(Vatican Radio) The 51st International Eucharistic Congress has ended in Cebu, Philippines.
As Vatican Radio’s Seàn-Patrick Lovett reports from Cebu, the week long event that saw the participation of faithful and clergy from across the globe concluded in style with a personal video-message from Pope Francis himself who also announced that the next such Congress will take place in 2010 in Budapest, Hungary:
So what exactly do you have to do to get front page news coverage of your international Catholic spiritual festival that brings together over 15,000 delegates from over 70 countries in an exotic location and a context of impeccable organization and style in order to listen to some of the most inspired and inspiring speakers in the world today addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time and that includes a celebration during which 5,000 children receive their First Holy Communion as well as an evening torch-light procession stretching over 5 kilometres and witnessing the participation of nearly 2 million people representing all ages and social groups and that culminates in an open-air Mass attended by approximately the same number of devout and devoted faithful and that concludes with a video message by no one less than the Pope himself?
Apart from using shorter sentences, you could start by avoiding any reference to the word “Eucharist”. In fact, if you were listening, you might have noticed my reference to the event as a “Catholic spiritual festival”, rather than an “International Eucharistic Congress” – which it was. But then, I’m only trying to help.
The fact is that, with numbers like those, any other political, sporting or entertainment event anywhere else in the world, would have attracted the kind of attention that it deserved. Evidently, the Eucharist doesn’t deserve it. At least as far as mainstream media is concerned. Fortunately, every single person who was here in Cebu (man, woman, child, secular or religious, Catholic and non) – would disagree.
To put it bluntly (and with no disrespect): we had a blast. And to be honest (with the utmost respect): it was more fun because it was in the Philippines. In the words of their own Pastors (and I quote): Filipinos do three things really well: sing, eat and enjoy celebrating their Faith. Of course they do so much more than that. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York publicly expressed his gratitude to the many Filipino priests who have taken over parishes in Europe and America that were in crisis due to a lack of local vocations. And what about the Filipino care-givers and computer programmers and artists and engineers who have brought the joyfully exuberant expression of their faith tradition to worn-out and lack-lustre Catholic communities on five continents?
So, by way of conclusion, and since I know you didn’t read or hear about it anywhere else, you need to know that for the past week here in Cebu we have been singing, eating, and celebrating the Catholic Faith the Filipino way: joyfully.
Here in Cebu, singing, eating, and covering the 51st Eucharistic Congress I’m Seàn-Patrick Lovett
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday spoke of his sadness at the death of one of the workers at his residence at the Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican. The Holy Father said the woman, whom he called Elvira, had been sick for some time. He was speaking at the conclusion of his first Jubilee audience during this Year of Mercy in St Peter’s Square and he asked the pilgrims present to pray a Hail Mary for the woman and her family. The Pope described the Casa Santa Marta as big house, where he said about forty priests, and some bishops who are working in the Curia live. There are also, he added, guests who stay, such as cardinals, bishops and lay people who come to Rome for meetings. Elvira was just one of a group of men and women, who work at the residence cleaning and working in the kitchen and dining room. Pope Francis said these people were not just employees, they formed part of a family in the house. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) The 51st International Eucharistic Congres s is taking place in Cebu, Philippines drawing thousands of delegates from around the globe to reflect on the central role of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.
One of Saturday’s presenters at the event was Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York , whose theme was ‘The Eucharist and Mary’. In the presentation, he returned to the theology of suffering, giving moving examples of a priest celebrating Mass on his deathbed and a dying girl’s wish that Cardinal Dolan speak her name into the Chalice during the sacrifice of the Mass.
He spoke to the head of Vatican Radio’s English Section, Seàn-Patrick Lovett, about the importance of the theology of suffering and the Eucharist.
Listen to the full interview:
Redemptive suffering
“John Paul II used to speak about redemptive suffering. When I was a parish priest, and now that I’m a bishop, so many people will pour out their heart and soul and tell me about their suffering. You wouldn’t know it to look at them – it’s not like their on crutches or a wheelchair, sometimes they are – but sometimes it’s emotion suffering, sometimes it’s spiritual suffering. They are just eaten alive with worry.”
“It’s like the people who ran up to Jesus; they just wanted to touch him, they wanted to pour out their heart and soul. That’s what we mean by a Saviour: we have certain things we need saving from! And one of the things we need to be saved from is our worries, our sufferings, our sorrows. I’ve never met a person who didn’t have them.”
“But today we tend to deny that, we almost tend to say ‘Ah, we don’t need a Saviour; I can do it by myself’. Well, if we don’t need a Saviour, then we are the saddest people. I don’t know about you, but I sure need one, and the people that I meet need one. And we have to show them the Saviour.”
Theology of suffering in Eucharist
Turning to the reason why many Catholics tend to shy away from proclaiming a theology of suffering, Cardinal Dolan said, “Why do think? Is it because people will think we are kind of negative or depressed or because we’re down on humanity or Creation? Are you kidding? We are the ones who exalt Creation!”
“We are the ones who know the dignity and beauty of the human person. But we also know the suffering there, we also know the dark side, the unredeemed side. And that’s where faith and religion, that’s where the Saviour comes in! And that’s what the Mass is all about.”
He then went on to give some examples of the shakers and movers who frequent the Cathedral of New York, St. Patrick’s. “When I look out there, I know them well enough now to know that every one of them has a special intention. I know every one of them is eaten up inside with something bothering them. […] And what do they do? Where do they go? That’s why they come to Mass, because they know they are close to Jesus and the Cross there. We can’t lose that.”
