Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Caracas (Agenzia Fides) – “With the appeal to the Continental Mission that was made in the Fifth General Bishops’ Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean, and inspired by our Plenary Council, we ask that all Catholics may allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit in a new Pentecost, inflamed with the new apostolic and missionary zeal that Pope John Paul II asked of us, for the spiritual renewal and transformation of our country.” This is the appeal being made by the Venezuelan Bishops to all Catholics, asking that they enter into an authentic spiritual renewal, through a spiritual publication they issued at the close of their Plenary Assembly, “Let us renew our minds and hearts.” The text is inspired by the pastoral guidelines of the Plenary Council of Venezuela, celebrated last year and by the final Aparecida Document.
The Bishops firstly point out some of the most recent fruits of conversion, solidarity, and reconciliation such as a greater familiarity with the Word of God and a greater appreciation for it, a renewal in catechesis and in living the liturgy, the strengthening of the unity of the Church, greater meaning in the public religious manifestations of piety towards the Eucharist and Our Lady... However, there are also grave moral faults in social, family, and economic areas, that are manifest in different ways and affect the children of the Church: ethic relativism, tendency towards secularism, diminishing of religious practices and the reception of Sacraments, the increasing number of sects, ideologies, and new spiritualist trends: New Age, spiritism, tarot, witchcraft, superstition, esoterism, as well as the climate of violence that reigns in the country and impedes moral and spiritual peace in society.
Thus, the Bishops suggest that the people live in authentic Christian spirituality, which comes from the personal encounter with Jesus Christ and is communion with God and with our brothers. To that end, they make several suggestions, among which they ask all pastoral care workers to “form themselves in the spirituality of communion with God and the brothers, cultivating prayer life, fraternal dialogue, and participation in community life throughout families, communities and parishes.” They also ask that priests propose the Word of God to the faithful, “as a gift from the Father for an encounter with the living Christ.”
In addressing the communities, they recommend that these become authentic schools of prayer, “intensifying Eucharistic worship and the prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, especially on Sunday and feast days, as a form of prayer using the Word of God and being united in the prayer of the entire Church.” They also ask the priests and pastoral agents to encourage the People of God in living Sunday as “the special day of the faith, the original Christian feast and weekly commemoration of Easter,” urging the faithful to participate in the Sunday celebration. As the priests are ministers of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Bishops ask that they “offer themselves with generosity to the faithful in the practice of this sacrament, singular source of forgiveness and grace, with which we can confront the crisis of sin” and with Confession, Spiritual Direction, which “is an efficacious means for the growth and maturity of the believer.”
Another suggestion the Bishops make is regarding the penitential practice of the Church, “which is geared toward the following of Christ, demanding renunciation and constant effort.” With that, they invite the faithful “to live the penitential spirit, especially in times and days of penance marked by the Church over the course of the Liturgical Year, as well as the practices of fasting and abstinence, sharing our food, taking an active role in humanitarian groups, non-government organizations, and solidarity campaigns.”
The Bishops also promise to support the Church communities, youth groups, Bible study circles, prayer groups, and “all those who foster spiritual growth and piety in the People of God.” They recommend that families pray the Rosary together, the blessing of the meals, the invocation of the Lord’s presence in important moments of life, the sanctification of their work, and the daily offering.
“In this moment of grace for Venezuela, a republic that is consecrated to the Blessed Sacrament, we place all people and institutions, the entire nation, in the hands of Jesus Christ, commending the moral and spiritual renewal of our country to the intercession of Our Mother the Virgin Mary, who has accompanied our people’s faith since its beginnings and has reaffirmed its Catholic identity,” the Bishops concluded. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 14/7/2008)
