Pope Benedict XVI Blog

The joy of the Church in Africa, fruit of the seed sowed by missionaries, Pope says

» 03/29/2009 13:56
VATICAN

Benedict XVI is grateful for the experience he had during his trip to Cameroon and Angola. He appreciated the joy and sense of the sacred found in the communities he visited, noting the fruitfulness of the missionaries’ work. He urges young people to attend the Mass to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of John Paul II.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) –Benedict XVI, in his address before today’s Angelus prayer to the pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square, expressed his thanks to God but also to the African Church for its joy and sense of the sacred and for the sacrifice of so many missionaries who live in this land, a topic he would further discuss in next Wednesday’s general audience.

“First of all,” he said, “I wish to the thank God and all those who in various ways have worked for the success of the apostolic trip I undertook in recent days in Africa. I call for the blessings of heaven to fall on the seeds scattered across this African land.”

The Pope noted that two factors impressed him during his trip to Africa. The first one was “the joy one could see in the faces of the people, joy to feel part of the one family of God.” The second was “the strong sense of the sacred that one could feel in the liturgical celebrations, a feature found in all African peoples, emerging, as it were, in each moment of my stay among these beloved communities.”

Speaking about the Sunday Gospel, which includes words by Jesus about the grain of wheat that dies producing “much fruit”) (John, 12:24), he said that “it is necessary . . . for Jesus to die like a grain of wheat which God the Father scattered around the world. Only thus can a new humanity develop and grow, free from the power of sin, but capable of living in brotherhood, like sons and daughters of the same Father who lives in heaven.”
more...

See also, "Pope Benedict praises sacrifices of African missionaries."

posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 1:24 PM