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VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - N° 72
DATE 11-04-2012
Summary:
- FAITH IN CHRIST TRANSFORMS OUR LIVES, FREES US FROM FEAR AND FILLS US WITH
HOPE
- IN BRIEF
- OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Holy Week
- CHRISM MASS: PRIESTS CONFIGURED TO CHRIST
- HOLY THURSDAY: JESUS RESOLVES THE FALSE OPPOSITION BETWEEN OBEDIENCE AND
FREEDOM
- THE MYSTERY OF THE PASSION INSPIRES US TO CONTINUE IN HOPE
- EASTER SATURDAY: EASTER IS THE FEAST OF THE NEW CREATION
- EASTER MESSAGE: THE POPE CALLS FOR PEACE IN SYRIA, NIGERIA AND PALESTINE
- POPE HIGHLIGHTS THE SPECIAL BOND WOMEN HAVE WITH JESUS
___________________________________________________________
FAITH IN CHRIST TRANSFORMS OUR LIVES, FREES US FROM FEAR AND FILLS US WITH HOPE
Vatican City, 11 April 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis
during this morning's general audience to the transformation which Jesus'
Resurrection brought about in His disciples, also reflecting on the meaning
that Easter has for
Christians today. Faith in the Risen One, he said, "transforms our lives; it
frees them from fear, gives them firm hope, and infuses them with something
that provides existence with full meaning: the love of God".
Benedict XVI explained how on the evening of the day of the Resurrection the
disciples were at home behind locked doors, full of fear and doubt at the
recollection of the passion of their Lord. "This situation of anguish changed
radically when Jesus
arrived. He entered through the closed doors, was among them and brought them
peace", peace which "for the community became source of joy, certainty of
victory, trusting reliance on God".
After His greeting, Jesus showed His wounds to the disciples, "signs of what
had befallen and would never be cancelled. His glorious humanity remained
'wounded'. The gesture had the aim of confirming the new reality of the
Resurrection. The Christ Who
returned among His followers was a real person, the same Jesus Who three days
earlier had been nailed to the cross. Thus, in the shining light of Easter, in
the meeting with the Risen One, the disciples came to understand the salvific
meaning of His
passion and death. Then sadness and fear became overwhelming joy".
Jesus greeted them again: "Peace be with you". Yet this, the Pope explained,
was not just a greeting, "it was a gift, the gift the Risen One made to His
friends. At the same time it was a commission: the peace which Christ had
bought with His blood was
for them, but it was also for everyone else, and the disciples would have to
carry it throughout the world". Jesus "had completed His mission in the world,
now it was up to them to to sow faith in people's hearts".
However, the Lord knew that His followers were still afraid. "For this reason
He breathed upon them and regenerated them in His Spirit. This gesture was the
sign of the new creation. With the gift of the Holy Spirit which came from the
Risen Christ, a
new world began".
"Today too the Risen One enters our homes and hearts, although sometimes the
doors are closed", the Pope said, "He enters bringing joy and peace, life and
hope, gifts we need for our human and spiritual rebirth". Only He can put an
end to division,
enmity, rancour, envy, mistrust and indifference. Only He can give meaning to
the lives of those who are weary, sad and without hope.
This was the experience of the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus, full
of foreboding at the recent death of their Master. Jesus came up to them and
accompanied them without being recognised, explaining the meaning of Sacred
Scripture to help them
understand His salvific mission. Later they asked Jesus to stay with them and
recognised him as He blessed and broke the bread. "This episode", said the
Holy Father, "shows us two privileged 'places' in which we can meet the Risen
One Who transforms our
lives: ... the Word and the Eucharist".
The disciples of Emmaus returned to Jerusalem to join the others. "Their
enthusiasm for the faith was reborn, their love for the community and their
need to communicate the good news. The Master rose and with Him all life
resurges. Bearing witness to
this event became an irrepressible need for them".
