The beauty of faith and message to engaged couples

VIS 17 Sep 2011

Benedict XVI recalled how Paul had travelled to the Greek city of Philippi some twenty years after the death and resurrection of Christ, being the first time that the Gospel reached Europe. Starting from Jerusalem, the Good News “was destined to reach all men and all peoples, to transform all cultures from within, opening them to the fundamental truth that God is love, that He became man in Jesus and that His sacrifice saved humankind from the slavery of evil, giving it an unfailing hope”, the Pope said,

In his own person, St. Paul was an embodiment of the three main worlds of that time: Jewish, Greek and Roman, said the Pope. It was for this reason that “God entrusted him with the mission of carrying the Gospel from Asia Minor to Greece, and then Rome, building a bridge that would carry Christianity to the ends of the earth”.

Today we live in an age of new evangelisation. Vast horizons are opening to the announcement of the Gospel, while regions of ancient Christian tradition are called to rediscover the beauty of the faith”.

The protagonists of the evangelising mission are “individuals, families and communities who agree to work in the vineyard of the Lord. ... Humble and generous workers who ask no other reward than to be able to share the mission of Jesus and of the Church. ... The Gospel has transformed the world and continues to transform it.”  Benedict XVI concluded by praying to the Virgin Mary “for priestly, religious and lay vocations to arise throughout the Church, in order to serve the new evangelisation”.

Pope speaks with a group of Engaged Couples

VIS 11 Sep 2011

The Pope told them. “The table is full of delicacies but, like the Gospel narrative of the wedding feast of Cana, the wine seems to have run out. In particular, the difficulty in finding stable work extends a veil of uncertainty over the future. This means that definitive decisions are delayed, and has a negative effect on the development of society which is unable to take full advantage of the energies, competence and creativity of your generation”.

“The wine is also lacking at the feast for a culture which tends to ignore clear moral criteria. In their disorientation, people tend to move individually and autonomously, often only on the perimeter of reality. ... Thus, even fundamental decisions become uncertain and remain perennially revocable”.

“Never lose hope”, the Pope told the young people. “Keep your courage, even in moments of difficulty, remain firm in the faith. ... Nothing can separate us from the love of God. You may be certain that the Church ... does not cease to look to you with great trust. She knows that you thirst for values, for true values upon which it is worth building your home: the values of faith, of the individual, of the family, of human relations, of justice. Do not lose heart before the shortcomings that seem to rob the feast of life of its joy”.

“You are experiencing a unique moment which opens you to the wonder of meeting another person, which helps you discover the beauty of existing as a precious part of another person’s life. ... Follow this journey gradually, intensely and truthfully. Most of all, I would like to tell you to avoid falsely reassuring relationships of intimacy. Ensure, rather, that your relationship acts as a leaven for active and responsible presence in the community”.

“All human love is a sign of the eternal Love which created us, the grace of which sanctifies the choice of a man and a woman to dedicate themselves to married life. Experience this time of engagement in trusting expectation of that gift, which must be accepted by following a path of understanding, respect and attention for one another which you must never lose. ... Prepare yourselves to make that ‘eternal’ choice which characterises love. Indissolubility, rather than being an imposition, is a gift we should want, seek and experience, over and above the changing conditions of human life. ... Ongoing faithfulness and love for one another will also make you capable of being open to life, of being parents. ... Fidelity, indissolubility and the transmission of life are the pillars for each family, an authentic common good and a precious heritage for the world.