Pope Francis says "On behalf of the Church, I thank you for taking this ecumenical mission of Jesus seriously..." to Evangelical Lutherans
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ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE PILGRIMS FROM THE DIOCESE OF DRESDEN-MEIßEN
AND FROM THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF SAXONY
Small room of the Paul VI Hall
Wednesday, 2 October 2024
___________________________
Guten Morgen! Dear brother Bishop, dear Landesbischof,
Madam Minister, Mr Mayor, dear brothers and sisters!
I warmly welcome you, and I thank the choir for the beautiful singing, thank you!
Making a pilgrimage means setting out on a journey, usually towards a sanctuary. This journey becomes a symbol of one’s life journey and of the great final goal, which is God himself, as is well expressed in the verse of the German version of the Te Deum that you have chosen as the motto of your journey: “Auf dich hoffen wir allein!”, “In you alone do we hope!”.
With your pilgrimage, you intend – as you wrote – “to rediscover together and for the people of our time the spiritual treasures of pilgrimage”. Yes, all the richness of our faith is a gift, a gift from God that we receive not only for ourselves, but always also for others, for the people around us, including those who seem far from the faith, who have not yet heard of Christ, or who think that he has nothing important to say. It seems to me that the lives of many people today lack the meaning, hope and joy that the world cannot give. For this reason I urge you to share the meaning, hope and joy of faith with everyone, with trust and humility.
Personal and credible testimony is what counts when transmitting the faith. And as a criterion of credibility, the Lord himself mentions the unity of his disciples and asks the Father: “that they may all be one, so that the world may believe” (cf. Jn 17:21). On behalf of the Church, I thank you for taking this ecumenical mission of Jesus seriously and for trying to realize it with this common pilgrimage and, just as importantly, in your everyday life.
I understand that a large part of your group is made up of volunteers. My special thanks go to you, because your free service is a particularly credible witness!
And I would also like to thank you, the “Dresdner Kapellknaben”, for your special witness. Art in general, but music in particular, is a language that is understood by everyone and is able to challenge, inspire and uplift people. Some things are difficult to express in words, and this is especially true of the divine mystery, which goes far beyond our thoughts and concepts. That is why in churches we have this rich symbolism, which makes the inexpressible tangible and concrete: candles, incense, art and music! Thank you for the wonderful unison, the harmony that the many voices find, and which reminds us of the work of the Holy Spirit, who unites the many! Thank you for your testimony!
Dear brothers and sisters, continue to work together and to bear witness to the hope that is in you (cf. 1 Pt 3:15). Remember the images of the salt of the earth and the light of the world, of the small seed; the Bible is full of these examples in which something small and of little importance can grow into something great with the grace of God, something much greater and more beautiful than we humans could have achieved alone, with our own strength. In October 1989, you had an idea of this when some Protestant and Catholic Christians in Dresden managed to confront the police. It was like a miracle that not a single shot was fired and that in other cities a peaceful path opened up that no one would have thought possible and which ultimately led to the “miracle” of German unity. Tomorrow you too will celebrate this event in Rome.
Let us now turn together in prayer to our heavenly Father, with the prayer that unites all Christians. With the Our Father we ask for everything we need to live, for our pilgrimage, at the end of which our great hope will be realized: full harmony in communion with God and among ourselves. Let us pray.
Our Father...
God bless you all, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And be kind to me, this work is not easy! But be kind to me, not against me!
TO THE PILGRIMS FROM THE DIOCESE OF DRESDEN-MEIßEN
AND FROM THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF SAXONY
Small room of the Paul VI Hall
Wednesday, 2 October 2024
___________________________
Guten Morgen! Dear brother Bishop, dear Landesbischof,
Madam Minister, Mr Mayor, dear brothers and sisters!
I warmly welcome you, and I thank the choir for the beautiful singing, thank you!
Making a pilgrimage means setting out on a journey, usually towards a sanctuary. This journey becomes a symbol of one’s life journey and of the great final goal, which is God himself, as is well expressed in the verse of the German version of the Te Deum that you have chosen as the motto of your journey: “Auf dich hoffen wir allein!”, “In you alone do we hope!”.
With your pilgrimage, you intend – as you wrote – “to rediscover together and for the people of our time the spiritual treasures of pilgrimage”. Yes, all the richness of our faith is a gift, a gift from God that we receive not only for ourselves, but always also for others, for the people around us, including those who seem far from the faith, who have not yet heard of Christ, or who think that he has nothing important to say. It seems to me that the lives of many people today lack the meaning, hope and joy that the world cannot give. For this reason I urge you to share the meaning, hope and joy of faith with everyone, with trust and humility.
Personal and credible testimony is what counts when transmitting the faith. And as a criterion of credibility, the Lord himself mentions the unity of his disciples and asks the Father: “that they may all be one, so that the world may believe” (cf. Jn 17:21). On behalf of the Church, I thank you for taking this ecumenical mission of Jesus seriously and for trying to realize it with this common pilgrimage and, just as importantly, in your everyday life.
I understand that a large part of your group is made up of volunteers. My special thanks go to you, because your free service is a particularly credible witness!
And I would also like to thank you, the “Dresdner Kapellknaben”, for your special witness. Art in general, but music in particular, is a language that is understood by everyone and is able to challenge, inspire and uplift people. Some things are difficult to express in words, and this is especially true of the divine mystery, which goes far beyond our thoughts and concepts. That is why in churches we have this rich symbolism, which makes the inexpressible tangible and concrete: candles, incense, art and music! Thank you for the wonderful unison, the harmony that the many voices find, and which reminds us of the work of the Holy Spirit, who unites the many! Thank you for your testimony!
Dear brothers and sisters, continue to work together and to bear witness to the hope that is in you (cf. 1 Pt 3:15). Remember the images of the salt of the earth and the light of the world, of the small seed; the Bible is full of these examples in which something small and of little importance can grow into something great with the grace of God, something much greater and more beautiful than we humans could have achieved alone, with our own strength. In October 1989, you had an idea of this when some Protestant and Catholic Christians in Dresden managed to confront the police. It was like a miracle that not a single shot was fired and that in other cities a peaceful path opened up that no one would have thought possible and which ultimately led to the “miracle” of German unity. Tomorrow you too will celebrate this event in Rome.
Let us now turn together in prayer to our heavenly Father, with the prayer that unites all Christians. With the Our Father we ask for everything we need to live, for our pilgrimage, at the end of which our great hope will be realized: full harmony in communion with God and among ourselves. Let us pray.
Our Father...
God bless you all, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And be kind to me, this work is not easy! But be kind to me, not against me!
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