September 30, 2013
Life-Giving Words from our Catechist-in-Chief
Last Sunday, September 29, over 100,000 catechists crowded Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican for Mass with Pope Francis. The gathered to conclude the week-long International Congress on Catechesis. Tens of thousands of catechists came from all over the world to participate. The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization promoted it for the Year of Faith.
We wanted to share excepts from his wonderful Homily at that Mass, as well as his opening remarks to catechists during the Congress.
Homily Excerpt: The catechist must be those “who keep the memory of God alive; they keep it alive in themselves and they are able to revive it in others”, like Mary, “who … sees God’s wondrous works in her life … but instead, after receiving the message of the angel and conceiving the Son of God … goes to assist her elderly kinswoman Elizabeth, also pregnant”, and upon encountering her, “the first thing she does … is to recall God’s work, God’s fidelity, in her own life, in the history of her people, in our history … Mary remembers God”. Read More.
Greeting to Congress Participants: Catechesis is a vocation: ‘being’ a catechist, this is the vocation, not ‘working’ as a catechist. Be careful: I have not said to do the work of a catechist, but rather to be one, because it involves all your life. It means guiding towards the encounter with Jesus with words and with life, with your witness … I like to recall the words of St. Francis of Assisi to his friars: ‘Always preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words’, so that people may see the Gospel in your lives … we must begin with Christ and this love He gives us”. Read More.