VATICAN CITY, JUN 4, 2005 (VIS) - Pope Benedict today welcomed a pilgrimage from the diocese of Verona, Italy which is celebrating the end of its three-year long diocesan synod. "You have come to be confirmed in the faith," he told the faithful, "and I, called just a short time ago to this serious duty, am happy to greet (you) ... and to encourage you in the commitment of giving a Christian witness in today's world."
Noting that the culminating phase of the synod occurs during the Year of the Eucharist, he said: "'The Church lives by the Eucharist' - thus wrote Servant of God John Paul II in his last encyclical, 'Ecclesia de Eucharistia'. ... In the Eucharist, as I said last Sunday in Bari at the end of the National Eucharistic Congress, Christ is really present among us. His is not a static presence. It is a dynamic presence which takes hold of us to make us His, to assimilate us to Himself."
"Our spiritual life," said the Holy Father, "essentially depends on the Eucharist. Without it, faith and hope are extinguished, charity becomes cold. Thus, dear friends, I exhort you to attend ever more to the quality of Eucharistic celebrations, especially on Sundays, so that Sunday will truly be the Lord's Day and will confer fullness of meaning on everyday events and activities."
Benedict XVI then noted that the family is also one of the themes of the diocesan synod. He said that in this diocese, as in so many others, "divorces and irregular unions have increased and for Christians this is an urgent call to proclaim and give witness to, in its entirety, the Gospel of life and the family" which "is founded on indissoluble matrimony. Notwithstanding the difficulties and social and cultural conditionings of the current historical moment, may Christian couples never cease to be with their lives a sign of God's faithful love."
He concluded his remarks by referring to yesterday's solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Christ, saying "only from this endless source of love can you have the necessary energy for your mission."
AC/EUCHARIST:FAMILY/VERONA VIS 20050606 (350)
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