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VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
ANNO XXII - N° 41
DATA 22-02-2012
Summary:
- LENT, A TIME TO SHOULDER OUR CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES
- BRAZIL FRATERNITY CAMPAIGN: CARE FOR THE BODY AND SOUL OF THE SICK
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
___________________________________________________________
LENT, A TIME TO SHOULDER OUR CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES
Vatican City, 22 February 2012 (VIS) - During his general audience this
morning, the Holy Father dedicated his catechesis to the subject of Lent
(which begins today, Ash Wednesday), the period of forty days leading up to
the Easter Triduum, memorial of
the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Benedict XVI reminded the 7,500 pilgrims gathered in the Paul VI Hall that, in
the early days of the Church, Lent was a time in which catechumens began their
journey of faith and conversion prior to receiving Baptism. Later, all the
faithful were
invited to participate in this period of spiritual renewal. Thus "the
participation of the whole community in the various stages of the Lenten
journey underlines an important dimension of Christian spirituality: the fact
that redemption is available not
just for the few, but for everyone, thanks to Christ's death and resurrection".
"The time leading up to Easter is a time of 'metanoia', a time of change and
penance, a time which identifies our human lives and our entire history as a
process of conversion, which begins to move now in order to meet the Lord at
the end of time".
The Church calls this period "Quadragesima", a period of forty days which has
precise references in Holy Scripture. Indeed, "forty is the symbolic number
with which the Old and New Testaments represent the most important moments of
the People of God's
experience of faith. It is a figure which expresses a time of expectation,
purification, return to the Lord, awareness that God is faithful to His
promises; ... a time within which we must make our choice, shoulder our
responsibilities without further
delay. It is a time for mature decisions".
Noah spent forty days in the Ark during the Flood, then had to wait forty days
more before he could return to dry land. Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai
to collect the Commandments. The Jewish People spent forty years wandering in
the desert, then
enjoyed forty years of peace under the government of the Judges. The
inhabitants of Niniveh made forty days penance to obtain God's forgiveness.
The reigns of Saul, David and Solomon, the first kings of Israel, lasted forty
years each. In the New
Testament, Jesus spent forty days praying in the wilderness before beginning
His public life and, following the resurrection, He spent forty days
instructing His disciples before ascending to heaven.
The liturgy of Lent, the Pope explained, "has the aim of facilitating our
journey of spiritual renewal in the light of this long biblical experience.
Above all, it helps us to imitate Jesus Who, in the forty days He spent in the
wilderness, taught us to
overcome temptation through the Word of God. ... Jesus went into the
wilderness in order to be in profound contact with the Father. This was a
constant aspect of Christ's earthly life. He always sought out moments of
solitude to pray to His Father and
abide in intimate and exclusive communion with Him, before retuning among
mankind. But in the 'wilderness' ... Jesus was beset by temptation and the
seduction of the Evil One, who suggested a messianic path, a path which was
far from God's plans because
it involved power, success and dominion, not love and the total gift of self
on the Cross".
Benedict XVI went on to suggest that the Church herself is a pilgrim in the
"wilderness" of the world and history. This wilderness is made up of "the
aridity and poverty of words, life and values, of secularism and the culture
of materialism which
enclose people within a worldly horizon and detach them from any reference to
transcendence. In such an atmosphere the sky above us is dark, because veiled
with clouds of selfishness, misunderstanding and deceit. Nonetheless, even for
the Church today,
the wilderness can become a period of grace, because we have the certainty
that even from the hardest rock God can cause the living water to gush forth,
water which quenches thirst and restores strength".
"During Lent", said the Holy Father in conclusion, "may we discover fresh
courage to accept situations of difficulty, affliction and suffering with
patience and faith, aware that, from the darkness, the Lord will cause a new
day to shine forth. And if
we have been faithful to Jesus, following Him on the way of the Cross, the
luminous world of God, the world of light, truth and joy, will be ours again".
