|
Radio Vaticana 18 febbraio 2011
Il
Papa ai vescovi delle Filippine: solo l'amicizia con Dio
spezza la solitudine che affligge l'umanità
Il
fascino di questo mondo non può soddisfare il desiderio
di felicità. Solo la vera amicizia con Dio può rompere i
vincoli della solitudine. E’ quanto ha affermato stamani
Benedetto XVI rivolgendosi ai vescovi della Conferenza
Episcopale delle Filippine in Visita ad Limina. Il
Papa si è anche soffermato sulle sfide che la Chiesa
delle Filippine deve affrontare nel presente. Il servizio
di Amedeo Lomonaco:
Le Filippine continuano ad affrontare numerose sfide
nell’ambito dello sviluppo economico, ma si deve
riconoscere che le difficoltà per una vita felice e
realizzata non sono gli unici ostacoli che devono essere
affrontati dalla Chiesa:
“Filipino culture is also confronted with the more
subtle…
La cultura filippina è anche di fronte a questioni
più penetranti che riguardano il secolarismo, il
materialismo e il consumismo dei nostri tempi”.
Il percorso per riscoprire il vero destino dell'umanità
può essere trovato soltanto “nel ristabilimento della
priorità di Dio nel cuore e nella mente di ogni
persona”. Il compito dell’evangelizzazione – spiega
il Pontefice – è quello di proporre “un rapporto
personale con Cristo”. "Le nuove iniziative
nell'evangelizzazione - sottolinea - porteranno frutti
solo se coloro che le propongono sono persone che credono
veramente e vivono in se stesse il messaggio del
Vangelo". All’impegno del clero – osserva il
Santo Padre – si aggiunge poi quello dei laici che hanno
bisogno di “ascoltare il messaggio del Vangelo nella sua
pienezza”, per comprendere le sue implicazioni nella
loro vita e nella società. Nelle Filippine, grazie anche
al “paziente lavoro della Chiesa locale”, la fede
assume inoltre “un ruolo molto importante nella vita di
molti giovani”:
“I encourage you to continue to remind...
Vi incoraggio a continuare a ricordare ai giovani
che il fascino di questo mondo non soddisferà il loro
naturale desiderio di felicità. Solo la vera amicizia con
Dio spezzerà i vincoli della solitudine di cui soffre la
nostra fragile umanità e stabilirà una vera e duratura
comunione con gli altri”.
"La cura pastorale dei giovani - rileva Benedetto
XVI - porta a stabilire il primato di Dio nei loro cuori e
tende a portare risultati non solo nelle vocazioni al
matrimonio cristiano ma anche in ogni tipo di
chiamata". Inoltre Benedetto XVI ricorda che si deve
anche porre attenzione nell’indicare ai giovani
“l’importanza dei sacramenti come strumenti della
grazia di Dio”:
“This is particulary true of the sacrament of
matrimony…
Questo è particolarmente vero per il Sacramento del
matrimonio, che santifica la vita coniugale fin dal suo
inizio, in modo che la presenza di Dio possa sostenere le
giovani coppie nelle asperità”.
Il Papa esprime poi la propria gioia per il “successo
di iniziative locali nel promuovere numerose vocazioni al
sacerdozio e alla vita religiosa”. Tuttavia – aggiunge
– in molte diocesi il numero dei sacerdoti e il
corrispondente numero di parrocchie “non è ancora
sufficiente per soddisfare i bisogni spirituali della
numerosa e crescente popolazione cattolica”:
“May the Church’s mission of evangelization be
sustained…
Che la missione di evangelizzazione della Chiesa
possa essere sostenuta dai doni meravigliosi che il
Signore offre a coloro che Egli chiama”.
DISCORSO
DEL SANTO PADRE BENEDETTO XVI
My dear
Brother Bishops,
I am
pleased to receive you today on the occasion of your ad
Limina visit, and I offer my sincere good wishes and
prayers for yourselves and for all those entrusted to your
pastoral care. Your presence at the tombs of the Apostles
Peter and Paul strengthens the profound unity that already
exists between the Church in the Philippines and the Holy
See. As the deep links which Catholics enjoy with the
Successor of Peter have always been a significant
characteristic of faith in your country, I pray that this
communion will continue to grow and flourish as you
consider the present challenges of your apostolate.
