Cardinal Bertone's Address to Mexican Bishops
"Time Is Ripe for the Laity to Fully Assume Its Proper Vocation"
MEXICO
CITY, JAN. 16, 2009 - Here is the address Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
Benedict XVI's secretary of state and pontifical legate to the 6th
World Meeting of Families, gave today to the Mexican bishops'
conference.
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President of the Bishops' Conference of Mexico,
Cardinals,
Dear Brother Bishops,
I
am very happy to be here with all of you today, and I would like to
express to all of you my gratitude for the warm greeting that you have
shown to me as legate of Pope Benedict XVI for the VI World Meeting of
Families. I thank Monsignor Carlos Aguiar Retes, bishop of Texcoco and
president of the Mexican bishops' conference, for the kind and
deferential words of welcome that you have directed toward me, in the
name of all.
Before all else, allow me to transmit to you the
affectionate greeting of the Successor of Peter, as well as his
spiritual closeness. My presence here is in obedience to the expressed
desire of the Pope who, before the impossibility of realizing this
yearned for trip, decided to make himself present among you through his
most direct and closest coworker, which is the secretary of state. His
Holiness knows well the vitality and strength of the Church in Mexico,
the dedication and surrender of all its members, Pastors and faithful,
at the service of the Gospel, as well as fidelity and fervor of its
love of the Virgin and of its union with the Roman Pontiff. In this
way, the Bishop of Rome desires to encourage them so that, in the midst
of the difficulties of the present moment, they don't lose strength in
their determination to announce to all men and women the Good News of
Salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord. For this he accompanies you in every
moment with his prayer and constant encouragement, because he carries
very deeply in his heart the sons and daughters of this blessed Mexican
land, land of Christ and of Mary.
Dear brothers and sisters, in
the last meeting of the Plenary Assembly of the Conference of the
Mexican Bishops, last November, they reflected amply, together with 118
laypeople from all of the Mexican provinces, on the necessity of
promoting a new and valiant lay leadership (cf. Message of the Bishops
of Mexico, Nov. 13, 2008).
Effectively, the Second Vatican
Council has highlighted the specific and absolutely necessary role of
the baptized in the saving mission of the Church. Inasmuch as they are
living members of the one Body of Christ, they "are called to
contribute to the incessant growth and sanctification of the Church
with all its strength" ("Lumen Gentium," 33). Without a doubt, the time
is ripe for the laity to fully assume its proper vocation in the Church
and in society. Furthermore, the actual circumstances, and the
direction of the world in general, is calling for a secular apostolate
that is wider and more intense, full of zeal and love of God. But, in
what does the specific apostolate of the laity consist? Where is it
developed and with what means is it carried out? In the last pastoral
letter of the Mexican episcopate, you affirmed with clarity that "the
faithful laity fulfill their Christian vocation principally in secular
works" (Pastoral Letter "Del encuentro con Jesucristo a la solidaridad
con todos" [Of the Encounter with Jesus Christ in Solidarity With All],
270). In this point they follow faithfully the established doctrine of
Vatican II, when they affirmed that the baptized "truly exercise the
apostolate with their push to evangelize and sanctify all men and
women, and perfect with an evangelical spirit in the realm of temporal
things, in such a way that their activity of this order gives a clear
testimony of Christ and serves for the salvation of men ("Apostolican
actuisitatem," 2).
Especially relevant and decisive, for its
transcendence at the moment of shaping society according to Christ,
proves to be the testimony of the laity in the field of politics and
culture. It is necessary to encourage them and offer them all the help
they need so that they involve themselves, with coherence of life and
with a true spirit of service to their brothers and sisters, in the
public shifts of their country. A Christian, conscious of his vocation
as a son or daughter of Christ, cannot wash his hands of the effort,
full of charity and respect toward others, to attempt to make the
fruitful values of the Gospel illuminate all realms of society. Doing
it in this way, the faithful layperson fulfills, with his renewed
insistence and wide vision, his responsibility as a citizen, given that
his Christian vocation does not take him out of the world. Rather, it
propels him to take part in the construction of civil society
contributing in this way to the common good of the entire nation, to
which he belongs by right.
