S
Sarah_Jane
Guest
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Church on mission “must open borders to peoples and breach barriers between classes and races. In this, none can be forgotten or despised”. But while thus ultimately promoting liberty, she recalls that “human freedom is always a shared freedom, a combined freedom”, which is not restricted or limited by the law of God, but rather founded on it. On the day of Pentecost, “the feast of the Spirit”, Benedict XVI ordained 21 deacons of the diocese of Rome – his first time as pope.
The ceremony was held in a crowded church attended by cardinals, bishops and leaders of the diocese and vicariate of Rome. For the occasion, the pope proposed a reflection on the meaning of the law in the lives of men and the Church, where the people of God are founded even through the law: “the encounter with God at Sinai could be considered as the foundation and guarantee of her existence as a people”. In the invitation to “open our doors” to build “a bridge between heaven and earth” and therefore extended to our neighbour, Pope Ratzinger explained the sense of mission and forgiveness to the future priests, emphasising especially the importance of the sacrament of reconciliation.
Throughout the mass and later, looking out of the study window for the recital of the Regina Caeli, he recalled that “only in an ordered harmony of freedoms, which opens for each his own space, can a shared freedom be upheld.” In all this “the gift of the law on Sinai was not a restriction or an abolition of freedom, but the foundation of true freedom”. And “the commandments which God himself gave cannot be left out from an ordered structure of human freedoms”.
On this day of Pentecost, the pope underlined especially the notion of mission. Benedict XVI forcefully called on the Church to “unceasingly open those borders which we men continue to set up between us: we must always move away from Babel, from withdrawal into ourselves, to Pentecost”. “We continually close our doors; we always want to keep ourselves safe, not to be disturbed by others and by God”. But the greeting that the Lord extends to us, “peace be with you”, is “a bridge he lays down between heaven and earth” and “on this bridge, always together with him, we too must reach our neighbour, he who needs us”. The Church – “new people of God which comes from all nations” – must continually become what she already is: she must open borders to peoples and breach barriers between classes and races. In this there can be none who are forgotten or despised.”
As he already did in the ceremony of “taking possession” of the Basilica of St John Lateran, the pope pointed out to priests the virtue of “obedience to the word of Christ” and the “power of forgiveness” linked to the sacrament of reconciliation. “Only the Lord can give this forgiveness; forgiveness which does not cast evil off only in words, but which really transforms it.”
Source : asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3285
The ceremony was held in a crowded church attended by cardinals, bishops and leaders of the diocese and vicariate of Rome. For the occasion, the pope proposed a reflection on the meaning of the law in the lives of men and the Church, where the people of God are founded even through the law: “the encounter with God at Sinai could be considered as the foundation and guarantee of her existence as a people”. In the invitation to “open our doors” to build “a bridge between heaven and earth” and therefore extended to our neighbour, Pope Ratzinger explained the sense of mission and forgiveness to the future priests, emphasising especially the importance of the sacrament of reconciliation.
Throughout the mass and later, looking out of the study window for the recital of the Regina Caeli, he recalled that “only in an ordered harmony of freedoms, which opens for each his own space, can a shared freedom be upheld.” In all this “the gift of the law on Sinai was not a restriction or an abolition of freedom, but the foundation of true freedom”. And “the commandments which God himself gave cannot be left out from an ordered structure of human freedoms”.
On this day of Pentecost, the pope underlined especially the notion of mission. Benedict XVI forcefully called on the Church to “unceasingly open those borders which we men continue to set up between us: we must always move away from Babel, from withdrawal into ourselves, to Pentecost”. “We continually close our doors; we always want to keep ourselves safe, not to be disturbed by others and by God”. But the greeting that the Lord extends to us, “peace be with you”, is “a bridge he lays down between heaven and earth” and “on this bridge, always together with him, we too must reach our neighbour, he who needs us”. The Church – “new people of God which comes from all nations” – must continually become what she already is: she must open borders to peoples and breach barriers between classes and races. In this there can be none who are forgotten or despised.”
As he already did in the ceremony of “taking possession” of the Basilica of St John Lateran, the pope pointed out to priests the virtue of “obedience to the word of Christ” and the “power of forgiveness” linked to the sacrament of reconciliation. “Only the Lord can give this forgiveness; forgiveness which does not cast evil off only in words, but which really transforms it.”
Source : asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3285