October
28, 2012 – Angelus Message – Closing of the Synod of Bishops
Sunday, October 28, 2012 marked the
end of a three-week journey of meetings and discussions for the Synod of
Bishops, called by Pope Benedict XVI, on the New Evangelization for the
Transmission of the Christian Faith.
Throughout this time, the streets have been bustling with visitors from
all over the world who have been involved with the meetings in some fashion or
another. Bishops, priests, and lay
faithful came together to present the needs of the Church in our contemporary
era and to reflect on the reality facing the Church, as well as ways and
avenues of presenting the faith to the faithful and today's secularized
socieities. Pope Benedict XVI
reflected,
“...the whole Church was represented and, thus,
involved in this work, which will not fail to bear its fruits with the Lord’s
grace. First of all, however, the Synod is always a moment of vibrant ecclesial
communion, and I would to thank God for this together with all of you. He has
once again made us experience the beauty of being Church, and to be it
precisely today, in this world as it is, in the midst of this humanity with its
toils and its hopes.”
He once again
acknowledged and stressed the importance of the Second Vatican Council, as well
as the beginning of the Year of Faith, relating how it helpful it was during
these past few weeks to be thinking and meditating upon Blessed John Paul II,
Servant of God Paul VI, and the Council.
The Holy Father believes that this thrust for new evangelization was a
dynamism beginning in the 1950s with the emphasis to evangelize traditionally
Christian countries that had become “mission territories”. Offering these thoughts, Pope Benedict stated,
“Thus there
emerged the need for a renewed proclamation of the Gospel in the secularized
societies, with the twofold certainty that, on the one hand, it is only he,
Jesus Christ, the one who is truly new, who answers to the expectations of the
men of every age, and, on the other hand, that his message must be transmitted
in changed social and cultural contexts.”
Following, the
Holy Father said he would try to order and elaborate a teaching from all the
information he personally listened to and all the information that he gathered
and was given through collaborators.
Summarizing, he stated,
“From this
moment we can say that there has emerged from this Synod a strengthened
commitment to the spiritual renewal of the Church herself so as to spiritually
renew the secularized world; and this renewal will come from the rediscovery of Jesus
Christ, of his truth and of his grace, of his 'countenance' so human and so
divine upon which the mystery of God’s transcendence shines.”
He concluded,
entrusting all the fruits and labor of the Synod meetings to the Blessed
Mother, Mary Star of the New Evangelization, asking her intercession to bring
all to Christ with courage and joy.
After praying
the Angelus, he asked a prayer request for all the victims of the hurricane
that had hit at that time in the Caribbean islands, especially Cuba, Haiti,
Jamaica, and the Bahamas. He stated, “I
invite everyone to prayer and solidarity, to alleviate the grief of the
families of the victims and to offer help to the thousands who have been
injured.” May we join together in
prayer with our Holy Father for all those who have been affected by the
devastating effects of the hurricane weather in the Caribbean islands and on
the East Coast of the United States of America.
May we also pray
that these meetings will continue to bear much fruit in the Church, and that we
each may know and rediscover Christ, His truth, His grace, and His
countenance. Blessed Mother, pray for
us!