At the end of the catechesis Benedict XVI greeted pilgrims in various
languages. Speaking Polish he highlighted how "fasting and prayer, penance and
works of mercy" are the principal means of preparation for Easter.
The Pope also addressed a special greeting to faithful of the Personal
Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who were present in the Paul VI Hall.
The ordinariate was set up a little over a year ago for groups of Anglican
clergy and faithful wishing to
enter into full visible communion with the Catholic Church. The general
audience ended with the apostolic blessing.
___________________________________________________________
BRAZIL FRATERNITY CAMPAIGN: CARE FOR THE BODY AND SOUL OF THE SICK
Vatican City, 22 February 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a Message to
Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparecida and president of
the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, for the Fraternity Campaign
traditionally promoted by
the Brazilian Church during Lent. The theme for the 2012 campaign is: "Health
spreads over all the earth".
In his Message the Pope recalls how the purpose of the campaign is "to arouse
a greater fraternal and community spirit in caring for the sick, and to invite
society to ensure that everyone has access to the means necessary for a
healthy life".
The biblical theme of the campaign - taken from Ecclesiasticus - reminds
Christians that health goes beyond bodily well-being. When Jesus healed the
paralytic, before causing the man to walk again, He forgave him his sins,
"showing us that the perfect
cure is the forgiveness of sin, Health par excellence is health of the soul,
'for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?'
In fact, in Latin the words for 'health' and 'salvation' have their roots in
the same term, and
in the Gospel the activity of the Saviour of mankind is associated with many
episodes of healing".
Benedict XVI expresses his hope that the campaign "may arouse increasingly
profound solidarity with sick people in the hearts of the faithful, and of all
people of good will. The sick often suffer more through solitude and
abandonment than through their
infirmity. We must remember the Jesus identified Himself with them: 'I was
sick and you took care of me'. At the same time we must help them discover
that, although sickness is a difficult trial, it can also, in union with the
crucified and risen
Christ, be a form of participation in the mystery of Jesus' suffering for the
salvation of the world. Indeed, 'by offering our pain to God through Christ,
we can share in the victory of good over evil, because God makes our offering,
our act of love,
fruitful'".
The Pope concludes his Message by invoking the intercession of Our lady of
Aparecida, that the Lord may grant everyone, and especially the sick, "comfort
and strength in accomplishing the duties specific to their individual, family
or social condition,
that these may become a source of health and progress in Brazil, making it
fertile in sanctity, economically prosperous, even-handed in the distribution
of wealth, joyful in public service, equitable in power and fraternal in
development".
___________________________________________________________
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 22 February 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Appointed Bishop Jacinto Furtado de Brito Sobrinho of Crateus, Brazil, as
metropolitan archbishop of Teresina (area 26,495, population 1,195,000,
Catholics 1,018,000, priests 118, permanent deacons 19, religious 203), Brazil.
- Appointed Fr. Olivier de Germay of the clergy of the archdiocese of
Toulouse, France, episcopal vicar and pastor of the "ensemble paroissial" of
Bauzelle, as bishop of Ajaccio (area 8,722, population 275,000, Catholics
256,000, priests 75, permanent
deacons 16, religious 69), France. The bishop-elect was born in Tours, France
in 1960 and ordained a priest in 1998. He frequented a military academy before
going to study at the French seminary in Rome. He has worked in pastoral care
and as professor
of sacramental and family theology at the "Institut Catholique" of Toulouse.
- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Palmerston
North, New Zealand, presented by Bishop Peter James Cullinane, upon having
reached the age limit. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Charles Drennan.
___________________________________________________________
Per ulteriori informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il
sito: www.wisnews.org e www.vatican.va
Il servizio del VIS viene inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta
elettronica che ne hanno fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo
non si desidera continuare a riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina
dinizio:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/italinde.php
Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican
Information Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente
citando la fonte: V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.
