VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI calls the entire Church to be involved in preparation for the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist “with prayer and reflection, giving value to every opportunity, event and meeting”. He also has a special word for hurrican victims in the United States and people in Iraq

Castel Gandolfo (Fides Service) - In his reflection before the Angelus prayer on Sunday 4 September Pope Benedict XVI called the entire Church to feel involved in preparation for the Synod of Bishops 2-23 October on the theme “The Eucharist: source and summit of the life and mission of the Church “and to take part with prayer and reflection, giving greater value to every opportunity, event and meeting”.
Speaking at his Summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Father remarked on the imminent conclusion of the special “Year of the Eucharist called by the late dearly beloved Pope John Paul II to revive Christian faith, wonder and love for this important sacrament which constitutes the very treasure of the Church”. The Pope recalled the devotion with which John Paul II celebrated Mass “and how much time he spent in adoring, silent prayer in front of the Tabernacle”, and at the hour of his death he offered his life with that of Christ in the Mass being celebrated at his bedside. “His earthly life came to an end on the Octave of Easter, right at the heart of this Eucharistic Year in which we have passed from his great pontificate to mine. With joy therefore, from the beginning of this service to which the Lord has called me, I reaffirm the centrality of the Sacrament of the real presence of Christ in the life of the Church and that of individual Christians.”
The Pope went on to recall references to the mystery of the Eucharist also on the occasion of World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, during the Vigil on Saturday 20 August, at Marienfeld, “which has adoration of the Eucharist as its culmination”. Several churches in Cologne, Bonn and Düsseldorf organised twenty-four hour adoration with the participation of many young people. Lastly Benedict XVI said he hoped that in every community participation in the Eucharist would be “ever more fervid and frequent”, and in particular he urged Catholics “make holy with joy the ‘Lord’s Day’ Sunday, a holy day for Christians”.
After the Angelus prayer the Pope turned his thoughts to the hurricane victims in America and the people killed in a panic stampede in Baghdad: “In recent days we were all saddened by the disaster caused by a hurricane in the United States of America, New Orleans especially. I wish to assure my prayers for the dead and their families, for the injured and the displaced, for the sick, the children, the old people; I bless those involved in difficult work of rescue and rebuilding. I have charged the President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes to carry my solidarity to the stricken people. My thoughts go also to the people in Iraq who last Wednesday saw hundreds of their fellow citizens , mostly old people, women and children, gathered in Baghdad for a religious commemoration, killed in an irreversible stampede of panic. May Almighty God touch every heart so that an atmosphere of reconciliation and reciprocal trust may be installed at last in that travailed land.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 5/9/2005; righe 38, parole 527)