From: [D]@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 31,
2011 11:54 AM
To: Eric
Subject: Article of interest...
12/31/2011 18:06
VATICAN
Pope: give new life to a faith that can
serve as a basis for a new humanism
Te Deum for New Year, Benedict XVI returns
to the urgency of the "question of faith." "
Christ’s disciples are called to reawaken in themselves and in others
the longing for God and the joy of living him and bearing witness to him."
"It is in God that our last hour must come to a close, the last hour of
time and history."
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The quaestio fidei, the question of faith, is "the priority
pastoral challenge" of our time: "to give life to a faith that can
serve as a basis for a new humanism, one that is able to generate culture and
social commitment." With a gaze over the past year, but more than that,
also looking forward to the coming year Benedict XVI presided over the Te Deum
that concludes the first vespers of the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God,
celebrated this evening at St. Peter’s Basilica. A reflection
on the diocese of Rome and the whole Church and one that once again marks the
need for a new evangelization.
"Another year - says the Pope - is
drawing to a close, as we await the start of a new one: with some trepidation,
with our perennial desires and expectations. Reflecting on our life experience,
we are continually astonished by how ultimately short and ephemeral life is. So
we often find ourselves asking: what meaning can we give to our days? What
meaning, in particular, can we give to the days of toil and grief? This is a
question that permeates history, indeed it runs through the heart of every
generation and every individual. But there is an answer: it is written on the face
of a Child who was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, and is today the
Living One, risen for ever from the dead. "
"From within the fabric of humanity,
rent asunder by so much injustice, wickedness and violence, there bursts forth
in an unforeseen way the joyful and liberating novelty of Christ our Saviour,
who leads us to contemplate the goodness and tenderness of God through the
mystery of his Incarnation and Birth. The everlasting God has entered our
history and he remains present in a unique way in the person of Jesus, his
incarnate Son, our Saviour, who came down to earth to renew humanity radically
and to free us from sin and death, to raise us to the dignity of God’s
children. Christmas not only recalls the historical fulfilment
of this truth that concerns us directly, but in a mysterious and real way,
gives it to us afresh. "
With the "fullness of time" came
with the birth of the Lord, "So there is no more room for anxiety in the
face of time that passes, never to return; now there is room for unlimited
trust in God, by whom we know we are loved, for whom we live and to whom our
life is directed as we await his definitive return. Since the Saviour came down
from heaven, man has ceased to be the slave of time
that passes to no avail, marked by toil, sadness and pain. Man is son of a God
who has entered time so as to redeem it from meaninglessness and negativity, a
God who has redeemed all humanity, giving it everlasting love as a new
perspective of life.
The Church lives and professes this truth
and intends to proclaim it today with fresh spiritual vigour.
"
We must therefore "
give first priority to evangelization, so as to make the participation
of the faithful in the sacraments more responsible and more fruitful, so that
every person can speak of God to modern man and proclaim the Gospel incisively
to those who have never known it or have forgotten it. "
"Christ’s disciples are called to
reawaken in themselves and in others the longing for God and the joy of living
him and bearing witness to him, on the basis of what is always a deeply
personal question: why do I believe? We must give primacy to truth, seeing the
combination of faith and reason as two wings with which the human spirit can
rise to the contemplation of the Truth; we must ensure that the dialogue
between Christianity and modern culture bears fruit; we must see to it that the
beauty and contemporary relevance of the faith is rediscovered, not as an
isolated event, affecting some particular moment in our lives, but as a constant
orientation, affecting even the simplest choices, establishing a profound unity
within the person, so that he becomes just, hard-working, generous and good.
What is needed is to give new life to a faith that can serve as a basis for a
new humanism, one that is able to generate culture and social commitment.
"
To proclaim faith in the Word made flesh
is, after all, at the heart of the Church’s mission, and the entire ecclesial
community needs to rediscover this indispensable task with renewed missionary
zeal. Young generations have an especially keen sense of the present
disorientation, magnified by the crisis in economic affairs which is also a
crisis of values, and so they in particular need to recognize in Jesus Christ
"the key, the centre and the purpose of the whole of human history.
Parents are the first educators in faith of their children, starting from a
most tender age, and families must therefore be supported in their educational
mission by appropriate initiatives. At the same time it is desirable that the
baptismal journey, the first stage along the formative path of Christian
initiation, in addition to fostering conscious and worthy preparation for the
celebration of the Sacrament, should devote adequate attention to the years
following Baptism, with appropriate programmes that
take account of the life conditions that families must address"
"Te Deum laudamus! We praise you, O God! The Church suggests
that we should not end the year without expressing our thanks to the Lord for
all his benefits. It is in God that our last hour must come to a close, the
last hour of time and history. To overlook this goal of our lives would be to
fall into the void, to live without meaning. Hence the Church places on our
lips the ancient hymn Te Deum. It is a hymn filled with the wisdom of many
Christian generations, who feel the need to address on high their heart’s
desires, knowing that all of us are in the Lord’s merciful hands"