BISHOPS MUST SET AN EXAMPLE THROUGH SANCTITY OF LIFE:
VATICAN CITY, 15 SEP 2011 (VIS) -
Today in Castelgandolfo the Holy Father received a group of newly consecrated
bishops who are currently participating in a meeting organised by the
Congregation for Bishops. For the last ten years the congregation has been
inviting new bishops to make a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter in order
to reflect on the main responsibilities of episcopal ministry.
"You are
invited", the Pope told the group "to renew your profession of
faith and your trusting adherence to Jesus Christ over the tomb of the Prince
of the Apostles, showing the same impulse of love as Peter himself and
strengthening your ties of communion with his Successor and with your brother
bishops".
In this context Benedict
XVI explained that "the bishop ... is not alone, he is part of that
'corpus episcoporum' which, joining us to Christ, has been handed down from
the Apostles' time to our own". He encouraged the prelates to live every
day in episcopal fraternity, working in communion with the Pope and their
brother bishops, while "seeking to cultivate friendship with them and
with your priests".
The Holy Father then turned
his attention to the importance of bishops accepting "the charisms which
the Spirit arouses for the edification of the Church", especially among
the faithful. "Bishops have the task of watching and working to ensure
that the baptised increase in grace, in accordance with the charisms the Holy
Spirit causes to arise in their hearts and communities", he said.
"The fundamental gift
you are called to cherish in the faithful entrusted to your pastoral care is
that of divine filiation; in other words, the fact that everyone participates
in Trinitarian communion. Baptism, which makes men and women 'children in the
Son' and members of the Church, is the root and source of all other
charismatic gifts. Through your ministry of sanctification, you educate the
faithful to participate with increasing intensity in the priestly, prophetic
and regal office of Christ, helping them to build the Church, actively and
responsibly, according to the gifts they have received from God.
"We must", the
Pope added, "always bear in mind the fact that the gifts of the Spirit -
be they extraordinary or simple and humble - are always given freely for the
edification of all. The bishop, as a visible sign of the unity of his
particular Church, has the duty of unifying and harmonising the charismatic
diversity of ecclesial unity, favouring reciprocity between the hierarchical
and the baptismal priesthood".
The Holy Father invited
bishops "to accept charisms gratefully, for the sanctification of the
Church and the vitality of the apostolate. This acceptance and this gratitude
... are inseparable from discernment, which is part of the bishop's mission. Vatican
Council II said as much when it gave pastoral ministry the task of judging
the genuineness of charisms and their proper use, not extinguishing the
Spirit but testing and retaining what is good. Therefore, it must always be
clear that no charism can dispense from deferring and submitting to the
pastors of the Church".
Episcopal ministry
"requires the bishop to nourish his own spiritual life with care"
because, as the Apostolic Exhortation "Pastores gregis" says,
"he becomes a 'father' precisely because he is fully a 'son' of the
Church. ... These two inseparable aspects call him to grow as son and as
pastor as he follows Christ, in order that his personal sanctity may be an
expression of the objective sanctity he received through episcopal
consecration".
The Holy Father concluded:
"The sanctity of your lives and your pastoral charity will be an example
and support to your priests, ... who are also called to build the community
with their gifts, charisms and the witness of their lives, so that the choral
communion of the Church may bear witness to Jesus Christ, that the world may
believe".
AC/
VIS 20110915 (660)
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