--Boundary_(ID_TeDDVnCOwJ6E4HJyIlR/NA)
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VISnews120222
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE ANNO XXII - N° 41DATA 22-02-2012
Summary: - LENT, A TIME TO SHOULDER OUR
CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES
- BRAZIL FRATERNITY CAMPAIGN: CARE FOR THE BODY AND SOUL OF THE SICK -
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
LENT, A TIME TO SHOULDER OUR CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITIES
Vatican City, 22 February 2012 (VIS) - During his general audience this
morning, the Holy Father dedicated his catechesis to the subject of Lent
(which begins today, Ash Wednesday), the period of forty days leading up to
the Easter Triduum, memorial
of the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Benedict XVI reminded the 7,500 pilgrims gathered in the Paul VI Hall that,
in the early days of the Church, Lent was a time in which catechumens began
their journey of faith and conversion prior to receiving Baptism. Later, all
the faithful were
invited to participate in this period of spiritual renewal. Thus "the
participation of the whole community in the various stages of the Lenten
journey underlines an important dimension of Christian spirituality: the fact
that redemption is available not
just for the few, but for everyone, thanks to Christ's death and
resurrection".
"The time leading up to Easter is a time of 'metanoia', a time of change
and penance, a time which identifies our human lives and our entire history as
a process of conversion, which begins to move now in order to meet the Lord at
the end of
time".
The Church calls this period "Quadragesima", a period of forty days which
has precise references in Holy Scripture. Indeed, "forty is the symbolic
number with which the Old and New Testaments represent the most important
moments of the People of
God's experience of faith. It is a figure which expresses a time of
expectation, purification, return to the Lord, awareness that God is faithful
to His promises; ... a time within which we must make our choice, shoulder our
responsibilities without
further delay. It is a time for mature decisions".
Noah spent forty days in the Ark during the Flood, then had to wait forty
days more before he could return to dry land. Moses spent forty days on Mount
Sinai to collect the Commandments. The Jewish People spent forty years
wandering in the desert,
then enjoyed forty years of peace under the government of the Judges. The
inhabitants of Niniveh made forty days penance to obtain God's forgiveness.
The reigns of Saul, David and Solomon, the first kings of Israel, lasted forty
years each. In the New
Testament, Jesus spent forty days praying in the wilderness before beginning
His public life and, following the resurrection, He spent forty days
instructing His disciples before ascending to heaven.
The liturgy of Lent, the Pope explained, "has the aim of facilitating our
journey of spiritual renewal in the light of this long biblical experience.
Above all, it helps us to imitate Jesus Who, in the forty days He spent in the
wilderness, taught us
to overcome temptation through the Word of God. ... Jesus went into the
wilderness in order to be in profound contact with the Father. This was a
constant aspect of Christ's earthly life. He always sought out moments of
solitude to pray to His Father
and abide in intimate and exclusive communion with Him, before retuning among
mankind. But in the 'wilderness' ... Jesus was beset by temptation and the
seduction of the Evil One, who suggested a messianic path, a path which was
far from God's plans
because it involved power, success and dominion, not love and the total gift
of self on the Cross".
Benedict XVI went on to suggest that the Church herself is a pilgrim in the
"wilderness" of the world and history. This wilderness is made up of "the
aridity and poverty of words, life and values, of secularism and the culture
of materialism which
enclose people within a worldly horizon and detach them from any reference to
transcendence. In such an atmosphere the sky above us is dark, because veiled
with clouds of selfishness, misunderstanding and deceit. Nonetheless, even for
the Church today,
the wilderness can become a period of grace, because we have the certainty
that even from the hardest rock God can cause the living water to gush forth,
water which quenches thirst and restores strength".
"During Lent", said the Holy Father in conclusion, "may we discover fresh
courage to accept situations of difficulty, affliction and suffering with
patience and faith, aware that, from the darkness, the Lord will cause a new
day to shine forth. And
if we have been faithful to Jesus, following Him on the way of the Cross, the
luminous world of God, the world of light, truth and joy, will be ours
again".
