IT IS TIME TO LAUNCH AUDACIOUS APOSTOLIC GOALS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 17, 2001 (VIS) - This morning the Pope received 400 lay members and priests of Opus Dei who are participating in several days of reflection on the Apostolic Letter "Novo Millennio Ineunte" and on the perspectives outlined in it for the future of evangelization.

The Holy Father pointed out that this encounter was promoted by the prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarria, with the aim of "strengthening the service given by the prelature to the particular Churches where its faithful are present."

"Lay people, as Christians," said the Pope, "are committed to undertaking a missionary apostolate. ... They must therefore be stimulated to effectively place their own knowledge at the service of the 'new frontiers' which present themselves as new challenges for the saving presence of the Church in the world. ... Their apostolic zeal, fraternal friendship and solidarity in charity will enable them to know how to undertake daily social relations so as to cultivate in others that thirst for truth which is the first condition for a saving encounter with Christ."

John Paul II underlined that priests, for their part, "exercise a primary, irreplaceable function: that of helping souls, one by one, through the sacraments, preaching, spiritual guidance, and in opening themselves to the gift of grace. A spirituality of communion will make the best use of the roles of each member of the Church."

"I exhort you not to forget in all of your work the central focus of the Jubilee experience: the encounter with Christ. ... The thirst for spirituality which has been awakened in our society can only be placated by Christ."

The Holy Father concluding by affirming that "it is time to put aside every fear and to propel oneself towards audacious apostolic goals: Christ's invitation stimulates us to cast ourselves out into the deep, to cultivate ambitious dreams of personal holiness and apostolic fruitfulness. The apostolate is always the overflowing of interior life."

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