I would also like to mention, because
of its importance, a priority field of apostolate for the Church today,
and in a special way, of the apostolate of the laity: marriage and the
family. Christian spouses are called to give a special testimony of the
sanctity of marriage, as well as its importance for society. These are
the ones that can best show before others the beauty of the design of
God regarding human love, marriage and family. This, founded in the
marriage between a man and a woman, is the base and fundamental cell of
human society. In this communion of life and love, which is marriage,
is found the reason for being of the sexual difference between the man
and the woman, as well as the call to love that God has put in their
hearts. Effectively, God has created man to love and be loved (cf. John
Paul II, Ex. Ap. "Familiaris consortio," 11). The link of spousal
donation, made of tenderness, respect and responsible donation, is the
natural place in which human life is conceived and finds the protection
and acceptance that its dignity requires. For this, to work for the
good of marriage and the family is to fight for the good of the human
being and society. It is paramount, then, to make the effort so that
the civil law of a country respects the proper identity of this natural
institution, that is at the base of the social structure. Nonetheless,
it is not enough to count on good laws, it is necessary as well to
insist on a vast labor of education and formation that helps all,
especially young people, to discover and value the beauty and
importance of marriage and family.
I am fully convinced, dear
brothers, that the celebration of the VI World Meeting of Families will
constitute a unique and providential occasion to boost even more the
family ministry in your diocesan communities, maximizing and
multiplying the numerous pastoral initiatives that are already giving
abundant fruits.
To be able to fulfill this demanding mission,
the faithful need to count on an intense spiritual life and a solid
formation, based above all in the attentive and meditative school of
the Word of God. All of us in the Church have a need for this intimate
contact with the Lord in Scripture. With this motive, the Pope, in the
concluding Mass of the recent synod of bishops, said that the "priority
task of the Church, at the beginning of this new millennium, consists
before all in nourishing itself with the Word of God, so as to make
effective the commitment of the new evangelization, of the proclamation
in our times" (Benedict XVI, Homily Oct. 26, 2008).
Indeed, to
evangelize does not consist just in communicating some doctrinal
content, but in offering a proposal of an encounter with Christ. An
encounter with Jesus, the Savior, who, touching the heart and the mind
with the light of his truth and the strength of his love, can satiate
the deep thirst for God that so many brothers and sisters of ours have,
and move them at the same time to live the Gospel with all its
consequences.
Certainly, this is a matter of offering hope to
everyone, the great hope that is God himself and that rises above all
other human hopes, giving them a definitive base (cf. "Spe Salvi," 31).
The Holy Father encourages you so that, in difficult situations, you do
not cease to present Christ as the true motive of hope. Drawing near to
the Lord and putting into practice his teachings, as the Virgin Mary
instructed at the wedding of Cana (cf. John 2:5), Mexico will be
capable of overcoming all obstacles and of building a tomorrow that is
more just and free for everyone, where an end is put to the social
nooses that torment its development, and in a particular way, where the
dignity of the person is respected from his conception until his
natural death.
Dear brother bishops, following the guidelines
specified in the final document of the 5th General Conference of the
Episcopate of Latin American and the Caribbean, celebrated in
Aparecida, long to watch over and nourish the faith of the members of
the Mexican ecclesial communities, enlivening in them the desire to
know, follow and give themselves to Christ, so as to thus be able to
make him known to others as intrepid missionaries.
In this vast
effort of evangelization, priests carry out a very important role. They
are our first and closest collaborators, and carrying on their
shoulders the weight of the day and the heat (cf. Matthew 20:12), they
deserve all the devotion and attention of their bishops. I want to
recall here the words that the Pope directed to the Italian episcopal
conference: "In reality, for us, the bishops, it is an essential task
to be constantly close to our priests, who, with the sacrament of
orders, participate in the apostolic ministry that the Lord has
entrusted us. [...] The closer we are to our priests, the more they
will have affection and confidence in us, will excuse our personal
limits, welcome our words and feel that they are in solidarity with us
in the joys and the difficulties of the ministry" (Discourse to the
members of the Italian episcopal conference, May 18, 2006).
The
Supreme Pontiff carries in his heart all of the Mexican priests and he
asks you to express to them his recognition and gratitude for their
generous dedication, motivating them to continue carrying out their
work with tireless and constant fidelity, though they often find
themselves in the midst of tests and difficulties.
Dear
brothers, I want to thank you again for all the concern and welcome
that you have given me, as well as reiterate to you the special
spiritual closeness and the incessant solicitude of the Holy Father for
all of you, dear pastors of the Church in Mexico, for the retired
bishops, for the priests, seminarians, religious and laypeople, and for
the whole Mexican people. May the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Our Lady of
Guadalupe, Patron of America, sustain you and guide you in your
beautiful and demanding pastoral ministry. Thank you very much and God
bless you.
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