For Christians, Easter must be a time for the joyful and enthusiastic
rediscovery of the sources of the faith. "This means following the same path
as that along which Jesus directed the two disciples of Emmaus, through the
rediscovery of the Word of God
and the Eucharist. The culmination of this journey, then as now, is
Eucharistic communion. In communion Jesus nourishes us with His Body and His
Blood, becoming present in our lives, making us new and animating us with the
power of the Holy Spirit".
In conclusion the Holy Father invited Christians to remain faithful to the
Risen One Who "living and true, is always present among us, Who walks with us
to guide our lives", and Who "has the power to give life, to make us reborn as
children of God,
capable of believing and loving".
___________________________________________________________
IN BRIEF
HIS BEATITUDE CARDINAL IGNACE MOUSSA I DAOUD, prefect emeritus of the
Congregation for Oriental Churches and patriarch emeritus of Antioch of the
Syrians, died in Rome on 7 April at the age of 82. In a telegram of condolence
sent to His Beatitude Ignace
Youssif III Younan, patriarch of Antioch of the Syrians, Benedict XVI
expresses his closeness to that patriarchal Church of which the deceased was
"a committed pastor". The Pope also mentions the peoples of the region, who
are currently experiencing
moments of great difficulty. The cardinal's funeral was held in St. Peter's
Basilica on 10 April.
A LETTER WAS MADE PUBLIC ON 7 APRIL in which the Holy Father appoints Cardinal
Marc Ouellet P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, as his special
envoy to the opening celebrations for the pilgrimage of the "Holy Robe",
marking the fifth
centenary of the first public display of the relic. The event will be held in
the cathedral of Trier, Germany on 13 April, the cardinal will be accompanied
on his mission by Msgr. Rainer Scherschel and Fr. Reinhold Bohlen, canons of
the cathedral.
BENEDICT XVI HAS SENT A TELEGRAM OF CONDOLENCE to Archbishop Roberto Octavio
Gonzalez Nieves O.F.M. of San Juan de Puerto Rico for the death of Cardinal
Luis Aponte Martinez, archbishop emeritus of the same archdiocese. The
cardinal died on 10 April at
the age of 89. In the telegram the Holy Father recalls how the late cardinal
participated in Vatican Council II and "introduced its dispositions into his
particular Church". Cardinal Aponte Martinez likewise "bore witness to his
great love for God and
the Church, and his great dedication to the cause of the Gospel".
___________________________________________________________
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 7 April 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Cardinal Marc
Ouellet P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, as pontifical legate
for the celebration of the fiftieth International Eucharistic Congress, which
is due to take place
in Dublin, Ireland, from 10 to 17 June.
___________________________________________________________
CHRISM MASS: PRIESTS CONFIGURED TO CHRIST
Vatican City, 5 April 2012 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 9.30 a.m. today,
Holy Thursday, the Holy Father presided at the Chrism Mass, which is
celebrated on this day in churches and cathedrals throughout the world.
Cardinals, bishops and around
1,600 priests present in Rome concelebrated with the Pope.
During the course of the celebration, priests renew the vows they made at
their ordination, and the oil used for catechumens, the sick and those being
confirmed is blessed. Extracts from the homily of the Holy Father are given
below.
"At this Holy Mass our thoughts go back to that moment when, through prayer
and the laying on of hands, the bishop made us sharers in the priesthood of
Jesus Christ, so that we might be “consecrated in truth”, as Jesus
besought the Father
for us in His high-priestly prayer. He himself is the truth. He has
consecrated us, that is to say, handed us over to God for ever, so that we can
offer men and women a service that comes from God and leads to Him. But does
our consecration extend to
the daily reality of our lives - do we operate as men of God in fellowship
with Jesus Christ? ... We need, I need, not to claim my life as my own, but to
place it at the disposal of another - of Christ. I should be asking not what I
stand to gain, but
what I can give for Him and so for others. Or to put it more specifically,
this configuration to Christ, Who came not to be served but to serve, Who does
not take, but rather gives - what form does it take in the often dramatic
situatio
n of
the Church today? Recently a group of priests from a European country issued a
summons to disobedience, and at the same time gave concrete examples of the
forms this disobedience might take, even to the point of disregarding
definitive decisions of the
Church’s Magisterium, such as the question of women’s ordination,
for which Blessed Pope John Paul II stated irrevocably that the Church has
received no authority from the Lord.
