
   “First, a field is a place for sowing seeds”. Here the Pope   
   mentioned the parable of the “sower who went out to sow seeds in the   
   field; some seed fell on the path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns,   
   and could not grow; other seed   
   fell on good soil and brought forth much fruit. Jesus himself explains the   
   meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God sown in our hearts. Today,   
   every day”, said the Pope, “but especially today, Jesus sows. When   
   we welcome the Word   
   of God, then we become the Campus Fidei, the field of faith. Please, let   
   Christ and His Word enter into your life, let the seed of the Word of God be   
   sown, let it germinate, let it grow. God will do everything but you must let   
   Him in, you must let Him   
   work and grow”.   
   “I think that we have to ask ourselves honestly: what kind of ground are   
   we? Maybe sometimes we are like the path: we hear the Lord’s word but it   
   changes nothing in our lives because we let ourselves be numbed by all the   
   superficial voices   
   competing for our attention; or we are like the rocky ground: we receive Jesus   
   with enthusiasm, but we falter and, faced with difficulties, we don’t   
   have the courage to swim against the tide; or we are like the thorny ground:   
   negativity, negative   
   feelings choke the Lord’s word in us. Do I have two attitudes in my   
   heart: with one I am happy with God, and with the other I am happy with the   
   devil? One which receives the seed of Jesus and at the same time waters the   
   weeds? What is born in my   
   heart?”   
   “But today I am sure that the seed is falling on good soil, that you   
   want to be good soil, not part-time Christians, not “starchy” and   
   superficial, but real. Seek out a patch of good land and let the seeds fall   
   there; you will see that   
   they will bear good fruit. I know that you want to become good ground, good   
   Christians, not part-time Christians, those who seem to be Christians but in   
   reality are not. Be authentic Christians. I am sure that you don’t want   
   to be duped by a false   
   freedom, always at the beck and call of momentary fashions and fads. I know   
   that you are aiming high, at long-lasting decisions which will make your lives   
   meaningful. In silence, we must welcome the seed of Jesus. Everyone knows the   
   name of the seed   
   that enters: let it grow, and God will take care of it”.   
   “Jesus asks us to follow him for life, he asks us to be his disciples,   
   to 'play on his team'. I think that most of you love sports! … Now,   
   what do players do when they are asked to join a team? They have to train, and   
   to train a lot! The   
   same is true of our lives as the Lord’s disciples. ... Jesus offers us   
   something bigger than the World Cup! He offers us the possibility of a   
   fulfilled and fruitful life; He also offers us a future with Him, an endless   
   future, eternal life. But He   
   asks us to buy a ticket to this future, and the ticket is training, 'getting   
   in shape', bearing witness to our faith. By talking with Him in prayer”.   
   Francis asked the young people various questions, to which he asked them to   
   respond in silence, in their hearts. “Do I pray?”, he said.   
   “Do I let the Holy Spirit speak to my heart? Do I ask Jesus what he   
   wants me to do? This is   
   training. Putting questions to Jesus, talking with Jesus. And if you make   
   mistakes in life, if you do something wrong, do not be afraid. … Always   
   talk to Jesus, in good times and bad. That is prayer. This is how we enter   
   into dialogue with Jesus   
   and as a missionary disciple. And by the sacraments, which make His life grow   
   within us and conform us to Christ. By loving one another, learning to listen,   
   to understand, to forgive, to be accepting and to help others, everybody,   
   without exclusion or   
   ostracism. This is the training we have to do to follow Jesus: prayer,   
   sacraments and helping others, serving others”.   
   Finally, the Holy Father spoke about the field as a construction site.   
   “When our heart is good soil which receives the word of God, when we   
   'build up a sweat' in trying to live as Christians, we experience something   
   tremendous: we are never alone,   
   we are part of a family of brothers and sisters, all journeying on the same   
   path: we are part of the Church; indeed, we are building up the Church and we   
   are making history. Please, don't become footnotes to history. Be agents of   
   history, go out and   
   build a better world”.   
   Pope Francis remarked that “in the Church of Jesus, we ourselves are the   
   living stones. Jesus is asking us to build up His Church; each one of us is a   
   living stone, a little building block. Each living stone contributes to the   
   unity and the   
   security of the Church. But he does not want us to build a little chapel which   
   holds only a small group of persons. He asks us to make his living Church so   
   large that it can hold all of humanity, that it can be a home for   
   everyone”.   
   “Please”, he continued, “do not leave it to others to be the   
   agents of change. You hold the future … continue to work against apathy   
   and offer a Christian response to the social and political problems that arise   
   all over the   
   world. I ask you to be builders of the future, to set to work for a better   
   world. Dear young people, please, do not live your lives as observers,   
   watching the world go by. Go into the fray, as Jesus did – He did not   
   sit back and watch. But where   
   do we start? Once, Mother Teresa was asked what should be the first thing to   
   change in the Church, and she replied: 'You and I'. Today I too repeat the   
   words of Mother Teresa and I say to you: you and I must be the first to   
   change.”   
   “Dear friends, never forget that you are the field of faith! You are   
   Christ’s athletes! You are called to build a more beautiful Church and a   
   better world. Let us lift our gaze to Our Lady. Mary helps us to follow Jesus,   
   she gives us the   
   example by her own 'yes' to God: 'I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done   
   to me as you say'. All together, let us join Mary in saying to God: let it be   
   done to me as you say”.   
   Following Pope Francis' address, the deacons brought the Holy Sacrament in   
   procession. After the Eucharistic adoration and prayers of the young people in   
   several languages, the recitation of the “Salve Regina” concluded   
   the celebration.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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 VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE 
YEAR XXII - N° 160DATE 28-07-2013

