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   MIDDLE EAST: CRADLE OF A UNIVERSAL DESIGN OF SALVATION   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 10 OCT 2010 (VIS) - At 9.30 a.m. today, the Holy Father Benedict   
   XVI presided at a concelebration of the Eucharist with Synod Fathers for the   
   solemn opening of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle   
   East, which is to be held in the Vatican's Synod Hall until 24 October. The   
   theme of the synodal assembly is: "The Catholic Church in the Middle East.   
   Communion and Witness. Now the company of those who believed were of one heart   
   and soul".   
      
   The Pope concelebrated with 177 Synod Fathers and 69 collaborators.   
   Participating in the Eucharistic prayer were His Beatitude Cardinal Nasrallah   
   Pierre Sfeir, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon; His Beatitude   
   Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq;   
   Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental   
   Churches; His Beatitude Ignace Youssif III Younan, Patriarch of Antioch of the   
   Syrians, Lebanon; His Beatitude Antonios Naguib, Patriarch of Alexandria of the   
   Copts, Egypt, and Archbishop Joseph Soueif of Cyprus of the Maronites, Cyprus.   
      
   "The Eucharistic celebration, the highest rendering of thanks to God, is marked   
   for us today, gathered around the tomb of St. Peter, by an extraordinary event:   
   the grace of seeing gathered together for the first time at a Synod, around the   
   Bishop of Rome and the Universal Pastor, the bishops of the Middle Eastern   
   region. Such a singular event demonstrates the interest of the whole Church for   
   that precious and beloved part of God's people who live in the Holy Land and   
   the whole of the Middle East", said the Pope at the beginning of his homily.   
      
   "In those lands, the one Church of Christ is expressed in the variety of   
   liturgical, spiritual, cultural and teaching traditions of the six venerable   
   "sui iuris" Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as in the Latin tradition. This   
   fraternal greeting which I address with great affection to the patriarchs of   
   each of these Churches is, at the same time, extended to all the faithful   
   entrusted to their pastoral care, in their respective countries as well as in   
   the diaspora".   
      
   Quoting today's readings from the Gospel - St. Luke's account of the healing of   
   the ten lepers, and the story from the Second Book of Kings of the healing of   
   Naaman, head of the Aramaean army - the Pope noted how they "offers a theme for   
   meditation which brings us closer in a meaningful way to the event of the   
   Synod".   
      
   This theme is "that salvation is universal, but it passes through a specific   
   historical mediation: the mediation of the people of Israel, which goes on to   
   become that of Jesus Christ and the Church. The door of life is open for   
   everyone, but this is the point, it is a 'door', that is a definite and   
   necessary passage".   
      
   "God is love and wants all men to be part of His life. To carry out this plan   
   He, who is One and Triune, creates in the world a mystery of a communion that   
   is human and divine, historical and transcendent: He creates it with the   
   'method' - so to speak - of the covenant, tying Himself to men with faithful   
   and inexhaustible love, forming a holy people, that becomes a blessing for all   
   the families of the earth. Thus He reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac   
   and Jacob, Who wants to lead His people to the 'land' of freedom and peace.   
   This 'land' is not of this world; the whole of the divine plan goes beyond   
   history, but the Lord wants to build it with men, for men and in men, beginning   
   in the co-ordinates of space and time in which they live and which He Himself   
   gave them.   
      
   "In its own specific way, what we call the 'Middle East' is part of those   
   co-ordinates", the Holy Father added. "God also sees this region of the world   
   from a different perspective, one might say, 'from on high': it is the land of   
   Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the land of the Exodus and the return from exile;   
   the land of the Temple and of the Prophets, the land in which the Only Begotten   
   Son of Mary was born, lived, died and rose from the dead; the cradle of the   
   Church, established in order to carry Christ's Gospel to the ends of the earth.   
   And we too, as believers, look to the Middle East in this way, from the   
   perspective of the history of salvation".   
      
   "Looking at that part of the world from God's perspective means recognising   
   therein the 'cradle' of a universal design of salvation in love, a mystery of   
   communion which becomes true in freedom and thus requires a response from man.   
   Abraham, the prophets and the Virgin Mary are the protagonists of this response   
   which, however, has its completion in Jesus Christ, Son of that same land yet   
   descended from Heaven. From Him, from His Heart and His Spirit was born the   
   Church, which is a pilgrim in this world yet belongs to Him. The Church was   
   established to be a sign and an instrument of the unique and universal saving   
   project of God among men. She fulfils this mission simply by being herself,   
   that is, 'Communion and witness', as it says in the theme of this Synodal   
   Assembly which opens today".   
      
   "Without communion there can be no witness: the life of communion is truly the   
   great witness. ... This communion is the same life of God which is communicated   
   in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ. It is thus a gift, not something   
   which we ourselves must build through our own efforts. And it is precisely   
   because of this that it calls upon our freedom and waits for our response:   
   communion always requires conversion, just as a gift is better if it is   
   welcomed and utilised. In Jerusalem the first Christians were few. Nobody could   
   have imagined what was going to take place. And the Church continues to live on   
   that same strength which enabled it to begin and to grow. Pentecost is the   
   original event but also a permanent dynamism, and the Synod of Bishops is a   
   privileged moment in which the grace of Pentecost may be renewed in the   
   Church's journey, so that the Good News may be announced openly and heard by   
   all peoples".   
      
   The Pope continued his homily: "Therefore, the reason for this synodal assembly   
   is mainly pastoral. While not being able to ignore the delicate and at times   
   dramatic social and political situation of some countries, the pastors of the   
   Middle Eastern Churches wish to concentrate on the aspects of their own   
   mission. ... Ecclesial life, corroborated in this way, will see the development   
   of very positive fruits in the ecumenical path with other Churches and   
   ecclesial communities present in the Middle East.   
      
   "This occasion is also propitious for a constructive continuation of dialogue   
   with Jews, to whom we are tied by the indissoluble bond of the long history of   
   the Covenant, as we are with Muslims. Moreover, the workings of the synodal   
   assembly are oriented to the witness of Christians on a personal, family and   
   social level. This requires the reinforcing of their Christian identity through   
   the Word of God and the Sacraments. We all hope that the faithful feel the joy   
   in living in the Holy Land, a land blessed by the presence and by the Paschal   
   Mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ.   
      
   "Over the centuries those places have attracted multitudes of pilgrims, as well   
   as men and women in religious communities who have considered it a great   
   privilege to be able to live and bear witness in the land of Jesus. Despite the   
   difficulties, Christians in the Holy Land are called to enliven their   
   consciousness of being the living stones of the Church in the Middle East, in   
   the holy places of our salvation.   
      
   "However, living in a dignified manner in one's own country is above all a   
   fundamental human right: therefore, the conditions of peace and justice, which   
   are necessary for the harmonious development of all those living in the region,   
   should be promoted. Thus, everyone is called to make their personal   
   contribution: the international community, by supporting a stable and   
   constructive path towards peace; the main religions in the region, by promoting   
   the spiritual and cultural values that unite men and exclude any expression of   
   violence.   
      
   "Christians", the Holy Father concluded, "will continue to contribute not only   
   with work of social promotion, such as education and healthcare, but above all   
   with the spirit of the evangelical Beatitudes which enliven the practice of   
   forgiveness and reconciliation. In this commitment, they will always have the   
   support of the entire Church, as is solemnly attested by the presence here of   
   the delegates of the episcopacies of other continents".   
   HML/VIS 20101011 (1470)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)