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Pope to Priests, Deacons and Seminarians of Brindisi
FROM: «Dan Frezza» <dan@frezza.org>
TO: <ASSISI-L@LISTSERV.ND.EDU>
DATE: 4 July 2008 21:13 [edt]
SUBJECT: Pope to Priests, Deacons and Seminarians of Brindisi
"Place Yourselves With
Ever Growing Openness at the Service of the Gospel"
VATICAN CITY, JULY 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican
translation
of the June 15 address Benedict XVI to the priests, deacons and
seminarians of the Archdiocese of Brindisi at the city's cathedral.
* * *
Dearest priests, deacons and seminarians,
I am pleased to address my cordial greeting to all of you
gathered in
this beautiful Cathedral, reopened for worship after its
restoration
last November. I thank Archbishop Rocco Talucci for the warm
welcome he has addressed to me in your name and for all his
gifts. I greet the
priests to whom I wish to express my satisfaction at the immense
and
structured pastoral work they carry out. I greet the deacons,
the
seminarians and everyone present and express my joy at being
surrounded by a large crowd of souls consecrated for the advent
of the Kingdom of God. Here in the Cathedral, which is the heart
of the Diocese, we all feel at home, united by the bond of
Christ's love. Let us commemorate here with gratitude those who
spread Christianity in these regions:
Brindisi was the first city of the West to welcome the Gospel,
which
reached it on the Roman consular roads. Among the evangelizing
Saints I
think of Bishop St Leucius, of St Oronzo, St Theodore of Amasea
and St
Lawrence of Brindisi, proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by John
XXIII.
Their presence lives on in the hearts of the people and is
witnessed to
by many of the city's monuments.
Dear brothers, in seeing you gathered in this Church, in which
many of
you received your diaconal and presbyteral ordination, I
remember the
words that St Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Christians of
Ephesus:
"Your excellent presbyters, who are a credit to God, are as
suited to
the Bishop as strings to a harp. So in your harmony of mind and
heart
the song you sing is Jesus Christ". And the holy Bishop added:
"Every
one of you should form a choir, so that, in harmony of sound
through
harmony of hearts, and in unity taking the note from God, you
may sing
with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father. If you do
this, he
will listen to you" (Letter to the Ephesians, 4). Persevere,
dear
priests, in seeking this unity of intention and reciprocal help,
so that
fraternal charity and unity in pastoral work are an example and
incentive for your communities. This, above all, was the goal of
the
pastoral visits your Archbishop made to your parishes which
ended last
March. Due, precisely, to your generous collaboration, it was
not merely
a juridical exercise but an extraordinary event of ecclesial and
formative value. I am certain that it will be fruitful since the
Lord
will make the seed sown with love grow abundantly in the hearts
of the
faithful.
I would like to encourage you with my presence today to place
yourselves
with ever growing openness at the service of the Gospel and of
the
Church. I know that you already work with zeal and intelligence,
sparing
no energy in spreading the joyful Gospel proclamation. Christ,
to whom
you have consecrated your lives, is with you! In him we all
believe, to
him alone we entrust our lives, it is he whom we desire to
proclaim to
the world. May Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life
(cf. Jn 14:
6), be the object of our thought, the topic of our words, the
reason for
our life. Dear brother priests, if your faith is to be strong
and
vigorous, as you well know, it must be nourished with assiduous
prayer.
Thus be models of prayer, become masters of prayer. May your
days be
marked by times of prayer, during which, after Jesus' example,
you
engage in a regenerating conversation with the Father. I know it
is not
easy to stay faithful to this daily appointment with the Lord,
especially today when the pace of life is frenetic and worries
absorb us
more and more. Yet we must convince ourselves: the time he
spends in
prayer is the most important time in a priest's life, in which
divine
grace acts with greater effectiveness, making his ministry
fruitful. The
first service to render to the community is prayer. And
therefore, time
for prayer must be given a true priority in our life. I know
that there
are many urgent things: as regards myself, an audience, a
document to
study, a meeting or something else. But if we are not interiorly
in
communion with God we cannot even give anything to others.
Therefore,
God is the first priority. We must always reserve the time
necessary to
be in communion of prayer with our Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, I would now like to congratulate you
on the
new Archdiocesan Seminary which was inaugurated last November by
my
Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. On the one hand,
it
expresses the present state of a Diocese, understood as the
culmination
of work undertaken by priests and parishes in the area of the
pastoral
care of youth, in teaching the catechism, in the religious
animation of
families. On the other hand, the Seminary is a precious
investment for
the future, because it ensures that through patient and generous
work
the Christian community will not be deprived of shepherds of
souls, of
teachers of faith and of zealous guides and witnesses of
Christ's
charity. Besides being the place of your formation, dear
seminarians,
true hope of the Church, this seminary of yours is also a place
for the
up-dating and continuing formation of youth and adults who wish
to make
their contribution to the cause of the Kingdom of God. The
careful
formation of seminarians and the continuing formation of priests
and
other pastoral workers is a primary concern of your Bishop, to
whom God
has entrusted the mission of guiding the People of God who live
in your
City as a wise pastor.
