VATICAN - In a meeting with his clergy of Rome diocese Pope Benedict XVI speaks about youth pastoral, knowledge of the Scriptures, the place of Church Movements, implementation of the Council, sacred art a channel for communicating the faith

Saturday, 24 February 2007

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On Thursday 22 February Pope Benedict XVI had his traditional meeting with his clergy of the diocese of Rome. After being greeted by Cardinal Vicar Camillo Ruini the Pope answered questions posed by a few of the priests present. Here are excerpts of the Pope’s replies:
1. The mission of the Marian Shrine in the diocese, dedicated to Our Lady of Divine Love, Madonna del Divino Amore. “The essential service… is to be a place of prayer, sacramental life and a life of lived charity … We learn from Mary to speak personally with the Lord, to ponder and keep God’s words in our life and our heart so that they may be true nourishment.... in the Liturgy the Lord teaches us to pray, first of all giving us His Word, then leading us through the Eucharistic Prayer into communion with his mystery of life, cross and resurrection… the Liturgy is then above all prayer: listening and answering, in the responsorial Psalm, in the prayer of the Church, in the great Eucharistic Prayer. We celebrate the Liturgy well if our attitude is one of prayer «orante», uniting ourselves with the mystery of Christ and his dialogue with the Father … popular piety is our strength because these prayers are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Even people who are not very close to the life of the Church, or have little understanding of the faith are moved by these prayers. We need only to «illuminate» these gestures, «purify» this tradition so it may become active Church life … I am very grateful that there is a return of Eucharistic Adoration … I can say that I will soon sign the post synodal Exhortation on the Eucharist which will be made available to the whole Church. It is a Document to be meditated… Lastly, the Shrine as a place of charity caritas. I find this logical and very necessary.”
2. The Formation of the faith for the new generations. “Young people really deserve to be given priority in our pastoral work, because they live in a world which is distant from God… I think it is most important for them to find people— both of their age and more mature — in whom they see that Christian life is possible, reasonable and feasible… The «catechumenate» lived in a new way — I mean as a shared journey of life, a shared experience that it is possible to live in this way— is of vital importance. Only with experience can we begin to understand… we cannot expect to live a Christian life one hundred immediately, without doubts, without sins. We must realise that we are on a journey, that we can and we must learn, that we can and must gradually convert our hearts… With regard to the contents, I would say it is important to know God. The theme of «God» is essential. Only when we realise that Jesus is not some great prophet, or world famous religious figure, He is the Face of God, then we discover Christ’s greatness and find God … Then of course we must understand that the Church is a marvellous companion for our journey. In the Church the Word of God is always alive and Christ is not only a figure of the past, He is present. This means we must rediscover the sacramental life… On this path our companions are of course the saints. Despite many problems they lived Sacred Scripture and were true and living «interpretations» of Sacred Scripture… and then of course we have Mary, the Mother of the Word. Mary helps us to progress as Christians and to come to know her Son.”
3. Promotion of knowledge of the Bible. “The Bible in its entirety is something truly great to be discovered gradually… I think a first point is to read Sacred Scripture in its unity and entirety. The various books are part of a journey and we come to realise this only when we see these as parts of a whole, parts of same path, one explaining the other, … Sacred Scripture must always be read in the light of Christ... the real proprietor of the God’s Word is always His people guided by the Holy Spirit, and inspiration is a process: the Holy Spirit leads, the People receive. Sacred Scripture is therefore the path of a people, God’s people. Sacred Scripture must always be read well. But we can only do this if we walk within this subject, the People of God which lives, is renewed and re-founded by Christ, while retaining the same identity… Therefore I would say we have three related dimensions. The historical dimension, the Christological dimension and the ecclesiological dimension— of the pilgrim people — penetrate one another… the Word is always so much greater than you think. And this must be said in a critical manner with regard to a certain part of modern exegesis which thinks it understands everything and therefore, after the interpretation it has given, there is nothing more to say. This is not true. The Word is always greater that any exegesis of the Fathers or critical exegesis”.