At the end of the catechesis Benedict XVI greeted pilgrims in various
languages. Speaking Polish he highlighted how "fasting and prayer, penance and
works of mercy" are the principal means of preparation for Easter.
The Pope also addressed a special greeting to faithful of the Personal
Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who were present in the Paul VI Hall.
The ordinariate was set up a little over a year ago for groups of Anglican
clergy and faithful wishing
to enter into full visible communion with the Catholic Church. The general
audience ended with the apostolic blessing.
BRAZIL FRATERNITY CAMPAIGN: CARE FOR THE BODY AND SOUL OF THE SICK
Vatican City, 22 February 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father has sent a Message
to Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparecida and president of
the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, for the Fraternity Campaign
traditionally promoted
by the Brazilian Church during Lent. The theme for the 2012 campaign is:
"Health spreads over all the earth".
In his Message the Pope recalls how the purpose of the campaign is "to
arouse a greater fraternal and community spirit in caring for the sick, and to
invite society to ensure that everyone has access to the means necessary for a
healthy life".
The biblical theme of the campaign - taken from Ecclesiasticus - reminds
Christians that health goes beyond bodily well-being. When Jesus healed the
paralytic, before causing the man to walk again, He forgave him his sins,
"showing us that the
perfect cure is the forgiveness of sin, Health par excellence is health of the
soul, 'for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his
soul?' In fact, in Latin the words for 'health' and 'salvation' have their
roots in the same
term, and in the Gospel the activity of the Saviour of mankind is associated
with many episodes of healing".
Benedict XVI expresses his hope that the campaign "may arouse increasingly
profound solidarity with sick people in the hearts of the faithful, and of all
people of good will. The sick often suffer more through solitude and
abandonment than through
their infirmity. We must remember the Jesus identified Himself with them: 'I
was sick and you took care of me'. At the same time we must help them discover
that, although sickness is a difficult trial, it can also, in union with the
crucified and risen
Christ, be a form of participation in the mystery of Jesus' suffering for the
salvation of the world. Indeed, 'by offering our pain to God through Christ,
we can share in the victory of good over evil, because God makes our offering,
our act of love,
fruitful'".
The Pope concludes his Message by invoking the intercession of Our lady of
Aparecida, that the Lord may grant everyone, and especially the sick, "comfort
and strength in accomplishing the duties specific to their individual, family
or social
condition, that these may become a source of health and progress in Brazil,
making it fertile in sanctity, economically prosperous, even-handed in the
distribution of wealth, joyful in public service, equitable in power and
fraternal in development".
Vatican City, 22 February 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father:
- Appointed Bishop Jacinto Furtado de Brito Sobrinho of Crateus, Brazil, as
metropolitan archbishop of Teresina (area 26,495, population 1,195,000,
Catholics 1,018,000, priests 118, permanent deacons 19, religious 203),
Brazil.
- Appointed Fr. Olivier de Germay of the clergy of the archdiocese of
Toulouse, France, episcopal vicar and pastor of the "ensemble paroissial" of
Bauzelle, as bishop of Ajaccio (area 8,722, population 275,000, Catholics
256,000, priests 75,
permanent deacons 16, religious 69), France. The bishop-elect was born in
Tours, France in 1960 and ordained a priest in 1998. He frequented a military
academy before going to study at the French seminary in Rome. He has worked in
pastoral care and as
professor of sacramental and family theology at the "Institut Catholique" of
Toulouse.
- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of
Palmerston North, New Zealand, presented by Bishop Peter James Cullinane, upon
having reached the age limit. He is succeeded by Coadjutor Bishop Charles
Drennan.
Per ulteriori informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il
sito: www.wisnews.org e www.vatican.va Il servizio del
VIS viene inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta elettronica che ne
hanno
fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo non si desidera continuare a
riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina dinizio: http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vi
/italinde.php
Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican
Information Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente
citando la fonte: V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.
--Boundary_(ID_TeDDVnCOwJ6E4HJyIlR/NA)--
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