Subject: VISnews 120111
Organization: VIS
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
TWENTY SECOND YEAR - N. 8
ENGLISH
WEDNESDAY, 11 JANUARY 2012
SUMMARY:
- The Prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper
- Cuban Crocodile at the Holy Father's General Audience
- Audiences
- Other Pontifical Acts
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THE PRAYER OF JESUS AT THE LAST SUPPER
VATICAN CITY, 11 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Jesus' prayer during the Last Supper was
the theme of Benedict XVI's catechesis during his general audience, which
was held this morning in the Paul VI Hall in the presence of 4,000 faithful.
The Pope explained how the emotional backdrop to the Last Supper, in which
Jesus bade farewell to His friends, was the immanence of His approaching
death. Moreover, in the days in which He was preparing to leave His
disciples, the life of the Jewish people was marked by the approaching
Passover, the commemoration of the liberation of Israel from Egypt.
"It was in this context that the Last Supper took place", the Holy Father
said, "but with an important novelty". Jesus "wanted the Supper with His
disciples to be something special, different from other gatherings. It was
His Supper, in which He gave something completely new: Himself. Thus Jesus
celebrated the Passover as an anticipation of His Cross and Resurrection".
The essence of the Last Supper lay in "the gestures of breaking and
distributing the bread, and sharing the cup of wine, with the words that
accompanied them and the context of prayer in which they took place. This
was the institution of the Eucharist: the great prayer of Jesus and the
Church". The words the Evangelists use to describe that moment "recall the
Jewish 'berakha'; that is, the great prayer of thanksgiving and blessing
which, in the tradition of Israel, is used to inaugurate important
ceremonies. ... That prayer of praise and thanks rises up to God and returns
as a blessing. ... The words of the institution of the Eucharist were
pronounced in this context of prayer. The praise and thanksgiving of the
'berakha' became blessing and transformed the bread and wine into the Body
and Blood of Jesus".
Jesus' gestures were the traditional gestures of hospitality which a host
would extend to his guests, but in the Last Supper they acquired a more
profound significance, Pope Benedict explained. Christ provided "a visible
sign of welcome to the table upon which God gives Himself. In the bread and
the wine, Jesus offered and communicated His own Self". Aware of His
approaching death, "He offered in advance the life that would shortly be
taken from Him, thus transforming His violent death into a free act of the
giving of Self, for others and to others. The violence He suffered became an
active, free and redemptive sacrifice".
"In contemplating Jesus' words and gestures that night, we can clearly see
that it was in His intimate and constant relationship with the Father that
He accomplished the gesture of leaving to His followers, and to all of us,
the Sacrament of love", said the Pope. During the Last Supper Jesus also
prayed for His disciples, who likewise had to suffer harsh trials. With that
prayer "He supported them in their weakness, their difficulty in
understanding that the way of God had to pass through the Paschal mystery of
death and resurrection, which was anticipated in the offer of bread and
wine. The Eucharist is the food of pilgrims, a source of strength also for
those who are tired, weary and disoriented".
Benedict XVI went on: "By participating in the Eucharist we have an
extraordinary experience of the prayer which Jesus made, and continues to
make for us all, that the evil we encounter in our lives may not triumph,
and that the transforming power of Christ's death and resurrection may act
within each of us. In the Eucharist the Church responds to Jesus' command to
'do this in remembrance of me', she repeats the prayer of thanksgiving and
blessing and, therewith, the words of transubstantiation of the bread and
wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord. Our Eucharistic celebrations draw
us into that moment of prayer, uniting us ever and anew to the prayer of
Jesus".
"Let us ask the Lord that, after due preparation also with the Sacrament
of Penance, our participation in the Eucharist, which is indispensable for
Christian life, may always remain the apex of all our prayers", the Pope
concluded. "Let us ask that, profoundly united in His offering to the
Father, we too can transform our crosses into a free and responsible
sacrifice of love, for God and for our fellows".
At the end of his catechesis the Holy Father delivered greetings in a
number of languages to the pilgrims present in the Paul VI Hall, inviting
them to participate with "faith and devotion" in the Eucharist which, he
said, is indispensable for Christian life as well as being the school and
culmination of prayer. Addressing young people, the sick and newlyweds, he
pointed our that last Sunday's Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord is an
occasion to reflect upon our own Baptism. "Dear young people", the Pope
exclaimed, "live your membership of the Church, the family of Christ,
joyfully. Dear sick people, may the grace of Baptism ease your sufferings
and encourage you to offer them to Christ for the salvation of humanity. And
you, dear newlyweds, ... base your marriage on the faith which you received
as a gift on the day of your Baptism".
AG/ VIS
20120111 (880)
CUBAN CROCODILE AT THE HOLY FATHER'S GENERAL AUDIENCE
VATICAN CITY, 11 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Among those attending this morning's
general audience with the Holy Father were staff of the zoological park in
Rome (the "Bioparco"), which is currently celebrating its centenary. They
brought with them a rare live specimen of the Cuban crocodile, to represent
the 1,200 animals which live in the park and as a sign of the environmental
protection and education work the structure carries out.
The Cuban crocodile, which is classified as an endangered species, has
seen its numbers fall by 80 per cent in recent years, and it currently
survives only in a small area of the island. The young specimen shown to the
Pope is being kept in the zoological park for a period of recovery. In
March, coinciding with Benedict XVI's apostolic trip to Cuba, it will be
returned to its country of origin. In a statement Paolo Giuntarelli,
president of the "Bioparco Foundation" said that, "the meeting with the Pope
is the most prestigious seal of approval for our first hundred years, and
the best possible beginning to a new century of history".
AG/ VIS
20120111 (200)
AUDIENCES
VATICAN CITY, 11 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience
Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller of Regensburg, Germany.
Yesterday afternoon he received in audience Cardinal Joachim Meisner,
archbishop of Cologne, Germany.
AP/ VIS
20120111 (40)
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 11 JAN 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Archbishop
Lorenzo Baldisseri, apostolic nuncio to Brazil, as secretary of the
Congregation for Bishops.
NA/ VIS
20120111 (30)
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