Power of Eucharist: Christian community
The power of the Eucharistic Congress, Cardinal Dolan said, is “the power of other people, the power of example. It’s the power of seeing them trying their best to live their faith. And I think that’s the genius of Catholicism: we’re not in this alone.”
“That’s something really important for us in the United States, because the Calvinist Puritan ethic would be that ‘it’s God and me, it’s between Jesus and me’. Mostly it’s very personal. We Catholics tend to believe – yes, our faith is personal – but it’s received and lived out together, in a community, with other people that we call the Church. And that’s where examples come in; that’s what the Communion of Saints [is about]: good examples for us.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) In the first monthly Jubilee audience during this Year of Mercy, the Holy Father on Saturday spoke about the close relationship between mercy and mission.
Recalling the words of Saint John Paul II, the Pope said that his predecessor “reminded us that the Church lives an authentic life when she professes and proclaims mercy, and leads people to the source of mercy.”
As Christians, Pope Francis said, “we are called to be missionaries of the Gospel.”
He went on to say that just as we naturally seek to share with others the beautiful moments of our lives, we are called also and especially to share the joy of encountering Jesus Christ.
The Pope explained to those gathered in St Peter’s Square that to encounter Jesus was to experience his love, which transforms us and compels us, in turn, to share this love.
The Holy Father stressed that every Christian was the “bearer of Christ” and said that the mercy we receive from the Father is not given solely for our benefit, but for the good of all, by transforming us into instruments, missionaries of mercy.
The mercy that we receive from the Father, the Pope noted, was given to us as a private consolation, but it also makes us tools so that others can receive the same gift.
“Let us never tire of feeling the need of His forgiveness”, Pope Francis said, “because when we are weak, his proximity makes us strong and enables us to live with greater joy our faith.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, on Friday released his message for the 63rd World Leprosy Day .
The theme of this year’s message is ‘ To live is to help to live ‘.
World Leprosy Day is traditionally help around the world on the last Sunday of January. It was begun in 1954 by French philanthropist and writer, Raoul Follereau, as a way to raise awareness of this deadly ancient disease.
The full message is below:
Message of H.E. Msgr. Zygmunt Zimowski, the President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers (for Health Pastoral Care), on the Occasion of the Sixty-Third World Leprosy Day
To live is to help to live
(31 January 2016)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This sixty-third World Leprosy Day, which has the title ‘To Live is to Help to Live’, constitutes for everyone an opportunity to continue with the fight against this terrible infection, as well as to weaken the ostracism that often burdens the people who carry its unmistakable signs.
This is a marginalisation that can be traced back to a natural sense of self-defence in relation to a disease which at one time was incurable, and to an almost ‘ancestral’ fear which, however, today no longer has any reason to exist given that leprosy can be defeated and those who have been cured of it can go back to living.
The distancing, like the exclusion from of social life, of those who carry its signs are, therefore, totally unreasonable and indeed they provoke further and unjustified sufferings in totally innocent people who already suffer as a result of the lesions – which are often also accompanied by disability – that are provoked by this disease. In this sense, those who have good health are called to help those who still today are the victims of an unjustified social stigma to live in a dignified way.
This constitutes a concrete sign of solidarity, of authentic fraternity, and of mercy, in line with what – during this Jubilee Year – we are taught by Pope Francis, who points out to us that we must manage to help them, ‘looking them in the eye’, without being ‘afraid to touch them’, so that ‘this gesture of help may also be a gesture of communication…a gesture of tenderness’. [1]
This commitment, in addition, forms a part of that concern that the Holy Father himself emphasised in his Message for the forthcoming World Day of the Sick which will be celebrated on 11 February in the Holy Land: ‘In Mary’s concern we see reflected the tenderness of God. This same tenderness is present in the lives of all those persons who attend the sick and understand their needs, even the most imperceptible ones, because they look upon them with eyes full of love’. In this concrete and disinterested gesture one can truly recognise in action the theme chosen for this event: to live is to help to live.
Making its own the commitment of the Church to caring for people with leprosy and supporting those who have been cured of it, and in order to increase the sensitivity of men and women of good will, our Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, cooperating, respectively, with the Sasakawa Foundation and the Raoul Follereau Foundation, has organised two study days which will be held on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 June 2016 in the Vatican.
At that event, those taking part will be able to be present at the celebration of the Eucharist presided over by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday 12 June, on the occasion of the Jubilee for the Sick and Disabled.
I take this opportunity to send my greetings to those with leprosy and to thank dutifully those who do all they can for all those people who have to be treated and cared for, or who are relegated to the margins of society because of this disease, which is still endemic in various countries of Asia, South America and Africa. Equally, we must feel ourselves committed to finding a new impetus against this disease, broadening activities involving information and prevention, but above all fostering, as a gesture of true ‘com-passion’, the social and occupational reintegration of those who have been cured of it and who – despite the fact that they carry the marks of this disease on their bodies – have maintained intact their dignity as persons.
In this work let us take as an example, and be inspired by, many Saints and Blesseds, as well as by men and women of good will, who have dedicated, and at times sacrificed, their lives to be at the side of people with Hansen’s disease, even at a time when leprosy was clinically incurable and a source of innumerable deaths. Amongst the most representative we can but remember St. Damien de Veuster, St. Marianne Cope, the Blessed Jan Beyzym, and Albert Schweitzer.
In expressing by this Message the gospel nearness that the Church still and always intends to bear witness to, both with people who are afflicted by leprosy and with those who take care of them, I entrust the celebration of this World Leprosy Day to the maternal care of the Most Holy Mary, in whose steps we may follow in order to cross – with care and joy – the threshold of the Holy Door of Mercy and meet He who is true Life.
[1] Pope Francis, Angelus (15 February 2015).
(from Vatican Radio)…