Summary:
 - CALLED TO PROMOTE THE CULTURE OF   
   ENCOUNTER
 - FRANCIS TO   
   BRAZIL'S LEADERS: A COUNTRY GROWS WHEN ITS CULTURAL COMPONENTS ARE IN   
   DIALOGUE
 - FRANCIS: WE NEED A CHURCH CAPABLE OF WALKING WITH THE   
   PEOPLE
 - POPE FRANCIS: “BUILD UP A SWEAT” LIKE TRUE ATHLETES   
   OF CHRIST
___________________________________________________________ 
   
   
CALLED TO PROMOTE THE CULTURE OF ENCOUNTER
   
   
Vatican City, 28 July 2013 (VIS) – At 9.00 a.m. Yesterday the   
   Cathedral of St Sebastian in Rio de Janeiro, whose stained glass windows, the   
   work of Lorenz Hailmar, symbolise the four characteristics of the Church   
   – One (green), Holy   
   (red), Catholic (blue) and Apostolic (yellow) welcomed Pope Francis, who   
   celebrated Mass with the bishops of World Youth Day, priests, religious and   
   seminarians. The texts of the liturgy, inspired by the Year of Faith, were   
   taken from the Mass for the   
   Evangelization of Peoples. The Holy Father dedicated his homily to three   
   aspects of the vocation: the call from God, the call to proclaim the Gospel,   
   and the call to promote the culture of encounter.
   
   
With reference to the first, the call from God, the Pope said, “I   
   believe it is important to revive in ourselves this fact that we so often take   
   for granted amid the many tasks of our daily lives: 'You did not choose me but   
   I chose you', says   
   Jesus. We were called by God and we were called to be with Jesus. This living   
   in Christ, in fact, marks all that we are and all that we do. This 'life in   
   Christ' is precisely what ensures the effectiveness of our apostolate, that   
   our service is   
   fruitful. ... It is not creativity, pastoral though it may be, nor meetings   
   and planning that ensure our fruitfulness, even if these are very helpful, but   
   what ensures fruitfulness is our being faithful to Jesus. ... And we know well   
   what that means: to   
   contemplate Him, to worship Him, to embrace Him, especially through our   
   faithfulness to a life of prayer, and in our daily encounter with Him, present   
   in the Eucharist and in those most in need. “Being with”   
   Christ does not mean isolating ourselves from others. Rather, it is a   
   “being with” in order to go forth and encounter others. Here I   
   would like to remind you of some words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta:   
   'We must be very proud of our   
   vocation because it gives us the opportunity to serve Christ in the poor. It   
   is in the favelas, in the cantegriles, in the villas miseria, that one must go   
   to seek and to serve Christ. We must go to them as the priest presents himself   
   at the altar, with   
   joy”.
   
   
To explain the second aspect, the call to proclaim the Gospel, the Pope   
   commented that many of the bishops present in Rio had come to accompany young   
   people to World Youth Day, and emphasised, “It is our responsibility as   
   pastors to help kindle   
   within their hearts the desire to be missionary disciples of Jesus. Certainly,   
   this invitation could cause many to feel somewhat afraid, thinking that to be   
   missionaries requires leaving their own homes and countries, family and   
   friends. God asks us to   
   be missionaries. Where? Where He Himself leads us, in our homeland or wherever   
   He places us. Let us help the young. … They need to be listened to   
   … I ask you this with all my heart! We must know how to spend time with   
   them. Sowing the   
   seeds takes effort, great effort! But reaping the harvest brings so much more   
   satisfaction. … But Jesus asks us take seriously our work in sowing the   
   seeds”.
   
   
“Let us spare no effort in the formation of our young people!”   
   he added. “Help our young people to discover the courage and joy of   
   faith ... Form them in mission, in going out and going forth. Jesus did this   
   with His own disciples:   
   he did not keep them under his wing like a hen with her chicks. He sent them   
   out! We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, when so   
   many people are waiting for the Gospel! It is not enough simply to open the   
   door in welcome, so   
   that they may enter, but we must go out through that door to seek and meet the   
   people! Let us encourage the young to got out. Of course they will falter. Let   
   us not be afraid! The Apostles faltered before us. Let us encourage them to go   
   out. Let us look   
   decisively to pastoral needs, beginning on the outskirts, with those who are   
   farthest away, with those who do not usually go to church”.
   
   
The Holy Father concluded by referring to the third aspect, the call to   
   promote the culture of encounter. “In many places, and in general in   
   this economic humanism that has been imposed throughout the world, the culture   
   of exclusion, a   
   'throwaway culture', is spreading”, he observed. “There is no   
   place for the elderly or for the unwanted child; there is no time for that   
   poor person in the street. At times, it seems that for some people, human   
   relations are regulated by two   
   modern 'dogmas': efficiency and pragmatism. … Have the courage to go   
   against the tide, against this throwaway culture. Let us not reject this gift   
   of God which is the one family of his children. Encountering and welcoming   
   everyone, solidarity   
   --- NetMgr/2 1.0y+   
    * Origin: NetMgr+ @ Sursum Corda! BBS Meridian MS USA (1:396/45)