Today, the Holy Father sent a Message to the faithful in Brazil who are beginning the 52nd Lenten Fraternal Campaign organized by the Brazilian Episcopal Conference. This year, the theme of the Campaign is: Fraternity: the Church and Society and the slogan is I have come to serve (Mark 10:45).
Dear brothers and sisters in Brazil!
Lent is drawing near, a time of preparation for Easter: a time of penance, prayer and charity, a time for renewing our lives, identifying our lives with that of Jesus through His generous gift to his brothers, especially to those in need. This year, the National Conference of Bishops in Brazil, inspired by the words: The Son of man did not come to be served, but in order to serve and to give his life for the sake of many (Mark 10:45) proposes as the theme Fraternity: the Church and Society for this traditional campaign.
In fact, the Church as a community composed of those who believe and direct their gaze toward Jesus, the author of salvation and the principle of unity (Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen gentium, 3), cannot be indifferent to the needs of those in our world because the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of men today, above all the poor and all those who suffer, are also the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the disciples of Christ (Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, 1). What can we do? During the forty days in which God calls his people to conversion, the Fraternal Campaign aims to help us deepen, in the light of the gospel, the dialogue and the collaboration between the Church and society - proposed by Vatican Council II - as a service of building the Kingdom of God in the heart and the life of the Brazilian people.
The contribution of the Church, with respect to the secular State (cf GS, 76), and not forgetting the autonomy of earthly realities (cf GS, 36), finds concrete form in her Social Doctrine, with which she wishes to evangelically take on from the perspective of the Kingdom, the competent priorities that contribute to the dignity of the human being to exist and to work together with other citizens and institution for the good of all (Aparecida document, 384). This is not accomplished exclusively in institutions: every one of us must do our part, to begin in our own homes, in our places of work, with the persons with whom we have relationships. Concretely, we need to help the poorest and the most in need. Let us remember that every Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the freedom and the promotion of the poor, so that they may be fully integrated in society; this supposes that we are docile and attentively listening for the cry of the poor and ready to respond to it (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, 187), above all knowing how to welcome them, for when we generously welcome someone and share something with him (or her) - a bit of food, a place in our home, a bit of our time - not only do we no longer remain poor, but we actually enrich ourselves (Speech to the Community of Varginha, July 25, 2013). Thus, we can make an examination of our consciences concerning practical and effective ways for every one of us to build a more just, more fraternal and more peaceful society.
Dear brothers and sisters, when Jesus says: I have come to serve (Mark 10:45), he is teaching us the basics of Christian identity: to love through acts of service. Therefore, I hope that your Lenten journey this year, in the light of proposals put forward by the Fraternal Campaign, predisposes our hearts to the new life given to us by Christ, and that the transforming power of his Resurrection reaches out to everyone in its personal, familial, social and cultural dimensions and strengthens sentiments of fraternity and collaborative living in every heart. To each and every one of you, through the intercession of Our Lady of Aparecida, I send my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing, asking you to never forget to pray for me.
From the Vatican
February 2, 2015
Francis
Message of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
to the faithful in Brazil
Dear brothers and sisters in Brazil!
Lent is drawing near, a time of preparation for Easter: a time of penance, prayer and charity, a time for renewing our lives, identifying our lives with that of Jesus through His generous gift to his brothers, especially to those in need. This year, the National Conference of Bishops in Brazil, inspired by the words: The Son of man did not come to be served, but in order to serve and to give his life for the sake of many (Mark 10:45) proposes as the theme Fraternity: the Church and Society for this traditional campaign.
In fact, the Church as a community composed of those who believe and direct their gaze toward Jesus, the author of salvation and the principle of unity (Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen gentium, 3), cannot be indifferent to the needs of those in our world because the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of men today, above all the poor and all those who suffer, are also the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the disciples of Christ (Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, 1). What can we do? During the forty days in which God calls his people to conversion, the Fraternal Campaign aims to help us deepen, in the light of the gospel, the dialogue and the collaboration between the Church and society - proposed by Vatican Council II - as a service of building the Kingdom of God in the heart and the life of the Brazilian people.
The contribution of the Church, with respect to the secular State (cf GS, 76), and not forgetting the autonomy of earthly realities (cf GS, 36), finds concrete form in her Social Doctrine, with which she wishes to evangelically take on from the perspective of the Kingdom, the competent priorities that contribute to the dignity of the human being to exist and to work together with other citizens and institution for the good of all (Aparecida document, 384). This is not accomplished exclusively in institutions: every one of us must do our part, to begin in our own homes, in our places of work, with the persons with whom we have relationships. Concretely, we need to help the poorest and the most in need. Let us remember that every Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the freedom and the promotion of the poor, so that they may be fully integrated in society; this supposes that we are docile and attentively listening for the cry of the poor and ready to respond to it (Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii gaudium, 187), above all knowing how to welcome them, for when we generously welcome someone and share something with him (or her) - a bit of food, a place in our home, a bit of our time - not only do we no longer remain poor, but we actually enrich ourselves (Speech to the Community of Varginha, July 25, 2013). Thus, we can make an examination of our consciences concerning practical and effective ways for every one of us to build a more just, more fraternal and more peaceful society.
Dear brothers and sisters, when Jesus says: I have come to serve (Mark 10:45), he is teaching us the basics of Christian identity: to love through acts of service. Therefore, I hope that your Lenten journey this year, in the light of proposals put forward by the Fraternal Campaign, predisposes our hearts to the new life given to us by Christ, and that the transforming power of his Resurrection reaches out to everyone in its personal, familial, social and cultural dimensions and strengthens sentiments of fraternity and collaborative living in every heart. To each and every one of you, through the intercession of Our Lady of Aparecida, I send my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing, asking you to never forget to pray for me.
From the Vatican
February 2, 2015
Francis
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