Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Aparecida (Fides Service) - In his homily during the Mass on Sunday 13 May in the square in front of the national Marian Shrine of Aparecida to open the 5th General Conference of the Bishops' Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean, Pope Benedict XVI, remarking that “by a special gift of Divine Providence this Mass is celebrated in the season and in this place ”, in the Season of Easter, close to Pentecost, and at Aparecida, the Marian heart of Brazil" underlined that the Liturgy was the foundation of this CELAM 5 meeting because, “only the charity of Christ, effused by the Holy Spirit, can render this meeting an authentic ecclesial event, a moment of grace for the continent and for the whole world ”. Commenting the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles the Pope stressed the importance of “community discernment on the great difficulties the Church encounters on her path and which are explained by the ‘apostles’ and ‘elders’ with the light of the Holy Spirit”, underlining that today as then, “Church’s leaders discuss and argue, but in a constant attitude of religious openness to Christ’s word in the Holy Spirit. Consequently, at the end they can say: “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” (Acts 15:28).
Pope Benedict XVI said the Church's method is that of the Apostles: “This is the “method” by which we operate in the Church, whether in small gatherings or in great ones. It is not only question of procedure: it is a reflection of the Church’s very nature as a mystery of communion with Christ in the Holy Spirit.”. He underlined the role of the Spirit who “who trains disciples: he teaches them to love Jesus; he trains them to hear his word and to contemplate his countenance;” and the Church “considers herself the disciple and missionary of this Love: missionary only insofar as she is a disciple, capable of being attracted constantly and with renewed wonder by the God who has loved us and who loves us first”.
The mystery of the attraction God exercises over mankind affects the community, the Church, His presence in the world. “The Church does not engage in proselytism. Instead, she grows by “attraction”: just as Christ “draws all to himself” by the power of his love, culminating in the sacrifice of the Cross, so the Church fulfils her mission to the extent that, in union with Christ, she accomplishes every one of her works in spiritual and practical imitation of the love of her Lord.”. Latin America, “Continent of Hope”, is called to become, in the words of the Pontiff, “Continent of love ”: “ This is faith that has made America the “Continent of Hope”. Not a political ideology, not a social movement, not an economic system: faith in the God who is Love—who took flesh, died and rose in Jesus Christ—is the authentic basis for this hope which has brought forth such a magnificent harvest from the time of the first evangelisation until today, as attested by the ranks of Saints and Blessed whom the Spirit has raised up throughout the Continent.” A Church called, in the image of the heavenly Jerusalem, to “ to spread throughout this Continent and the whole world the holiness of Christ”. (S.V.) (Agenzia Fides 15/5/2007; righe 36, parole 513)