Another opportunity for the spiritual growth of your community
is the
Archdiocesan Synod, the first since the Second Vatican Council
and since
the unification of the two Dioceses of Brindisi and Ostuni. It
is an
opportunity to relaunch the apostolic commitment of the entire
Diocese
but above all it is a privileged moment of communion that is a
help in
the rediscovery of the value of fraternal service, as indicated
in the
biblical scene of the washing of the feet (cf. Jn 13: 12-17)
that you
chose, with the words of Jesus that comment on it: "As I have
done" (Jn
13: 15). If it is true that the Synod, every Synod, is called to
establish laws and to issue the appropriate norms for an organic
pastoral activity, raising and stimulating renewed commitment to
evangelization and Gospel witness, it is also true that a Synod
must
reawaken in every baptized person the missionary outreach that
constantly animates the Church.
Dear brother priests, the Pope assures you of his special
remembrance in
prayer so that you may continue on the journey of authentic
spiritual
renewal which you have been making with your community. May the
experience of "being together" in faith and reciprocal love help
you in
this commitment, like the Apostles around Christ in the Upper
Room. It
was there that the Divine Teacher taught them, opening their
eyes to the
splendour of the truth and giving them the sacrament of unity
and love:
the Eucharist. In the Upper Room, during the Last Supper, at the
moment
of the washing of the feet, it clearly emerged that service is
one of
the fundamental dimensions of Christian life. It is therefore a
duty of
the Synod to help all the members of your local Church to
rediscover the
meaning and the joy of service: a service for love. This applies
above
all for you, dear priests, configured to Christ "Head and
Pastor",
always ready to guide his flock. Be thankful and happy for the
gift
received! Be generous in carrying out your ministry! Sustain it
with
assiduous prayer and a continuing cultural, theological and
spiritual
formation!
While I renew the expression of my lively appreciation and my
warmest
encouragement, I invite you and the entire Archdiocese to
prepare for
the Pauline Year which is shortly to begin. It can be an
occasion on
which to relaunch generous missionary activity, for a more
profound
proclamation of the Word of God, welcomed, meditated and
translated into
a fruitful apostolate, as it happened exactly for the Apostle to
the
Gentiles. Conquered by Christ, Paul lived entirely for him and
for his
Gospel, spending his existence even to the point of martyrdom.
May you
be assisted by the Blessed Mother of the Church and Virgin of
Listening;
may the Patron Saints of this beloved land of Apulia protect
you. Be
missionaries of God's love; may each of your parishes experience
the joy
of belonging to Christ. As a pledge of divine grace and of the
gifts of
his Spirit, I gladly impart the Apostolic Blessing to you all.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Permission by Zenit to distribute to Assisi-L
Benedict XVI's Homily
at Port of Brindisi
FROM: «Dan Frezza» <dan@frezza.org>
TO: <ASSISI-L@LISTSERV.ND.EDU>
DATE: 4 July 2008 21:11 [edt]
SUBJECT: Benedict XVI’s Homily at Port of Brindisi
"Make His Love, This Force of Peace and of True Life, Present on Our
Earth"
VATICAN CITY, JULY 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican
translation
of the June 15 homily Benedict XVI gave during the Mass he said at
the
St Apollinaris Wharf, Port of Brindisi.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the Lord's Day, in the middle of my Visit to Brindisi, we are
celebrating the mystery which is the source and summit of the
Church's
whole life. We are celebrating Christ in the Eucharist, the
greatest
gift that flowed from his divine and human Heart, the Bread of
Life,
broken and shared to enable us to become one with him and with
one
another. I greet with affection all of you who have gathered at
the
port, this deeply symbolic place which calls to mind the
missionary
journeys of Peter and Paul. I rejoice to see the many young
people who
enlivened last night's vigil in preparation for the Eucharistic
celebration. And I also greet you, who are taking part in spirit
by
means of radio and television. I address a special greeting to
Archbishop Rocco Talucci, the Pastor of this beloved Church, and
thank
him for his words at the beginning of Holy Mass. I also greet
the other
Bishops of Apulia who have desired to be here with us with
sentiments of
fraternal communion. The presence of Metropolitan Gennadios
gives me
special pleasure and I offer him my cordial greeting, which I
extend to
all the Orthodox brethren and those of the other Denominations,
from
this Church of Brindisi which, because of her ecumenical
vocation,
invites us to pray and to work for the full unity of all
Christians.
