The Synod Begins

Acasă > Ştiri > Arhiva Ştiri

Timp stanga: 0.05s...

Ştiri şi Evenimente

The Synod Begins

[2010-10-07]

[Engleză]

The Catholic Church's special 'Synod on the Middle East' opened today in Rome
with a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. The purpose is mainly pastoral: to
consider how the Church can better live her mission in that region of the
world. But the problematic political tensions in the region are also a
concern...

By Robert Moynihan

=====================================

'The great history of evangelization recounted in the Acts of the Apostles
begins with the Christian community in the Holy Land. All Christians and
people
of good will look to this land made holy by the presence of the Lord Jesus,
particularly at this time...' —Opening lines from the Lineamenta, the
guideline
for the Special Bishops' Synod on 'The Catholic Church in the Middle East:
Communion and Witness,' October 10-24, 2010

'Salvation is universal, but it passes through a specific historical
mediation:
the mediation of the people of Israel, which goes on to become that of Jesus
Christ and the Church.' —Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, Opening Mass of the Synod
on the Middle East, St. Peter's Basilica, Sunday, October 10, 2010

==============================================

'The Door of Life Is Open for Everyone — But It Is a Door...'

St Peter's Basilica seemed more 'universal' than usual this morning -- and
also
more 'particular.'

In fact, the basilica seemed no longer to rise from the soil of Rome, in
Western Europe, but rather to have been transported, as if on some magic
carpet, to Jerusalem, or Baghdad, or some other city of the near Orient.

Why? Because it was filled with robes, and colors, and head coverings (see
photo) which seemed to come out of some scene in the Arabian nights, as 185
bishops from that majestic and troubled region of the world, along with 70
experts and advisors, gathered here from Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and a
dozen other countries in the Middle East.

Pope Benedict immediately made clear that the central focus of this
meeting is
the same as the focus of his entire pontificate, and of the Church herself:
simply Jesus Christ, and the salvation Christ brought, and brings.

When we think of the Middle East, Benedict said, when we think of the Holy
Land, of Jerusalem, of the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus's body was laid in the
tomb, we think of the doorway through which all of human history, and all of
human hope, once passed.

When we think of the promise made by God that he would accomplish a universal
salvation by means of a covenant, beginning with Abraham, Benedict said, we
have hope that all of us may reach that 'Promised Land' of peace and
abundance.

(Photo, Synod delegates at the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica this morning. On
the right is Patriarch Twal of the Latin-rite Catholic Church in Jerusalem)

And, the Pope continued, the way is not simply to be understood as the
possession of an earthly territory, an earthly homeland, an earthly 'Promised
Land.'

'God is love and wants all men to be part of His life,' Benedict said. 'To
carry out this plan He, who is One and Triune, creates in the world a mystery
of a communion that is human and divine, historical and transcendent: He
creates it with the 'method' -- so to speak -- of the covenant, tying himself
to men with faithful and inexhaustible love, forming a holy people, that
becomes a blessing for all the families of the earth (cf Gen 12:13). Thus He
reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (cf Ex 3:6), who wants
to lead his people to the 'land' of freedom and peace. This 'land' is not of
this world; the whole of the divine plan goes beyond history, but the Lord
wants to build it with men, for men and in men, beginning with the
coordinates
of space and time in which they live and which He Himself gave them.'

This, in a sense, is the central message of this Synod, already stated
beforehand by the Pope in this opening homily.

The message is that the 'Promised Land' of freedom and peace to which God
wishes to lead 'His' people is, yes, 'not of this world,' for, as the Pope
says, 'the whole of the divine plan goes beyond history.'

And yet, at the same time, 'the Lord wishes to build it [the Promised Land]
with men, for men and in men, beginning with the coordinates of space and
time
in which they live and which He Himself gave them.'

In these words is an appeal to all those who live in the Holy Land, Jew and
Gentile alike, Muslim, Christian and atheist alike, that the 'Promised
Land' of
freedom and peace begin to be built here and now, in this privileged time,
our
own time, which is the acceptable time, should hearts be open enough to
realize
it.

