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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus Message
On the Challenges Facing Africa
"It Is No Longer Time for Words and Speeches"
H.H. Benedict XVI
March 15, 2009
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
First I would like to thank God, and those who helped in various
ways, for the success of the apostolic trip that I was able to make
to Africa recently, and I invoke the abundance of the blessings of
heaven on the seeds that were sown in the African soil. I plan to
speak at greater length about this significant pastoral experience
at the general audience on Wednesday, but I cannot pass up welcoming
the present occasion to manifest the deep emotion that I experienced
meeting the Catholic communities and the people of Cameroon and
Angola. There were two aspects -- both very important -- that above
all made an impression on me.
The first is the visible joy in the faces of the people, the joy of
feeling part of the family of God, and I thank the Lord for having
been able to share moments of simple choral and faith-filled
celebration with great numbers of our brothers and sisters. The
second aspect is precisely the strong sense of the sacred that one
breathes in the liturgical celebrations, a characteristic common to
all the peoples of Africa, which I could say emerged in every moment
of my stay among those dear people. The visit permitted me better to
see and understand the reality of the Church in Africa in the
variety of the experiences and challenges that she finds before her
at this time.
Thinking of the challenges that mark the path of the Church on the
African continent, and in every other part of the world, we
recognize how relevant the words of the Gospel of this Fifth Sunday
of Lent are. Jesus, with his passion drawing near, declares: “If the
grain of wheat that falls to the earth does not die, it remains
alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24). It
is no longer time for words and speeches; the decisive hour has
arrived, the hour for which the Son of God has come into the world,
and despite his troubled soul, he makes himself available to
accomplish the Father’s will to the end. And this is God’s will: To
give eternal life to us who have lost it. But that this be realized
Jesus must die, like a grain of wheat that God the Father has sown
in the world. Only in this way can a new humanity sprout and grow,
free from the domination of sin and able to live in fraternity, as
the sons and daughters of the one Father who is in heaven.
In the great feast of faith that was experienced together in Africa,
we saw that this new humanity is alive, even with its human
limitations. There where, like Jesus, missionaries gave, and
continue to spend, their lives for the Gospel, abundant fruit is
harvested. I would like to express my gratitude for the good that
they do. These missionaries are men and women, religious and lay. It
was beautiful to see the fruit of their love for Christ and observe
the deep thankfulness that the Christians have for them. Let us give
thanks to God and pray to Mary Most Holy that Christ’s message of
hope and love be spread through whole world.
[After the Angelus the Pope greeted the pilgrims in various
languages. In Italian, he said:]
I greet with affection the numerous Africans who live in Rome, among
whom there are many students, who are here today with Monsignor
Robert Sarah, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization
of Peoples. Dear friends, you wanted to come to manifest your joy
for my apostolic trip to Africa. I thank you from my heart. I pray
for you, for your families and your homelands. Thank you!
On Thursday at 6:00 in the evening in St. Peter’s I will preside at
the Mass for the 4th anniversary of the death of my beloved
predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II. I especially invite
the young people of Rome to participate, to prepare together for
World Youth Day, which will be celebrated at a diocesan level on
Palm Sunday.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
[In English, he said:]
I am pleased to welcome all the English-speaking pilgrims to this
Angelus, especially students and teachers from Holy Trinity Catholic
High School in Edmonton, Canada. In today's liturgy, Jesus teaches
that "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it
remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much
fruit". In these final weeks of Lent, let us intensify our prayer,
fasting and almsgiving. In this way, we will prepare ourselves to
meditate on Christ's passion and death, so as to rejoice fully in
the glory of his Resurrection. God bless you all!
Look
at the One they Pierced!
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