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The website of the Italian bishops' conference CEI has made available the message of the Holy Father, who is also Primate of Italy, to the autumn general assembly of the Italian bishops, which opened Monday afternoon in Assisi. A translation follows.
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco delivered the opening statement, which the 11/9/10 issue of OR carries in full (so it is strange it does not also carry the Holy Father's message).
The message is no ordinary 'best wishes, hope your work turns out well' - it is, in fact, an unusual message that focuses on the importance of liturgy, and leads up to it by citing the attitude that St. Francis always had towards the Eucharist (the latest of Benedict XVI's frequent references to St. Francis), and from there, to the new Italian translation of the Roman Missal which the assembly will examine and put to a vote. It is an eloquent message, at times poetic, that ties in somehow with the Pope's homily at Sagrada Familia... and another powerful message for priests and bishops.
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
to the 62nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE ITALIAN BISHOPS CONFERENCE IN ASSISI
To my Venerated Brother
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco
President of the Italian Bishops' Conference
With this message that I send you on the occasion of the General Assembly of the Italian bishops' conference, I make a spiritual pilgrimage to Assisi to be with you and personally reach out to you and to each of the bishops gathered - caring pastors of the beloved local churches in Italy.
Your concern and commitment are manifested in the responsible governance of the dioceses in paternal closeness to your priests and parish communities. An eloquent sign is your attention to the subject of education that you have taken on as a priority in the decade to come.
The Pastoral Orientations of the Church of Italy (2011-2020) published recently are an expression of a Church that, in the school of Jesus Christ, is taking to heart the life of every man, and to this end, "seeks in daily experience the alphabet to make up the words with which to present God's infinite love to the world" (Educare alla vita buona del Vangelo, 3).
These days, you are meeting in Assisi, the city in which 'a sun was born to the world' (Dante, Paradiso, Canto XI), who was proclaimed by the Venerable Pius XII as Patron of Italy: St. Francis, who preserves intact his freshness and his relevance - saints never fade - because he had conformed himself totally to Christ, of whom he was a living icon.
As in our day, even the time when Francis lived was marked by profound cultural transformations, favored by the birth of the university, the development of civilian communities, and the dissemination of new religious experiences.
Precisely at that time, thanks to the work of Pope Innocent III - the same Pope from whom the Poverello of Assisi had obtained canonical recognition [for his order] - the Church was undertaking profound liturgical reform.
It was the eminent expression of the IV Lateran Council (1215), which lists among its fruits the Breviary. This book of prayers gathered together the wealth of theological reflection and prayerful experiences of the preceding millennium.
Adopting it, St. Francis and his brothers made the Supreme Pontiff's liturgical prayer their own. It was in this way that the saint listened to the Word of God and meditated on it assiduously, to the point of carrying it over into the prayers that he himself wrote, and in general, to all his writings.
The IV Lateran Council, with particular attention to the Sacrament of the Mass, inserted the term 'trans-substantiation' into the profession of faith [the Credo], in order to affirm the real presence of Christ in the Eucharistic Sacrifice: "His Body and Blood are truly contained in the Sacrament on the altar, in the form of bread and wine, as the bread is trans-substantiated into his Body and the wine to his Blood through divine power" (DS, 803).
St. Francis's evangelical life and his vocation to retrace the way of the Crucified Christ arose from attending daily Mass and receiving Holy Communion with great devotion: "The Lord," we read in his Testament of 1226, "gave me such faith in the church that I simply prayed and said, 'We adore you, Lord Jesus, in all the churches that are in the whole world and we bless you because with the Holy Cross, you redeemed the world'." (Fonti Francescane, n. 111).
This experience was also the origin of the great deference that he had for priests and his admonition to his friars to respect them always, "because what I corporally see in this world of the Most High Son of God is his Most Blessed Body and Blood that only they can consecrate and administer to others" (Fonti Francescane, n. 113).
In the face of such a gift, dear brothers, what a great responsibility in life it means for each of us! "Look after your task, brother priests," Francis urged, "and you will be holy because he is holy (Letter to the Chapter General and to all the Brothers, Fonti Francescane, n. 220)!
Yes, the sacredness of the Eucharist demands that this Mystery be celebrated and adored with full awareness of its grandeur, importance adn efficacy for Christian life, but it also demands purity, consistency and a holy life in each of us so that we may be living witnesses of Christ's unique sacrifice of love.
The saint of Assisi never stopped contemplating how "The Lord of the universe, God and Son of God, so humble as to hide himself, for our salvation, in the humble form of bread" (ibid., n. 221), and he vehemently called on his friars: "I pray you, more than doing it for me, whenever it is appropriate and you consider it necessary, to humbly ask of priests that they may venerate above every other the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy words written by him that consecrate the body" (Letter to all Franciscan custodians, Fonti Francescane, n. 241).