========================================

The Pope's Homily

This morning, during a Mass that combined Latin chants with Arabic ones, Pope
Benedict formally launched the Synod on the Middle East with the following
homily. Here is the complete text:

Venerable Brothers,
illustrious ladies and gentlemen,
dear brothers and sisters!

The Eucharistic celebration, the rendering of thanks to God par
excellence, is
marked for us today, gathered around the Tomb of Saint Peter, by an
extraordinary reason: the grace of seeing gathered together for the first
time
at a Synod, around the Bishop of Rome and the Universal Shepherd, the bishops
of the Middle Eastern region. Such a singular event demonstrates the interest
of the whole Church for that precious and beloved part of God’s people who
live
in the Holy Land and the whole of the Middle East.

Above all, we give thanks to the Lord of history, because he has allowed,
despite the often difficult and tormented events, the Middle East to see,
from
the time of Jesus all the way up to today, a continuity in the presence of
Christians.

In those lands, the one Church of Christ is expressed in the variety of
liturgical, spiritual, cultural and teaching traditions of the six Venerable
Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris, as well as in the Latin tradition.

This fraternal greeting which I direct with great affection to the Patriarchs
of each of these wishes to be extended at this time to all the faithful
entrusted to their pastoral care in their respective countries as well as in
the Diaspora.

On this Sunday, the 28th of Ordinary Time, the Word of God offers a theme for
meditation which brings us closer in a meaningful way to the event of the
Synod
that we open today.

Continued reading of the Gospel of Luke leads us to the story of the
healing of
the ten lepers, of whom only one, a Samaritan, turns back to thank Jesus.
Connected with this text, the first reading, from the Second Book of Kings,
tells the story of the healing of Naaman, head of the Aramaean army, another
leper, who was cured by immersing himself seven times in the waters of the
Jordan River, on the orders of the prophet Eliseus. Naaman too returns to the
prophet and, recognizing him as the mediator of God, professes his faith
in the
one Lord. So two lepers, two non-Jews, who are cured because they believe in
the word of God’s messenger. Their bodies are healed, but they are open to
faith, and this heals their souls, that is, it saves them.

The Responsorial Psalm sings of this reality:

“Yahweh has made known his saving power,

revealed his saving justice for the nations to see.

Mindful of his faithful love and his constancy to the House of Israel” (Ps
98:2-3).

This then is the theme: salvation is universal, but it passes through a
specific historical mediation: the mediation of the people of Israel, which
goes on to become that of Jesus Christ and the Church.

The door of life is open for everyone, but this is the point, it is a “door”,
that is a definite and necessary passage.

This is summed up in the Pauline formula we heard in the Second Letter to
Timothy: “the salvation that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 2:10). It is the
mystery of the universality of Salvation and at the same time of its
necessary
link with the historical mediation of Christ Jesus, preceded by that of the
people of Israel and continued by that of the Church. God is love and
wants all
men to be part of His life; to carry out this plan He, who is One and Triune,
creates in the world a mystery of a communion that is human and divine,
historical and transcendent: He creates it with the “method” -- so to
speak --
of the covenant, tying himself to men with faithful and inexhaustible love,
forming a holy people, that becomes a blessing for all the families of the
earth (cf Gen 12:13). Thus He reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac
and
Jacob (cf Ex 3:6), who wants to lead his people to the “land” of freedom and
peace. This “land” is not of this world; the whole of the divine plan goes
beyond history, but the Lord wants to build it with men, for men and in men,
beginning with the coordinates of space and time in which they live and which
He Himself gave them.

With its own specificity, that which we call the “Middle East”, makes up part
of those coordinates. God sees this region of the world, too, from a
different
perspective, one might say, “from on high”: it is the land of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob; the land of the Exodus and the return from exile; the land of the
Temple and of the Prophets, the land in which the Only Begotten Son of
Mary was
born, lived, died, and rose from the dead; the cradle of the Church,

Sursa: www.InSideTheVatican.com

Contor Accesări: 970, Ultimul acces: 2026-09-21 12:10:13

Timp total: 0.05s...

[]:1