Mariazell (Fides Service) - Last weekend an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 Catholics from eight different central European countries made a Pilgrimage of Peoples to the shrine of Our Lady of Mariazell in Austria (see Fides del 21 May 2004). The event concluded with a special Message from Mariazell addressed to all Christians read by the Bishop Presidents of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria who organised the pilgrimage.
In the Message from Mariazell the Bishops urge Christians not to be afraid to show their faith: “We urge all the people entrusted to our Shepherds’ care: do not hide your faith! Don’t stand on the edge of the path as we walk to our common future! Come with us, think with us, speak to us, work with us, build friendship with all people of goodwill!”.
There follows a list of seven requests:
1. “Help people to see Christ”, because many people in Europe know nothing about Christ, or have only a superficial knowledge of him, we must be his missionaries.
2. “Learn to pray and teach people to pray”, because Europe will only be blessed if there are many people who pray, together and individually, and for this to happen “our parishes and communities must be ever more schools of prayer”.
3. “Grow in your knowledge of our faith” so that you can share it with people of other religions and lifestyles.
4. “Let the symbols of our faith be seen”: every day we are flooded with words and pictures and very few speak of God or the Church: we encourage you to make the cross and other Christians symbols visible at home and in public.
5. “Safeguard the tradition of Sunday”: for Christians, Sunday is a holy day, the day for praising God, the day of the family.
6. “Protect and love life”: Christians love life from beginning to end, in health and in sickness, and they support and encourage marriage and the family. The family is the basis of the Church and of society.
7. “Promote solidarity in Europe and world wide”: during the event, “Katholikentag Mitteleuropeo” Catholics from the eight participant countries made a special commitment to engage in activity of solidarity and to promote solidarity. At the end of the message the Bishops rallied the people in their care with this call “Come, let us walk forward on our journey with our Continent with all Christians, with all humanity!” The message ended with a prayer to Our Lady of Mariazell to accompany the journey and to the Holy Spirit to grant the necessary strength for the journey. (MS) (Agenzia Fides, 24/5/2004 - 30 righe, 409 parole)