"Is disobedience a path of renewal for the Church? We would like to believe
that the authors of this summons are motivated by concern for the Church, that
they are convinced that the slow pace of institutions has to be overcome by
drastic measures, in
order to open up new paths and to bring the Church up to date. But is
disobedience really a way to do this? Do we sense here anything of that
configuration to Christ which is the precondition for all true renewal, or do
we merely sense a desperate push
to do something to change the Church in accordance with one’s own
preferences and ideas?
"But let us not oversimplify matters. Surely Christ Himself corrected human
traditions which threatened to stifle the word and the will of God? Indeed He
did, so as to rekindle obedience to the true will of God, to His ever enduring
word. His concern
was for true obedience, as opposed to human caprice. Nor must we forget: He
was the Son, possessed of singular authority and responsibility to reveal the
authentic will of God, so as to open up the path for God’s word to the
world of the nations.
And finally: He lived out His task with obedience and humility all the way to
the Cross, and so gave credibility to His mission. Not my will, but thine be
done: these words reveal to us the Son, in His humility and His divinity, and
they show us the
true path.
"Let us ask again: do not such reflections serve simply to defend inertia, the
fossilisation of traditions? No. Anyone who considers the history of the
post-conciliar era can recognise the process of true renewal, which often took
unexpected forms in
living movements and made almost tangible the inexhaustible vitality of holy
Church, the presence and effectiveness of the Holy Spirit. And if we look at
the people from whom these fresh currents of life burst forth and continue to
burst forth, then we
see that this new fruitfulness requires being filled with the joy of faith,
the radicalism of obedience, the dynamic of hope and the power of love".
"I would like briefly to touch on two more key phrases from the renewal of
ordination promises, which should cause us to reflect at this time in the
Church’s life and in our own lives. ... At the meeting of cardinals on
the occasion of the recent
consistory, several of the pastors of the Church spoke, from experience, of
the growing religious illiteracy found in the midst of our sophisticated
society. The foundations of faith, which at one time every child knew, are now
known less and less. But
if we are to live and love our faith ... we need to know what God has said to
us - our minds and hearts must be touched by His word. The Year of Faith,
commemorating the opening of Vatican Council II fifty years ago, should
provide us with an occasion
to proclaim the message of faith with new enthusiasm and new joy. We find it
of course first and foremost in Sacred Scripture, which we can never read and
ponder enough. Yet at the same time we all experience the need for help in
accurately expounding it in the present day, if it is truly to touch our
hearts. This help we find first of all in the words of the teaching Church:
the texts of Vatican Council II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church are
essential tools which serve
as an authentic guide to what the Church believes on the basis of God’s
word. And of course this also includes the whole wealth of documents given to
us by Pope John Paul II, still far from being fully explored.
"All our preaching must measure itself against the saying of Jesus Christ:
“My teaching is not mine”. We preach not private theories and
opinions, but the faith of the Church, whose servants we are. Naturally this
should not be taken to mean
that I am not completely supportive of this teaching, or solidly anchored in
it. ... If we do not preach ourselves, and if we are inwardly so completely
one with Him who called us to be His ambassadors, that we are shaped by faith
and live it, then our
preaching will be credible. I do not seek to win people for myself, but I give
myself".
"The last keyword that I should like to consider is “zeal for
souls”. ... It is an old-fashioned expression, not much used these days.
In some circles, the word “soul” is virtually banned because -
ostensibly - it expresses a
body-soul dualism that wrongly compartmentalises the human being. Of course
the human person is a unity, destined for eternity as body and soul. And yet
that cannot mean that we no longer have a soul, a constituent principle
guaranteeing our unity in
this life and beyond earthly death. And as priests, of course, we are
concerned for the whole person, including his or her physical needs - we care
for the hungry, the sick, the homeless. And yet we are concerned not only with
the body, but also with
the needs of the soul: with those who suffer from the violation of their
rights or from destroyed love, with those unable to perceive the truth, those
who suffer for lack of truth and love. We are concerned with the salvation of
men and w
omen
in body and soul. And as priests of Jesus Christ we carry out our task with
enthusiasm. ... A priest never belongs to himself. People must sense our zeal,
through which we bear credible witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ".
