MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Vatican Media
Luxembourg (Agenzia Fides) – Service, mission, joy. The second and final speech that Pope Francis gave in Luxembourg, the first stop on this Apostolic Journey to the heart of Europe, the 46th abroad for the Argentine Pontiff, revolves around these three words. In the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, a seventeenth-century masterpiece built in late Gothic style, the Bishop of Rome, quoting the words of the local youth, recalls that “the Luxembourgish Church wants to be ‘the Church of Jesus Christ, who did not come to be served but to serve’” because “the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of welcome, of openness to all, and does not allow any type of exclusion”. Speaking then of the mission, Francis repeats the words of Cardinal Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, who in welcoming the Pope in the Cathedral spoke of an “evolution of the Luxembourgish Church in a secularized society”. “I liked this expression: the Church, in a secularized society, evolves, matures, grows,” adds the Pontiff, who emphasizes: “It does not withdraw into itself, sad, resigned, resentful; rather, it accepts the challenge, in fidelity to the values of always, to rediscover and revalue in a new way the ways of evangelization, moving increasingly from a simple approach of pastoral care to that of missionary proclamation.” In this perspective, the Pope notes, “what drives us to the mission, in fact, is not the need to ‘make up the numbers’, to ‘proselytize’, but the desire to make as many brothers and sisters as possible know the joy of the encounter with Christ.” He then quotes Benedict XVI off the cuff: “Remember what Pope Benedict said: the Church grows by attraction, not by proselytism.” “Beyond the difficulties” there is “the living dynamism of the Holy Spirit who acts in us! Love drives us to proclaim the Gospel by opening ourselves to others and the challenge of proclaiming makes us grow as a community”, he continues. Paraphrasing Saint Gregory the Great, the Pontiff introduces the last of the three words on which he places emphasis, namely joy: “Our faith is like this: it is joyful, ‘dancing’, because it tells us that we are children of a God who is a friend of man, who wants us happy and united, and who is happier with nothing than our salvation”. Finally, the reference to a “beautiful tradition” of Luxembourg, namely the Springprozession, that is, the spring procession “which takes place at Pentecost in Echternach, in memory of the tireless missionary work of Saint Willibrord, evangelizer of these lands. The entire city pours out dancing in the streets and squares, along with many pilgrims and visitors who flock, and the procession becomes a huge, unique dance”. “The mission that the Lord entrusts to us is beautiful, to console and serve, following the example and with the help of Mary”, concludes the Pope who, before reaching the airport to fly to Belgium, opens the Marian Jubilee on the occasion of the 400 years of the veneration of Mary in Luxembourg under the title of “Consoler of the Afflicted”. Francis then pays homage to the statue of the Virgin with the golden rose. But it is already time to say goodbye: the plane to Brussels awaits. (FB) (Agenzia Fides 26/9/2024) Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.