EUROPE/SWITZERLAND - October month of the Eucharist and Mission: “Let us allow ourselves to be touched by the grace this sacrament of communion” say Swiss Bishops

Friburg (Fides Service) - “Every year in October we are asked to pray and reflect and act to support the universal mission of the Church”, said Abbot of St. Maurice Joseph Roduit head of the Missions Commission of the Swiss Catholic Bishops’ Conference in a message “October month of Mission and Eucharist”. On behalf of the Bishops of Switzerland he said that especially in the month of October pastoral care should focus on this theme.
Abbot Roduit also stressed the need for new evangelisation in the West: “Our western industrialised world needs to rediscover hope, find reasons for believing and hoping. Our children need to know that other children need signs of their love. Our young people need to be introduced to projects which distance them from a comfortable life and futile pleasures. Adults too need a to model their lives on a higher ideal that personal wellbeing.”
In the second part of the message Abbot Roduit mentioned the Year of the Eucharist called by Pope John Paul II, October 2004-2005. “It is important to close this year in the best possible manner” he said recalling the apostolic letter “Mane nobiscum Domine” (28), where the Pope wrote: “Can we not make this Year of the Eucharist an occasion for diocesan and parish communities to commit themselves in a particular way to responding with fraternal solicitude to one of the many forms of poverty present in our world? I think for example of the tragedy of hunger which plagues hundreds of millions of human beings, the diseases which afflict developing countries, the loneliness of the elderly, the hardships faced by the unemployed, the struggles of immigrants. These are evils which are present—albeit to a different degree—even in areas of immense wealth. We cannot delude ourselves: by our mutual love and, in particular, by our concern for those in need we will be recognised as true followers of Christ (cf. Jn 13:35; Mt 25:31-46). This will be the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is judged”.
At the end of the message Abbot Roduit said to Swiss Catholics: “In this Year of the Eucharist, let us allow ourselves to be touched by the grace this sacrament of communion in which Jesus gives and shares himself as an example to follow” referring also to Mission Sunday collections on 23 October. (MS) (Agenzia Fides 29/9/2005 - 30 righe, 398 parole)