___________________________________________________________
HOLY THURSDAY: JESUS RESOLVES THE FALSE OPPOSITION BETWEEN OBEDIENCE AND
FREEDOM
Vatican City, 5 April 2012 (VIS) - At 5.30 p.m. today in the Basilica of St.
John Lateran, cathedral of Rome, Benedict XVI presided at the Mass of the
Lord's Supper, thus beginning the Eater Triduum of 2012. During the
celebration, imitating the gesture
of the Lord towards the Apostles, the Pope washed the feet of twelve priests.
Holy Thursday, the Holy Father said in his homily, "is not only the day of the
institution of the Blessed Eucharist, whose splendour bathes all else and in
some ways draws it to itself. To Holy Thursday also belongs the dark night of
the Mount of
Olives, to which Jesus goes with His disciples; the solitude and abandonment
of Jesus, Who in prayer goes forth to encounter the darkness of death".
"The disciples, whom Jesus wanted to have close to Him as an element of human
support in that hour of extreme distress, quickly fell asleep. Yet they heard
some fragments of the words of Jesus’ prayer and they witnessed His way
of acting. Both
were deeply impressed on their hearts and they transmitted them to Christians
for all time. Jesus called God “Abba”. The word means - as they
add - “Father”. Yet it is not the usual form of the word
“father”, but
rather a children’s word - an affectionate name which one would not have
dared to use in speaking to God. It is the language of the one who is truly a
“child”, the Son of the Father, the one who is conscious of being
in communion with
God, in deepest union with Him.
"If we ask ourselves what is most characteristic of the figure of Jesus in the
Gospels, we have to say that it is His relationship with God. ... Now we know
God as He truly is. He is Father, and this in an absolute goodness to which we
can entrust
ourselves. ... The One Who is Goodness is at the same time Power; He is
all-powerful. Power is goodness and goodness is power. We can learn this trust
from Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives".
Luke, the Holy Father went on, "tells us that Jesus prayed on His knees. In
the Acts of the Apostles, he speaks of the saints praying on their knees. ...
In this way Luke has sketched a brief history of prayer on one’s knees
in the early Church.
Christians, in kneeling, enter into Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of
Olives. When menaced by the power of evil, as they kneel, they are upright
before the world, while as sons and daughters, they kneel before the Father.
Before God’s glory we
Christians kneel and acknowledge His divinity; by that posture we also express
our confidence that He will prevail.
"Jesus struggles with the Father. He struggles with Himself. And He struggles
for us. He experiences anguish before the power of death. First and foremost
this is simply the dread natural to every living creature in the face of
death. In Jesus, however,
something more is at work. His gaze peers deeper, into the nights of evil. He
sees the filthy flood of all the lies and all the disgrace which He will
encounter in that chalice from which He must drink. His is the dread of one
who is completely pure and
holy as He sees the entire flood of this world’s evil bursting upon Him.
... The Letter to the Hebrews describes the struggle of Jesus on the Mount of
Olives as a priestly event. In this prayer of Jesus, pervaded by mortal
anguish, the Lord
performs the office of a priest: He takes upon Himself the sins of humanity,
of us all, and He brings us before the Father.
"Lastly", Pope Benedict concluded, "we must also pay attention to the content
of Jesus’ prayer on the Mount of Olives. Jesus says: “Father, for
you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet not what I want, but
what you
want”. The natural will of the man Jesus recoils in fear before the
enormity of the matter. He asks to be spared. Yet as the Son, He places this
human will into the Father’s will: not I, but you. In this way He
transformed the stance of
Adam, the primordial human sin, and thus heals humanity. The stance of Adam
was: not what you, O God, have desired; rather, I myself want to be a god. ...
