CASTEL GANDOLFO,
Italy, SEPT. 8, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of
Benedict XVI's Monday address to bishops of Western Brazil, in
Italy for their five-yearly visit.
* * *
Dear brothers in the episcopate:
I welcome and greet each and every one of you with sentiments of
profound joy and friendship, beloved pastors of western Regions
1 and 2 of the national bishops' conference of Brazil.
Your group initiates a long pilgrimage of the members of this
episcopal conference on their "ad limina apostolorum" visit,
which will give me the occasion to know better the reality of
the respective diocesan communities. These will be days of
fraternal sharing to reflect together on the issues that concern
you -- a moment I have profoundly awaited since those
unforgettable days of May 2007, in which during my visit to your
country I was able to experience all the affection of the
Brazilian people for the Successor of Peter and, in a special
way, when I had the possibility to embrace with a glance the
whole episcopate of this great nation during the meeting in the
Catedral da Se in São Paulo.
In fact, only God's great heart can know, keep and govern the
multitude of sons and daughters that he himself engendered in
Brazil's immense vastness. In the course of our conversations
these days, some of the challenges and problems you are facing
have come to light, as the archbishop of Campo Grande mentioned
at the beginning of our meeting. We are impressed by the
distances that you yourselves, as well as your priests and other
missionary agents, have to cover to serve and pastorally
encourage your faithful, many of them affected by the problems
proper to a relatively recent urbanization, in which the state
does not always succeed in being an instrument for the promotion
of justice and the common good. Do not be discouraged! Remember
that the proclamation of the Gospel and adherence to Christian
values, as I stated recently in the encyclical "Caritas in
Veritate" "is not merely useful but essential for building a
good society and for true integral human development."
I thank you, Archbishop Vitório Pavanello, for the kind words
and delicate sentiments you addressed to me on behalf of all, to
which I wish to respond with good wishes of peace and prosperity
for the Brazilian people in this significant day of their
national celebration.
As Successor of Peter and universal Pastor, I can assure you
that my heart feels day by day your apostolic concerns and
efforts, not ceasing to recall before God the challenges you
face in the growth of your diocesan communities. In our days,
and concretely in Brazil, the laborers in the Lord's field
continue to be few for a harvest that is large (cf. Matthew
9:36-37). Despite the shortage we perceive, the adequate
formation of those who are called to serve the people of God is
truly essential. For this reason, in the context of the current
Year for Priests, allow me to pause today to reflect with you,
beloved bishops of Western Brazil, on the most important task of
your episcopal ministry, which is fostering [the vocation] of
new pastors.
Although God is the only one able to awaken in the human heart a
call to the pastoral service of his people, all members of the
Church should question if they see and feel the profound urgency
of this mission and have a real commitment to it.
One day, when some of the disciples were hesitating, noting that
there were "still four months to go" before the harvest, Jesus
replied: "I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields
are already white for the harvest" (John 4:35).
God does not see as man does! The haste of the good God is
dictated by his desire that "all men be saved and come to the
knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). There are many who seem
to want to live the whole of life in a minute, others who wander
in tedium and inertia, or abandon themselves to violence of all
sorts. Deep down, these are no more than desperate lives that
look for hope, as demonstrated by an extended, though at times
confused, need of spirituality, a renewed search for points of
reference to take up again the journey of life.
Esteemed brothers, in the decades following the Second Vatican
Council, some interpreted the openness not as a demand flowing
from the missionary ardor of the Heart of Christ, but as a step
toward secularization, perceiving there certain strong Christian
values, such as equality, liberty, solidarity. They showed
themselves ready to make concessions and discover areas of
cooperation. We witnessed the interventions of some
ecclesiastical officials in ethical debates, which responded to
the expectations of public opinion, but which failed to speak of
certain essential truths of the faith, such as sin, grace,
theological life and the last things. Without realizing it, many
ecclesial communities fell into self-secularization. Hoping to
charm those who were not joining, they saw many of their members
leave, cheated and disillusioned. When our contemporaries come
to us, they want to see something that they do not see
elsewhere, namely, joy and the hope that springs from the fact
that we are with the Risen Lord.
At present there is a new generation born in this secularized
ecclesial environment who, instead of looking for openness and
consensus, see how the gap between society and the positions of
the magisterium of the Church, especially in the ethical field,
is ever greater. In this desert lacking God, the new generation
feels a great thirst for transcendence.
It is the young men of this new generation who knock on the door
of seminaries, and who need to find formators who are true men
of God, priests totally dedicated to formation, who give witness
of the gift of themselves to the Church, through celibacy and an
austere life, according to the model of Christ the Good
Shepherd. Thus, these young men will learn to be sensitive to
the encounter with the Lord, in daily participation in the
Eucharist, loving silence and prayer, working first of all for
the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Beloved brothers,
as you know, it is the bishop's task to establish the essential
criteria for the formation of seminarians and priests in
fidelity to the universal norms of the Church: It is in this
spirit that reflections on this topic should be developed,
[which was] the objective of the plenary assembly of your
episcopal conference last April.
Certain of being able to count on your zeal in regard to
priestly formation, I invite all bishops, their priests and
seminarians, to imitate in their lives the charity of Christ,
Priest and Good Shepherd, as the holy Cure d'Ars did. And, with
him, may they take as model and protection of their own vocation
the Virgin Mother, who responded in a unique way to God's call,
conceiving in her heart and flesh the Word made man to give him
to humanity. To your dioceses, including the Diocese of
Rondonopolis, whose pastor has been unable to make this visit, I
send a cordial greeting in solidarity, and the certainty of my
prayers, along with my paternal apostolic blessing.
[Translation by ZENIT]
Look at the One they
Pierced!