With gratitude I greet the Civil and Military Authorities who
are taking
part in this liturgy, and wish them every good for their
service. My
affectionate thoughts then go to the priests and deacons, to the
women
and men religious and to all the faithful. I address a special
greeting
to the sick in hospital and to the prisoners in jail, to whom I
assure
my remembrance in prayer. Grace and peace on the part of the
Lord to
everyone and to the entire city of Brindisi!
The biblical texts we have heard on this 11th Sunday of Ordinary
Time
help us to understand the reality of the Church: the First
Reading (cf.
Ex 19: 2-6a) recalled the Covenant made on Mount Sinai, during
the
Exodus from Egypt; the Gospel (cf. Mt 9: 36-10: 8) consisted of
the
account of the call and mission of the Twelve Apostles. We find
the
"constitution" of the Church presented here: how can we fail to
perceive
the implicit invitation addressed to every Community to renew
its own
vocation and missionary drive? In the First Reading the sacred
author
tells of God's Covenant with Moses and with Israel on Sinai.
This is one
of the great milestones in salvation history, one of those
moments that
transcend history itself in which the boundary between the Old
and New
Testaments disappears and the eternal plan of the God of the
Covenant is
manifest: the plan for the salvation of all men and women
through the
sanctification of a people to which God proposes to become "my
own
possession among all peoples" (Ex 19: 5). In this perspective,
the
people is called to become a "holy nation", not only in the
moral sense,
but first and above all in its own ontological reality, in its
being as
a people. Already in the Old Testament, how the identity of this
people
is to be understood is gradually made clear in the course of the
salvific events; then it was fully revealed with the coming of
Jesus
Christ. Today's Gospel presents us with a decisive moment for
this
revelation. In fact, when Jesus called the Twelve he desired to
refer
symbolically to the 12 tribes of Israel, going back to the 12
sons of
Jacob. Thus, by placing the Twelve at the centre of his new
community,
he makes it understood that he came to bring the heavenly
Father's
design to completion, even if the new face of the Church was to
appear
only at Pentecost when the Twelve, "filled with the Holy Spirit"
proclaimed the Gospel, and spoke in all the languages (Acts 2:
3-4). It
was then that the universal Church was to be made manifest,
gathered in
a single Body of which the Risen Christ is Head yet, at the same
time,
sent by him to all the nations, even to the very ends of the
earth (cf.
Mt 28: 19).
Jesus' style is unmistakeable: it is the characteristic style of
God who
likes to do great things in a poor and humble manner. The
solemnity of
the accounts of the Covenant in the Book of Exodus leaves room
in the
Gospels for humble and discreet gestures which nevertheless
contain an
enormous potential for renewal. It is the logic of the Kingdom
of God,
not by chance represented by the tiny seed that becomes a great
tree
(cf. Mt 13: 31-32). The Covenant of Sinai was accompanied by
cosmic
signs that terrified the Israelites; the beginnings of the
Church in
Galilee, on the contrary, were exempt from such manifestations
and
reflect the docility and compassion of Christ's Heart although
they
foretold another battle, another upheaval, inspired by the
forces of
evil. Christ gave to the Twelve, we heard, "authority over
unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every
infirmity" (Mt 10: 1). The Twelve must cooperate with Jesus in
establishing the Kingdom of God, that is, his beneficial,
life-giving
lordship, and life in abundance for the whole of humanity. The
Church in
essence, like Christ and together with him, is called and sent
out to
establish the Kingdom of life and to drive out the dominion of
death so
that the life of God may triumph in the world; so that God who
is Love
may triumph. Christ's work is always silent, it is not
spectacular; the
great tree of true life grows even in the humility of being
Church, of
living the Gospel every day. Precisely with these humble
beginnings the
Lord encourages us so that in the humility of the Church today
too, in
the poverty of our Christian lives, we may see his presence and
thus
have the courage to go to meet him and make his love, this force
of
peace and of true life, present on our earth. So this was God's
plan: to
spread over humanity and throughout the cosmos his love that
generates
life. It was not a spectacular process; it was a humble process,
yet it
brought with it the true power of the future and of history.
