The invitation to "awaken the faith,"
once again bringing the evangelical message among so many "non-Christians," that today because of secularization have forgotten who Jesus is, was addressed by Pope Francis to thousands of adherents of the Neocatechumenal Way, who filled Paul VI Hall in the morning of Friday, March 6th.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning to all of you! And thank you, thank you, because you have come to this meeting.
Peter's task is to confirm his brothers and sisters in the faith. So you too have wanted with this sign to ask the Successor of Peter to confirm your call, to support your mission, to bless your charism. And I want to confirm your call, support your mission and bless your charism. I’m doing that not because he [pointing to Kiko] has paid me: No! I’m doing it because I want to. You will go forth in the name of Christ into the whole world to bring His Gospel: may Christ precede you, may Christ accompany you and may Christ fulfill the salvation of which you are bearers!
Together with you I greet all the Cardinals and Bishops who accompany you today and who in their dioceses support your mission. In particular I greet the initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way, Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernández, with Father Mario Pezzi: I also would like to express my appreciation and my encouragement for the great benefit they bring to the Church through the Way. I always say that the Neocatechumenal Way is doing great good in the Church.
As Kiko said, our meeting today is a missionary sending, in obedience to what Christ asked us and we heard in the gospel. And I am particularly glad that this mission of yours is carried out thanks to Christian families who, united in a community, have the mission to give the signs of faith that attract people to the beauty of the Gospel, according to the words of Christ: “Love one another as I have loved you; by this all will know that you are my disciples"(cf. Jn 13:34), and "that you may be one so that the world will believe"(cf. Jn 17:21).
once again bringing the evangelical message among so many "non-Christians," that today because of secularization have forgotten who Jesus is, was addressed by Pope Francis to thousands of adherents of the Neocatechumenal Way, who filled Paul VI Hall in the morning of Friday, March 6th.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning to all of you! And thank you, thank you, because you have come to this meeting.
Peter's task is to confirm his brothers and sisters in the faith. So you too have wanted with this sign to ask the Successor of Peter to confirm your call, to support your mission, to bless your charism. And I want to confirm your call, support your mission and bless your charism. I’m doing that not because he [pointing to Kiko] has paid me: No! I’m doing it because I want to. You will go forth in the name of Christ into the whole world to bring His Gospel: may Christ precede you, may Christ accompany you and may Christ fulfill the salvation of which you are bearers!
Together with you I greet all the Cardinals and Bishops who accompany you today and who in their dioceses support your mission. In particular I greet the initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way, Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernández, with Father Mario Pezzi: I also would like to express my appreciation and my encouragement for the great benefit they bring to the Church through the Way. I always say that the Neocatechumenal Way is doing great good in the Church.
As Kiko said, our meeting today is a missionary sending, in obedience to what Christ asked us and we heard in the gospel. And I am particularly glad that this mission of yours is carried out thanks to Christian families who, united in a community, have the mission to give the signs of faith that attract people to the beauty of the Gospel, according to the words of Christ: “Love one another as I have loved you; by this all will know that you are my disciples"(cf. Jn 13:34), and "that you may be one so that the world will believe"(cf. Jn 17:21).
These communities, called by the
Bishops, are formed by a priest and four or
five families, with children including
grown-up ones, and are a "missio ad
gentes", with a mandate to evangelize non-
Christians. Non-Christians who’ve never
heard about Jesus Christ and the many
non-Christians who’ve forgotten who Jesus
Christ was, who Jesus Christ is: baptized
non-Christians, but to whom
secularization, worldliness and many other
things have made them forget their faith.
Awaken that faith!
So, even before words, it is with your witness of life that you manifest the heart of Christ's revelation: that God loves man to the point of laying down His life for us and that he was raised by the Father to give us the grace to give our lives for others. Today’s world badly needs this great message. How much solitude, how much suffering, how much distance from God in the many peripheries of Europe and America, and in so many cities of Asia! How much today’s humanity needs, in every latitude, to hear that God loves us and that love is possible! These Christian communities, thanks to you missionary families, have the essential task of making this message visible. And what is this message? “Christ is risen, Christ lives. Christ lives amongst us.”
You have received the strength to leave everything behind and set off for distant lands thanks to a way of Christian initiation, experienced and lived in small communities, where you have rediscovered the immense riches of your Baptism. This is the Neocatechumenal Way, a true gift of Providence to the Church of our times, as my Predecessors have already stated; especially St. John Paul II when he said: "I recognize the Neocatechumenal Way as an itinerary of Catholic formation, valid for society and for our times." (Epist. Ogniquavolta, August 30, 1990: AAS 82 [1990], 1515).
So, even before words, it is with your witness of life that you manifest the heart of Christ's revelation: that God loves man to the point of laying down His life for us and that he was raised by the Father to give us the grace to give our lives for others. Today’s world badly needs this great message. How much solitude, how much suffering, how much distance from God in the many peripheries of Europe and America, and in so many cities of Asia! How much today’s humanity needs, in every latitude, to hear that God loves us and that love is possible! These Christian communities, thanks to you missionary families, have the essential task of making this message visible. And what is this message? “Christ is risen, Christ lives. Christ lives amongst us.”
You have received the strength to leave everything behind and set off for distant lands thanks to a way of Christian initiation, experienced and lived in small communities, where you have rediscovered the immense riches of your Baptism. This is the Neocatechumenal Way, a true gift of Providence to the Church of our times, as my Predecessors have already stated; especially St. John Paul II when he said: "I recognize the Neocatechumenal Way as an itinerary of Catholic formation, valid for society and for our times." (Epist. Ogniquavolta, August 30, 1990: AAS 82 [1990], 1515).