This is the fundamental rebellion present throughout history and the
fundamental lie which
perverts life. When human beings set themselves against God, they set
themselves against the truth of their own being and consequently do not become
free, but alienated from themselves. We are free only if we stand in the truth
of our being, if we are
united to God. Then we become truly “like God” - not by resisting
God, eliminating Him, or denying Him. In His anguished prayer on the Mount of
Olives, Jesus resolved the false opposition between obedience and freedom, and
opened the path to
freedom".
___________________________________________________________
THE MYSTERY OF THE PASSION INSPIRES US TO CONTINUE IN HOPE
Vatican City, 6 April 2012 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 5.30 p.m. today,
Good Friday, the Pope presided at the celebration of the Lord's Passion. The
Liturgy of the Word, in which the Passion according to St. John was read out,
was followed by the
homily, after which the ceremony continued with the universal prayer, the
veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion.
At 9 p.m. the Holy Father travelled to the Colosseum where he led the "Via
Crucis" or Way of the Cross which was transmitted live all over the world. The
meditations this year were prepared by members of the "Focolari" Movement. Two
young people from
the diocese of Rome carried torches on either side of the cross which was
borne by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, by
two Franciscan friars from the Custody of the Holy Land, and by families from
Italy, Ireland, Burkina
Faso and Peru.
At the end of the ceremony, the Holy Father addressed the following words to
those present.
"Once more in meditation, prayer and song, we have recalled Jesus’
journey along the way of the cross: a journey seemingly hopeless, yet one that
changed human life and history, and opened the way to “new heavens and a
new earth”.
Especially today, Good Friday, the Church commemorates with deep spiritual
union the death of the Son of God on the cross; in His cross she sees the tree
of life, which blossoms in new hope.
"The experience of suffering and of the cross touches all mankind; it touches
the family too. How often does the journey become wearisome and difficult!
Misunderstandings, conflicts, worry for the future of our children, sickness
and problems of every
kind. These days too, the situation of many families is made worse by the
threat of unemployment and other negative effects of the economic crisis. The
Way of the Cross which we have spiritually retraced this evening invites all
of us, and families in
particular, to contemplate Christ crucified in order to have the force to
overcome difficulties. The cross of Christ is the supreme sign of God’s
love for every man and woman, the superabundant response to every
person’s need for love. At
times of trouble, when our families have to face pain and adversity, let us
look to Christ’s cross. There we can find the courage and strength to
press on; there we can repeat with firm hope the words of St. Paul: “Who
will
separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... No, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us”.
"In times of trial and tribulation, we are not alone; the family is not alone.
Jesus is present with His love, He sustains them by His grace and grants the
strength needed to carry on, to make sacrifices and to overcome every
obstacle. And it is to this
love of Christ that we must turn when human turmoil and difficulties threaten
the unity of our lives and our families. The mystery of Christ’s
suffering, death and resurrection inspires us to go on in hope: times of
trouble and testing, when
endured with Christ, with faith in Him, already contain the light of the
resurrection, the new life of a world reborn, the passover of all those who
believe in His word.
"In that crucified Man Who is the Son of God, even death itself takes on new
meaning and purpose: it is redeemed and overcome, it becomes a passage to new
life. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains
just a single
grain; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”. Let us entrust ourselves
to the Mother of Christ. May Mary, who accompanied her Son along His way of
sorrows, who stood beneath the cross at the hour of His death, and who
inspired the Church at its
birth to live in God’s presence, lead our hearts and the hearts of every
family through the vast 'mysterium passionis' towards the 'mysterium
paschale', towards that light which breaks forth from Christ’s
resurrection and reveals the
definitive victory of love, joy and life over evil, suffering and death. Amen".
___________________________________________________________
EASTER SATURDAY: EASTER IS THE FEAST OF THE NEW CREATION
Vatican City, 7 April 2012 (VIS) - At 9 p.m. today in St. Peter's Basilica,
the Pope presided at the solemn Easter vigil, which began in the atrium of the
basilica where he blessed the new fire and lighted the Easter candle. This was
followed by the
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