Thus it is a plan that the Lord desires to implement with
respect for
our freedom, for love, by its nature, cannot be imposed. The
Church in
Christ then is the place in which to accept and mediate God's
love. In
this perspective it is clear that the Church's holiness and
missionary
character are two sides of the same coin: only because she is
holy, that
is, filled with divine love, can the Church carry out her
mission, and
it is precisely in terms of this task that God chose her and
sanctified
her as his property. Our first duty, therefore, precisely in
order to
heal this world, is to be holy, configured to God; in this way
we
emanate a healing and transforming power that also acts on
others, on
history. Your Ecclesial Community, dear brothers and sisters,
involved
as it is in the Diocesan Synod in this period, is measuring
itself at
this moment against the double term, "holiness-mission" -
holiness is
always a force that transforms others. In this regard, it is
useful to
reflect that the Twelve Apostles were not perfect men, chosen
for their
moral and religious irreproachability. They were indeed
believers, full
of enthusiasm and zeal but at the same time marked by their
human
limitations, which were sometimes even serious. Therefore Jesus
did not
call them because they were already holy, complete, perfect, but
so that
they might become so, so that they might thereby also transform
history,
as it is for us, as it is for all Christians. In the Second
Reading we
heard the Apostle Paul's synthesis: "God shows his love for us
in that
while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rm 5: 8). The
Church is
the community of sinners who believe in God's love, letting
themselves
be transformed by him and thus become holy, sanctifying the
world.
In the light of God's providential words, today I have the joy
of
strengthening your Church on her way. It is a way of holiness
and
mission on which your Archbishop has invited you to reflect in
his
recent Pastoral Letter; it is a way he has thoroughly examined
in the
course of his Pastoral Visit and which he now intends to promote
through
the Diocesan Synod. Today's Gospel suggests to us the style of
the
mission, in other words the interior attitude that is expressed
in life
lived. It can only be Jesus' style: that of "compassion". The
Evangelist
highlights this by focusing attention on Christ looking at the
crowd. He
wrote: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,
because they
were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Mt
9: 36).
And after the call of the Twelve, this attitude is once again
apparent
in the order he gives them to go "to the lost sheep of the house
of
Israel" (Mt 10: 6). Christ's love for his people, especially the
lowly
and the poor, can be felt in these words. Christian compassion
has
nothing to do with pietism or the culture of dependency. Rather,
it is
synonymous with solidarity and sharing and is enlivened by hope.
Were
not Jesus' words to the Apostles born from hope: "Preach as you
go,
saying, "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand'" (Mt 10: 7)? This is
hope
founded on Christ's coming and ultimately coincides with his
Person and
his mystery of salvation - where Christ is, there is the Kingdom
of God,
there is the newness of the world - as the theme of the Fourth
Ecclesial
Convention of Italy celebrated in Verona clearly recalled: the
Risen
Christ is the "hope of the world".
Enlivened by the hope in which you have been saved, may you too,
brothers and sisters of this ancient Church of Brindisi, be
signs and
instruments of the compassion and mercy of Christ. To the
Archbishop and
priests I fervently repeat the words of the divine Teacher:
"Heal the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You
received
without pay, give without pay" (Mt 10: 8). This mandate is once
again
addressed in the first place to you today. The Spirit who acted
in
Christ and in the Twelve, is the same as the One who works in
you and
enables you to perform among your people, in this territory,
signs of
the Kingdom of love, justice and peace that is coming, indeed,
that is
already in the world. Yet, through the grace of Baptism and
Confirmation, all the members of the People of God participate
in Jesus'
mission if in different ways. I am thinking of consecrated
people who
profess the vows of poverty, virginity and obedience; I am
thinking of
Christian married couples and
of you, lay faithful committed to the Ecclesial Community and to
society, both personally and as a group. Dear brothers and
sisters,
Jesus' desire to increase the number of workers in the Lord's
harvest
(cf. Mt 9: 38) is addressed to you all. This desire, which is
asking to
be made a prayer, reminds us in the first place of seminarians
and of
the new Seminary in this Archdiocese; it makes us realize that
in a
broad sense the Church is one great "seminary", beginning with
the
family and extending to the parish communities, the associations
and
movements of apostolic commitment. We are all, with the variety
of our
charisms and ministries, called to work in the Lord's vineyard.
Dear brothers and sisters of Brindisi, continue in this spirit
on the
way on which you have set out. May your Patrons, St Leucius and
St
Oronzo, both of whom arrived from the East in the second century
to
water this land with the living water of the Word of God, watch
over
you. May the relics of St Theodore of Amasea, venerated in the
Cathedral
of Brindisi, remind you that giving one's life for Christ is the
most
effective preaching. May St Lawrence, a son of this City who, in
Francis
of Assisi's footsteps, became an apostle of peace in a Europe
torn apart
by wars and disputes, obtain for you the gift of authentic
brotherhood.
I entrust you all to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother
of Hope and Star of Evangelization. May the Blessed Virgin help
you to
remain in the love of Christ, so that you may bear abundant
fruit for
the glory of God the Father and the salvation of the world.
Amen.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Permission by Zenit to distribute to Assisi-L
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