2. The authentic believer, in every time, experiences in the liturgy the presence, the primacy and the work of God. Liturgy is veritatis splendor - the splendor of truth (Sacramentum caritatis, 35), a nuptial event, a foretaste of the new and definitive city, and participation in it.
It links creation and redemption, a heaven open to the earth of men, a passage from the world to God. It is Easter, in the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the soul of Christian life, called to follow him - a reconciliation that moves us to fraternal charity.
Dear brothers in the Episcopate, your gathering will center on examining the Italian tradition of the third typical edition of the Roman Missal. The correspondence of the prayers of the Church (lex orandi) to the rules of faith (lex credenti) shapes the thought and sentiments of the Christian community, giving form to the church, Body of Christ and temple of the Spirit.
Every human word cannot be separated from its time, even when, as in liturgy, it constitutes a window that opens up to what is beyond time. To give voice to a reality that is perennially valid thus demands a wise equilibrium between continuity and novelty, tradition and the present. The Missal itself fits within this process.
Every true reformer is, in fact, someone who obeys the faith - he does not move arbitrarily, nor should he arrogate upon himself any discretion about the rite. He is not the master but the guardian of the treasure instituted by the Lord and entrusted to us. The entire Church is present in every liturgy - to adhere to its form is a condition for the authenticity of he who celebrates it.
3. May these reasons urge you, in the changing conditions of the times, to make more apparent and practicable that very faith which goes back to the time of the nascent Church.
It is a task that is even more urgent in a culture which, as you yourselves have highlighted - has seen "the eclipse of the sense of God and [of man] being lost in the dimension of interiority, the uncertain formation of personal identity in a pluralistic and fragmented context, the difficulty of dialog among generations, the separation between intelligence and affectivity" (Educare alla vita buona del Vangelo, 9).
These elements are the sign of a crisis of confidence in life ,and have a relevant influence on the educational process, in which reliable criteria have become labile.
Contemporary man has invested much effort in the development of science and technology, achieving in these fields goals that are definitely significant and appreciable. Nonetheless, such progress has often come at the cost of the foundations of Christianity, in which the fecund history of the European continent is rooted.
The moral sphere has been limited to the subjective, and God, when he is not denied, is otherwise excluded from public consciousness. And yet, a person grows to the degree that he experiences goodness and learns to distinguish ti from evil, beyond that calculation that only considers the consequences of a single action or which uses as criterion for judgment the possibility of achieving something.
To preserve that, a generic appeal to values does not suffice, nor an educational proposal that is satisfied with purely functional and fragmentary interventions. There is a need, instead, for a personal relationship of fidelity among the active subjects, the protagonists in the relationship, each capable of taking a position and putting his own freedom in play (cfr ibid., 26).
For this reason, your decision is more than ever timely to rally all those who have at heart the city of man and the good of the new generations, to their responsibility for education.
Such an indispensable alliance can only start from a new proximity to the family, recognizing and supporting its educational primacy - the face of a people is shaped within the family.
As the Church in Italy, attentive to interpreting what is happening in the world today, and therefore, of grasping the questions and desires of man, you must renew this commitment and work willingly to listen and to dialog, placing the good news of God's paternal love at the disposition of everyone.
You must be inspired by the certainty that "Jesus Christ is the way who leads everyone to the full realization of himself according to God's design. He is the truth who reveals man to himself and leads him along the way of growth in freedom. He is life, because in him, every man finds the ultimate meaning of his existence and his function - full communion of love with God in eternity" (ibid., n. 19).
4. In this undertaking, I exhort you to value the liturgy as a perennial source of education in tthe good life of the Gospel. It introduces one to an encounter with Jesus Christ, who with words and acts constantly edifies the Church, shaping it in the profundity of listening, of fraternity, and of mission. Rites speak powerfully of their intrinsic rationality and communicability, and educate us for conscious, active and fruitful participation (cfr Sacrosanctum Concilium, n. 11).
Dear friends, let us raise our heads and look into the eyes of Christ, our only Teacher, the Redeemer from whom comes every responsibility we have to the communities that are entrusted to us and to every man.
May the Most Blessed Mary, with her maternal heart, watch over our journey and accompany us with her intercession. In renewing my affectionate closeness to you and my brotherly encouragement, I impart the Apostolic Blessing from the heart to you, Venerated Brother, to the Bishops, to your co-workers and to all who are present.
From the Vatican
Nov. 4, 2010
P.S. The Vatican Press Office posted the Holy Father's message today in its daily bulletin.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/11/2010 12:21] |