Opus Dei today » Pope Benedict

Pastoral Letter on New Evangelization

Aliza Racelis — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 09:30:48 +0000

Pastoral Letter from the Prelate on the New Evangelization, dated 2 October 2011

On 2 October 2011, date on which the Prelature commemorated another anniversary of the Foundation of Opus Dei, Msgr. Javier Echevarría issued a Pastoral Letter addressed to the faithful of the Prelature, in which he outlines specific aspects of formation related to their spiritual life and to the new evangelization.

Pope announces a “Year of Faith”

It was in a packed St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday that Pope Benedict XVI declared that the year 2012 to 2013 was to be a “Year of Faith”. The Holy Father made the announcement during his homily at a mass for the New Evangelisation. The Eucharistic celebration marked the conclusion of a meeting organised by Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, which the Pope addressed on Saturday.

Speaking about his decision to invoke this “Year of Faith” Pope Benedict said it was “to give new impetus to the mission of the whole Church to lead men out of the desert in which they often find themselves, to the place of life, of friendship with Christ”.

The Pope explained that the year would be “a moment of grace and commitment to a more complete conversion to God, to strengthen our faith in Him and to proclaim Him with joy to the people of our time.”

In order to illustrate the meaning of this “Year of Faith”, the Holy Father said he would prepare a special Apostolic Letter and he informed the congregation present that the year would begin “on 11 October 2012, the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, and would end on 24 November 2013, Solemnity of Christ the King”,.

During the course of his Homily the Holy Father referred back to the meeting of the Pontifical Council saying, he was delighted that this conference had taken place in the month of October, a month of prayer and just one week before the World Mission Sunday.

The Pope underlined that there was no opposition between the mission ad gentes and new evangelization, although he added the latter was very urgent, “especially in traditionally Christian countries, which have become increasingly “indifferent” and “hostile” to the mission of the Church.”

The Pope’s sentiments were echoed by those of the President of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella in his address to the Holy Father at the start of the celebration. He said, the mission of the church now needed “an additional face, that of the new evangelization, primarily, as he put it, for believers to rediscover the strength to believe and the joy of bearing witness.”

The Pope looked to history, and to the Gospel on Sunday to re-enforce the importance of a New Evangelization. He said “the theology of history was an important, and essential part of the new evangelization, because the men of our time, after the disastrous era of totalitarian empires of the twentieth century, need to find a comprehensive vision of the world and time, a truly free, peaceful vision.”

Turning to the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians for inspiration, the Holy Father explained, it demonstrates that in order to be effective, evangelization needs the power of the spirit.

Drawing his homily to a close the Pope Benedict stressed that “the new evangelizers are called to walk in the Path that is Christ, and to make known to others the beauty of the Gospel that gives life”.

madrid11.com Message for 26th World Youth Day

Aliza Racelis — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:57:14 +0000

Madrid, Madrid, here we come! Pope’s Message for JMJ 2011

“…we are looking forward to the next World Youth Day, to be held in Madrid in August 2011. … Now, at a time when Europe greatly needs to rediscover its Christian roots, our meeting will take place in Madrid with the theme: “Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7). I encourage you to take part in this event, which is so important for the Church in Europe and for the universal Church. I would like all young people – those who share our faith in Jesus Christ, but also those who are wavering or uncertain, or who do not believe in him – to share this experience, which can prove decisive for their lives. It is an experience of the Lord Jesus, risen and alive, and of his love for each of us,” said the Holy Father in his Message for the 26th World Youth Day

LET US PRAY A LOT for those participating in the WYD in Madrid, as well as for all those youths who, from their countries, will be one in spirit with them, to celebrate this wonderful time to deepen in one’s relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ!