While the
Philippines continues to face many challenges in the area
of economic development, we must recognize that these
obstacles to a life of happiness and fulfilment are not
the only stumbling blocks that must be addressed by the
Church. Filipino culture is also confronted with the more
subtle questions inherent to the secularism, materialism,
and consumerism of our times. When self-sufficiency and
freedom are severed from their dependence upon and
completion in God, the human person creates for himself a
false destiny and loses sight of the eternal joy for which
he has been made. The path to rediscovering humanity’s
true destiny can only be found in the re-establishment of
the priority of God in the heart and mind of every person.
Above all,
to keep God at the center of the life of the faithful, the
preaching of you and your clergy must be personal in its
focus so that each Catholic will grasp in his or her
innermost depths the life-transforming fact that God
exists, that he loves us, and that in Christ he answers
the deepest questions of our lives. Your great task in
evangelization is therefore to propose a personal
relationship with Christ as key to complete fulfilment. In
this context, the second Plenary Council of the
Philippines continues to have beneficial effects, the
result being that many dioceses have formed pastoral
programs focused on conveying the good news of salvation.
At the same time, it must be recognized that new
initiatives in evangelization will only be fruitful if, by
the grace of God, those proposing them are people who
truly believe and live the message of the Gospel
themselves.
This is
surely one of the reasons why basic ecclesial communities
have had such a positive impact throughout the country.
When formed and guided by people whose motivating force is
the love of Christ, these communities have proven
themselves to be worthy tools of evangelization as they
work in conjunction with local parishes. Similarly, the
Church in the Philippines is fortunate to have a number of
lay organizations which continue to draw people to the
Lord. In order to confront the questions of our times, the
laity need to hear the Gospel message in its fullness, to
understand its implications for their personal lives and
for society in general, and thus be constantly converted
to the Lord. I therefore urge you to take special care in
shepherding such groups, so that the primacy of God may
remain in the forefront.
This
primacy is of particular importance when it comes to the
evangelization of youth. I am happy to note that, in your
country, the faith plays a very important role in the
lives of many young people, a fact that is due in large
part to the patient work of the local Church to reach out
to the youth at all levels. I encourage you to continue to
remind young people that the glamour of this world will
not satisfy their natural desire for happiness. Only true
friendship with God will break the bonds of loneliness
from which our fragile humanity suffers and will establish
a true and lasting communion with others, a spiritual bond
that will readily prompt within us the wish to serve the
needs of those we love in Christ. Care must also be given
to showing young people the importance of the sacraments
as instruments of God's grace and assistance. This is
particularly true of the sacrament of matrimony, which
sanctifies married life from its very beginning, so that
God's presence may sustain young couples in their
struggles.
The
pastoral care of young people which aims to establish the
primacy of God in their hearts, tends inherently to result
not only in vocations to Christian marriage but also in
plentiful callings of all kinds. I am pleased to note the
success of local initiatives in fostering numerous
vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
However, the need for ever more dedicated servants of
Christ both at home and abroad is still pressing. From
your quinquennial reports, it appears that in many
dioceses the number of priests and the corresponding
number of parishes is not yet sufficient to meet the
spiritual needs of the large and growing Catholic
population. With you, I therefore pray that young
Filipinos who feel called to the priesthood and the
religious life will respond generously to the promptings
of the Spirit. May the Church’s mission of
evangelization be sustained by the wonderful gifts which
the Lord offers to those whom he calls! In your turn, as
Pastors you will wish to offer these young vocations a
well-developed and carefully applied plan of integral
formation so that their initial inclination towards a life
of service to Christ and his faithful may come to full
spiritual and human maturity.
Dear
brothers in the episcopate, with these thoughts I assure
you of my prayers and commend you to the intercession of
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz. May his example of steadfast
faithfulness to Christ be an encouragement to you in your
apostolic labors. To you, to the clergy and religious, and
to all the faithful entrusted to your care, I cordially
impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of grace and
peace.
©
Copyright 2011 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
|
|
cerca nel sito
