CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- At a Mass on Sunday closing the bishops' synod on the new evangelization, the Pope reflected on the need for faith in overcoming spiritual blindness and also appealed on behalf of the victims of Hurricane Sandy.<\/p>\n\tDrawing from the day's Gospel of Mark reading, the Pope noted that Christ curing the blind man Bartimaeus \u201cis the last miraculous healing that Jesus performs before his Passion, and it is no accident that it should be that of a blind person, someone whose eyes have lost the light.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPope Benedict noted that physical blindness \u201chas great significance in the Gospels\u201d because it \u201crepresents man who needs God\u2019s light, the light of faith, if he is to know reality truly and to walk the path of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt is essential to acknowledge one\u2019s blindness, one\u2019s need for this light, otherwise one could remain blind for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe blind Bartimaeus represents mankind, the Pope went on to say, because he \u201crepresents man who has lost the light and knows it, but has not lost hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tPope Benedict made his remarks at the close of the Oct. 7 \u2013 28 synod on the new evangelization in Rome, which gathered bishops from the world over to Rome to discuss the transmission of the Christian faith in the modern world.<\/p>\n
\tThe synod \u201cmeaningfully coincided\u201d with the opening of the Year of Faith and the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, the Pope said.<\/p>\n
\tSynod fathers have released a document of 58 propositions about the new evangelization. Pope Benedict will review the findings of the synod and will write a post-synodal apostolic exhortation, after considering their propositions.<\/p>\n
\tDuring his homily, the pontiff said that Sunday's Gospel reading directly applies to the recent synod,\u00a0 and highlight three themes that emerged from the event.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe first concerns the Sacraments of Christian initiation. It has been reaffirmed that appropriate catechesis must accompany preparation for Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist,\u201d he said. \u201cThe importance of Confession, the Sacrament of God\u2019s mercy, has also been emphasized.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSecondly, \u201cthe Church\u2019s task is to evangelize, to proclaim the message of salvation to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cA third aspect concerns the baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism\u2026Such people are found in all continents, especially in the most secularized countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe Church is particularly concerned that they should encounter Jesus Christ anew, rediscover the joy of faith and return to religious practice in the community of the faithful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe Pope then encouraged all the faithful to embrace full sight in Christ, putting away \u201call blindness to the truth, all ignorance and, removing the darkness that obscures our vision like fog before the eyes, let us contemplate the true God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHe also pointed out that while many lands need to be re-evangelized, this is \u201cessentially linked to the Missio ad Gentes\u201d and that there are \u201cstill many regions in Africa, Asia and Oceania whose inhabitants await with lively expectations\u201d the first proclamation of the Gospel.<\/p>\n
\tFollowing the Mass Pope Benedict expressed his own solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the Caribbean this past week.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI wish to assure you of my closeness and my recollection of those who have been affected by this natural disaster, while I invite everyone to prayer and solidarity, in order to alleviate the pain of the families of the victims and offer support to the thousands of people who have been hurt in various ways by the storm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tMore than 60 people have been killed by Sandy, which has already struck the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica. It is due to hit the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States today.<\/p>\n
\tAt his Angelus prayer following Mass, the Pope stressed the need for \u201ca renewed proclamation of the Gospel in secularized societies, in the twofold certainty that, on the one hand, he, Jesus Christ, is the only true innovation that meets the expectations of people of all ages, and on the other, that his message asks to be shared in a manner that is appropriate to changing social and cultural contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThis, he said, is the focus of the new evangelization, that call to present Christ and his Church anew to the modern world.<\/p>\n
\tHe also pointed out that in reflecting on Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council we see that \u201cthe new evangelization is not our invention, but is a dynamic that developed in the Church particularly in the 50s of the last century.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
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Vatican City, Oct 29, 2012 \/ 11:23 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- At a Mass on Sunday closing the bishops' synod on the new evangelization, the Pope reflected on the need for faith in overcoming spiritual blindness and also appealed on behalf of the victims …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vatican"],"yoast_head":"\n
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