Pope to recently-appointed bishops:
'Take enough time to be with Christ and
imitate him in rendering a service of love'
11 Sept. 11 (RV) - Pope Benedict today received recently appointed bishops who are participating in a course sponsored by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
Speaking to the newly appointed bishops, the Holy Father said their course of study in Rome offered them a real opportunity to focus on the duties of their ministry and to renew the profession of their faith.
The Pope expressed his spiritual closeness to these men recently called to the Episcopal ministry and acknowledged the challenges they face especially in Christian communities where living the faith is at times not easy and where in addition to various forms of poverty, sometimes forms of persecution can occur because of ones Christian faith.
The Holy Father said it was the bishops' task to give these people hope, to share their difficulties, drawing on the charity of Christ.
But the Pope also underlined that in order to imitate Christ they must themselves devote adequate time to be with him "and contemplate the intimacy of a prayerful heart to heart conversation.
The bishop, Pope Benedict added, “is called to serve the Church in the style of God made man. He is above all a servant and minister of the Word of God, which is his real strength”.
The Pope went on to say that he knew that communities entrusted to Bishops, were in many cases in the minority, but the Holy Father encouraged them to continue to preach the Gospel.
He also urged the Bishops not to give in to pessimism and despair, because, he said, the Holy Spirit guides the Church and gives it the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelization, reaching areas hitherto unexplored.
Finally, Pope Benedict stressed that Christian truth is attractive and persuasive precisely because it responds to the deep need of human existence, announcing convincingly that Christ is the Saviour of all mankind.
Here is a full translation of the Holy Father's address to the bishops, delivered in Italian:
Dear brothers in the Episcopate,
I am happy to welcome you today and I greet you with great affection, on the occasion of the continuing education seminar that the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples has organized for you, bishops who have recently been appointed.
These days of reflection in Rome - to deepen your understanding of the tasks of your ministry and to renew the profession of your faith at the tomb of St. Peter - are also a singular experience of collegiality, based on episcopal ordination and hierarchical communion.
May this experience of fraternity, of prayer, and of study in the Apostolic See, be for each of you, a communion with the Successor of Peter and your brother bishops, together in concern for the entire Church.
I thank Cardinal Ivan Dias for his kind words, as well as the secretary and adjunct secretary of the dicastery, who together with their collaborators, organized this seminar.
On you, dear brothers, who were recently called to the episocopal ministry, the Church places not a few hopes and accompanies you with prayers and affection. I, too, wish to assure you of my spiritual closeness in your daily service to the Gospel.
I know the challenges you must face, especially in the Christian communities who live their faith in circumtances that are not easy - where, other than various forms of poverty, there are also forms of persecution because of their Christian faith.
The task falls on you to nourish their hope, to share their difficulties, inspiring them to the charity of Christ that consists in attention, tenderness, compassion, acceptance, availability and interest in the problems of the people, for whom one must be ready to devote one's life (cfr Benedict XVI, Message for World Missionary Day 2008, No.2).
In every task you do, you are sustained by the Holy Spirit, who, at your Ordination, configured you to Christ, the supreme and eternal priest. Indeed, the episcopal ministry can be understood only starting with Christ, source of the one supreme Priesthood, to which the bishop has been made to take part.
Thus, he should "commit himself to assume a lifestyle that imitates the kenosis of Christ, the poor and humble servant, so that the exercise of his pastoral ministry may be a consistent reflection of Jesus, Servant of God, and make him, like Jesus, close to everyone, from the greatest to the least" (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Pastores gregis, 11).
But to imitate Christ, one must dedicate sufficient time to 'be with him' and to contemplate him in the prayerful intimacy of a heart-to-heart conversation.
To be frequently in the presence of God, to be a man of prayer and adoration: the pastor is called to do this before everything else. Through prayer, he becomes, as the Letter to the Hebrews says (cfr 9,11-14), victim and altar for the salvation of the world.
The life of a bishop should be a continuous offering to God for the salvation of his Church, and especially, for the salvation of the souls who are entrusted to him.
This pastoral condition of self-offering also constitutes the true dignity of the bishop - which he derives from being a servant of everyone, to the point of giving his life.
Indeed, the episcopate, like the priesthood, must never be interpreted according to worldly criteria. It is a service of love. The Bishop is called to serve the Church in the style of God who became man, becoming ever more fully the servant of the Lord and servant of mankind.
He is, above all, a servant and minister of the Word of God, which is also the bishop's true strength. The primary duty of announcing the Gospel, accompanied by the celebration of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, as the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores gregis underscores:
"If the duty of proclaiming the Gospel is incumbent upon the whole Church and each of her children, it is particularly so upon Bishops, who on the day of their sacred ordination, which places them in apostolic succession, assume as one of their principal responsibilities the proclamation of the Gospel; 'with the courage imparted by the Spirit, they are to call people to faith and strengthen them in living faith'." (No. 26).
The Bishop must nourish himself abundantly from the Word of salvation, placing himself in continuous listening to it, as St. Augustine says: "Even if we are pastors, the pastor must listen not only to what the Gospel says to pastors, but also what it says to the flock" (Doscourse 47,2).
At the same time, acceptance of the Word and the fruit of proclaiming the Good News are clsely linked to the quality of one's faith adn prayer. Those who are called to the ministry of preaching must believe in the power of God that comes from the Sacraments and which accompanies them in their task to sanctify, govern and announce. They must believe and live what they announce and celebrate.
In this respect, the words of the Servant of God Paul VI are very relevant: "The testimony of faith has become more than ever an essential condition for profound efficacy in preaching" (Ap. Exh. Evangelii nuntiandi, 76).
I know that the communities entrusted to you find themselves, so to speak, at a religious, anthropological and social 'frontier', and in many cases, are a minority presence. In this context, the mission of a Bishop is particularly demanding.
But it is precisely in such circumstances that, through your ministry, the Gospel can show all of its salvific potential. You must not yield to pessimism and to discouragement, because it is the Holy Spirit that guides the Church and gives her, with his powerful breath, the courage to persevere and even to find new methods of evangelization in order to reach areas that have heretofore been unexplored.
Christian truth is attractive and persuasive precisely because it responds to the profound need of human existence, announcing in a convincing way that Christ is the only Savior of the whole man and of all men. This annnouncement remains valid today as it was at the start of Christianity, when the first great missionary dissemination of the Gospel took place.
Dear brothers in the episcopate, it is in the power of the Holy spirit that you can have the wisdom and the strength to make your Churches witnesses to salvation and to peace. He will guide you along the paths of your episcopal ministry, which I entrust to the materinal itnercession of teh Most Blessed Mary, Queen of the Apostles.
On my part, I am with you in my prayers and and an affectionate Apostolic Blessing which I impart to each of you and to all the faithful of your communities.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/09/2010 13:00]