The Way is based on the three
dimensions of the Church which are the
Word, the Liturgy and the Community.
Therefore the obedient and constant
listening to the Word of God; the
Eucharistic celebration in small
community after the first Vespers of
Sunday, the family celebration of lauds on
Sunday with all the children gathered
round and the sharing of one’s faith with
other brothers and sisters are at the origin
of the many gifts that the Lord has given to
you, as well as the numerous vocations to
the priesthood and consecrated life.
It is a great consolation to see all of this, because it confirms that the Spirit of God is alive and active in His Church, even today, and that He answers the needs of modern man.
On several occasions I have insisted on the need that the Church has to move from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry (cf. Ap. Exhort. Evangelii gaudium, 15).
How many times, within the Church, we have Jesus inside and we don’t let him out. .... How many times! This is the most important thing to do if we do not want the waters to stagnate within the Church. For years now the Way has been undertaking these missio ad gentes among non- Christians, for an implantatio Ecclesiae, a new presence of Church, where the Church does not exist or is no longer able to reach people. "How much joy you give us with your presence and your activity!" - said Blessed Pope Paul VI during the very first audience with you (May 8, 1974: Teachings of Pope Paul VI, XII [1974], 407). I also make these words my own and encourage you to go forward, entrusting you to the Blessed Virgin Mary who inspired the Neocatechumenal Way. She intercedes for you before her divine Son.
My dearly beloved, may the Lord accompany you. Go forth, with my Blessing!
It is a great consolation to see all of this, because it confirms that the Spirit of God is alive and active in His Church, even today, and that He answers the needs of modern man.
On several occasions I have insisted on the need that the Church has to move from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry (cf. Ap. Exhort. Evangelii gaudium, 15).
How many times, within the Church, we have Jesus inside and we don’t let him out. .... How many times! This is the most important thing to do if we do not want the waters to stagnate within the Church. For years now the Way has been undertaking these missio ad gentes among non- Christians, for an implantatio Ecclesiae, a new presence of Church, where the Church does not exist or is no longer able to reach people. "How much joy you give us with your presence and your activity!" - said Blessed Pope Paul VI during the very first audience with you (May 8, 1974: Teachings of Pope Paul VI, XII [1974], 407). I also make these words my own and encourage you to go forward, entrusting you to the Blessed Virgin Mary who inspired the Neocatechumenal Way. She intercedes for you before her divine Son.
My dearly beloved, may the Lord accompany you. Go forth, with my Blessing!
The Pope has blessed the Way and have given us his full support!!! Praise be to God! :-)
ReplyDeleteAlthough Pope Francis confirms his support of The Way(Neocatechumenal Way) in the beginning of his address, there was a line later on where he re-emphasized Evangelii Guadium...
ReplyDelete"On several occasions I have insisted on the need that the Church has to move from a pastoral ministry of mere conservation to a decidedly missionary pastoral ministry (cf. Ap. Exhort. Evangelii gaudium, 15)."
In this he confirms the need again for the church(people of God) to go beyond the walls of the physical church, to go out with a missionary zeal.
Isnt this the NCW? Doesnt this confirm that the NCW is in the right direction?
Then some will say, So Why do you invite the parishioners at Sunday Mass to attend the catechesis?
Well, Pope Francis in the first part of his address shares this...
"These communities, called by the Bishops,......with a mandate to evangelize.........non-Christians who’ve forgotten who Jesus Christ was, who Jesus Christ is: baptized non-Christians, but to whom secularization, worldliness and many other things have made them forget their faith. Awaken that faith!"
This is why it is very important that the announcement is made at the Mass because it is possible that there are many sitting in the pews, going through the rituals, responding to the prayers but do not understand and very much possible that the meaning of faith is dead, it needs awakening.
What the critics dont know or maybe dont realize is that even before the announcement at the Mass, the communities go out to the homes with the invitations also.
Despite all the criticisms and false interpretations of this address of Pope Francis to the NCW, most especially the idea that the Pope was forcefully tasked to support this occasion, Pope Francis makes his zeal for the NCW clear by saying, "I’m doing it because I want to. You will go forth in the name of Christ into the whole world to bring His Gospel: may Christ precede you, may Christ accompany you and may Christ fulfill the salvation of which you are bearers"
These people, dear Antoine, must be hallucinating or else have no clue how the Vatican works if they believe that "that the Pope was forcefully tasked to support this occasion". Or else they just want to disparage everything for the sake of disparaging, hoping to bring down Archbishop. This is very unhealthy on their part. They will not succeed. Period.
ReplyDelete"no clue how the Vatican works "
ReplyDeleteyeah, coz everyone knows the Vatican makes binding decisions about the liturgy in private and verbally.
Its a wonder, considering how much the present Pope loves the Neocatechumenal Way and thinks it is the answer to all our prayers, that he elected to keep them away from the discussions of the Synod on the Family. Something doesn't quite add up.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I wouldn't be too quick to claim the praise of this Pope, who may very well turn out to the worst, most modernist Pope of recent times.
And now the Pope 'may well turn out to be the worst'... Not only the Archbishop is sick or evil (Tim Rohr said this) but now even the Pope is 'the worst'.
DeleteFor the record. None of the ecclesial realities were invited for the Extraordinary Synod on the Family
Why do we not accept the obvious? The Pope made an amazing speech and endorsed fully the Neocatechumenal Way as it is. .