—————

Related WYD links on this website:

Official Web site
Jornada Mundial de la Juventud [JMJ/WYD] Madrid 2011
JMJ/WYD Schedule
JMJ/WYD 2011 Theme and Theme Song
Launch of Theme Song; Promotional Video
Plaza de Cibeles and Cuatro Vientos vigil
Virtual tour of Madrid

Pope launches news.va

Aliza Racelis — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 05:08:10 +0000

Pope Benedict launches Vatican News website news.va

“Dear Friends, I just launched news.va Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI” says the historic tweet / banner of the newly launched Vatican News website

Twitter account: news_va_en (English)
The video the Pope included as he launched the new site with his iPad:

Seu browser não suporta iframes.

Happy 60th Ordination Anniversary, Holy Father!

Jesus of Nazareth Vol. 2

Aliza Racelis — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 01:21:13 +0000

Jesus of Nazareth Vol. 2 – Lent

For Christians, Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, who died for the sins of the world, and who rose from the dead in triumph over sin and death. For non-Christians, he is almost anything else–a myth, a political revolutionary, a prophet whose teaching was misunderstood or distorted by his followers.

Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and no myth, revolutionary, or misunderstood prophet, insists Benedict XVI. He thinks that the best of historical scholarship, while it can’t “prove” Jesus is the Son of God, certainly doesn’t disprove it. Indeed, Benedict maintains that the evidence, fairly considered, brings us face-to-face with the challenge of Jesus–a real man who taught and acted in ways that were tantamount to claims of divine authority, claims not easily dismissed as lunacy or deception.

Benedict XVI presents this challenge in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, the sequel volume to Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration.

Why was Jesus rejected by the religious leaders of his day? Who was responsible for his death? Did he establish a Church to carry on his work? How did Jesus view his suffering and death? How should we? And, most importantly, did Jesus really rise from the dead and what does his resurrection mean? The story of Jesus raises many crucial questions.

Benedict brings to his study the vast learning of a brilliant scholar, the passionate searching of a great mind, and the deep compassion of a pastor’s heart. In the end, he dares readers to grapple with the meaning of Jesus’ life, teaching, death, and resurrection.

“Only in this second volume do we encounter the decisive sayings and events of Jesus’ life . . . I hope that I have been granted an insight into the figure of Our Lord that can be helpful to all readers who seek to encounter Jesus and to believe in Him.”
-Pope Benedict XVI

Here’s the book promotional video:

Seu browser não suporta iframes.

YouCat

Aliza Racelis — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:11:16 +0000

Benedict XVI describes new Youth Catechism (YouCat) as “extraordinary” and “gripping”

The Pope has great expectations for the “Youcat,” a text designed to teach young people the ABC’s of Catholicism using a language tailored to their generation.

The 300-page volume is the new and official Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. A team has produced the volume and enlisted its translations under the guidance of Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, Austria, who also served as the editor of the universal 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church.

According to its American publisher Ignatius Press, the new text was produced with adolescents and young adults in mind as “an accessible, contemporary expression of the Catholic faith.” …

In the book’s preface, published in the Jan. 3 edition of the Vatican paper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI himself calls it “extraordinary.”

–o–o–o–

The Pope claimed Youcat is extraordinary “because of its content but also because of its format,” which he goes on to explain is based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

He spoke of the difficult times of the recent past, following the Second Vatican Council, when “many people no longer knew correctly what Christians should actually believe, what the Church taught, [...] and how all this could be adapted to the new cultural climate.”

Amid questions about if the Church can even teach, or if Christianity is obsolete, the Pontiff recalled, his predecessor “made an audacious decision: He decided that the bishops worldwide should write a book to answer these questions.” ”He [John Paul II] entrusted to me the task of coordinating and overseeing the work of the bishops so that a book would be born from the contributions of the bishops, a real book and not a simple juxtaposition of a multiplicity of texts,” Benedict XVI recalled. “[...] I was frightened by this task, and I must confess that I doubted that such a thing could succeed. How could it be that authors who are spread around the whole world could produce a legible book?”

Zenit.org has a translation to English of the Pope’s preface to YouCat.

–o–o–o–