Home English » News » Christian initiation in the perspective of the new Evangelisation - European International Congress for Catechesis 
News

Christian initiation in the perspective of the new Evangelisation - European International Congress for Catechesis   versione testuale


Venerable Brothers and
 
Dear friends,
 
I am very pleased to be able to celebrate this Eucharist with you on the day of your Congress and it is certainly notable and providentially significant that the first Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, includes the words that the Holy Father Benedict XVI, used to entitle his Letter for the initiation of the Year of Faith. The Year of Faith will celebrate the fiftieth Anniversary of the convocation of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church which is an indispensable instrument for the correct hermeneutic of the conciliar Texts.
 
Of course, we cannot forget that it is the Catechism of the Council! In fact we read that the Apostles: “..called the church together and reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” (Acts 14:27)
 
To open the door of faith to men of every place and time is primarily the task of God Himself! If we lose sight of the ‘primacy’ of God’s Work, whatever effort we employ will be destined to not bring forth the desired fruit. It is God who opens the door of faith to our human brothers and He does it, primarily, through His only Son. He is the ‘door for the sheep’, the unique and universal way of salvation for all men.
 
The image of this God that ‘opens’ His Word of salvation and His Church is beautiful and yet it is a long way from the many contemporary prejudices with regard to the Lord. The Church is the place in which that salvation becomes present and active for the freedom of the individual in communion with the one Body which is the Church.
 
 
S. Em. Mauro Piacenza