3/2/2024 0 Comments One shining moment 20011 It is above all in the actual situation of each local church that the mystery of the one People of God takes the particular form that fits it to each individual context and culture. Acts 2:42), the "one holy catholic and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative". In each of them, gathered around their Bishop, as they listen to the word and "break bread" in brotherhood (cf. This is a task I wish to invite all the local churches to undertake. We now need to profit from the grace received, by putting it into practice in resolutions and guidelines for action. Often during these months we have looked towards the new millennium which is beginning, as we lived this Jubilee not only as a remembrance of the past, but also as a prophecy of the future. Dear Brothers and Sisters, it is especially necessary for us to direct our thoughts to the future which lies before us. Rev 2:7,11,17, etc.) during this most intense year.ģ. But we cannot fail to give thanks for the "marvels" the Lord has worked for us: " Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo" ( Ps 89:2).Īt the same time, what we have observed demands to be reconsidered, and in a sense "deciphered", in order to hear what the Spirit has been saying to the Church (cf. Has the Jubilee succeeded in this aim? Our commitment, with its generous efforts and inevitable failings, is under God's scrutiny. I thought of its celebration as a providential opportunity during which the Church, thirty-five years after the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, would examine how far she had renewed herself, in order to be able to take up her evangelizing mission with fresh enthusiasm. From the beginning of my Pontificate, my thoughts had been on this Holy Year 2000 as an important appointment. For all this, I feel the need to write to you, dearly beloved, to share this song of praise with you. At the end of this year we can repeat with renewed jubilation the ancient words of thanksgiving: "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures for ever" ( Ps 118:1).Ģ. This is the merciful love of the Father which has once again been made known and given to us in Christ. This is the water of the Spirit which quenches thirst and brings new life (cf. Rev 22:1), has been poured out on the Church. But certainly, "a river of living water", the water that continually flows "from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (cf. It is impossible to take the measure of this event of grace which in the course of the year has touched people's hearts. To him who is the goal of history and the one Saviour of the world, the Church and the Spirit cried out: " Marana tha - Come, Lord Jesus" (cf. With extraordinary energy, involving so many of her members, the People of God here in Rome, as well as in Jerusalem and in all the individual local churches, went through the "Holy Door" that is Christ. She became more than ever a pilgrim people, led by him who is the "the great shepherd of the sheep" ( Heb 13:20). The Church's joy was great this year, as she devoted herself to contemplating the face of her Bridegroom and Lord. "When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish" ( Lk 5:6).ĭuc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever" ( Heb 13:8). Peter and his first companions trusted Christ's words, and cast the nets. At the beginning of the new millennium, and at the close of the Great Jubilee during which we celebrated the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus and a new stage of the Church's journey begins, our hearts ring out with the words of Jesus when one day, after speaking to the crowds from Simon's boat, he invited the Apostle to "put out into the deep" for a catch: " Duc in altum" ( Lk 5:4).
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