4. Church Movements and new Communities. “In every epoch new Church movements have been born … they insert themselves not without suffering and difficulty in the life of the Church. Saint Benedict had to correct the initial direction of monasticism. And so in our own day the Lord, the Holy Spirit, gives us new initiatives with new aspects of the Christian life: lived by human persons with their limits, these initiatives also create difficulties. The first rule is therefore: never stifle charisma, be grateful even when they are troublesome. The second rule is this: the Church is one; if Movements are truly gifts of the Holy Spirit, they become part of the Church and serve her and patient dialogue between Bishops and Movements produces a fecund form where these elements become elements to edify the Church of today and tomorrow .”
5. Pastoral work, true life of the Church, nourished by the ecclesiology of the Council. “Pastoral activity must never be a simple strategy, an activity of administration, it must always be spiritual work. Certainly we cannot do without the former because we are on this earth and these matters need attention … but the emphasis must be on the essence of the shepherd, on spiritual work… the shepherd takes priority. This means that he himself in the first place must live of God’s Word: he must be a man of prayer, a man of forgiveness and encounter with the Lord, a man of charity, lived and achieved… it is fundamental to spiritualise daily pastoral work. This is easier said than done, but we must try. In order to spiritualise our work we must follow the Lord… there is a real need to reserve a little time for the Lord: the celebration of Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, daily meditation, even brief, following the Liturgy, the Rosary… the ecclesiology of the Council. I feel this ecclesiology needs to be more deeply interiorised, both «Lumen gentium» and «Ad gentes», which is also an ecclesiological document, and also that of minor documents, and then that of «Dei Verbum». By interiorising this vision we can draw our people into this vision which understands that the Church is not simply a vast structure, one of many super-national bodies. While the Church is a body, she is the Body of Christ and therefore a spiritual body, as Saint Paul says. She is a spiritual reality. I think it is most important for people to see that the Church is not a super-national organisation, or an administrative body or power, although she engages in social and super-national work she is not a social agency, instead she is a spiritual body … the homily is always a wonderful opportunity to be close to the people and to communicate the spirituality taught by the Council”.
6. The significance and value of Eucharistic reparation. “This discourse has become difficult … I think we need to go to the root, the reach the Lord himself who offered reparation for the sin of the world, and to try to make up, to atone: let’s say, strike a balance between the plus of evil and the plus of good. Therefore on the great scales of the world we cannot leave the great negative plus, we must give at least the equivalent weight to good. This fundamental idea is founded on what was achieved by Christ … against this great weight of the evil in the world which pulls it down, the Lord brings an ever greater weight, the weight of infinite love which enters the world … I think theology should do more to make this reality of reparation understood… I feel our language is still insufficient to make it understood by us and then also by others. It is not a matter of offering the blood of God to a cruel God. But rather God himself with his love must enter the suffering of history to create not only a balance, but a plus of love which is stronger that the existing abundance of evil”.
7. Unity of faith and pluralism in theology. “What an important question!... I would simply say that theology has always been multiple. We think of the Fathers in the Middle Ages, the Franciscan school, the Dominican school, then the late Middle Ages and so on. As we have said the Word of God is always greater than us. This is why we can never exhaust the range of this Word and different approaches, different types of reflection are necessary. I would just say: on the one hand in his professional responsibility and capacity the theologian must seek paths to meet the demands and challenges of our day; and on the other he must always realise that everything is based on the faith of the Church and therefore to the faith of the Church it must always return. I am convinced that if theologians are personally and deeply in the faith and realise that their work consists of reflection on the faith, they will reach conciliation of unity and plurality.”
8. Sacred art as a channel to communicate the faith. “Italy is so rich in works of art and art is an inexhaustible and incredible source for catechesis. For us it is a duty to know and understand it well, not like some art historians who interpret it only formally according to artistic technique. Instead we must enter the contents which inspires all great art making it come alive. I feel it is a duty, also in the formation of future priests, to become familiar with these treasures and so transform into living catechesis what they contain as it speaks to us today. This will also help to make the Church appear not as an organism of oppression or power, as some wish to demonstrate, but rather an organism of spiritual fecundity unique in history. This is also a sign of the Church’s vitality despite her weaknesses and sins she has always been a great spiritual and inspiring reality and has given us this treasure.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 24/2/2007 - righe 121, parole 1857)


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