Pope Francis says "find in the Eucharist a bond that strengthens the vigor of the Church itself...among its members and with God..." to the Quito Eucharistic Congress - FULL TEXT
VIDEO MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 53RD INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS (IEC2024)
[Quito, Ecuador, 8-15 September 2024]
Pope Francis' message for the opening of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress in Quito, Ecuador, recalls that "we are one in a way that we are not able to fully understand, but what we do understand is that only in that unity can we serve the world and heal it."“Fraternity, as an essential condition for a new world, a more just world, a more human world.” This is one of the teachings that can be learned from the Most Holy Eucharist and highlighted by Pope Francis in his video message to the participants in the opening of the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress in Quito, Ecuador. Cardinal Baltazar Porras, Archbishop Emeritus of Caracas, will be participating in the event, which begins this Sunday, September 8, and ends on the 15th, as Pontifical Legate (i.e., representative of the Holy Father).ON THE OCCASION OF THE 53RD INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS (IEC2024)
[Quito, Ecuador, 8-15 September 2024]
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am pleased to be able to take part, even from a distance, in this International Eucharistic Congress being held in the city of San Francisco de Quito, under the beautiful motto: “Fraternity to heal the world.”
The lessons we can draw from the Most Holy Eucharist always surprise us. We could say with the psalm “I have finished, and you are still with me, Lord,” who are silently present in the Tabernacle (cf. Psalm 138:18).
Among these teachings you have chosen that of fraternity, as an essential condition for a new world, a more just world, a more human world.
The early Fathers of the Church already told us that the sign of bread ignites in the People of God the desire for fraternity, because just as bread cannot be made from a single grain, we too must walk together, because “being many, we are one body, one bread” (St. Augustine, Sermon 227). This is how we grow as brothers, this is how we grow as a Church, united by the water of baptism and purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit (cf. ibid.). A deep fraternity, which is born from union with God, which is born from allowing ourselves to be ground, like wheat, in order to become bread, the body of Christ, thus participating fully in the Eucharist and in the assembly of the saints (cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Romanos 4,1).
This fraternity must also be proactive. An example of this that comes to mind now is the thought of a German nun who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Angela Autsch (Venerable Sr. Angela Maria of the Heart of Jesus (or Maria Cecilia Autsch); German Trinitarian Sister of Valencia). Even before she was arrested, when the evil that was looming over the world was already evident, she invited her little nephews, who were approaching Holy Communion for the first time, she invited her somewhat distant relatives and also invited those who remained devout, to rebel against this evil with simple gestures and, in certain environments, dangerous, to come as close as possible to the Sacrament of the altar, to rebel by receiving Communion.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am pleased to be able to take part, even from a distance, in this International Eucharistic Congress being held in the city of San Francisco de Quito, under the beautiful motto: “Fraternity to heal the world.”
The lessons we can draw from the Most Holy Eucharist always surprise us. We could say with the psalm “I have finished, and you are still with me, Lord,” who are silently present in the Tabernacle (cf. Psalm 138:18).
Among these teachings you have chosen that of fraternity, as an essential condition for a new world, a more just world, a more human world.
The early Fathers of the Church already told us that the sign of bread ignites in the People of God the desire for fraternity, because just as bread cannot be made from a single grain, we too must walk together, because “being many, we are one body, one bread” (St. Augustine, Sermon 227). This is how we grow as brothers, this is how we grow as a Church, united by the water of baptism and purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit (cf. ibid.). A deep fraternity, which is born from union with God, which is born from allowing ourselves to be ground, like wheat, in order to become bread, the body of Christ, thus participating fully in the Eucharist and in the assembly of the saints (cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Romanos 4,1).
This fraternity must also be proactive. An example of this that comes to mind now is the thought of a German nun who died in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Angela Autsch (Venerable Sr. Angela Maria of the Heart of Jesus (or Maria Cecilia Autsch); German Trinitarian Sister of Valencia). Even before she was arrested, when the evil that was looming over the world was already evident, she invited her little nephews, who were approaching Holy Communion for the first time, she invited her somewhat distant relatives and also invited those who remained devout, to rebel against this evil with simple gestures and, in certain environments, dangerous, to come as close as possible to the Sacrament of the altar, to rebel by receiving Communion.
For her, encouraging frequent communion, especially in the area of prayer for the Pope and the Church, which at that time was persecuted, was to find in the Eucharist a bond that strengthens the vigor of the Church itself, a bond that strengthens this vigor among its members and with God, and for her it was ‘organizing’ the plot of a resistance that the enemy cannot dismantle, because it does not respond to a human plan. These simple gestures are what make us more aware that if one member suffers, the whole body suffers with it; they are what help us to become Cyreneans of Christ, who took upon himself the weight of the world's pain to heal the world.
Sisters, brothers, let us learn this lesson, let us recover this radical fraternity with God and among men. We are one, in the one Lord of our life; we are one in a way that we are not able to fully understand, but what we do understand is that only in this unity can we serve the world and heal it.
May Jesus bless you and may the Holy Virgin of El Quinche cover you with her mantle. Thank you very much.
Sisters, brothers, let us learn this lesson, let us recover this radical fraternity with God and among men. We are one, in the one Lord of our life; we are one in a way that we are not able to fully understand, but what we do understand is that only in this unity can we serve the world and heal it.
May Jesus bless you and may the Holy Virgin of El Quinche cover you with her mantle. Thank you very much.
Source: Vatican.va and Vatican News with File Screenshot
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